All results / Stories / Kenneth R. “Ken” Plum, State Delegate (D-36)
Column: A Hundred Fifty Years Ago
The first person I ever knew who wrote a weekly newspaper column was a teacher in the high school I attended who wrote a column during the period 1961-1965 entitled, “A Hundred Years Ago: The Civil War Day By Day.” He did not have to think of a new topic every week; he simply reported what was known to be going on a 100 years before during that week.
Commentary: Rocket Science
With the number of rockets my high school friend, Joe Hammock and I built and launched, I am fortunate to have all my fingers and no serious injuries. Our rockets were not the hobbyist models you can buy today that use water or air pressure to launch; our rockets used black powder or a fuel we mixed ourselves.
Column: Conservation as a Way of Life
For those whose parents lived through the Great Depression, you can skip the next few sentences since you know what I am about to say. For my younger readers, let me explain that life during the Great Depression (1935 to the mid-1940s) was so difficult that it made an indelible mark on the way that people thought and lived.
Contrasting Views
Commentary
Last week I had the honor of meeting Stan Brock, the legendary “Wild Kingdom” TV star and founder and president of Remote Area Medical (RAM). He held a press conference in Richmond to announce the details of expanding the Remote Area Medical program in Virginia. (www.RAMUSA.org) Already RAM sponsors a once-a-year health clinic in Wise County in Southwest Virginia where thousands come on a weekend for the only medical care they will receive all year. The expanded effort in Virginia will be headed by Dr. Vicki Weiss who has been providing volunteer eye care with RAM for over 15 years. Also participating in the press conference was Dr. Teresa Gardiner who serves on the Health Wagon in the region that was featured on 60 Minutes recently.
Opinion: Commentary: The House at the Half
The House of Delegates is probably half-way through its virtual Special Session.
Commentary: Plenty of Money
Reading a letter Governor McDonnell sent to state employees or listening to a speech he gave to the General Assembly money committees last week you could conclude that Virginia state government has plenty of money. He told both, “For the fourth straight year the commonwealth will enjoy a budget surplus! We concluded Fiscal Year 2013 with a total budget surplus of $585 million, the largest since 2005. Over the full four years of my term, Virginia has enjoyed a cumulative surplus of nearly $2 billion—the highest cumulative surplus of any single administration.”
Commentary: Measure of Being Poor in Virginia
I have always maintained that the poor in Northern Virginia are worse off than others living in less affluent parts of the state because the cost of living is higher in this region. The difference can be most clearly seen in the cost of housing; and there have been many notable efforts on the part of local governments to increase the stock of workforce, affordable housing. The traffic coming into Northern Virginia from the west and south is made up largely of people who cannot afford housing in the area.
Commentary: Congress in Clutches of NRA
Before I criticize the lack of action on the part of the U.S. Senate on modest gun measures last week, I will freely admit that the Virginia General Assembly is clearly in the clutches of the National Rifle Association (NRA). The last several years have seen a steady decline in Virginia’s attempt to reduce gun violence but without my support or vote. Most recently the General Assembly repealed the limitation on handgun purchases. The problem of gun violence is nationwide and appropriately should be addressed by the U.S. Congress. Opinion polls indicate overwhelming support for congressional action, especially as it relates to criminal background checks. At the same time, incidents involving gun violence continue to mount up.
Opinion: Commentary: Virginia’s Largest Industry
Virginia’s largest private industry is agriculture with an economic impact of $70 billion annually and 334,000 jobs.
Opinion: Commentary: Rewriting the Constitution of Virginia
The celebration of the fourth of July this week reminds us that not only did the colonies in America break free from the Mother Country in 1776, but they embarked on a course of independence that included written constitutions.
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