The job of lieutenant governor may not come with much power, but that hasn't stopped a mob of candidates from trying to win it, columnist Gordon C. Morse writes.
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INTRODUCTION
The movement to limit political terms is steamrolling through American politics. Voters have approved term limits for Congressmen in each of the fifteen states where referenda have been held, with votes averaging over 66 percent in support, and another four to ten states will permit their citizens to vote on congressional term limits this November. If past elections and current polls are any indication, these proposals also will pass easily. In addition, eighteen states and hundreds of cities and counties across the country have adopted term limits for state and local officials.
Such substantial public support suggests widespread distaste for careerism in politics, as well as a conviction that continual infusion of fresh blood into the federal legislature will be good for both the Congress and the country. Support for term limits extends to significant majorities of diverse demographic groups: polls show that majorities of men, women, blacks, whites,
WYATT GORDON
The Virginia Mercury
RICHMOND â When former Gov. Doug Wilder sold off the stateâs interest in hundreds of miles of track and rail right-of-way in the early 1990s, the move was applauded by the Republican-dominated legislature as a prudent divestment to help balance the annual budget.
Since then, though, the state has spent millions more on track improvements benefiting railroad corporations in exchange for every increase in passenger train service Virginia has sought.
To avoid another such flash sale of Virginiaâs rail infrastructure and to oversee an increasing focus on boosting passenger rail capacity to combat congestion, this March the General Assembly created the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority.
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Sandy Hausman reports
Richmond author Chip Jones delves into the distressing history of how the medical community used African-American bodies without family consent.
Credit Jay Paul
The Organ Thieves tells the story of an African-American man who – without the consent of his family – became the first heart donor in Virginia. Professional narrator JD Jackson reads from the book.
“In late May, 1968, Doug Wilder was in his law office on a tree-lined street in Richmond, Virginia. He was winding down from a long day of work when the phone rang. “They took my brother’s heart!” the man on the other end of the line exclaimed in horror. As one of the best-known African-American trial lawyers practicing in the state capital, Wilder was accustomed to taking random phone calls day or night. Accusations of rape, robbery and murder were not uncommon, but taking a man’s heart from his own body? Wilder had never heard of such a thing.”