By Karen Kirk: It’s time to take the “Virginia miracle” into America’s mainstream and win back the Senate and the presidency, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s Jefferson Obama Annual Dinner Sunday night in McLean. DeLauro, D-Conn., said that she is optimistic about what is about to happen in America because “of the story that…
By Brad Swanson: Democratic Party candidates for criminal prosecutor clashed in a debate Friday, May 24, as challenger Steve Descano painted a vision of “progressive justice” while incumbent Ray Morrogh, represented by a staff attorney, insisted on the importance of deciding each case on its individual merits. Morrogh, who was ill and sent Katherine Stott from his office as a…
By Karen Kirk: School safety, diversity and challenges facing Fairfax County Schools were the top issues at a forum Saturday featuring at-large candidates for the Fairfax County School Board. The forum was held at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church and early voting followed. Here are the four candidates’ views: Safety in schools in an era of mass shootings:…
By Karen Kirk: “VOTE THEM OUT” was the rallying cry of speakers and protesters as more than 100 people gathered outside of the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax Saturday in support of gun safety. “This nation breathes the oxygen that is the promise of liberty and right now, our people are suffocating,” said speaker Micaela Lattimer, a 17-year-old Latina from Maryland.…
By Brad Swanson: What should be the role of cops in schools? Should armed police officers even be allowed in schools? These were among the issues that rose to the surface in a tense meeting Monday night of a community group charged with reviewing the terms under which police officers are assigned to high schools and middle schools throughout the…
By Kris Gregory: A coalition of community groups led by Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence (CCAGV) marched against gun violence in the Falls Church City Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 28. Alison Friedman, one of the six candidates in the Democratic Primary for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, was among 58 marchers. The marchers wore orange or Hokie orange and…
By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick: Gun control is a hot issue in the Democratic primary campaign for Congressional District VA-10 as candidates head into the final month before the June 12 polling day. The six candidates view incumbent Barbara Comstock as an easy target on this topic, given her “A” rating from the NRA and a spot on the top ten…
By John Parks: The Parkland school shooting hit me hard, as teaching runs deep in my family. My mother was a teacher as are two of my children, one a principal. And I have 7 school-age grandchildren. When a shooting happens in a school, it immediately becomes personal. That could be one of mine. I am infuriated at hearing Wayne…
Never give up fighting for gun safety was the message delivered at Tuesday night’s Student Town Hall on Gun Safety that U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11thDistrict) hosted at the Providence Community Center in Fairfax. Connolly spoke about the many common sense gun measures he has supported which failed to pass Congress. He supports limits on assault weapons, expanding background checks,…
By Kenny Bledsoe: Editor’s Note: Remembering the Columbine mass murder of April 20, 1999, on its 19th anniversary. I was in 9th grade when two teenagers donned black trench coats, armed themselves to the teeth, and set about systematically murdering 12 of their classmates and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Colorado. Rumors swirled among the students the…
By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick: Dramatic testimony from school shooting survivors drew a larger than usual crowd of a few hundred protesters at the monthly vigil last Saturday outside National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax, VA. Jenny Wadhwa, a survivor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, likened the tragedy to the Holocaust and vowed, “We will never forget”.…
Editor’s Note: Second in a two-part series on gun-related bills in the recently concluded state legislative session. Part 1 dealt with the Senate and was posted on April 2. This Part 2 deals with the House of Delegates By Ben Zuhl: Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates introduced 80 bills to curb rampant gun violence in the legislative session…
Editor’s Note: First in a two-part series on gun-related bills in the recently concluded state legislative session. Part 1 deals with the Senate; Part 2 deals with the House of Delegates and will appear shortly By Sen. Dick Saslaw: Our push for commonsense gun legislation in the recently concluded session was derailed within days of the first gavel of the…
By Stephanie Witt Sedgwick: Equal parts of grief and hope came together at The March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and echoed in towns and cities across the country. An estimated 200,000 people gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue on March 24 to honor and remember the victims of the high school shooting in Parkland, FL, while vowing to change the…