Opinion

As the weather warms and summer nears, we are approaching the road mowing and paving season in Northern Virginia. Several paving projects are coming to eastern Prince William County and northern Stafford County in the 36^th District.

VDOT plans to pave I-95 from Neabsco Creek to Smoketown Road, all of VA-123 and Old Bridge Road from VA-123 to Minnieville. Cardinal Drive will get a new surface from U.S. 1 to Minnieville as well.  Southbridge will see new blacktop in on Wayside Lane, Pine Ridge Boulevard and several surrounding streets.  VDOT will pave the entire length of Joplin Road from U.S. 1 to Bristow Road and all the streets of the entire town of Quantico. The Main Street between Curtis Drive and Quantico Gateway Drive through Dumfries is also scheduled to be repaved.

On June 9^th, I urge my fellow voters to support Atif Qarni in the Democratic Primary. He is a person we can trust to fight for public education and will be a true advocate in Richmond for the reforms our students deserve.

As a teacher, I know that our classes are too large and they don’t get the resources they need to thrive. Northern Virginia is a proudly diverse region and we’re leaving too many kids behind by forcing this one-size fits all curriculum. The current pacing guides that teachers need to follow do not allow for students to gain a complete understanding of any of the subjects, and those who have questions fall behind early and cannot catch up. I know Atif personally and as a teacher, he knows the issues better than anyone. He knows the kind of improvements that need to be made to ensure our students, and students across Virginia, need to be competitive. Atif can be the passionate supporter that public education needs in the Senate.

Senator Chuck Colgan (D) is retiring after 30 years of faithful service to our community. He’s known for having a sense of fairness, protecting taxpayer dollars, and exercising sound judgment when dealing with countless political challenges and controversies over the years. As Democrats in the 29th Senate District, we have a responsibility to choose a […]

In 2012, Mandrel Stuart, the 35-year-old owner of a small Staunton barbecue business, was stopped for a routine traffic violation in Fairfax County. In his vehicle was $17,550 in cash from his business that was going to be used for payroll and other expenses. Without being convicted of a crime, the Fairfax County Police Officer took the $17,550 under the authority of the current Virginia Asset Forfeiture laws.

He rejected a settlement for half his money, demanding a jury trial. He eventually got all of his money back, but lost his business because he didn’t have cash to pay his costs. Currently a local sheriff or police officer can seize your property without a criminal conviction. In fact you can be found not guilty of the criminal charge and the forfeiture action could continue.

There are currently five old coal ash ponds at Dominion Resources Possum Point Power Station near Quantico, Virginia which is in the 36th District.  Coal ash or fly ash is the end product of burning coal to create electricity.  Decades ago, it was common practice to mix it with water and store it in ponds into a “slurry.”

If ponds are not properly lined with impermeable barriers, then they can leach toxic metals into ground water and surface water.  According to some sources, depending on the coal used, they can leach toxic elements such as arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds.  Metals like this store in the fatty tissues of fish and can aggregate in fish consumers such as birds or humans.  Modern practice is to store ash in dry landfills.  

At the start of my campaign for Woodbridge Supervisor, I vowed to go door-knocking and meet one-on-one with residents throughout every neighborhood in Woodbridge.

With only three short months to make this happen, I was on my feet and ready to go almost every morning. I knocked on nearly a thousand doors, met with some truly delightful people and heard a variety of complaints, opinions and ideas for our town.

During my time in the Marines, I was taught about how important it is to set high standards for yourself. We should be taking that lesson to heart when it comes to our education standards in the Commonwealth.

We need some significant reforms so that we can live up to the promise teachers at my school make to our students: if you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything you want. It’s time to lower classroom sizes, update our curriculum, and stop the emphasis on testing.