virginia-mercury

Chesapeake Bay still in poor health, blue crabs suffering, new State of the Bay report concludes

BY: - January 6, 2023

'While we’ve made significant progress, far too much pollution still reaches our waterways and climate change is making matters worse,' Chesapeake Bay Foundation President, Hilary Harp Falk, said.

COMMENTARY

Virginia abolished biased, botched executions; more states should follow suit | Opinion

BY: - January 5, 2023

The imposition of a death sentence gives a false impression that justice is being served.

COMMENTARY
An urban roadway in Arlington County, Virginia. (Michael Farrell / COG)

We can all do more to prevent roadway tragedies. This is how | Opinion

BY: - December 31, 2022

It’s a sobering fact: 360 lives were lost in crashes on our roads across metropolitan Washington, including Northern Virginia, in 2021.

A heron is perched on a piling at sunrise on the Chesapeake Bay in Chesapeake Beach.

Maryland lawmakers propose creating Chesapeake National Recreation Area

BY: - November 15, 2022

The proposal would unite a series of park areas and visitor centers owned and operated by the National Park Service.

A farm in Highland County. (Sarah Vogelsong/ For the Virginia Mercury)

Report: Agricultural investments for Chesapeake Bay cleanup spur economy

BY: - November 2, 2022

For every dollar spent on farmers’ best management practices, $1.75 is returned via higher sales of goods and services as well as earnings.

COMMENTARY
Albert V. Norrell School in Richmond. (Scott Elmquist / Style Weekly/Virginia Mercury)

Collaboration, instead of lower standards, is a better fix for teacher shortages | Roger Chesley

BY: - October 23, 2022

Virtually every teacher survey notes pay is the No. 1 factor in leaving the profession.

COMMENTARY
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra (Photo via the Virginia Mercury).

In Virginia, a symphony of consolation seeks to counter violence | Roger Chesley

BY: - October 10, 2022

A concert can't bring back those we've lost. But it can heighten awareness, give comfort, and bring people together to fight violence.

COMMENTARY
A sign made by Vicki Farrell, 65, in the back of her car at the Aragon Precinct in Virginia Beach urging calm following the 2020 election. (Roger Chesley/ For the Virginia Mercury)

Despite periods of hysteria’ Truman found cause for hope in the national character | Opinion

BY: - September 23, 2022

Americans have repeatedly shaken off self-imposed mental chains to overcome periods of instability like the one we are suffering.

COMMENTARY
Players in a November 2019 football game between the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images).

Football must address brain trauma to survive | Bob Lewis

BY: - August 26, 2022

What I’d tell my 16-year-old self before the 1972 season about the game I loved.

COMMENTARY

What happens when laws that suppress protests clash with our freedoms? | Opinion

BY: - July 20, 2022

Americans have always held, as a matter of faith, that if they don’t like something, at least they have the freedom to raise hell about it.

Woman in cafe shopping online with laptop

Federal lawmakers aim to crack down on ‘dark patterns’ that trick users online

BY: - June 29, 2022

The legislation would place limits on how internet firms with over 100M monthly users could ask for information

COMMENTARY

Spare us your thoughts and prayers. Do your jobs | Bob Lewis

BY: - May 30, 2022

The United States is a nation awash in firearms and lacking the political will to enact commonsense reforms to address it.