Columns

The Southwest Virginia Farmers Market has been a main focus of Carroll County for years.
This has obviously paid off, judging from the reaction it got from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials when they visited the Twin Counties earlier this month.
Nothing but good things were heard about the market on June 17, when the group took a tour of the main market and the cannery.

Deciding whether to rezone a piece of residential property for a new school in Galax was difficult already, and it is being further complicated by a question about perceived conflicts of interest.
Four of the seven members of the Galax Planning Commission have ties to the city’s school system: one is a school board member, one is an administrator, one is a teacher and one is married to a teacher. The commission is considering the school board’s request to rezone land for a new elementary/middle school.

Medical insurance can help save lives.
When access to ongoing care — as opposed to emergency intervention — depends on health insurance, a connection between coverage and life can’t be much of a surprise.
Even so, showing that connection has been difficult.
A new study from Massachusetts comes closer than any research and holds important lessons for states like Virginia that still resist the expansion of Medicaid, a key component of federal health care reform.

Former Gov. Bob McDonnell raised the bar for restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons who served their sentences, far outpacing his predecessors’ efforts.
By the time he left office, the Republican had streamlined one of the most cumbersome state systems in the U.S. and given 8,137 people the ability to vote, serve on a jury, work as a notary public and run for public office.
His successor, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, has maintained that momentum in his first three months in office, restoring rights to 838 people as of last week.