virginia

Forget that lighthouse plate you were about to order, you can take your personal view on abortion to the street now in Virginia. Governor Tim Kaine, who also happens to be chair of the DNC, signed legislation to legalize license plates with the phrase "Choose Life." And it's decidedly not a Trainspotting reference.

Though not the first state to offer pro-life plates, Virginia's law has incurred the wrath of pro-choice groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL/Pro-Choice, who sent more than 17,000 emails and 200 calls to the DNC urging the governor to veto the bill. But Kaine, who personally opposes abortion but politically supports it, said it's not about reproductive rights; it's about freedom of speech.

Besides, he's told Planned Parenthood it can make its own license plate. Choose Choice?

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Virginians have elected ex-Governor Mark Warner as their newest senator. The once red state has become pretty blue. Virginia now has two Democratic senators and a Democrat in the governor's mansion. Soon we will see what the Old Dominion has to say about the next president of the United States.

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Two false warnings issued by a local registrar of elections in Virginia may have prevented students from registering to vote. The written warning, issued during an Obama-supporter voter registration drive at Virginia Tech, incorrectly cited dire consequences if students register on campus — namely, that parents could not claim the students as dependents and that the students would risk losing scholarships or health insurance coverage. The IRS released a statement explaining that there is no risk of losing dependent status, while the state board of elections said it will modify and clarify murky guidelines.

Any chill on student voting seems troubling. Why should students have to chose between participating in democracy where they live and keeping a scholarship or health insurance? Students should not be forced to vote in their home elections while they live near school and are impacted by local decisions, such as police policy, neighborhood ordinances, or rent control. Still others may argue that there must be a higher bar for voter registration. If a student wants to vote where she attends college, should she expect to pay state taxes, for example?

Perhaps the solution would be for voter-registration drives to present accurate pros and cons of where you register (not an erroneous and alarming official statement discouraging student voters), while providing resources for students to register back home, too.

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Each year the Remote Area Medical clinic provides free healthcare services to residents of Appalachia's coal mining counties, but people from as far as Indiana travel there for care. This region of the Eastern US is one of the nation's most impoverished, and this clinic-on-wheels wants to help the under- and uninsured.

Some of the 2,500 patients spend the night in their cars, hoping to see one of the 1,400 volunteer medical personnel. The free two-and-a-half day clinic is the largest of its kind in the US, and mostly provides vision and dental services.

The Remote Area Medical clinic sets up in Wise, VA. About 20 percent of Wise County's population are families living below the poverty level, making less than $21,200 per year. What more can be be done to provide regular care for the nation's disadvantaged so they don't have to wait overnight and sleep in their cars?

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I recently read about architect Madison Spencer's renovation of his own 1950s Charlottesville, Virginia home (known as Rabbit Run), which was featured in the April issue of Southern Accents, on Style Court. I was bowled over by the drastic change, which took advantage of existing features like tall windows and Chippendale accents, but made changes inspired by Thomas Jefferson's designs for the University of Virginia (Spencer's alma mater). The renovated building is impressive and elegant, rather than gauche and unremarkable, as it was before. To see the after, read more