Monday, April 8, 2013
Sequestration has impacted them, and more redevelopment options are needed.
The Bureau of Land Management's long-awaited decision on the Environmental Assessment for the aging stables at its The Stables At the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area has been scrapped. The decision to seek alternative development options was revealed to the public Monday morning at the office of Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland, who hosted U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th), BLM executives, barn manager Allison Mills and barn supporters. "We've looked at the coming fiscal reality and determined that those three options in the EA (Environmental Assessment) are not enough," said BLM spokesman Bob Gillcash. "Hopefully we are no longer contained to option A, B or C. We're really looking for D, E, F and G, maybe H. We want …
Monday, April 1, 2013
Barn manager Allison Mills' business is going to stay.
The horse boarding program at the Meadowood Special Recreation Area will survive for at least another year. Barn manager Allison Mills signed a one-year lease for the Bureau of Land Management's Stables At Meadowood last Friday and is no longer tied down to her previous contract, which limited the number of horses allowed on the property to 15, as the Bureau makes its long-awaited final determination on future barn renovations. Mills was down to 15 horses at the barn, and has a waiting list of 34 horses. It will take several months to introduce the animals to their new home. "BLM has made every extraordinary effort to accommodate the community desire and the needs of the on-site businesses at the barn," said Mills to Patch. "And it's …
Friday, March 1, 2013
The March 1 deadline for sequestration is here.
Northern Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and Jim Moran (D-8th) said Congress is "dysfunctional," as the midnight deadline on sequestration steadily approached. "It's a dysfunctional Congress," said Moran, who spoke with Patch at a ribbon-cutting Friday in Lorton. "I think it ill-serves the people of the United States today. It's very frustrating, very disappointing. It's an institution that is not serving its functions." Connolly does not expect a last-minute compromise on $1.2 trillion in debt reduction, and the U.S. military will be forced to cut $46 billion and domestic defense spending will be cut by $85 billion this year alone. "It is the consequence of a dysfunctional Congress," he said. "It's the consequence of …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Sequestration could affect every traveler at airports nationwide, say U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine speaking from Reagan National Airport Monday.
Federal sequestration will mean fewer flights and increased wait times at airports, Virginia lawmakers said Monday. Further, it threatens to close small- to mid-sized airports across the country. The massive, indiscriminate spending cuts Congress put in motion to force a budget compromise would cut $600 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if they go into effect Friday. Jobs on the Line Under sequestration, the FAA would have to furlough employees for 11 days — with as much as 10 percent of its workforce furloughed on any given day — and the agency would be unable to hire replacements for the 30 percent of its workers eligible to retire. Up to 2,200 air traffic controllers would be furloughed, forcing airports to reduce …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Connolly writes letter to Postmaster General, asking for legal justification; cites study that says reducing mail volume will lead to revenue loss of $5.2 billion in first year.
Stopping the mail on Saturdays? Not so fast, say two members of the Northern Virginia Congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. James P. Moran (D-8th) and U.S. Rep Gerald Connolly (D-11th) expressed concern Wednesday afternoon about the U.S. Postal Service's announcement that it plans to suspend delivery of first-class mail service on Saturdays beginning in August. “I have great concerns about eliminating Saturday mail delivery," Moran wrote in an email to Patch. "The Postal Service is grappling with major forces outside of its control: an economy increasingly relying on email and the Internet for communication, and a Congress that refuses to address the redundant pension pre-funding requirement." The USPS released a fact sheet Wednesday. For …
Sunday, February 3, 2013
What will it mean for the Northern Virginia economy?
Sequestration — $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts to defense and civilian programs over the next decade — will likely happen, and it will mean thousands of layoffs, program eliminations and near-certain economic devastation for Northern Virginia, said Virginia Congressmen Jim Moran (D-8th) and Gerry Connolly (D-11th) on Saturday at a town hall meeting in Mount Vernon. "You need to be aware that this is probably going to happen," said Moran, who spoke at an annual meeting conducted by Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland. "It's a democracy and things will ultimately play themselves out, but things are not going well right now (in Congress)." Congress averted the fiscal cliff crisis at the beginning of the year, and …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Officials from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties met in Arlington to discuss six potential sites Thursday.
Local, state and Congressional leaders met Thursday in Arlington to discuss six potential sites for a new FBI headquarters and to present a unified front in their commitment to landing the new federal complex somewhere in Northern Virginia. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who called the meeting, said leaders from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford Counties had a "singular focus" in bringing the FBI headquarters to the Old Dominion. "We're all committed to finding a home for the FBI in the commonwealth of Virginia," Moran said during a news conference following the meeting. "We are all going to promote Virginia as the best place for this relocation." Arlington's role was simply as host. It has not put forth any potential sites …
Monday, December 24, 2012
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the NRA's Wayne LaPierre said.
In an Friday morning press conference, the Fairfax-based National Rifle Association broke its weeklong silence following the horrific shooting of 26 people at a school in Newtown, Conn., and called for a surge of gun-carrying "good guys" around American schools. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called for a new kind of American domestic security revolving around armed civilians, arguing that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." "We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents," LaPierre said. "Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers. Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American …
The latest and most popular Patch headlines from the past week.
After Newtown, McDonnell Forms School Safety Task Force Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell formed a task force that will focus on school and safety in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. “Even with raw emotions still running so high, it is prudent to begin to consider reasonable policy changes,” McDonnell said in a statement Thursday. “In the aftermath of the horrific and senseless shootings, I have asked all local and state leaders that play a role in school or campus safety to review the procedures, plans, policies and resources dedicated to this effort.” After Newtown, NRA Ready to Make 'Meaningful Contributions' After four days of silence, the National Rifle Association, headquartered in …
Friday, December 21, 2012
Northern Virginia Democrat cites Republican polls of NRA members that show support for five measures.
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th) on Thursday introduced the NRA Members' Gun Safety Act — five gun safety reforms that the congressman's office says are supported by nearly two-thirds of the Fairfax-based National Rifle Associations' members. “The NRA as an organization is out of step with its membership on many commonsense gun safety measures. Polling shows nearly two-thirds of NRA members support the five simple ways to improve gun safety included in this bill,” Moran said in a statement. “The NRA’s absolutist position on gun issues is an impediment to the safety and security of the public. This legislation is designed to highlight that schism, offering popular proposals even NRA members support to prevent more gun-related tragedies.” Moran's…
Janet
5:08 pm on Wednesday, April 3, 2013
This is the most beautiful stable and riding space in the local area!! I am overjoyed about this decision and look forward to taking lessons there in the near future. more ›