As part of President Trump’s budget proposal, the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) faces a loss of $183 million in funding. The LSTA, the only federal program exclusively for libraries, consolidates the federal library program and links libraries electronically. In Pulaski County, LSTA funds make children’s enrichment activities such the Summer Reading Program possible. […]
Addressing the Primary Care shortage in Healthcare – Is there common ground?
While the current congressional debate largely focuses on healthcare insurance coverage, the availability of primary care services is another important issue that we face in Pulaski County. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that by 2020, there will be up to 94,000 fewer physicians than needed to meet the demand for care in the […]
Should Comcast Be Allowed To Sell Your Browsing History?
Should companies like Comcast be able to sell your internet browsing history without your permission? Most Americans would say “no”, yet the Congress voted to allow just that. Americans have enjoyed a legal right to privacy from your communications provider under Section 222 of the Telecommunications Act for more than twenty years. When Congress made […]
Southwest Virginia, NRV, or ROVA – just where are we anyway?
Growing up in Pulaski, I considered myself to live in Southwest Virginia (SWVA). As I left the area and lived in Lynchburg, Richmond and Washington, DC, I struggled with how best to answer the question “where are you from?” Especially, living in DC, this was often accompanied by “what kind of accent is that? Are […]
The Impact Of EPA Budget Cuts On Pulaski
The Impact Of EPA Budget Cuts On Pulaski President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a 31 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, as the White House seeks to eliminate climate change programs and trim initiatives to protect air and water quality. The EPA would sustain the biggest cut of any federal agency in […]