Kaine, Moran, Connolly: Sequestration Means Longer Airport Security Lines, Fewer Flights

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 could 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 …

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Moran Invites Gun Violence Prevention Advocate Omar Samaha, Westfield Grad, to State of the Union

Omar Joseph Samaha works on gun safety issues, after his sister Reema was killed in Virginia Tech tragedy.

When President Obama gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, in the audience that night will be Northern Virginian Omar Joseph Samaha, a gun violence prevention advocate and guest of Congressman Jim Moran (D-8th). Omar’s sister, Reema, was killed in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Since her death, Omar has advocated for policies to reduce gun violence. Moran is a member of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and recently introduced the “NRA Members’ Gun Safety Act,” (H.R. 21) that would implement five gun safety reforms that he notes polling shows are supported by at least 63 percent of NRA members. The reforms include universal background checks for gun purchases and gun shop employees, reporting lost or stolen …

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Martin Tillett

10:21 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013

......continued from above The defeat of crack cocaine in urban America, not because of the billions of dollars spent on the war on drugs resulting only in drugs becoming cheaper and more accessible but because it became clear that smoking crack was committing suicide. Crack evolved from a sign of pleasure to one of death. The same transformation may happen with assault weapons. A week after …   more ›

Dyke Marsh and Beyond

U.S. Geological Survey Board Rejects Locals’ Names for Dyke Marsh Islands

Officials’ and advocates’ choices rebuffed.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Board of Geographic Names has given four unnamed islands in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve official names — Angel, Bird, Coconut and Dyke Island — rejecting suggestions from Rep. Jim Moran, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM). They had requested that the islands be named Osprey, Marsh Wren, Kingbird and Cormorant Islands. The USGS Board accepted names recommended by the scientists who prepared the 2010 study documenting the severe erosion occurring in Dyke Marsh and entered the new names into the Geographic Names Information System, the official repository. Commenting on the decision, Congressman Moran said, "Dyke Marsh is one of Northern Virginia's treasured …

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