TRS Staff

A closely-watched court case in North Carolina has environmentalists cheering, but farmers sulking in disappointment with empty pockets. A North Carolina jury awarded 10 neighbors a combined $50 million in damages due to complaints filed from a nearby 15,000-hog farm in the eastern part of the state. 

Everything looks good in coal country as exports in 2018 have been booming. Virginia is now leading the nation as the number one exporter of coal, with exports out of the Hampton Roads region skyrocketing. 

A meeting between Jong-Un and Moon in Panmunjom may signal the beginning to the end of the Korean War; however, for a full integration of a peace agreement there is still a long way to go.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently said, "I don't think he [President Trump] should fire Mueller and I don't think he's going to," following calls from senators to draft legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the midst of the Russia investigation.

The Virginia Beach School Board voted this week to end the class ranking system that defined one valedictorian and one salutatorian for each graduating class. Though, does that help with the goal of education?

Progressive politicians and activists argue that a single-payer healthcare system can give Americans the care they need. However, as people argue the economic ramifications of such implementation, many forget the chilling end to the program - people as property of the state.

On May 14, members of the Virginia State Senate will return to Bank Street in Richmond to finish, hopefully, the two-year state budget, over one month after spending plans from the lower chamber were forwarded.

Congress will take up a bill later this week from Republican Bob Goodlatte (VA-6) that will revolutionize the music industry and how the makers of music are paid and compensated. Called the Music Modernization Act, it would benefit songwriters and producers that are currently subject to a system over 100 years old. 

Stocks took a beating today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day down 425 points, 1.73 percent. The market had a slight uptick from mid-day as the stock exchange was reporting the Dow was down at least 600 points at one point.

Democrats were in hot water over a clandestine political operation undertaken in Virginia prior to last year's election. After it was found that a PAC called NextGen America was working to bolster liberals by filing FOIAs to secure the phone numbers of voters, Governor Northam signed two bill prohibiting the action.