Policy on the #NNK

Read Part I for the background. The first meeting of the Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions was held February 22. Two matters of substance, the current environment and possible impacts and budget implications for the state and localities, were on the agenda (docx). Local and regional organization reps made presentations: Clark Mercer, Executive Director, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Eric Scorsone, Executive Director, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service Mitch Melis, Commissioner, Virginia Employment Commission David Reynolds and Kim McKay, Legislative Fiscal Analysts, House Appropriations Committee Joe Flores, Director of Fiscal Policy, Virginia Municipal League The presentations are online: Impacts of the Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions, Emergency Committee on - Meeting: Saturday, February 22 at 10 am . The first media recap of the meeting, ...

Rising college juniors or seniors and young people with a BA or BS in a discipline related to the mission of the Extension service are encouraged to apply to be an intern with the Lancaster or Northumberland offices of Virginia Cooperative Extension. Applications open March 14 and are filled on a rolling basis starting March 21 . This paid internship will include programming in agriculture, 4-H youth development, and family and consumer sciences. Interns can work up to 400 hours at a rate of $15.20/hour. Learn more about the internship and get application deets .

Read Part I and Part II for the set-up. Local conditions that may exacerbate the effects of federal cuts Existing issues and challenges can exacerbate federal cuts. Think housing availability generally, older person housing availability, workforce housing availability, access to health services, and poverty. Housing It is fairly well understood that, with some exceptions, retirees have driven home sales across the Northern Neck over the past several decades. It is equally well understood that housing affordability and housing stock are challenges for middle- and lower-income individuals and families. In 2024, Richmond Feds’ Regional Economist Joseph Mengedoth wrote Have Some Rural Areas Turned the Tide on Population Decline? In it, Mengedoth wrote that amenity-rich communities near the Chesapeake Bay are attractive to retirees and mentioned Northumberland County specifically. Years earlier, market and housing analysis firm czb stated that the Northern Neck, and part...

Democrat candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Delegate are participating in the Virginia Democratic Candidates Forum, Saturday, March 1, 11a-1p at Masonic Lodge (1434 Good Luck Road, Kilmarnock). The public is encouraged to attend. Forum features: Meet the candidates : All Democrat candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Delegate will attend Sign petitions to get candidates on the ballot Learn about NNK county Democratic committees , Lancaster County Democratic Committee , Northumberland County Democratic Committee , and Westmoreland Democratic Committee Meet others interested in electing people who share your values Buy lunch and support your county organization Direct questions to Northumberland County Dems via email . This is the first of a series of events sponsored by the county organizations together and individually. Get the outreach materials at your conv...

How will federal cuts impact Virginia? A new GA committee will determine what’s what. What do we do in the meantime? (Part I) set the stage for this post, Part II. Part III will follow soon. A brief overview of federal actions Some impacts of DOGE actions have already been felt. For example, VCU and UVA both obeyed Executive Order 14168 in advance by cancelling gender-affirming care to teens. UVA resumed care last week following a court order. As U.Va. board to meet over gender-affirming care dispute explains, The matter has become a partisan issue ignited by President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order banning all gender-affirming medical treatment for patients under 19, even in Virginia, where the Virginia Human Rights Act in the state code explicitly protects people from discrimination related to their gender identity. Despite the state law, Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, both Republicans, have voiced support for the executive order’s limitati...

On February 4, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott and Virginia House dems announced the creation of a new, time-sensitive committee to assess the potential impact of federal actions by DOGE and the president on Virginia. Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions is a 12-member, bipartisan committee that will “will assess the potential economic and budgetary consequences of federal cutbacks and provide policy recommendations to mitigate negative effects on Virginia’s families, economy, and state budget.” Federal cuts could affect all of Virginia — a new committee hopes to determine how provides an all-around view of the committee and the struggles of Virginians to date. Part II, being published tomorrow, will consider the potential impacts and thoughts about what we might do in the meantime.

The Journalist's Resource has curated a list of important health-related data collections; find them in As the US government removes health websites and data, here’s a list of non-government data alternatives and archives . Harvard dataverse is a free data repository open to all researchers from any discipline, both inside and outside of the Harvard community, where you can share, archive, cite, access, and explore research data. Each individual Dataverse collection is a customizable collection of datasets (or a virtual repository) for organizing, managing, and showcasing datasets. ( Source ) Congressional District Health Dashboard Congressional District Health Dashboard provides measures of health and its drivers at the congressional district level, showing how each district is doing on health outcomes, social and economic factors and other measures. The Dashboard was created at the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine with the support of...

Will Virginia fund college food pantries or leave students struggling? considers an important question. And for those not familiar with the struggles of students attending community college, this Virginia Merc piece provides an insight into one of many challenges facing today’s students: Access to food. Rappahannock Community College has two pantries, one on the Glenns campus and one in Warsaw. Calleds “Squall’s Stall,” the pantries offer “Fresh, frozen, non-perishable and personal hygiene items are available to RCC students, faculty, and employees. Grab-and-go items are available too.” Given that we know SNAP usage in three NNK counties is higher than the state average, it's not a stretch to believe that food insecurity is common among community college students. In House actions may negatively impact NNK residents on SNAP we wrote, According to American Community Survey 5-Year data (2017-2021), three of the four counties on the Northern Neck―Lancaster (9.4%), Richmond (...

If county population data are important to you, Virginia’s fastest-growing counties, mapped summarizes growth and decline from the 2014-2018 time period to the 2019-2023 time period. The map is based on Census data, linked in the article. The image above shows the Axios-created map and highlights the data change for the four NNK counties. Breaking News USA is a new news aggregator and directory of a ton of “as many left news and information sources as possible.” Sources include “news sites, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, whatever.” ( Source ) Have a favorite line from a movie? Find the clip of a movie quote in Clip.Cafe . For example, watch the 11-second clip from Working Girl about the bosses bony ass . Love this movie! Social Media Trends for Nonprofit Communicators in 2025 , Thursday, February 20, 1:00–2:00 pm: An hour-long webinar and comes with a 30+-page e-book.

The open air burn law is in effect Saturday, February 15 through Wednesday, April 30 . Open air burns which take place closer than 300 feet to woods or dry grass are only allowed between 4:00 pm and midnight. These fires must be attended at all times. The Virginia Department of Forestry’s article Before You Burn provides additional information about the burn ban including what items cannot be burned, precautions, and alternatives to burning. 4 PM Burning Law is also a good read. Photo: Burning Brush Pile by OO87adam used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Join Senators Warner and Kaine for a telephone town hall Monday, February 10 at 6:00 pm . Dial in to hear directly from them: (833) 425-1494.

As I wrote in this Bluesky post , For federal employees: @kaine.senate.gov ’s office has set up this form www.kaine.senate.gov/federalworkers for you to share your concerns and how the ongoing disruptions are impacting you “You are not required to submit your name and contact information.If you choose to submit the form anonymously, this will limit our ability to follow up with you. If you choose to include your name and contact information, we will not share your information or story beyond Senator Kaine’s office without your consent.” #fucktrump #takeaction #protectyourself

From a friend of a friend on Facebook (lightly edited): I'm calling the Chairs of the Finance Committees in the House and Senate, the Treasury Secretary, and my own Rep/Senators. [RS here: But also a lot of us can go to in-state offices of our reps in person and demand action] The names and numbers : Financial Services Committee - House: French Hill, R-Chairman - (202) 225-2506; Maxine Waters, D-ranking - (202) 225-2201 Financial Services – Senate: Ron Wyden, D – ranking - (202) 224-5244; Mike Crapo –R, Chairman - (202) 224-6142; Scott Bessent – Secretary of the Treasury - (202) 622-2000 (general number) Call scripts. Note that the changes in the script are in the last two sentences. : For French Hill/Mike Crapo : “[Rep Hill/Sen Crapo] – I’m calling express my great concern regarding Elon Musk’s access to various federal payment systems. Musk was not elected and DOGE is not a legal entity of the US government. I believe this represents a grave ...

Congressman Rob Wittman has mobile office hours ! Who knew?! He does. My rec is to go and tell the MC and staff your priorities. Cooper Branch Library (20 Washington Ave, Colonial Beach): First Monday of every month, 9:00 - 11:00 am Lancaster Community Library (16 Town Centre Dr, Kilmarnock): Second Tuesday of each month, 10:00 am - Noon Essex Public Library (117 N Church Ln, Tappahannock): Second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, 10:00 am - Noon (I know Essex County is not on the NNK but Tappahannock is accessible) Old Circuit Court (5840 Richmond Rd, Warsaw): First and third Wednesdays of each month, 10:00 am - Noon My priorities are for Wittman to lead (generally; he's a follower and lap dog), govern, and specifically, to tell the president that he is overstepping and to stop. Most important, though, is for our MC to protect “the last, the least, and the lost.” Need a primer on this last bit? Read The Meanin...