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Del. Terry Kilgore elected Virginia House Republican Leader

Del. Terry Kilgore elected Virginia House Republican Leader

Yahoo2 days ago

VIRGINIA (WJHL) — Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott) was elected the Virginia House Republican Leader on Sunday.
A post by Kilgore said he was honored to be elected to lead the House GOP. Kilgore represents the 45th District in Virginia, which encompasses Scott and Lee counties, part of Wise County, and the City of Norton.
Kilgore will step into the role after current leader Del. Todd Gilbert submitted an offer to step down while he pursues a federal position as the U.S. attorney for Virginia's Western District.
Virginia's Senate Republicans released the following statement on Sunday after Kilgore was elected House leader:
'I want to extend my sincere thanks to Republican Leader Todd Gilbert for his years of tireless service to the House of Delegates and to the people of Virginia. His leadership, integrity, and unwavering commitment to our conservative values have left a lasting legacy in the General Assembly and across the Commonwealth. He has been a steady voice for common sense and a fierce advocate for hardworking Virginians.
'I also want to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Delegate Terry Kilgore on being elected the new House Republican Leader. I look forward to working closely with Leader Kilgore as we continue advancing policies that grow our economy, keep our communities safe, educate our children, and make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.'
Virginia Senate Leader Ryan T. McDougle
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Editorial: Strapped for time, Springfield punts on transit funding and reform
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Editorial: Strapped for time, Springfield punts on transit funding and reform

State lawmakers left a large pile of major issues on their agenda for the waning hours of the 2025 spring session. Very few of them were addressed other than the must-pass budget for fiscal 2026. Color us unsurprised. Despite a $1 billion shortfall that had to be plugged, the $55 billion budget proved to be anticlimactic, largely hewing to the outline Gov. JB Pritzker offered in February. So what passed for news in the capital emanated mainly from what didn't happen rather than what did. At the top of that list was the fiscal crisis the Chicago-area's public transit agencies are facing, which those agencies have said will mean substantial service reductions if Springfield doesn't act in the coming months. Following the end of the session, Pritzker and legislative leaders said the General Assembly likely would take the unusual step of acting over the summer on the issue. That's good. For the sake of commuters and the region's economy, they should act well before what would normally be the next opportunity — the fall veto session in November. Springfield should learn from the mistakes of the just-concluded session. Everyone has known for over a year that a transit overhaul and rescue needs to happen, and yet the effort still turned into the equivalent of an all-nighter for a student who hasn't done the coursework over the semester. The mad scramble for funding sources to plug the transit agencies' $770 million budget hole foundered, as rank-and-file lawmakers, stakeholders and most importantly the public were given no time for due consideration and feedback. The typical Springfield gambit of waiting until the eleventh hour to spring controversial initiatives on the public in order to keep determined opposition from forming backfired spectacularly. 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Making the idea worse was that Democrats in the Senate added a provision forbidding retailers (yes, like pizza makers) from showing the tax in a separate line item on their receipts. Nothing says confidence in your own policy-making like doing your utmost to keep consumers (most of whom double as voters) from understanding why their costs have risen so much. It was the Democratic version of President Donald Trump's temper tantrum in late April when news surfaced that Amazon was considering showing customers the cost of tariffs in their product purchases from its low-cost website dubbed Haul. So when lawmakers reconvene to take another stab at transit reform and funding, they should learn from this setback and embrace transparency. They must be more open with the public about the tax and fee mechanisms on the table and allow time for feedback. 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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@

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Editorial: Strapped for time, Springfield punts on transit funding and reform
Editorial: Strapped for time, Springfield punts on transit funding and reform

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Editorial: Strapped for time, Springfield punts on transit funding and reform

State lawmakers left a large pile of major issues on their agenda for the waning hours of the 2025 spring session. Very few of them were addressed other than the must-pass budget for fiscal 2026. Color us unsurprised. Despite a $1 billion shortfall that had to be plugged, the $55 billion budget proved to be anticlimactic, largely hewing to the outline Gov. JB Pritzker offered in February. So what passed for news in the capital emanated mainly from what happen rather than what did. At the top of that list was the fiscal crisis the Chicago-area's public transit agencies are facing, which those agencies have said will mean substantial service reductions if Springfield doesn't act in the coming months. Following the end of the session, Pritzker and legislative leaders said the General Assembly likely would take the unusual step of acting over the summer on the issue. That's good. For the sake of commuters and the region's economy, they should act well before what would normally be the next opportunity — the fall veto session in November. Springfield should learn from the mistakes of the just-concluded session. Everyone has known for over a year that a transit overhaul and rescue needs to happen, and yet the effort still turned into the equivalent of an all-nighter for a student who hasn't done the coursework over the semester. The mad scramble for funding sources to plug the transit agencies' $770 million budget hole foundered, as rank-and-file lawmakers, stakeholders and most importantly the public were given no time for due consideration and feedback. The typical Springfield gambit of waiting until the eleventh hour to spring controversial initiatives on the public in order to keep determined opposition from forming backfired spectacularly. 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Making the idea worse was that Democrats in the Senate added a provision forbidding retailers (yes, like pizza makers) from showing the tax in a separate line item on their receipts. Nothing says confidence in your own policy-making like doing your utmost to keep consumers (most of whom double as voters) from understanding why their costs have risen so much. It was the Democratic version of President Donald Trump's temper tantrum in late April when news surfaced that Amazon was considering showing customers the cost of tariffs in their product purchases from its low-cost website dubbed Haul. So when lawmakers reconvene to take another stab at transit reform and funding, they should learn from this setback and embrace transparency. They must be more open with the public about the tax and fee mechanisms on the table and allow time for feedback. As we said last week before the unproductive weekend in the capital began, safe and reliable public transit is critical to the region and the state. And the need for more revenue is inescapable. But public acceptance of whatever funding solution emerges, even if grudging, is critical to ensuring this rescue mission succeeds. And to win that support, Springfield must break with the cloak-and-dagger machinations and engage the public. For the lawmakers, there's really nothing to lose at this point by being transparent given that people now have seen the sausage-making. Thirty-two senators are on record having voted for the pizza tax and have nothing to show for it. While we acknowledge that settling on an appropriate source of money is delicate and complicated, we believe it's not impossible to find a means the public can accept. But to achieve that, a proposal must have two attributes. First, it has to be broadly and fairly distributed among constituencies who have a legitimate stake in the future of public transit — including, by the way, those paying CTA bus and train fares that could stand to rise a little, if only to $3 or $3.50. Second, it must be related as directly as possible to the issue at hand. Part of the problem here is that Chicago's disastrous privatization of parking meters and the Chicago Skyway has reduced some of the logical levers and private garages already are drowning in some of the highest tax rates in the nation. Still, ride-share taxes are clearly in the same world. So for that matter is congestion pricing. Congestion pricing in New York, even though it has been the subject of controversy, has the virtue of generating revenue for public transportation in a city that is traffic-choked by any definition. 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