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GOP lawmakers outline bill to ease tolls for Northern Va. commuters

Virginia Republican lawmakers say they plan to introduce legislation next week to bring toll relief to Northern Virginia commuters, including cutting new tolling hours on Interstate 66. “We’re very concerned about the really astronomical levels of tolls that are being imposed on people in Northern Virginia,” said Virginia Sen. Dick Black, who represents the 13th District, covering parts of Loudoun and Prince William counties. Read More...

Senator Black at Cornerstone Chapel

Senator Black reads a poem by Cpl. Edward Austin on Memorial Day. Cpl. Austin wrote the poem the night before he was killed in action in Vietnam on April 21st, 1967.

Senator Dick Black on WMAL talking about his Sanctuary City Bill

The Dick Black You Might Not Know

To report on Black’s legislative record, while interesting, would be nothing new. Instead, The Tribune met with Black this month to probe for the influences on his life — the experiences that shaped his world view and values, and how he has handled adversity. It offered up a side of Black that is rarely exposed, but that family and friends attest is the man they know in private. Read More...

Virginia Attorney General weighs in on Prince William School Board appointment

The Prince William County School Board “has both the duty and the sole authority” to appoint a temporary replacement for Brentsville representative Gil Trenum, a Navy reservist preparing for a yearlong deployment to Africa, according to an “unofficial opinion” issued by the Virginia attorney general’s office this morning. Read More...

Loudoun supervisors vote on alternative to Umstattd’s LGBT resolution

Loudoun's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night approved a motion from Supervisor Ron Meyer (R-Broad Run) recognizing the month of July as "Love Loudoun Month" as a way to honor the victims of the June 12 terrorist attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Read More...

Plans for State Park in Loudoun Advance with Land Transfer

Loudoun County is officially home to a state park, following a deed recording Tuesday.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced plans for the park in northwestern Loudoun just before leaving office in 2014. Since then, efforts have focused on transferring the assemblage of land on the Blue Ridge to the state government. Read More...

Senator Black, Protecting Women and Families From the Beginning

Click on the picture for an article from 1984 where Lt. Col. Richard Black, the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA), talks about the priorities for the Judge Advocate General's office in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO.

Quote from the article:
Black, who figures to be the staff SJA at Fort Wood for about the next three years, says that DWI, spouse abuse and child abuse aren't just a special concern to the Army. They are also of personal concern to him. "I would never make predictions about what we would do in a particular case," Black says, "but I can tell you that we are much more likely to pursue a case of spouse abuse or child abuse than we were in the past."

The Hybrid Option for Dominion Power Lines Supported By Sen. Dick Black

Dominion Virginia Power officials say they won't recommend the three transmission routes the company had already considered for a Haymarket 230 kV double circuit transmission line and substation project. Read More...

Audio and Video of Senator Black

We have recently posted a number of new audio interviews and videos of Senator Black.

Head over to the AUDIO and VIDEO pages to check them out!

Audit Pushed By Senator Black Finds 2,369 Untested Rape Kits

THERE ARE 2,369 rape kits sitting on Virginia shelves untested. That’s 2,369 crime victims who, after experiencing the trauma of sexual assault, submitted to an intrusive and painstaking examination designed to collect DNA evidence and identify a perpetrator. It’s an unknown number of rapists who might have been caught but have walked free. It is a failure on the part of Virginia police departments and a symptom of a national epidemic. Read More...

Senator Black Fights to Take Rapists Off the Streets

Many of the more than 2,000 rape kits left to languish in police departments around Virginia should have been submitted for testing but weren’t, according to an audit released this month.

State Sen. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun), who led the push for the audit, said he will ask Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to include funding for testing in his next budget. Read More...

Democrats, interest groups unrelenting in campaign to unseat Sen. Dick Black

Many Loudouners may not be aware, but for Virginia politicos, it's no secret: The state Senate's 13th District, located predominately in Loudoun, is the hottest race of the state's 2015 cycle. State Sen. Dick Black (R), a former Marine and Pentagon lawyer, is seeking re-election in the 13th against Democratic newcomer Jill McCabe, a doctor and the medical director of Inova Loudoun Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department.

The Black-vs-McCabe match-up has weighty ramifications for public policy in the state and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's one and only term. Republicans currently have a one-seat advantage in the upper chamber, with 21 members to Democrats' 19. Thus, if Democrats hold on to their current seats and pick up one, forming a 20-20 Senate, they essentially hold the majority thanks to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam's (D) tie-breaking vote. Read More...

Ghost of 460 looms over new Va. transportation deals like I-66

As Virginia considers whether to build new toll lanes on Interstate 66 using a full public-private partnership, the specter of recent failed “P3s” is hard to avoid anywhere in Virginia politics. Read More...

Long-awaited Va. traffic fix officially opens

GAINESVILLE, Va. — A ceremonial ribbon cutting Thursday signaled the official opening of the Route 29 and Linton Hall Road interchange project in Gainesville — a project that many hope alleviate a traffic headache.

The interchange project has, for the first time, eliminated the angled railroad crossing in the area just off Interstate 66 that could be dangerous and lead to major traffic backups. The $230 million project is still getting some finishing touches, but state and local leaders at the ribbon cutting say all the major pieces have now been completed. Read More..

U.S. Navy Reserves Celebrate Centennial In Leesburg

Area elected representatives presented the U.S. Navy Reserves with a proclamation Tuesday morning in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the military body.

The presentation was made in front of the World War I Memorial on the Loudoun County Courthouse grounds. That was the first war in which the U.S. Navy Reserves took part.

State Sen. Dick Black (R-13) served on the U.S.S. Iwo Jima and flew 269 combat helicopter missions in Vietnam for the Marines, and he said he knows firsthand the sacrifices that military members make. Read More...

The Hybrid Option for Dominion Power Lines Supported By Sen. Dick Black

Dominion Virginia Power officials say they won't recommend the three transmission routes the company had already considered for a Haymarket 230 kV double circuit transmission line and substation project. Read More...

Audit Pushed By Senator Black Finds 2,369 Untested Rape Kits

THERE ARE 2,369 rape kits sitting on Virginia shelves untested. That’s 2,369 crime victims who, after experiencing the trauma of sexual assault, submitted to an intrusive and painstaking examination designed to collect DNA evidence and identify a perpetrator. It’s an unknown number of rapists who might have been caught but have walked free. It is a failure on the part of Virginia police departments and a symptom of a national epidemic. Read More...

Senator Black Fights to Take Rapists Off the Streets

Many of the more than 2,000 rape kits left to languish in police departments around Virginia should have been submitted for testing but weren’t, according to an audit released this month.

State Sen. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun), who led the push for the audit, said he will ask Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to include funding for testing in his next budget. Read More...

Va. General Assembly to consider recommendations of task force on sex assault

WASHINGTON — The Virginia General Assembly next year will likely take up some of the recommendations a state task force made to help sexual assault victims on college campuses and to help prevent assaults. Sen. Dick Black, R-Loudoun, said he expects lawmakers to “pull some ideas” from the recommendations made Thursday by the task force. Read More...

Senator Black's Legislative Wrap Up

What a difference a year makes. Last year, at this time, the General Assembly was deadlocked. With a Democrat majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the House, there was no end in sight to a budget stalemate that ultimately dragged on until mid-June. Read More..

ISIS Lists Loudoun’s Sen. Black As ‘Enemy’

A magazine published by the Islamic State has singled out Virginia Sen. Richard H. Black (R-13) and named him an enemy of the terrorist group.

The magazine Dabiq calls Black, along with former presidential candidate Rick Santorum and CIA veteran and author Gary Berntsen, “crusaders.” The most recent issue features full page photos of the men under the label, “In the words of the enemy.” Read More..

Dick Black's Chaplain Protection Bill Signed Into Law!

New Virginia law protects chaplains from censorship

RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed into law a bill protecting Virginia National Guard chaplains from censorship — a measure similar to one he vetoed last year.

Senate Bill 690 states that “the religious content of sermons, homilies, preaching, religious messages, or other speeches within religious services made by chaplains of the Virginia National Guard … or of the Virginia Defense Force shall not be censored or restricted by any state government official or agency.” Read More...

House, Senate approve sexual assault bills

The House and Senate passed nearly identical omnibus legislation Tuesday designed to hold sexual offenders on college campuses accountable. Both chambers approved scaled-back versions of mandatory reporting bills, which initially would have required faculty or staff members to report information on assaults directly to law enforcement.

As passed 97-3 by the House of Delegates and 38-0 by the Senate, the legislation instead establishes campus Title IX coordinators as the intermediaries for reporting. The compromise addresses concerns about victim confidentiality while conforming the proposals to U.S. Department of Education regulations that address how colleges respond to sex discrimination. Read More...

VA Lawmakers Taking on Common Core Educational System

RICHMOND, Va (WVIR) - The controversial "Common Core" education standards put in place by the majority of other states - but not Virginia - could soon be even less likely to come to the commonwealth. Read More...