Nicholas Benton

What will the MAGA movement be like without Trump, come whatever point he is removed from the picture? It is an important question because it is exactly what we will be facing going forward. If we think that simply doing away with Trump is going to solve America’s problems, then a sobering look at the

Virginia’s Governor Abigail Spanberger last week signed an important executive order to strengthen Virginia’s comprehensive approach to protecting election integrity, improve Virginia’s election security processes and interagency cooperation at the state level, and reenter Virginia into the 26-state Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). Gov. Spanberger’s executive order directs the Commissioner of the Department of

Who are you, really? The biggest problem in politics, much less love and war where all things are fair, is the elusive nature of our very being as humans on this planet. For example, all the efforts at emergency redistricting by Trump and anti-Trumpers is predicated on historic voting patterns. But they do not take

The volume of misleading and deceptive claims in ads by pro-Trump forces urging a “No” vote on next Tuesday’s referendum in Virginia is deeply troubling and, in many cases, beyond the pale, like pro-Trump billionaire Peter Thiel’s heavy funding of so many of those ads. In this column last week, I pointed to Lincoln’s concept

Virginia lived up to its legacy as a birthplace of liberty this week. A critical referendum that effectively blocks the latest move by pro-Trump forces to undercut free and fair elections in the U.S. was passed, thanks to every Virginia resident who contributed to the effort. This was a particularly tough referendum, because the issue

Communities across the country—and especially in high-cost regions like Northern Virginia—are increasingly confronting a difficult tension: the urgent push to expand affordable housing and the equally persistent resistance from residents wary of change in their neighborhoods. Often framed as a clash between policy goals and public sentiment, the divide is more complex than a simple

Yes, it looks like Falls Church residents will be provided a very small bit of tax relief with the budget that should be approved next Monday night. A half penny on the real estate tax rate will offer about $50 of relief in a year when assessments are still booming, meaning the average residential taxpayer is still going to be hit with tax bills hundreds higher next fiscal year (the first bill due in December). Overall, though, it must be noted the City’s tax rate has been dropped from $1.355 per $100 of assessed valuation to $1.18 in recent years, even while a new state of the art high school was built and major improvements made to City Hall, the Mary Riley Styles Public Library and other City schools.

In an uncommonly candid and personal response to a query by this newspaper on the collateral consequence of what the redistricting referendum was designed to cause, namely, the moving of the boundaries of his 8th Congressional district out of the City of Falls Church, in an exclusive remark to this newspaper U.S. Rep. Don Beyer

It was a tight squeeze in the Dogwood Room at City Hall Monday night for a Falls Church City Council work session on the proposed development of affordable housing at the 4-acre Virginia Village site on S. Maple. Guests Monday included the Planning Commission, Housing Commission, Economic Development Authority and more, including very attentive audience

Three Essential Causes for Human Survival: Water, Housing and Energy Fresh water, affordable housing and abundant energy remain the defining challenges for humanity’s future. Through the course of my adult life, there have been three “big picture” causes that I still feel are essential to the continued life of human beings on this planet. They