In the latest blow to local journalism, The Richmond Free Press, Richmond’s African American weekly newspaper, is shutting down after over three decades of operations. 

Below, I report on a bill to make health care more affordable in a way both sides of the aisle can agree on. 

And I share the story I wish I’d written about Virginia Democrats’ meme-poster in chief. 

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Most days, I’m looking into things that Democrats and Republicans disagree on. So it was nice to do some reporting today on something they actually reached consensus about.  

I’m talking about Wednesday’s 98 to 0 vote in the Virginia House of Delegates in support of lowering the cost of insulin from $50 to $35 for a 30-day supply, and establishing a cap of $35 for a 30-day supply of diabetes equipment and supplies.

By one estimate, 10% of Virginians have diabetes, and tens of thousands more get diagnosed with it every year. It’s a chronic disease that touches many people, but it’s taken a long time for the consensus to emerge that the medication to treat it needs to be more affordable. 

The work is far from over. 

As important as lowering the costs of life-saving medicine is, it raises the question of why medicine as essential as insulin costs anything at all. 

The bill I report on today only lowers the costs for people with insurance. For people without insurance, the costs of health care are higher than they should be. 

More Virginians are expected to become uninsured after Republicans in Congress blocked the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits and made major cuts to Medicaid.

Time will tell if more help is on the way.

• Some Domino’s workers in Blacksburg went on strike. Watch as one speaks out against the disrespect service workers like her have to deal with. 

• A bill to extend the state minimum wage to farm workers passed in the Virginia House of Delegates, Sara Matthews of Capital News Service reports. 

• Fairfax County leaders are pledging more outreach to individuals who panhandle locally after hearing the results of a rare panhandling survey, Scott McCaffrey of FFXnow reports.

(AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Something that’s easy to forget is that hunger is a real issue in this country and in Virginia. 

Over a million people in Virginia deal with hunger and hundreds of thousands of them are children. And yet, where are the solutions to this problem? 

I came across two headlines that sum up the situation.

On the one hand, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported earlier this week: “Free school breakfast idea stumbles in General Assembly.”

And today I came across this headline from the Virginia Gazette: “Community food locker at Sentara Williamsburg will provide food for those in need.”

So while the public social safety net remains threadbare with lawmakers unwilling to step up, people are forced to rely on the charity of private companies. 

Here’s hoping lawmakers find a way to address the hunger crisis in Virginia.

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I try to avoid sharing paywalled articles but the headline on this one from The Bulwark is too good:

“How an 82-Year-Old Great-Grandmother Became a Master-Class Dem Shitposter”

This is, of course, in reference to none other than Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas from Portsmouth. 

The Bulwark reports:

“Throughout the redistricting fight, she’s made memes of herself as Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones (or, in this case, congressional districts). She’s trolled her Republican rivals, as with this meme making fun of GOP Rep. Rob Wittman for reportedly complaining in private about the redistricting effort (Wittman will likely lose his seat if the new map is approved).”

Three cheers for more elected officials posting their way through our policy debates.

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