A week after the announcement of the first budget surplus in years, the Senate Appropriation Committee announced it will hold off on a number of tax initiatives that would have impacted many constituents across the state.

John Miller has spent his life around firearms.

"I grew up with firearms of all kinds, taught to respect and how to use and care for a gun as well as been shooting since I was very young," he said.

Today, Miller passes that expertise along to others, working as a martial arts teacher in Roanoke and Vinton, Va. So, when he hears the way politicians, the media, and lobbyist groups talk about gun ownership, Miller says it's "fear-mongering" and "propaganda."

The week of May 13^th, the Associated Press revealed a report that the Justice Department had obtained phone conversations of various reporters and editors of their news service.

report filed by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) claims that the Afghan Ministry of Finance has levied $921 million in business taxes against contractors supporting the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, despite existing agreements that such organizations are tax exempt.

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Thinking like big businesses may be the key driving force in transforming the nation’s colleges and universities, according to researchers at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan organization.

The Lessons We Didn't Learn