In 2007, the General Assembly passed a law requiring girls to be vaccinated against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus before entering the sixth grade.

Now, two measures before the General Assembly would repeal that requirement: House Bill 95, proposed by Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas; and HB 1112, sponsored by Republican Delegates Kathy Byron of Lynchburg and Timothy Hugo of Centreville.

Would a $100 fine and community service time stop you from flicking your cigarette butt out of your car window? Henrico Del. Joseph Morrissey, D-47th, thinks so.

For the second year, Morrissey has proposed to include cigarettes in an established bill prohibiting litter on public property or private property without consent. Any violator would be required to perform community service in litter activities and pay a $100 penalty to the Litter Control and Recycling Fund.

Delegate Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, is sponsoring two bills that would empower Virginians to use lethal force against an intruder in their home.

House Bill 47 would grant civil immunity to anyone who injures or kills someone while defending their home from another person who has posed a threat of injury to the other or has entered the home unlawfully.

House Bill 48 would enshrine in Virginia law the “Castle Doctrine” that about 30 other states have. The bill would allow the use of physical or deadly force in someone’s home if an intruder has committed an “overt act against him.”

Parents should think twice about scheduling a family vacation at the end of August or in early September.

Gov. Robert McDonnell wants to give Virginia school systems the authority to start classes before Labor Day.

McDonnell has proposed repealing Virginia’s so-called “Kings Dominion law,” which prohibits public schools from opening before Labor Day unless they obtain a waiver from the state.

Such waivers have become commonplace: Of the 132 school districts in Virginia, 77 of them received a waiver for this school year.

Virginia Democratic leaders are speaking out against Republican legislation that they said seeks to make abortion illegal and even might restrict access to some forms of legal birth control.

The Democrats lashed out at House Bill 1, which would define a human embryo or fetus as a person under state law. The bill, introduced by Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, states that, beginning at conception, unborn children have “all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this Commonwealth,” regardless of their stage of development.

The bill also declares that, “Unborn children have protectable interests in life, health, and well-being.”

It will be harder to get an abortion in Virginia because of two laws passed by the 2011 General Assembly.

Under House Bill 2434, abortions will not be covered by certain private insurance plans in Virginia. On April 6, the General Assembly upheld Gov. Bob McDonnell’s amendments to bar insurers from covering abortions if they participate in Virginia’s health benefits exchange program.

The Virginia Historical Society’s “Unknown No Longer” slave names database is just one of the steps toward connecting today’s African-Americans to their past. But sometimes giving a voice to the past is not simply a click away.

On Dec. 1, 2009, bars and restaurants across Virginia were ordered to put out their cigarettes or renovate their buildings to accommodate non-smokers. A year and a half later, how effective is the ban?