A two-year, $70 billion dollar budget and new legislation... 

National health care reform and a lawsuit filed by Virginia’s Attorney General... 

There have been several dynamic political developments in recent weeks and on this edition of What Matters, we’ll review them with our panel of political experts.

Daily Press political reporter Kimball Payne, Virginian-Pilot editorial page editor Don Luzzatto, Virginian-Pilot editorial writer Christina Nuckols, and Christopher Newport University political science professor Dr. Quentin Kidd join host Cathy Lewis for the discussion.

Training tomorrow’s medical minds.

Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk was once a fledgling enterprise created in the 1960’s from the fear there wouldn’t be enough physicians to serve a growing Hampton Roads. Today, nearly one in four local physicians has touched EVMS in some way and it’s poised for a major growth spurt under the direction of its leader.

This week, join host Cathy Lewis for a one-on-one conversation with the President of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Harry Lester. 

  

Are our schools teaching 50 year old science?

When most of us were in school we had Math and Science classes.  Today, there is a growing concern among many educators and professionals that those courses just aren’t measuring up for a 21st century world.  One of the educational strategies that has been developed to address these deficits is called STEM education: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

This week on What Matters, we get schooled on these initiatives with Jim Batterson, a former NASA engineer who was Senior Advisor to the Commonwealth for STEM Initiatives under the Kaine Administration and Rick Lally who is the Chairman Emeritus Hampton Roads Technology Council.

In this episode, What Matters producer, Danny Epperson, takes us to the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond and Clover Hill Elementary School in Midlothian to show STEM education initiatives in action!