Governor McDonnell Announces Board and Commission Appointments

English: Governor of Virginia at CPAC in . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell today announced appointments to one board of visitors: Christopher Newport University. The governor also announced appointments to twelve other Virginia boards and commissions.

Board Appointments

Board of Visitors:

Christopher Newport University Board of Visitors

·         Mark Rodgers of Burke, Principal of The Clapham Group

Additional Board Appointments:

Advisory Board on Massage Therapy

·         Jermaine Mincey of Alexandria, Patent Examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Board for Barbers and Cosmetology

·         Jonathan Minor* of Henrico, Owner of JT’s Barbers & Beauty

Board of Long-term Care Administrators

·         Erna Hochstein of Herndon, Retired from Washington Gas Company and a Stained Glass Artist with Virginia Stained Glass Company

Citizen’s Advisory Council on Furnishing and Interpreting the Executive Mansion

·         Susan Brown Allen of Alexandria, Former First Lady of Virginia (’94-’98)

·         Thomas E. Camden of Glasgow, Associate Professor at Washington and Lee University and Head of Special Collections and Archives at Washington and Lee University Libraries

·         Will Paulsen of Charlottesville, Fine and Decorative Arts Appraiser

·         Alexander Reeves of Richmond, Fine Art and Antiques Broker

·         Sarah Scarbrough, PhD of Moseley, Internal Program Director for the City of Richmond Sheriff’s Office

·         Rita Moyer Smith of Midlothian, Consultant

Governor's Advisory Board on Service and Volunteerism

·         Vanessa Diamond of Richmond, Executive Director for HandsOn Greater Richmond and Vice President of The Partnership for Non-Profit Excellence 

State Board of Health

·         Theresa Middleton Brosche of Spotsylvania, Registered Nurse and Adjunct Faculty with Germanna Community College Nursing Program & SUNY Delhi’s RN to BSN Nursing Program

·         Henry N. Kuhlman of Henrico, Manager, Inventory and Advanced Logistics with Owens & Minor

State Historical Records Advisory Board

·         Sara Baron, Ed.D.* of Hampton, Dean of Regent University Library

·         Brooks Miles Barnes* of Onancock, Librarian

·         Dr. Nashid Madyun of Hampton, Director of University Museum and Archives at Hampton University  

·         Dr. Aaron D. Purcell* of Blacksburg, Director of Special Collections at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Treasury Board

·         Neil Amin of Richmond, CEO of Shamin Hotels 

Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission

·         H.F. Haymore, Jr. of Danville, Clerk of the Pittsylvania County Circuit Court

Virginia Pork Industry Board

·         John Voss of South Boston, Farmer

Virginia Public Building Authority

·         John Mahone, Chair of Richmond, retired

·         Kevin O’Neill of Williamsburg, Partner and Deputy Chairman of the Public Policy Department for Patton Boggs LLP

Virginia Workforce Council

·         Nathaniel X. Marshall of Lynchburg, Human Resource Generalist with Babcock & Wilcox

*Denotes re-appointment

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Governor McDonnell Announces New Leadership Elected to the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority

English: The state seal of Virginia.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Consortium to promote Virginia’s role as a key leader in nuclear energy

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell announced today the election of leadership to the newly formed Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC) Authority.  The 17-member board of directors has elected as its chairman Marshall Cohen, Vice President of Government Affairs and Communications at The Babcock and Wilcox Company.  The board elected Donald Hoffman, President and CEO of Excel Services Corporation and President of the American Nuclear Society, to serve as its vice-chairman. Sama Bilbao y Leon, Associate Professor and Director of Nuclear Engineering Programs at VCU was elected treasurer for the Authority.  Bob Bailey, Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Engineering & Research was elected as Secretary. 

“Nuclear energy is an important piece of our ‘all of the above’ approach to energy development not just in Virginia, but across our nation,” said Governor McDonnell.  “Virginia has a unique opportunity to lead in the nuclear energy sector, creating jobs for our citizens, developing a workforce that can meet the needs of the industry and conducting research to advance new nuclear technologies. We are home to two nuclear power generation facilities, operated by Dominion Virginia Power, a shipyard that builds the nation’s nuclear Navy, strong research institutions expanding their work in nuclear engineering and related fields, Babcock &  Wilcox, Areva and other significant companies in the nuclear energy sector. Bringing these assets together around the table to develop research partnerships, workforce pipelines, information resources and educational opportunities will support and expanding industry and be good for all Virginians.  I thank the newly elected leaders for their service and commitment to making Virginia a nuclear energy leader.”

Following today’s meeting of the VNEC Authority, Chairman Marshall Cohen said, “I appreciate the opportunity to lead the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium in its first year as we work to promote Virginia’s rich, diverse and important nuclear industry and encourage additional collaboration and partnerships here in the Commonwealth.  Nuclear energy is responsible for thousands of good-paying jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity in Virginia. We appreciate Governor McDonnell and the General Assembly’s leadership in the formation of the consortium and for recognizing the importance of nuclear industry in Virginia. I look forward to continuing our important work with Governor-elect McAuliffe in the coming years.”

The VNEC Authority was formed as a result of Governor McDonnell’s legislation during the 2013 session of the General Assembly.  Senator McWaters patroned SB1138 and Delegate Scott Garrett patronedHB1790 to establish the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority as a political subdivision of the Commonwealth for the purposes of making the Commonwealth a national and global leader in nuclear energy and serving as an interdisciplinary study, research, and information resource on nuclear energy issues.

The full membership of the VNEC Authority Board of Directors is below:

·         Marshall Cohen of Fairfax, Vice President of Government Affairs and Communications at The Babcock and Wilcox Company

·         David Christian of Toano, Executive Vice President of Dominion Resources and CEO of Dominion Generation

·         Colleen Deegan of Rockville, Maryland, Vice President of Government Programs for Bechtel

·         Donald R. Hoffman of Bethesda, Maryland, President and CEO of Excel Services Corporation and President of the American Nuclear Society

·         Maureen Matsen of Richmond, Counsel for Christopher Newport University

·         Matthew J. Mulherin of Yorktown, President of Newport News Shipbuilding and Corporate Vice President of Huntington Ingalls Industries

·         Dr. Ganapati Myneni of Yorktown, Senior Scientist at Jefferson Lab

·         Michael Rencheck of Powell, Ohio, President and CEO of AREVA, Inc.

·         Ron Sones of Gladstone, Professor of Business at Liberty University and President of SIBS LLC

·         Kiyoshi Yamauchi of Arlington, Chief Executive Director of Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems, Inc.

·         Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy or his designee

·         President and Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership or his designee

·         The Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System or his designee

·         The President of the University of Virginia or his designee

·         The President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University or his designee

·         The President of George Mason University or his designee

·         The President of Virginia Commonwealth University or his designee

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Governor McDonnell Announces Additional $4.1 Million in Community Development Block Grant Funding

Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell speaking at CPAC. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Seven localities receive Community Improvement Grants for housing rehabilitation and downtown revitalization projects

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell announced an additional $4.1 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for four projects in Virginia. The seven community improvement projects are in addition to the $6.8 million of funding provided this year.

“The Community Development Block Grant program provides funding for localities to address numerous issues,” said Governor McDonnell.  “These projects focus on improving the lives of thousands of Virginians and utilizing all available resources to better our communities throughout Virginia.”

Since 1982, the federally-funded CDBG program has been administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and Virginia receives approximately $17 million annually for this grant program. CDBG grants are awarded through a competitive process.  Most projects benefit low- and moderate-income persons, and many projects are targeted for the prevention or elimination of slums and blighting conditions.

During this year’s competitive cycle, 35 proposals were submitted by 34 localities, and 11 projects received the initial funding. The Community Development Block Grant Program specifies that funding which has not been obligated or which has been returned from closed projects or cost under-runs by December is to be committed to proposals which did not initially receive funding in that year.

“Through the CDBG program, Virginia addresses issues including housing, economic development, health, safety and more to create great communities to live, work and do business,” said DHCD Director Bill Shelton.

2013 CDBG Community Improvement Grant Awards:

Locality	Project Name	CDBG Award
Matthews County	Matthews Court House Business District Revitalization Project	$   666,696
Town of Wytheville	Downtown Wytheville Business District Revitalization	$   700,000
City of Emporia	Belfield Business District Revitalization Project	$   719,596
Rockbridge County	Greenhouse Village Housing Production Project	$   288,936
Town of South Boston	Washington Coleman Housing Project Multi-Year Funding	$   600,000
Town of Blackstone	Church Street Project – Phase II Multi-Year Funding	$   600,000
Town of Chase City	Washington Street Housing Improvement Project Multi-Year Funding	$   535,132
	Total Recommended	$   4,110,360

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Happiness and Laughter Are Natural Immune Boosters

By Dr. Mercola

There are many studies supporting the belief that people with an upbeat and positive perspective tend to be healthier and enjoy longer lives. For example, in one study,1 the tendency to always expect the worst was linked to a 25 percent higher risk of dying before the age of 65.

Perhaps one of the most well-known forerunners of “the science of happiness” was Norman Cousins, who in 1964 was diagnosed with a life-threatening autoimmune disease. After being given a one in 500 chance of recovery, Cousins created his own laughter therapy program, which he claims was the key to his ultimate recovery.

Cousins went on to establish the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology2 in Los Angeles, California, and his book, Anatomy of an Illness, was made into a TV movie in 1984 that you can see in the video above. It's an old grainy movie. However, you can watch it if you are in a tough spot and feel you would benefit from some happy support.

Still, conventional medicine is reluctant to admit that your emotional state might have any major impact on your overall health and longevity. Perhaps this is understandable, as “happiness” is not something that can be bottled and sold at your local pharmacy.

The featured article in Scientific American3 discusses some of the latest advancements in the field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), conducted by researchers at the Cousins Center and elsewhere.

Fortunately, despite being ridiculed and rejected by mainstream science, there are still a brave few who are willing to stick their necks out to investigate how and why emotions, such as happiness, affect your physical health. As stated by Stephen Smale, an immunologist at the University of California:

“If you talk to any high-quality neurobiologist or immunologist about PNI, it will invariably generate a little snicker. But this doesn't mean the topic should be ignored forever. Someday we need to confront it and try to understand how the immune system and nervous system interact.”

Your Brain Is Wired to Your Immune System

According to the featured article, studies done in the 1980s and early 1990s revealed that your immune system and brain are actually wired together:

“[P]ortions of the nervous system connect with immune-related organs such as the thymus and bone marrow, and immune cells have receptors for neurotransmitters, suggesting that there is crosstalk.”

In some ways, this discovery can be likened to the revelation that your gut has far broader impact on your health than previously imagined—including your psychological health, as your gut and brain are actually made from the same tissue. In a very real sense, you have TWO brains; one inside your skull, and one in your intestines.

When you get down to it, why wouldn’t your emotions and mental state affect your health? It’s already well-known that stress can take a tremendous toll on your health, for example. Yet conventional scientists frown on the idea that emotions such as “happiness” or “joy” would make any difference. As reported in the featured article:

“[I]t has proved difficult to explain how this happens at the molecular level — how subjective moods connect with the vastly complex physiology of the nervous and immune systems. The field that searches for these explanations, known as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), is often criticized as lacking rigour.

[Cousins Center professor, Steve] Cole's stated aim is to fix that, and his tool of choice is genome-wide transcriptional analysis: looking at broad patterns of gene expression in cells. ‘My job is to be a hard-core tracker,’ he says. ‘How do these mental states get out into the rest of the body?’”

Stress Takes a Toll on Your Immune System

Cole and his colleagues have published a number of studies investigating the genetic effects of various mental states. Not surprisingly, they’ve discovered that different emotional states tend to alter gene expression in different ways.

For example, they found that chronic loneliness tends to result in certain types of genes being either up- or downregulated.4 Genes involved in the regulation of inflammatory response were upregulated, while genes involved with antiviral control were downregulated. The end result? Decreased immune function. According to the featured article:

“In sociable people, the reverse was true. It was a small study, but one of the first to link a psychological risk factor with a broad underlying change in gene expression.”

Through the years, studies have also been able to show the effects of stress on various biological functions. Such effects include:

• Reduced activity of virus-fighting immune cells
• Increased levels of antibodies for common viruses such as Epstein-Barr, suggesting that stress can reactivate otherwise latent viruses in your body

Related research presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Miami, Florida, found that ruminating on a stressful incident can increase your levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation in your body.5 It was the first study to directly measure this effect.

To do so, they asked 34 healthy young women to give a speech about her candidacy for a job in front of two stone-faced interviewers wearing white lab coats. Afterward, half the group was asked to contemplate their performance while the other half were asked to think about neutral things like going to the grocery store. Blood samples were drawn from each participant, showing that the C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in those who kept ruminating on their speech. According to Medical News Today:6

“For these participants, the levels of the inflammatory marker continued to rise for at least one hour after the speech. During the same time period, the marker returned to starting levels in the subjects who had been asked to focus on other thoughts.

The C-reactive protein is primarily produced by the liver as part of the immune system's initial inflammatory response. It rises in response to traumas, injuries or infections in the body, [lead author, Peggy] Zoccola explained. C-reative protein is widely used as a clinical marker to determine if a patient has an infection, but also if he or she may be at risk for disease later in life. ‘More and more, chronic inflammation is being associated with various disorders and conditions,’ Zoccola said. ‘The immune system plays an important role in various cardiovascular disorders such as heart disease, as well as cancer, dementia and autoimmune diseases.’"

What Happens in Your Body When You’re Happy?

In one of Professor Cole’s happiness studies, participants answered questions about the frequency of certain emotional states, covering two different categories or types of happiness known to psychologists as:

1. Hedonic well-being (characterized by happiness gleaned from pleasurable experiences, such as sex)
2. Eudaimonic well-being (originating with Aristotle, this form of happiness comes from activities that bring you a greater sense of purpose, life meaning, or self-actualization )

Interestingly, while both are positive emotional states associated with happiness, the gene expressions they produced were not identical. Those whose sense of happiness was rooted in the eudaimonic camp were found to have favorable gene-expression profiles, while hedonic well-being produced gene profiles similar to those seen in people experiencing stress due to adversity. According to the featured article:7

“One interpretation is that eudaimonic well-being benefits immune function directly. But Cole prefers to explain it in terms of response to stress. If someone is driven purely by hollow consumption, he argues, all of their happiness depends on their personal circumstances. If they run into adversity, they may become very stressed.

But if they care about things beyond themselves — community, politics, art — then everyday stresses will perhaps be of less concern. Eudaimonia, in other words, may help to buffer our sense of threat or uncertainty, potentially improving our health. ‘It's fine to invest in yourself,’ says Cole, ‘as long as you invest in lots of other things as well.’”

Stress-relieving strategies have also been shown to have direct, beneficial health effects. Meditation, for example, has been shown to promote antiviral gene activity and reduce inflammatory gene expression. Laughter yoga is also becoming increasingly popular around the world.

What Comes First—Health or Happiness?

For many, happiness can be a poorly defined, elusive goal. One way to think about happiness is to define it as “whatever gets you excited.” Once you’ve identified that activity, whatever it is, you can start focusing your mind around that so you can integrate more of it into your day to day life. If you feel stuck and don’t know where or how to start, I suggest reviewing my previous article “13 Tips for Living Happy, Wild, and Free.”

I also believe that factors such as diet and exercise can play a significant role. It’s tough to feel exuberant when you’re not feeling well physically. As mentioned earlier, the state of your gut can have profound implications for your mental well-being, and is an oft-overlooked aspect of depression and other psychological problems. The following lifestyle strategies can help you create a firm foundation of good health, which will support your psychological and emotional being as well.

1. Eat a healthy diet focused on fresh, whole foods (ideally organic and/or locally grown). Eat a large portion of your food raw. You want to pay careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down, which means avoiding sugars and grains of all kinds, and replacing the lost carbs with healthful fats. Also be mindful of your protein sources, making sure they’re of high quality (ideally organically-raised and pasture-fed). A high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb diet is likely to improve the health of most people. My optimized Nutritional Plan can guide you, whether you’re at a beginner’s or advanced level.
2. Consume healthy fat. The science is loud and clear on this point: omega-3 fats are essential for optimal health. Other healthy fats include coconut oil, avocados, olives, olive oil, butter, and macadamia nuts. All these fats are low in protein and carbs and will not impair your insulin or leptin.
3. Make clean, pure water your primary beverage, and steer clear of all sweetened and/or flavored beverages, including those that contain artificial sweeteners.
4. Manage your stress.
5. Exercise regularly. Ideally, you want a comprehensive fitness regimen that includes stretching, high intensity interval training, core strengthening exercises, and strength training.
6. Get plenty of appropriate sun exposure to optimize your vitamin D levels naturally. UV exposure also has additional health benefits beyond vitamin D production.
7. Get grounded. Grounding or Earthing is defined as placing one's bare feet on the ground whether it be dirt, grass, sand, or concrete (especially when humid or wet). When you ground to the electron-enriched earth, an improved balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system occurs. Studies have shown that grounding improves blood viscosity, heart rate variability, inflammation, cortisol dynamics, sleep, autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance, and reduces effects of stress. Earthing also decreases the effect of potentially disruptive electromagnetic fields.
8. Limit your exposure to toxins of all kinds. The number of toxic chemicals and their sources is so large, addressing them all could easily require an entire library, but I believe you can help you keep your toxic load as low as possible by becoming an informed and vigilant consumer. This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
9. Get plenty of quality sleep. Scientists have discovered that your circadian rhythms regulate the energy levels in your cells. In addition, the proteins involved with your circadian rhythm and metabolism are intrinsically linked and dependent upon each other. Therefore, when your circadian rhythm is disrupted, it can have a profound influence on your health. For example, research has also linked disrupted sleep cycles to serious health problems like depression, coronary heart diseases, and even cancer. If you have any kind of sleep problem, whether you’re having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, my article “33 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep” is packed with great tips to help you finally get some good rest.

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