Virginia News Headlines: Tuesday Morning

by: lowkell

Tue Mar 13, 2012 at 06:54:30 AM EDT

*Voter ID rules: A solution in search of a problem
*Not with a bang, but a whimper. (Waldo nails it on Ken Kookinelli.)
*On gas prices, voters blame Obama, but experts, economists disagree (As someone who worked as a world oil markets economist for 17 years, I strongly agree with the "experts" and "economists" - there is no way, in the short run at the least, that the president can do much of anything about gasoline prices. In the long run, Congress could do a great deal, by passing laws that break our oil addiction, but they've failed to do so, in large part because of the politicians owned and operated by the oil industry. Many if not most of those, by the way, are Republicans.)
*George Allen Gets On Virginia Ballot, And Gets A Super PAC
*George Allen gets a Super PAC (Expect 24/7 nastiness and lies from Felix and Friends through November. I'd suggest shutting off your TVs for the duration and/or voting for Tim Kaine to tell Felix what you think of his vicious negativity.)
*McDonnell will try again on transportation funding
*As naming rights deal for roads, bridges clears General Assembly, mock corporate sponsorships sprout on senators' desks (What a travesty. By the way, Dick Saslaw - can you PLEASE keep your mouth shut?!? Ugh.)
*Self-Replicating Regulation: How to Trim Government Overlap
*Kaine wins AFL-CIO support in Virginia Senate race
*Parties have different views of legislative session
*Obama campaign makes health care push in Va.
*McDonnell says 7 of 10 states with lowest unemployment rates have Republican governors ("The fact that seven of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates are led by Republicans is hardly evidence that GOP governors trump Democrats in creating jobs. Three of those seven states, including Virginia, were also in the Top 10 when they were were headed by Democrats a year or two ago.")
*Exchange gets testy at Montgomery County supervisors session ("Supervisors made it clear that attacks on county employees would not be tolerated.")
*Hundreds of toll foes swarm strategy session in Portsmouth
*Editorial: Virginia's sunshine-makers ("Independent websites play a key role in making government more transparent")
*Editorial: Uranium group will keep secrets ("The working group created by the governor to study uranium mining will hide much of its work from the public.")
*Virginia Prosecutor Resigns After Judge's Pointed Ruling