Here are some news items about Virginia in the newspapers this morning. Feel free to discuss.
*SunGazette: "Editorial: Outrageousness from the League of Women Voters"
The organization banned everyone but approved press representatives from making audio or video recordings of its May 23 debate between Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth and her Democratic primary challenger Charlie Hall.
*Washington Post: "Dulles Rail Review Delayed: Funding Vote Set Despite Lack Of Risk Report"
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, nearing a critical vote June 18 on funding the beginning of Metro's expansion to Dulles International Airport, will not be able to see a key assessment of the $2.7 billion project's financial risks until as late as mid-August, a federal official said yesterday.
*Washington Post: "Gay Candidate Denies Blogs Forced Him From Race"
Jeff Dion said it wasn't the bloggers' vicious personal attacks about his "gay lifestyle" that made him end his campaign for a Prince William County seat in the Virginia House of Delegates but practical politics.
*Examiner.com: "Virginia unemployment up slightly as real estate lags"
The unemployment rate in Virginia climbed from 2.8 percent in April 2006 to 2.9 percent last month, while the Northern Virginia rate bumped up from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent during the same period, according to state labor statistics.
*Examiner.com: "Strange trinkets fill Kaine's gift list"
The president of Afghanistan gave a 3-foot-by-5-foot prayer rug, and the Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court tendered a package of "judge's fudges."
*Culpeper Times: "Immigration reform causes local criticism"
Senator Jim Webb held off comment on the bill, but called for tighter border security, strict penalties for large-scale employers who hire undocumented workers, and a program that allows immigrants a path toward citizenship.
*Fairfax Times: "Is Governor Kaine re-creating Virginia's "Structural Deficit"?"
The growth in state spending on employees also means that taxpayers are not receiving their fair share of the bargain Mark Warner proffered - spending cuts and the fiscal discipline to maintain them, in exchange for higher taxes.
*Culpeper Star Exponent: "U.S. 15 named a Virginia Byway"
The newly named byway is part of the four-state, 175-mile Journey Through Hallowed Ground corridor that starts in Gettysburg, Pa., and ends at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.