By The Associated Press
Some of the new laws that take effect July 1: The premeditated killing of a witness or a judge in a criminal case is punishable by death. The bill was enacted as a curb against violent defendants, particularly gang leaders. -Taking an electronic tracking collar off a dog becomes a misdemeanor. ($2,500 fine, year in jail or both.) Hunting enthusiasts sought the law to prevent interference with hunting dogs. -Recruiting or encouraging people to engage in terrorist acts is a felony. (2 to 10 years in prison, up to $100,000 fine or both.)
2. DRIVERS FACE HEFTY FINES
By Shawn Hopkins
Bulletin Staff Writer
Virginia motorists have more reasons to drive carefully after July 1 ? whopping new civil fees the General Assembly approved to help bail out the state?s transportation system. According to the legislation, passed as part of a state transportation bill, people found guilty of misdemeanor traffic offenses will be required to pay up to $2,250 in new civil fees in three installments over 26 months. People convicted of felony motor vehicle offenses will have to pay up to $3,000 during that period. These fees are in addition to any fines and court costs assessed and they cannot be modified or suspended by a judge.
3. TRANSPORTATION BILL, OTHER LAWS MEAN RULES OF ROAD CHANGE JULY 1
By Bob Lewis
AP
Richmond, VA - Memo to Lead Foot: Ease off the gas petal starting Sunday or risk paying shocking new fees the state will use to help pay for major road projects. Scores of new state laws take effect next month, but few will affect everyday life as much as those that deal with the state's roads, the way we drive on them and _ bottom line _ how we pay for them. There are crackdowns on sexual predators that ban them from school grounds and put nursing homes and assisted living facilities on notice when one moves in nearby. Kids 14 and younger will need parental consent to visit tanning salons. Cash-hungry politicians who dream of national office can no longer use Virginia to raise unlimited campaign contributions.
4. MARTINEZ, MAY MAKE HOUSE RUNS OFFICIAL
By Erica M. Bush
The Winchester Star
Winchester ? Two candidates vying for the House of Delegate?s 33rd District seat kicked off their campaigns in Leesburg on Sunday. Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County is seeking his eighth term. ?I surely expect to be re-elected,? he said in a phone interview following the conclusion of his campaign at JR Festival Lakes in Leesburg. May is being challenged by Democrat Fernando ?Marty? Martinez for the District seat which includes Clarke County and the western portion of Loudoun County. Martinez, who is now serving his second term on Leesburg Town Council, did not return phone calls on Sunday.
5. SCOTT LOOKS TO CHANGE CRIME POLICY
The Virginia representative's course was made clear at the National Crime Policy Summit.
By David Lerman
Daily Press
WASHINGTON -- For 12 long years, Virginia Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott found himself outvoted and outgunned. The Newport News Democrat, an outspoken liberal voice on matters of civil rights and criminal justice, waged a lonely campaign in a Republican-controlled House against conservative crime remedies such as the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences. But now, as chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, Scott has signaled his eagerness to use a new Democratic majority to change course on crime policy. Goodbye, mandatory sentences. Hello, prevention programs.
6. VA. LEADS IN REGRET FOR SLAVERY, BUT TO WHERE?
Other states have expressed similar sentiments as Virginia. There's less accord on the next step.
By Kim O'brien Root
Daily Press
They didn't outright apologize, but in February, Virginia lawmakers expressed profound regret for the state's role in slavery. Since then, other states have been doing the same. Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas - all have gone on record with some version of an apology. Arkansas lawmakers asked for forgiveness. A handful of other states - such as Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Massachusetts and Vermont - are considering measures, and last week New York became the first Northern state to move toward an apology.
7. WESTERN VIRGINIA PRESENCE IN THE WAR IN IRAQ TO INCREASE
Another 180 National Guard soldiers from the Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry will leave for two months or more of training in Mississippi after mobilization ceremonies Tuesday.
By Mike Gangloff
Roanoke Times
Mobilization ceremonies Tuesday in Charlottesville, Winchester and elsewhere will add another 180 to the total of National Guard soldiers from Western Virginia on their way to Operation Iraqi Freedom. These are troops from the Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry. About 300 members of the unit are stationed in Kosovo until November. But many of those still at home, about 180 members of companies based in Bedford, Christiansburg, Pulaski and Lexington, are being attached to the 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry, which is on its way to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for two months or more of training before heading to the Middle East.
8. DUST SETTLED, DRIVERS STILL GET DIZZY IN MIXING BOWL
By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 25, 2007; A01
After eight years and $676 million, all of the swirling ramps and bridges are open at the Springfield interchange, and traffic is flowing freely through one of the busiest crossroads on the East Coast, where interstates 95 and 395 hit the Capital Beltway. But there is growing concern that navigating the new Mixing Bowl's 50 ramps and 24 lanes is confusing and could be creating different safety problems. Drivers complain of counterintuitive highway splits where they must head to the left to ultimately go right and head to the right to go left. They worry about staying in the left lane of the Beltway and winding up heading to Richmond.
9. FUEL COSTS FORCE PILOTS TO THE GROUND
In a Hobby That Isn't Cheap Anyway, Aviators Feel the Pinch
By Christy Goodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 25, 2007; B01
The rising cost of fuel has found a new victim: the recreational aviator. Pilots are cutting back on flying time. Flight instructors have fewer students. More and more Cessnas, Pipers and other single-engine and propeller-driven planes are staying grounded. General aviation is taking a nosedive, according to flying enthusiasts.
10. TOUGH QUESTIONS
Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial
The investigation of the tragedy at Virginia Tech already has drawn attention to conflicts between privacy and treatment, between the individual's rights and the community's needs. Mental health -- particularly when it involves compulsory treatment and institutionalization -- carries profound questions regarding civil liberties. These are not so easily resolved as the calls for a more effective system might tempt laymen to believe. Americans value privacy. Yet policies intended to protect privacy have the potential to complicate treatment plans. No matter Have a different take on the subject? Post your reaction to editorials on inRich.com.where the lines are drawn, articulate voices will complain.
11. GYM CLASS
Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial
Attempts to render gay and lesbian citizens of Virginia persona non grata evidently stop at the gym door -- or at least so says Attorney General Bob McDonnell. McDonnell, who campaigned on behalf of the state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, civil unions, and contractual relationships conferring similar benefits, has -- to his credit -- told the University of Virginia it may permit the same-sex partners of students and employees to join the school's gym. Or at least, such is the effect of his ruling that UVa can "provide a recreational gym membership to an adult who is not a spouse and who lives in a household of an employee or student." As a university spokesman said, that could include a best friend or a grandmother.
12. POLICE ON THE SPOT
In the absence of a workable immigration system, state and local officers are forced into a quandary.
Washington Post Editorial
Monday, June 25, 2007; A18
DESPITE THE objections of police chiefs all over the country, officers at the state, city and county levels are increasingly being drawn into what should be the federal government's responsibility to deal with illegal immigrants. In some instances officers are compelled to arrest undocumented immigrants a fter routine traffic infractions if a computer shows that they are facing outstanding federal warrants. In this way local police are being made complicit in federal deportations, which subverts their attempts to establish ties and cooperative relations with immigrant communities. Hence the police chiefs' objections.
13. SOME POSITIVE ENERGY
Now start talking about a carbon tax.
Washington Post Editorial
Monday, June 25, 2007; A18
IF THE Senate energy bill were a movie it would be called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." That's because the massive legislation, which passed 65 to 27 late Thursday, is a mix of historic action, missed opportunities and outright cowardice. The Good: Corporate average fuel economy standards -- CAFE -- would be raised to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for all cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles . Junking the provision to raise CAFE after that by 4 percent annually until 2030 was a good compromise that beat back a challenge led by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) to weaken the CAFE standards in the underlying bill. Kudos to Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), who jumped off the fence to endorse tougher standards. This would be the first significant increase in CAFE since 1975. Also positive: approval of a test of whether carbon capture and sequestration is commercially viable and the failure of the attempt to pump public money into a coal-to-liquid boondoggle.
14. TUNNEL VISION
There's more to the Dulles Metro extension than the Tysons controversy.
Washington Post Editorial
Monday, June 25, 2007; A18
LAST WEEK the governing bodies of Fairfax and Loudoun counties committed to funding their portions of the Dulles rail extension, a plan to expand Metrorail services to Dulles International Airport and beyond. Controversy over a proposed elevated track through Tysons Corner has simmered for months, with Tysons landowners and activists pushing for a tunnel through the area instead. Pro-tunnel lobbying was especially fierce in advance of the Fairfax vote, with hundreds of people packing a meeting of the Board of Supervisors at the beginning of the month.
15. ROAD RULES
A new 'Ten Commandments,' but will drivers obey?
Daily Press Editorial
If 40,000 Americans died tomorrow in tragic and violent circumstances, it would be received as an event of historic proportions. Let those same 40,000 Americans die incrementally, over a year and as a result of highway accidents, and people regard it as nothing out of the ordinary. Another year on the roads. Quick, guess how many people die in traffic accidents worldwide? About 1.2 million, give or take thousands. So, do you wonder now that the Vatican would enter the picture on the global carnage represented by traffic fatalities?
16. THE TIPPING POINT
The James River's status: It's halfway to health
Daily Press Editorial
It could be - and has been - worse. It could - and should - be better. On its first-ever report card, the James River earned a C from the James River Association. It could be - and has been - worse. According to the non profit group dedicated to protecting and restoring the historic river, the James is in better shape than it was 30 years ago. Less raw sewage is dumped in it. We haven't had, that we know of, a repeat of the deliberate dumping that put the pesticide ingredient Kepone into the river, where it still persists. We've started cleaning up the sewage treatment plants that are the source of much pollution.
17. REFORMS APPARENT IN CHO'S WAKE
Virginian Pilot Editorial
Two months after the massacre at Virginia Tech, a vague outline of what's needed to shore up Virginia's mental health system is starting to emerge. Inoculating against future meltdowns, to the extent that's ever possible, will require a complex weave of money, new laws, and better compliance with old ones. The fact that the National Alliance on Mental Illness gives only 22 states a B or C, and none an A, suggests that weaknesses exist nationwide. Because Virginia earned a D, the killing of 32 students and teachers by a mentally unstable classmate at Tech creates a moral imperative for Virginia to lead in change.
18. GILMORE POINTS TO DIRECTION ON IRAQ
Virginian Pilot Editorial
Multiple choice test on prominent U.S. politicians and the Iraq War. What presidential hopeful recently challenged President Bush: "I urge that we stop thinking it is our responsibility to solve the Iraq conflict. It is not.... I urge that we define our goals in terms of America's national interest, and let the people of Iraq take care of their national interests."
19. DICK CHENEY: UNDERCOVER BROTHER
Our vice president seeks to operate in secrecy. He should not be allowed to.
Roanoke Times Editorial
Vice President Dick Cheney operates in a government apparently regulated by rules of his own making. Take, for example, a presidential order that ensures the executive branch protects classified national security information. Cheney's office has declined to comply, refusing to file reports on what classified information it possesses with the National Archives and Records Administration, the office that enforces the order.
20. MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM NEEDS REAL RESOURCES
Policy changes alone won't be enough. Underfunding Virginia's mental health system has been neither frugal nor wise.
Roanoke Times Editorial
Virginia is going to have to spend more money on its mental health care system. State lawmakers should make no mistake about that. When Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and then himself on the Virginia Tech campus in April, he blew away any pretense that the state has been frugal but wise with its mental health dollars. Cho, a clearly disturbed Tech student who came in contact with the state's community-based mental health network 16 months before his killing spree, has riveted the public's attention on the system's gaps -- and why they matter to everyone.
21. MELANIE SCARBOROUGH: VIRGINIA SHOULD SELL ITS LIQUOR STORES TO PAY FOR BETTER ROADS
Melanie Scarborough
The Examiner
One outcome is certain from the 41 percent increase in transportation funding recently approved by Virginia officials: The additional spending will have almost no effect on traffic congestion in Northern Virginia. Commuting into Washington is a headache not because Virginia?s roads are inadequate, but because the District is one of the few major cities in the country that does not have an internal freeway system.
22. SLUDGE USE MAY GET NEW LIMITS
Bedford County weighs adopting the Virginia Association of Counties' biosolids ordinance.
By Courtney Cutright
Roanoke Times
Farmers spreading or storing biosolids would face stringent involvement from local officials under a proposal the Bedford County Board of Supervisors will consider tonight. The resolution, presented by the Bedford County Agricultural Economic Development Board, suggests the county adopt the Virginia Association of Counties' model biosolids ordinance. If approved, the county's ordinance would have to be amended to reflect the state's legislation of biosolids, wrote county Administrator Kathleen Guzi in a memorandum to the supervisors.
23. DRAMA OVER SCHOOLS CHIEF KEEPS ALEXANDRIA CAPTIVATED
By Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 25, 2007; B01
Across the United States, a season of intrigue, infighting, secret meetings and speculation ended recently with the finale of the television series "The Sopranos." But in Alexandria, the school community is still riveted by a battle that shares many of these elements, and many wonder whether a School Board meeting tomorrow night will finally produce a resolution. Board meetings lately have been unusually colorful. Angry residents have lined up to denounce the board's May 21 vote against renewing the contract of Superintendent Rebecca L. Perry, with some drawing comparisons to Nazi Germany and the war in Iraq.
24. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS ALEXANDRIA LEAVE SYSTEM AS IS
Maria Hegstad
The Examiner
After several months of study, a committee appointed by Alexandria Mayor William Euille has recommended against changing the city?s election cycle, dates or the City Council?s makeup. Euille asked the group to consider moving local elections from May to November after he ran for re-election unopposed in May 2006. Not quite 20 percent of Alexandria?s registered voters returned him to his seat. Because turnout for November elections is much higher, at 40 percent to 80 percent of registered voters casting ballots, some residents suggested the move would increase local vote turnout, according to the task force report. Holding the local election in May costs $50,000 to $60,000.
25. HOMELESS INCREASING
By Amy Flowers Umble
Free Lance-Star
The number of homeless people in the Fredericksburg area would fill an average elementary school. The annual homeless count grew this year to more than 550, and the area lacks a permanent cold-night shelter, lower-cost housing, a detox center for poor people and day care for children of the chronically homeless. The lack of progress on these issues frustrates those who work to reduce homelessness here.
26. CAMERAS SPOT 'HOT' CARS, LICENSE PLATES
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) ? Virginia State Police are using digital cameras that can scan highways and parking lots for stolen cars and license plates. Using the digital images, police can compare the plates against any database of license plates ? including those associated with fugitives, hot cars and stolen plates. State police began using the $16,000 cameras, or readers, several months ago throughout Virginia. The cameras take 25 photos a second, said Carl Fisher, a special agent with the state police's Help Eliminate Auto Theft program, or HEAT. Officers only have to activate the cameras, then wait for an alarm to sound if they get a hit. A computer checks the pictures of the plates against the latest FBI "hot sheet" of stolen autos. The equipment can scan plates day or night.
27. REPAIRS MADE TO GOSHEN WATER SYSTEM
By Bob Stuart
The News Virginian
Repairs have been completed on the Goshen water system, but officials say the water will not be declared safe for drinking until at least Thursday. Repairs on the system, in which multiple leaks were detected on June 14, were completed Saturday, said Robert Foresman, the emergency management coordinator for Rockbridge County. Foresman said the Virginia Department of Health?s Office of Drinking Water must test the system over the next several days to make sure the water is safe for drinking.