Va News Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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1. KAINE DEFENDS FUNDING TRANSPORTATION WITH FEES
By Mason Adams
Roanoke TimesVirginia Sen. Brandon Bell may be a lame duck after losing to Ralph Smith in the Republican Party primary last month, but he's still making legislative noise. Bell, R-Roanoke County, has requested Gov. Tim Kaine call a special session to address the "abusive driver fees" that went into effect July 1. Bell said his office has received dozens of complaints since then. "The interesting thing is that sometimes when people are upset about something, it kind of wanes after a couple of days. But this is something that's been fairly consistent," Bell said. "That tells me it's not going away until we deal with it. Putting it off for four or six months is not going to be the best course of action."
2. VA. ENACTED BAD-DRIVER FEES DESPITE RED FLAGS
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; A01RICHMOND, July 23 -- Virginia lawmakers imposed steep new fees on bad drivers this year despite warning signs from states with similar programs that they cause a surge in unlicensed motorists and have crippling effects on the poor. The licenses of tens of thousands of motorists in New Jersey and Michigan have been suspended because they cannot afford the fees, and little evidence has emerged that such fines improve highway safety, according to state officials and studies. Numerous lawmakers, judges and social activists in both states have sought to either repeal the fees or make major changes in how they are collected. But once the programs are implemented, they are difficult to get rid of, because state lawmakers are unwilling to give up the revenue they raise, judges and lawmakers said.
3. LEGAL BATTLE BEGINS OVER TRAFFIC FEES
Joe Rogalsky
The ExaminerRichmond -
A Henrico County judge will hear the opening volley this morning in the legal battle over the controversial and costly fees Virginia wants to impose on its citizens who commit severe traffic violations. Lawyer Esther Windmueller filed a "writ of prohibition" in the General District Court near Richmond last week arguing the fees violate the Constitution's equal-protection provision because they do not apply to out-of-state motorists. After a judge considers Windmueller's petition, she will appear in the same court to defend a client who faces paying as much as $3,000 under the new law.
4. BAR KEEPS LEGISLATIVE ETHICS POLICY
Law firms that lobby assembly remain barred from hiring lawmakersBy Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Staff WriterThe organization that polices the state's lawyers is affirming a ban on law firms with General Assembly lobbyists from hiring legislators. The Virginia State Bar had been considering dropping the restriction since 2002. The proposal flared in February as a political issue because a state senator and potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2009 was briefly a partner in a Richmond firm that represents clients before the legislature. The senator, R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, quit the firm, Hirschler Fleischer, last month to eliminate the potential ethical conflict. He joined another, the Framme Law Firm, which does not have a state government practice.
5. BUDGET TO TOP '08 ASSEMBLY SESSION
By Pamela Stallsmith
Media General News ServiceThe 2008 General Assembly session remains six months away, and the marquee issues might emerge during the fall legislative races or from other news-generating events closer to opening day. But it is possible to predict some of the items that will garner lawmakers' attention at the 60-day, or "long," session that begins Jan. 9. The budget The state budget -- the two-year spending plan that affects everything from public schools to battling crime -- will top the agenda. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will introduce his proposed spending plan in December, the first and only full budget he can call his own. Virginia is the lone state in the nation in which governors can't succeed themselves, so his budget blueprint will serve as the fiscal cornerstone of his gubernatorial legacy.
6. FRONT ROYAL DELAYS VOTE ON ANTI-FEE PROPOSAL
By Angela Jones
The Winchester StarWINCHESTER - While officials in other localities debate the fairness of Virginia's controversial new traffic-violation fees, Winchester and Frederick County leaders have yet to register an opinion. On Monday, the Front Royal Town Council tried taking a bold approach, but voted 4-3 to table a resolution to prevent its officers from enforcing the abusive-driver fees. Mayor James M. Eastham had to break the tie vote on whether to table the resolution. The action caused people who attended Monday's meeting to chant "Not in our town!" - expressing their discontent with the council's failure to send a message to Richmond leaders and the General Assembly that municipalities can follow their own leads in some matters.
7. COURT, FRONT ROYAL COUNCIL MAKE FIRST CHALLENGES TO FEES
By Bob Lewis
APRichmond, VA - The expensive new fees Virginia is imposing on its worst drivers faces its first two challenges early this week _ one from a town council, one in court. The town of Front Royal postponed a vote Monday night on a proposal to opt out of imposing the fines. On Tuesday morning, a Henrico County court will hear arguments that the law is unconstitutional. The separate actions come amid a statewide uproar over the recurring fees for such egregious highway offenses as reckless or drunken driving and calls for legislators to repeal the law in a special session. Front Royal Town Council member Tom Sayre proposed not incorporating the abusive driver fees into the town's traffic ordinances. Tickets would still be written for targeted offenses in the new law, but under the proposal before Council, the fees that would apply under the state law would not be assessed for misdemeanor traffic convictions made under the town ordinance.
8. TOWN DEFERS 'ABUSER FEE' VOTE
By Seth McLaughlin
Washington TimesFRONT ROYAL, Va. - This small Shenandoah Valley town must wait to become a battleground for the growing public debate about whether the General Assembly overreached in assessing high fees for Virginia drivers who break the law. The Town Council last night postponed a decision on whether to stop its 36-officer police force from enforcing most "abuser fees" laws for motorists. "It seems to me it may be appealing in a kind of small guy versus big guy way, but I'm not sure that is the answer here," said council member Stanley W. Brooks Jr., who proposed postponing the vote. "There is no sense using a hammer when a feather will do."
9. TRIAL SCHEDULED IN TATE ELECTION FRAUD CASE
By Charlie Jackson
Leesburg TodayFormer state Senate candidate Mark Tate will stand trial in late November in Loudoun Circuit Court for the 11 felony charges leveled against him in the middle of a Republican primary fight. Tate will face a Loudoun jury on Nov. 26-29, three weeks after voters in the 27th District go to the polls and elect a representative for the seat Tate sought. He is charged with nine counts of perjury related to campaign finance reports that were allegedly incorrect and two counts of election fraud. The charges against Tate stem from campaign finance reports filed during his runs for state senate in 2003 and 2007. He was indicted three weeks before he was set to face Republican rival Jill Holtzman Vogel in a GOP primary.
10. VIRGINIA DIVORCE RATE TARGETED
NORFOLK (AP) - The Family Foundation is trying to reduce the number of divorces in Virginia by recommending public policies that could preserve traditional marriages. The conservative advocacy group, which led the push to ban same-sex "marriage" in the state, has formed a commission to formulate the policies. The first meeting was July 12 and included academics and religious leaders, said Victoria Cobb, the foundation"s executive director. Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell and Lt. Gov. William T. Bolling, both Republicans, have appointed representatives. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, likely will do the same, said Kevin Hall, the governor"s spokesman. The commission is expected to meet again in September.11. THOUSANDS IN VA. GET MINIMUM-WAGE BOOST
Richmond Times DispatchToday, about 51,000 of Virginia's hourly workers will get a raise. That's the number -- out of 1.84 million hourly workers in the state -- who made the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour or less in 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade. It ends the longest span without a federal minimum-wage increase since the pay floor was enacted in 1938. The last previous increase came in September 1997, when President Bill Clinton signed a bill raising the minimum 40 cents to $5.15 an hour.
12. NFL ORDERS VICK TO NOT REPORT TO TRAINING CAMP
By Dave Forster and Jim Washington
The Virginian-PilotThe National Football League's commissioner ordered Michael Vick on Monday not to report to training camp until the league completes its review of Vick's federal indictment. "While it is for the criminal justice system to determine your guilt or innocence, it is my responsibility as commissioner of the National Football League to determine whether your conduct, even if not criminal, nonetheless violated league policies," Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to the Atlanta Falcons quarterback. Vick will still be paid during training camp. The Falcons' preseason camp will begin Thursday, the same day Vick is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case in Richmond.
13. WHERE WOULD THE CORN COME FROM?
By Mike Saewitz
The Virginian-PilotA proposed ethanol plant here could require 80 million bushels of corn each year - almost double what Virginia produced in 2006. Since the state can't meet the enormous demand, plant developer International Bio Energy Virginia LLC plans to bring in most of its corn from the Midwest and even South America. Farmers in the Midwest, where much of the country's corn is produced, have enjoyed one of the biggest economic benefits as the number of ethanol plants has increased. They have profited from rising corn prices and are saving money by sending grain to nearby ethanol refineries. Because most of the corn is expected to come from elsewhere, Virginia and Hampton Roads will not see as much of that key benefit if the region welcomes one of the country's biggest ethanol plants to Chesapeake.
14. BAND STANDINGS
Fast Internet service is as important to modern businesses as railroads were to the industrial age.Roanoke Times
When it comes to their home computer, most people judge its speed by two things: how fast the computer itself is, and how much bandwidth they have to connect to the Internet. In an Internet-connected world, bandwidth is crucial. It's a measure of how fast information -- text, images, music, video or what have you -- can flow into a computer from the Net. It's measured in bits per second (bps) either in the thousands (kilobit per second: Kbps) or in the millions (megabits per second: Mbps). Any Internet connection 256 Kbps or faster is called "broadband" (as opposed to the "narrowband" offered by dial-up modems). The average American's broadband connection is in fact about 20 times faster than that minimum: about 4.8 Mbps.
15. N. VIRGINIA POWER LINE PLAN TO BE SUBJECT OF HEARINGS
Dan Genz
The ExaminerRichmond -
A controversial plan to bring a high-voltage power line across the outer Northern Virginia suburbs that has drawn fire from local governments enters the public hearing process this week. The State Corporation Commission is holding a dozen hearings in four cities as it considers granting Dominion Virginia Power a permit to build a 500-kilowatt transmission line across a swath of fast-growing suburbs and rural communities in Northern Virginia, including Fauquier, Loudoun and Prince William counties. The power company said the new line is required as new families, businesses and technology corporations build their bases to the west and south of Washington.
16. MART, WALL
Richmond Times Dispatch EditorialWhy in the world would a company spend money on politicians when it could spend the dough on presumptively more useful endeavors, such as advertising and promotion? Probably because the politicians can do the company a great deal of good -- or a great deal of harm. And indeed, the corporations and industries that did the most lobbying during the most recent session of the General Assembly had the most to gain or lose: Dominion Resources, payday lenders, Colonial Downs, Philip Morris, and car dealers. A new report shows they were the big spenders when it came to whining and dining the pols.
17. RECKLESS LEGISLATING
Virginia's new 'abuser fees' stir outrage in the commonwealth.Washington Post Editorial
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; A14IT WAS NOT quite a hell-has-frozen-over moment, but it was still remarkable: Last week, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) held a joint news conference with House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), and the two opposing pols were reading from similar scripts. Neither wants to see a special session of the Virginia legislature this summer to reform the commonwealth's new and increasingly controversial system of "abuser fees" for motorists, which was passed earlier this year as part of a compromise road-funding bill.
18. COMPLY WITH THE LAW BY GETTING A PET LICENSE
Virginian Pilot EditorialVIRGINIANS are required to license their dogs and cats, and pay a nominal fee to compensate the community for the costs associated with animal ownership. Lots of people don't know that, or they believe the requirement is another step toward a one-world government. So let's all take a deep breath. There are a few things that every good pet owner does for his animal - starting with rabies vaccinations and spaying or neutering, and ending with providing proper food, water and medical care. A responsible owner also licenses his animal, so that it can be tracked if it runs away, or bites somebody, or contracts a communicable disease.
19. STRONGER IS BETTER FOR ETHICS RULES
Virginian Pilot EditorialATTORNEY Gus James opposes an ethics rule barring law firms from lobbying before the legislature or on a city council when an associate serves in the lawmaking body. "It really discourages, in my view, public service," said the managing partner in the Norfolk-based firm of Kaufman & Canoles. Maybe. Maybe not. The Virginia State Bar rule has been in place for two decades and there doesn't appear to be any shortage of city councilmen, county supervisors, legislators or lobbyists. In fact, when the State Bar considered lifting the lobbying restrictions recently, only three individuals wrote in supporting the change. Two of them were top attorneys at Kaufman & Canoles.
20. HARRY POTTER'S FINAL CHAPTER
By Donald Luzzatto
Virginian Pilot EditorialIt was the darkest part of Monday morning, around 2 a.m., the old house quiet except for a June bug occasionally clattering off the kitchen's ceiling fan, and I was reading because I couldn't stop. The final pages of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - and with it a decade of my reading life - were flipping past eyes bleary with a need to sleep but too rapt to close. I wasn't alone, even if I was the only one awake. Three fans of J.K. Rowling slumbered a hallway away. Two had fallen asleep impatient for me to finish the seventh book so they could begin it. The other was hundreds of pages into the family's second copy, which had kept him up hours past his own bedtime.
21. REP. JIM MORAN'S $5,000 TAN
His winter vacation paid for by a friend erodes public trust in Congress.Roanoke Times Editorial
No doubt Rep. Jim Moran had a nice tan for the December holidays last year. He and his wife had spent nearly a week vacationing in Jamaica. The trip was a gift, the kind enjoyed far too often by those in power who care little about the appearance of impropriety. The public found out about the Northern Virginia Democrat's vacation after he included it in his annual financial disclosure statement last month. A developer paid for flights, food, lodging and local travel valued at $5,000. Moran says there was nothing shady about it. He and the developer have been friends for decades and spend lots of time together. The House ethics committee even approved the gift in advance, as it must for all personal gifts from friends worth more than $250.
22. LOCAL RESERVOIRS REPORTING LOWER-THAN-NORMAL LEVELS
By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-PilotAt Portsmouth's Lake Cohoon reservoir, water levels have dropped more than 2-1/2 feet this summer. Norfolk's nine reservoirs are lower than normal at about 72 percent full. And Virginia Beach has begun pumping millions of gallons more water from Lake Gaston to meet its needs. As the entire state settles into a moderate drought, its effects on the region are beginning to show. This month, rainfall in Hampton Roads has been only about one-third of the average, and there's little rain forecast for the upcoming week.
23. DROUGHT WATCH ENACTED FOR AREA
By Jeremy Borden
Daily ProgressAs a Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority official made the case for area residents to begin voluntarily conserving water, board members seemed to have their minds already made up. "I don't know there's much to discuss, based on the data," said Gary Fern, the executive director of the Albemarle County Service Authority, who serves on the Rivanna board. That was board members' lone comment Monday, and the unanimous vote that followed put a drought watch into effect immediately. The meeting itself took only about 10 minutes.
24. RESIDENTS MAY DISCUSS TOLL LANE PLAN AT THREE PUBLIC MEETINGS THIS WEEK
Joe Rogalsky
The ExaminerWASHINGTON -
Northern Virginians will have three chances this week to express their opinions about a major transportation project planned for the region. The Virginia Department of Transportation has scheduled three public meetings in Northern Virginia to discuss the proposal to build high-occupancy toll lanes on Interstate 95. The lanes would stretch from the Pentagon in Arlington to Massaponax, which is near Fredericksburg. The toll lanes would replace the lanes currently used by high-occupancy vehicles on I-95. The tolls would vary based on the time of day (rush hour vs. non-rush hour) and the number of passengers a vehicle carries. Buses and private vehicles with at least two passengers will be able to use the lanes for free.
25. HOT LANES TO GET REVIEW
By Kelly Hannon
Free Lance-StarA public-private partnership to build High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstate 95/395 will change the look and travel experience on the highway, and area drivers have some chances to comment on the project. Two information meetings are being held in the Fredericksburg area this week and next, part of a series of five Northern Virginia sessions. State transportation officials hope to get comments about public transit and the project, and would particularly like to hear from car-poolers, van-poolers, bus riders, slugs and anyone else who uses the I-95 corridor. HOT lanes would bring high occupancy travel on I-95 all the way to the Fredericksburg area for the first time.
26. VIRGINIA POLICE SAY PAIR TRIED TO ESCAPE ON HORSEBACK AFTER PUBLIC URINATION
By the Associated PressCULPEPER, Va. -- They weren't charged with drunken driving, but police said two people now charged with public drunkenness did try to evade capture on horseback. They were caught when one was knocked off his horse after riding into a utility wire and the other fell off her horse, police said. On Saturday night, witnesses asked a man to stop urinating on the side of a convenience store because children were nearby, said Culpeper police Sgt. Scott Jenkins.
27. POLL FINDS DEMOCRATS FAVORED ON WAR
But Bush, Congress Both Get Low Ratings on IraqBy Jon Cohen and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; A01Most Americans see President Bush as intransigent on Iraq and prefer that the Democratic-controlled Congress make decisions about a possible withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. As the president and Congress spar over war policy, both receive negative marks from the public for their handling of the situation in Iraq. But by a large margin, Americans trust Democrats rather than the president to find a solution to a conflict that remains enormously unpopular. And more than six in 10 in the new poll said Congress should have the final say on when to bring the troops home.