From:   Leighty, Bill Sent time:   Wednesday, May 16, 2007 3:23:12 AM To:   Bryant, Preston Subject:   Falwell funeral   Preston, I deeply appreciate what you are suggesting and saying. I am not refusing to weigh in because I am and uncaring individual.   In this case if I were to suggest to him a course of action then I am adding unnecessary and redundant information to a decision to go or not to go that anyone of us really would need to make from one's heart and on our own. A decision not to go can be rationalized. A decision to go should not come from rationalizing but should come from the heart.   We all know these things. It is human nature. We approach implementing decisions made of our own free will with a remarkably different mindset than when we have no choice. Everyone in the house can rationalize that the trash needs to go out. But damn, I even announce with pride that "I took the trash out" on the few occassions I do it of my own free will.   Quick story. The morning of the Tech shooting when I was talking with the Governor in Japan, I knew he had to come back. I knew how bad it was. I gave him the information on the shootings and told him we were "looking at options" for flights back and asked him to "think" about whether he should come back. I already knew the flight numbers and departure times for the return flights. Some members of staff close to the thinking that morning immediately challenged me (and my motives, in some rather pointed terms I might add)because I didn't tell him which flight he was going to get on and that the circumstances were such that he really had no option to even consider thinking about continuing the trade mission and that he should return immediately.   My hesitency was not inaction. It was very carefully calculated. Not because I was concerned that he was in a time warp daze, anyone that has been in a campaign environment knows how to make major decisions while being sleep deprived and not really knowing what city you are in.   I slowed the process down and witheld a specific hard and fast recommendation to him because this was another case where a rationalized decision would not serve as well as a decision made from the heart. He needed this one to come from the heart. He called me back very shortly thereafter and told me he had decided he really should come back as soon as possible and how quickly could I get him booked on the flight. He made the right call, as any rational individual knew he would, but the consequence of how the decision was made meant that on the 14 hour flight back his thoughts were about HIS decision to return home to help the kids and their families rather than the fact that he was "told" he had no choice but to come back to deal with a horrific problem.   Subtle? Yes, but as any pilot will tell you, on a 14 hour flight just a small disturbance in your line of thinking can make the difference between landing in Virginia or landing in Canada. He landed in Virginia.   While we are on this subject there was a second and equally important thing I did that morning. Even with the flight information in front of me, I waited until he asked before I gave him not just the flight information but many other informational items. I did so because this is very basic crisis management. There is such an overwhelming feeling of helplisness and loss of control, especially by leaders during crisis that it is very important to not direct them as to what to do, but to give them otions to choose from and things to order you to do. Silly? Contrived? Maybe, but sitting on a plane for 14 hours with a complete loss of control by being "blind" would not have been good. I left things for him to bark orders out about. There are many things I do that nobody sees or understands. Or, unfortunately they see what I do and ascribe motives based upon what is in they hearts or minds but not in mine.   I share this with you because I have sensed in you that you see these things and are eager to learn more. I wish there was a chiefs of staff school I could recommend to you because you'd be a damn good one.     May the force be with you.   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ *''There they go. Now I must hasten for I am their leader."     ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Bryant, Preston To: Leighty, Bill Sent: Wed May 16 00:41:40 2007 Subject: RE: Falwell funeral   Ok. I presume Bolling and McD will be there. Thanks. L. Preston Bryant, Jr. Secretary of Natural Resources Commonwealth of Virginia Patrick Henry Building, 4th Floor 1111 E. Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 804.786.0044   ________________________________   From: Leighty, Bill Sent: Tue 5/15/2007 11:31 PM To: Bryant, Preston Subject: Re: Falwell funeral       Thanks. I do not intend to weigh in on this with the G one way or the other.   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ * ''There they go. Now I must hasten for I am their leader."     ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Bryant, Preston To: Leighty, Bill Sent: Tue May 15 19:20:27 2007 Subject: Falwell funeral   The funeral is Tuesday at 1 pm. It will be at Thomas Road Baptist Church.   I think the Governor should attend.   ­pb.   L. Preston Bryant, Jr. Secretary of Natural Resources Commonwealth of Virginia Patrick Henry Building, 4th Floor 1111 E. Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 804.786.0044     From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Thursday, 19 April 2007 16:28:28 To:   Mike Henry  Subject:   RE: 4 day 4's/ Virginia Tech   Mike:   Thanks for your note.  It has been a very emotional week.  There are still some tough days ahead with families grieving and some hard questions to answer.  But, the Tech community is very strong and will rise to the occasion.  The student’s perspective you sent was very telling.   I hope to get a little rest this weekend.  I look forward to talking soon.   Tim     From: Mike Henry [mailto:mhenry@hillaryclinton.com]  Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:58 AM To: Kaine, Tim Cc: Delacey Skinner; Mo Elleithee Subject: FW: 4 day 4's/ Virginia Tech   We are so proud of you and we are so lucky to have you as our Governor.  You did a great job yesterday connecting with and helping everyone through such difficult times.  Thanks.   I received an email from a Tech student’s mother and I wanted to pass it on to you. It might be a helpful perspective on what family members and students are going through.    Take care of yourself. Mike From: Joe and Barbara Bradley [mailto:bradleysix@cox.net]  Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:05 AM To: Mike Henry Subject: Re: 4 day 4's/ Virginia Tech   Thanks Mike,    Margaret, as I am sure thousands of Va. Tech students are, is all over the place.  Elation that her high school classmates are all accounted for.  Despair when names come out and connections are made to specific people who did not survive.      There were the hours of sitting on the floor, with the power going on and off, cell phones crashing, web sites crashing.  Tremendous fear of the the unknown, awful rumors, and then coming out of the dorms to the awful reality.     The convocation today was wonderful.  Gov. Kaine was so well spoken, so heart felt, I never saw him look at a note.   I have never heard Pres. Bush speak so well.  And of course the ending was just as it should have been.  It was, at least to us and to Margaret, healing.  It made us very proud to be from Virginia.     The ovation the students gave for their President was one of the most impressive things.     Margaret, her friends and her hall­mates are very angry with the press.  They love their school.  They went through a terrible thing in the fall on the first day of classes, and they were very proud of how that was handled.  They are in their first home away from home.  The school administration has become their family.  A terrible thing beyond anyone's comprehension, randomly happened to them, and they look to their family, their new family, for protection and  support.  They felt it.  Margaret says that she has never felt safer in her life than she does at Tech.     The press is in search of stories.  They have a story.  Young people and their teachers were murdered in their classrooms.  A bizarrely sick person committed the murders.  It is the worst murder story in the history of the country.  The press is not satisfied with this, they are creating another story.     Hindsight is always 20/20.  There is no story in that.  There is a need to look closely at what happened and to take steps to learn from this.     But, students are being hurt, they have been hurt, and now a new hurt is being created in the quest for more of a story.  Their family is under attack.  Their support, their school, their administration is being attacked.  There have been for almost 40 hours people sticking microphones into students faces asking them if they aren't unhappy with how things were handled.     Margaret called sobbing late Monday night because she and friends tried to walk a half block off campus to a memorial service for a friend, as they walked they were overwhelmed by press calling out questions to them about how things were handled and taking their pictures.  Margaret and her friends are so happy that the press has been told to stay off campus, but she says they keep trying to get on, and they hang out on the edges, so that they can interview students and also prove how 'lax' security is.  But as she cried to us, 'they aren't respecting' the request to give the students space.  It isn't a matter of security, it is a matter of helping the young people, actually helping.  Creating a story isn't a help.    Yesterday she said that a person committed the most horrible crime he could, and hurt as many people as he could, because he was mad at somebody or something and had to take revenge, had to get even, had to blame somebody, and had to hurt people.   She asked me if the press didn't see that they are a part of the very same culture.  They see that a horrible thing has happened, they want to get revenge, they want  to blame somebody, they are hurting people.  They aren't reporting information,  they aren't helping.  They are blaming and hurting.      After the press conference Monday afternoon when the press asked the President and Police Chief questions, Margaret's hall got so upset that they stopped watching and went outside and bought coffee and doughnuts and went around thanking the police and asked them to please send word to the chief how very sorry they were and how very much they appreciated him, and knew that he did his best and cared for them.  Margaret said what was so weird was that this was simply a spontaneous thing that they just got up and did, but they immediatlly noticed other groups of students coming out of their dorms as the press conference ended and going from police officer to police officer thanking them.     The students don't understand all of the attention.  A terrible thing happened, beyond terrible,  as Margaret says the press keeps saying this is the worst thing that has happened, don't they hear themselves?  How do you second quess what you should do when the worst thing that has every happened happens to you?       Monday my daughter called me, sitting on the floor of her dorm, away from the window and away from the door,  and asked me if an automatic weapon could shoot through a door and a mattress.  This is a question I never anticpated needing an answer for.    Barbara   ­­­­­ Original Message ­­­­­ From: Mike Henry To: Joe and Barbara Bradley Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 11:57 AM Subject: RE: 4 day 4's/ Virginia Tech   Thanks for thinking of Makayla and how this news could effect her.  You are doing such a great job with her.  Thanks.   I hope Margret is OK and if you or she needs anything please don’t hesitate to let me know.  If Margret has any ideas on how Virginia can help the Tech community in anyway please share those ideas with me.    Take care Mike   From: Joe and Barbara Bradley [mailto:bradleysix@cox.net]  Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 8:07 AM To: Danyel Henry; Laurie; Danyel Henry; colleenp@cox.net; annpallasch@mac.com; deewalk1@aol.com; marin_family@cox.net; mkwood9@aol.com; mwilliams@buckleykolar.com; mwmason1@netzero.net; naheed.cabana@verizon.net; richandjulene@cox.net; suromadden@cox.net; meshe@restauranteve.com; gerrish@cox.net; Rachel.Edelstein@fsis.usda.gov Cc: Mike Henry; Daria Bergen­Hill; Edelstein, Rachel Subject: 4 day 4's/ Virginia Tech   Parents,  My daughter, Margaret, is a freshman, at Virginia Tech.  She is safe, as safe as any are.  This horrible thing that happened yesterday has hit her, and of course her family very hard.  I know that everyone seems to have some connection to Tech.  A niece, a nephew, office mates, neighbors, it is Virginia's school.  This is horrible for all of us.  I am very  fortunate to  know that my daughter is safe, but as she points out there are many, many parents who are having the most awful thing imaginable happen to them.  I am overwhelmingly aware of that.   I am going to avoid talking about it in front of our young students.    I am going to take off Wednesday and go see our daughter.  As this unfolds this is hitting her hard.  I will tell the children that I am taking a day off.  But if asked I am taking it off to surprise my daughter for her birthday and I am not going to mention Tech unless I can't help it.  I think the words 'Virginia Tech' have been on the air so much that little people, even if they have not been specifically listening to the news, have still heard it.  They always know more than we think they know.     Tomorrow is her birthday.   Barbara ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­   Contributions to Hillary Clinton for President  Exploratory Committee are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.    ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­  Paid for by Hillary Clinton for  President Exploratory Committee  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Contributions to Hillary Clinton for President  Exploratory Committee are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­  Paid for by Hillary Clinton for  President Exploratory Committee  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ From:   Howe, Amanda Sent time:   Monday, April 23, 2007 3:09:08 PM To:   Dominic Martin  Cc:   Leighty, Bill Subject:   Queen's speech to General Assembly Attachments:   05­1 03 Virginia Assembly (Amanda edits).doc         Dominic­ Here are some suggested edits for The Queen's speech. Hope it helps.   Amanda 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc SPEECH BY HM THE QUEEN TO THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY Governor Kaine, Speaker Howell, President Pro Temp Chichester (CHITCH-est-er), Members of the Virginia General Assembly, Former Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen… (this ought to cover it unless Congressionals are there) Thank you for your generous welcome to Virginia and to Thomas Jefferson’s splendid Capitol. Prince Philip and I are delighted to be here today. I would like to pay tribute to the many people who have been involved in the painstaking and beautiful restoration of this marvellous building. Jefferson’s career offers a model for public service that few in history can match. Governor of Virginia at the age of 36, Minister to France in the years following the Revolutionary Wars, he was America’s first Secretary of State, its second Vice-President and Third President. 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc Jefferson portrays himself as a reluctant public servant. When preparing to leave Washington at the end of his second term as President in 1809 [check that it is not 1808], he wrote: “never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to take a part in resisting them and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passion.” We can all agree that the world is a better place because of Jefferson’s decision to devote himself to public service. And as this building shows – designed from afar while serving in Paris - Jefferson did at least find some time for the “tranquil pursuits of science”. Thomas Jefferson memorably had his differences with my country. History relates the fractious nature of his relationship with the British Ambassador during his time as President, a certain Mr Merry [check not “Sir”]. Merry by name, but not by nature: he reputedly spent most of his posting in 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc Washington in a state of high dudgeon, much of which was provoked by his relationship – or, perhaps I should say, lack of relationship - with the President. I am glad to say that this is not a model of diplomacy that more recent British Ambassadors in your country have followed. I visit Virginia this week to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the landing of a small group of British citizens [Englishmen?] at a small Island in what we now call the James River. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see in that event the origins of a singular project: the building of a great nation, founded on the eternal values of democracy and equality, based on the rule of law and the promotion of freedom. But hindsight is dangerous. 400 years ago, it was by no means preordained that this venture would deliver such an outcome. At the time, the Jamestown experiment seemed fraught with risk. Similar settlements, such as the one at Roanoke Island, in the nearby Outer Banks of what is now North Carolina, failed abjectly. We now know it as The Lost Colony. What was it about those early institutions in Jamestown that planted the seed that led to the blossoming of this great country? 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc It is impossible to say for sure. But I am sure that it has much to do with the ideas and values of that group of adventurers and idealists who set out all those years ago—as well as with the decision by the native Powhatan people to find ways to co-exist. Recent archaeological discoveries have changed our understanding of the original settlement at Jamestown. For many years, the conventional wisdom was that the Jamestown Settlement suffered from fatal flaws. Its location was chosen badly. The colony was full of indolent noblemen, with a propensity to spend their hours playing bowls [what does this mean?] along the streets of the settlement. In fact, recent archaeology suggests that the site was a perfectly logical choice. And there were clearly large numbers of craftsmen and other hard working citizens in the original colony. When I visited Jamestown 50 years ago, there was little to see except a small church - though the sheer physical beauty of the site was manifest. 50 years on, there are , I understand a wealth of new discoveries to witness and explore. I look forward to my visit tomorrow. 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc The development of the United States from its humble origins in Jamestown all those years ago owes everything to the ingenuity and the idealism of countless men and women. Some of these are great figures of history. Some have names that have never been part of our common knowledge—but whose stories are now being told by historians and archaeologists. And while the original endeavour was more about commerce—the Settlement ultimately became a New World cradle for the concepts of justice,liberty, and self-determination that have acted as beacons throughout the world. Just as we have revised our understanding of the early history of the settlement, so we are re-evaluating the significance of the Jamestown legacy. When I visited 50 years ago, we celebrated the 350th Anniversary largely from the perspective of the British settlers in their ships. We feted concepts such as exploration to new worlds, the spread of values, ideas and the English language, the ingenuity and sacrifice of the early settlers. These are all worthy virtues today and we still appreciate their impact. But, 50 years on, we are now in a position to reflect more candidly on the more uneasy parts of the Jamestown legacy. Human progress rarely comes without cost. And in those earliest years moment of Jamestown, when three 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc great civilisations came together for the first time – Western European, Native American and African [first African slaves set foot in America at Jamestown in 1619] – a train of events was started which had profound social impact, not only in the United States, but also in Great Britain and Europe, and certainly in Africa. We still feel those impacts today. I am delighted that, at the foot of the Capitol stairs, Prince Philip and I were welcomed by the Chiefs of the IndianTribes of Virginia and by Mayor Lawrence Douglas Wilder, America’s first elected African-American governor, now this grand city’s Mayor, and himself a grandson of slaves. This was a fitting symbol of the coming together of three peoples—and an acknowledgement of the extraordinary wrongs that were suffered on so many—and whose history is only in recent years being recounted as a valid part of this story. [a little weird to refer to slavery as a tradition]. It is a notable coincidence that 2007 also marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United Kingdom, following the efforts of another great champion of liberty and equality, William Wilberforce. 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc Over the course of my reign, and certainly since I first visited Jamestown in 1957, my country has become a greatly more diverse and integrated society, just as the Commonwealth of Virginia and indeed the whole United States of America. The metaphor of the “melting pot” has become something of a cliché. But it is a metaphor that captures one of the great strengths of your country. It is an inspiration to others around the world, including my own. When Governor Kaine visited the Middle Temple in London in December last year, he talked movingly of the enduring legacy of Jamestown. He said that the 400th anniversary was a “recognition of an unbreakable bond of friendship between the English people and all Virginians and Americans”. I would like to conclude by echoing those fine sentiments. Friendship is a complex concept. It means being able to debate openly, even disagree on occasion, safe in the knowledge that the bonds that tie us together are far stronger than any temporary differences of opinion. The people of my country have such a relationship with the United States, based on the bonds of friendship and shared values. 05­1 03 Virginia Assembly ﴾Amanda edits﴿.doc And we have – not least for reasons of history – a very special place in our hearts for the Commonwealth of Virginia and her people From:   Tran, Lynda Sent time:   Thursday, January 14, 2010 2:25:04 PM To:   Emmett, Shane; Hickey, Gordon Cc:   Rubin, Mark Subject:   Re: Jens Soring   Gordon if and when you receive press calls you should say: ­ The Governor considered the Jens Soring case very carefully and has decided to move forward with  the transfer. ­ We have received assurances from the German government that made us feel comfortable with the tr ansfer. OFF THE RECORD and not for attribution you can say that the DOJ looks upon these types of transfer s with other nations favorably because it puts us in a good position should there be American citi zens held abroad that we wish transferred home in the future. We're essentially logging a favor fo r the US. ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Emmett, Shane To: Tran, Lynda; Hickey, Gordon Sent: Thu Jan 14 14:16:53 2010 Subject: RE: Jens Soring Also, here is the DOJ website outlining the transfer treaty. The DOJ (even under Bush) heavily enc ouraged states to participate in this program as it assists the State Department in retrieving Ame ricans incarcerated abroad and saves $.  http://travel.state.gov/law/legal/treaty/treaty_1989.html ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Tran, Lynda  Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 1:34 PM To: Emmett, Shane; Hickey, Gordon Subject: Re: Jens Soring Shane can you please give us the basic stats on the case, tell us how long the Governor weighed th e decision, who made the request, etc? ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Emmett, Shane To: Tran, Lynda; Hickey, Gordon Sent: Thu Jan 14 13:25:59 2010 Subject: Jens Soring The Governor has authorized the Department of Corrections to allow Jens Soring’s international pri soner transfer application to proceed to the Department of Justice. His letter explaining the auth orization is attached. The victim support professional at the DOC is going to let the victims’ (do uble murder) family know. They were vocal in opposing this application and will likely contact the  media. Please let me know if you have any questions.   Thanks –    Shane     Shane.Emmett@Governor.Virginia.Gov 804 225 4946 804 314 0562 From:   Tran, Lynda Sent time:   Thursday, December 17, 2009 4:16:22 PM To:   Patrick_Gaspard@who.eop.gov Subject:   Personal request Attachments:   Event Briefing Information POTUS.doc       Hi Patrick:   I am writing with a rather unusual personal request. The Governor is appearing on WTOP this coming Tuesday, December 22 for his final "Ask the Governor" segment. To mark the occasion, I have been secretly collaborating with the radio hosts to arrange for all the "callers" to be prominent folks with a connection to the Governor instead of the usual constituent calls. What are the chances we could have the President call in for 90 seconds that day?   The basic rap would be "Hi this is Barry calling from Washington, DC" and then the President would say a few nice words about the Governor's public service career and drop off. Confirmed callers for the segment include members of the VA Congressional delegation, the incoming Governor, Bruce Hornsby, and others. I know it would mean the world to the Governor to have POTUS as well. I've noted the details below in briefing form format for your convenience and consideration.   Looking forward to your thoughts! I know it is a heavy lift.   Lynda Tran Communications Director Office of Governor Timothy M. Kaine 804­225­4806 office 804­317­1505 cell lynda.tran@governor.virginia.gov   Event Briefing Information (Staff Contact: Lynda Tran, 804­225­1505 cell, 202­907­1172 alternate cell)   EVENT: Call in to Governor Kaine's monthly "Ask the Governor" show on WTOP 103.5FM.   DAY/DATE:Tuesday, December 22   EVENT TIME:10:00AM ­ 11:00AM   POTUS TIME:Anytime within the hour for 1­2 minutes.   ATTIRE: N/A   LOCATION:The event will take place by telephone. The studio has set aside a special direct line for POTUS with a producer standing by ( ). The radio host, Mark Segraves will also have his cell phone as a back­up if there are any issues ( )   PROGRAM:The Governor's monthly program is normally an open call­in format with radio hosts Mark Segraves, Hank Silverberg, and Mark Plotkin fielding listener calls and posing questions on topics ranging from local issues to state policies to politics.   KEY MESSAGES FOR POTUS: ­ Commend Governor Kaine for his service. ­ Wish the Governor well as he leaves the Executive Mansion for full­time responsibilites as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. ­ Share a brief personal anecdote about an experience with the Governor at an event or meeting in Virginia. Event Briefing Information POTUS.doc Event Briefing Information (Staff Contact: Lynda Tran, 804-225-1505 cell, 202-907-1172 alternate cell) EVENT: Call in to Governor Kaine's monthly "Ask the Governor" show on WTOP 103.5FM. DAY/DATE: Tuesday, December 22 EVENT TIME: 10:00AM - 11:00AM POTUS TIME: Anytime within the hour for 1-2 minutes. ATTIRE: N/A LOCATION: The event will take place by telephone. The studio has set aside a special direct line for POTUS with a producer standing by ( ). The radio host, Mark Segraves will also have his cell phone as a back-up if there are any issues ( ) PROGRAM: The Governor's monthly program is normally an open call-in format with radio hosts Mark Segraves, Hank Silverberg, and Mark Plotkin fielding listener calls and posing questions on topics ranging from local issues to state policies to politics. KEY MESSAGES FOR POTUS: - Commend Governor Kaine for his service. - Wish the Governor well as he leaves the Executive Mansion for full-time responsibilites as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. - Share a brief personal anecdote about an experience with the Governor at an event or meeting in Virginia. From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Monday, 20 August 2007 14:33:36 To:   Hall, Kevin; Skinner, Delacey; Shepard, Brian Subject:   RE: ShitShitShitShit   I remember both well.   1997­­I was heading back to Richmond late for a City Council meeting and was pushing it.   2001­­I was in the heat of the Lt. Gov campaign, driving myself and was late for a public appearance in Hampton.   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Hall, Kevin Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 2:21 PM To: Skinner, Delacey; Shepard, Brian; Kaine, Tim Subject: ShitShitShitShit       ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Kevin Hall Press Secretary Governor Timothy M. Kaine Desk: 804 225 4260 Cell: 804 393 9406   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Jonathan F Mummolo [mailto:MummoloJ@washpost.com] Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 2:14 PM To: Hall, Kevin Subject: RE: Out of Office AutoReply: Same comment from Thursday   Kevin­   I'm working on a story connected to the new driving fees that I was hoping to speak to the governor directly on. Basically, a lot of attention has been paid to the regular citizens of Va., and how many of them are upset over the new fees. I took a look at the driving records of many legislators and of the governor, and found that a lot have gotten pretty high speeding tickets over the years, some even for reckless driving by speed (20 over the limit).   This isn't an attack story. We're not making it out to be some huge deal. But I think it highlights that lawmakers are people too, who drive cars like the rest of us, who are subject to the law and are capable of getting speeding tickets.   The records I have show the governor paying fines for speeding tickets in 1997 (72 mph in a 55 zone, Henrico County General District Court) and another in 2001 for (73 in a 55, Hampton General District Court).   I'd love to interview the Gov. about the circumstances of the tickets, what was happening at the time, (if he remembers..I realize they were years ago), and whether he still drives himself places today, etc. Again, not making this out to be some grand investigative revelation. Just a feature with a different take on what it means to be a driver in Va. And I'll be calling other officials as well. The story will not just focus on the Gov.   Feel free to call me with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your consideration.       Jonathan Mummolo The Washington Post (703)­443­6840 From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Tuesday, 27 May 2008 16:40:12 To:   Rubin, Mark; Denslow, Suzette; Skinner, Delacey; Shepard, Brian; Roberts, Larry; Homer, Pierce; Reese, Barbara; Turnage, Wayne; Harms, Stephen Subject:   FW: 05.27.08 News Clips Attachments:   05.27.08.doc       Anne makes a good point.  I have been emphasizing the need for more transit and the fact that the increases in demand have been so significant with increases in gas prices.  We should continue to push this in both the regional plans and the Transportation Change Fund.   TK   From: Holton, Anne  Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:29 PM To: Kaine, Tim Subject: FW: 05.27.08 News Clips   Tim,             I don’t know if you saw it already so I thought I’d flag a great article in the clips today on the dramatic recent increases in ridership on buses, Metro, VRE, suburban vanpools, carpool connections websites – all the alternatives to individual driving.  This is a huge opportunity to make lemonade of the lemons of rising gas prices.  I hope/trust your VDOT folks are thinking about any creative, immediate ways even without $$$ to support this trend.  Long­term plans I’m sure already include increasing use of public transportation, but there may also be a  short­term “windfall” opportunity to support this new trend in some fashion.    The article is #2 in the clips, “Stung at the Pump, More Hope on a Bus”.  Double digit increases in most categories, some as high as 20+% over last year, and that’s just as of April.    From: Kelly, Michael  Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:31 AM Subject: 05.27.08 News Clips   Tuesday, May 27, 2008   Capital Punishment 01. Virginia set to execute killer Tuesday, Associated Press          (GK)   Transportation 02. Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus, By Lena H. Sun and Jonathan Mummolo, Wash.Post; A01 05. Leaders tackle future of rail service in area, By Melodie N. Martin, Times­Dispatch 06. Rural residents give cold shoulder to new road taxes, Julian Walker, VA Pilot          (GK) 08. Transportation plan might take a toll on you, By Kimball Payne, Daily Press          (GK) 09. Saslaw anticipates a busy special session, By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star 10. Let's have a plan, Daily Press Editorial          (GK) 11. GOP's road math doesn't add up, VA Pilot Editorial          (GK)   General Assembly 13. City still scrambling due to open judgeships, By Peter Dujardin, Daily Press          (GK)   Virginia Issues 16. Virginia's fallen heroes saluted and celebrated, By Wesley P. Hester, Times­Dispatch 17. Ports brace for financial hit from decline in cargo traffic, Greg Richards, VA Pilot 18. Special education controversy, By Cathy Grimes, Daily Press          (GK) 21. County considers raising proffers, By Wesley P. Hester, Times­Dispatch 22. Law on illegals creating shift?, By Karen Mahabir, The Associated Press 24. 'Green’ buildings catch on in Hampton Roads, Meghan Hoyer, VA Pilot 26. In a slumping economy, nonprofits struggle, Nancy Young, VA Pilot 28. Vet says much of VFW work is done quietly, By Kim O'Brien Root, Daily Press 30. Va. hopes to lure more foreign tourists, Associated Press 31. CHS student sees efforts to raise awareness pay off, By Barney Breen­Portnoy, Daily Progress          (GK)   Virginia Issues – Federal 32. Gasbag politicking, Roanoke Times Editorial   Virginia Issues – Opinion 33. Not Spit, RTD Editorial          (GK) 34. County Encapsulates Conundrum That's Confronting Virginia . . ., By A. Barton Hinkle, RTD Columnist 35. . . . Craves Development, Despite Risk, By George Nyfeler, Times­Dispatch Op­Ed   Around the Nation 36. U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million From Institute, By Philip Rucker, Washington Post; A01 39. Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients, By Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post; A01 41. 'This Is Really the Only Place I Could Be Today', By J. Johnson and S.Somashekhar, Wash.Post; B01 43. Today in History ­ May 27, By The Associated Press   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Virginia set to execute killer Tuesday Associated Press   Barring intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court or Governor Tim Kaine, a Broadnax man is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing a Brunswick County convenience store owner.   Thirty­one­year­old Kevin Green would be the first person executed in Virginia since 2006.   His attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution while they consider reviewing the case. They claim the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it ruled in February that he had passed the statute of limitations for claiming ineffective counsel.   Attorneys for Green also have asked the governor to grant clemency, claiming Green is mentally retarded.   If neither stop the execution, Green will be put to death by lethal injection at 9 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.   Back to top                                                 ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ TRANSPORTATION Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus D.C.'s Outlying Transit Systems Rush to Add Capacity; Metro Worried By Lena H. Sun and Jonathan Mummolo, Washington Post; A01   Transit systems that ferry commuters into Washington from outlying regions are experiencing significant ridership increases as some gas prices pass $4 a gallon, and Metro officials caution that trains could be overwhelmed if prices go even higher.   Officials are looking for ways to buy or lease more buses, expand parking, encourage employers to stagger work schedules and persuade current riders to avoid the peak of the morning rush period.   In Loudoun County, ridership on county­run commuter buses jumped 23 percent in April from April 2007. Officials scrambled to put additional buses into service, two months ahead of schedule.   In Maryland, ridership on the 15 commuter bus routes into Washington increased 15 percent in April, double the rate of increase from last fall, state transportation officials said. On Wednesday, state officials approved $3.3 million to expand bus service on nine of those routes.   Metro, which at 1.2 million subway and bus trips on an average weekday is the area's largest transit provider, is working on a contingency plan to help itself ­­ and the region ­­ prepare for a huge shift to public transit should gas prices hit $5 a gallon. Despite fare and fee increases in January, Metro's average weekday ridership in April ­­ 771,811 ­­ was slightly more than 4 percent above that in April 2007.   "There is a point at which we may see a massive move of commuters from driving to transit because of cost," General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. told board members last week.   Metro is urging regional officials to discuss options, even though they might not involve Metrorail. Local transportation departments could run bus­only lanes. Large employers, including the federal government, with a workforce of 300,000 in the Baltimore­ Washington area, could institute mandatory flextime. Subway riders could shift their commute so they are not riding at the height of the morning rush, when trains arrive at downtown stations between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.   "We're not always going to have the solutions," said Nat Bottigheimer, Metro's chief planner. "We're trying to give examples of the kinds of things that can be done so people will be comfortable taking a leap of faith to change a habit."   Transit officials say rising gas prices will most affect solo drivers with the longest commutes, many of whom are considering carpools and vanpools.   On the regional Commuter Connections bulletin board on the Web, ride­sharing postings from Fairfax County and Loudoun increased 87.5 percent in the first quarter of the year from the same period last year.   Sandy Silzer of Sterling, who drives an 11­person vanpool to Northwest Washington, has a waiting list of half a dozen. She is considering upgrading from a 12­person van to one that seats 15. The high gas prices are also having an effect on what she charges: She might soon have to raise her fee of $180 a month if prices keep going up, she said.   "Lately, I've been filling it when I get to half a tank, because I've been trying to edge the prices. They've been going up so frequently," said Silzer, who has a government job in the District.   Bill Powers of Burke, a program manager with the Department of Homeland Security, started looking for transportation alternatives when he began spending $200 a week to gas up his Jeep Commander back in March, up from about $125 in November. He always enjoyed the flexibility of having his own ride, enough even to forgo the transit subsidy his employer offered.   He began calling vanpools and soon realized that he wasn't alone: He called six before finding an opening.   "I finally struck gold about two or three weeks ago," said Powers, who now hops into a van with 14 others about a mile from home at 6:05 a.m. He's at his office building in Northwest Washington by 6:45 a.m.   For people who are not regular transit users, the first hurdle is the biggest. But across the country, enough people are taking that step to increase transit ridership nationwide, said Rob Padgette, director of policy, development and research at the American Public Transportation Association, an industry group. "We haven't seen anything like this in a long time," he said.   Gas prices probably have much to do with that increase, but there is little research that shows a direct correlation.   During the 1970s oil crisis, gasoline shortages pushed national transit ridership up ­­ 6.7 percent in 1979 over the previous year and 5.4 percent in 1980. By comparison, ridership grew 2.1 percent in 2007, but that was the highest level in 50 years.   Padgette predicts that the number will rise, particularly for rail, because those trips are the longest.   "We're going to see some pretty striking numbers this year, and they will show up later this year if fuel prices remain high," he said.   On Friday, the Transportation Department reported that in March, Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles than in March 2007, a 4.3 percent drop and the first time in nearly three decades that traffic has dropped between one March and the next.   For some local officials, the link between skyrocketing gas prices and the jump in public transportation rides is clear.   Loudoun officials are scrambling to put more commuter buses on the road for the two­hour trips between remote parts of the county and downtown Washington. Average daily ridership in April was 3,281, but already this month, some days have exceeded 4,000 riders, county transit chief Nancy Gourley said.   She said the agency might need to lease more buses, consider running feeder buses to take commuters to transit centers and expand parking at a 750­space lot.     Ridership on Virginia Railway Express, which runs trains from Manassas and Fredericksburg to Union Station, is also increasing, jumping nearly 12 percent in April, according to spokesman Mark Roeber.   In anticipation of high demand this fall, VRE is adding five rail cars each month until October, when it will have 106 cars, up from 78, he said. That will mean 4,000 more seats. April's average weekday ridership was 15,312.   MARC ridership increased 6 percent in March over the previous year and trains are at capacity, according to a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration, which operates the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines. Average weekday ridership in March was 31,943.   Some drivers made the switch to public transit months ago, when gas seemed expensive at $3 a gallon.   Paul Fickinger, who commutes between Severna Park and Chevy Chase, took a combination of the MARC train and Metrorail two or three days a week last summer instead of driving. Now it's more like four days, sometimes five.   "The tipping point was probably when [gas prices] hit $3," said Fickinger, head of property management at a real estate company.   Aletha Randolph also drove when she began her job in Crystal City three years ago. But the cost of commuting across the Potomac River from Cheverly grew too high. She started riding Metro in January.   "It takes a little bit more time, but as far as saving money . . . now, instead of filling up my car every week, week and a half, I now fill it up close to every three weeks," she said.   This month, weekday Metro ridership during peak periods was 509,533 trips.   If riders spread out their rush­hour trips, instead of crowding into the "peak of the peak," Metro could accommodate an additional 140,000 trips on the subway, Metro's Bottigheimer said.   One of the biggest obstacles to spreading out ridership is space at parking lots, which fill up quickly at suburban stations near the ends of the lines. One option, Bottigheimer said, would be to set aside spaces for carpoolers.   Philip Westcott of New Market, a transportation engineer, is an expert on how to get from point A to point B. But he still hasn't found a good rail or bus option for his commute to Baltimore. So he has had to suck it up at the pump, paying $60 to fill the tank of his Nissan Xterra. That lasts for four days of commuting.   If it gets much worse, he said, he and his wife will have to join carpools. "If gas prices get above $4.50 or something, that's the only option we have, really," he said.   Staff writers Mark Berman and Jennifer Buske and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.   Back to top                                                 ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Leaders tackle future of rail service in area State plan would make Amtrak stops in Henrico and Ashland obsolete By Melodie N. Martin, Times­Dispatch   To visit her daughter and newborn grandchild in Manhattan over the holiday weekend, Henrico County resident Millie Hill chose to take the train.   "I think it's a lot less difficult than flying," Hill said while waiting to board at the Staples Mill Road Amtrak station Thursday.   Hill, a state government employee, said many of her co­workers frequently catch the train at the Amtrak stations in Henrico and Ashland to attend meetings in Washington.   But to improve passenger rail service through the Richmond area, state rail officials are considering an option that would make the Amtrak stations in Henrico and Ashland obsolete.   Both localities, which are among those meeting today with state rail officials, have been pleading to keep passenger rail service where it is.   "It's easy for a lot of people to say that it's an emotional want for us to have continued passenger rail service because of the history of the town, but it's truly a much more serious issue than that," said Ashland Town Manager Charles Hartgrove. "Losing passenger rail would be a large blow to our local economy."   Henrico has sent state rail officials several alternatives ­­ in both the county and the city ­­ for a multi­modal transportation center, which would incorporate rail, automobile and bus transit in one location. They include improvements to the existing Staples Mill Road station; a site east of the Acca rail yard near Laburnum and Westwood avenues; and a site in the northeast quadrant of Staples Mill and East Parham roads.   Henrico Supervisor Richard W. Glover, whose Brookland District includes the Staples Mill Road station, said passenger train service should be offered where the most people will use it.   "I don't think we're looking to say, 'Put it in Henrico,' as much as we are saying, 'Put it within the area that would be the most convenient for the entire region,' where it would be close to where I­95, the Powhite Parkway and I­64 come together from all directions of the region," Glover said.   The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is leading a study that is looking at the relocation of Amtrak passenger rail service between Doswell in Hanover County and Richmond's Main Street Station from the CSX rail line west of Interstate 95 to the Buckingham Branch rail line to the east.   One reason for moving passenger service would be to bypass CSX's congested Acca Yard between the Staples Mill Road station and Main Street Station. Freight train operations in the yard are frequently suspended to let passenger trains through.   Henrico Supervisor Patricia O'Bannon said Richmond, which connects to Atlanta and Washington, is on the short list for getting high­speed rail. But that would not be possible on the curvy Buckingham Branch rail line, she said.   "It would mean slow rail, not fast rail," O'Bannon said.   The historic Main Street Station resumed passenger service in late 2003 after a 28­year hiatus and a $51.6 million renovation, but it has limited passenger service with two trains in each direction a day.   Richmond and state officials are reviewing plans for Main Street Station that would add an additional two round trips, relocate train­storage areas and ultimately allow Amtrak trains to serve it to and from the south. But improving rail operations and train speed through Acca Yard also need to be addressed.   The Staples Mill Road station remains the busiest in the state, with 234,670 passengers getting on and off there last year and 118 Amtrak trains a week. Last year, the Ashland station had about 12,909 passengers and Main Street Station had 12,757.   The state rail agency plans to hold a public meeting in September before completing the study next summer.   Back to top                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Rural residents give cold shoulder to new road taxes Julian Walker, VA Pilot   RICHMOND   Finding money to repair old roads and build new ones continues to flummox Virginia lawmakers, who have spent the better part of the past decade unsuccessfully searching for consensus on revenue sources.   That debate is often framed by concerns in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia ­ two population centers critical to the state economy that are plagued by traffic congestion.     But what about all those far­flung places where transportation needs have nothing to do with jammed interstates and rush­hour gridlock?   Southwest Virginia's Floyd County, with its green pastures and rolling hills, is bisected by two main thoroughfares, U.S. 221 and Va. 8. Much of the rest of the road system consists of dirt and gravel byways.   "Hundreds and hundreds of miles," county administrator Dan Campbell said.   "We do have a tremendous road mileage of unimproved and dirt roads, and for the most part our citizens and our leadership have pretty much written off getting those dirt roads improved."   As is true in other Virginia localities, money for major road improvements in Floyd is limited.   Throughout urban and rural sections of the state, feelings are mixed about the scope of the road problem as well as how to fix it and who should pay.   It's a divide not unlike the split between state legislators on the issue.   Those differences can pit the needs in urban districts against the interests of hard­to­reach places connected by aging roads that meander across Virginia's vast, bucolic landscape.   "Do you know why nobody does any front­end alignments?" Bobby Cannon asked rhetorically on a recent overcast afternoon. "If you go anywhere within a 2­mile radius, there's going to be a pothole."   Cannon and his wife, Sarah, own a two­stall auto garage in downtown Bowling Green, a district of red­brick shops buffered by tree­lined residential streets in Caroline County.   Business has been slower at the garage of late, which Cannon attributes to the current economic climate.   "Honestly, the roads need to be fixed," he said. "But if it costs more money to raise taxes, then leave them alone. People are just making do with what they have."   New taxes are the foundation of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposal to raise about $1 billion annually for state­maintained roads. The governor's package is built on increasing the levy on car sales and the grantor's tax paid when real estate is sold.   It also includes sales­tax increas es in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia to pay for roads in those areas and a $10 boost in the annual vehicle registration fee.   In addition to selling his plan to taxpayers, Kaine must reconcile differences between Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature who have different ideas about state road needs and how to pay for them.   The governor has crisscrossed the state in recent weeks to explain his plan in a series of transportation town hall meetings.   A crowd of about 75 gathered recently at one session on the campus of Staunton's Mary Baldwin College. The audience was a mixture of folks opposed to any tax increases ­ members of the Americans for Prosperity group staged a small protest outside the event ­ and those willing to pay more for roads.   "I don't mind paying additional taxes for the good of the commonwealth," Swoope resident Elizabeth LaGrua said. "To me, that's the cost of citizenship."   Some at the forum said the new taxes would hit low­income individuals hardest. They urged the governor to cut state spending to pay for roads. At least two others spoke in support of a gas­tax increase, which the governor's plan excludes.   Kaine told the crowd his proposal would raise money without imposing a heavy burden on taxpayers.   A day earlier at a barbershop in Amelia County, the conversation turned to the proposed regional sales­tax increases.   Will Elliott, the owner of Elliott's Barber Shop near the county's courthouse square, said he saw no problem with regions taxing themselves to improve their own roads.   Amelia resident Paul Folliard, who was sitting in Elliott's chair for a trim, had a dimmer view of new taxes.   "But if they do it, I just want something that would say that's where the money is going," he said.   The men generally agreed that the quality of county roads is acceptable.   "Our biggest transportation problem around here," Folliard said, "is if you leave the post office, you have to wait a few moments for folks to walk by."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Transportation plan might take a toll on you Federal officials say tolling programs can encourage carpooling and cut down on rush­hour traffic congestion. By Kimball Payne, Daily Press   The five­letter word is almost an afterthought in the state transportation debate, but it could play a major role in future of commuters in Hampton Roads:   Tolls.   When Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled his plan for financing upgrades to the state's beleaguered transportation network, he outlined a series of significant proposals but never mentioned tolling.   Asked about tolls, Kaine's administration said they are absolutely a part of the future of transportation.   "It ought to be a bigger part of the discussion," said Del. Phil Hamilton, R­Newport News. "I don't know of any great opposition to tolls, but the closer tolls get to reality, it'll rear its ugly head."   Lawmakers are struggling to come up with enough money to ease congestion problems in traffic­plagued regions like Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. There is little overall agreement on how to raise additional money for roads, but there is little disagreement that tolls are going to be a part of the future.   "It's almost assumed these days," Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said. "To me, it's progress that tolling is being accepted as part of the solution. But it's not a complete solution."   Once specifics are nailed down, there is certain to be heavy and heated debate over where to place tolls and how much to charge. Tolling will likely face a backlash and growing pains as drivers adjust to new technologies used to collect cash, but it's interesting to note that even the Peninsula's most anti­tax lawmaker is open to the idea.   "It's a true user fee, if you use it you pay the toll," said Del. Tom Gear, R­Hampton. "I could get warm to tolls."   Many lawmakers, Gear and Hamilton among them, recall forking over $1.25 to use the Hampton Roads Bridge­Tunnel in the 1960s and '70s.   "In the '70s, I was paying a buck and a quarter each way because I was working in Portsmouth," Gear said.   Hampton Roads' unique geographic patchwork of cities and water makes the region especially fertile ground for a tolling program, because typically tolls don't work well when drivers can find different routes without charges.   "When tolls work the best is when you have a lot of traffic and not a lot of alternatives," Homer said. "Like bridges and tunnels."   But it's important to remember that tolling alone won't foot the bill, Homer said. He noted that when a pair of private conglomerates submitted proposals to build a third water crossing, both companies included significant tolls to raise money for the massive project that would link Newport News, Norfolk and Suffolk with a complex of bridges and tunnels. But both companies also needed billions in state funding to make the projects work.   Gear said he thinks any local tolling program would have to include charges on every route, including the bridge­tunnels and the James River Bridge, to keep folks from searching for alternatives.   "If you toll, you've got to toll everything," he said.   Gear also suggested the ballooning cost of gasoline could actually help correct the region's transportation crisis by forcing people to re­examine how much they are paying to commute.   "Four dollars (a gallon) is like nothing anymore," Gear said. "That's going to slow a lot of people down. It's going to make commuters take a long, hard look at where they work and live."   The future of driving in Hampton Roads also probably includes value pricing, a tolling program designed not so much to raise money but primarily to discourage drivers from using bridges and tunnels during peak hours on weekday mornings and afternoons.   Under value pricing — or congestion pricing — drivers who are commuting during heavy times are charged a higher toll, and people with less important or less time­specific destinations are given an incentive to delay or reschedule their trips.   Virginia is one of 15 states in the country that can use congestion pricing under a pilot program.   A variation on that theme is being used around Washington, where in the near future drivers who are willing to pay an extra toll are going to be able to use the high occupancy lanes on the beltway.   Federal officials appear encouraged by this type of system. In a letter to state House Speaker William J. Howell, R­Stafford, last week, Federal Highway Administration officials said congestion pricing is an effective toll that relieves congestion and improves air quality.   "Through pricing, Virginia will be able to effectively and efficiently encourage commuters to carpool, use other modes of transportation, or shift their travel times to nonpeak periods," wrote Marcus Lemon, an attorney for the federal interstate agency.       To discourage driving when traffic is heaviest     One tolling program likely to be part of the future here is value pricing, or congestion pricing. Under this system, drivers who use bridges and tunnels during peak traffic hours are charged a higher toll as an incentive to change driving habits.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ GOP's road math doesn't add up VA Pilot Editorial   The term "new money" seems self­explanatory, but much of the gibberish in this year's transportation debate is the result of a disagreement over what should be a simple concept.   Gov. Tim Kaine says the state needs $400 million more annually to cover a maintenance shortfall for roads and bridges. House Republican leaders counter that last year's transportation plan will generate about $500 million a year in new money for those needs.   Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who wants to be Virginia's next governor, uses a similar figure when criticizing Kaine's proposal to raise sales taxes on cars and trucks.   That $500 million estimate makes for an impressive rebuttal. Under scrutiny, it sheds much of its appeal.   Increased registration fees, fines for overweight trucks and higher taxes in diesel fuel generate nearly $114 million. By any standard, that's bona fide new money that the state did not have last year.     But Republicans count money from a statewide tax on real estate transfers as new. While new for transportation, the $64 million was merely shifted out of the state operating budget, where it has historically been used for schools, health care and prisons.   McDonnell and GOP lawmakers also factor in $300 million the state plans to borrow each year for roads. Anyone with a credit card knows it's folly to confuse debt with new income. To confuse matters more, Republicans don't agree among themselves on exactly how to define new money. McDonnell juices up his transportation balance sheet by including $80 million in budget surpluses, based on the average from the past decade.   His colleagues in the legislature aren't that bold. They know there is no budget surplus this year, and no guarantee that one will burst through the dark economic clouds anytime soon. No road contractor will start shoveling dirt with a promise he'll be paid the next time there's a budget surplus.   Kaine, who helped negotiate last year's transportation deal and signed it into law, is fully aware of its details. He knows what money is new, what's a shell game and what is wishful thinking. Crunch all of those together, and the state still came up $261 million short for road maintenance this year. Next year, the deficit is forecast to grow to $388 million.   Why? A recent report by Senate budget analysts showed iron and steel prices were up 34.5 percent over last year. Sand, gravel and stone cost 7.2 percent more. The materials used to build and repair roads and bridges cost much more than state leaders imagined when they were fine­tuning last year's road bill. Even if the $500 million touted by Republicans were all new, it would make a small dent in the state's road needs. New ramps and a bridge proposed for the I­64/264 interchange will cost $230 million. That's one project.   Perhaps McDonnell and Republican leaders genuinely believe motorists will have to tough it out and live with the roads they've got, potholes and all.   It would be better if they were honest about that instead of creating false hope that real help is on the way.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Saslaw anticipates a busy special session By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star   WINCHESTER — Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D­Annandale, believes a lot of work lies ahead for the Virginia General Assembly when it convenes on June 23 for a special session regarding transportation.   Saslaw, the state Senate majority leader, came to Jimmy’s restaurant on U.S. 50 east of Winchester on Saturday to speak with the Blue Ridge Democratic Women’s Club, talking about issues facing the state, the General Assembly, and his political party.   He admitted that transportation will be a thorny issue, forcing both Democrats and Republicans to find some resolution for the state’s highway problems.   Saslaw said both sides seem to be making statements to position themselves for the public, but he does not consider either party to be drawing lines in the sand.   "Six weeks out, when faced with the prospect of not doing anything, they may be able to change their mind," Saslaw said. "To sit there and deny, as the Speaker [of the House William J. Howell, R­Stafford] has, that we don’t have a statewide problem is absurd."   Saslaw said the transportation plan approved by the General Assembly in 2007 had called for a road construction budget of $1.5 billion and a maintenance budget of $1.2 billion.   Saslaw said one problem with the funding package was that $365 million from the expected construction budget was going to be needed to cover additional maintenance costs.   Virginia’s highway maintenance and construction costs, he said, have gone up 50 percent in the last six years, making it a debt that must be paid now to avoid significant financial impacts in the future.     The 2007 transportation package had called for regional taxing authorities to provide additional money for Tidewater’s and Northern Virginia’s road problems, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in February that the authorities were unconstitutional.   Saslaw said the road package needs to be fixed so those funds that would have been generated by taxes in Tidewater and Northern Virginia will be available to fix roads.   "Around 2013 or 2014, we do not have enough in maintenance [funding] to qualify for four­to­one match money from the federal government when it’s available," he said. "In 2016 or 2017, the loss [of federal matching money] out of the construction fund would be over $700 million. In Tidewater and Northern Virginia, that’s almost 60 to 70 percent.   "That is $350 million out of Northern Virginia alone, so what good is it to pass a regional package?" Saslaw said as he stressed the need for statewide funding. "That [regional] package is supposed to be in addition to [regular funding for transportation]."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Let's have a plan Kaine's road plan needs work, but saying 'No' isn't enough Daily Press Editorial   Plan? No plan? What's it going to be this time for Virginia Republicans, when it comes to transportation?   In 2004, the "no­plan" strategy was touted by the GOP's leadership as a sensible political response to Gov. Mark Warner's effort to straighten out the state budget with a half­cent sales tax increase. But when the state's credit rating looked to be in peril, more sensible Republicans inched over to Warner. Tax­averse lawmakers squawked, but joined in when it came to spending the money.   On Warner's transportation efforts, though, the no­tax wing of the GOP prevailed.   Enter Gov. Tim Kaine in 2006. The transportation mess was worse. It was also becoming less about future road funding than immediate needs. Maintenance began to nudge aside construction. Potholes trump traffic jams.   By the end of 2006, Virginia Republican leaders concluded that their "no­plan" posture could be a big loser in the following fall's General Assembly elections. Kaine was already testing a campaign message that the GOP ran a "do­nothing" legislature, and they had to have something for the voters other than obstructionism.   Direct funding — taxation — was out of the question. So, for the 2007 Assembly session, they packaged "abuser fees," regional taxing authorities, substantial borrowing and a big dip into the state general fund. Kaine resisted, especially on the general funds, as those support K­12 instructional costs and public safety, but he eventually yielded. He didn't want the obstructionist label, either.   Of course, that "plan" blew up. Voters hated the abusive driver fees and forced repeal in this year's session. The state Supreme Court pitched out the regional authorities as unconstitutional. As legislative fiascos go, the 2007 road package was memorable.   Now Kaine has another plan, which has its own problems, notably his inclusion of a real estate tax statewide and his preference for increasing the sales tax, rather than the user­based gas tax.   The no­tax folks rejected it reflexively, but it appears that their alternative consists of another no­plan plan.   Their idea is to reject any statewide tax increase at the June 23 special legislative session, and toss the specific congestion problems in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia back in the laps of local government.   And to fill the growing gap in highway maintenance funds? Some of that general fund money is still available. And a budget provision engineered by the Republicans already sets aside two­thirds of any budget surplus for transportation. So all we need is a budget surplus.   Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who already has a lock on the Republican nomination for governor next year, claims that had the surplus law been in place in 2005, the then­existing $1 billion surplus would have yielded $667 million for road maintenance.     So who needs another plan?   Well, if they don't have a revenue plan, then they need a plan for some budget cuts.   Just revisit McDonnell's $1 billion surplus, two­thirds of which might have gone to roads. The Republicans controlled both houses of the legislature at the time. They could have spent all of the surplus on roads.   But they allocated every bit of it to other state priorities and celebrated that spending during the 2007 legislative elections. What are they now willing to do without?   From time immemorial, there has been bipartisan support for the contention that as the state economy expands, so, too, will tax revenues, thereby providing for "the growing needs of a growing state." And that's generally where the surpluses go.   So, again, what are the Republicans — or McDonnell, specifically — ready to not fund now in order to accommodate road maintenance in the general fund?   Where's the plan, Stan?   When Kaine rolled out his latest transportation proposal, it took less than two hours for Republican leaders in the House of Delegates — where the no­tax position primarily manifests itself — to pronounce it "dead on arrival."   Their alternative? None.   Their plan? No plan.   Kaine's plan needs work. But it's a starting point. Just saying "No" doesn't get the job done.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ GENERAL ASSEMBLY City still scrambling due to open judgeships The court system is using substitutes and temporary fixes to fill the void. By Peter Dujardin, Daily Press   Calling all attorneys who want to be judges.   Temporary judges, that is, to help Hampton get through a seemingly never­ending impasse in the General Assembly over the city's judgeships.   "Please form a line to my right," J. Robert Harris III, president of the Hampton Bar Association, wrote in a letter to 125 member attorneys earlier this month. "This position is reserved for lawyers who want to close their practice (tempting) to wear a robe for about six months and then try to restart your practice anew."   Then he quipped, "Maybe a fresh start wouldn't be so bad."   Hampton has three open judgeships: Circuit Court, General District Court, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.   A tenuous deal to fill the three slots crumbled last month as every Republican senator in attendance and some Democrats walked out of the Senate chambers instead of voting for one of the people on the slate, Kathy Gear Owens, Republican Del. Tom Gear's sister. In turn, the House GOP scuttled the whole deal.   The failure to fill judicial seats in Hampton has now dragged on for four years — and counting. And the issue has become more pressing.   There are three open seats, rather than one from 2004. With the retirement of Judge William C. Andrews III, whom Gear continually blocked from a long­term reappointment, filling the seat is no longer as easy as the governor simply asking Andrews to stick around another year.   The courts do have short­term strategies in place — using retired judges for the Circuit Court and a designated judge and local attorneys for the two district courts — to ensure the dockets don't get backed up and sitting judges aren't overburdened.   Still, with all the substitutes and temporary fixes, the Bar Association is worried about uncertainty, delays and the court system's overall functioning.   "Because a different judge sits every couple of weeks, or even every couple of days, these judges cannot be properly integrated into the system of justice," Harris said of the Circuit Court seat.   There's still an outside chance that the General Assembly will fill the seats this year. Lawmakers are meeting for a special session on transportation funding June 23 and could pick the judges then.   But there's little confidence among Hampton court watchers that a problem that's dragged on for so long will somehow be hammered out as legislators are trying to devise ways to raise billions of dollars for such transportation projects as the third crossing.   Failing a last­minute deal at that session, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine could step in and fill the Circuit Court spot temporarily.   Under state law, he has the power to fill open Circuit Court seats until the next scheduled legislative session in January. Likewise, the Circuit Court's panel of judges or the Virginia Supreme Court can temporarily fill the openings at General District Court and Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court.   Kaine hopes he doesn't have to step in, said the governor's spokesman, Gordon Hickey.   "It is the job of the General Assembly to fill that slot," Hickey said last week. "He hopes they do their job."   Still, Hickey added, Kaine "is not ruling out" filling the seat. The governor would make his choice from among Hampton attorneys who want the job.   But it might not be easy for the governor to find candidates. Lawyers have clients, partners and ongoing cases, and Kaine would have to convince one of them to leave their practice for a temporary judgeship, with no likelihood the gig will lead to anything long­ term.   A lower court judge might also be reluctant to move up to the Circuit Court for the same reason.   In recent years, Kaine and his predecessor, Mark R. Warner, had a relatively easy choice: They simply asked Andrews to hold his seat a little bit longer.   For four years, Gear blocked Andrews from the standard eight­year reappointment for Circuit Court judges, accusing him of being too lenient on punishing drunk drivers.   That stand began when Andrews found a local high school football coach not guilty of a drunken driving charge.   Yet others in the legislative delegation — and many area lawyers — ardently supported Andrews. Late last year, Andrews, now 63, reportedly grew weary of the annual reappointments and decided to retire.   Until the legislature appoints someone else for an eight­year term, or Kaine appoints someone on a more short term basis, cases still have to be heard.   Besides the Circuit Court slot, another local judgeship was added to the mix in 2007.   That came after Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Nelson T. Durden turned 70, the mandatory retirement age for state judges. Durden, now 71, has agreed to continue to sit until the seat can be filled.   And another judge slot more recently came open with the departure of General District Court Judge C. Edward Knight III, who stepped aside in April. Harris said Knight has said he would stay on to help out, too, but so far has not been designated to do so. Local lawyers have been hearing the cases that would otherwise go to him.   As for the Andrews' seat, three retired Circuit Court judges — Walter J. Ford from Hampton and Robert W. Curran and Randolph T. West from Newport News — are filling in.   But those judges are already busy doing other work, such as mediating cases that don't go to trial.   "I don't think West, Ford and Curran really want to do what they're doing," Harris said. "Someone has got to do it, and they're being kind enough to do so. But how much longer they're going to do it, I don't know."   And sometimes — for scheduling and other reasons — those three judges can't take a case. When that happens, the court's administrative staffers have to scramble to find other retired Circuit Court judges from other localities to fill in, said Laura Sandford, the Hampton Circuit Court's administrator.   Barring an appointment from lawmakers or the governor, only former Circuit Court judges can sit in Circuit Court.   Judges have come to Hampton from South Hampton Roads, but Sandford said the court might have to soon draw from further away.   But there are vacancies in other cities, too, so other cities are vying for the same temporary judges.   "When you have a vacancy like that, it just starts to get problematic, especially with summertime, with vacation, with conferences. It takes some juggling."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ VIRGINIA ISSUES Virginia's fallen heroes saluted and celebrated In Richmond:At war memorial, hundreds urged not to forget By Wesley P. Hester, Times­Dispatch   With flags billowing at half­staff on a sunny Memorial Day morning, an eclectic mix of leather­clad bikers, colorfully dressed children and patriotic parents converged at the Virginia War Memorial yesterday to remember the nation's fallen service members.     Keynote speaker and American Legion State Commander Andrew Robertson roared into Richmond with members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group, which had made a stop Sunday at the White House to make President Bush an honorary member and lobby for increased veterans benefits.   Robertson, of Mathews County, said he was impressed by the hundreds who turned out yesterday at the war memorial, especially younger generations paying their respects.   "It is a special time in our life here in America. We are at war. There are some people that don't seem to remember that, but it's obvious that you do," said Robertson, who served 30 years as an aviator with the U.S. Marine Corps.   He prefaced his comments by acknowledging the 171 Virginians who have died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Those include 98 from the Army, 47 from the Marine Corps, 18 from the Navy, five from the Air Force, one from the Coast Guard and two from the CIA.     "What do you say to those who have made that ultimate sacrifice?" he asked. "'Thank you' is a start, but it seems woefully inadequate. You could also say, 'I will not dishonor your sacrifice by belittling the cause for which you gave your life.' For whether a war is popular or unpopular, the sacrifice is the same for the more than 1 million men and women who died in the service of this nation in wars and conflicts since 1775."     Robertson suggested that the best way to honor fallen service members is to support their families.   "Nobody can replace these fallen heroes, especially in the eyes of their families," he said, "but we can offer shoulders to lean on. We can offer assistance with educational expenses. We can provide assurance that their loved ones' sacrifice will not be forgotten."   Robertson, who lost his best friend and a fellow pilot 35 years ago when he was killed in a training exercise, urged those on hand not to lose sight of what the Memorial Day stands for.   "It's not about beaches or picnics or auto races. It's a day to remember," he said. "If you have stood beside the open grave of your best friend, you know a loss which will never be forgotten. It is only through the passage of years that you understand that that memory can never be healed and that you yourself become the living memorial to their sacrifice."   Seven­year­old Richmonders Will Hoffler and Jake Noble seemed to be listening.   "It was a little bit fun because I've never been here and I wanted to celebrate my dad because he's in the Army," Will said.   Said Jake: "I came here because I felt like saluting the people who served and died."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Ports brace for financial hit from decline in cargo traffic Greg Richards, VA Pilot   Norfolk   Cargo container volume is expected to drop 6.5 percent in the upcoming fiscal year at the Virginia Port Authority's terminals, according to budget documents released Friday evening on the authority's Web site.   The decline comes amid a slowdown in the national economy that has curtailed shipments of imported goods. A weak dollar has boosted export shipments through Hampton Roads, the East Coast's third biggest container port, but not enough to make up for reduced imports.   Still, the head of the state­controlled agency's operating company will likely see his base pay rise 5 percent.   Joseph A. Dorto, president and chief executive of Virginia International Terminals Inc., is budgeted to receive a salary of $463,108. He is eligible for a performance bonus for up to 65 percent, or $301,020, of that. In 2007, Dorto's bonus was $238,905, or 54.2 percent of his base pay.   The budget documents were published in advance of today's meeting of the authority's board of commissioners. The panel is scheduled to vote on the budgets for both the Port Authority and Virginia International Terminals, or VIT.   VIT expects revenue of nearly $240 million in the new year, down 6.9 percent from the $257.7 million estimated for the current year.   Having fewer cargo containers to move is expected to lower VIT's operating expenses by 4.4 percent, to $40.8 million. Maintenance costs are projected to drop 2.2 percent, as high fuel prices are projected to partly counter lower repair costs as newer equipment is introduced. Accounting and administrative expenses are expected to rise 5.5 percent to $21.3 million, despite a hiring freeze on 20 vacant staff positions.   VIT has budgeted for 457 employees in the new fiscal year. It also hires hundreds of International Longshoremen's Association dockworkers each day.   The Port Authority board requires VIT to disclose the compensation of its three highest­paid employees.   Dorto, 57, also is budgeted to receive a $21,923 automobile allowance and $4,666 for business club dues, in addition to $17,000 that is provided for a life insurance policy. At age 65, Dorto's annual retirement income will be $413,049.   The two other highest paid VIT officials are:   ­ Richard N. Knapp, chief operating officer, with base pay of $237,359, and a performance bonus of up to 30 percent of his salary, or $71,208.   ­ Joseph P. Ruddy, director of operations and labor, with base pay of $159,000, and a performance bonus of up to 30 percent of his salary, or $47,700.   Following its practice of the past, VIT did not disclose the criteria used to determine how the three earn their bonuses.   For next fiscal year, salaries for Port Authority and VIT employees are estimated to increase an average of 3 percent.   Reduced cargo volumes are expected to lower the payments VIT makes to the authority. VIT is expected to transfer $55 million to the authority in the new fiscal year, about 18.5 percent lower than the current year. Such payments are used by the authority to upgrade and provide security at its four terminals ­ in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Front Royal.   The authority's operating expenses are projected to be $79.8 million, about the same as the current year. Of that, $48.5 million is for debt payments for terminal and equipment projects. Security costs are projected to rise 13.2 percent to $9.9 million, because of the addition of five police officers and increased maintenance costs.   The authority is budgeting for 157 employees starting July 1.   Other issues up for consideration today by the 12­member authority are:   ­ Giving $12.5 million to Craney Island Design Partners for the second phase of design work for the authority's proposed $2.2 billion cargo terminal on Portsmouth's Craney Island.   ­ Buying nine electric cargo container handlers at a cost not to exceed $10 million.   ­ Approving the issuance of a $65 million "bond anticipation note."   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Special education controversy Consent would not be required for cessation of services and determining services for transfers. By Cathy Grimes, Daily Press   Greta Harrison's first reaction to the news that Virginia was changing its special education law was caution.   There was no question the change was overdue. The state law was out of compliance with the federal special education law, updated in 2004. There were definitions to revise, new information about teacher qualifications to add and discipline and evaluation criteria to review.   But the revisions unveiled in March and under public review until June 30 surprised and saddened Harrison, who is an active member of Hampton City Schools' special education advisory committee and other area groups focused on advocacy for the disabled. Her 8­year­old daughter, Yasmine, has Down syndrome and is a second­grader at Forrest Elementary School.   Harrison and other parents and advocates for the disabled are worried about proposed changes that would reduce parents' roles in several key special education decisions, including the termination of services for their children.   "I'm not angry, but I am concerned," Harrison said after reviewing the changes. "I'm very surprised that they came up with a document that is so polarizing."   Harrison and others plan to attend a public hearing Wednesday at Norview High School in Norfolk to register their worries and suggestions.   So far, the state has held six of nine public hearings on the regulations and has received more than 4,000 written comments, said Education Department spokesman Charles Pyle.   14 percent About 14 percent, or 172,704, of Virginia's students qualify for special education services. The largest number, 63,282, have a specific learning disability such as dyslexia. More than 31,000 have speech or language impairments. About 26,000 fall into the category of other health impairments, which includes Attention Deficit Disorder. And more than 15,000 children ages 2 to 9 have developmental delays. All are entitled to support to help them learn.   The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees that children with disabilities have the right to a fair, free and appropriate public education. Special education students must have individual education programs, which outline learning goals, accommodations and services. They are developed by teams that include the parents or guardians, teachers, counselors, therapists and others who work with the child. The teams meet regularly to update the plan.   Students also are entitled to support services that might include an aide, special learning tools and teaching strategies, therapy and other services. But while the federal government requires those services, it pays for only a fraction of their costs.   Cities and counties provide the bulk of funding to cover special education costs beyond basic education funding. State officials say some of the proposed changes are an effort to use limited resources more effectively.   Proposed changes Among the changes that has caused the greatest uproar is eliminating the parental consent requirement when a district wants to stop providing special education services for a child. In the regulations under consideration, the school must notify a parent, but not seek permission. The changes also propose eliminating parental consent when determining services for transfer students.   In a letter to the State Board of Education, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he was concerned about those proposed changes.   "I do not currently see any circumstance under which I would approve a final regulation reducing parental involvement in these ways," he wrote.   Harrison agrees: "There are ways to do this without taking away parental rights. ... I don't want to see us go back. I want to see us move forward."   Sharon Warren, Hampton's director of special education, said the change does not mean parents have no options.   "They can ask to have the child evaluated again and can initiate the due process procedures," she said. "They still have the right to due process."   Other changes have drawn fire from the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy and The Arc of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit organization focused on advocacy for the disabled. Concerns range from worries about changing definitions to opposition to a proposal to move the special education hearings process from the courts to the Department of Education.   Several other changes also worry advocates and parents. Under the proposed rules, parents would receive fewer progress reports about their children. If a parent wants to meet more than once a year to review a child's individual education program, required by federal law, the school could refuse if officials believe the request is unreasonable. And the state wants to tighten the age span for children identified as having developmental delays from 2 to 9 years to 2 to 5. Any child "aging out" of that category would need to be re­evaluated to see if he or she qualifies for other services.   "I am concerned that a lot of children will be cut out of the system if the developmental delay threshold is lowered to age 5," Harrison said.   About 6,800 children statewide would no longer qualify for services if the age change becomes law. She said physicians also have expressed concerns because some children have not outgrown their delays by age 5.   But Warren said the change makes sense if a child no longer shows signs of a developmental delay. In Hampton, 333 children are developmentally delayed, with 158 in the 6 to 9 age range.   "What happens is that for some kids who are 6 to 9, they don't fall into any category. ... It makes it very hard to figure out how to provide services because there is no disability. So that puts them out of the system at third grade, and they don't qualify for anything," she said.   Warren said 5 is a better age for transitioning out of services related to a developmental delay than 9, when students are in third grade and about to begin taking state math, science, reading and social studies tests.   "I would rather put them into kindergarten full force," she said. "You can always re­evaluate and provide services if they need them. Parents can ask to have their children evaluated every year."   'we ... have to show up' Harrison and other parents said the proposed changes include some good things. Among them are proposals to bring definitions in line with the federal law, and to broaden the autism category.   But another change has her worried that it might decrease already limited parental involvement in local special education committees. The state wants the committees to have the same ethnic makeup as the district population, but Harrison, who is Hispanic, said "we check our color at the door. We should all be parents or concerned citizens. We should not be there to fulfill a quota."   Despite her worries about the proposed changes, Harrison said: "I see this as an opportunity for parents to step up and become involved. I would like to think there is a positive outcome for this. I would like to see the school systems and the administrators see the response and see the respect.   "But we do have to show up."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ County considers raising proffers The fees would be the highest in the region if the proposal is approved By Wesley P. Hester, Times­Dispatch   In the face of a sagging economy and crippled real estate market, Chesterfield County is looking at imposing the stiffest fees in the region on residential development.   For new residential rezoning proposals, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors is considering increasing the county's maximum cash proffers ­­ used to offset the impacts of new residents on public infrastructure ­­ from $15,600 per home to $23,072 or more.     "It sounds to me like they're trying to drive the developers out of Chesterfield and price the housing out of affordability," said state Sen. John Watkins, R­Powhatan, who this year sponsored a bill that would have done away with Virginia's 30­year­old proffer system.   Cash proffers are technically voluntary fees paid to local governments by developers for each new home built to help mitigate the impact of the new residents on roads, schools, parks and fire stations.   Currently, only Goochland and Caroline counties have higher fees than Chesterfield in the Richmond area, at $16,543 and $17,632, respectively.   While the $23,072 figure represents the county's 2007 estimated impact of each new home on area roads, schools, parks and fire stations, it could be higher by the time the matter reaches the board for a public hearing tomorrow. County staff members are in the process of determining a new impact figure for 2008.   The staff also has recommended that the Board of Supervisors increase the county's maximum cash proffer to $18,080 for already approved homes to account for inflation in the three years since they were last raised. That increase could affect 27,000 lots in the county.   "Looking at the housing market, it makes absolutely no sense right now for Chesterfield to add even 1 cent to the cost of a new home," said Warren Wakeland, director of government affairs for the Home Building Association of Richmond.   The association has launched an ad campaign against the fee increases, claiming they would kill affordable housing in the county and raise taxes for all homeowners by increasing real estate assessments.   Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman A.S. "Art" Warren said he would likely support increases.   "Development should pay its own way in this county," he said, reinforcing the board's new emphasis on encouraging commercial development over residential to better balance the county's tax base.   George Emerson, a prominent Chesterfield developer, said it's a common misconception that proffers are a tax on developers. He said they're more of a burden on homebuyers because the amount is reflected in the cost of new homes.   "I don't believe proffers are administered fairly in Chesterfield County. In my view, they discriminate against lower­income families," Emerson said, noting that he would prefer to see the county look toward a new system of fees based on the value of the homes in question.   "These proffers are driving up the sales price on houses, and first­time and second­time buyers just can't afford to move here anymore," he said.   Bermuda District Supervisor Dorothy A. Jaeckle said she, too, was unconvinced higher fees could be justified in the current economic climate.   "I would tend to lean against increasing proffers because the home­building industry is so down and out right now," Jaeckle said.   Chesterfield will be one of the first localities in the state to consider raising proffers since this year's General Assembly session, which left hanging Watkins' bill that would have discarded proffers in favor of impact fees capped at $7,500 for most of the state.   Chesterfield and other localities opposed the bill, claiming the cap was too low. Watkins conceded that the number needed to be negotiated, but said raising proffers in the meantime was not the answer.   "The right number for Chesterfield seems to be as much as they can get," Watkins said. "I think it's the wrong time to be raising the taxes, and that's in essence what they would be doing."   Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said he would support the increase to account for inflation but remains unconvinced that proffers are the best way to pay for growing pains. He said the fees put an inequitable strain on residential development and ignore commercial.   "I think it's time for an overall discussion about whether proffers are the way to pay for our infrastructure needs," Gecker said, suggesting that a system that would require developers to build their own roads and facilities would be preferable.   "Government has a habit of substituting cash payments for performance. I think we need to get back to addressing performance," he said. "Proffers have not done all they're supposed to do, and growth has not paid for growth."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Law on illegals creating shift? Recent crackdown in N.Va. seems to have led Hispanics to leave By Karen Mahabir, The Associated Press   WOODBRIDGE ­­ Business at Pedro Vargas' store, Club Video Mexico, has slid so steeply that only eight people walked through the door one day last month.     One thing he has been selling, however, are one­way bus tickets from Northern Virginia to Texas and Mexico. Soon he'll be getting his own ticket out of town ­­ seeking a friendlier and more lucrative place to do business.   "The last few months have been very, very bad for us," said Vargas, who plans to move this summer from Prince William County, about 25 miles southwest of Washington, to Utah, where he recently opened another store.   Many say Prince William's new crackdown on illegal immigrants has created an environment so unfriendly that Hispanic people are leaving the county of more than 350,000, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau was nearly 15 percent Hispanic in 2006.   The county's policy, which has drawn heated debate and national attention, directs police officers to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest. Beginning July 1, illegal immigrants also will be denied certain services, such as business licenses and mortgage and rental assistance.   "That's like a smack in the face to me," said Vargas, a 24­year­old Mexican immigrant who is living in the U.S. legally. "I've been living here my whole life, and now they pass this law?"   It is difficult to measure how many Hispanic people have left and their exact reasons for leaving. In addition to immigrants' fears over the new policy, the souring economy and mortgage crisis may be contributing to the departures. But anecdotal evidence increasingly points to a sudden cultural and economic shift in the county's Hispanic community.   Several Hispanic business owners say their sales have plummeted. Prince William school officials say enrollment in English classes for speakers of other languages fell nearly 6 percent to 12,645 students between Sept. 30 and March 31. Other Northern Virginia counties had increases.   Salvador Caballero, pastor of Trono de Jehova Pentecostal Church in Woodbridge, said attendance at his Spanish services has shrunk to about 130 people from 200 in recent months. Some people, he said, have stopped coming because they're afraid to be out in public, and others have moved to other states or back to their home countries.   Stephen Fuller, director for the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, said the policy could end up tainting the county's image and scaring off investors.   "I think this will affect the county for several years even if they reverse the policy tonight," Fuller said. "The damage has been done. It's like personal reputation; it's hard to build that back."   Supporters of the changes, however, say the crackdown is working as intended. Prince William Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said it already has had a "tremendous positive effect on the quality of life."   A policy that went into effect in March directed police to check the residency status of anyone who is detained, no matter how minor the offense, if they believed the person might be in the United States illegally. The Prince William supervisors changed the policy last month; now police check the immigration status of all suspects, but only after they are arrested.   Stewart says the change will reduce the possibility of racial­profiling accusations because everyone will be checked.   But Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization still opposes the policy.   "This is an ordinance that through and through sends the message to police that they ought to be stopping and detaining people that speak a foreign language and appear to be from another country," he said.   Nancy Lyall, of the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders, says she doesn't know what effect the policy change will have but that it appears to have already damaged the Hispanic community.   "The community is still completely devastated," she said. "And for those obviously that have left, there's certainly no reason for them to go back."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 'Green’ buildings catch on in Hampton Roads Meghan Hoyer, VA Pilot   When it opens in 2010, Virginia Beach’s Renaissance Academy will use kitchen water heated by solar panels and feature a rooftop garden over one wing.   Lamberts Point Community Center in Norfolk, slated to open late next year, will boast large roof overhangs to block the hot Southern sunlight, and underneath its parking lot large filters will clean rain runoff before releasing it into sewers.   Both buildings – and roughly two dozen others either under construction or planned for South Hampton Roads – will be certified as environmentally friendly by the U.S. Green Building Council.   Going green has become the latest trend in government and commercial construction.   While the buildings are more expensive to create, the added costs are recouped in long­term savings on electric, heating and water bills, proponents say.   “It’s not a passing fancy,” said Tony Arnold, director of Virginia Beach schools’ Office of Facilities   Planning and Construction. “It pays itself back operationally. But environmentally, it’s what we need to be doing.”   South Hampton Roads currently has seven buildings certified through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rules set by the Green Building Council. The nonprofit council, which has chapters nationwide, promotes environmentally friendly construction.   Its rules require everything from more energy efficiency to using recycled materials for construction. Buildings are rated on a point scale and can get credit for small things, such as locating near a public transportation line, to big projects, such as heating with geothermal wells.   Craig Cope is blunt about why the extra work is worth it.   “Buildings are hogs,” said Cope, vice president of Liberty Property Trust, a nationwide builder and manager of office and warehouse space. Liberty has built one green­certified office in Chesapeake and is at work on its second.   Buildings create nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gases and use 40 percent of all energy, Cope said. That means while everyone has focused on fuel efficiency in vehicles, their homes, schools and offices have sucked up more power and released more harmful emissions.   “Everybody realizes that there’s something to this,” he said. “This is just one step to help alleviate that situation.”   Virginia Beach opened the state’s first green­certified school, Hermitage Elementary, in 2005.   Waterless urinals and flush toilets that use recycled rainwater mean less water consumption, and its green construction required 10 percent less electricity than nongreen elementary schools, said Tim Cole, the system’s sustainable schools project manager.     The school system is building Renaissance Academy, Virginia Beach Middle School, Windsor Oaks Elementary, Great Neck Middle School and a bus garage to meet the LEED standards.   In the case of Renaissance Academy, which will house middle and high school students, green construction will add $1.3 million in costs to the $65 million project. The school system has projected that it will recoup those expenses in the first 13 years of operation, Arnold said.   “For someone to go out and build as cheap a building as they can, but to still have all these high maintenance and utility costs, is really irresponsible,” Cole said. “It should just be the way we do business.”     Like the school system’s other projects, Renaissance will feature a computer kiosk in the lobby so guests and students can monitor everything from rainwater reserves in the holding basin to energy usage in the building. Students will be able to look out onto the rooftop garden, a feature that helps cool the building and control rain runoff, and see solar panels that will put energy back into the local grid.   “We want the building to be a teaching instrument as well,” Cole said. “The kids will eventually take this stuff home with them.”   The cities of Chesapeake, Suffolk and Norfolk, along with the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, all are planning their first green­certified public buildings .   In Chesapeake, construction on the 6th Precinct police station in Hickory begins this summer. Councilwoman Rebecca Adams hopes it will be the first of many environmentally friendly construction projects in her city.   Last June, Chesapeake’s City Council unanimously agreed that all new publicly funded buildings would be LEED­certified. Adams said there could be later measures to encourage private developers to make the same choices.   Roanoke, Charlottesville, Arlington and other Virginia cities offer incentives such as tax breaks and expedited permitting for developers who build green.   “We wanted the public sector to lead,” Adams said. “Green has just exploded, particularly in the last 12 to 18 months. The very fact that people are talking about it, thinking about it is a good thing.”   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ In a slumping economy, nonprofits struggle Nancy Young, VA Pilot   Business is booming at the veterinary clinic of the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s booked solid two and three weeks out.   That’s not altogether a good thing. Rather, it’s another sign of the impact of the economic downswing.   The Beach’s SPCA clinic is swamped because it offers subsidized services for people who can’t afford private veterinary care. In the past few months, more animals are being abandoned, fewer are being adopted, and donations are more of a struggle to get. And it costs $160 a pop to fill up the Neuter Scooter, the SPCA’s mobile veterinary clinic bus, said the organization’s executive director, Sharon Adams.   “Our donors are quite often from the middle class, and they’re feeling the squeeze,” Adams said. “Folks are not feeling good about their own futures, and adoption decisions are being impacted by that.”   Local nonprofit agencies are grappling with a troubled economy that is hitting their bottom lines in both increased need and higher costs. And volunteers, often the backbone of these organizations, still have the time to give, but not the money for gas.   It’s not just individuals. Local nonprofit leaders are reporting that big companies have tightened the reins on donations.   “As the economy has tightened, there’s increasing scrutiny,” said Cliff Bryant, director of communications for Norfolk­based Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit. More than they used to, he said, businesses are looking for a return on their investment, such as sponsoring an event where they’ll get name recognition or donating in an area where they do business – something to justify the donation to their shareholders.   Bryant said Physicians for Peace sends about 250 volunteers a year on medical missions to such places as Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Haiti – destinations that typically don’t see bargain air fares even in the best of times.   “Certainly we’re bracing ourselves,” Bryant said. “Those are extremely expensive tickets.”   The rocky economy has so many worried about their financial health that it literally may take a disaster to overshadow it. The tornado that struck Suffolk in April was followed by an outpouring of support, said Rob Shapiro, public relations director for the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia. The organization quickly reached its target of $150,000 in donations for its Suffolk relief effort.   The community “stepped forward without any regard to the economy,” Shapiro said.   But day in and day out , Mike Hughes, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of South Hampton Roads, said he’s hearing from his member agencies that while it’s always a challenge to make budget, now “it’s a little harder than it was in the past.”   The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia is seeing 24,000 new customers at a time when food donations are down by about 10 percent, said Jan Cline, spokesman for the organization.   “Some of the leanest times of our whole year are throughout the summer,” Cline said.   Meals on Wheels programs across the country are seeing increasing need at the same time they’re seeing a decrease in funding from the federal government and fewer volunteers, said Marley Sweeney, director of communications for the Meals on Wheels Association of America, which is based in Alexandria.   Four out of 10 Meals on Wheels programs have waiting lists of people needing help, she said.   “Those are seniors who are waiting to be fed,” Sweeney said. “The reality is they may go hungry and they may starve.”   Sweeney said a typical Meals on Wheels program logs about 2,700 miles a week delivering meals to senior citizens. The volunteers usually foot the bill to fill their gas tanks.   “That’s why we’re losing volunteers,” Sweeney said.   SPCA’s Adams said she could also see the effect of gas prices on volunteers such as Janet Gilbert, a Virginia Beach real estate agent.   Gilbert said she hasn’t stopped volunteering, but in the last few months she has consolidated the number of trips she makes for SPCA to the Petsmart in Virginia Beach’s Pembroke area for a cat adoption program.   “I used to run over there three or four times a week, now I’m down to one or two,” said Gilbert, a devoted cat lover. “It’s getting to where every time you go to the pump it’s like 4 cents more than it was the day before.”   Adams said she also sees the impact of the economy on the number of animals being abandoned. Through last week, 149 dogs have been turned in this year because their owners said they couldn’t afford them, were left outside the shelter during off­hours or were turned in by neighbors after being abandoned. Last year’s comparable number was 98.   More people are deciding not to adopt because of expense, Adams said. Some of the people coming to the veterinary clinic are there to relinquish their beloved pets because they can’t afford to keep up with even basic care.   “A lot of times they have two small children sitting there,” said Melissa McKendry, a veterinarian at the Virginia Beach SPCA clinic. “It’s heartbreaking.”   Adams said even though the organization relies on donations to make its $1.8 million budget, it’s getting harder to ask.   “Small businesses are being squeezed,” Adams said. “You hesitate to ask because you know they’re going through a tough time and you know they’d give if they could.”   Meanwhile, overhead costs such as fuel and utilities continue to rise. The veterinary clinic loses $300,000 a year, Adams said – and loses more the more people use it. The Neuter Scooter bus, which houses a mobile clinic that provides low­cost spaying and neutering, was projected to lose between $10,000 and $20,000 annually when launched last year. Adams estimated that because of the high cost of gas, it will have lost between $40,000 and $60,000 in the fiscal year ending in August.     The original plan was to expand the Neuter Scooter service to more than its current two days a week and to add more locations, Adams said. Those are on hold. And while there are no plans to cut back the service, Adams says at times she wonders: “How long can we sustain this?”   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Vet says much of VFW work is done quietly By Kim O'Brien Root, Daily Press   HAMPTON   Hal Roesch joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars shortly after he returned from Desert Storm in 1991.   Over the years, Roesch found himself becoming more and more involved with the national military service organization, eventually taking on various leadership roles.   On June 15, Roesch — senior vice commander of the VFW's Department of Virginia — takes the reins as state commander. At 46, the retired airman is the first Desert Storm veteran to be named state commander, making him among the youngest to be named to the position.   A member of Craigs­McCue VFW Post 3219 in the Phoebus section of Hampton, Roesch talked recently about the role of the VFW and why Americans should remember veterans.   Q: What does the VFW do?   A: What don't we do? As an organization, obviously our biggest focus is working for not only retired veterans, which is what a lot of people think our main goal is, but active­duty. Working for — a lot of people think of them as benefits — but actually they're entitlements. We were, as military members, promised certain things. We just want to make sure those things are kept. We do a lot with VA (Veterans Affairs) hospitals and running bingo. We do a pretty significant scholarship program. A high school student can get a $30,000 scholarship for a verbal essay. For junior high, there's a $10,000 scholarship. We support a lot of organizations: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Special Olympics, you name it. There's a stereotype out there that the VFW is the old, smoky, dark canteen where everybody meets and drinks beer and swaps war stories. Although there are some (posts) out there like that, that's really the farthest thing from the truth. There's a lot more that goes on.   Q: Why is the VFW so important?   A: The bottom line is being on the rolls of the VFW just gives us one more voice being heard when we go to Richmond, and when we go to (Washington) D.C. to talk to politicians about the needs of the veterans. That's what we're all about. When we can go in and say, with the VFW and the ladies' auxiliary, we're 2 million strong, people tend to take a listen to that.   Q: What are some of the things the VFW has done for veterans over the years?   A: One of the biggest things, for active­duty in Virginia, we've been campaigning for years to allow active­duty dependents to receive in­state tuition. That's finally gone through. Pretty much every concern we had when we were up in Richmond in January has sponsors to push through bills backing what our concerns were. At the national level, it looks like the GI bill for the 21st century will go through. How it comes out, we're not sure, but that's a big push we've done. We're big supporters of the Virginia War Memorial up in Richmond.   Q: What are some of the issues facing the VFW today?   A: Membership. We had a huge population of WWII vets. As we all know, they're dying by the thousands every day. Not all the VFW welcomed the Vietnam veterans when they came back. That has since been reconciled. The Vietnam veterans make up the biggest part of the VFW now. Obviously, with Afghanistan and Iraq and other things going on around the world, the younger members are now becoming eligible, but it's trying to find that key to not only get them in but get them involved.   Q: Is there a challenge in getting younger members?   A: Younger members today, or eligible members who are still active­duty, have a lot more on them then even I did when I was active­duty. The military is pushing education and being involved, and the most important thing is family. Time is at a premium for a lot of them. We just stress that being on our rolls makes us a lot stronger. We try to do some things. We have the three big picnics: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day. We try to make it family­oriented — hamburgers, hot dogs, standard all­American stuff — where they can bring their families down and just relax. It seems to help. We're trying to do what we can to attract younger members, keeping in mind that it's the older members who built this organization. At times, it can be a tightrope, catering to the older and newer members. I think we do a good job. We're making strides every day to not push one out and keep everyone involved.   Q: Who's the youngest member at your post? The oldest?   A: We have several who are under 21. They can come in and must drink soda. If you can serve your country and you qualify for the VFW, you can join, regardless of age. As for oldest, we have several in their later 80s into 90s. My stepdad is a member. He's 86 years old, WWII, two­time POW, and he's fairly active. We run the gamut.   Q: Do you have any personal goals when you step up as state commander?   A: I'd like to see more women join the organization. Proportionally, we lag way behind the demographics of the military. Even though here (at Post 3219) we're doing all right, we can still do better. There are a lot of posts that are very low or have no female members. We need to keep on our track of continuing to build membership. Also, we can't forget the older members.   One of the biggest problems, not just with the VFW but probably with a lot of military organizations out there, is we don't promote ourselves. We do a lot of great things in the community, we do a lot of great things in the state and national level, and we don't get publicity for it. We are great at doing things, but we're not great at tooting our own horn. We did, within the state, over $2 million worth of volunteer hours, going to VA hospitals, nursing homes, working with the youth, hunter safety classes — pretty much anything you can imagine. Those are the kinds of things that don't get reported. We do a lot, but we do it quietly.   Q: What are some of the things you're looking to do in the coming year?   A: One of the biggest things we have is VA funding. Over the years, we've always maintained the VA is underfunded. The VA needs to be a high priority, especially with the influx of troops coming back now. The good side of it is we have veterans coming back now who would have never survived in prior conflicts. We owe it to them to make sure they're taken care of, as we do all veterans.   Q: Does the VFW have a good future? Fifty years from now, will it still be around?   A: Absolutely. Ideally, in a perfect world, you look forward to the last guy being buried with the charter. That means that we were in no more foreign conflicts. Realistically, is that ever going to happen? I doubt it. We're the largest combat organization in the world. I don't see a decline in the near future. I see increases in at least the next 10 years and so, and maybe even further out, as the active­duties start to retire and have time to devote to the VFW. Ideally, yes, you would hope there would be some decline. That would just mean we haven't sent any of our troops overseas to fight somewhere else.   Q: What's important for people to remember on Memorial Day?   A: Our motto is honor the dead by helping the living. The veterans have only done what they were asked to do. They don't wear a political hat. They're in the military. They knew what they were doing when they joined the military. And whatever they're told to do, that's what they're going to do. Always support them. And for God's sake, don't hold what they were asked to do against them.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Va. hopes to lure more foreign tourists International travelers are likely to stay longer and spend more per visit than their domestic counterparts, figures show. Associated Press   RICHMOND ­­ Virginia tourism officials are hoping to attract foreign travelers as the U.S. economy worsens and domestic vacationers threaten to stay at home.   Virginia Tourism Corp. is pushing the state as a vacation destination for international visitors by maintaining a presence at travel industry trade shows and printing travel guides in five languages.   International tourists are sought after because they tend to stay longer and spend more money than their domestic counterparts, tourism officials said.   The average international traveler visits two states, stays 16 nights and spends more than $1,600 per visit ­­ more than twice what a domestic traveler spends ­­ according to Capital Regional USA, made up of the Virginia Tourism Corp.; the Washington, D.C., Convention and Visitors Corp.; Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority; and the Maryland Office of Tourism Development.   The Capital Regional group spends about $2 million annually to attract foreign travelers. Virginia Tourism increased its share by $55,000 to $350,000 last year to attract travelers in the United Kingdom to the 400th anniversary commemoration of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the United States.   Dulles International Airport, with about 300 international flights arriving each week, helps the region draw visitors from several countries, said Diane Bechamps, vice president of marketing at Virginia Tourism Corp.   The Washington region is the fourth most­popular tourist destination in the United States for Germans, with nearly 140,000 visiting each year, according to Capital Region. Only New York, Florida and the Southwest attract more.   Domestic and international tourists spent $17.7 billion while vacationing in Virginia in 2006, according to the latest figures from the Virginia Tourism Corp.   The tourism industry generated more than $1 billion in state and local taxes in 2006 and employed about 208,000.   Tourism officials say they believe foreign travelers are receptive to visiting the United States, especially because of the dollar's weakness.   "We're optimistic and think it will be a good year," Bechamps said.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ CHS student sees efforts to raise awareness pay off By Barney Breen­Portnoy, Daily Progress   October will be Disabilities Awareness Month in the Charlottesville school division, thanks to the efforts of Daniel Milner, a senior at Charlottesville High School.   Milner, who was born with a spinal condition that requires him to walk with braces, came up with the idea for a Disabilities Awareness Month after attending the Youth Leadership Forum at Christopher Newport University last summer. He took his idea to the School Board in March, and the board approved the Disabilities Awareness Month resolution May 15.   Milner said that the month would include activities to educate students about disabilities.   “The whole point is to help boost more positive interactions with folks with disabilities,” Milner said. “I’d like to get rid of the discomfort that many people feel when they are around disabled people.”   Milner has contacted Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Del. David J. Toscano, D­Charlottesville, to promote the creation of a statewide Disabilities Awareness Month. That idea has received positive feedback, Milner said.   There are 647 students with disabilities enrolled in Charlottesville schools, according to data provided by the school division.   The division has made significant progress in recent years both in improving the accessibility of its buildings and in expanding educational services for disabled students, said Emily Dreyfus, chairwoman of the Charlottesville Special Education Advisory Committee, which will participate in the planning of Disabilities Awareness Month.   Disabled students in the city are now scoring at or above state averages on standardized testing, whereas they were falling short of state averages until recently, Dreyfus said.   “It’s remarkable how much progress has happened this fast,” Dreyfus said.   Beth Baptist, the school division’s director of special education and student services, said that the progress could be attributed to a combination of factors, including increased access to the general education curriculum for special education students, the availability of alternative testing options and a focus on staff development.   Last year, the City Council allocated about $400,000 in surplus funds from fiscal 2006 to the school division to make Americans with Disabilities Act infrastructure improvements.   In the fall, Milner will head to George Mason University, where he plans to study politics. He said he will continue to be an activist for disabilities rights and awareness.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ VIRGINIA ISSUES – FEDERAL Gasbag politicking Fuel prices too high? It's all the Democrats' fault, says Rep. Bob Goodlatte Roanoke Times Editorial   Paying too much at the pump? U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte says you should blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He sure does.   Goodlatte on his re­election campaign blog wrote an entry, "The Pelosi Premium," that basically scorns her and Democrats in Congress because they "have failed to show leadership."   As proof, Goodlatte said a gallon of gas was just $2.33 on Jan. 4, 2007, when Pelosi took office. Look at it today. (Or don't look, if you can't bear it.) That's the premium Americans have paid for putting Democrats in charge.   If that's the tack Goodlatte wishes to take in fighting off his first serious Democratic challenger, then he better be prepared to pay a premium for his gasbag politics. Try this:   Paying too much at the grocery store? Blame Goodlatte. He holds great sway on the committee that writes the farm bill, also known as bloated corporate welfare. The Republicans failed miserably at writing energy policies that go beyond rewarding powerful oil companies. And, they have heavily subsidized the conversion of corn to fuel. That means more farmers plant corn and fewer other crops, causing prices to soar.   If Goodlatte wants to blame Democrats for the price of a gallon of gas, they can blame him for the price of a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, box of cereal ... .   But that would hardly be fair.   Gas and food prices aren't the fault of one particular political party, but of both. The culture of Congress allows special interests, not the people's representatives, to write the legislation. And rank­and­file congressmen like Goodlatte are rewarded for their unwavering partisan allegiance with a few earmarks here and there to keep the good folks of the district thinking they're effective.   During the seven years of this administration ­­ with Republicans in control six of the years ­­ the only thing that leadership has excelled at is partisan sniping.   Bickering doesn't fill gas tanks or shopping carts, and it certainly won't shape visionary policy.   Goodlatte has an opportunity during this election season to prove he can rise above the fray. So far, he's off to a disappointing, but predictable, start.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ VIRGINIA ISSUES – OPINION Not Spit RTD Editorial   The vice presidency has come a long way since John Nance Garner cracked that the office wasn't worth a warm bucket of spit. Nance served as vice president during the first two of Franklin Roosevelt's terms. Recent vice presidents have had greater visibility and impact. Al Gore, for instance, was a full­time player in the Clinton administration. The blogosphere has strong thoughts about Dick Cheney's role; no one would liken George Bush's second­in­command (on paper) to a cuspidor.   Barack Obama and John McCain have begun a vetting process that has become increasingly public since Jimmy Carter summoned pretenders to Georgia in 1976. Once upon a time, presidential nominees announced their choice for vice president on the last day of their party's convention. Decision day now comes well before the opening gavel. An amusing scene occurred in 2000 when Bush appointed Cheney to lead a search process that produced . . . well, you know.   Democratic speculation has focused on Hillary Clinton. Why would Obama want to transform the campaign into a three­ring circus? The primaries have proved her political strength, yet despite her wins in potential battlegrounds Clinton remains as divisive a figure as Bush. Democrats need to move on. Virginians Jim Webb and Tim Kaine have appeared on various veepster lists. Webb would lend the ticket military experience as well as expertise in foreign policy and national security. We don't always agree with the senator, but he makes a strong impression when he discusses issues such as the strategic implications of the Pescadores, the Spratley Islands, and the South China Sea. Kaine endorsed Obama long before the bandwagon left the station and has campaigned vigorously on his behalf. He serves as governor, which means he isn't a creature of Washington, which ought to make him attractive to a campaign that stresses change (as campaigns generally do). Kaine's liability is a résumé with limited international credentials.   The Republicans summoned to Sedona seem capable but a little blah. The extraordinary reaction to the suggestion by   The Times­Dispatch's Bob Rayner that Eric Cantor (R­7th Congressional District) would make a strong match for McCain pays tribute to Cantor's stature. In certain respects McCain resembles Theodore Roosevelt, and it is the Bull Moose inheritance many Republicans and independents want him to claim ­­ which he could do by picking Joe Lieberman. The Independent­Democrat from Connecticut boosted McCain during the GOP primaries; he stood beside him when insiders dismissed the Arizonan as foundering and perhaps doomed. More liberal than the typical conservative from a garden suburb in South Carolina, Lieberman has displayed a receptivity to fresh ideas. Unlike ideologues of left and right, he appreciates realism. A McCain­Lieberman ticket would make national security 2008's issue No. 1. It would stir the pot, that's for sure.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ County Encapsulates Conundrum That's Confronting Virginia . . . By A. Barton Hinkle, Times­Dispatch Columnist   The debate over changes to Chesterfield's principal planning document for the Upper Swift Creek area highlights one of the biggest obstacles to fixing Virginia's transportation problems: property rights.   Landowners in the area covered by the Upper Swift Creek Plan have a legitimate beef. County officials are considering whether to adopt a growth management boundary in the western part of the region; residential development would be put on hold until public services ­­ primarily roads and schools ­­ can catch up.   That would represent a sharp departure from the county's recent pace of go­go growth, around which many landowners, developers, and others built their own personal and financial plans. This is problematic because a key feature of the legal system is predictability: A person or company ought to be able to know in advance what is permissible and what is not. Indeed, it was precisely an ostensible inability to predict whether a certain procedure would prove legal or illegal at the moment it is being performed that was the basis for the 4th Circuit's recent ruling throwing out Virginia's ban on partial­birth abortion.   (For those who want the grisly details: The judges expressed concern that a legal intact dilation and extraction, during which a baby is dismembered in the womb, sometimes might "accidentally" become an intact dilation and extraction, the outlawed procedure in which the baby is partially delivered and its skull is crushed. "The doctor never knows prior to embarking on any standard D&E procedure whether a violation will occur," the court declared. "Thus, every time a doctor sets out to perform a standard D&E, he faces the unavoidable risk of criminal prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.")   Public policy is not criminal law, but it has parallels. Property owners should be able to expect with some certainty that the investments they make will not be rendered valueless by (comparatively) sudden changes in the regulatory landscape.   AND YET sometimes changes in direction are necessary. At least statewide, now is one of those times. (See last Friday's column for more on that subject.) As a recent study by the Southern Environmental Law Center points out, Central Virginia has seen some of the fastest land consumption in the entire commonwealth. From 1990 to 2000, for instance, impervious surfaces (primarily roads, parking lots, and rooftops) in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed increased by 45 percent. In Chesterfield during the same period, they increased by 90 percent ­­ twice as fast. (In Henrico, by comparison, the figure was 67 percent.) Addressing Virginia's transportation problems requires reining in some of the rampant sprawl that has produced statistics like this one: From 1980 to 2000, the number of vehicle miles traveled in Virginia rose three times as fast as population.   This might seem like a case of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object, but there are ways to resolve the tension. For instance: the relaxation of zoning regulations so people do not necessarily have to drive significant distances every time they move among home, work, school, and stores. Less restrictive zoning won't clear the roads; as a recent news story noted, Chesterfield is the region's most populous county but its third­biggest employer: Vast numbers of Chesterfield residents get up in the morning, drive over the river and through the woods to get to work, and reverse the trek to spend the night. But more sensible zoning could help.   ANOTHER possible answer involves greater recognition of the degree to which state and local government sometimes indirectly subsidize development. If taxes in Midlothian, Clover Hill, Dale, and Bermuda go up to help fund fire stations and schools in the Matoaca District, for instance, the increase amounts to an indirect subsidy.   Such subsidies explain why Chesterfield leaders are considering whether to raise cash proffers by a honking 48 percent. Proffers are essentially rezoning fees for new development; Chesterfield's currently top out at $15,600 per house. That figure could go as high as $23,072 for new development proposals, as soon as tomorrow night.   An effective state subsidy, only recently addressed by the General Assembly, concerns the requirement that VDOT maintain roads in subdivisions once developers have built them. In the past decade VDOT has found itself on the hook for more than 1,500 miles of roads it hadn't planned on incorporating. This partly explains why the increasing budget for road maintenance, which by law takes precedence over new construction, has been draining the bucket of money to build new projects.   As Virginia wrestles with such development and transportation issues, it might ask whether a more rational, fair, and fiscally responsible approach would give property owners more freedom to use their land as they wish ­­ but less public money to do it with.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ . . . Craves Development, Despite Risk By George Nyfeler, Times­Dispatch Op­Ed   The Chesterfield County government budget is in trouble. Furthermore, it is on a path toward continued deterioration in the coming years. The fiscal challenges of today are no surprise and have been predicted for some time.   For years the county's commercial real estate development has not kept pace with residential development. Why is this significant? As far as government services are concerned, commercial land development subsidizes residential land development. Commercial property is generally assessed higher, therefore taxed higher, and also requires less services cost than residential property. Chesterfield County's low ratio of business to residents is unique across Metro Richmond. How did this happen?   Thirty years of good public schools and relatively cheap land for residential developers played a big role. Until recently, the county's review process had a reputation for taking a longer amount of time to complete than other jurisdictions'. These delays were devastating to proposed commercial development projects. Furthermore, the decades­old decision to route Interstate 64 not through Chesterfield, but through Henrico County, exacerbated the situation, attracting business to that side of the river.   DESPITE THE current situation, many outstanding improvements have been made to capture more business over the past half­ dozen years by dedicated and hard­working county government officials. The county's economic development office has been given high priority and is now led and staffed with outstanding personnel actively focused on specific goals for attracting new businesses, keeping existing businesses, and assisting existing businesses with expansion.   The planning department too has been re­organized into a modern, progressive, and responsive organization delivering the much shorter approval process time that large commercial projects require. There is a new department of community revitalization to prioritize work on the Chippenham Place redevelopment of Cloverleaf Mall ­­ a gateway to the county that will anchor much more commercial interest in that part of the county. That department also provides planning guidance for other areas of potential decline across the county.   All of these efforts collectively create conditions ripe for attracting commercial development. The concept of increasing the county's ratio of commercial to residential land­use in search of fiscal stability is now widely accepted as good policy throughout Chesterfield government, up to and including the new Board of Supervisors.   Not every facet of the commercial development experience, however, has been improved consistent with the goal of increasing commercial development activity. Government review fees are a part of all development projects, but are not at all consistent across Richmond­area jurisdictions. Chesterfield's review fees are well known as being significantly higher than those of surrounding jurisdictions. This year, the county is dramatically increasing these already expensive fees in response to a tightening budget. Fees are slated to rise 60 percent in an effort to recoup 80 percent of the cost of actual review. The increases are to be the same for all proposed projects with no regard for whether the project is in keeping with county goals to increase non­ residential development.   A STUDY conducted by the Chesterfield County Chamber of Commerce revealed one recently built large retail development project is currently contributing $1.5 million in annual taxes to the county, yet generates far lower service costs than a residential development delivering the same revenue. Some argue that such a retail establishment impacts road use. It does just that ­­ but as a net improvement to transportation. Plopping a retail project in the middle of an area previously dominated by residential development should be judged a road congestion solution. How many more miles were those nearby residents driving to find the previously closest large retail establishment before the new one came along?   Over the past several years, Chesterfield government has transformed itself into a bold organization for continually improving public service. Regarding commercial land­use, Chesterfield must not merely keep up with its neighbors, but catch up to them. It needs to stand out in the region as the commercial development first choice. Could these expensive plan­review fees be the undoing of the otherwise outstanding commercial­development experience the county now offers? After coming so far, does anyone want to risk finding out? George Nyfeler has been providing professional design­related services to the land­development community from Chesterfield for 14 years and currently manages the Chesterfield office of McCrone, Inc. He may be reached at gnyfeler@mccrone­inc.com.   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ AROUND THE NATION U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million From Institute Hughes Supplements Gap As Government Funds Lag By Philip Rucker, Washington Post; A01   One of the world's largest private philanthropies will announce today a $600 million initiative to fund risky but potentially lifesaving medical research by 56 of America's top scientists.   The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is expanding its flagship investigators program to nurture a new class of scientists. By endowing scientists' research over many years, the institute hopes they will make major discoveries in a variety of fields, including genetics and biology.   The scientists, chosen from more than 1,000 applicants, said they want to answer such ambitious questions as how global climate change affects the spread of cholera, malaria and other infectious diseases and whether doctors can apply the engineering behind the building of airplanes and computers to the human immune system.   The initiative comes as scientists are sounding alarms about a slump in federal research funding since 2003, saying it has starved potentially groundbreaking research projects of cash and could jeopardize the country's dominance in science against growing competition in Europe and China.   Private philanthropies ­­ led by the Chevy Chase­based nonprofit organization founded by Howard R. Hughes, the late aviator, engineer and film producer ­­ are helping fill this gap by lavishing money on research that many grantmakers would consider too risky but that could produce the greatest breakthroughs.   "We identify the best people and then free them up to do what they want to do and to be flexible and change directions and follow their noses into new fields," Hughes Institute President Thomas R. Cech said.   Just as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is showering grants on programs to improve U.S. education and global health, the Hughes Institute is trying to foster long­term advances in medicine.   "Today's medicine is the beneficiary of scientific inquiry that took place decades ago," Cech said. "Our goal in funding the basic biomedical sciences is to lay the groundwork for the medical discoveries that will take place 20, 30, 40 years from now."   The 42 men and 14 women who will be named Hughes investigators today come from 31 universities and research institutions across the country, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They will continue to work at their institutions but will become employees of the Hughes Institute, joining about 300 Hughes investigators.   One new investigator is Mercedes Pascual, who was born in Uruguay, grew up in Argentina and Brazil and now has a lab at the University of Michigan. She is trying to determine how global climate change affects outbreaks of infectious diseases.   Pascual wants to build a mathematical model to help scientists identify when and how cholera, malaria and other diseases might balloon into epidemics, enabling public health agencies to prepare for, or even preempt, deadly outbreaks.   But Pascual's research is uncertain. She could toil for years without developing the model. The work is so risky, she said, that she probably would not receive grants from other sources, including the federal government's National Institutes of Health.   Aware of the potential of her model, the Hughes Institute is banking on Pascual to deliver it.   "There is a tremendous freedom in terms of time to focus on the research, time for creativity, time to pursue whatever area you think is important," Pascual said.   By giving standards, the Hughes Institute's $600 million initiative is an unusually large investment. The institute, with an endowment estimated at $18.7 billion, is the country's largest private supporter of biomedical research.   But by far, the largest source of scientific research funding is the federal government. The NIH administers more than $28 billion in research grants each year. Congress nearly doubled the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003 to capitalize on new lines of research opened by the Human Genome Project.   Since the doubling, though, the NIH's budget has remained flat, and the cost of research has increased. This has created angst among scientists across the country who fear the funding slump is threatening prospects for breakthroughs.   "That's an enormous cutback in our nation's investment in tomorrow's medicine," Cech said. "We're mortgaging our future by not funding this research now."   The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is planning to release a major report June 3 calling on more funding for high­risk biomedical research, said Leslie C. Berlowitz, the academy's chief executive.   "No matter what the size of the pie, more emphasis, or a larger percentage of the pie, has to be invested in the next generation of scientists and high­risk, high­reward science if we're going to maintain America's competitiveness," Berlowitz said.     Without an increase in federal research funding, some leaders in the scientific community say, the United States' dominance could be threatened.   "Globally, the U.S. is still dominant in terms of biomedical research, but that share of the first­rank research is eroding, partially because our funding is eroding but also because other nations are ramping up their biomedical research capabilities," said Kei Koizumi, a policy analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.   NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni said the number of research ideas outweighs the number of grants the NIH can award. But, he said, the NIH is investing in programs to fund research by promising but unproven young scientists.   "Science is moving very fast," Zerhouni said. "In my view, the greatest risk in our science over the long run relative to the competition is that we stop taking risks."   Although philanthropy is no substitute for federal funding, Zerhouni said, it has a role in funding research. He called the Hughes Institute's investigator program a model and said it is "absolutely critical."   James J. Collins, a systems biologist at Boston University, is a newly named Hughes investigator. He is trying to determine how cells and their components are assembled, how they interact and what shapes their behavior.   Collins said that it could take years to answer these questions and that funding for such broad research has been hard to attain.   "Too many researchers are focused on getting enough productivity demonstrated to get the grant renewed, as opposed to putting your head down and going after the long­term problems," Collins said.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients By Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post; A01   Christina Hall's weekly grocery shopping ritual begins Thursday night in the kitchen of her cramped mobile home in Fairfax County, with the low hum of the refrigerator and the steady drip of the faucet in the background.   "Shredded cheese, bagels, milk . . . Maybe we can do two gallons this week," she says hopefully, scribbling the grocery list on a sheet of notebook paper. She goes through a cabinet, looks in the freezer, checks a shelf behind the linoleum­covered table. "Yogurt, crackers, bananas." She jots down a dozen or so more items: salad dressing, frozen vegetables . . . "That should keep me at about $50 for the week."   A divorced mother of two, Hall receives $219 a month in food stamps; the fastidious inspection of her cupboards and the dollar­ by­dollar addition she does in her head are the only way she can make the allotment last through a month.   At a time when food prices are soaring, a growing number of Americans are struggling financially and local social service agencies are seeing record numbers of applicants, advocates are concerned that the purchasing power of food stamps has shrunk since 1996, when Congress recalculated benefit levels. The result slowed the value of food stamps relative to inflation. If benefits had kept pace with inflation over 12 years, a family with one working parent and two children would be receiving an additional $37 a month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington­based think tank.   To qualify for food stamps, recipients must have an income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $22,880 for a family of three.   "An extra $37 a month," Hall said, chuckling. "That would be nice. Might be able to splurge every now and again."   Hall, 38, who lives in a scruffy, tree­lined cul­de­sac of mobile homes in Hybla Valley, one of the poorest sections of one of the country's richest counties, knows that the monthly payment doled out on a blue plastic debit card is meant only to supplement her food budget. The federal government's guidelines make that clear.   But her $8.75­an­hour home health aide job ­­ about $1,200 after taxes during a good month ­­ stretches only so far, with rent ($550), utilities ($100, sometimes much more), gas ($180, even in her fuel­efficient Honda Civic), a car payment ($288) and car insurance ($163). That doesn't include other expenses that come with raising a 13­year­old son and a 7­year­old daughter. The stamps are the family's entire food budget. Skyrocketing food prices and the declining value of the government benefit has made feeding the family a daily struggle for Hall, a first­time food stamp recipient.   Hall wrestled with the challenge the next day as she tried to manage the family's weekly food needs and squeeze in a few extra items for her daughter's birthday party that weekend. Her son had lost his school meal card, which allows him to eat a free breakfast at school every day, so she has to make him breakfast at home until the end of the month, adding an unexpected expense.   "Okay, we can get one package of potato chips and one package of popcorn, okay?" Hall said to her daughter, Rosita, who was having a tough time containing her excitement about the party.   Hall shops at the Aldi on Route 1, a discount supermarket along the frayed commercial strip, where many shoppers go to save money on store brand items that can be as much as 50 percent cheaper than other chains'. The week's dinner plan called for spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, sloppy Joes, tacos and chicken nuggets, plus mixed vegetables with each meal. As she shopped earlier this month, though, she was feeling lucky. Her mother had given her some ground beef and pork earlier in the week. And her son, Richard, was going on a Scout trip, so she wouldn't need as much food over the weekend. (As it turned out, Richard came home a day early, so she had to "wing it for Sunday dinner," she said later.)   Hall made her way through the store using her shopping list as a guide: two gallons of milk, $3.08 each; one package of macaroni and cheese, 59 cents; two quarts of yogurt for her lunch, $1.29. She picked out a box of yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting for Rosita's birthday cake, only to put them back later. Her mother would buy them. Into the cart went vegetables, frozen orange juice and hoagie buns. Bacon and ground turkey, initially on the list, would have to wait. "This! This!" Rosita squealed, pointing to a stack of bagel pizzas at $5.99 apiece.   "No, Grandma's going to order pizza tomorrow for the party," Hall answered, checking the price on a package of frozen french fries before throwing them back. Looking over the shopping cart, which included a package of Fruit Roll­Ups and a few other items that Rosita requested, Hall said, "we're almost at $50, anyway."   Later, in the comfort of her small trailer, festooned with Barbie­themed birthday decorations from Wal­Mart, she looked over the receipt ­­ $48.06. She looked satisfied .   "Well, this allows me to get away with spending $55 for next week," she said.   For the working poor of the Washington region, stretching the monthly food budget in a sagging economy is particularly difficult, because food prices in the area are consistently higher than the national average, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, an Arlington County­based group that tracks the cost of living in hundreds of places across the country.   During the first part of this year, the group said, the region's food prices were 8 percent higher than the national average. For instance, a pound of ground beef averaged $3.33 for a Washington area shopper, compared with $2.64 nationally. That's a difference of 26 percent. A dozen eggs were 10 percent higher, while a 10­pound bag of potatoes cost 40 percent more.   The consumer price index for food has increased faster than in two decades, and it is especially grim news for people who rely on government subsidies.   "Food stamps aren't meant to supply all of a family's food, but for many people, it's become a way of life. . . . It's a struggle to make them last," said Reuben Gist, director of advocacy and outreach for the Capital Area Food Bank. He cited a 2006 study by America's Second Harvest, a hunger­relief organization, that found that only 16 percent of food stamp recipients said the allotment lasted them an entire month. "People on food stamps are calling us saying they have no idea what they are going to do."   Food stamp benefits, which average about $1 per person per meal, are based on a plan set by the federal government designed to represent a very low­cost but nutritionally adequate diet. For a family of four, the cost of the diet, known as the Thrifty Food Plan, was $567 a month in April. But, under the benefit rate set in October, which was based on June 2007 food prices, a family of four receives about $542 in benefits.   Last week, Congress overrode President Bush's veto of the $300 billion farm bill, which includes $200 billion for nutrition programs such as food stamps, school lunches and emergency food assistance. The legislation will help bring food stamp benefits in line with inflation and stop the erosion, according to national experts. But the new regulations won't kick in until October and will only make up, on average, $5 of the $37 gap.   "Next year will be the first year in the modern history of the food stamp program when food stamp value is the same as the year before," said Dorothy Rosenbaum, a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.   Hall said she has had to adjust her expectations. "I think I first noticed when I bought what I usually buy ­­ eggs, milk, you know, the basic stuff ­­ and it cost me over $60 for a week. I thought there was a mistake," she said.   It wasn't always like this for Hall. For several years, she had a job as a receptionist, making $15 an hour. The difficult times started when she was laid off and took the home health aide job soon afterward for nearly half the wage.   She has employed a few tricks to save here and there: picking up food from food pantries, grilling meat and vegetables on the porch to keep the gas bill down; rationing the medication that manages her Crohn's disease by only periodically taking pills that she is supposed to take daily. She and her ex­husband agreed, through a mediator, that he would pay for Rosita's after­school care, clothes and other essentials for the children.   "Our life has changed. . . . My kids notice the changes, there's no doubt about it," she said, sitting on her porch. "There are things I can't buy anymore, little things like desserts, or if I say we have to be careful how much we eat. It's not just them; we all feel it. We all notice."   Back to top                                                                           ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 'This Is Really the Only Place I Could Be Today' Ceremonies, Parade and Rolling Thunder Honor the Fallen By Jenna Johnson and Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post; B01   In previous years, the families spent Memorial Day at barbecues and pool openings. Yesterday, they sat in folding chairs in the shade of a tent at a grassy cemetery dotted with small American flags to honor 10 loved ones with Maryland ties killed in the past year in Iraq and Afghanistan.   "Right now, we'd be sitting at home, trying to enjoy the holiday," said Danny Craig of Earleville, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His son, Cpl. Brandon M. Craig, 25, was killed in July in Iraq.   "We didn't know anything about the Army when Brandon joined," said Mary Jane Craig, who wore her son's dog tags. "It opens your eyes. It's a totally different ballgame. We learned so much about our country, Iraq, everything."   Memorial Day began as a way to recognize troops killed during the Civil War and was expanded after World War I to recognize service members killed in all U.S. wars. With the death tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan increasing, the holiday is also a time to honor troops fighting and dying in current conflicts.   In the Washington region, several ceremonies and concerts, a parade and a rally by Rolling Thunder motorcyclists paid tribute to the fallen troops over the weekend.   Yesterday, President Bush joined visitors on a warm morning at Arlington National Cemetery, where he continued the annual tradition of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Bush recognized all of the troops who died defending the United States and particularly those who lost their lives in the past year.   Wreaths also were laid at the Air Force and Navy memorials.   In the afternoon, 10 blocks of Constitution Avenue NW were closed for the National Memorial Day Parade, which featured marching bands and military units.   Military couple Mike and Kristen Nelson and their two children stood near the National Archives, watching the seemingly endless line of floats and balloons. The Arlington County couple spent most of last year apart: Mike was deployed to Iraq's heavily fortified Green Zone with the Army Corps of Engineers for six months. Five days after he returned home, Kristen learned that she would spend the next six months in Iraq with the Air Force. She returned home in January.   "We didn't plan it. It was unexpected," Mike Nelson said. "So this is the first time we've been able to come out here as a family."   Lance Cpl. Tom Pettit, 19, drove to the District yesterday morning from Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he is stationed. Standing with his hands on his hips, Pettit watched the high school color guards, old cars and colorful floats carrying celebrities such as Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund and actor Mickey Rooney, a World War II veteran and honorary parade marshal.   Commemorative coins and tokens jingled in Pettit's pocket. Spotting his uniform, several passersby had eagerly run up to him, patting him on the back and giving him a few mementos.   "People definitely notice the uniform," said Pettit, who is expected to be deployed to an undetermined location between December and February.   Not far from the parade route, hundreds of veterans and their supporters gathered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall to hear speakers and a reading of the fallen's names. Wreaths and other remembrances, including teddy bears, crosses, photographs and flowers, lined the base of the memorial.   Among the speakers was Army Capt. David Moses. Dragonflies and aircraft buzzed overhead as Moses told about being a "Lost Boy of Sudan," the name given to the tens of thousands of children who were displaced or orphaned during that country's civil war. They trekked hundreds of miles through treacherous desert, enduring hunger and evading wild animals and marauders, to reach safety.   After arriving in the United States as a refugee, Moses said, he worked at a slaughterhouse in Sioux Falls, S.D., attended college in Utah and realized his dream of joining the U.S. military.   "To me, it is a miracle that I am here today," he said. "And as I think back to that long and impossible journey from Africa to South Dakota to Utah to Iraq and now to this sacred wall, I am reminded of the lessons this journey has for all of us."   Visitors from across the country, including members of motorcycle clubs who descend on Washington every Memorial Day, listened in solemn silence to Moses's story. At a shady bench nearby, Sibel Bulay, 55, an American living in Turkey, approached Vietnam veteran Tony Sarica to express her regret for civil strife that seized the United States during that war.   Sarica, 61, belongs to the New Jersey chapter of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club, where he goes by the name Scorpio. He sat stoically as Bulay spoke.   "I still feel really bad about how we treated the Vietnam vets when they came back, and whenever I meet one of these guys, I try to tell them how I feel," Bulay said. "This is really the only place I could be today."   During a morning ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Baltimore County, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) told several hundred people that Memorial Day "today carries added significance" because more than 1,000 service members with ties to Maryland are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and nearly 100 have died there.   "Each of us owes them a debt of gratitude that we'll never be able to repay," said Brown, who served as an Army Reservist in Iraq.   Sheila Towns of Upper Marlboro attended the ceremony in honor of her husband, Staff Sgt. Robin L. Towns Sr., 52.   Towns joined the Army when he was 17 and the D.C. National Guard after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was killed in October in Iraq after a makeshift bomb detonated near his Humvee.   Last week, Towns's unit returned from Iraq without him, but his wife attended the homecoming party last Tuesday night. Then there was a memorial ceremony in her husband's home state, Virginia, on Thursday night. On Saturday, she laid a bouquet of miniature roses on his grave in Arlington National Cemetery.     "I'm just taking it one day at a time," she said. "One day at a time."   Staff writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.   Back to top                                                                            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Today in History ­ May 27 By The Associated Press   Today is Tuesday, May 27, the 148th day of 2008. There are 218 days left in the year.   Today's Highlight in History:   On May 27, 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, Calif., was opened to pedestrian traffic. (Vehicular traffic began crossing the bridge the next day.)   On this date:   In 1818, American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the garment that bears her name — "bloomers" — was born in Homer, N.Y.   In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis and East St. Louis, Ill.   In 1933, Walt Disney's Academy Award­winning animated short "The Three Little Pigs" was first released.   In 1935, the Supreme Court, in Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act.   In 1936, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage to New York.   In 1941, amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency."   In 1941, the British navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of more than 2,100 lives.   In 1964, independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died.   In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.   In 1993, five people were killed in a bombing at the Uffizi museum of art in Florence, Italy.   Ten years ago: Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.   Five years ago: Two Iraqis shot and killed two American soldiers in Fallujah, a hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein. Derrick Todd Lee, a suspected serial killer of women in Louisiana, was arrested in Atlanta. A study was released that showed women who took hormones for years ran a higher risk of Alzheimer's or other types of dementia.   One year ago: American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis in a raid on an al­Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. Dario Franchitti won a rain­abbreviated Indy 500. Broadway actress Gretchen Wyler died in Camarillo, Calif., at age 75.   Today's Birthdays: Novelist Herman Wouk is 93. Actor Christopher Lee is 86. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 85. Actress Lee Meriwether is 73. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 73. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 72. Rhythm­and­blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 69. Country singer Don Williams is 69. Actor Bruce Weitz is 65. Singer Cilla Black is 65. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D­Conn. is 64. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 63. Singer­actress Dee Dee Bridgewater is 58. Actor Richard Schiff is 53. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 51. Rock singer­musician Neil Finn (The Finn Brothers) is 50. Actress Peri Gilpin is 47. Actress Cathy Silvers is 47. Comedian Adam Carolla is 44. Actor Todd Bridges is 43. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 42. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 39. Actor Paul Bettany is 37. Rock singer­ musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 37. Country singer Jace Everett is 36. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 33. Rapper Jadakiss is 33. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 33. Actor Ethan Dampf is 14.   Thought for Today: "Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous." — Chuang­Tzu, Chinese essayist (c.369 B.C.­c.286 B.C.).   Back to top                                                                               05.27.08.doc Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Capital Punishment 01. Virginia set to execute killer Tuesday, Associated Press (GK) Transportation 02. Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus, By Lena H. Sun and Jonathan Mummolo, Wash.Post; A01 05. Leaders tackle future of rail service in area, By Melodie N. Martin, Times-Dispatch 06. Rural residents give cold shoulder to new road taxes, Julian Walker, VA Pilot (GK) 08. Transportation plan might take a toll on you, By Kimball Payne, Daily Press (GK) 09. Saslaw anticipates a busy special session, By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star 10. Let's have a plan, Daily Press Editorial (GK) 11. GOP's road math doesn't add up, VA Pilot Editorial (GK) General Assembly 13. City still scrambling due to open judgeships, By Peter Dujardin, Daily Press (GK) Virginia Issues 16. Virginia's fallen heroes saluted and celebrated, By Wesley P. Hester, Times-Dispatch 17. Ports brace for financial hit from decline in cargo traffic, Greg Richards, VA Pilot 18. Special education controversy, By Cathy Grimes, Daily Press (GK) 21. County considers raising proffers, By Wesley P. Hester, Times-Dispatch 22. Law on illegals creating shift?, By Karen Mahabir, The Associated Press 24. 'Green’ buildings catch on in Hampton Roads, Meghan Hoyer, VA Pilot 26. In a slumping economy, nonprofits struggle, Nancy Young, VA Pilot 28. Vet says much of VFW work is done quietly, By Kim O'Brien Root, Daily Press 30. Va. hopes to lure more foreign tourists, Associated Press 31. CHS student sees efforts to raise awareness pay off, By Barney Breen-Portnoy, Daily Progress (GK) Virginia Issues – Federal 32. Gasbag politicking, Roanoke Times Editorial Virginia Issues – Opinion 33. Not Spit, RTD Editorial (GK) 34. County Encapsulates Conundrum That's Confronting Virginia . . ., By A. Barton Hinkle, RTD Columnist 35. . . . Craves Development, Despite Risk, By George Nyfeler, Times-Dispatch Op-Ed Around the Nation 36. U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million From Institute, By Philip Rucker, Washington Post; A01 39. Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients, By Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post; A01 41. 'This Is Really the Only Place I Could Be Today', By J. Johnson and S.Somashekhar, Wash.Post; B01 43. Today in History - May 27, By The Associated Press ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Virginia set to execute killer Tuesday Associated Press Barring intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court or Governor Tim Kaine, a Broadnax man is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing a Brunswick County convenience store owner. Thirty-one-year-old Kevin Green would be the first person executed in Virginia since 2006. 05.27.08.doc His attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution while they consider reviewing the case. They claim the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals erred when it ruled in February that he had passed the statute of limitations for claiming ineffective counsel. Attorneys for Green also have asked the governor to grant clemency, claiming Green is mentally retarded. If neither stop the execution, Green will be put to death by lethal injection at 9 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TRANSPORTATION Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus D.C.'s Outlying Transit Systems Rush to Add Capacity; Metro Worried By Lena H. Sun and Jonathan Mummolo, Washington Post; A01 Transit systems that ferry commuters into Washington from outlying regions are experiencing significant ridership increases as some gas prices pass $4 a gallon, and Metro officials caution that trains could be overwhelmed if prices go even higher. Officials are looking for ways to buy or lease more buses, expand parking, encourage employers to stagger work schedules and persuade current riders to avoid the peak of the morning rush period. In Loudoun County, ridership on county-run commuter buses jumped 23 percent in April from April 2007. Officials scrambled to put additional buses into service, two months ahead of schedule. In Maryland, ridership on the 15 commuter bus routes into Washington increased 15 percent in April, double the rate of increase from last fall, state transportation officials said. On Wednesday, state officials approved $3.3 million to expand bus service on nine of those routes. Metro, which at 1.2 million subway and bus trips on an average weekday is the area's largest transit provider, is working on a contingency plan to help itself -- and the region -- prepare for a huge shift to public transit should gas prices hit $5 a gallon. Despite fare and fee increases in January, Metro's average weekday ridership in April -- 771,811 -- was slightly more than 4 percent above that in April 2007. "There is a point at which we may see a massive move of commuters from driving to transit because of cost," General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. told board members last week. Metro is urging regional officials to discuss options, even though they might not involve Metrorail. Local transportation departments could run bus-only lanes. Large employers, including the federal government, with a workforce of 300,000 in the Baltimore-Washington area, could institute mandatory flextime. Subway riders could shift their commute so they are not riding at the height of the morning rush, when trains arrive at downtown stations between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. "We're not always going to have the solutions," said Nat Bottigheimer, Metro's chief planner. "We're trying to give examples of the kinds of things that can be done so people will be comfortable taking a leap of faith to change a habit." Transit officials say rising gas prices will most affect solo drivers with the longest commutes, many of whom are considering carpools and vanpools. 2 05.27.08.doc On the regional Commuter Connections bulletin board on the Web, ride-sharing postings from Fairfax County and Loudoun increased 87.5 percent in the first quarter of the year from the same period last year. Sandy Silzer of Sterling, who drives an 11-person vanpool to Northwest Washington, has a waiting list of half a dozen. She is considering upgrading from a 12-person van to one that seats 15. The high gas prices are also having an effect on what she charges: She might soon have to raise her fee of $180 a month if prices keep going up, she said. "Lately, I've been filling it when I get to half a tank, because I've been trying to edge the prices. They've been going up so frequently," said Silzer, who has a government job in the District. Bill Powers of Burke, a program manager with the Department of Homeland Security, started looking for transportation alternatives when he began spending $200 a week to gas up his Jeep Commander back in March, up from about $125 in November. He always enjoyed the flexibility of having his own ride, enough even to forgo the transit subsidy his employer offered. He began calling vanpools and soon realized that he wasn't alone: He called six before finding an opening. "I finally struck gold about two or three weeks ago," said Powers, who now hops into a van with 14 others about a mile from home at 6:05 a.m. He's at his office building in Northwest Washington by 6:45 a.m. For people who are not regular transit users, the first hurdle is the biggest. But across the country, enough people are taking that step to increase transit ridership nationwide, said Rob Padgette, director of policy, development and research at the American Public Transportation Association, an industry group. "We haven't seen anything like this in a long time," he said. Gas prices probably have much to do with that increase, but there is little research that shows a direct correlation. During the 1970s oil crisis, gasoline shortages pushed national transit ridership up -- 6.7 percent in 1979 over the previous year and 5.4 percent in 1980. By comparison, ridership grew 2.1 percent in 2007, but that was the highest level in 50 years. Padgette predicts that the number will rise, particularly for rail, because those trips are the longest. "We're going to see some pretty striking numbers this year, and they will show up later this year if fuel prices remain high," he said. On Friday, the Transportation Department reported that in March, Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles than in March 2007, a 4.3 percent drop and the first time in nearly three decades that traffic has dropped between one March and the next. For some local officials, the link between skyrocketing gas prices and the jump in public transportation rides is clear. Loudoun officials are scrambling to put more commuter buses on the road for the two-hour trips between remote parts of the county and downtown Washington. Average daily ridership in April was 3,281, but already this month, some days have exceeded 4,000 riders, county transit chief Nancy Gourley said. 3 05.27.08.doc She said the agency might need to lease more buses, consider running feeder buses to take commuters to transit centers and expand parking at a 750-space lot. Ridership on Virginia Railway Express, which runs trains from Manassas and Fredericksburg to Union Station, is also increasing, jumping nearly 12 percent in April, according to spokesman Mark Roeber. In anticipation of high demand this fall, VRE is adding five rail cars each month until October, when it will have 106 cars, up from 78, he said. That will mean 4,000 more seats. April's average weekday ridership was 15,312. MARC ridership increased 6 percent in March over the previous year and trains are at capacity, according to a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration, which operates the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines. Average weekday ridership in March was 31,943. Some drivers made the switch to public transit months ago, when gas seemed expensive at $3 a gallon. Paul Fickinger, who commutes between Severna Park and Chevy Chase, took a combination of the MARC train and Metrorail two or three days a week last summer instead of driving. Now it's more like four days, sometimes five. "The tipping point was probably when [gas prices] hit $3," said Fickinger, head of property management at a real estate company. Aletha Randolph also drove when she began her job in Crystal City three years ago. But the cost of commuting across the Potomac River from Cheverly grew too high. She started riding Metro in January. "It takes a little bit more time, but as far as saving money . . . now, instead of filling up my car every week, week and a half, I now fill it up close to every three weeks," she said. This month, weekday Metro ridership during peak periods was 509,533 trips. If riders spread out their rush-hour trips, instead of crowding into the "peak of the peak," Metro could accommodate an additional 140,000 trips on the subway, Metro's Bottigheimer said. One of the biggest obstacles to spreading out ridership is space at parking lots, which fill up quickly at suburban stations near the ends of the lines. One option, Bottigheimer said, would be to set aside spaces for carpoolers. Philip Westcott of New Market, a transportation engineer, is an expert on how to get from point A to point B. But he still hasn't found a good rail or bus option for his commute to Baltimore. So he has had to suck it up at the pump, paying $60 to fill the tank of his Nissan Xterra. That lasts for four days of commuting. If it gets much worse, he said, he and his wife will have to join carpools. "If gas prices get above $4.50 or something, that's the only option we have, really," he said. Staff writers Mark Berman and Jennifer Buske and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report. Back to top 4 05.27.08.doc ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leaders tackle future of rail service in area State plan would make Amtrak stops in Henrico and Ashland obsolete By Melodie N. Martin, Times-Dispatch To visit her daughter and newborn grandchild in Manhattan over the holiday weekend, Henrico County resident Millie Hill chose to take the train. "I think it's a lot less difficult than flying," Hill said while waiting to board at the Staples Mill Road Amtrak station Thursday. Hill, a state government employee, said many of her co-workers frequently catch the train at the Amtrak stations in Henrico and Ashland to attend meetings in Washington. But to improve passenger rail service through the Richmond area, state rail officials are considering an option that would make the Amtrak stations in Henrico and Ashland obsolete. Both localities, which are among those meeting today with state rail officials, have been pleading to keep passenger rail service where it is. "It's easy for a lot of people to say that it's an emotional want for us to have continued passenger rail service because of the history of the town, but it's truly a much more serious issue than that," said Ashland Town Manager Charles Hartgrove. "Losing passenger rail would be a large blow to our local economy." Henrico has sent state rail officials several alternatives -- in both the county and the city -- for a multimodal transportation center, which would incorporate rail, automobile and bus transit in one location. They include improvements to the existing Staples Mill Road station; a site east of the Acca rail yard near Laburnum and Westwood avenues; and a site in the northeast quadrant of Staples Mill and East Parham roads. Henrico Supervisor Richard W. Glover, whose Brookland District includes the Staples Mill Road station, said passenger train service should be offered where the most people will use it. "I don't think we're looking to say, 'Put it in Henrico,' as much as we are saying, 'Put it within the area that would be the most convenient for the entire region,' where it would be close to where I-95, the Powhite Parkway and I-64 come together from all directions of the region," Glover said. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is leading a study that is looking at the relocation of Amtrak passenger rail service between Doswell in Hanover County and Richmond's Main Street Station from the CSX rail line west of Interstate 95 to the Buckingham Branch rail line to the east. One reason for moving passenger service would be to bypass CSX's congested Acca Yard between the Staples Mill Road station and Main Street Station. Freight train operations in the yard are frequently suspended to let passenger trains through. Henrico Supervisor Patricia O'Bannon said Richmond, which connects to Atlanta and Washington, is on the short list for getting high-speed rail. But that would not be possible on the curvy Buckingham Branch rail line, she said. "It would mean slow rail, not fast rail," O'Bannon said. 5 05.27.08.doc The historic Main Street Station resumed passenger service in late 2003 after a 28-year hiatus and a $51.6 million renovation, but it has limited passenger service with two trains in each direction a day. Richmond and state officials are reviewing plans for Main Street Station that would add an additional two round trips, relocate train-storage areas and ultimately allow Amtrak trains to serve it to and from the south. But improving rail operations and train speed through Acca Yard also need to be addressed. The Staples Mill Road station remains the busiest in the state, with 234,670 passengers getting on and off there last year and 118 Amtrak trains a week. Last year, the Ashland station had about 12,909 passengers and Main Street Station had 12,757. The state rail agency plans to hold a public meeting in September before completing the study next summer. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rural residents give cold shoulder to new road taxes Julian Walker, VA Pilot RICHMOND Finding money to repair old roads and build new ones continues to flummox Virginia lawmakers, who have spent the better part of the past decade unsuccessfully searching for consensus on revenue sources. That debate is often framed by concerns in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia - two population centers critical to the state economy that are plagued by traffic congestion. But what about all those far-flung places where transportation needs have nothing to do with jammed interstates and rush-hour gridlock? Southwest Virginia's Floyd County, with its green pastures and rolling hills, is bisected by two main thoroughfares, U.S. 221 and Va. 8. Much of the rest of the road system consists of dirt and gravel byways. "Hundreds and hundreds of miles," county administrator Dan Campbell said. "We do have a tremendous road mileage of unimproved and dirt roads, and for the most part our citizens and our leadership have pretty much written off getting those dirt roads improved." As is true in other Virginia localities, money for major road improvements in Floyd is limited. Throughout urban and rural sections of the state, feelings are mixed about the scope of the road problem as well as how to fix it and who should pay. It's a divide not unlike the split between state legislators on the issue. Those differences can pit the needs in urban districts against the interests of hard-to-reach places connected by aging roads that meander across Virginia's vast, bucolic landscape. 6 05.27.08.doc "Do you know why nobody does any front-end alignments?" Bobby Cannon asked rhetorically on a recent overcast afternoon. "If you go anywhere within a 2-mile radius, there's going to be a pothole." Cannon and his wife, Sarah, own a two-stall auto garage in downtown Bowling Green, a district of redbrick shops buffered by tree-lined residential streets in Caroline County. Business has been slower at the garage of late, which Cannon attributes to the current economic climate. "Honestly, the roads need to be fixed," he said. "But if it costs more money to raise taxes, then leave them alone. People are just making do with what they have." New taxes are the foundation of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposal to raise about $1 billion annually for state-maintained roads. The governor's package is built on increasing the levy on car sales and the grantor's tax paid when real estate is sold. It also includes sales-tax increas es in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia to pay for roads in those areas and a $10 boost in the annual vehicle registration fee. In addition to selling his plan to taxpayers, Kaine must reconcile differences between Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature who have different ideas about state road needs and how to pay for them. The governor has crisscrossed the state in recent weeks to explain his plan in a series of transportation town hall meetings. A crowd of about 75 gathered recently at one session on the campus of Staunton's Mary Baldwin College. The audience was a mixture of folks opposed to any tax increases - members of the Americans for Prosperity group staged a small protest outside the event - and those willing to pay more for roads. "I don't mind paying additional taxes for the good of the commonwealth," Swoope resident Elizabeth LaGrua said. "To me, that's the cost of citizenship." Some at the forum said the new taxes would hit low-income individuals hardest. They urged the governor to cut state spending to pay for roads. At least two others spoke in support of a gas-tax increase, which the governor's plan excludes. Kaine told the crowd his proposal would raise money without imposing a heavy burden on taxpayers. A day earlier at a barbershop in Amelia County, the conversation turned to the proposed regional sales-tax increases. Will Elliott, the owner of Elliott's Barber Shop near the county's courthouse square, said he saw no problem with regions taxing themselves to improve their own roads. Amelia resident Paul Folliard, who was sitting in Elliott's chair for a trim, had a dimmer view of new taxes. "But if they do it, I just want something that would say that's where the money is going," he said. The men generally agreed that the quality of county roads is acceptable. 7 05.27.08.doc "Our biggest transportation problem around here," Folliard said, "is if you leave the post office, you have to wait a few moments for folks to walk by." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transportation plan might take a toll on you Federal officials say tolling programs can encourage carpooling and cut down on rush-hour traffic congestion. By Kimball Payne, Daily Press The five-letter word is almost an afterthought in the state transportation debate, but it could play a major role in future of commuters in Hampton Roads: Tolls. When Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled his plan for financing upgrades to the state's beleaguered transportation network, he outlined a series of significant proposals but never mentioned tolling. Asked about tolls, Kaine's administration said they are absolutely a part of the future of transportation. "It ought to be a bigger part of the discussion," said Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News. "I don't know of any great opposition to tolls, but the closer tolls get to reality, it'll rear its ugly head." Lawmakers are struggling to come up with enough money to ease congestion problems in traffic-plagued regions like Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. There is little overall agreement on how to raise additional money for roads, but there is little disagreement that tolls are going to be a part of the future. "It's almost assumed these days," Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said. "To me, it's progress that tolling is being accepted as part of the solution. But it's not a complete solution." Once specifics are nailed down, there is certain to be heavy and heated debate over where to place tolls and how much to charge. Tolling will likely face a backlash and growing pains as drivers adjust to new technologies used to collect cash, but it's interesting to note that even the Peninsula's most anti-tax lawmaker is open to the idea. "It's a true user fee, if you use it you pay the toll," said Del. Tom Gear, R-Hampton. "I could get warm to tolls." Many lawmakers, Gear and Hamilton among them, recall forking over $1.25 to use the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in the 1960s and '70s. "In the '70s, I was paying a buck and a quarter each way because I was working in Portsmouth," Gear said. Hampton Roads' unique geographic patchwork of cities and water makes the region especially fertile ground for a tolling program, because typically tolls don't work well when drivers can find different routes without charges. 8 05.27.08.doc "When tolls work the best is when you have a lot of traffic and not a lot of alternatives," Homer said. "Like bridges and tunnels." But it's important to remember that tolling alone won't foot the bill, Homer said. He noted that when a pair of private conglomerates submitted proposals to build a third water crossing, both companies included significant tolls to raise money for the massive project that would link Newport News, Norfolk and Suffolk with a complex of bridges and tunnels. But both companies also needed billions in state funding to make the projects work. Gear said he thinks any local tolling program would have to include charges on every route, including the bridge-tunnels and the James River Bridge, to keep folks from searching for alternatives. "If you toll, you've got to toll everything," he said. Gear also suggested the ballooning cost of gasoline could actually help correct the region's transportation crisis by forcing people to re-examine how much they are paying to commute. "Four dollars (a gallon) is like nothing anymore," Gear said. "That's going to slow a lot of people down. It's going to make commuters take a long, hard look at where they work and live." The future of driving in Hampton Roads also probably includes value pricing, a tolling program designed not so much to raise money but primarily to discourage drivers from using bridges and tunnels during peak hours on weekday mornings and afternoons. Under value pricing — or congestion pricing — drivers who are commuting during heavy times are charged a higher toll, and people with less important or less time-specific destinations are given an incentive to delay or reschedule their trips. Virginia is one of 15 states in the country that can use congestion pricing under a pilot program. A variation on that theme is being used around Washington, where in the near future drivers who are willing to pay an extra toll are going to be able to use the high occupancy lanes on the beltway. Federal officials appear encouraged by this type of system. In a letter to state House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, last week, Federal Highway Administration officials said congestion pricing is an effective toll that relieves congestion and improves air quality. "Through pricing, Virginia will be able to effectively and efficiently encourage commuters to carpool, use other modes of transportation, or shift their travel times to nonpeak periods," wrote Marcus Lemon, an attorney for the federal interstate agency. To discourage driving when traffic is heaviest One tolling program likely to be part of the future here is value pricing, or congestion pricing. Under this system, drivers who use bridges and tunnels during peak traffic hours are charged a higher toll as an incentive to change driving habits. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOP's road math doesn't add up VA Pilot Editorial 9 05.27.08.doc The term "new money" seems self-explanatory, but much of the gibberish in this year's transportation debate is the result of a disagreement over what should be a simple concept. Gov. Tim Kaine says the state needs $400 million more annually to cover a maintenance shortfall for roads and bridges. House Republican leaders counter that last year's transportation plan will generate about $500 million a year in new money for those needs. Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who wants to be Virginia's next governor, uses a similar figure when criticizing Kaine's proposal to raise sales taxes on cars and trucks. That $500 million estimate makes for an impressive rebuttal. Under scrutiny, it sheds much of its appeal. Increased registration fees, fines for overweight trucks and higher taxes in diesel fuel generate nearly $114 million. By any standard, that's bona fide new money that the state did not have last year. But Republicans count money from a statewide tax on real estate transfers as new. While new for transportation, the $64 million was merely shifted out of the state operating budget, where it has historically been used for schools, health care and prisons. McDonnell and GOP lawmakers also factor in $300 million the state plans to borrow each year for roads. Anyone with a credit card knows it's folly to confuse debt with new income. To confuse matters more, Republicans don't agree among themselves on exactly how to define new money. McDonnell juices up his transportation balance sheet by including $80 million in budget surpluses, based on the average from the past decade. His colleagues in the legislature aren't that bold. They know there is no budget surplus this year, and no guarantee that one will burst through the dark economic clouds anytime soon. No road contractor will start shoveling dirt with a promise he'll be paid the next time there's a budget surplus. Kaine, who helped negotiate last year's transportation deal and signed it into law, is fully aware of its details. He knows what money is new, what's a shell game and what is wishful thinking. Crunch all of those together, and the state still came up $261 million short for road maintenance this year. Next year, the deficit is forecast to grow to $388 million. Why? A recent report by Senate budget analysts showed iron and steel prices were up 34.5 percent over last year. Sand, gravel and stone cost 7.2 percent more. The materials used to build and repair roads and bridges cost much more than state leaders imagined when they were fine-tuning last year's road bill. Even if the $500 million touted by Republicans were all new, it would make a small dent in the state's road needs. New ramps and a bridge proposed for the I-64/264 interchange will cost $230 million. That's one project. Perhaps McDonnell and Republican leaders genuinely believe motorists will have to tough it out and live with the roads they've got, potholes and all. It would be better if they were honest about that instead of creating false hope that real help is on the way. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saslaw anticipates a busy special session 10 05.27.08.doc By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star WINCHESTER — Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Annandale, believes a lot of work lies ahead for the Virginia General Assembly when it convenes on June 23 for a special session regarding transportation. Saslaw, the state Senate majority leader, came to Jimmy’s restaurant on U.S. 50 east of Winchester on Saturday to speak with the Blue Ridge Democratic Women’s Club, talking about issues facing the state, the General Assembly, and his political party. He admitted that transportation will be a thorny issue, forcing both Democrats and Republicans to find some resolution for the state’s highway problems. Saslaw said both sides seem to be making statements to position themselves for the public, but he does not consider either party to be drawing lines in the sand. "Six weeks out, when faced with the prospect of not doing anything, they may be able to change their mind," Saslaw said. "To sit there and deny, as the Speaker [of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford] has, that we don’t have a statewide problem is absurd." Saslaw said the transportation plan approved by the General Assembly in 2007 had called for a road construction budget of $1.5 billion and a maintenance budget of $1.2 billion. Saslaw said one problem with the funding package was that $365 million from the expected construction budget was going to be needed to cover additional maintenance costs. Virginia’s highway maintenance and construction costs, he said, have gone up 50 percent in the last six years, making it a debt that must be paid now to avoid significant financial impacts in the future. The 2007 transportation package had called for regional taxing authorities to provide additional money for Tidewater’s and Northern Virginia’s road problems, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in February that the authorities were unconstitutional. Saslaw said the road package needs to be fixed so those funds that would have been generated by taxes in Tidewater and Northern Virginia will be available to fix roads. "Around 2013 or 2014, we do not have enough in maintenance [funding] to qualify for four-to-one match money from the federal government when it’s available," he said. "In 2016 or 2017, the loss [of federal matching money] out of the construction fund would be over $700 million. In Tidewater and Northern Virginia, that’s almost 60 to 70 percent. "That is $350 million out of Northern Virginia alone, so what good is it to pass a regional package?" Saslaw said as he stressed the need for statewide funding. "That [regional] package is supposed to be in addition to [regular funding for transportation]." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let's have a plan Kaine's road plan needs work, but saying 'No' isn't enough Daily Press Editorial 11 05.27.08.doc Plan? No plan? What's it going to be this time for Virginia Republicans, when it comes to transportation? In 2004, the "no-plan" strategy was touted by the GOP's leadership as a sensible political response to Gov. Mark Warner's effort to straighten out the state budget with a half-cent sales tax increase. But when the state's credit rating looked to be in peril, more sensible Republicans inched over to Warner. Tax-averse lawmakers squawked, but joined in when it came to spending the money. On Warner's transportation efforts, though, the no-tax wing of the GOP prevailed. Enter Gov. Tim Kaine in 2006. The transportation mess was worse. It was also becoming less about future road funding than immediate needs. Maintenance began to nudge aside construction. Potholes trump traffic jams. By the end of 2006, Virginia Republican leaders concluded that their "no-plan" posture could be a big loser in the following fall's General Assembly elections. Kaine was already testing a campaign message that the GOP ran a "do-nothing" legislature, and they had to have something for the voters other than obstructionism. Direct funding — taxation — was out of the question. So, for the 2007 Assembly session, they packaged "abuser fees," regional taxing authorities, substantial borrowing and a big dip into the state general fund. Kaine resisted, especially on the general funds, as those support K-12 instructional costs and public safety, but he eventually yielded. He didn't want the obstructionist label, either. Of course, that "plan" blew up. Voters hated the abusive driver fees and forced repeal in this year's session. The state Supreme Court pitched out the regional authorities as unconstitutional. As legislative fiascos go, the 2007 road package was memorable. Now Kaine has another plan, which has its own problems, notably his inclusion of a real estate tax statewide and his preference for increasing the sales tax, rather than the user-based gas tax. The no-tax folks rejected it reflexively, but it appears that their alternative consists of another no-plan plan. Their idea is to reject any statewide tax increase at the June 23 special legislative session, and toss the specific congestion problems in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia back in the laps of local government. And to fill the growing gap in highway maintenance funds? Some of that general fund money is still available. And a budget provision engineered by the Republicans already sets aside two-thirds of any budget surplus for transportation. So all we need is a budget surplus. Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who already has a lock on the Republican nomination for governor next year, claims that had the surplus law been in place in 2005, the then-existing $1 billion surplus would have yielded $667 million for road maintenance. So who needs another plan? Well, if they don't have a revenue plan, then they need a plan for some budget cuts. 12 05.27.08.doc Just revisit McDonnell's $1 billion surplus, two-thirds of which might have gone to roads. The Republicans controlled both houses of the legislature at the time. They could have spent all of the surplus on roads. But they allocated every bit of it to other state priorities and celebrated that spending during the 2007 legislative elections. What are they now willing to do without? From time immemorial, there has been bipartisan support for the contention that as the state economy expands, so, too, will tax revenues, thereby providing for "the growing needs of a growing state." And that's generally where the surpluses go. So, again, what are the Republicans — or McDonnell, specifically — ready to not fund now in order to accommodate road maintenance in the general fund? Where's the plan, Stan? When Kaine rolled out his latest transportation proposal, it took less than two hours for Republican leaders in the House of Delegates — where the no-tax position primarily manifests itself — to pronounce it "dead on arrival." Their alternative? None. Their plan? No plan. Kaine's plan needs work. But it's a starting point. Just saying "No" doesn't get the job done. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GENERAL ASSEMBLY City still scrambling due to open judgeships The court system is using substitutes and temporary fixes to fill the void. By Peter Dujardin, Daily Press Calling all attorneys who want to be judges. Temporary judges, that is, to help Hampton get through a seemingly never-ending impasse in the General Assembly over the city's judgeships. "Please form a line to my right," J. Robert Harris III, president of the Hampton Bar Association, wrote in a letter to 125 member attorneys earlier this month. "This position is reserved for lawyers who want to close their practice (tempting) to wear a robe for about six months and then try to restart your practice anew." Then he quipped, "Maybe a fresh start wouldn't be so bad." Hampton has three open judgeships: Circuit Court, General District Court, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. 13 05.27.08.doc A tenuous deal to fill the three slots crumbled last month as every Republican senator in attendance and some Democrats walked out of the Senate chambers instead of voting for one of the people on the slate, Kathy Gear Owens, Republican Del. Tom Gear's sister. In turn, the House GOP scuttled the whole deal. The failure to fill judicial seats in Hampton has now dragged on for four years — and counting. And the issue has become more pressing. There are three open seats, rather than one from 2004. With the retirement of Judge William C. Andrews III, whom Gear continually blocked from a long-term reappointment, filling the seat is no longer as easy as the governor simply asking Andrews to stick around another year. The courts do have short-term strategies in place — using retired judges for the Circuit Court and a designated judge and local attorneys for the two district courts — to ensure the dockets don't get backed up and sitting judges aren't overburdened. Still, with all the substitutes and temporary fixes, the Bar Association is worried about uncertainty, delays and the court system's overall functioning. "Because a different judge sits every couple of weeks, or even every couple of days, these judges cannot be properly integrated into the system of justice," Harris said of the Circuit Court seat. There's still an outside chance that the General Assembly will fill the seats this year. Lawmakers are meeting for a special session on transportation funding June 23 and could pick the judges then. But there's little confidence among Hampton court watchers that a problem that's dragged on for so long will somehow be hammered out as legislators are trying to devise ways to raise billions of dollars for such transportation projects as the third crossing. Failing a last-minute deal at that session, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine could step in and fill the Circuit Court spot temporarily. Under state law, he has the power to fill open Circuit Court seats until the next scheduled legislative session in January. Likewise, the Circuit Court's panel of judges or the Virginia Supreme Court can temporarily fill the openings at General District Court and Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court. Kaine hopes he doesn't have to step in, said the governor's spokesman, Gordon Hickey. "It is the job of the General Assembly to fill that slot," Hickey said last week. "He hopes they do their job." Still, Hickey added, Kaine "is not ruling out" filling the seat. The governor would make his choice from among Hampton attorneys who want the job. But it might not be easy for the governor to find candidates. Lawyers have clients, partners and ongoing cases, and Kaine would have to convince one of them to leave their practice for a temporary judgeship, with no likelihood the gig will lead to anything long-term. A lower court judge might also be reluctant to move up to the Circuit Court for the same reason. 14 05.27.08.doc In recent years, Kaine and his predecessor, Mark R. Warner, had a relatively easy choice: They simply asked Andrews to hold his seat a little bit longer. For four years, Gear blocked Andrews from the standard eight-year reappointment for Circuit Court judges, accusing him of being too lenient on punishing drunk drivers. That stand began when Andrews found a local high school football coach not guilty of a drunken driving charge. Yet others in the legislative delegation — and many area lawyers — ardently supported Andrews. Late last year, Andrews, now 63, reportedly grew weary of the annual reappointments and decided to retire. Until the legislature appoints someone else for an eight-year term, or Kaine appoints someone on a more short term basis, cases still have to be heard. Besides the Circuit Court slot, another local judgeship was added to the mix in 2007. That came after Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Nelson T. Durden turned 70, the mandatory retirement age for state judges. Durden, now 71, has agreed to continue to sit until the seat can be filled. And another judge slot more recently came open with the departure of General District Court Judge C. Edward Knight III, who stepped aside in April. Harris said Knight has said he would stay on to help out, too, but so far has not been designated to do so. Local lawyers have been hearing the cases that would otherwise go to him. As for the Andrews' seat, three retired Circuit Court judges — Walter J. Ford from Hampton and Robert W. Curran and Randolph T. West from Newport News — are filling in. But those judges are already busy doing other work, such as mediating cases that don't go to trial. "I don't think West, Ford and Curran really want to do what they're doing," Harris said. "Someone has got to do it, and they're being kind enough to do so. But how much longer they're going to do it, I don't know." And sometimes — for scheduling and other reasons — those three judges can't take a case. When that happens, the court's administrative staffers have to scramble to find other retired Circuit Court judges from other localities to fill in, said Laura Sandford, the Hampton Circuit Court's administrator. Barring an appointment from lawmakers or the governor, only former Circuit Court judges can sit in Circuit Court. Judges have come to Hampton from South Hampton Roads, but Sandford said the court might have to soon draw from further away. But there are vacancies in other cities, too, so other cities are vying for the same temporary judges. "When you have a vacancy like that, it just starts to get problematic, especially with summertime, with vacation, with conferences. It takes some juggling." 15 05.27.08.doc Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------VIRGINIA ISSUES Virginia's fallen heroes saluted and celebrated In Richmond:At war memorial, hundreds urged not to forget By Wesley P. Hester, Times-Dispatch With flags billowing at half-staff on a sunny Memorial Day morning, an eclectic mix of leather-clad bikers, colorfully dressed children and patriotic parents converged at the Virginia War Memorial yesterday to remember the nation's fallen service members. Keynote speaker and American Legion State Commander Andrew Robertson roared into Richmond with members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group, which had made a stop Sunday at the White House to make President Bush an honorary member and lobby for increased veterans benefits. Robertson, of Mathews County, said he was impressed by the hundreds who turned out yesterday at the war memorial, especially younger generations paying their respects. "It is a special time in our life here in America. We are at war. There are some people that don't seem to remember that, but it's obvious that you do," said Robertson, who served 30 years as an aviator with the U.S. Marine Corps. He prefaced his comments by acknowledging the 171 Virginians who have died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Those include 98 from the Army, 47 from the Marine Corps, 18 from the Navy, five from the Air Force, one from the Coast Guard and two from the CIA. "What do you say to those who have made that ultimate sacrifice?" he asked. "'Thank you' is a start, but it seems woefully inadequate. You could also say, 'I will not dishonor your sacrifice by belittling the cause for which you gave your life.' For whether a war is popular or unpopular, the sacrifice is the same for the more than 1 million men and women who died in the service of this nation in wars and conflicts since 1775." Robertson suggested that the best way to honor fallen service members is to support their families. "Nobody can replace these fallen heroes, especially in the eyes of their families," he said, "but we can offer shoulders to lean on. We can offer assistance with educational expenses. We can provide assurance that their loved ones' sacrifice will not be forgotten." Robertson, who lost his best friend and a fellow pilot 35 years ago when he was killed in a training exercise, urged those on hand not to lose sight of what the Memorial Day stands for. "It's not about beaches or picnics or auto races. It's a day to remember," he said. "If you have stood beside the open grave of your best friend, you know a loss which will never be forgotten. It is only through the passage of years that you understand that that memory can never be healed and that you yourself become the living memorial to their sacrifice." Seven-year-old Richmonders Will Hoffler and Jake Noble seemed to be listening. 16 05.27.08.doc "It was a little bit fun because I've never been here and I wanted to celebrate my dad because he's in the Army," Will said. Said Jake: "I came here because I felt like saluting the people who served and died." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ports brace for financial hit from decline in cargo traffic Greg Richards, VA Pilot Norfolk Cargo container volume is expected to drop 6.5 percent in the upcoming fiscal year at the Virginia Port Authority's terminals, according to budget documents released Friday evening on the authority's Web site. The decline comes amid a slowdown in the national economy that has curtailed shipments of imported goods. A weak dollar has boosted export shipments through Hampton Roads, the East Coast's third biggest container port, but not enough to make up for reduced imports. Still, the head of the state-controlled agency's operating company will likely see his base pay rise 5 percent. Joseph A. Dorto, president and chief executive of Virginia International Terminals Inc., is budgeted to receive a salary of $463,108. He is eligible for a performance bonus for up to 65 percent, or $301,020, of that. In 2007, Dorto's bonus was $238,905, or 54.2 percent of his base pay. The budget documents were published in advance of today's meeting of the authority's board of commissioners. The panel is scheduled to vote on the budgets for both the Port Authority and Virginia International Terminals, or VIT. VIT expects revenue of nearly $240 million in the new year, down 6.9 percent from the $257.7 million estimated for the current year. Having fewer cargo containers to move is expected to lower VIT's operating expenses by 4.4 percent, to $40.8 million. Maintenance costs are projected to drop 2.2 percent, as high fuel prices are projected to partly counter lower repair costs as newer equipment is introduced. Accounting and administrative expenses are expected to rise 5.5 percent to $21.3 million, despite a hiring freeze on 20 vacant staff positions. VIT has budgeted for 457 employees in the new fiscal year. It also hires hundreds of International Longshoremen's Association dockworkers each day. The Port Authority board requires VIT to disclose the compensation of its three highest-paid employees. Dorto, 57, also is budgeted to receive a $21,923 automobile allowance and $4,666 for business club dues, in addition to $17,000 that is provided for a life insurance policy. At age 65, Dorto's annual retirement income will be $413,049. The two other highest paid VIT officials are: 17 05.27.08.doc - Richard N. Knapp, chief operating officer, with base pay of $237,359, and a performance bonus of up to 30 percent of his salary, or $71,208. - Joseph P. Ruddy, director of operations and labor, with base pay of $159,000, and a performance bonus of up to 30 percent of his salary, or $47,700. Following its practice of the past, VIT did not disclose the criteria used to determine how the three earn their bonuses. For next fiscal year, salaries for Port Authority and VIT employees are estimated to increase an average of 3 percent. Reduced cargo volumes are expected to lower the payments VIT makes to the authority. VIT is expected to transfer $55 million to the authority in the new fiscal year, about 18.5 percent lower than the current year. Such payments are used by the authority to upgrade and provide security at its four terminals - in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Front Royal. The authority's operating expenses are projected to be $79.8 million, about the same as the current year. Of that, $48.5 million is for debt payments for terminal and equipment projects. Security costs are projected to rise 13.2 percent to $9.9 million, because of the addition of five police officers and increased maintenance costs. The authority is budgeting for 157 employees starting July 1. Other issues up for consideration today by the 12-member authority are: - Giving $12.5 million to Craney Island Design Partners for the second phase of design work for the authority's proposed $2.2 billion cargo terminal on Portsmouth's Craney Island. - Buying nine electric cargo container handlers at a cost not to exceed $10 million. - Approving the issuance of a $65 million "bond anticipation note." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special education controversy Consent would not be required for cessation of services and determining services for transfers. By Cathy Grimes, Daily Press Greta Harrison's first reaction to the news that Virginia was changing its special education law was caution. There was no question the change was overdue. The state law was out of compliance with the federal special education law, updated in 2004. There were definitions to revise, new information about teacher qualifications to add and discipline and evaluation criteria to review. But the revisions unveiled in March and under public review until June 30 surprised and saddened Harrison, who is an active member of Hampton City Schools' special education advisory committee and other area groups focused on advocacy for the disabled. Her 8-year-old daughter, Yasmine, has Down syndrome and is a second-grader at Forrest Elementary School. 18 05.27.08.doc Harrison and other parents and advocates for the disabled are worried about proposed changes that would reduce parents' roles in several key special education decisions, including the termination of services for their children. "I'm not angry, but I am concerned," Harrison said after reviewing the changes. "I'm very surprised that they came up with a document that is so polarizing." Harrison and others plan to attend a public hearing Wednesday at Norview High School in Norfolk to register their worries and suggestions. So far, the state has held six of nine public hearings on the regulations and has received more than 4,000 written comments, said Education Department spokesman Charles Pyle. 14 percent About 14 percent, or 172,704, of Virginia's students qualify for special education services. The largest number, 63,282, have a specific learning disability such as dyslexia. More than 31,000 have speech or language impairments. About 26,000 fall into the category of other health impairments, which includes Attention Deficit Disorder. And more than 15,000 children ages 2 to 9 have developmental delays. All are entitled to support to help them learn. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees that children with disabilities have the right to a fair, free and appropriate public education. Special education students must have individual education programs, which outline learning goals, accommodations and services. They are developed by teams that include the parents or guardians, teachers, counselors, therapists and others who work with the child. The teams meet regularly to update the plan. Students also are entitled to support services that might include an aide, special learning tools and teaching strategies, therapy and other services. But while the federal government requires those services, it pays for only a fraction of their costs. Cities and counties provide the bulk of funding to cover special education costs beyond basic education funding. State officials say some of the proposed changes are an effort to use limited resources more effectively. Proposed changes Among the changes that has caused the greatest uproar is eliminating the parental consent requirement when a district wants to stop providing special education services for a child. In the regulations under consideration, the school must notify a parent, but not seek permission. The changes also propose eliminating parental consent when determining services for transfer students. In a letter to the State Board of Education, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he was concerned about those proposed changes. "I do not currently see any circumstance under which I would approve a final regulation reducing parental involvement in these ways," he wrote. Harrison agrees: "There are ways to do this without taking away parental rights. ... I don't want to see us go back. I want to see us move forward." 19 05.27.08.doc Sharon Warren, Hampton's director of special education, said the change does not mean parents have no options. "They can ask to have the child evaluated again and can initiate the due process procedures," she said. "They still have the right to due process." Other changes have drawn fire from the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy and The Arc of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit organization focused on advocacy for the disabled. Concerns range from worries about changing definitions to opposition to a proposal to move the special education hearings process from the courts to the Department of Education. Several other changes also worry advocates and parents. Under the proposed rules, parents would receive fewer progress reports about their children. If a parent wants to meet more than once a year to review a child's individual education program, required by federal law, the school could refuse if officials believe the request is unreasonable. And the state wants to tighten the age span for children identified as having developmental delays from 2 to 9 years to 2 to 5. Any child "aging out" of that category would need to be re-evaluated to see if he or she qualifies for other services. "I am concerned that a lot of children will be cut out of the system if the developmental delay threshold is lowered to age 5," Harrison said. About 6,800 children statewide would no longer qualify for services if the age change becomes law. She said physicians also have expressed concerns because some children have not outgrown their delays by age 5. But Warren said the change makes sense if a child no longer shows signs of a developmental delay. In Hampton, 333 children are developmentally delayed, with 158 in the 6 to 9 age range. "What happens is that for some kids who are 6 to 9, they don't fall into any category. ... It makes it very hard to figure out how to provide services because there is no disability. So that puts them out of the system at third grade, and they don't qualify for anything," she said. Warren said 5 is a better age for transitioning out of services related to a developmental delay than 9, when students are in third grade and about to begin taking state math, science, reading and social studies tests. "I would rather put them into kindergarten full force," she said. "You can always re-evaluate and provide services if they need them. Parents can ask to have their children evaluated every year." 'we ... have to show up' Harrison and other parents said the proposed changes include some good things. Among them are proposals to bring definitions in line with the federal law, and to broaden the autism category. But another change has her worried that it might decrease already limited parental involvement in local special education committees. The state wants the committees to have the same ethnic makeup as the district population, but Harrison, who is Hispanic, said "we check our color at the door. We should all be parents or concerned citizens. We should not be there to fulfill a quota." 20 05.27.08.doc Despite her worries about the proposed changes, Harrison said: "I see this as an opportunity for parents to step up and become involved. I would like to think there is a positive outcome for this. I would like to see the school systems and the administrators see the response and see the respect. "But we do have to show up." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- County considers raising proffers The fees would be the highest in the region if the proposal is approved By Wesley P. Hester, Times-Dispatch In the face of a sagging economy and crippled real estate market, Chesterfield County is looking at imposing the stiffest fees in the region on residential development. For new residential rezoning proposals, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors is considering increasing the county's maximum cash proffers -- used to offset the impacts of new residents on public infrastructure -- from $15,600 per home to $23,072 or more. "It sounds to me like they're trying to drive the developers out of Chesterfield and price the housing out of affordability," said state Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, who this year sponsored a bill that would have done away with Virginia's 30-year-old proffer system. Cash proffers are technically voluntary fees paid to local governments by developers for each new home built to help mitigate the impact of the new residents on roads, schools, parks and fire stations. Currently, only Goochland and Caroline counties have higher fees than Chesterfield in the Richmond area, at $16,543 and $17,632, respectively. While the $23,072 figure represents the county's 2007 estimated impact of each new home on area roads, schools, parks and fire stations, it could be higher by the time the matter reaches the board for a public hearing tomorrow. County staff members are in the process of determining a new impact figure for 2008. The staff also has recommended that the Board of Supervisors increase the county's maximum cash proffer to $18,080 for already approved homes to account for inflation in the three years since they were last raised. That increase could affect 27,000 lots in the county. "Looking at the housing market, it makes absolutely no sense right now for Chesterfield to add even 1 cent to the cost of a new home," said Warren Wakeland, director of government affairs for the Home Building Association of Richmond. The association has launched an ad campaign against the fee increases, claiming they would kill affordable housing in the county and raise taxes for all homeowners by increasing real estate assessments. Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman A.S. "Art" Warren said he would likely support increases. "Development should pay its own way in this county," he said, reinforcing the board's new emphasis on encouraging commercial development over residential to better balance the county's tax base. 21 05.27.08.doc George Emerson, a prominent Chesterfield developer, said it's a common misconception that proffers are a tax on developers. He said they're more of a burden on homebuyers because the amount is reflected in the cost of new homes. "I don't believe proffers are administered fairly in Chesterfield County. In my view, they discriminate against lower-income families," Emerson said, noting that he would prefer to see the county look toward a new system of fees based on the value of the homes in question. "These proffers are driving up the sales price on houses, and first-time and second-time buyers just can't afford to move here anymore," he said. Bermuda District Supervisor Dorothy A. Jaeckle said she, too, was unconvinced higher fees could be justified in the current economic climate. "I would tend to lean against increasing proffers because the home-building industry is so down and out right now," Jaeckle said. Chesterfield will be one of the first localities in the state to consider raising proffers since this year's General Assembly session, which left hanging Watkins' bill that would have discarded proffers in favor of impact fees capped at $7,500 for most of the state. Chesterfield and other localities opposed the bill, claiming the cap was too low. Watkins conceded that the number needed to be negotiated, but said raising proffers in the meantime was not the answer. "The right number for Chesterfield seems to be as much as they can get," Watkins said. "I think it's the wrong time to be raising the taxes, and that's in essence what they would be doing." Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said he would support the increase to account for inflation but remains unconvinced that proffers are the best way to pay for growing pains. He said the fees put an inequitable strain on residential development and ignore commercial. "I think it's time for an overall discussion about whether proffers are the way to pay for our infrastructure needs," Gecker said, suggesting that a system that would require developers to build their own roads and facilities would be preferable. "Government has a habit of substituting cash payments for performance. I think we need to get back to addressing performance," he said. "Proffers have not done all they're supposed to do, and growth has not paid for growth." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Law on illegals creating shift? Recent crackdown in N.Va. seems to have led Hispanics to leave By Karen Mahabir, The Associated Press WOODBRIDGE -- Business at Pedro Vargas' store, Club Video Mexico, has slid so steeply that only eight people walked through the door one day last month. 22 05.27.08.doc One thing he has been selling, however, are one-way bus tickets from Northern Virginia to Texas and Mexico. Soon he'll be getting his own ticket out of town -- seeking a friendlier and more lucrative place to do business. "The last few months have been very, very bad for us," said Vargas, who plans to move this summer from Prince William County, about 25 miles southwest of Washington, to Utah, where he recently opened another store. Many say Prince William's new crackdown on illegal immigrants has created an environment so unfriendly that Hispanic people are leaving the county of more than 350,000, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau was nearly 15 percent Hispanic in 2006. The county's policy, which has drawn heated debate and national attention, directs police officers to check the immigration status of everyone they arrest. Beginning July 1, illegal immigrants also will be denied certain services, such as business licenses and mortgage and rental assistance. "That's like a smack in the face to me," said Vargas, a 24-year-old Mexican immigrant who is living in the U.S. legally. "I've been living here my whole life, and now they pass this law?" It is difficult to measure how many Hispanic people have left and their exact reasons for leaving. In addition to immigrants' fears over the new policy, the souring economy and mortgage crisis may be contributing to the departures. But anecdotal evidence increasingly points to a sudden cultural and economic shift in the county's Hispanic community. Several Hispanic business owners say their sales have plummeted. Prince William school officials say enrollment in English classes for speakers of other languages fell nearly 6 percent to 12,645 students between Sept. 30 and March 31. Other Northern Virginia counties had increases. Salvador Caballero, pastor of Trono de Jehova Pentecostal Church in Woodbridge, said attendance at his Spanish services has shrunk to about 130 people from 200 in recent months. Some people, he said, have stopped coming because they're afraid to be out in public, and others have moved to other states or back to their home countries. Stephen Fuller, director for the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Fairfax, said the policy could end up tainting the county's image and scaring off investors. "I think this will affect the county for several years even if they reverse the policy tonight," Fuller said. "The damage has been done. It's like personal reputation; it's hard to build that back." Supporters of the changes, however, say the crackdown is working as intended. Prince William Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said it already has had a "tremendous positive effect on the quality of life." A policy that went into effect in March directed police to check the residency status of anyone who is detained, no matter how minor the offense, if they believed the person might be in the United States illegally. The Prince William supervisors changed the policy last month; now police check the immigration status of all suspects, but only after they are arrested. Stewart says the change will reduce the possibility of racial-profiling accusations because everyone will be checked. 23 05.27.08.doc But Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization still opposes the policy. "This is an ordinance that through and through sends the message to police that they ought to be stopping and detaining people that speak a foreign language and appear to be from another country," he said. Nancy Lyall, of the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders, says she doesn't know what effect the policy change will have but that it appears to have already damaged the Hispanic community. "The community is still completely devastated," she said. "And for those obviously that have left, there's certainly no reason for them to go back." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Green’ buildings catch on in Hampton Roads Meghan Hoyer, VA Pilot When it opens in 2010, Virginia Beach’s Renaissance Academy will use kitchen water heated by solar panels and feature a rooftop garden over one wing. Lamberts Point Community Center in Norfolk, slated to open late next year, will boast large roof overhangs to block the hot Southern sunlight, and underneath its parking lot large filters will clean rain runoff before releasing it into sewers. Both buildings – and roughly two dozen others either under construction or planned for South Hampton Roads – will be certified as environmentally friendly by the U.S. Green Building Council. Going green has become the latest trend in government and commercial construction. While the buildings are more expensive to create, the added costs are recouped in long-term savings on electric, heating and water bills, proponents say. “It’s not a passing fancy,” said Tony Arnold, director of Virginia Beach schools’ Office of Facilities Planning and Construction. “It pays itself back operationally. But environmentally, it’s what we need to be doing.” South Hampton Roads currently has seven buildings certified through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, rules set by the Green Building Council. The nonprofit council, which has chapters nationwide, promotes environmentally friendly construction. Its rules require everything from more energy efficiency to using recycled materials for construction. Buildings are rated on a point scale and can get credit for small things, such as locating near a public transportation line, to big projects, such as heating with geothermal wells. Craig Cope is blunt about why the extra work is worth it. 24 05.27.08.doc “Buildings are hogs,” said Cope, vice president of Liberty Property Trust, a nationwide builder and manager of office and warehouse space. Liberty has built one green-certified office in Chesapeake and is at work on its second. Buildings create nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gases and use 40 percent of all energy, Cope said. That means while everyone has focused on fuel efficiency in vehicles, their homes, schools and offices have sucked up more power and released more harmful emissions. “Everybody realizes that there’s something to this,” he said. “This is just one step to help alleviate that situation.” Virginia Beach opened the state’s first green-certified school, Hermitage Elementary, in 2005. Waterless urinals and flush toilets that use recycled rainwater mean less water consumption, and its green construction required 10 percent less electricity than nongreen elementary schools, said Tim Cole, the system’s sustainable schools project manager. The school system is building Renaissance Academy, Virginia Beach Middle School, Windsor Oaks Elementary, Great Neck Middle School and a bus garage to meet the LEED standards. In the case of Renaissance Academy, which will house middle and high school students, green construction will add $1.3 million in costs to the $65 million project. The school system has projected that it will recoup those expenses in the first 13 years of operation, Arnold said. “For someone to go out and build as cheap a building as they can, but to still have all these high maintenance and utility costs, is really irresponsible,” Cole said. “It should just be the way we do business.” Like the school system’s other projects, Renaissance will feature a computer kiosk in the lobby so guests and students can monitor everything from rainwater reserves in the holding basin to energy usage in the building. Students will be able to look out onto the rooftop garden, a feature that helps cool the building and control rain runoff, and see solar panels that will put energy back into the local grid. “We want the building to be a teaching instrument as well,” Cole said. “The kids will eventually take this stuff home with them.” The cities of Chesapeake, Suffolk and Norfolk, along with the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, all are planning their first green-certified public buildings . In Chesapeake, construction on the 6th Precinct police station in Hickory begins this summer. Councilwoman Rebecca Adams hopes it will be the first of many environmentally friendly construction projects in her city. Last June, Chesapeake’s City Council unanimously agreed that all new publicly funded buildings would be LEED-certified. Adams said there could be later measures to encourage private developers to make the same choices. Roanoke, Charlottesville, Arlington and other Virginia cities offer incentives such as tax breaks and expedited permitting for developers who build green. 25 05.27.08.doc “We wanted the public sector to lead,” Adams said. “Green has just exploded, particularly in the last 12 to 18 months. The very fact that people are talking about it, thinking about it is a good thing.” Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a slumping economy, nonprofits struggle Nancy Young, VA Pilot Business is booming at the veterinary clinic of the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It’s booked solid two and three weeks out. That’s not altogether a good thing. Rather, it’s another sign of the impact of the economic downswing. The Beach’s SPCA clinic is swamped because it offers subsidized services for people who can’t afford private veterinary care. In the past few months, more animals are being abandoned, fewer are being adopted, and donations are more of a struggle to get. And it costs $160 a pop to fill up the Neuter Scooter, the SPCA’s mobile veterinary clinic bus, said the organization’s executive director, Sharon Adams. “Our donors are quite often from the middle class, and they’re feeling the squeeze,” Adams said. “Folks are not feeling good about their own futures, and adoption decisions are being impacted by that.” Local nonprofit agencies are grappling with a troubled economy that is hitting their bottom lines in both increased need and higher costs. And volunteers, often the backbone of these organizations, still have the time to give, but not the money for gas. It’s not just individuals. Local nonprofit leaders are reporting that big companies have tightened the reins on donations. “As the economy has tightened, there’s increasing scrutiny,” said Cliff Bryant, director of communications for Norfolk-based Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit. More than they used to, he said, businesses are looking for a return on their investment, such as sponsoring an event where they’ll get name recognition or donating in an area where they do business – something to justify the donation to their shareholders. Bryant said Physicians for Peace sends about 250 volunteers a year on medical missions to such places as Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Haiti – destinations that typically don’t see bargain air fares even in the best of times. “Certainly we’re bracing ourselves,” Bryant said. “Those are extremely expensive tickets.” The rocky economy has so many worried about their financial health that it literally may take a disaster to overshadow it. The tornado that struck Suffolk in April was followed by an outpouring of support, said Rob Shapiro, public relations director for the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia. The organization quickly reached its target of $150,000 in donations for its Suffolk relief effort. The community “stepped forward without any regard to the economy,” Shapiro said. 26 05.27.08.doc But day in and day out , Mike Hughes, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of South Hampton Roads, said he’s hearing from his member agencies that while it’s always a challenge to make budget, now “it’s a little harder than it was in the past.” The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia is seeing 24,000 new customers at a time when food donations are down by about 10 percent, said Jan Cline, spokesman for the organization. “Some of the leanest times of our whole year are throughout the summer,” Cline said. Meals on Wheels programs across the country are seeing increasing need at the same time they’re seeing a decrease in funding from the federal government and fewer volunteers, said Marley Sweeney, director of communications for the Meals on Wheels Association of America, which is based in Alexandria. Four out of 10 Meals on Wheels programs have waiting lists of people needing help, she said. “Those are seniors who are waiting to be fed,” Sweeney said. “The reality is they may go hungry and they may starve.” Sweeney said a typical Meals on Wheels program logs about 2,700 miles a week delivering meals to senior citizens. The volunteers usually foot the bill to fill their gas tanks. “That’s why we’re losing volunteers,” Sweeney said. SPCA’s Adams said she could also see the effect of gas prices on volunteers such as Janet Gilbert, a Virginia Beach real estate agent. Gilbert said she hasn’t stopped volunteering, but in the last few months she has consolidated the number of trips she makes for SPCA to the Petsmart in Virginia Beach’s Pembroke area for a cat adoption program. “I used to run over there three or four times a week, now I’m down to one or two,” said Gilbert, a devoted cat lover. “It’s getting to where every time you go to the pump it’s like 4 cents more than it was the day before.” Adams said she also sees the impact of the economy on the number of animals being abandoned. Through last week, 149 dogs have been turned in this year because their owners said they couldn’t afford them, were left outside the shelter during off-hours or were turned in by neighbors after being abandoned. Last year’s comparable number was 98. More people are deciding not to adopt because of expense, Adams said. Some of the people coming to the veterinary clinic are there to relinquish their beloved pets because they can’t afford to keep up with even basic care. “A lot of times they have two small children sitting there,” said Melissa McKendry, a veterinarian at the Virginia Beach SPCA clinic. “It’s heartbreaking.” Adams said even though the organization relies on donations to make its $1.8 million budget, it’s getting harder to ask. 27 05.27.08.doc “Small businesses are being squeezed,” Adams said. “You hesitate to ask because you know they’re going through a tough time and you know they’d give if they could.” Meanwhile, overhead costs such as fuel and utilities continue to rise. The veterinary clinic loses $300,000 a year, Adams said – and loses more the more people use it. The Neuter Scooter bus, which houses a mobile clinic that provides low-cost spaying and neutering, was projected to lose between $10,000 and $20,000 annually when launched last year. Adams estimated that because of the high cost of gas, it will have lost between $40,000 and $60,000 in the fiscal year ending in August. The original plan was to expand the Neuter Scooter service to more than its current two days a week and to add more locations, Adams said. Those are on hold. And while there are no plans to cut back the service, Adams says at times she wonders: “How long can we sustain this?” Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vet says much of VFW work is done quietly By Kim O'Brien Root, Daily Press HAMPTON Hal Roesch joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars shortly after he returned from Desert Storm in 1991. Over the years, Roesch found himself becoming more and more involved with the national military service organization, eventually taking on various leadership roles. On June 15, Roesch — senior vice commander of the VFW's Department of Virginia — takes the reins as state commander. At 46, the retired airman is the first Desert Storm veteran to be named state commander, making him among the youngest to be named to the position. A member of Craigs-McCue VFW Post 3219 in the Phoebus section of Hampton, Roesch talked recently about the role of the VFW and why Americans should remember veterans. Q: What does the VFW do? A: What don't we do? As an organization, obviously our biggest focus is working for not only retired veterans, which is what a lot of people think our main goal is, but active-duty. Working for — a lot of people think of them as benefits — but actually they're entitlements. We were, as military members, promised certain things. We just want to make sure those things are kept. We do a lot with VA (Veterans Affairs) hospitals and running bingo. We do a pretty significant scholarship program. A high school student can get a $30,000 scholarship for a verbal essay. For junior high, there's a $10,000 scholarship. We support a lot of organizations: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Special Olympics, you name it. There's a stereotype out there that the VFW is the old, smoky, dark canteen where everybody meets and drinks beer and swaps war stories. Although there are some (posts) out there like that, that's really the farthest thing from the truth. There's a lot more that goes on. Q: Why is the VFW so important? A: The bottom line is being on the rolls of the VFW just gives us one more voice being heard when we go to Richmond, and when we go to (Washington) D.C. to talk to politicians about the needs of the veterans. 28 05.27.08.doc That's what we're all about. When we can go in and say, with the VFW and the ladies' auxiliary, we're 2 million strong, people tend to take a listen to that. Q: What are some of the things the VFW has done for veterans over the years? A: One of the biggest things, for active-duty in Virginia, we've been campaigning for years to allow active-duty dependents to receive in-state tuition. That's finally gone through. Pretty much every concern we had when we were up in Richmond in January has sponsors to push through bills backing what our concerns were. At the national level, it looks like the GI bill for the 21st century will go through. How it comes out, we're not sure, but that's a big push we've done. We're big supporters of the Virginia War Memorial up in Richmond. Q: What are some of the issues facing the VFW today? A: Membership. We had a huge population of WWII vets. As we all know, they're dying by the thousands every day. Not all the VFW welcomed the Vietnam veterans when they came back. That has since been reconciled. The Vietnam veterans make up the biggest part of the VFW now. Obviously, with Afghanistan and Iraq and other things going on around the world, the younger members are now becoming eligible, but it's trying to find that key to not only get them in but get them involved. Q: Is there a challenge in getting younger members? A: Younger members today, or eligible members who are still active-duty, have a lot more on them then even I did when I was active-duty. The military is pushing education and being involved, and the most important thing is family. Time is at a premium for a lot of them. We just stress that being on our rolls makes us a lot stronger. We try to do some things. We have the three big picnics: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day. We try to make it family-oriented — hamburgers, hot dogs, standard all-American stuff — where they can bring their families down and just relax. It seems to help. We're trying to do what we can to attract younger members, keeping in mind that it's the older members who built this organization. At times, it can be a tightrope, catering to the older and newer members. I think we do a good job. We're making strides every day to not push one out and keep everyone involved. Q: Who's the youngest member at your post? The oldest? A: We have several who are under 21. They can come in and must drink soda. If you can serve your country and you qualify for the VFW, you can join, regardless of age. As for oldest, we have several in their later 80s into 90s. My stepdad is a member. He's 86 years old, WWII, two-time POW, and he's fairly active. We run the gamut. Q: Do you have any personal goals when you step up as state commander? A: I'd like to see more women join the organization. Proportionally, we lag way behind the demographics of the military. Even though here (at Post 3219) we're doing all right, we can still do better. There are a lot of posts that are very low or have no female members. We need to keep on our track of continuing to build membership. Also, we can't forget the older members. One of the biggest problems, not just with the VFW but probably with a lot of military organizations out there, is we don't promote ourselves. We do a lot of great things in the community, we do a lot of great things in the state and national level, and we don't get publicity for it. We are great at doing things, but we're not great at tooting our own horn. We did, within the state, over $2 million worth of volunteer 29 05.27.08.doc hours, going to VA hospitals, nursing homes, working with the youth, hunter safety classes — pretty much anything you can imagine. Those are the kinds of things that don't get reported. We do a lot, but we do it quietly. Q: What are some of the things you're looking to do in the coming year? A: One of the biggest things we have is VA funding. Over the years, we've always maintained the VA is underfunded. The VA needs to be a high priority, especially with the influx of troops coming back now. The good side of it is we have veterans coming back now who would have never survived in prior conflicts. We owe it to them to make sure they're taken care of, as we do all veterans. Q: Does the VFW have a good future? Fifty years from now, will it still be around? A: Absolutely. Ideally, in a perfect world, you look forward to the last guy being buried with the charter. That means that we were in no more foreign conflicts. Realistically, is that ever going to happen? I doubt it. We're the largest combat organization in the world. I don't see a decline in the near future. I see increases in at least the next 10 years and so, and maybe even further out, as the active-duties start to retire and have time to devote to the VFW. Ideally, yes, you would hope there would be some decline. That would just mean we haven't sent any of our troops overseas to fight somewhere else. Q: What's important for people to remember on Memorial Day? A: Our motto is honor the dead by helping the living. The veterans have only done what they were asked to do. They don't wear a political hat. They're in the military. They knew what they were doing when they joined the military. And whatever they're told to do, that's what they're going to do. Always support them. And for God's sake, don't hold what they were asked to do against them. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Va. hopes to lure more foreign tourists International travelers are likely to stay longer and spend more per visit than their domestic counterparts, figures show. Associated Press RICHMOND -- Virginia tourism officials are hoping to attract foreign travelers as the U.S. economy worsens and domestic vacationers threaten to stay at home. Virginia Tourism Corp. is pushing the state as a vacation destination for international visitors by maintaining a presence at travel industry trade shows and printing travel guides in five languages. International tourists are sought after because they tend to stay longer and spend more money than their domestic counterparts, tourism officials said. The average international traveler visits two states, stays 16 nights and spends more than $1,600 per visit - more than twice what a domestic traveler spends -- according to Capital Regional USA, made up of the Virginia Tourism Corp.; the Washington, D.C., Convention and Visitors Corp.; Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority; and the Maryland Office of Tourism Development. The Capital Regional group spends about $2 million annually to attract foreign travelers. Virginia Tourism increased its share by $55,000 to $350,000 last year to attract travelers in the United Kingdom to 30 05.27.08.doc the 400th anniversary commemoration of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the United States. Dulles International Airport, with about 300 international flights arriving each week, helps the region draw visitors from several countries, said Diane Bechamps, vice president of marketing at Virginia Tourism Corp. The Washington region is the fourth most-popular tourist destination in the United States for Germans, with nearly 140,000 visiting each year, according to Capital Region. Only New York, Florida and the Southwest attract more. Domestic and international tourists spent $17.7 billion while vacationing in Virginia in 2006, according to the latest figures from the Virginia Tourism Corp. The tourism industry generated more than $1 billion in state and local taxes in 2006 and employed about 208,000. Tourism officials say they believe foreign travelers are receptive to visiting the United States, especially because of the dollar's weakness. "We're optimistic and think it will be a good year," Bechamps said. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHS student sees efforts to raise awareness pay off By Barney Breen-Portnoy, Daily Progress October will be Disabilities Awareness Month in the Charlottesville school division, thanks to the efforts of Daniel Milner, a senior at Charlottesville High School. Milner, who was born with a spinal condition that requires him to walk with braces, came up with the idea for a Disabilities Awareness Month after attending the Youth Leadership Forum at Christopher Newport University last summer. He took his idea to the School Board in March, and the board approved the Disabilities Awareness Month resolution May 15. Milner said that the month would include activities to educate students about disabilities. “The whole point is to help boost more positive interactions with folks with disabilities,” Milner said. “I’d like to get rid of the discomfort that many people feel when they are around disabled people.” Milner has contacted Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville, to promote the creation of a statewide Disabilities Awareness Month. That idea has received positive feedback, Milner said. There are 647 students with disabilities enrolled in Charlottesville schools, according to data provided by the school division. The division has made significant progress in recent years both in improving the accessibility of its buildings and in expanding educational services for disabled students, said Emily Dreyfus, chairwoman of 31 05.27.08.doc the Charlottesville Special Education Advisory Committee, which will participate in the planning of Disabilities Awareness Month. Disabled students in the city are now scoring at or above state averages on standardized testing, whereas they were falling short of state averages until recently, Dreyfus said. “It’s remarkable how much progress has happened this fast,” Dreyfus said. Beth Baptist, the school division’s director of special education and student services, said that the progress could be attributed to a combination of factors, including increased access to the general education curriculum for special education students, the availability of alternative testing options and a focus on staff development. Last year, the City Council allocated about $400,000 in surplus funds from fiscal 2006 to the school division to make Americans with Disabilities Act infrastructure improvements. In the fall, Milner will head to George Mason University, where he plans to study politics. He said he will continue to be an activist for disabilities rights and awareness. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------VIRGINIA ISSUES – FEDERAL Gasbag politicking Fuel prices too high? It's all the Democrats' fault, says Rep. Bob Goodlatte Roanoke Times Editorial Paying too much at the pump? U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte says you should blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He sure does. Goodlatte on his re-election campaign blog wrote an entry, "The Pelosi Premium," that basically scorns her and Democrats in Congress because they "have failed to show leadership." As proof, Goodlatte said a gallon of gas was just $2.33 on Jan. 4, 2007, when Pelosi took office. Look at it today. (Or don't look, if you can't bear it.) That's the premium Americans have paid for putting Democrats in charge. If that's the tack Goodlatte wishes to take in fighting off his first serious Democratic challenger, then he better be prepared to pay a premium for his gasbag politics. Try this: Paying too much at the grocery store? Blame Goodlatte. He holds great sway on the committee that writes the farm bill, also known as bloated corporate welfare. The Republicans failed miserably at writing energy policies that go beyond rewarding powerful oil companies. And, they have heavily subsidized the conversion of corn to fuel. That means more farmers plant corn and fewer other crops, causing prices to soar. If Goodlatte wants to blame Democrats for the price of a gallon of gas, they can blame him for the price of a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, box of cereal ... . But that would hardly be fair. 32 05.27.08.doc Gas and food prices aren't the fault of one particular political party, but of both. The culture of Congress allows special interests, not the people's representatives, to write the legislation. And rank-and-file congressmen like Goodlatte are rewarded for their unwavering partisan allegiance with a few earmarks here and there to keep the good folks of the district thinking they're effective. During the seven years of this administration -- with Republicans in control six of the years -- the only thing that leadership has excelled at is partisan sniping. Bickering doesn't fill gas tanks or shopping carts, and it certainly won't shape visionary policy. Goodlatte has an opportunity during this election season to prove he can rise above the fray. So far, he's off to a disappointing, but predictable, start. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------VIRGINIA ISSUES – OPINION Not Spit RTD Editorial The vice presidency has come a long way since John Nance Garner cracked that the office wasn't worth a warm bucket of spit. Nance served as vice president during the first two of Franklin Roosevelt's terms. Recent vice presidents have had greater visibility and impact. Al Gore, for instance, was a full-time player in the Clinton administration. The blogosphere has strong thoughts about Dick Cheney's role; no one would liken George Bush's second-in-command (on paper) to a cuspidor. Barack Obama and John McCain have begun a vetting process that has become increasingly public since Jimmy Carter summoned pretenders to Georgia in 1976. Once upon a time, presidential nominees announced their choice for vice president on the last day of their party's convention. Decision day now comes well before the opening gavel. An amusing scene occurred in 2000 when Bush appointed Cheney to lead a search process that produced . . . well, you know. Democratic speculation has focused on Hillary Clinton. Why would Obama want to transform the campaign into a three-ring circus? The primaries have proved her political strength, yet despite her wins in potential battlegrounds Clinton remains as divisive a figure as Bush. Democrats need to move on. Virginians Jim Webb and Tim Kaine have appeared on various veepster lists. Webb would lend the ticket military experience as well as expertise in foreign policy and national security. We don't always agree with the senator, but he makes a strong impression when he discusses issues such as the strategic implications of the Pescadores, the Spratley Islands, and the South China Sea. Kaine endorsed Obama long before the bandwagon left the station and has campaigned vigorously on his behalf. He serves as governor, which means he isn't a creature of Washington, which ought to make him attractive to a campaign that stresses change (as campaigns generally do). Kaine's liability is a résumé with limited international credentials. The Republicans summoned to Sedona seem capable but a little blah. The extraordinary reaction to the suggestion by The Times-Dispatch's Bob Rayner that Eric Cantor (R-7th Congressional District) would make a strong match for McCain pays tribute to Cantor's stature. In certain respects McCain resembles Theodore Roosevelt, and it is the Bull Moose inheritance many Republicans and independents want him to claim -which he could do by picking Joe Lieberman. The Independent-Democrat from Connecticut boosted 33 05.27.08.doc McCain during the GOP primaries; he stood beside him when insiders dismissed the Arizonan as foundering and perhaps doomed. More liberal than the typical conservative from a garden suburb in South Carolina, Lieberman has displayed a receptivity to fresh ideas. Unlike ideologues of left and right, he appreciates realism. A McCain-Lieberman ticket would make national security 2008's issue No. 1. It would stir the pot, that's for sure. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- County Encapsulates Conundrum That's Confronting Virginia . . . By A. Barton Hinkle, Times-Dispatch Columnist The debate over changes to Chesterfield's principal planning document for the Upper Swift Creek area highlights one of the biggest obstacles to fixing Virginia's transportation problems: property rights. Landowners in the area covered by the Upper Swift Creek Plan have a legitimate beef. County officials are considering whether to adopt a growth management boundary in the western part of the region; residential development would be put on hold until public services -- primarily roads and schools -- can catch up. That would represent a sharp departure from the county's recent pace of go-go growth, around which many landowners, developers, and others built their own personal and financial plans. This is problematic because a key feature of the legal system is predictability: A person or company ought to be able to know in advance what is permissible and what is not. Indeed, it was precisely an ostensible inability to predict whether a certain procedure would prove legal or illegal at the moment it is being performed that was the basis for the 4th Circuit's recent ruling throwing out Virginia's ban on partial-birth abortion. (For those who want the grisly details: The judges expressed concern that a legal intact dilation and extraction, during which a baby is dismembered in the womb, sometimes might "accidentally" become an intact dilation and extraction, the outlawed procedure in which the baby is partially delivered and its skull is crushed. "The doctor never knows prior to embarking on any standard D&E procedure whether a violation will occur," the court declared. "Thus, every time a doctor sets out to perform a standard D&E, he faces the unavoidable risk of criminal prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.") Public policy is not criminal law, but it has parallels. Property owners should be able to expect with some certainty that the investments they make will not be rendered valueless by (comparatively) sudden changes in the regulatory landscape. AND YET sometimes changes in direction are necessary. At least statewide, now is one of those times. (See last Friday's column for more on that subject.) As a recent study by the Southern Environmental Law Center points out, Central Virginia has seen some of the fastest land consumption in the entire commonwealth. From 1990 to 2000, for instance, impervious surfaces (primarily roads, parking lots, and rooftops) in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed increased by 45 percent. In Chesterfield during the same period, they increased by 90 percent -- twice as fast. (In Henrico, by comparison, the figure was 67 percent.) Addressing Virginia's transportation problems requires reining in some of the rampant sprawl that has produced statistics like this one: From 1980 to 2000, the number of vehicle miles traveled in Virginia rose three times as fast as population. This might seem like a case of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object, but there are ways to resolve the tension. For instance: the relaxation of zoning regulations so people do not necessarily have to drive significant distances every time they move among home, work, school, and stores. Less restrictive 34 05.27.08.doc zoning won't clear the roads; as a recent news story noted, Chesterfield is the region's most populous county but its third-biggest employer: Vast numbers of Chesterfield residents get up in the morning, drive over the river and through the woods to get to work, and reverse the trek to spend the night. But more sensible zoning could help. ANOTHER possible answer involves greater recognition of the degree to which state and local government sometimes indirectly subsidize development. If taxes in Midlothian, Clover Hill, Dale, and Bermuda go up to help fund fire stations and schools in the Matoaca District, for instance, the increase amounts to an indirect subsidy. Such subsidies explain why Chesterfield leaders are considering whether to raise cash proffers by a honking 48 percent. Proffers are essentially rezoning fees for new development; Chesterfield's currently top out at $15,600 per house. That figure could go as high as $23,072 for new development proposals, as soon as tomorrow night. An effective state subsidy, only recently addressed by the General Assembly, concerns the requirement that VDOT maintain roads in subdivisions once developers have built them. In the past decade VDOT has found itself on the hook for more than 1,500 miles of roads it hadn't planned on incorporating. This partly explains why the increasing budget for road maintenance, which by law takes precedence over new construction, has been draining the bucket of money to build new projects. As Virginia wrestles with such development and transportation issues, it might ask whether a more rational, fair, and fiscally responsible approach would give property owners more freedom to use their land as they wish -- but less public money to do it with. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . Craves Development, Despite Risk By George Nyfeler, Times-Dispatch Op-Ed The Chesterfield County government budget is in trouble. Furthermore, it is on a path toward continued deterioration in the coming years. The fiscal challenges of today are no surprise and have been predicted for some time. For years the county's commercial real estate development has not kept pace with residential development. Why is this significant? As far as government services are concerned, commercial land development subsidizes residential land development. Commercial property is generally assessed higher, therefore taxed higher, and also requires less services cost than residential property. Chesterfield County's low ratio of business to residents is unique across Metro Richmond. How did this happen? Thirty years of good public schools and relatively cheap land for residential developers played a big role. Until recently, the county's review process had a reputation for taking a longer amount of time to complete than other jurisdictions'. These delays were devastating to proposed commercial development projects. Furthermore, the decades-old decision to route Interstate 64 not through Chesterfield, but through Henrico County, exacerbated the situation, attracting business to that side of the river. DESPITE THE current situation, many outstanding improvements have been made to capture more business over the past half-dozen years by dedicated and hard-working county government officials. The county's economic development office has been given high priority and is now led and staffed with 35 05.27.08.doc outstanding personnel actively focused on specific goals for attracting new businesses, keeping existing businesses, and assisting existing businesses with expansion. The planning department too has been re-organized into a modern, progressive, and responsive organization delivering the much shorter approval process time that large commercial projects require. There is a new department of community revitalization to prioritize work on the Chippenham Place redevelopment of Cloverleaf Mall -- a gateway to the county that will anchor much more commercial interest in that part of the county. That department also provides planning guidance for other areas of potential decline across the county. All of these efforts collectively create conditions ripe for attracting commercial development. The concept of increasing the county's ratio of commercial to residential land-use in search of fiscal stability is now widely accepted as good policy throughout Chesterfield government, up to and including the new Board of Supervisors. Not every facet of the commercial development experience, however, has been improved consistent with the goal of increasing commercial development activity. Government review fees are a part of all development projects, but are not at all consistent across Richmond-area jurisdictions. Chesterfield's review fees are well known as being significantly higher than those of surrounding jurisdictions. This year, the county is dramatically increasing these already expensive fees in response to a tightening budget. Fees are slated to rise 60 percent in an effort to recoup 80 percent of the cost of actual review. The increases are to be the same for all proposed projects with no regard for whether the project is in keeping with county goals to increase non-residential development. A STUDY conducted by the Chesterfield County Chamber of Commerce revealed one recently built large retail development project is currently contributing $1.5 million in annual taxes to the county, yet generates far lower service costs than a residential development delivering the same revenue. Some argue that such a retail establishment impacts road use. It does just that -- but as a net improvement to transportation. Plopping a retail project in the middle of an area previously dominated by residential development should be judged a road congestion solution. How many more miles were those nearby residents driving to find the previously closest large retail establishment before the new one came along? Over the past several years, Chesterfield government has transformed itself into a bold organization for continually improving public service. Regarding commercial land-use, Chesterfield must not merely keep up with its neighbors, but catch up to them. It needs to stand out in the region as the commercial development first choice. Could these expensive plan-review fees be the undoing of the otherwise outstanding commercial-development experience the county now offers? After coming so far, does anyone want to risk finding out? George Nyfeler has been providing professional design-related services to the land-development community from Chesterfield for 14 years and currently manages the Chesterfield office of McCrone, Inc. He may be reached at gnyfeler@mccrone-inc.com. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AROUND THE NATION U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million From Institute Hughes Supplements Gap As Government Funds Lag By Philip Rucker, Washington Post; A01 36 05.27.08.doc One of the world's largest private philanthropies will announce today a $600 million initiative to fund risky but potentially lifesaving medical research by 56 of America's top scientists. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is expanding its flagship investigators program to nurture a new class of scientists. By endowing scientists' research over many years, the institute hopes they will make major discoveries in a variety of fields, including genetics and biology. The scientists, chosen from more than 1,000 applicants, said they want to answer such ambitious questions as how global climate change affects the spread of cholera, malaria and other infectious diseases and whether doctors can apply the engineering behind the building of airplanes and computers to the human immune system. The initiative comes as scientists are sounding alarms about a slump in federal research funding since 2003, saying it has starved potentially groundbreaking research projects of cash and could jeopardize the country's dominance in science against growing competition in Europe and China. Private philanthropies -- led by the Chevy Chase-based nonprofit organization founded by Howard R. Hughes, the late aviator, engineer and film producer -- are helping fill this gap by lavishing money on research that many grantmakers would consider too risky but that could produce the greatest breakthroughs. "We identify the best people and then free them up to do what they want to do and to be flexible and change directions and follow their noses into new fields," Hughes Institute President Thomas R. Cech said. Just as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is showering grants on programs to improve U.S. education and global health, the Hughes Institute is trying to foster long-term advances in medicine. "Today's medicine is the beneficiary of scientific inquiry that took place decades ago," Cech said. "Our goal in funding the basic biomedical sciences is to lay the groundwork for the medical discoveries that will take place 20, 30, 40 years from now." The 42 men and 14 women who will be named Hughes investigators today come from 31 universities and research institutions across the country, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They will continue to work at their institutions but will become employees of the Hughes Institute, joining about 300 Hughes investigators. One new investigator is Mercedes Pascual, who was born in Uruguay, grew up in Argentina and Brazil and now has a lab at the University of Michigan. She is trying to determine how global climate change affects outbreaks of infectious diseases. Pascual wants to build a mathematical model to help scientists identify when and how cholera, malaria and other diseases might balloon into epidemics, enabling public health agencies to prepare for, or even preempt, deadly outbreaks. But Pascual's research is uncertain. She could toil for years without developing the model. The work is so risky, she said, that she probably would not receive grants from other sources, including the federal government's National Institutes of Health. Aware of the potential of her model, the Hughes Institute is banking on Pascual to deliver it. 37 05.27.08.doc "There is a tremendous freedom in terms of time to focus on the research, time for creativity, time to pursue whatever area you think is important," Pascual said. By giving standards, the Hughes Institute's $600 million initiative is an unusually large investment. The institute, with an endowment estimated at $18.7 billion, is the country's largest private supporter of biomedical research. But by far, the largest source of scientific research funding is the federal government. The NIH administers more than $28 billion in research grants each year. Congress nearly doubled the NIH budget between 1998 and 2003 to capitalize on new lines of research opened by the Human Genome Project. Since the doubling, though, the NIH's budget has remained flat, and the cost of research has increased. This has created angst among scientists across the country who fear the funding slump is threatening prospects for breakthroughs. "That's an enormous cutback in our nation's investment in tomorrow's medicine," Cech said. "We're mortgaging our future by not funding this research now." The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is planning to release a major report June 3 calling on more funding for high-risk biomedical research, said Leslie C. Berlowitz, the academy's chief executive. "No matter what the size of the pie, more emphasis, or a larger percentage of the pie, has to be invested in the next generation of scientists and high-risk, high-reward science if we're going to maintain America's competitiveness," Berlowitz said. Without an increase in federal research funding, some leaders in the scientific community say, the United States' dominance could be threatened. "Globally, the U.S. is still dominant in terms of biomedical research, but that share of the first-rank research is eroding, partially because our funding is eroding but also because other nations are ramping up their biomedical research capabilities," said Kei Koizumi, a policy analyst at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni said the number of research ideas outweighs the number of grants the NIH can award. But, he said, the NIH is investing in programs to fund research by promising but unproven young scientists. "Science is moving very fast," Zerhouni said. "In my view, the greatest risk in our science over the long run relative to the competition is that we stop taking risks." Although philanthropy is no substitute for federal funding, Zerhouni said, it has a role in funding research. He called the Hughes Institute's investigator program a model and said it is "absolutely critical." James J. Collins, a systems biologist at Boston University, is a newly named Hughes investigator. He is trying to determine how cells and their components are assembled, how they interact and what shapes their behavior. Collins said that it could take years to answer these questions and that funding for such broad research has been hard to attain. 38 05.27.08.doc "Too many researchers are focused on getting enough productivity demonstrated to get the grant renewed, as opposed to putting your head down and going after the long-term problems," Collins said. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stamp Recipients By Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post; A01 Christina Hall's weekly grocery shopping ritual begins Thursday night in the kitchen of her cramped mobile home in Fairfax County, with the low hum of the refrigerator and the steady drip of the faucet in the background. "Shredded cheese, bagels, milk . . . Maybe we can do two gallons this week," she says hopefully, scribbling the grocery list on a sheet of notebook paper. She goes through a cabinet, looks in the freezer, checks a shelf behind the linoleum-covered table. "Yogurt, crackers, bananas." She jots down a dozen or so more items: salad dressing, frozen vegetables . . . "That should keep me at about $50 for the week." A divorced mother of two, Hall receives $219 a month in food stamps; the fastidious inspection of her cupboards and the dollar-by-dollar addition she does in her head are the only way she can make the allotment last through a month. At a time when food prices are soaring, a growing number of Americans are struggling financially and local social service agencies are seeing record numbers of applicants, advocates are concerned that the purchasing power of food stamps has shrunk since 1996, when Congress recalculated benefit levels. The result slowed the value of food stamps relative to inflation. If benefits had kept pace with inflation over 12 years, a family with one working parent and two children would be receiving an additional $37 a month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank. To qualify for food stamps, recipients must have an income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $22,880 for a family of three. "An extra $37 a month," Hall said, chuckling. "That would be nice. Might be able to splurge every now and again." Hall, 38, who lives in a scruffy, tree-lined cul-de-sac of mobile homes in Hybla Valley, one of the poorest sections of one of the country's richest counties, knows that the monthly payment doled out on a blue plastic debit card is meant only to supplement her food budget. The federal government's guidelines make that clear. But her $8.75-an-hour home health aide job -- about $1,200 after taxes during a good month -- stretches only so far, with rent ($550), utilities ($100, sometimes much more), gas ($180, even in her fuel-efficient Honda Civic), a car payment ($288) and car insurance ($163). That doesn't include other expenses that come with raising a 13-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. The stamps are the family's entire food budget. Skyrocketing food prices and the declining value of the government benefit has made feeding the family a daily struggle for Hall, a first-time food stamp recipient. Hall wrestled with the challenge the next day as she tried to manage the family's weekly food needs and squeeze in a few extra items for her daughter's birthday party that weekend. Her son had lost his school 39 05.27.08.doc meal card, which allows him to eat a free breakfast at school every day, so she has to make him breakfast at home until the end of the month, adding an unexpected expense. "Okay, we can get one package of potato chips and one package of popcorn, okay?" Hall said to her daughter, Rosita, who was having a tough time containing her excitement about the party. Hall shops at the Aldi on Route 1, a discount supermarket along the frayed commercial strip, where many shoppers go to save money on store brand items that can be as much as 50 percent cheaper than other chains'. The week's dinner plan called for spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, sloppy Joes, tacos and chicken nuggets, plus mixed vegetables with each meal. As she shopped earlier this month, though, she was feeling lucky. Her mother had given her some ground beef and pork earlier in the week. And her son, Richard, was going on a Scout trip, so she wouldn't need as much food over the weekend. (As it turned out, Richard came home a day early, so she had to "wing it for Sunday dinner," she said later.) Hall made her way through the store using her shopping list as a guide: two gallons of milk, $3.08 each; one package of macaroni and cheese, 59 cents; two quarts of yogurt for her lunch, $1.29. She picked out a box of yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting for Rosita's birthday cake, only to put them back later. Her mother would buy them. Into the cart went vegetables, frozen orange juice and hoagie buns. Bacon and ground turkey, initially on the list, would have to wait. "This! This!" Rosita squealed, pointing to a stack of bagel pizzas at $5.99 apiece. "No, Grandma's going to order pizza tomorrow for the party," Hall answered, checking the price on a package of frozen french fries before throwing them back. Looking over the shopping cart, which included a package of Fruit Roll-Ups and a few other items that Rosita requested, Hall said, "we're almost at $50, anyway." Later, in the comfort of her small trailer, festooned with Barbie-themed birthday decorations from WalMart, she looked over the receipt -- $48.06. She looked satisfied . "Well, this allows me to get away with spending $55 for next week," she said. For the working poor of the Washington region, stretching the monthly food budget in a sagging economy is particularly difficult, because food prices in the area are consistently higher than the national average, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, an Arlington County-based group that tracks the cost of living in hundreds of places across the country. During the first part of this year, the group said, the region's food prices were 8 percent higher than the national average. For instance, a pound of ground beef averaged $3.33 for a Washington area shopper, compared with $2.64 nationally. That's a difference of 26 percent. A dozen eggs were 10 percent higher, while a 10-pound bag of potatoes cost 40 percent more. The consumer price index for food has increased faster than in two decades, and it is especially grim news for people who rely on government subsidies. "Food stamps aren't meant to supply all of a family's food, but for many people, it's become a way of life. . . . It's a struggle to make them last," said Reuben Gist, director of advocacy and outreach for the Capital Area Food Bank. He cited a 2006 study by America's Second Harvest, a hunger-relief organization, that found that only 16 percent of food stamp recipients said the allotment lasted them an entire month. "People on food stamps are calling us saying they have no idea what they are going to do." 40 05.27.08.doc Food stamp benefits, which average about $1 per person per meal, are based on a plan set by the federal government designed to represent a very low-cost but nutritionally adequate diet. For a family of four, the cost of the diet, known as the Thrifty Food Plan, was $567 a month in April. But, under the benefit rate set in October, which was based on June 2007 food prices, a family of four receives about $542 in benefits. Last week, Congress overrode President Bush's veto of the $300 billion farm bill, which includes $200 billion for nutrition programs such as food stamps, school lunches and emergency food assistance. The legislation will help bring food stamp benefits in line with inflation and stop the erosion, according to national experts. But the new regulations won't kick in until October and will only make up, on average, $5 of the $37 gap. "Next year will be the first year in the modern history of the food stamp program when food stamp value is the same as the year before," said Dorothy Rosenbaum, a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Hall said she has had to adjust her expectations. "I think I first noticed when I bought what I usually buy - eggs, milk, you know, the basic stuff -- and it cost me over $60 for a week. I thought there was a mistake," she said. It wasn't always like this for Hall. For several years, she had a job as a receptionist, making $15 an hour. The difficult times started when she was laid off and took the home health aide job soon afterward for nearly half the wage. She has employed a few tricks to save here and there: picking up food from food pantries, grilling meat and vegetables on the porch to keep the gas bill down; rationing the medication that manages her Crohn's disease by only periodically taking pills that she is supposed to take daily. She and her ex-husband agreed, through a mediator, that he would pay for Rosita's after-school care, clothes and other essentials for the children. "Our life has changed. . . . My kids notice the changes, there's no doubt about it," she said, sitting on her porch. "There are things I can't buy anymore, little things like desserts, or if I say we have to be careful how much we eat. It's not just them; we all feel it. We all notice." Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'This Is Really the Only Place I Could Be Today' Ceremonies, Parade and Rolling Thunder Honor the Fallen By Jenna Johnson and Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post; B01 In previous years, the families spent Memorial Day at barbecues and pool openings. Yesterday, they sat in folding chairs in the shade of a tent at a grassy cemetery dotted with small American flags to honor 10 loved ones with Maryland ties killed in the past year in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Right now, we'd be sitting at home, trying to enjoy the holiday," said Danny Craig of Earleville, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His son, Cpl. Brandon M. Craig, 25, was killed in July in Iraq. "We didn't know anything about the Army when Brandon joined," said Mary Jane Craig, who wore her son's dog tags. "It opens your eyes. It's a totally different ballgame. We learned so much about our country, Iraq, everything." 41 05.27.08.doc Memorial Day began as a way to recognize troops killed during the Civil War and was expanded after World War I to recognize service members killed in all U.S. wars. With the death tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan increasing, the holiday is also a time to honor troops fighting and dying in current conflicts. In the Washington region, several ceremonies and concerts, a parade and a rally by Rolling Thunder motorcyclists paid tribute to the fallen troops over the weekend. Yesterday, President Bush joined visitors on a warm morning at Arlington National Cemetery, where he continued the annual tradition of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Bush recognized all of the troops who died defending the United States and particularly those who lost their lives in the past year. Wreaths also were laid at the Air Force and Navy memorials. In the afternoon, 10 blocks of Constitution Avenue NW were closed for the National Memorial Day Parade, which featured marching bands and military units. Military couple Mike and Kristen Nelson and their two children stood near the National Archives, watching the seemingly endless line of floats and balloons. The Arlington County couple spent most of last year apart: Mike was deployed to Iraq's heavily fortified Green Zone with the Army Corps of Engineers for six months. Five days after he returned home, Kristen learned that she would spend the next six months in Iraq with the Air Force. She returned home in January. "We didn't plan it. It was unexpected," Mike Nelson said. "So this is the first time we've been able to come out here as a family." Lance Cpl. Tom Pettit, 19, drove to the District yesterday morning from Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he is stationed. Standing with his hands on his hips, Pettit watched the high school color guards, old cars and colorful floats carrying celebrities such as Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund and actor Mickey Rooney, a World War II veteran and honorary parade marshal. Commemorative coins and tokens jingled in Pettit's pocket. Spotting his uniform, several passersby had eagerly run up to him, patting him on the back and giving him a few mementos. "People definitely notice the uniform," said Pettit, who is expected to be deployed to an undetermined location between December and February. Not far from the parade route, hundreds of veterans and their supporters gathered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall to hear speakers and a reading of the fallen's names. Wreaths and other remembrances, including teddy bears, crosses, photographs and flowers, lined the base of the memorial. Among the speakers was Army Capt. David Moses. Dragonflies and aircraft buzzed overhead as Moses told about being a "Lost Boy of Sudan," the name given to the tens of thousands of children who were displaced or orphaned during that country's civil war. They trekked hundreds of miles through treacherous desert, enduring hunger and evading wild animals and marauders, to reach safety. After arriving in the United States as a refugee, Moses said, he worked at a slaughterhouse in Sioux Falls, S.D., attended college in Utah and realized his dream of joining the U.S. military. 42 05.27.08.doc "To me, it is a miracle that I am here today," he said. "And as I think back to that long and impossible journey from Africa to South Dakota to Utah to Iraq and now to this sacred wall, I am reminded of the lessons this journey has for all of us." Visitors from across the country, including members of motorcycle clubs who descend on Washington every Memorial Day, listened in solemn silence to Moses's story. At a shady bench nearby, Sibel Bulay, 55, an American living in Turkey, approached Vietnam veteran Tony Sarica to express her regret for civil strife that seized the United States during that war. Sarica, 61, belongs to the New Jersey chapter of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club, where he goes by the name Scorpio. He sat stoically as Bulay spoke. "I still feel really bad about how we treated the Vietnam vets when they came back, and whenever I meet one of these guys, I try to tell them how I feel," Bulay said. "This is really the only place I could be today." During a morning ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Baltimore County, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) told several hundred people that Memorial Day "today carries added significance" because more than 1,000 service members with ties to Maryland are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and nearly 100 have died there. "Each of us owes them a debt of gratitude that we'll never be able to repay," said Brown, who served as an Army Reservist in Iraq. Sheila Towns of Upper Marlboro attended the ceremony in honor of her husband, Staff Sgt. Robin L. Towns Sr., 52. Towns joined the Army when he was 17 and the D.C. National Guard after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was killed in October in Iraq after a makeshift bomb detonated near his Humvee. Last week, Towns's unit returned from Iraq without him, but his wife attended the homecoming party last Tuesday night. Then there was a memorial ceremony in her husband's home state, Virginia, on Thursday night. On Saturday, she laid a bouquet of miniature roses on his grave in Arlington National Cemetery. "I'm just taking it one day at a time," she said. "One day at a time." Staff writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report. Back to top ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today in History - May 27 By The Associated Press Today is Tuesday, May 27, the 148th day of 2008. There are 218 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May 27, 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, Calif., was opened to pedestrian traffic. (Vehicular traffic began crossing the bridge the next day.) 43 05.27.08.doc On this date: In 1818, American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the garment that bears her name — "bloomers" — was born in Homer, N.Y. In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis and East St. Louis, Ill. In 1933, Walt Disney's Academy Award-winning animated short "The Three Little Pigs" was first released. In 1935, the Supreme Court, in Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act. In 1936, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage to New York. In 1941, amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency." In 1941, the British navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of more than 2,100 lives. In 1964, independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died. In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997. In 1993, five people were killed in a bombing at the Uffizi museum of art in Florence, Italy. Ten years ago: Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot. Five years ago: Two Iraqis shot and killed two American soldiers in Fallujah, a hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein. Derrick Todd Lee, a suspected serial killer of women in Louisiana, was arrested in Atlanta. A study was released that showed women who took hormones for years ran a higher risk of Alzheimer's or other types of dementia. One year ago: American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. Dario Franchitti won a rain-abbreviated Indy 500. Broadway actress Gretchen Wyler died in Camarillo, Calif., at age 75. Today's Birthdays: Novelist Herman Wouk is 93. Actor Christopher Lee is 86. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 85. Actress Lee Meriwether is 73. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 73. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 72. Rhythm-and-blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 69. Country singer Don Williams is 69. Actor Bruce Weitz is 65. Singer Cilla Black is 65. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. is 64. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 63. Singer-actress Dee Dee Bridgewater is 58. Actor Richard Schiff is 53. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 51. Rock singer-musician Neil Finn (The Finn Brothers) is 50. Actress Peri Gilpin is 47. Actress Cathy Silvers is 47. Comedian Adam Carolla is 44. Actor Todd Bridges is 43. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 42. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 39. Actor Paul Bettany is 37. Rock singer-musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 37. Country singer Jace Everett is 36. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 33. Rapper Jadakiss is 33. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 33. Actor Ethan Dampf is 14. 44 05.27.08.doc Thought for Today: "Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous." — Chuang-Tzu, Chinese essayist (c.369 B.C.-c.286 B.C.). Back to top 45 From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Wednesday, 09 December 2009 19:27:34 To:   Bryant, Preston Subject:   RE: Secret Service comments   That's very nice. I made some controversial calls about bridge closings before the inaugural that helped security and earned me some heat from the Post. I stuck to my guns because I also knew that traffic would have been a disaster otherwise. The Secret Service and the WH really appreciated it. The day after the Inaugural, the Post ran a grudging editorial saying that maybe the decisions weren't so bad after all.   TK   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Bryant, Preston Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 6:06 PM To: Kaine, Tim Subject: Secret Service comments   I am in DC today on NCPC business. This morning I met at length with the Secret Service, namely with Tom Dougherty, the deputy assistant director, as well as the Service's engineers on a variety of projects.   As the meeting was breaking up, Tom pulled me aside and asked if I still work with you. I said yes. He then proceeded to say extraordinarily good things about you, specifically singing your praises for the way you handled some meeting back in January on the Presidential Inaugural planning that also involved O'Malley and Fenty. He didn't get into many details other than to say the leadership role you played in that particular meeting made a ton of difference and led to very good outcomes.   Just thought I'd pass that along.   It's always good to have the Secret Service as a fan.   PB From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Friday, 04 September 2009 15:22:22 To:   Ghidotti, Cathy Cc:   Tran, Lynda; Gottschalk, Patrick; Turnage, Wayne Subject:   9/24   Cathy:   I called Ken Dahlberg, the CEO of SAIC, a few minutes ago to pitch him to move his company—currently headquartered in California­­to Tysons Corner.  There are still a few details, but I think they will do it.    If this works, they will want to do an announcement in NoVa on 9/24.  I have “Ask the Governor” in Richmond that day until 10 and would need to fly up to be there for the announcement.  This is a big deal for Virginia.  Can you work with Gottschalk to make sure my calendar is free after the radio show so that we can go up to the announcement?   This is still very hush hush.   TK From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Monday, January 04, 2010 11:23:20 AM To:   wes.bush@ngc.com Subject:   Thanks for your call   Wes:   It was good visiting this morning and I am excited to know that Northrup Grumman will be moving its headquarters to the Capital Region.  I will obviously hold this in confidence until it is announced by the company later today.  At that point, I may issue my own statement saying just that the announcement is a good thing for the region and that we look forward to continuing our great relationship with the company.   I will be glad to be of any assistance on this move or other issues where I can be helpful.  My contact information as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee is as follows:   Office Phone      DNC Cell           Personal Cell     DNC Email        tmk@dnc.org     I attach below an article I just had published in the Richmond Times Dispatch summing up my thoughts as my term as Governor comes to an end.  While some of it is personal, most of the article is about my pride in Virginia’s strategic position right now.  I wanted you to see it because of the key role that NG has played in Virginia.   I hope to talk to you soon—   Tim Kaine     Virginia Leads the Way By Governor Tim Kaine When I was inaugurated Governor in Williamsburg four years ago, I chose a simple motto for my Administration: “Virginia Leading the Way.”  Ever since moving to Richmond in 1984, I have believed in our city and Commonwealth and wondered why we were not seen more clearly as national leaders in the same way we were in the early years of the American Republic. The historian Susan Dunn wrestled with the same question in her 2007 book “Dominion of Memories,” contrasting Virginia’s intellectual, political and economic leadership in the first 50 years of the nation’s history to its decline in influence thereafter.   Deep into the 20th Century, Virginia’s insular and often backward­focused leadership—evidenced by the ill­fated Massive Resistance to racial equality—consigned Virginia to position of far less significance than that reached by our founders.  What better place than Williamsburg, where Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were inaugurated, to declare that Virginia was once again ready to claim the mantle of national leadership? As I leave office, I am proud to say with confidence Virginia has achieved that distinction.  Some of the remarkable forward movement in Virginia has been obscured by the national recession that we saw starting in the Spring of 2007.  But, Virginia is well positioned going forward because of our economic, educational and political leadership.  The Virginia economy today is one of the nation’s most vibrant.  We are in the top ten states in median income and have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.  Contrast this to the Virginia of 50 years ago, when personal income was in the bottom third of the nation.  In the past four years, I have recruited 5 Fortune 500 companies to move their headquarters from other states to Virginia, as well as announcing more than $13 billion in new investment during the longest recession since the 1930s.   In my term as Governor, we have achieved the unparalleled honor of being recognized eight times as the best state for business in America by business organizations such as Forbes.com and CNBC.  With international economic assets such as the Port of Virginia and Dulles Airport (dramatically improving as subway access is finally being built) and the nation’s largest technology workforce, we will hold onto our position of economic dominance.   Fifty years ago, the Virginia education system was no model, despite the fact that Jefferson was the first American to systematically place public education at the center of public policy.  Our local schools fought to keep students separated by race—with direct or tacit encouragement from the Governor’s office—and our higher education system offered only limited opportunities to minorities and women.  Because of great strides in recent decades, Education Week now ranks Virginia as one of the top five states in overall educational quality, most notably recognizing the Commonwealth in 2007 as “the place where a child born today is most likely to have a successful life.”  Our high schools rank third in the nation in students passing Advanced Placement examinations and our Latino students lead the country in elementary school performance.  We’ve expanded pre­Kindergarten education by 40 percent in the last three years while dramatically increasing career and technical education programs throughout our state.  And, even in a tough time, our higher education system is clearly one of the two or three best in the nation and our capacity to serve more students has been enhanced through the passage of the state’s largest bond package for higher education construction in 2008. Our leadership extends to governance and politics.  Governing Magazine extensively analyzed the management of state governments in 2005 and 2008—in both years Virginia was ranked tied for best managed state in America.  We are one of the few states to hold the rare Triple A bond rating for our fiscal management.  And, despite a recession that has required billions of dollars in budget cuts, we have been able to sharply reduce infant mortality, preserve open space, invest in the Chesapeake Bay, improve community mental health services, ban smoking in state buildings, restaurants and bars and reform our foster care system. Finally, in the last four years Virginia has become the  new “bellwether” state in national politics.   With President Obama’s victory here in 2008, our long trend of being ignored in Presidential politics is over. Our lineup of state and federal elected officials is as balanced as it gets­­contrasting sharply to the lopsided status when I was inaugurated just four years ago.  A recent listing of the top 15 political “risers” of the last decade by MSNBC included five Virginians (three Democrats and two Republicans).  No other state had more than one political figure on the list. As I finish nearly 16 years in elective politics, I am so proud of the role that Virginia is now playing.  When I moved to Virginia to marry my wife Anne and start a career as a civil rights lawyer, I had no idea where our path would take us.  Our years together have been filled with moments that were grace­filled, unexpected and ever memorable­­fighting in courtrooms for fair housing opportunities, parent/teacher conferences at our children’s great city schools, knocking on doors in the Fan and Carver during my first campaign in 1994, welcoming Queen Elizabeth to Jamestown, campaigning with my kids across America in 2008, playing harmonica with bluegrass bands all across the Commonwealth, visiting Virginians serving our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan, comforting families at funerals while Mayor of Richmond and later in the terrible days and months after the shootings at Virginia Tech, listening to the heartrending personal stories of people at the annual free medical clinic in Wise County.   To have worked as a family and played our part—with so many others­­in moving our city and our Commonwealth forward is enormously satisfying.  While I am excited about my new role in helping our great President by leading the oldest political party in the world, I am equally excited to rejoin our neighbors in Ginter Park, return to the classroom at the University of Richmond and just be “Tim” again.     From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Tuesday, 29 December 2009 13:48:33 To:   Harrington, Sherrie Subject:   RE: Copy of Speech   appomattox   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Harrington, Sherrie Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 1:46 PM To: Kaine, Tim; Allen, David R., Trooper (VSP) Subject: Re: Copy of Speech   Please send us your computer password. The old emails may have been autoarchived and david needs to look at your hard drive.   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Kaine, Tim To: Harrington, Sherrie Sent: Tue Dec 29 13:42:12 2009 Subject: RE: Copy of Speech   Email please. Thanks!   TK   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Harrington, Sherrie Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 1:05 PM To: Kaine, Tim Subject: Re: Copy of Speech   I have it. Would you like me to email it to you or give you a hard copy?   ­­­­­Original Message­­­­­ From: Kaine, Tim To: Harrington, Sherrie Sent: Tue Dec 29 08:58:02 2009 Subject: Copy of Speech   Sherrie:     I am printing off hard copies of certain speeches that I have given. You preparedfrom a dictation tapemy speech to the Middle Temple when I was in London in December 2006 for Jamestown festivities. We actually prepared it after the event because I did the speech from an outline. It was probably typed up in January 2007 and sent to Ben Dendy at his request. If you could get me a copy, that would be great.     TK   From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Tuesday, 13 November 2007 15:06:49 To:   Vicki P. Sant  Subject:   RE: Abstinence­only program Funds   Thanks Vicki.  I like abstinence­focused programs, but I do believe (and the research confirms) that youngsters must also be given information about sexuality and contraception or the programs will not accomplish the goal of reducing sexual activity and unwanted pregnancy.   Abstinence­only is more of a political statement than a true effort to help youngsters.   I also really appreciate all your kind support and encouragement.  My best to Roger.   Tim Kaine   From: Vicki P. Sant [mailto:VSant@summitfdn.org]  Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 2:54 PM To: Kaine, Tim Subject: Abstinence­only program Funds     Dear Tim.... Congratulations on your decision regarding the abstinence­only funding.  I am so thrilled by your decision and very proud of you. You are doing a fabulous job as governor.  Keep up the great work. All the best, Vicki ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Sent using BlackBerry From:   Kaine, Tim Sent time:   Friday, 28 December 2007 14:24:27 To:   Turnage, Wayne; Harms, Stephen; Roberts, Larry; Rubin, Mark; Denslow, Suzette; Shepard, Brian; Skinner, Delacey; Hickey, Gordon; Ghidotti, Cathy Subject:   Thanks for a great 07/On to a great 08   You guys are a great team and we’ve had a strong year, both in governance and politics.  I value all that each of you contribute to the Commonwealth and to me personally.   There’s never a break in this line of work and the next few months will be really important.  We’ve put together some solid and innovative budgetary proposals and have to work to sell them to the GA.  To do this, we need to be strategic about what we do, and about the use of my time, during the session.   While there are a number of issues, there are a few big picture topic areas where we need to win.  Pre­K, Higher Ed Bonding, Mental Health, Foster Care, Health Care Safety Net.  In each area, we should have a strategy involving 3rd floor, Cabinet/Agency, External Stakeholders.  A sixth area—general defense of the fiscal prudence of our budget—probably should have its own strategy too.  If we get wins in these areas, the other wins and losses on bills will be less consequential.   As we approach the session, I think we should have small teams in each of these 6 priority areas who put together and then execute our strategy to win.  Putting teams together who are responsible will help us be proactive and not just reactive.  Each team should probably be talking everyday.  Take advantage of Cabinet/Agency folks in each area and external stakeholders.  I know you are probably all working on this, or an equivalent organizational strategy, already.   As far as my time goes, I have a couple of thoughts.  I need to have meaningful interaction with the key GA leaders.  Let’s talk next week about the regular breakfast schedule.  I also would like to have a 1 on 1 cocktail time with each committee chair in the first month of the session.  Finally, I would like your everyday intel about any member that I should reach out to personally.   Second, I think I should be on the road selling the 6 items listed above.  The more I can get TV and print coverage in the home areas of key legislators on the main issues, the better we will probably do.  Plus, the weird dynamics of the session suggest that it might be the best time to be away from Richmond talking to people about how the internal debate really affects their communities.   These are a few thoughts that I’d like to talk about when we first meet in 2008.  It’s show time!   Everyone have a great weekend—   TK