Here are a few Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, February 23. Also, watch as my Delegate, Patrick Hope, speaks out strongly against turning Virginia back into the gun-running capital of the east coast. As always, the question is, what the @#$@# are Republicans (and a few wildly misguided Democrats, sadly) THINKING?!?
*Virginia Gov. McDonnell’s abortion crucible (“Until Wednesday, the governor and other advocates of the ultrasound measure hadn’t concerned themselves much with the details of what the state should require. In their anti-abortion fervor, they thought that requiring ultrasounds, even transvaginal ones, was justified if it would change the minds of some women who’d considered ending their pregnancies.”)
*Invasive nature of some ultrasounds prompts Va. governor to back off bill (What a ridiculous headline; in fact, what prompted McDonnell to back off, to the extent that he did, is the adverse political calculus he faced on this one. Does the Kaplan Post headline writer not understand that? Seriously?)
*Kaine calls personhood, ultrasound bills ‘bad for Virginia’s image’ (Kaine is exactly right; all of this extremist legislation is terrible for Virginia’s “open for business” image. Thanks, Republican’ts!)
*Senate Democrats in Virginia use state budget to make power play
*Va. Senate could reach standoff on budget today
*Capitol briefs: Panel defeats bill targeting immigrants
*Sen. Warner calls for tougher standards for electronic medical records
*Taxes, transportation topics at Kaine roundtable in Manassas
*‘Amazon loophole’ to close in Virginia
*House again backs repeal of one-gun-a-month law
*‘Personhood’ bill faces key test in Senate panel
*Editorial: Cooperation needed to build a better budget (“Legislators agree that Gov. Bob McDonnell’s spending plan inflicts too much pain on schools, local governments and the poor.”)
*Weather: Unusually warm temperatures today
*Searching for slave ancestors in Virginia
*George Huguely guilty of 2nd-degree murder, sentenced to 26 years
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