Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, May 28.
*Obama to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
*Joe The Plumber To UCSB Parents: ‘Your Dead Kids Don’t Trump’ My Guns (The guy has always been, and continues to be, scum.)
*How to be a hero in the middle of an unthinkable tragedy (“Watching Richard Martinez turn his despair into advocacy, I think of my own child at UC Santa Barbara, and shudder”)
*Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast-and It’s Killing All the Baby Puffins (“Disappearing puffins, stray whales, invading sailfish: The North Atlantic is in a bad way. Here’s why”)
*Eric Cantor Wants You to Know He Stopped Plan ‘to Give Illegal Aliens Amnesty’ (“The majority leader’s congressional campaign is highlighting his role in blocking immigration reform.”)
*Herring: best job ever as attorney general (But will he run for governor in 2017?)
*Chesapeake Bay designated critical conservation area
*Metro takes control of Silver Line
*Bashar al-Assad posts a letter of support from a Virginia state senator
*Another feint in ethics reform (“By vetoing a proposal — approved unanimously by both chambers of the General Assembly — that would’ve applied a stricter limit on gifts to himself from donors seeking a state economic development grant or no-interest loan, Gov. Terry McAuliffe underscored how absurd the legislative process can be on matters related to politics and money.”)
*Snyder forms political committee to spur GOP growth (This could be a good idea. Alternately, could it be what a Virginia Democratic leader told me it is, “a ploy to raise money to buy software he’s tied to?” We’ll see…)
*Warner kicks off re-election tour, rolls out new ad
*Warner launches first TV ad of re-election campaign (“The former governor reintroduces himself to Virginia as an entrepreneur and bipartisan deal-maker”)
*McAuliffe promises to make workforce development ‘No. 1 priority’
*Natural gas pipeline through 5 Virginia counties is considered (“The 450-mile-long pipeline, now at an ‘extremely preliminary’ stage, would connect three states.”)
*Rare woodpecker clings to existence in Virginia forest (“There are only 13 pairs of these once-common woodpeckers left in the entire state.”)
*Activists take U.Va. professor to task (“They worry his work on religious liberty laws could foster bias”)
*Mayor withdraws Shockoe ballpark proposal
*Storms could cause trouble again later today; much cooler tomorrow
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