Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, March 28. Also, check out President Obama’s weekly address, in which he “highlighted the progress made protecting American consumers since he signed Wall Street reform into law five years ago, including an important new step taken by the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this week toward preventing abuses in payday lending.”
*Elon Musk: Burning Fossil Fuels Is the ‘Dumbest Experiment in History, By Far’ (It is particularly dumb, not to mention nuts, now that we have clean energy — efficiency, of course, plus wind and solar – at plummeting cost.)
*In Yemen crisis, risk of wider war between rivals
*Co-pilot in jet crash said to have had depression
*An Obamacare checkup (“The law has lived up to many of its promises.”)
*Harry Reid Goes Down Fighting (“With the bruised-and-battered Democratic leader’s resignation, the Senate loses one of its toughest and most fascinating characters.”)
*Inside Chuck Schumer’s 24-hour campaign for leader (“The New York senator got emotional over Harry Reid’s retirement. Then he got to work to take his job.”)
*The economy is a Democrat: Why recent history shows the value of a progressive president (“When Dems control the White House, the middle class wins. And under Republicans? Not so much…”)
*Ted Cruz Is Trying To Gut The Clean Air Act And Repeal All Climate Regulation (This is simply evil.)
*Va. Gov. McAuliffe amends license plate reader bill, angers legislators
*Virginia senator speaking at SC Democratic dinner (“Sen. Mark Warner will speak at the party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner on April 24, a year after his Old Dominion senate counterpart Tim Kaine headlined the same event.”)
*McAuliffe reworks ethics bill, will veto Tebow, gun bills
*McAuliffe proposes tighter gift limits in ethics legislation (“The governor said his amendments include an aggregate cap of $100 annually per lobbyist or entity seeking a contract with the state, a policy he said his administration already follows.”)
*McAuliffe runs afoul of the feds (“Gov. Terry McAuliffe has never shied away from his reputation as a hustler. This week, he shrugged off the latest complaints of his aggressive style during his regular appearance on WRVA’s ‘Ask the governor’ program. ‘I pick up the phone, and I raise heck,’ McAuliffe said, likening his business strategy to his approach as Virginia’s chief executive.”)
*Balancing the tuition scales at U-Va. (“The larger payment from better-off in-staters will free up resources that the university gets from the state and elsewhere so that U-Va. can expand access to talented Virginians of more modest means. Sounds like money well spent to us.” Agreed.)
*Swecker takes helm of state Democratic Party (Good luck!)
*Toxic emissions in Va. increase 10 percent in 2013; Radford arsenal remains atop list
*A wind-chilled start to the weekend
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