Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, April 30. Obviously, the top story BY FAR is FBI looking into relationship between McDonnells, donor by the Washington Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman and Jerry Markon. I hope all the organizations giving out journalistic awards are paying attention to Helderman’s work on this unfolding, multi-pronged corruption scandal, because she’s doing a superb job digging into it (and possibly bringing down both Bob McDonnell (Virginia’s Rod Blagojevich, apparently) and Ken Cuccinelli in the process). THAT is what journalism’s supposed to be all about!
*The story behind Jason Collins’ story: The interview (Courageous; let’s hope this will lead to a lot more honesty and openness in sports!)
*More backlash against Senators on gun vote (Good!)
*Ex-chef alleged wrongdoing by McDonnells to FBI
*Va. governor’s former chef alleges conflict of interest in seeking dismissal of charges (“A former chef at the Virginia governor’s mansion asked a judge Monday to dismiss embezzlement charges against him, arguing that state Attorney General Ken T. Cuccinelli II has a series of conflicts of interest that have tainted the proceedings.”)
*Chef wants indictment tossed, cites Cuccinelli conflict, McDonnell ‘wrongdoing’
*Va. Dems, liberal PAC target Cuccinelli over gift disclosure (“Ken Cuccinelli’s foes are hammering the Republican gubernatorial candidate over his delayed disclosure of nearly $13,000 in personal gifts spanning four years but only revealed late last week.”)
*Tea Party, conservative PAC pick Obenshain, Stewart (The LAST thing this state needs is more Tea Party extremists in its government. These endorsements really say it all about what’s at stake this year in Virginia!)
*The forgotten summer vacation (“Attorney general and Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli is stretching the limits of credulity with his latest explanation for amending his annual economic disclosure reports.”)
*Hair shirts and good intentions (“Cuccinelli says he forgot to disclose big-ticket gifts but promises amnesia won’t cancel proposed ethics reforms.”)
*Herring wants to take ideology out of AG’s office (Which is why we need to put Mark Herring INTO the AG’s office!)
*Soft-spoken Virginian holds sway on immigration
*Supreme Court rules Va.’s FOIA law doesn’t extend to nonresidents
*Democrats say Cuccinelli took advantage of Virginia’s lax ethics laws (Cuccinelli’s and McDonnell’s scandals demonstrate why we need MORE sunshine on our elected officials’ behavior, not LESS sunshine!)
*Democrats say Cuccinelli took advantage of Virginia’s lax ethics laws
*Bolling defends McAuliffe over GreenTech’s Mississippi move
*Forum for foolishness (“Most candidates to succeed Putney have no clue what the job entails.”)
*Sniping persists in contentious Va. Beach House race
*Third Republican enters Va. Senate special election
*Republican lawmakers line up against Bob McDonnell’s ‘outer Beltway’
*Nationals still can’t solve Braves
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