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the
Richmond
Times-Dispatch, Keogh praised the state’s
performance-based incentive package and called for a
conversion strategy away from tobacco.
He addressed the sticky issue of anti-smoking
opposition this way:
I
understand the risks and know of no research that
promotes smoking as healthful or non-addictive. But
whether Philip Morris is headquartered in Richmond
or Manhattan, those issues will have to be dealt
with by society. Unless and until smoking is made
illegal, Virginians, of all people, should benefit
from Philip Morris' investment in the region.
Also
in the Times-Dispatch,
A.
Barton Hinkle returned to the issue of Virginia
Tech’s on-again, off-again race-blind admissions
policy. He had
written in favor of the Board of Visitors action
instituting a race-blind approach back on March
25th. With
the Board reversing itself, Hinkle accused it of
“turning the clock back.”
He offered some statistics:
A
new analysis by the Associated Press shows that many
black freshmen at Virginia Tech could have had a
harder time getting in without the boost they
received because of their race: 295 of the 333 black
freshmen had SAT scores below the school average.
Blacks had an average score of 1038, or 153 points
below the student-body average of 1191. About half
of Tech's black students graduate within six years,
compared with three-fourths of white students.
Another
columnist returning to the Virginia Tech story was Reginald
Shareef of the Roanoke
Times. Shareef
shared e-mail received in response to his column of March
31st that equated racial preferences with legacy
preferences. Neither
his readers, nor Shareef himself, presented any data
on the performance of legacy admissions, as Hinkle
did with racial preferences.
President Bush’s legacy admission boost to
get into Yale in the 60’s appeared to be all the
argument Shareef and his readers could muster.
Speaking
of legacies, Jeff
Schapiro continued his Times-Dispatch
coverage of the machinations around the renovation
of the state Capitol building.
A firm from Princeton, N.J. is the first
choice for the architectural and engineering
contract. Shapiro
quotes an unnamed source saying, "If you're an
architect, this is a legacy project, a
once-in-100-years contract. You're talking about one
of the most identifiable buildings in the
world." Complaints
from politicians and “jilted bidders” about the
choice have begun.
Barnie
Day saved himself some work this past week.
A column that he wrote two weeks ago for the Daily Press, praising Governor Warner’s veto of estate tax relief,
ran in his Roanoke
Times spot.
Jim
Spencer, Please Come Home
News
that Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, had filed a complaint
against former Judge and now state senate candidate
Verbena Askew, reminds us how much we miss obsessive
former Daily
Press columnist Jim
Spencer. Spencer,
now writing for the Denver
Post, would have squeezed out at least three
columns defending Askew.
Morse
Code
Gordon
Morse will now write a weekly by-lined column for Daily
Press, supplementing his heretofore-occasional
whacks at state government in the DP and Washington Post.
His first
column reflected on the War in Iraq, but he
promises to return to whacking in-state targets.
Anything
Goes
It
is almost impossible to suggest something too
ridiculous for the Roanoke
Times “Commentary” section.
Marshall
Tackett of Buchanan made this proposal:
I
suggest that Virginia roll up the plans on widening
I-81, and extend an annual $3,000 tax credit to all
commuters who volunteer to use U.S. 11, and not the
interstate, to get back and forth to work.
Good
Medicine for Bad
Dr.
Carolyn Thomas, writing in the Times-Dispatch,
endorsed legislation implementing comprehensive
disciplinary regulations affecting doctors, which
takes effect on July 1st.
She offered this impact:
This
stepped-up enforcement won't come without cost -
$3.4 million is the anticipated price tag over the
next two years. The number of investigations is
expected to increase by 1,000 per year. The
Department of Health Professions, which includes the
Board of Medicine, will add 27 new positions.
It's
money well spent.
Taxes
Too High? No
Way
Fairfax
County resident Robert
Griendling, head of a K-12 advocacy group,
defended a rise in Fairfax County real estate taxes
in a Washington
Post piece. He
noted that county residents now pay less for federal
taxes, car tax, utility taxes, and sales tax and
still come out ahead in lessened tax burden despite
increased real estate levies.
“Most taxpayers understand why they must
pay their fair share,” he claimed.
Taxes
Too Low? Help
is Available
Kerry
Dougherty of the Virginian-Pilot
used April 15th, “Tax Day,” to expose
the existence of a way for “those laid low by the
low-tax blues” to pay more to the Virginia
treasury. It
seems the 2002 General Assembly established a
voluntary method to pay more taxes.
Here’s how:
To
take advantage of the Tax Me More law, write a check
for the exact amount of all of your extra money and
make the check payable to the state treasurer.
Attach form GFD (General Fund Donation, available on
the taxation department's Web site) to your loot.
Affix
a first-class stamp to the envelope and send it to
the Virginia Department of Taxation, P.O. Box 2468,
Richmond, Va. 23218-2468.
The
amount collected by the state so far?
A whopping $400.00.
--
April 21, 2003
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