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What do you want to talk about today

Paying for college
Linda Whitlock
Whitlock, an adjunct English professor who lives in Salem, is a Roanoke Times columnist.
She was going through the registration process. I had stopped by Virginia Western to pick up my diploma. We were about the same age -- 40ish -- though she was probably a little younger.
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Healthy living, not socialized medicine
Paul Taylor
Taylor works in the health care industry in Roanoke and lives in Salem.
Steve Huff, in his recent column, "The health care market is killing us" (Jan. 28), voiced a great deal of concern for the state of our current health care system and how it has impacted his patients. In his opinion, we would be better off copying France, where employees are covered by a state-run system and nonemployees buy in separately. Private insurers would compete for supplemental coverage.
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Read Thursday's letters here.

For later in the week, we're writing about Gov. Tim Kaine's proposal to stem the rising tide of foreclosures in Virginia. His measures - which would slow the state's unusually speedy foreclosure proceedings by giving borrowers in trouble 30 days, along with access to credit counseling - are reasonable and cheap.

An unscheduled editorial will deal with a newly published study of Virginia's Hispanic population by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. The demographic snapshot offers a reassuring picture to those who fear that a marked growth in numbers threatens American culture.

For later in the week, we are musing about the presidential races, and what presidents can actually accomplish when elected. All of the candidates are talking about grand plans, but without congressional support, none of them can happen. Voters should give as much scrutiny to their congressional elections as they do president.

For Thursday: Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris has decided after talking informally with others that city employees needn't waste their time figuring out whether it's wise to open one-way Church Avenue to two-way traffic. So much for public discourse.

Payday lending reform's uncertain fate
Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, a well-paid industry supporter, may derail reform of predatory lending yet again.
Will Sen. Dick Saslaw kill payday lending reform in Virginia for the second year in a row? The Democratic senator killed a weak reform bill last year, withdrawing his industry-favored legislation out of fear Gov. Tim Kaine might amend it into something meaningful. This session, with even more political power at his disposal as majority leader, Saslaw is once again threatening to kill reform.
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A cockfighting law with teeth
The General Assembly should pass, and the governor should sign, Griffith's tough measure.
Virginia House and Senate panels turned aside pleas from the Virginia Game Fowl Association Monday to exempt its members from a bill that would make cockfighting illegal. The association's assurance that its member-sponsored cockfights are family-friendly -- no gambling, drinking or minors allowed -- just didn't fly.
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What do you want to talk about today?

Uranium isn't a gold mine
Hildred Shelton
Shelton is a farmer and lifelong resident of Pittsylvania County.
Virginia Uranium Inc. has requested the General Assembly to commission a study to determine the safety of mining a possible $10 billion uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County. According to articles appearing in various Virginia newspapers, the executives of Virginia Uranium went to Canada to study safe uranium mining techniques. Canada produces one-third of the output of uranium mined worldwide.
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Read Wednesday's letters here.

For later in the week: Which came first? The Virginia Museum of Transportation's lack of funding led to poor management or poor management hampered the museum's ability to generate contributions? We'll try to sort this out.