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A commonality with the French
Edwin Dooley, Jr.
Dooley is a retired administrator and professor at VMI.
Ah. April in Paris! I just returned from two weeks in Paris after a 13-year absence. To the casual visitor, Paris is still Paris. But the Parisians. What about them? Like us, the French are beginning to put on weight. A change in eating habits and diet, and a reduction in exercise are taking their toll. Nevertheless, the French are eating less these days. Gone are the two- or three-hour weekday lunches and the nearly all-day dinners with family on Sundays. But more snacks between meals, more sugar, more calories, and more prepared foods are plumping up the traditionally svelte Parisians.
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Farmers' risk is great
Molly Pugh
Pugh is the executive director of the Virginia Grain Producers Association.
Virginia's corn producers and small grains growers are concerned about the progress of the 2007 farm bill. Already vulnerable with current programs, our producers have begun their 2008 growing season with no idea of what types of support may be available in the upcoming farm bill.
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Read Tuesday's letters here.

The U.S. Census Bureau's annual report on where the federal government spent its domestic dollars came out recently. It's comprised of two parts.

The Consolidated Federal Funds Report: 2006 reveals that Virginia remains near the top of the list for receiving federal expenditures. The federal government spent $13,484.67 for every resident of the commonwealth in 2006. That ranked fourth among states, behind Louisiana, Mississippi and Alaska. Throw out the first two as exceptional that year because of continued Hurricane Katrina spending, and Virginia is living large.

The next time you hear a Virginian complaining about federal taxes, remind him that his state receives more back than it pays. Would the commonwealth's economy be humming as well as it is without all that federal funding?

More detailed spending data, down to the county level and over multiple years, can be viewed and organized here.

The second report, Federal Aid to States for Fiscal Year 2006 reveals information about federal grants to state and local governments. In this category, Virginia ranks dead last per capita.

So we get a lot of federal money spent here; Washington just doesn't give it to our local governments.

Christiansburg has a couple of home grown blogs keeping some extra eyes on town government. We've written several times on the lack of transparency there. In a story over the weekend, Donna Alvis-Banks reported on citizens joining the fray and their Web sites. Such citizen activism is welcome in a town that has been on cruise control for too long.

DepotDazed.com

ThinkChristiansburg.com

Our endorsements for Salem City Council will run tomorrow.

The governor plans to call a special session whether or not there's anything remotely resembling a solution to the commonwealth's transportation crisis. None seems likely at this point given dogmatic Republican hatred of increasing funding for roads and the inability or Democrats to even agree on one plan.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from Northern Virginia and Hampton roads, where most of the states most congested highways and byways are, will get together to figure out a solution that works for them.

The whole system of shared state responsibility is falling apart, and rural Virginia could be left in the lurch. On Tuesday, we will again urge lawmakers and the governor to hammer out a sensible compromise that would fund transportation now and into the future.

A sound investment in higher education
Virginia's $1.46 billion investment in its universities and colleges is well timed. It will pay dividends immediately and far into the future.
Rare is the moment when Virginians can look to Richmond and be proud of every single lawmaker. It's been a long time coming, but just such an auspicious occasion occurred last week when all lawmakers agreed to a $1.46 billion bond package that, for the most part, will be spent bettering the state's universities and community colleges.
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For Vinton council, Fidler and Nance
Vinton voters have several good candidates to choose from, but only two seats to fill.
Come May 6, Vinton voters have a problem, but it's a good problem to have. There are five names on the ballot for town council, but only two seats to fill. The choice won't be easy. The candidates, by and large, are experienced and committed to Vinton. We think the two top choices are incumbent Carolyn Fidler and W.W. "Wes" Nance, a longtime Vinton resident who serves as a prosecutor in Bedford County.
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Rain grants a needed day of rest
Ray Stubblefield
Stubblefield, who teaches earth science at Franklin County High School, is a Roanoke Times columnist.
As I write, it's cloudy, rainy and cool, thanks to low pressure off the coast. With soft gray light filtering through the heavy overcast, the new spring green glows surreally all around. Even the air is charged green. The emerald isles of Ireland and Scotland have nothing on us. I love days like this.
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Vote for business in Salem and Roanoke
Michael Pace
Pace is the managing partner at the law firm of Gentry Locke Rakes and Moore. He is also the chairman of the Business Leadership Fund.
The upcoming elections in Roanoke and Salem will prove to be among the most important in those cities' histories. The choices citizens make on May 6 will chart the future course for these cities and the whole region. Five candidates are vying for three seats on the Salem City Council. The winners will participate in appointing a new mayor.
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Read Monday's letters here.

What's on your mind today?

Protecting discrimination
A wrongheaded Supreme Court ruling makes it all but impossible to file wage discrimination claims on time. Congress should overturn the decision.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, nonsensically, that only the original decision to pay someone a lower salary because of their race or gender constituted a discriminatory act.

Prior to that ruling, each paycheck reduced by discrimination constituted a cause of action.

Because of this ruling, workers who have been discriminated against had only six months from the initial salary decision to file suit against their employer.
Read more.

Ex-felons should have the right to vote
Almost every state automatically restores the voting rights of released convicts. Virginia isn't one of them.

Virginia is one of a dwindling number of states that permanently revokes the voting rights of felons, even after they have served their time and paid their debt to society.

Ex-felons can petition to get their rights restored after a number of years, but they must go through a tedious and time-consuming process. In most states, voting rights are automatically restored, either after release or after any probation or parole is served.
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NRV Current editorials

Good candidates abound in Blacksburg
Three candidates rise above the rest, though.

May 6 is the last time Blacksburg residents will choose town council members in the spring. Starting in 2009, the council election will take place in November of odd numbered years. To mark the occasion, we hope voters turn out en masse to elect Don Langrehr, Paul Lancaster and Leslie Hager-Smith.
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Christiansburg needs a change
Three candidates could bring a fresh perspective.

If Christiansburg is to be anything more than a concrete-coated shopping hub for the New River Valley, it needs leaders with a different philosophy. Voters cannot overturn the current council majority on May 6, but they can elect three forward-thinking council members: Michael Barber, Jim VanHoozier and Henry Showalter.
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Supervisors aren't fighting the intermodal yard
By Shireen Parsons
Parsons, of Christiansburg, is Virginia community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

In his April 14 commentary, "Virginia failed its taxpayers with intermodal decision," Michael Hemphill missed the entire point of the issue of whether Norfolk Southern Corp., aided and abetted by the state, will force an intermodal freight station on the citizens of Montgomery County against our will.
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Read today's letters here.