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In an upcoming editorial we'll take a look at a movement to extend downtown's trendy lofts and condos to a section of the city known more for reaching out to the down-and-out than the up-and-coming.

Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Hampton Roads, is on the right track with his call for a new Manhattan Project aimed at weaning the nation off foreign oil. But his notion of providing incentives (up to $24 billion in prize money) for scientists who develop technologies that get us toward that goal may not be the best way of going about it.

After all, it's not like the Manhattan Project offered up a reward to the first scientist to successfully detonate an atomic bomb.

Still, at least Forbes is talking about doing something - while naysayers complain that the plan does nothing to bring down high gas prices RIGHT NOW. Ironically, some of the critics support increasing off-shore drilling, which also does nothing to bring down gas prices immediately. It also does nothing to end our long-term dependence on a scarce energy source that will grow only scarcer.

We're writing about Forbes' proposal for an editorial that will run tomorrow.

In an editorial on Tuesday, we'll have a roundup of some of the new Virginia laws taking effect tomorrow. There are some good, some bad, and some entertaining.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell's office sent me an e-mail responding to questions about the federal shield law. It reads to me like someone desperately trying to play both sides of the issue as he runs for governor. Take from it what you will.

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How much for a Senate seat?
The Supreme Court won't let Congress level the electoral playing field.
Amidst the hullaballoo over the U.S. Supreme Court's predictable decision on guns last week, another ruling with broad ramifications slipped by with little comment. The Constitution, it turns out, protects the right of wealthy Americans to buy their way into office.
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Will no one be held accountable?
Rep. Boucher switched his vote on the FISA bill. Intense lobbying swayed the House.
In March, Rep. Rick Boucher stood by the principle that immunity should not be extended to telephone companies that helped the government spy on Americans without a court's knowledge or consent. Last week, the Southwest Virginia Democrat voted to grant them that immunity. What changed his mind?
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On Tiger, golf and life
Steve Huff
Huff, who lives in Patrick County and practices family medicine, is a columnist for The Roanoke Times.
I have dreams about Tiger Woods. Typically I'm scrambling around looking for my clubs or wallet, then driving around lost and frantic as he waits on the tee. It's like that other stress dream I have, where college exams are coming up and I haven't been to class. Both dreams emerge from a devious subconscious, bent on spoiling two beloved pastimes: learning and golf. The two, I've found, have a lot in common.
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Suddenly, a new, beautiful day
Amelia Roberson
Roberson is a writer with a master of fine arts in screenwriting and film and a master of arts in teaching from Hollins. She lives in Roanoke.
I knew had surpassed my husband's taste for random '60s acts of sporadic expression when I asked him to pull over my new Toyota Celica ST on a deserted Chicago beach. He watched, clearly uncomfortably, while I set the volume to high and danced on the sand to Iggy Pop's "Wild One." It was then I realized with sobering finality that being creative had its limits in society. I had come to this place as a child dropped from an alien vehicle.
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Read Monday's letters here.

What do you want to talk about today?

A housing adjustment
Congress seems headed toward a compromise that would ease the foreclosure crisis but stop short of a federal bailout.
Washington is nearing a compromise on legislation to staunch the nationwide housing foreclosure hemorrhage, and skeptics are crying foul: Why help homebuyers who foolishly overextended themselves? Even more, why help the banks that encouraged the buyers with soft promises of adjustable rate mortgages that could always be refinanced before they go up? Ha. The disgust is understandable because it is well earned.
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Fear not the Virginia tomato
The FDA approves of Virginia's tomatoes. So do we.
If it weren't for Thomas Jefferson, Americans might foolishly have clung longer to the notion that tomatoes were poisonous. Back in his day, the tomato -- or love apple, as it was also known -- was thought so acidic that it would eat away one's insides. Death would soon follow. Today, there is similar concern about one's insides reacting violently to tomatoes. For several weeks now, salmonella poisoning has sickened hundreds of Americans, and the federal government has been far too tardy in tracking down the source.
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New River Forum editorial
Cross Virginia 114 later
Christiansburg can extend the Huckleberry Trail now and build a bridge later.
It looks like Virginia 114 in Christiansburg will be widened after all. The feds will send some money this way to ease traffic congestion on the busy street near the New River Valley Mall. Good. Now about the pedestrians and bicyclists who can find nary a sidewalk, trail or bike lane nearby ... The town plans to extend the popular Huckleberry Trail behind the mall, across 114 and to the Christiansburg Recreation Center. Someday the trail might even reach the aquatic center now under construction.
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Don't discount all news sources
Dan Radmacher
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
Sometimes before I write a column, I like to bat around the topic on blogs. It's a good way to test arguments for weaknesses and to explore various aspects of a debate. In doing that for my June 22 on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on whether "enemy combatants" should be able to file habeas corpus petitions, I ran into something depressing: a mind completely closed to anything put forth in the media.
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Racing through Giles County
Christian Trejbal
Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.
I drive north from the New River Valley often enough that I have almost memorized the twists and turns of U.S. 460 between Blacksburg and West Virginia. They provide moments of excitement not found on straight highways. Then the New River bursts into view or the Blue Ridge Mountains bring the horizon close, and I struggle to hold my eyes on the road. Days later, I return from wherever and the familiarity of 460 reminds me that I am almost home. All in all, it's a pleasant stretch of road through Giles County.
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