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More than 600 citations and arrests issued at a weekend-long party might not sound controlled, but that's par for the course in Radford. The traditional spring Quadfest, which no longer has official school sponsorship, survives off campus.

In an editorial we're writing for Sunday's NRV Current, we'll point out that it is annoying to residents that this sort of bash goes on and leaves littered streets in its wake. Nevertheless, it's what comes with having a university.  There's good and there's bad.  And if this is the bad, it isn't terrible.  The chief of police conceded that overall the crowds were well behaved.

Just-in-time stimulus

Long underfunded national parks will benefit from an injection of federal funds -- a special boon for the parkway.

It's a rainy day in Roanoke

Brenda Brown-Grooms
Brown-Grooms is the associate minister at Sweet Union Baptist Church in Roanoke.

Roanoke City Council met April 20, in part, to make an official presentation of the recommended budget for the city. We have been told the city is broke. However, that is not quite true. There is a "rainy day fund" of $19 million of our tax money that has been held in escrow, if you will, for the last 10 years. There is actually about $2 million more in the fund, but it is already spoken for. The rainy day fund's existence helps the city to maintain a good credit rating, just in case we want to build an amphitheater sometime in the future. It is why services that we have been told are unaffordable sometimes pop up -- miraculously paid for.
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Taxpayers will get soaked

Robert Craig
Craig, of Roanoke, is a retired Marine Corps officer who spent 25 years working in financial management in both the private and public sectors.

On Thursday, there will be a public hearing on Roanoke's 2009-10 budget. The hearing meets a legal requirement. However, it is extremely unlikely anyone will provide meaningful and convincing input. The budget is a done deal, and congratulations are already flowing like water about how hard everyone worked, etc. What we have is a plan that matches estimated revenues the city will receive against expected expenses that will occur in the coming 12-month period, starting July 1. A lot can change in 12 months. Frankly, I have no idea how good the estimates are for revenues or expenditures. Forecasts are projections of future events based on experience. The reality is that the current economic environment is so chaotic, experience may not be a solid basis for predicting future events. We could be in for some big surprises.
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Read Wednesday's letters to the editor.

Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.

Feeling social today?

I never saw Jesus as the vanity plate type. As you can see below, the Florida legislature disagrees.

(Hat tip: Wonkette)

Cody Lowe filed this story following the presentation of the until-now-closely-guarded-secret plans for Explore Park.

Take a look. It isn't a glitzy theme park or waterpark afterall.  It seems to understand the park, the parkway and its role. Whether it would draw tourists and make money is up for speculation. As is whether the developer will ever obtain the financing.

It turns out that, despite its growing popularity, Twitter may not be the best place to go for medical advice.

Who'd have thought?

"This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction, because it's just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information," Brennon Slattery, a contributing writer for PC World, told CNN.

In the past, the micro-blogging site has proven surprisingly useful for those seeking out information on developing news stories, such as the coal sludge disaster in Kentucky. The use of hashtags in Tweets by reporters covering the disaster made it easy to find links to a number of great resources.

But as hashtags have become more popular, their utility has declined. Do a search for the hashtag "#swineflu" and you'll get useful and accurate information from the CDC, along with somewhat less reliable information from, well, from anyone who includes #swineflu in their tweets, like this one: "oh my god! my head just exploded! #swineflu"

Sen. Arlen Specter, R D-Pa., announced today that he is switching parties and will run in 2010 as a Democrat. Assuming Norm Coleman finally succumbs to the inevitable and Al Franken is seated as U.S. Senator from Minnesota, that will give Democrats the 60 votes they need to overcome filibusters.

Along with control of the House of Representatives and the White House, that 60-vote majority in the Senate will give Democrats a clear run at enacting their agenda.

And there will be no one else to blame if things don't go well.

In an editorial to run later in the week, we'll give a nod to the state board of elections for fining former Roanoke City Councilman Brian Wishneff $3,700 for various campaign finance law violations associated with an attack ad against one of his opponents in last May's municipal elections. Wishneff still faces criminal charges, which he vigorously disputes. Whatever the outcome of that case, the civil penalties should put political candidates and their financial backers on notice that the law will be enforced.

The Virginia GOP fired Jeff Frederick from his job as party chairman a few weeks ago.  Frederick, for his part, had already decided not to seek re-election to the House of Delegates. Prince William voters hoping the Frederickness would survive in the House were glad to hear that his wife, Amy, would run for his seat.

Alas, she withdrew this morning, blaming party leadership. (Full announcement below.)

Unfortunately, some in the leadership of the Republican Party have demonstrated a greater interest in playing politics than in advancing our conservative principles and making life better for the families and the citizens of Virginia. I'm not interested in running for office to serve under broken leadership, where the Speaker compromises principle for what he perceives as immediate political gain.

Sounds reasonable, but don't be fooled. The Fredericks aren't interested in House leaders like Salem's Morgan Griffith behaving more rationally and working to better Virginia.  The Fredericks' strongest support comes from the fringe right wing of the party.

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