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27 Dec 2011 22:28

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Politics: Rick Perry sues Virginia GOP over ballot exclusion

  • SUE 'em if they don't let you on the ballot! source
  • » That’s Rick Perry’s calculus: A total of five Republicans won’t appear (also including Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman) on the ballot in Virginia’s presidential primary, having failed to collect the 10,000 signatures required by state law, but Rick Perry is the only one to react with a lawsuit (so far). He’s suing the Virginia Republican Party, and the state board of elections, claiming that the state’s signature requirements — in particular, the provision that bans out-of-state circulators from gathering signatures — are unconstitutionally restrictive. Of course, he’s seeking retroactive change in the law, one that would allow him to appear on Virginia’s March 6th ballot after all. We agree with Talking Points Memo that suing one’s own party, even at a statewide level, isn’t normally the best move for a presidential candidate, but then again, what does he have to lose?
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink


24 Dec 2011 11:09

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Politics: Gingrich’s campaign manager blasts Virginia over primary exclusion

  • Only a failed system excludes four out of the six major candidates seeking access to the ballot. Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates.
  • Newt Gingrich’s campaign director, Michael Krull • Criticizing Virginia’s primary system, which decided that Gingrich didn’t have enough signatures to show up on the ballot. He joins Rick Perry (who didn’t have enough signatures for the ballot, either), and three GOP candidates who passed on getting signatures altogether: Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman. He has a very strong point here. However … we’re not going to spell this out specifically, but do you see the slight Krull’s slight of Huntsman in his quote? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink


23 Dec 2011 19:51

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Politics: Not enough signatures: Rick Perry will remain off Virginia ballot

  • misery A day after frantically attempting to get himself on the primary ballot in Virginia, Perry was told he did not fit the requirements — 10,000 signatures, including 400 from each congressional district. Perry’s camp claimed it submitted 11,900. That sound you hear is Perry beating his head against a table.
  • company Perry wouldn’t be alone amongst those not on the ballot — Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum passed on the opportunity to gather signatures, and Newt Gingrich is still waiting to find out if his passed muster. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney met the requirements. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink


22 Dec 2011 11:28

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Biz: Christmas miracle: Why Virginia farms plant lots of evergreens these days

  • cause Tobacco has long been a key crop for farmers in Virginia, and until the early 2000s, it was a heavily-regulated industry, with quotas and price supports for farmers. However, in 2004, the industry was largely deregulated.
  • reaction After the deregulation happened, farmers got money from the federal government allowing them to focus on new kinds of crops. One of the big ones? Christmas trees, which are hard to smoke but pretty easy to decorate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink


06 Dec 2011 00:29

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U.S.: Storytelling through acronyms: A top bureaucrat’s bad weekend

  • FAA the head of this agency received a …
  • DUI while driving in the area nicknamed the …
  • DMV D.C., Maryland and Virginia corridor source
  • » At least he wasn’t flying while drunk, right? After being a pilot for Eastern Airlines for 25 years, Randy Babbitt became the Federal Aviation Administration’s head in 2009. This weekend, he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road in Fairfax, Va. He has since asked for a leave of absence from his office.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink


03 Jun 2011 13:43

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U.S.: Sky Express bus crash: Driver charged with manslaughter

  • crash Early Tuesday morning, a major bus crash killed four people in Virginia, and many others on the 58-passenger bus had to go to the hospital after the bus they were on flipped over.
  • company The government shut down the bus company that owned the vehicle, Sky Express, after the crash; it had garnered many federal safety violations in the past, including driver fatigue.
  • chargesToday, officials charged the driver behind the wheel during the crash, Kin Yiu Cheung, with involuntary manslaughter for the passenger deaths. Fatigue played a role in the crash. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink


31 May 2011 21:19

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U.S.: Company involved in deadly bus crash barred from operating

  • Inside this bus, which crashed in Virginia this morning, were dozens of people — 58 to be exact. Four of those people were killed. Most of the others suffered severe injuries and had to go to local hospitals. This is despite the fact that Sky Express, which operates throughout the Southeast and mostly takes people to New York City, had been cited for numerous safety violations in the past — particularly driver fatigue, which was part of the reason for this morning’s crash. (Vehicle maintenance issues were also an issue.) Now the regulatory body that follows bus companies like Sky Express, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has issued an out-of-service order barring SkyExpress from interstate travel. Bus services like these can be sketchy — but some of them are quite good. It’s good to know that one of the bad ones is off the road until they can get their act together. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink


 

28 Apr 2011 10:29

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U.S.: Death toll from tornadoes, storms in South absolutely insane

  • 213+ people killed by storms throughout the South
  • 131+ were killed by severe storms in Alabama alone
  • 32+ were killed by severe storms in nearby Mississippi
  • 12+ people were killed by storms in Georgia
  • 30+ people were killed by the storms in Tennessee
  • 8+ people were killed as far north as Virginia source
  • » An unprecedented toll: In Alabama in particular, where Tuscaloosa took incredibly strong damage from the storm and many died in Birmingham, officials were still trying to wrap their heads around the disaster. “I would be pretty sure about saying we’ve never had 128 people die in one day,” said Yasamie August, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency’s information manager. (The number’s jumped since she spoke.) “It’s going to be difficult to get an accurate count of damage or injuries at this point. Many people can’t get to a hospital.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink


13 Apr 2011 22:01

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U.S.: Virginia teacher simulates slave-trade in unfortunate classroom exercise

  • The lesson could have been thought through more carefully.
  • Mary B. Wrushen, principal of Sewells Point Elementary School • Regarding a well-intentioned but nonetheless awful idea on the part of Jessica Boyle, a fourth grade teacher at the school. In a lesson meant to illustrate the tragedy of slavery, Boyle separated her students by race–white students on one side, everyone else on the other–and had the white students “bid” on the black kids, as if they were purchasing slaves. A letter was shortly sent to parents, apologizing for such stupidity. Here’s to hoping Haley Barbour weighs in on this. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink


24 Jan 2011 13:00

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U.S.: George Allen back in the Virginia electoral saddle

  • then George Allen, Virginia’s Republican Senator in 2006, was thought to have ended his career after publicly calling a Jim Webb aide of Indian descent “macaca,” a racial slur.
  • now Five years after his “macaca” foul-up, Allen has announced he’ll be jumping into the Virginia Senate race in 2012, hoping that gaffe won’t hurt anymore. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink


 
 
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