Opinion

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s stock has soared in recent weeks. He’s taken the reins of the Republican Governors Association, sparred on national television with his counterpart across the Potomac River and acknowledged an interest in the No. 2 spot on his party’s presidential ticket.
He enjoys solid support in the commonwealth, with polls pegging his approval rating higher than 60 percent.

Sharing the road is the goal to reduce injuries and fatalities

Traffic deaths on Virginia’s roadways are decreasing, that’s the good news. The news isn’t so good when it comes to walking or biking in Virginia. Traffic safety advocates still have work to do urging motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians to share the road.  According to the Virginia Highway Safety Office traffic fatalities among those who choose to bike or run and walk in Virginia increased in 2010

As missions wind down in Iraq and Afghanistan, troops returning home from battle are facing a struggle of a different sort: finding a job.
The unemployment rate for young male veterans is more than triple the overall national unemployment rate, which hit 9.2 percent last month. In the past three months, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average unemployment for male veterans ages 18 to 24 is 28.3 percent.

One word that stood out during the official opening of the new J.P. Carico Bridge over the New River last Friday was teamwork.
5th District Rep. Bill Carrico, whose family worked on the old Carico Memorial Bridge when it was built in 1927, said a lot of people worked closely together to make the bridge a reality.
R.R. Dawson Bridge Co. in Lexington, Ky., was the general contractor and their workmanship and quality of work was lauded by local and state officials.

When Mark Warner was governor, his administration offered employers an average of $4,478 in incentives for every new job they created in Virginia. Now that he’s a U.S. senator, Warner - along with U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf - is looking to raise the ante.
As reported by The Pilot’s Bill Bartel in a recent story, the two men have submitted bills to give manufacturers $5,000 for every good job created in rural or economically distressed regions. The $5,000 would be in the form of loans that would be forgiven at the rate of $1,000 a year.

Enough with the forums.
Early last month, the National Transportation Safety Board hosted a two-day gathering of various federal regulators, safety experts and industry officials to discuss the implementation of longstanding recommendations to reduce bus and truck accidents. Among the items on the agenda: a proposal, dating back to 1968, to install seat belts on all passenger buses.

No single cause can be assigned the blame for America’s influx of illegal immigrants, but one in particular bears much of it: An economy that makes widespread use of cheap labor.
In a recent report, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants now live in the United States. You can be sure that American businesses employ untold millions of them.

Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday of May, commemorates the men and women who died while in the military service.  
In observance of the holiday, many people visit cemeteries and memorials, and volunteers often place American flags on each grave site at national cemeteries.  
A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time.

The fight over General Assembly districts ended in compromise last week, but it was compromise between the two big political parties. The people never really had a say in redistricting. Virginia needs to change that before 2021.
A quick recap for those who have not followed the wrangling.
Redistricting is the decennial event during which the General Assembly sets the district borders for each chamber to reflect changes in population. In Southwest Virginia, for example, population growth did not keep up with Northern Virginia, so our region loses seats.