By Aubrey Layne We live in a society in which many of our citizens believe roads can be constructed and bridges built without paying for them. Gas taxes and tolls are loudly vilified, yet complaints about our roads are routinely heard at every public transportation meeting. This mentality is short-sighted and detrimental to our community.

By Jeff Bergner Harry Reid and other Democratic Senate leaders have praised Dick Lugar in the wake of his recent primary defeat. That is fair enough - Sen. Lugar has had a long and successful career with many accomplishments. He deserves it. But they cannot seem to leave it at that.

By David Hudgins

By J. Amy Dillard Gov. Bob McDonnell's record as a cultural warrior belies a recent assertion by his spokesman after Republicans in the General Assembly rejected the nomination of Tracy Thorne-Begland for a General District Court judgeship because he is an openly gay man.

By Sheri Bailey  and Steve Corneliussen A May 24 Fort Monroe history celebration will arrive the way the undersized, awkwardly divided Fort Monroe National Monument did: notably late and wrongly defined. But we can still do better.

By Alice Tousignant Many communities prepare 10-year plans to reduce or end homelessness, and those plans remain on shelves, their goals never achieved. That is not the case for the cities of South Hampton Roads.

By Dels. Rich Anderson, Mark Cole, John Cosgrove, Mark Dudenhefer, Tim Hugo, L. Scott Lingamfelter and Chris Stolle

By Norbert Ryan To most Americans, it may seem that the ongoing budget fights on Capitol Hill are just another political drill. If only that were so. The reality is that the Budget Control Act passed by Congress and signed into law by the president last summer chained a ticking time bomb to America's national defense capability.

By Skip Stiles For 39 years, since the first Chesapeake Bay agreement was signed, we have promised to clean up the bay, but we've fallen short. As a result, for 39 years we've all made money off those broken promises.

By Lisa Suhay A couple of weeks ago I was a granola-headed mom of four who ran a free chess program and wrote mermaid books and stories. However, after accidentally attending an Apprentice-like competition called Start Norfolk, I am now Suhay 2.0.