http://hamptonroads.com/taxonomy/term/108 Category: Editorials en-us Copyright 2012 PilotOnline.com / HamptonRoads.com. Sat, 26 May 2012 17:30:42 -0400 In their eagerness to ensure they're abiding by privacy laws, Chesapeake school officials are unnecessarily complicating efforts to protect students and staff. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/needless-tangle-over-school-videos Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Builder T.E. Jones tackled a challenge that proved harder than he expected: constructing a new home in Chesapeake using only American-made products. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/local-house-made-usa Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Virginians are sadly mistaken if they think they're saving money because the state's gas tax, among the lowest in the nation, has been a steady 17.5 cents a gallon for the past 20 years. With a busy holiday weekend upon us, it's time again to take a look at how the state's gas tax affects - or, more accurately, doesn't affect - prices at the pump. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/whos-getting-rich-gas-tax-gap Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 To the great consternation of Virginia Beach's naysayers, the city is paying $300,000 for a piece of the planned Thalia Creek Greenway by Town Center, next to the abandoned rail line. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/politicizing-beachs-prudent-purchase Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 The General Assembly's failure to seat a qualified nominee for a vacant judgeship in Richmond's General District Court doesn't mean the bench must remain open until next legislative session. Nor does it mean that Virginia's capital city, or its residents, should be deprived of a capable jurist in the interim. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/richmond-judges-can-right-wrong Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 The airlines came for our cocktails. Then our food and blankets. Then our suitcases. Now they’ve come for our ability to sit together. Many of the major airlines are now charging passengers $25 or more if they want to reserve seats together. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/airline-profits-depend-fees Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Here’s an opportunity for two prominent Virginia Beach businessmen to show the type of leadership they say they want for the country. It’s an opportunity to compromise, to reject the nastiness — and the undue influence from outside — that has characterized politics in recent years. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/raising-tone-2nd-district Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Virginia Beach doesn't need a new law to keep cigarette butts from marring Chic's Beach. If the city feels strongly about getting butts off public beaches - and it should - then it needs to enforce its existing littering law. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/smoking-chics-beach Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Election fraud isn't rampant across the country, or even close to it, but that hasn't deterred a steady, concerted movement for more scrutiny of voters' identities. Last week, Virginia became the latest state to set a hurdle at the entrance to the polls. Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill into law requiring every voter to produce some form of identification in order to cast a regular ballot. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/voting-law-could-have-been-worse Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400 Organizations representing Virginia Beach firefighters and police are entitled to their opinions against extending Norfolk's light rail. They're entitled to worry about the costs of a project that will be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at least some of it paid for with local taxes. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/empty-equations-beach-light-rail Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400