TODAY IS Thursday, February 10, 2010.  If you died today, here are the other stories that would get buried.

East Coast digs out from storm for record books (Lead Story, A)

I know you’re sick of the so-last-week snow story, and this will be the last one.

“In Washington, D.C., the federal government planned to be closed for a fourth straight day,” reports Nafeesa Syeed, AP.  ”Even snowplows were advised to get off the roads” as record snows were set in Baltimore (72.3″, last set in 1996), Philadelphia (70.3″, last set in 1996), and Washington, D.C. (54.9″, last set in 1899).

Is climate change the bigger story here?  I’ve yet to see a news agency write that angle – and yet this seems like a perfectly teachable moment on the (theoretical) realities of (man-made) climate change, namely that the Earth is not so much (allegedly) uniformly warming so much as (metaphorically) vomiting at us in more angry ways.

For a touch of schadenfreude, also check out coverage of the 50-60 vehicle I-64 pileup yesterday.  The first 60 seconds of video will make you feel thankful for making it to work today.

News in depth:

Va. Senate panel OKs move to tax online shopping (HR3)

“A Virginia Senate panel clicked ‘send’ on legislation that would require Internet retailers to collect sales tax on in-state transactions by affiliated online merchants,” the Pilot reports, “closing the legal loophole, which costs Virginia millions annually in tax revenue.” Logical. Bi-partisan. Loophole-filling. Checks my government boxes.

But for the real story, check out the hellstorm of banter. It seems some people just can’t overcome an indoctrinated hatred of the T-Word. Without wading further into treacherous waters, let me simply give Big Ups to “JayJay” for being the sole voice of sanity. JayJay keeps it brief and to the point, and wins my support:”I don’t like to raise taxes, but this is the correct thing to do. why should local store owners have to pay the taxes if online don’t. That sure sounds unfair to me.”

Virginia Senate kills bill on offshore-drilling profits (from yesterday’s Pilot)

“Noting that federal officials haven’t approved drilling off Virginia’s coast or decided how royalties would be disbursed, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, called the bill ‘a fantasy’ that seeks to dedicate dollars ‘the state is never going to see.’” On the other hand, Dems, why not let Republicans pass it if you think it’s such a flaccid bill? Why have yourselves be labeled “obstructionists” by the Governor over it? A parallel: if my sworn opponents told me they wanted to spend a whole lot of their efforts making jaywalking on the moon illegal, I’d tell them to go for it. Comparatively, that would free up a lot of my time.

In case I’m the only progressive who has watched T. Boone Pickens spell out his energy policy on BookTV, he basically outlines why the offshore drilling debate is moot.  To paraphrase Mr. Pickens: to make offshore drilling a reality, you’d first have to find a business venture who actually thought they could turn a profit and raise the significant necessary capital to do so. This guy is a businessman who comes at energy from that perspective, and I dig it. As far as offshore energy in Virginia: personally my money is on Virginia’s offshore wind potential, which some smart people are currently working on. Stay tuned.

News in brief:

Plan gives state more say on charter schools (Lead Story, HR)

Note the AP source – this is national news, not local news. Here and going forward, I will make it a point not to over-editorialize on legislative issues before they have been voted up or down (for my take on two bills that have been voted upon, see below). With that said, the charter school concept is in its ascendancy and it’s worthwhile to familiarize yourself with it now in order to influence the debate going forward.

My take: Time for some new ideas when it comes to public schools. Let’s see how far this rabbit hole goes.

Rare photos of Sept. 11 are made public (A3)

My take: Breathtaking.

Iraq orders former Blackwater security guards out (A4)

My take: if the fish stinks, you gotta throw it out. Or get yourself a stew going.

Citigroup to let distressed homeowners stay for 6 mos. (A5)

My take: company hopes strategy will prevent underwater borrowers from stealing the appliances.

Google to build test broadband network (A7)

My take: “50-300 times faster than DSL, cable and fiber-optic networks” – cloud computing, here we come.

Foreclosures drop in January (HR1)

My take: December was the outlier, not January. We’re not nearly out of the woods.

Beware of census scams, officials warn (HR3)

My take: If you are one of those people who believe the Census is just a bunch of boo-honkey cooked up by Big Government, kindly leave some form of contact info with your comment/post and I will gladly brainwash you. Even if you are a paranoid moron, I need you to be counted so we can get back some of those taxes we’ve been paying.

Va-Pilot opinion section (HR6)

My take, as anecdotal response to the good chatter from Jesse Scaccia’s original assertion that the Pilot shows “conservative” bias: I see no outlandishly conservative or liberal views except for on these pages. Overall I feel the Pilot is a good reflection of the literate population within Hampton Roads and typically walks a fair middle ground.

Hey team, buy the paper and support its advertisers.  If we were all moochers, these guys wouldn’t be able to give you their content for free.

Happy Reading,

Grant