Some days a piece of news can make me positively giddy, light-headed and joyful. Today is one of those days.

A Region United by Rail

The cause of my euphoria is not Apple’s plan to carry The Beatles on iTunes (you heard it here first!). Nor is is the excellent story about local Harry Potter fans getting revved for the upcoming movie. Nope. The excitement comes from this, a map on page 5 of the front section of the Virginian-Pilot, showing our transit future–a vision of 2025, when light rail reaches from downtown Suffolk all the way to Newport News, where a network of high-speed ferries take up some of the traffic from the bridges, and where commuter rail unites us with Richmond. It’s called the “Hampton Roads Regional Transit Vision Plan,” and it’s the result of a state-sponsored study that explores ways to improve mobility and connect communities by means other than automobiles.

This map gives me hope.

To the doubters who look at Norfolk’s starter light rail line and call it the train to nowhere, this

plan is the thumb in the eye. It’s proof that transit systems are not built all-of-a-sudden, but rather piece-by-piece, one section at a time, according to a long-term plan. Norfolk took the bold step of going first, but you can see from this map that the vision is much more comprehensive than that, and includes transit options that will connect all the major cities in the region.

Anyone who’s as excited by this vision as I am should join me in attending the public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 1 at Hampton Roads Transit, 1500 Monticello Ave. in Norfolk, where the planners will show the map and discuss details of the plan. I’m sure the fine folks of Hampton Roads for Light Rail will want to be there, as well as the Southeast High Speed Rail Association. Let’s go and smile and nod appreciatively, and then get ready to fight off the car-happy lunatics who think more roads will solve our problems.

Norfolk has a show trial

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, you can check out some of the lurid coverage of the Philip Bay trial, the kid who planned to slaughter his schoolmates at Landstown High. They’ve got Bay’s journal and it’s full of grisly details of his plan to murder innocent students. That kind of stuff makes me sick, frankly, and doesn’t really tell me anything I need to know.

We are (a criminal) family

Familial DNA testing is the name for a forensic technique that involves analyzing the genetic profiles of family connections to track down criminals. It’s a way for crime labs to make broader use of the DNA samples that they already have–instead of looking for exact matches, they can use the DNA on hand to identify people who might be in the same family as one of the already sampled convicts. The technique is used in Colorado and California and most people expect it to be approved for use in Virginia. Personally, I’m in favor of using DNA evidence, even familial DNA, because of its history of exonerating the innocent. There have been men on death row who have been proven guiltless by a DNA test, and released before they were killed.

Let us mourn Keana

Keana, an 8-year-old giraffe at the Virginia Zoo, has died from complications due to a rare hoof condition.

Virginia recycles. A lot!

Commonwealth officials announced the highest statewide recycling rate ever, at 38.6 percent, in a report released yesterday. Hampton Roads, however, only managed a 36.5% rate. We can do better, people!

More in here means less in the landfill. Or, you could just buy less....