This story is mostly about social conservatives. But where are the stories about what other faith-based groups are doing?

The Family Foundation is allied with two national evangelical groups, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. Among its top legislative issues are passage of a state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage; barring state funds from going to Planned Parenthood; and requiring state agencies to post spending budgets online.

The Interfaith Center’s membership includes several mainline Protestant denominations as well as Jewish, Muslim and Catholic groups. Its legislative priorities include making it illegal to leave young children by themselves in cars; ending or suspending the death penalty; and health coverage for uninsured Virginians.

That’s the challenge for the moderate middle: to get the press to cover the faith-based groups that are more about helping people than dictating their behavior.

The plan to make at least the top Virginia universities “charter schools” with more autonomy from state regulation is gathering momentum, with support from the House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Stafford) and Gov. Mark Warner.

House Speaker Bill Howell said he plans to introduce legislation that would free all public colleges from some state bureaucracy but would also enable individual institutions to petition the state for “a higher level of autonomy.” Howell, R-Stafford County, did not explain further. But the statement from Howell – as well as similar sentiments expressed by the other members of the commission studying the issue – will probably bolster efforts by Virginia Tech and other universities to reduce red tape.

…”It reinforces each board of visitors’ authority and responsibility for meeting those expectations,” said [John] Bennett, who directed the Finance Committee’s staff before Warner tapped him as finance secretary.

“It does grant some operational flexibility in return for a commitment toward meeting these expectations, sets forth a process for actually translating those expectations into a way that we can actually measure them, and then provides some incentives” to universities that meet them, he said.

Bennett said the legislation will be complex, so the details will matter, and that Warner “is completely comfortable with the framework.”

A framework is all we’ve got upon which to judge the proposal.

A subcommittee exploring the possibility of giving more autonomy to colleges and universities has worked out broad guidelines to cut state oversight into personnel, purchasing and construction expenditures.

But the subcommittee has yet to be able to reach agreements between state officials and college heads on how to ensure that tuition remains reasonable, that Virginian students can still get into those schools and that the state retains the right to conduct comprehensive performance and fiscal audits.

During a two-hour meeting Tuesday, the subcommittee – on which Howell sits – was briefed on progress that has been made, but was told that many details have yet to be worked out.

Agreements with college presidents have been negotiated on the overall concept of granting those schools more independence, but other sticky issues to be finalized include:

Establishing detailed, written expectations for each school’s performance if granted reduced state oversight.

Setting academic standards for each school that opts into the initiative.

Figuring out how to set a fair base state funding level for those schools, with incentives for good performance.

As the Charlottesville Daily Progress reports, at least some citizens are organizing against the proposal.

Four Charlottesville residents criticized the charter proposal, including Tom Gayner, a UVa graduate who said that he worries that universities could adopt the UVa law and graduate business school models of charging in-state students $27,000 and $32,000 a year, respectively, which he said could freeze out much of the middle class.

“In the middle, there tends to be a squeeze where people can pay the tuition, but it is burdensome as well,” Gayner said. “I think we are on the verge of rushing to make a massive change for a successful system in a rush and without perhaps full awareness of the ramifications of the change.”

Gayner said he is part of a parents’ network for affordable tuition formed in the past five days to oppose the charter proposal.

Tuition is certainly one issue. If the schools increase tuition 10% per year over the next five years, that means that costs for today’s eighth graders will be over $20,600 for tuition room and board (assuming R&B also increases 10% a year) plus the costs of books and personal expenses, as compared to under $13,000 a year for this year’s students.

But more important, no where have I seen any discussion of what percentage of incoming classes will be held for Virginians. Right now it’s only 65-70%, as compared to the University of North Carolina, another highly rated public school, that reserves 82% of its seats for in-state students. I think the pressure will be on UVa. to hike the number of higher paying out-of-state students.

But what irks me most about this issue is how the schools have intentionally hidden the details from the public. They’ll eventually will be released, but probably with only a few days for the public to digest them before the Assembly votes them into law.

As any long-time reader of this blog knows, the role the press plays in politics is of sometimes consuming interest to me. The bias shown, more the last five-10 years likely in favor of the right than the other way around, has profound impact on many voters.

Today, The Washington Post plays an all too familiar press role – heightening the mean and nasty side of politics with no redeeming journalistic value. If one guy calls the other guy a bigot without any proof, the press shouldn’t publish the accusations. But as we saw during the Jim Moran campaign, the Post is very willing to trade in such unsubstantiated charges. See here and here.

Today’s story is not so blatant or favorable to either party. But the event is a non-story. There is no news except the pointed barbs between the two candidates for governor. It’s yesterday’s news that AG Jerry Kilgore is stepping down to free him up to raise money while Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine is shackled by state laws forbidding him to do so while the Assembly is in session. We learned all that in yesterday’s story. All today’s story does is trade is ridiculous and vapid accusations by both sides. That’s not to say that the charges won’t impact, or at least reinforce, how someone might vote. But the story hardly elevates the discourse. And if there is no real news, why bother? The fact that Kilgore resigned hasn’t “escalated” the rivalry between the two candidates. It already was heated and negative; the resignation, despite the hypocritical criticism by Kaine’s forces, hasn’t made it more so. In fact, it was long expected, according to most reports. The only news yesterday was the name of the law firm where Kilgore will park his W-2 while campaigning.

The press impacts campaigns as much by what it decides to report as by how it reports the news. This is a case of a trumped-up story. And we wonder why politicians go negative. It’s because some papers can’t resist reporting it.

By the way, I pick on The Post because it’s the 800-lb. gorilla (although the Richmond Times-Dispatch overall has much better state politics coverage.) But The Post was not alone yesterday. Many other papers also went with this “did not, did too” story.

Tomorrow is the day for economic protest of Bush’s policies. Alice Marshall has more on GOTV.

Jim Bacon, whose views are as often as not at odds with mine, makes a lot of sense in his recent column.

Like it or not, more transportation dollars are, in the long run, a stop-gap measure. We need to change the way we live.

Fairfax County is beginning to ponder the impact of the baby boomers. And leave it to one of the county’s crack staff to elucidate the issue.

“A lot of this has to do with the baby boom generation heading into that age group,” said Fairfax County demographer Anne Cahill. “It’s not a surprising trend because we know the baby boomers are aging.”

You think? Stop the Presses!

The Hampton Roads Daily Press has a “must-read” editorial that addresses a number of the schemes to pay for transportation improvements. It provides a little bit of a history lesson, too. Among the ideas it challenges is that public-private partnerships are a panacea. There are obvious shortcomings with the idea as well as some merit. But a little perspective is needed. We can build more six-lane toll roads, though anyone who travels up I-95 through Delaware knows the back-ups toll booths can cause. But super highways aren’t the only problem. In fact, many local roads are clogged and will only get worse if wider lanes encourage more car travel and development. What are you going to do? Put a toll at stop lights?

Some of the opponents of the 2002 transportation referenda said all taxpayers should bear the brunt of traffic fixes. Wonder where the anti-taxers stand on gas taxes, er, I mean user fees?

Four stories appeared yesterday about UVa.’s plan to increase the amount of aid it offers to poorer students, although since one story suggests that families making up to $100,000 might qualify you’ve got to question my use of the term “poorer.” Three of the stories are here, here, and here.

Only the hometown newspaper included the obvious political angle.

The changes offset one argument of charter legislation critics, who say that predicted tuition increases will leave middle-income students out in the cold.

State legislators will consider this month the proposal to allow public colleges and universities greater autonomy, led by UVa, Virginia Tech and the College of William & Mary. If the charter is enacted, the three schools will accept less state money for more freedom from regulation.

A side effect, UVa officials have said, would be an expected 8 percent to 10 percent annual rise in tuition for the next five years.

“One of the criticisms [of the charter] is the increase in tuition we’re talking about,” said John A. Blackburn, UVa’s dean of admission.

Community college students, he added, “are often working or have family obligations. They can use the money. I think for the people at the General Assembly, it says we’re going to take care of students who need aid.”

Still, leaders from the university and the community college system said Monday’s announcement is not politically motivated.

“The university would have done so with or without the charter,” said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the community college system and chairman of Virginia’s Council of Presidents.

But the move has an impact on charter legislation “indirectly,” he added.

The higher education system’s Council of Presidents has endorsed a plan to allow all state colleges and universities a degree of autonomy, particularly in setting tuition and fees.

“The Council of Presidents has certain commitments,” DuBois said. “Access is one piece, transfer is another.”

UVa President John T. Casteen III said he didn’t know what impact the aid plan’s expansion would have on state legislators, who “have not been involved in financial aid matters for some time now. I’d like them to be more involved.”

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Casteen.

Laurie Thomas doesn’t like asking for handouts.

But Thomas, a recent graduate of the Virginia School of Technology, has had trouble finding employment as a certified medical assistant. She has epilepsy and said employers have been unwilling to hire her. Her boyfriend has a good job as a plumber’s assistant, but his salary alone isn’t enough, she said. Unemployed and with a family to feed, Thomas decided last week to apply for food stamps.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “Right now, I’m just trying to figure out what bills need to be paid first and how I’m going to pay them.”

Thomas is among an increasing number of Virginians who are turning to food stamps to get by. Statewide, nearly 486,000 people received food stamp benefits last year, a 41 percent increase since 2001.

The picture was similar nationally, with nearly 24 million Americans on food stamps in 2004 – almost one-third more than four years ago. In South Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach saw the most dramatic increase. Last year, 16,781 residents received food stamps – a 45 percent jump from 2001.

“We’re hoping that this trend is about to end,” said Earl Ford, an official with the city’s Human Services Department.

Part of the spike can be attributed to welfare reform in the 1990s, which attached time limits to government assistance. Since then, officials have made a more diligent effort to enroll people who qualify for food stamps.

Still, much of the increase was fueled by rising poverty rates, compounded by an abundance of low-wage jobs with few or no benefits. Often, low- to middle-class workers are finding second or third jobs to help pay for rent and food.

More of Susan White’s story here.

Last year, reports said Del. Ben Cline (R-Amherst) was chastened by an outpouring of support at public hearings for tax increases. Still, this year, he’s pandering to the anti-tax crowd.

“Last year, we passed a record tax increase in order to fund an increase in government spending by 15 percent in a single year. A lot of folks, me included, are concerned to see that level of government expansion,” Cline said.

“We also recognize that the surplus that this has helped create, and we’re talking about a surplus that is in the area of $1 billion and counting, doesn’t need to go back into increasing spending even further,” Cline said.

“We need to recognize those individuals and businesses who have created the surplus that we’re now seeing in the first place. The taxpayers of Virginia, the hard-working men and women of Virginia, are the reason that this surplus even exists,” Cline said.

“They’re the ones who should be enjoying it. Not the government bureaucracy,” Cline said.

He must be spending a lot of time at the gas pumps or pumping Slurpees, given what he said about the public meetings last year: “I have to balance what I hear tonight with what I hear every day at the gas station, the convenience store and on Main Street.”

Cline is a freshman, I believe, obviously planning to run on the platform that the tax hikes were a bad idea. Let’s hope the folks back in his district point out what those tax hikes paid for.