R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, is promising fattened jobless pay and health insurance for thousands who will be thrown out of work by the shutdown of a paper plant near Franklin. Deeds, who visited the International Paper Inc. factory Thursday, said on a conference call with reporters yesterday that the closing is “just devastating” and will leave a “gap in the landscape of Isle of Wight County.“

The Virginia Board of Education wants the state to set staffing levels for full-time teachers of special, gifted, and career and technical education. Each school division would be required to hire at least 58 licensed, full-time-equivalent instructors per 1,000 students, under proposed changes to Virginia’s Standards of Quality, state-mandated goals for public schools.

Lawmakers are warning the state’s computer chief and Northrop Grumman against ramming through potentially pricey changes in a disputed contract ahead of a looming shakeup in Virginia’s information-technology bureaucracy. Though by law it falls to Chief Information Officer George F. Coulter to accept or reject revisions, he and Northrop Grumman’s Virginia project boss, Samuel Abbate, were told modifications should be vetted by the next governor and General Assembly.

Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, trailing in the polls, is getting a late push from President Barack Obama, with a new TV ad, an email plea and an appearance in Hampton Roads slated for a week before Election Day. Deeds, a state senator from Bath County and the Democratic nominee for governor, hopes the infusion will reignite voters who helped Obama become the first Democratic presidential candidate in 44 years to carry Virginia.

With Democrats trailing late in Virginia’s contest for governor, former President Bill Clinton lent his star power to R. Creigh Deeds yesterday during a lunchtime rally for the party faithful. “Never underestimate this man,“ Clinton said of Deeds, who soundly defeated a Clinton friend, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, in a June 9 primary.

My entire career has been focused on one goal: creating opportunity for everyone in all corners of Virginia. I am running for governor to continue moving Virginia forward by bringing opportunity, prosperity, and hope to the people of the commonwealth through the commonsense, bipartisan tradition of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine that has defined my time in public service and made Virginia what is today.

As a young Army lieutenant stationed in Germany, Bob McDonnell made the Guinness Book of World Records. He organized his hospital unit to carry a 120-pound woman on a stretcher on a record-breaking trek—93.4 miles in 32 hours. Thirty-two years later, McDonnell is doing a different kind of heavy lifting, as he seeks to break Democrats’ eight-year hold on Virginia’s governorship.

Unemployment is the highest in decades. Budget projections have been missed. Many schools are not fully accredited. Small businesses are struggling. Rest stops are closed. These are tough times in Virginia. What we need is innovation, new ideas, and a focus on the future. Those qualities are the hallmark of the positive, forward-looking campaign we have been running since our announcement tour brought us to the gym at J.R. Tucker High School on a chilly day in late March.

Chesterfield County is projecting a $4 million pinch on its current fiscal year’s budget because of state cuts. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine last month announced a fiscal 2010 budget-reduction plan that will mean about $1.5 billion worth of cuts in state spending. As a result, Chesterfield officials expect to see at least $3.85 million less than expected from the state for the county’s $716 million general fund.

State and local governments are looking at big increases to pay for employee retirement plans in the next two years. But it could have been worse. The Virginia Retirement System’s board of trustees temporarily suspended an accounting requirement yesterday to inflate the value of the retirement plan’s assets and cushion government from rate shock to fully fund the pension plan, which lost more than $6 billion in value in the stock market meltdown last year.

Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Pickett and the Defense Supply Center Richmond are the first winners of the new Virginia Department of Defense Eagle Awards. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced the winners yesterday. Among other things, Fort A.P. Hill was cited for establishing stream buffers, using innovative stormwater management techniques and protecting more than 2,900 acres through conservation easements, according to state officials.

Chesterfield: $3,878,207
  Henrico: $2,845,348
  Richmond: $1,164,140
  Hanover: $1,108,848
  Petersburg: $341,147
  Hopewell: $307,365
  Powhatan: $282,608
  Colonial Heights: $161,888
  Goochland: $51,512

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and legislators are warning the state’s computer contractor, Northrop Grumman, that they won’t allow Virginia’s privately run IT system to become a money pit. Following the release yesterday of a General Assembly report sharply critical of Northrop Grumman and the state’s information-technology bureaucracy, lawmakers told the company that righting the embattled, 10-year, $2.3 billion project should not come at additional cost, particularly when Virginia is slashing spending by billions to balance its budget.

The finger-pointing over Virginia’s troubled move to a privately run IT system is extending to the governor’s race. Democrat R. Creigh Deeds—in response to a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report critical of the state’s contract with Northrop Grumman—blamed Republican Bob McDonnell for headaches surrounding the deal.

Coulter In nearly seven weeks on the job, Virginia’s new computer boss has sacked top executives, worked to strengthen ties to state agencies and taken steps to prevent interruptions in IT services that have ranged from hiccups to complete shutdowns. But Chief Information Officer George F. Coulter said he’s just starting to leaf through the voluminous contract that binds the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to its giant, embattled contractor, Northrop Grumman.