National Center for Higher Education Management Systems Virginia’s population ranks eighth in the United States for percentage of residents with college degrees. But the U.S. lags behind nearly every developed nation in the percentage of degrees held by its younger generation. The sobering news was delivered yesterday during a meeting at the state Capitol in Richmond of the Council on Virginia’s Future.

Recent History Terry McAuliffe—Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former head of the Democratic National Committee, and former director of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign—says Republicans in the House of Delegates are not bipartisan enough. McAuliffe castigates them for thwarting Gov. Tim Kaine’s demand for higher road taxes and bigger unemployment benefits. “I’ve got to have a House of Delegates that agrees with me on these big issues,“ he says. But House Republicans “are impossible to deal with.“ Really?

The other day, Gov. Tim Kaine helped insulate a house off Parham Road. The house has been undergoing weatherization, courtesy of the federal government. Virginia has received about $94 million in stimulus money to weatherize homes around the commonwealth. Virginia families making as much as $59,000 a year can now qualify for federal weatherization assistance.

Gov. Tim Kaine has asked state agencies to look for more savings as the state struggles to keep expenditures in line with shrinking tax revenue. The need for more cuts—despite a hefty infusion of stimulus money, courtesy of the federal credit card—provides a painful yardstick with which to measure the severity of the current economic contraction.

Two years ago, the diminished blue-crab population in the Chesapeake Bay was suffering a decline that seemed unlikely to abate. Once numbering more than 800 million, by the winter of 2007 crabs had sunk to a mere 280 million. Last year, Virginia and Maryland cooperated in imposing stringent rules aimed at reversing the slide. The regulations, such as a moratorium on winter dredging, hit watermen hard.

Virginia is one of two states competing for a sizable economic development investment being considered by a Dubai-based company, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told reporters during an overseas conference call yesterday. Kaine, who arrived in United Arab Emirates early yesterday after a three-day stay in Israel, sounded encouraged by meetings with the company. He was preparing to continue economic development discussions at a dinner last evening with the U.S. ambassador. Dubai is eight hours ahead of Virginia.

Governor tells reporters in a conference call that Virginia is in the hunt for a sizeable economic development being considered by a Dubai-based company,

Virginia has been blessed with an unsurpassed treasure of natural resources and beauty, and it is the responsibility of each Virginian to ensure that future generations will enjoy the treasures we have enjoyed for more than 400 years. On Earth Day 2009, I am encouraged to see that more and more Virginians are awakening to the fact that sustainable economic development, and the cultivation of a “green economy,“ will enhance not only the commonwealth’s mountains and rivers, but its bottom line and continued economic viability. There is common ground to be found between environmental leaders and business leaders, and my administration will continue to develop a strong and healthy environment and economy.

Less than a week after House Republicans thwarted his attempt to extend unemployment insurance to more Virginians, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is taking his fight for additional stimulus funds directly to the people. And while he’s at it, he’s taking another shot at GOP lawmakers. “These are Virginians who are struggling to make ends meet and to keep a foothold in a very difficult economy,“ Kaine writes in an e-mail to the mailing list of his political-action committee, Moving Virginia Forward.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that the only recourse to revive the unemployment insurance package defeated by the Virginia General Assembly would be to call the legislature back into session. But the governor also offered an olive branch to House Republicans who voted Wednesday to kill the measure that would have qualified Virginia to receive $125.5 million in federal stimulus funds for expanded unemployment benefits. He suggested he would be willing to work with lawmakers to get the additional funds flowing to Virginia residents.

The Virginia Department of Transportation last year paid more than $200,000 in one-time bonuses and more than $300,000 in salary increases to retain some of its top employees.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposal to expand and extend unemployment benefits might hurt job creation, especially for part-time work, some business owners and groups said. “We don’t really know the long-term costs” of expanding the benefits to include several new groups of affected people, said Brett Vassey, president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has granted 55 simple pardons during the first three years of his four-year term in office, more than any of the previous nine Virginia governors. A simple pardon, the most commonly issued pardon, does not erase a criminal conviction, said Bernie Henderson, senior deputy secretary of the commonwealth. It’s simply the state’s way of forgiving, if not forgetting, a crime.

The Kaine administration recently rolled out new regulations that may change the face of the commonwealth. Future subdivisions, it says, must have cut-through roads that connect their interiors to the larger roads beyond; no longer will single-entrance access suffice. That is, at least not without considerable cost. At present Virginia pays the freight for maintaining subdivision streets. That policy adds a couple of hundred new lane miles to the Transportation Department’s maintenance inventory every year—a factor that accounts in part for the diversion of construction money to maintenance needs. (By state law, maintenance takes precedence over new road-building.)

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine last year restored the voting rights of a record 1,500 felons, including dozens with violent pasts. Many were signed up in time to vote in the presidential election. Bernard L. Henderson Jr., senior deputy secretary of the commonwealth, said several voting groups inquired about the time limit for registering to vote—29 days before the Nov. 4 election. The office set an Aug. 15 deadline and was able to accommodate about 1,000 in time to register, he said.