Wilson Howell No lie—the South Carolina congressman who interrupted President Barack Obama’s health-care speech to Congress is raising money for Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford. In an e-mail to thousands of prospective donors to Howell’s political-action committee, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., warns that “big liberal money” imperils continued GOP control of the House of Delegates.

The prospect of an additional $1.5 billion in Virginia spending cuts is making for rare unanimity among legislators, with members of both parties warning that long-protected services such as public education and health care may have to be scaled back. “We have put off some of the hard decision-making,“ said Del. John M. O’Bannon III, R-Henrico, a member of the influential House Appropriations Committee.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell are urging Orange County supervisors and Wal-Mart officials to work together to find a different site for a Supercenter proposed near a Civil War battlefield.

The Republican candidate for governor, Bob McDonnell, and Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, are asking Virginia’s congressional delegation to remove requirements that led Republicans in the House of Delegates to reject $125 million in federal stimulus funds for unemployment insurance. The House Democratic leader, Del. Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry, said the McDonnell-Howell request is a sign the Republicans have lost the public relations battle over a vote turning down the money for unemployment benefits that would have gone to about 9,000 unemployed part-time workers and unemployed people training for other jobs.

Republican Bob McDonnell has set a goal to preserve 400,000 acres of land during the four years of his administration if he is elected governor. As a preservation incentive, McDonnell said he would propose raising the land-conservation tax credit to 50 percent from 40 percent. McDonnell picked Earth Day to announce his conservation plan.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine may have lost the bid to use federal stimulus cash to expand unemployment insurance to more Virginians, but his vetoes of legislation to expand eligibility for the death penalty survived the reconvened session of the General Assembly. “In Virginia, we execute enough people,“ Kaine said after the one-day session. His vetoes were upheld on the so-called “triggerman” bill, which would have allowed the death penalty to apply to participants in a capital murder who - did not actually pull the trigger.

Rejecting a deal brokered by House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, House Republicans yesterday pushed through a weakened version of a statewide ban on restaurant smoking that Howell fashioned with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

Rejecting a deal brokered by House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, House Republicans yesterday pushed through a weakened version of a statewide ban on restaurant smoking that Howell fashioned with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. Before voting 61-38 to give tentative approval to House Bill 1703, members added more exceptions to the compromise, which already made allowances for private clubs and restaurants with a designated smoking room that is separated and independently ventilated.