The Legislature: Bills of Every Stripe...UPDATED

With nearly 1,200 bills introduced to date and more on the way, lawmakers are considering plenty of issues beyond pay raises, table games and taxes. We can't write about them all, but we do try to depart from the beaten path on occasion:

* The Associated Press highlights one attempt to deter copper and metal thefts. Brazen acts of pilfering have popped up here and all over the country. Those two hapless souls who got lost while, er, exploring an idled underground mine come to mind.

* The Register-Herald of Beckley reports on the drive to add more circuit judges statewide, fueled by a recent state Supreme Court-commissioned study. MetroNews also has a story.

* MetroNews takes up a bill championed by Secretary of State Betty Ireland and female lawmakers that aims to aid domestic violence victims. The Charleston Gazette reports on that bill as well.

* On its Outlook program this evening, Public Broadcasting will review proposals targeting illegal labor as it revisits the subject of immigrant workers in West Virginia. The program will air again on Sunday.

* Looking at a non-starter this session, the AP hears from consumer advocates who declare the payday lending issue dead in West Virginia.

* And though it's not a bill, the Daily Mail weighs an item from Gov. Joe Manchin's State of the State address: his drive to link future grant funding for counties to their anti-litter efforts.

UPDATE: The Gazette scrutinizes a bill that coincides with Raleigh County's deadly propane explosion, amid its continuing coverage of that accident. According to the article, the West Virginia Propane Gas Dealers Association seeks to regulate who can handle propane equipment and appliances, including tanks like the one involved in the fatal blast. House Bill 2733 also offers the industry some liability protections.