Legislature 2009: Day 22

• The Associated Press reports on the opening salvoes from lawmakers seeking to improve health care in West Virginia: one bill that would more than double the cigarette tax, and another to "require chain restaurants to post calorie counts in places where diners can easily see the information."

• The Register-Herald of Beckley offers separate articles on the tax hike and calorie count bills.

• A delegate's proposed ban of Barbie Dolls caught the attention of the Charleston Daily Mail, The Charleston Gazette, MetroNews (with audio), Public Broadcasting (audio and video), and AP.

• Not all legislators have given up on the quest for pay raises for teachers and other public employees, the Daily Mail reports.

• Wood County's delegation is divided over a bill one of them introduced to "make it illegal for insurance companies to refuse or cancel a policy or increase a premium based on credit scores," the News and Sentinel of Parkersburg reports.

• Delegate Sally Susman, D-Raleigh, has blistered colleague Craig Blair over the Berkeley County Republican's oft-discussed-but-as-yet-unintroduced bid to drug test "welfare" recipients, The Gazette and The Register-Herald of Beckley report.

• The Daily Mail highlights one lawmaker's concern that stores are illegally selling individual cigarettes.

• The Gazette links Gov. Joe Manchin's liquor store bill to the hiring of his daughter by a lobbyist's law firm.