Legislature 2009: Day 35

• The Associated Press talks to a West Virginia University law student about the bill she researched and drafted to target repeat drunken drivers - while noting that legislators may put one of its key provisions on hold. Student Jennifer Tampoya earlier spoke to The Charleston Gazette about her effort, prompted when a chronic drunk driver "killed three children and two fathers in Monongalia County."

• AP reports on advancing legislation spurred by the 2007 death of a Lincoln County 6-year-old, struck by a car that illegally drove past her stopped school bus. The Register-Herald also covered the bill, which would hit such offenders with felonies and prison time.
  

• The Beckley newspaper reports as well on an area delegate who says his bill to toughen penalties for elder abuse is threatened by a colleague's "long-running effort to revive the death penalty."

• Legislators are moving on a proposal to shore up municipal police and fire pensions and provide a pension-like benefit for volunteer firefighters, MetroNews The Register-Herald also has an item on the topic.

• The Gazette highlights a Senate measure that would make "sweeping changes to how courts decide child custody."

• The Charleston Daily Mail hears from more engineers who oppose Gov. Joe Manchin's bill to change the way they bid for certain state contracts.

• Eastern Panhandle lawmakers and the region's horse racing industry, meanwhile, sound off to The Journal of Martinsburg about the governor's bid to place all gaming under a single agency's oversight.

• AP highlighted legislation that would set the rules - and revenue rates - now that voters have approved a casino for The Greenbrier. A portion of any gambling proceeds would benefit a a fund that the world-famous resort "could tap that fund to recoup employee benefit costs, " the article said.
  

• While money is tight, West Virginia still plans to spend $3.4 million to keep its highway rest areas running, The Gazette reports. "It's a different story in Virginia, where state government - faced with a $2.6 billion budget deficit - has proposed closing 25 of the commonwealth's 41 rest areas, to cut spending in the cash-strapped agency by about $12 million a year," that article said.

• The State Journal profiles the "carbon capture" issue, reporting that the governor has proposed bills "that would set up a study group to research technology and build a legal framework to protect the state from liability."

• The Gazette reports on the House passage of legislation "to redirect $2.4 million of state economic development funds to rebuild and repair housing in low-income minority neighborhoods."