Session Roundup

• The Senate Education Committee has removed key House changes to Gov. Joe Manchin's school innovation zone bill, setting the stage for an end-of-session fight, The Associated Press reports.

• House Education, meanwhile, removed the Senate's test-score language from the governor's proposed PROMISE cap, AP reports. Other House committee changes exempt the high school Class of 2009 from the bill, and add "a House-passed measure that aims to add faculty to the governing boards of public colleges and universities." The Charleston Gazette, The Register-Herald of Beckley and MetroNews also have items.

• Manchin has taken aim at the House Education Committee and its leaders, both MetroNews (with audio) and the Charleston Daily Mail report.

• The House Judiciary Committee has no plans to take up a Senate-passed bill that would add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws, AP reports. The Gazette and Public Broadcasting (with audio) also have details.

• The Daily Mail reports on the prospects for a key health care measure this session, the bill to create a "Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning."

• The Intelligencer of Wheeling reports that Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, has "filed pre-candidacy papers with the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office to form an exploratory committee to run for governor as a Democrat in 2012."