I swore I was not going to beat this dead horse, but, lo and behold, here goes. Yes, folks, Michael Jackson is gone.

In response to a request from school superintendents seeking ways to reduce testing requirements, the state superintendent proposed dropping the third-grade history and social sciences SOL test. The curriculum would still be taught but not tested under the proposal.

With many families traveling over the summer, it is timely to report on the commonwealth’s transportation system.

The headline in The New York Times said, “Al-Qaeda moves to Somalia”.  Unfortunately, Americans are a part of that move.

My sister came to visit last week, and while she was here I showed her the storage desk I’d completed in the spring.

Let’s start with the Wikepedia definition of a warranty: “In commercial and consumer transactions, a warranty is an obligation or guarantee that an article or service sold is as factually stated or legally implied by the seller, and that often provides for a specific remedy such as repair or replacement in the event the article or service fails to meet the warranty. A breach of warranty occurs when the promise is broken, i.e., a product is defective or not as should be expected by a reasonable buyer.“

In conjunction with my Reagan Legacy Foundation, I recently marked the 22nd anniversary of my father’s famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin by publicly announcing an agreement with the Mauer Museum to permanently house a wing dedicated to Ronald Reagan and his leading role in ending the Cold War and reuniting the German people.

Ah, the teen heartthrob. I remember the first time I came in possession of my first Tiger Beat magazine. Featured on the cover was the hot idol of the day, Matt Dillon.

Many school choice supporters are discouraged after having suffered a series of setbacks on the voucher front, ranging from the loss of Utah’s nascent voucher program last year to the recent death sentence handed to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

It’s the end of the month, so it’s time to clean up. I always seem to end up with some leftovers I want to address. Here’s this month’s short stack:

Recently, 1,889 Dodge/Chrysler and GM dealers saw their franchises simply evaporate.

If you’re like me, you wait until the jackpot gets really big before you ever buy a lottery ticket.

One of the programs being shepherded through Congress is the “Cap and Trade” initiative, which has as its objective a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.

Addiction. It’s a word that conjures up thoughts of alcohol and drugs. But there are so many other channels of addiction — shopping, food, gambling. The list is seemingly endless.

You can’t drive very far without noticing the current price of gasoline.

Ever since I can remember, my father has always worked with his hands.

Summertime means more time together as a family, which is not always a good thing if one or more of the family members are not getting along.

In the late 1950s, a local restaurant and motel in Corbin, Ky., faced a serious threat.

Twinkling lights lined the school gymnasium. Dance music pulsed. The ladies were dressed in their finest, the men freshly shaved, with some even sporting cumberbunds.

The state legislature requires that every locality have a comprehensive plan to serve as a blueprint or roadmap to guide the community’s future development.

Francis Ford Coppola was interviewed Monday by Howard Stern (please hold the hate letters — you all know I’m a Howard devotee).

I don’t pretend to be a Bible thumper.I do, however, turn to the Scriptures when times are hard.

School is winding down, summer is upon us. The time has come for those rites of passage that many teenagers go through to make extra money, get them out of the house, or get a head start on a possible career: the summer job.

Perhaps historians will say that American life changed in the first week of June 2009.

Tomorrow, Virginia Democrats (and any Republicans who’d like to) will vote for nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Newspapers are in trouble. I know, because I read about it online. (Ha, ha. That’s a funny joke. I’ll remember to tell it to the guy beside me at the unemployment office.)

My dad used to have a bumper sticker that read, “Don’t gripe about farmers with your mouth full.”

Even though most of us still have election fatigue from last year’s election, the Democratic Party primary elections for Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General are now upon us.

Flip flops: The footwear choice that used to be relegated to sandy beaches, pool visits, and communal showers is now just the shoe of choice.

President Obama will “make a major speech on ties with Muslims” on June 4, as part of a “continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world.”