A $40 medical bill might seem small but a West Virginia man says his five-year battle over paying it was a matter of principle.

A slender Santa approaches, and Big Oil producers stand on notice: they’ve been profitable and therefore naughty and now they must pay. Among the economic meltdown’s rare gifts have been plunging oil and gas prices. Americans should enjoy this development while it lasts, and so too prices for electricity and natural gas that wear the strange look of reasonability. President-elect Obama, exchanging a musty red suit for a tailored dark one, means to end all of this. He comes bearing gifts, cap-and-trades and tax-break rollbacks, both of which are fashionable but will prove expensive.

Red ink is trickling on the verge of spilling in gushers from municipal budgets

On the occasion of Barack Obama’s historic ascension to the presidency, fueled in small part (as it turned out) by the turn of Virginia’s political hue from red to blue, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine took occasion to hoist a banner of racism already tossed to the trash heap.

Like steel manufacturers, that other former symbol of American economic greatness, the automobile industry has been reduced to junkyard status.

The federal government can and should do more to encourage development of oil and gas production on lands leased to energy companies, a federal review has found.

No matter how the UVa tennis players fare in the tournament, Charlottesville is a winner.

Hooray for the honorable stick!

The acronym could also stand for Caring Adults who Serve and Assist.

Spontaneous street parties, people openly weeping tears of deep joy, people falling on their knees in prayers of gratitude — political wins always produce euphoria for the faithful, but none but the most hardened cynic could deny that this celebration was different.

Here’s an irony for you

Of all the politicians this newspaper has encountered, Virgil H. Goode Jr. is among the most sincere in his efforts for constituents and the least caught up in politics and paybacks.

A growing number of influential former officials and academic experts support talking to Iran.

Americans still deserve the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And the man to protect those rights is John McCain.

It’s a good Samaritan story for our times.

The Daily Progress endorses Jim Gilmore.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Charlottesville City Council is struggling to determine just how much housing help is needed — and where it should be directed — as it looks to allocate $1.4 million for affordable housing.

Here’s yet another government agency debacle — and this one will blow your mind.

A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows a reduction from 9,940 deaths in 1978 to a 30-year low of 5,156 in 2006.

While others are analyzing the short- and long-term impacts of the financial crisis, let’s take a look at a philosophical dimension of the problem, as raised by University of Virginia professor David Leblang.

He’s haunted by chads ... and he likes it that way.

Not only is the U.S. Department of Agriculture under scrutiny for alleged civil rights violations, but now a watchdog report faults it for not even being able to produce statistics relative to those allegations.

While Charlottesville was still debating the problem, others got the job done.

Three cheers for the Virginia State Police, teaming up with other organizations this week to implement Operation Safe Driver.

So much for the “Animal House” stereotype of the drunken college student.

Budget cuts will slow, but ought not derail, a plan by Piedmont Virginia Community College to use the old Monticello visitors’ center.

Simply wearing a message T-shirt or campaign button within a voting precinct’s hallowed boundary ought not be that big a deal.

It looks like the song “Stayin’ Alive” can help heart attack victims do exactly that.

Yet another example of federal deception has emerged from a congressional report involving FEMA and — even more shockingly — the Centers for Disease Control.