Tom McLaughlin

When you make it your business to write about politics, as I typically do in this space, it’s easy to lose sight of the plain fact that for many, the daily headlines have no bite. It’s all just a bunch of hullabaloo. Other subjects get people’s blood pressure up. Let’s take an example: pit bulls.

Here’s your election factoid for the day: The last time Virginia Democrats held a June primary contest for governor, in 2009, eventual nominee Creigh Deeds won with just under 50 percent of 319,168 votes cast.

Your truly is just back from the beach with a tan to prove it. Let’s see what else has been ripening under the sun:

So what’s up these days with Zombie Trumpcare?

That was some rainfall we had last week, huh? Southside Virginia got socked by storms that lasted from Saturday afternoon through Tuesday and submerged low-lying areas on the Roanoke river basin under floodwaters.

Well, lookie here — the Town of South Hill has an interesting proposal to fund its annual operating budget: a cigarette tax. Quelle horreur! cried no one in the recorded history of Southside Virginia, ever. (Okay, maybe my French teacher from high school has said this sort of thing before.)

We’re less than three weeks away from the April 22 premiere of the HBO adaptation of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” starring Oprah Winfrey in the incredible story of Halifax County’s most famous product.