News
WA: Liquor Buyers Cross State Line. Washington residents are pouring over the Oregon line this summer to buy liquor after Washington state privatized the sale of hard alcohol—and made the booze more expensive by raising state fees. ..Washington is the 33rd state to fully privatize liquor sales, but it is believed to be the first to do so since immediately after the end of Prohibition. That is turning the state into a rare study of how—or how not—to manage such a transition at a time when several other states are weighing exiting the liquor business… Many residents assumed that privatization—and ensuing competition—would drive down liquor prices. Opponents warned that falling prices would foster alcohol abuse and sales to minors. Instead, prices have shot up. Wall Street Journal
TX: Slow road to Lockhart smells a bit fishy. Anti-toll road activists have been saying for years, ever since the tollway wave hit Texas early last decade, that the Texas Department of Transportation in various subtle ways was making free roads slower to pump up usage of the pay-to-drive roads nearby. Austin American-Statesman
VA: Angela Petry makes song against Dulles Greenway tolls. Angela Petry authored the tune and says it’s time to roll back the tolls. The West Virginia woman practically had to do a double take when she checked a recent credit card statement after her husband’s drive to DC. It cost her family $5.55 for a ride through the 14-mile Dulles Greenway and the Dulles Toll Road, and then another $5.55 for the journey back. “Highway robbery…,” she sings. “They built a road in the countryside. Rolling green hills for miles and miles. The farms and the fields no factory, but don’t you dare think you can drive for free…” The singer-song writer is tired of watching her bank account dwindle from toll fees. “We think that it’s really unfair that there’s this major road that cuts right through the center of the county, right through the countryside and that the local people have so much trouble and expense using it,” Petry says. WJLA.com