Tailgating bicycles: Apparently, it's still legal in Virginia for motorists to tailgate a person on a bicycle. An attempt by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, to add bikes to the list of things it would be illegal to follow "more closely than is reasonable and prudent" failed in a House subcommittee this week, according to the Virginian-Pilot. A similar effort by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, so far has fared a bit better.

House OKs discrimination against gay parents: A measure that would allow private child-placement agencies to deny the adoption of a child to gay couples overwhelmingly passed the state House of Delegates on Friday, according to the Huffington Post. The bill, which passed 71-28, allows the dozens of private agencies under contract with the state to discriminate on the basis of personal religious beliefs, including the belief that homosexual parents should not adopt children. Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the bill, the Huffington Post reports.

Voter integrity, voter suppression: The Washington Post has a good overview of the Voter ID debate. The so-called "voter integrity bills" are sometimes called by a different name in Northern Virginia. Lopez, in an interview with Patch earlier this week, referred to the myriad bills that would impose extraneous identification requirements on people as "voter suppression" efforts. "I'm concerned that the people who this is affecting are on the margins of society -- the impoverished, the elderly. It just makes the hoops that people have to go through that much more." At last month's Arlington County Board meeting, Vice Chairman Walter Tejada just shook his head angrily as the board heard an overview of Voter ID legislation.