Pot. News Watch

I've known for a long time that Potomac News Executive Editor (formerly Managing Editor) was ideologically and pathologically dishonest. But I had at least thought her technically competent.

After today's print edition of the Potomac News, one has to wonder. On its front page (below the fold, with a jump to page A2) appears a Kipp Hanley article entitled "NVTA wonders how to exert its new power." It starts out thus:

One of the main purposes of Thursday night's Northern Virginia Transportation Authority meeting was to hear resident input on recently passed House Bill 3202, which could raise an average of $400 million a year to pay for transportation and road projects in Northern Virginia.

It's not a bad article, and ends with the following paragraph:

If approved by the NVTA governing body through a majority vote, HB 3202 could end up providing up to $400 million annually for road and transit projects in Northern Virginia through state, regional and local taxes and fees.

Interestingly, one can then turn to page A5, and find a story entitled "Transport Authority divides into work groups, mulls taxes." It, too, is authored by Kipp Hanley (any relation to former Fairfax BOCS Chairman Kate, I wonder?), and begins as follows:

Thursday night's Northern Virginia Transportation Authority meeting at George Mason High School served as an introduction to House Bill 3202 to the public.

It, too, isn't a bad article, and ends as follows:

If approved by the NVTA governing body through a majority vote, HB 3202 could end up providing up to $400 million annually for road and transit projects in Northern Virginia through state, regional and local taxes and fees.

Now, perhaps I'm wrong, but these "two" articles are so similar as to obviously be the same article, with only the "lead" altered slightly. Now, I suppose its de rigeur at the Pot. News and other papers to recycle articles on different days to fill space. And we know that the Pot. News recycles letters from the far Left.

But recycling an article by the same author on the same day? Frankly, were I the publisher, someone would be shown the door over this one.

Yet a third version appears on-line, entitled "NVTA discusses what to do with power."