Big trucks don't pull their weight in paying for Virginia highway maintenance, a state study says. And, said Gary Allen, the Virginia Department of Transportation's research chief, 'Weight matters.'

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today defended his new role as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, saying he accepted the offer from President-Elect Barack Obama only after receiving assurances from Obama that it would not interfere with his job as governor. Kaine told a news conference at the Patrick Henry Building that he turned down the job in mid-November, but that Obama approached him again shortly before Christmas.

A Chesterfield County man has died from injuries he received in a New Year’s Eve car crash caused by a tree branch that fell on top his car, county police said. Eugene D. Gilliam Sr., 66, of the 9600 block of Precedent Road, died Saturday at VCU Medical Center. Police said that on Dec. 31, Gilliam was driving west in the 8500 block of Hickory Road when high winds toppled a tree branch onto the roof of his car, causing him to lose control and crash into a tree about 11:30 a.m.

Timmons Group Inc., a Richmond-based engineering firm, is suing the developers of Chesterfield County’s Magnolia Green development for about $1 million claiming unpaid services and attorney fees. A lawsuit filed by Timmons in Chesterfield Circuit Court on Dec. 12 claims Magnolia Green Development LLC has refused to pay $789,057 for services rendered since 2006 and $190,687 in attorney fees. Additionally, the suit claims that Magnolia Green affiliate LSH Building Company LLC has failed to pay $32,425 for engineering services and $8,106 in attorney fees.

Derek E. Burkhead, charged in the shooting death of his girlfriend, collapsed on the steps of the Hanover County courthouse this afternoon on the first day of his retrial. A rescue squad took him away at 1:31 p.m. and Circuit Judge J. Overton Harris suspended proceedings for the day. Burkhead’s initial trial last March was declared a mistrial after he collapsed on the first day. Defense attorney Greg Sheldon later said a physician determined that Burkhead had undergone a grand mal seizure last year.

Two weeks into teaching, Erin McCoy, a first-year fifth-grade teacher at Hopkins Elementary School in Chesterfield, was ready to quit. It seemed like students weren’t listening, and some students were testing the boundaries because they knew their teacher was new. “I thought, this is not for me,“ she said recently. “I was really upset because this is something that I love to do, but either I’m not good at it or I don’t like it anymore.“

With all the groaning about the recession-wracked Virginia budget, it may come as a surprise that it’s actually growing. In fact, during the past nine years, the state’s annual operating budget has swelled 80 percent, from about $20 billion in fiscal 1999 to $36 billion in fiscal 2008. Adjusted for inflation, at a rate of 29 percent, and population growth of about 12 percent during the 10 years, the increase is 23 percent—an average of 2.4 percent per year.