Lots of things today

The Associated Press wire had several stories this afternoon that got me thinking.

>> The person expected to become the next speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is drafting a bill to legalize poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games at that state's gambling places. But there is not that much support for gambling expansion in Pennsylvania. The state is still opening its first slots casinos. West Virginia gambling interests have already said they plan to make a push in this state for table games in the next session of the Legislature. You can be sure they will use this as another reason for local option elections in the four counties with racetrack casinos.

>> Gasoline taxes in West Virginia will go up 4.5 cents a gallon to nearly 50 cents at the first of the year. That's the increase in the excise tax on the wholesale price of gasoline from July 1 to Oct. 31 last year. A similar increase would have taken effect this year, but Gov. Joe Manchin suspended it. He couldn't do that two years in a row, not with the Division of Highways wanting the extra $63 million the excise tax increase will bring, and not with highway contractors wanting a piece of it. The new tax will make West Virginia taxes slightly higher than Ohio's again and make West Virginia's tax about 12 cents a gallon higher than Kentucky's. That could hurt some convenience stores in Ceredo, Kenova, Fort Gay, Williamson and other border towns with or close to bridges. Typically, stores in Ceredo and one in Huntington across from Camden Park sell gasoline at Kentucky market prices so they can stay competitive. Will they be able to do that after the first of the year? We'll see.

>> I like this one. The San Diego City Council thinks it can tell consumers where they can buy groceries. The council voted Tuesday to ban stores of more than 90,000 square feet that use 10 percent of their space to sell groceries and other merchandise that is not subject to sales tax. In other words, the city council wants to keep out Wal-Mart Supercenter stores. The San Diego ban is modeled after a ban in Turlock, a city of 70,000 people about 85 miles southeast of San Francisco. Wal-Mart fought the Turlock ordinance, lost and decided to not appeal. But it's only time before voters will want their Supercenters -- and get them.

Those are the big stories I will lose sleep over tonight.

No I won't.