As the recession drags along and local "recovery" comes slowly, Hampton Roads has received two doses of bad news.

The past week brought the announcement that about 300 jobs at the Yorktown oil refinery will be lost as its operator is shutting down. This factory started with Amoco, became BP, then Giant, and is now Western Refining … a 50-year trail of local employment, coming to an end. Will it ever open again?

Then, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he wishes to shutter the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, eliminating 6,000 jobs. Here is a case that tangles up the politicians. Every one of them says they want to cut the size of government, and every one of them from this area has found a reason to protest the closure.

These announcements would bring gloom at any time. At this point they seem to be late hits in the struggle against recession. Recovery cannot come soon enough.
...