Month: September 2012
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Message to VCU: Not Good Enough
In apparent deference to Governor Bob McDonnell, the Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors has revised its six-year plan to assume tuition increases averaging 5.5% annually rather than 12.1% per year in the plan approved last September. The decision will diminish the increase in funding to hire new faculty and staff to $18.1 million from…
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It’s Time For Loudoun to Dump Delgaudio
By Peter Galuszka Since 1999, Loudoun County voters have strangely backed radical conservative Eugene Delgaudio as Sterling District supervisor despite his eccentric antics. When not working at his county job, Delgaudio leads a group called Public Advocate of the United States that bashes gays and pushes limited government. The group has been tagged by the…
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Heads I Win, Tails I Still Win
The McDonnell administration figures the state can’t lose with an $80 million loan to build roads for the Kincora development in Loudoun County. Not everyone agrees.
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No Easy Read
By Peter Galuszka Stealthy, deadly and glamorous, Navy SEALs are what the Army Green Berets used to be back in the Vietnam era. In the case of the Navy commandos, Virginia is a big factor in basing and training, or at least it seems to be, if you should even allow yourself to read about…
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Uh, Oh, Charlottesville Needs Another $132 Million
Construction has not yet begun on Charlottesville’s Western Bypass but the Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization outlined yesterday an idea for building an 8.3-mile extension of the bypass for possible inclusion in the region’s long-range transportation plan. Using standard unit costs without the benefit of engineering studies, the commission estimates that the project would cost…
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A Wave of Innovation from the Bus Industry
Municipal bus operators across the country are introducing a wide variety of innovations to a long-stagnant transportation mode. They’re replacing the old bread-loaf vehicles with sleeker, more train-like designs. They’re outfitting buses with Wi-Fi and and they’re adding racks where cyclists can load their bikes. They’re creating apps so passengers can time a bus’ arrival…
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Rumors of Big Coal’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
By Peter Galuszka Beware the power of Big Coal, especially in a swing state such as Virginia during election year. The state that ranks 12th in production in the nation, the Old Dominion has been the source of much coal company campaign contributions, most of it going to Republicans like George Allen, who is running…
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Online Learning Strikes Again
Here’s another example of how online learning continues to make inroads in K-2 education. Twenty-five elite private academies in the United States, Jordan, China, Japan and Indonesia are offering full-credit, online courses through the Global Online Academy. One of those schools is Sidwell Friends in Washington, D.C., which President Obama’s two daughters attend. The program…
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Has “Peak Car” Arrived?
by James A. Bacon Worried about “peak oil?” Never fear, the world also may be reaching “peak car,” to borrow a phrase coined this summer by Scientific American. The average American is driving less and less each year — a trend matched by the citizens of economically advanced democracies across the globe, from France and…
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Party On, Wayne. Party on, Garth.
Nice to know that the University of Virginia is the best at something. The University has snagged the top ranking in Playboy magazine‘s Top 10 Party schools. More than making up for its 16th place rank for sports (really, that high?), the Wahoos notched a No. 2 spot for sex (behind the University of North…
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More Analytical Thinking about Tourism, Please
Earlier this month the Governor’s Office issued a press release proclaiming that visitors to Virginia generate $20.4 billion in revenue in 2011, an 8% increase over the previous year, supporting 207,000 jobs and contributing more than $1.32 billion in state and local taxes. This news was lapped up and regurgitated by TV and newspaper outlets…
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Tele-Conference More, Travel Less
Telework is one of those great ideas that remind me of the wisecrack long leveled at Brazil: “Brazil is the county of the future — and always will be.” People have been touting telework for a couple of decades now as a way to reduce travel and ease traffic congestion, and no matter how few…
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A Paean to Driverless Cars
“The Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca is a 2.2-mile asphalt roller coaster plunging and soaring across California’s tawny Monterey highlands. The most famous section, the Corkscrew, requires drivers storming up a long hill to slam the brakes and take a hard left into what seems to be thin air. The car goes momentarily weightless, and…
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The Real War on the Poor
by James A. Bacon Beware the meddlers and the do-gooders. With friends like them, poor people don’t need enemies. Two data points from today’s newspapers… First, the Chesterfield County Planning Commission has asked staff to explore options for keeping payday lenders out of the county, on the grounds that they “prey” on the poor. This…