Year: 2012
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Online Class Myths and Fantasies
By Peter Galuszka Far too often on this blog, a new program or an event gets taken far beyond its intrinsic value. One obvious example is a new program offered by Harvard and MIT for online classes. The program is being touted by the right-wing crowd as the next wheel or airplane or laptop computer.…
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The Liquidation of Teresa Sullivan
By Peter Galuszka The putsch had all the markings of Stalin-era intrigue. Select members of the Politburo had whispered for weeks that a key and popular leader had to go. She didn’t fit the Inner Circle’s philosophies. She was too prominent and her “vision” was too slow-moving and dogmatically out of step. Finally, without her…
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A Better Explanation, Please
We are now nearly 48 hours into the Teresa-Sullivan-resignation news cycle but only a little closer to understanding why the University of Virginia president and Board of Visitors decided to part company. Rector Helen Dragas made some vague comments Sunday about disagreements over the university’s strategic direction, but otherwise the board has not been forthcoming.…
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“An Existential Threat”
James A. Bacon University of Virginia Rector Helen E. Dragas gets it. Explaining the Board of Visitors’ differences with departing President Teresa Sullivan, she told university deans and vice presidents that Virginia’s flagship educational institution can not continue to conduct business as usual. “The pace of change in higher education and in health care has…
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Hey, How about a Richmond-Norfolk Mega-Region?
by James A. Bacon The Hampton Roads and Richmond regions should align themselves as a “mega-region” to gain critical mass in the competition for economic development, maintain Thomas R. Frantz and Nicole L. Pugar in a Times-Dispatch op-ed today. “Cities that want to compete nationally and internationally are blurring boundaries, combining their assets and resources,…
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Sullivan Steps Down as UVa President.
Hmmm. I wonder what this is all about. The University of Virginia board of visitors announced this morning that Teresa Sullivan is stepping down as university president after a tenure of only two years. The board will hold an emergency closed-door meeting at 2 p.m. to “consider amending the contract of a University employee,”according to…
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Spinning Virginia Coal
By Peter Galuszka There’s a predictable drumbeat in the Old Dominion that is trying to blame Big Coal’s economic weakness on federal regulators. A weekend ago, a group called the Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security, a “grass roots” group with ties to the coal industry, staged a rally in Abingdon attended by about…
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A Footnote to MWAA’s PLA Vote
A letter written by three former governors and a U.S. Senator — John W. Warner and Linwood Holton and Democrats Chuck Robb and Gerald L. Baliles — was instrumental in persuading the board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to reverse its policy favoring Project Labor Agreements in Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project.…
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Looking for Libertarian Jokes?
How many Libertarians does it take to change a light bulb? None! If the bulb needed changing, the free market would have done it. What is a Libertarian? A Republican who has been busted. If you think the only gun permit you need is the Second Amendment, you are a Libertarian. If someone asks you…
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The Idea List
The recently published “pipeline” of 22 public-private partnership proposals does not represent a McDonnell administration transportation agenda. Think of it more as an inventory of ideas worth checking out.
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Boo, Redskins!
by James A. Bacon I’ll join Peter and Don (see the two previous posts) in expressing my displeasure with the McDonnell administration’s decision to approve a $4 million grant to support the retention of the Washington Redskins football team headquarters in Loudoun County. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of pro sport teams holding up state…
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Hail ($6 million) to the Redskins!
By Peter Galuszka There’s something strange here: Virginia loses a major oil company and 2,100 high-paying jobs but we get to spend $6 million or more in state and local taxpayers money to keep the hapless Washington Redskins in the Old Dominion instead of Maryland and get them to practice a few weeks a year…
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The Resurrection of Ride Sharing
by James A. Bacon The latest Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) initiative is reshuffling 22,000 jobs around the Washington metropolitan area. Thousands of those jobs are being relocated to seven facilities off Interstate 95, from the Mark Center in Alexandria to the Quantico Marine Corps base. The federal government is providing minimal funds to…
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Why Regulation Is Essential
By Peter Galuszka If there is ever an argument in favor of regulation in today’s anti-government political climate in Virginia, one needs look no farther than the interstate highways. Buoyed by a wave of intercity bus deregulation about 30 years ago, new bus lines started up using older vehicles, no frills and often over-tired drivers.…
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MWAA Backtracks on PLA, Full Steam Ahead for Dulles Rail
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board of directors voted today to eliminate its preference for Project Labor Agreements in the bidding for Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project, clearing the way for construction of the project estimated to cost $2.7 billion. Only a negative vote by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors can sidetrack…