Author: James A. Bacon
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Is Carbon Capture Technology Scalable?
by Jane Twitmyer When talking about the future of Dominion Energy in a recent TV interview, Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell mentioned carbon sequestration as an approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the company moves toward a “zero net” carbon energy mix. In the past, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) seemed to be going…
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Bacon Bits: Antifa Hoax, Goose Sauce, Selling Nova Bike Trails
Hate crime hoaxes not just for minorities anymore. According to Willfred Reilly, the expert on hate crime hoaxes, the fastest-rising category of hoaxes is perpetrated by whites, as white groups take a lesson from the Left’s grievance-and-victimhood playbook. The latest instance involves a Civil War reenactor by the name of Gerald Leonard Drake, reports the…
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How to Fix the Borderline Fraud of Surprise Billing
by James A. Bacon Surprise medical billings are one of those things where people of all political stripes come to agreement. It sucks to go to a hospital within your health insurance network only to discover when you open your bill that an anesthesiologist, consulting physician or emergency room doctor at the hospital, unknown to…
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Discipline in Schools? Who Needs Discipline in Schools?
by James A. Bacon Speaking of legislation that never made it out of committee in the past but now could be unleashed upon Virginia (see previous post), there’s HB 256, a bill that would modify the state statute on disorderly conduct so that it does not apply on school property or in school buses. This bill,…
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The Beauty of Workers Cooperatives: They’re Voluntary
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Public Access Project has published a nifty list of bills that were killed in committee when Republicans controlled the General Assembly but have broken out to the House or Senate floor now that Democrats run the show. Most are dreadful, some are tolerable, and a few are even beneficial.…
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Has Dominion Gone Full Climate-Change Warrior?
by James A. Bacon As the Democratic-dominated General Assembly considers legislation to transform Virginia’s electric grid, Dominion Energy has issued a statement setting a formal goal of achieving “net zero emissions” of carbon dioxide and methane by 2050. That’s not an easy thing to do for a company that hopes to expand its 14,000-mile natural…
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More Hospital Consolidation in Virginia…
Bon Secours Mercy Health, a regional Catholic hospital chain, recently acquired three Virginia hospitals — a 105-bed facility in the City of Franklin, and a 300-bed clinic in Emporia. Neither Bon Secours nor the seller, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, released any information about the transaction other than the fact that it took place, so we can only…
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Deer, Cars, Wildlife Corridors… and Coyotes
by James A. Bacon Egads! Vehicle collisions with deer accounted for 61,000 traffic accidents, in Virginia in the year ending June 30, 2016, according to the Virginia Transportation Research Council. The hoofed critters contributed to one in six of all accident claims. And, judging by the number of deer carcass removals, the number of accidents…
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More Data on Why Students Don’t Complete College Degrees
by James A. Bacon The biggest reasons students take college courses but fail to complete a degree are work-related, according to a Strada Education Network survey of more than 42,00 adults nationally with some college but no degree. Seventeen percent cited “work-related” reasons for ceasing their studies. The second mostly commonly cited reason was financial…
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Virginia Values Act: Trial Lawyers Win, Business Climate Loses
by Hans Bader Both houses of the Virginia legislature passed the Virginia Values Act yesterday. Media coverage of the bill has focused on the fact that it will add sexual orientation and gender identity (transgender status) to state laws against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. As the media note, this is the first…
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More Transparency Coming for Higher Ed?
by James A. Bacon The General Assembly is considering three bills that would improve transparency and governance in higher education. If enacted, they would a add small measure of accountability to Virginia’s colleges and universities. A better accounting of costs. HB 927, introduced by Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, would provide for the State Council 0f…
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Lawmakers, Don’t Forget the Real Victims
by James A. Bacon Newly empowered Democrats are pushing a wave of criminal justice reforms through the General Assembly with the goal of reducing the disproportionate number of African-Americans in incarceration. Some tweaks to the system are no doubt justified — every system can be improved upon. And, as Dick Hall-Sizemore reported yesterday, after a…
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Update: Geriatric Prison Release Bill Advances
The Virginia Senate has voted 21-to-19 to make prison inmates (including many murderers) eligible for “geriatric release” as early as age 50. The vote was largely along party lines, with all Democrats except Lynwood Lewis voting for the bill, and all Republicans except Emmett Hanger voting against it.
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Bacon Bits: If It Walks, Tax it. If It Still Walks, Regulate It…
First they came for Uber… First the General Assembly decided to regulate Uber and Lyft after taxicab companies protested, then Airbnb after hotels protested. Now lawmakers are moving to regulate peer-to-peer car sharing after rental-car companies started griping. Roanoker Neil Aneja owns three automobiles that he rents out through car-sharing app Turo. As he explains…
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No, Nigel, Vexit Is Not a Good Idea
by James A. Bacon I’ve been a Nigel Farage fan since I first viewed him on YouTube years ago. I cackled as the obscure British representative to the European Parliament hilariously skewered the bureaucratic officiousness of EU executives. Farage went on to become an international phenomenon, championing the Brexit movement, building the conservative UK Independence…