Author: James A. Bacon
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Can a Cap-and-Trade Tax Salvage Mass Transit?
by James A. Bacon While social engineers plot ways to increase the cost of driving single-occupancy vehicles and push people into low-carbon transportation alternatives like bicycles and mass transit (see the previous post by Steve Haner about the Transportation & Climate Initiative), Virginians stubbornly stick to their cars. Mass transit ridership is down sharply across…
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Hold Your Hosses, Partner
by James A. Bacon Democrats are submitting a slew of gun-control bills for consideration in the 2020 General Assembly session. Given that the session doesn’t begin until next month, it goes without saying that none have been passed yet. So, it’s impossible to say what gun-related legislation will emerge. But that’s not stopping gun-rights groups…
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How to Fix Virginia Schools: Mo’ Money vs. the Bristol Model
by James A. Bacon In thinking about what ails Virginia’s K-12 public schools, perhaps we should give some consideration to the state’s schools of education and what Virginian teachers are taught. To get a sense of the quality of scholarship and thought that comes out of our teaching academies, we might consider an op-ed penned…
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Cultivating the Next Generation of Fragile Weaklings
by James A. Bacon The painting of graffiti on Beta Bridge on Rugby Road is one of the great traditions of the University of Virginia. I still recall my first encounter with the bridge as a first-year student at the University in 1971. Someone from Washington & Lee had spray-painted the phrase, “Wahoos are Goobers.”…
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“The Most Progressive Budget in Virginia’s History”
by James A. Bacon In the introduction to his budget statement released yesterday, Governor Ralph Northam described his proposed 2020-22 budget as “the most progressive in Virginia’s history. If by “progressive” he means “leftist,” with a strong propensity for taxing, spending and wealth redistribution, it’s hard to argue with him. That’s exactly what it is.…
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Taxpayers “Clinging” to their Income in a Moderately Taxed State
by James A. Bacon In his budget roll out yesterday Governor Ralph Northam proposed hikes to tobacco and gasoline taxes and a clawback to taxpayer relief fund enacted last year in response to changes in the federal income tax code — an increase in the tax burden well in excess of a half billion dollars…
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California Too Conservative for Some Virginia Dems
by Hans Bader To some Americans, staunchly progressive California may seem too liberal. But not to Virginia’s Democratic legislators. They’re proposing legislation that would make Virginia more liberal than California. That includes letting murderers vote while in prison, and letting them be paroled even if a court has sentenced them to life without parole. Virginia…
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Bacon Bits: Guns, Tolls, Evictions
You’ll have to pry my gun from… More than 90 governing bodies in Virginia have voted to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, reports WDBJ. Ninety! Unbelievable. Thousands of citizens have appeared at board meetings across the state to demonstrate their support for the resolutions. Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave said the sanctuary…
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Northam Spending Spree Update: $1.2 Billion More for K-12
Hoo, boy! Governor Ralph Northam has added another priority to his list of new spending initiatives: $1.2 billion in the next two-year budget for extra K-12 schools. About two-thirds of that sum will go to “rebenchmarking” the state’s Standards of Quality (SOQs), or required inputs into public schools. Another $145 million will boost teacher pay…
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Northam Spending Spree Update: $300 Million for HBCUs
by James A. Bacon In an effort to “level the playing field,” Governor Ralph Northam is proposing nearly $300 million in additional spending in the next two-year budget at Virginia’s two public historically black universities. Virginia State University would get $150 million more, and Norfolk State University would get $143 million more. “Virginia’s historically black…
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Is Racism a Real Problem in Loudoun Schools?
by James A. Bacon What’s going on in Loudoun County public schools? Are teachers and administrators in one of Virginia’s most affluent counties making headway in bringing about “equity” (as in equal outcomes in academic performance) between Asians, whites, blacks and Hispanics? Or is the school system hopelessly mired in racism and discrimination? One indicator…
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Welcome to the Crazy Times: Gun Control Edition
by James A. Bacon Virginia voters support gun control measures such as requiring background checks on all gun sales (86% to 13% margins), passing a “red flag” law (72% to 23%), and banning assault-style weapons (54% to 44%), according to a poll released today by the Wason Center for Public Policy. With that level of…
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Another Brain-Dead Housing Initiative
by James A. Bacon Broadly speaking, there are two ways to create a supply of affordable housing in Virginia. One is to loosen zoning restrictions so developers and home builders can build more houses and apartments, thus relieving scarcity and putting a downward pressure on prices across the board. The other is for the government…
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A Fruitful Collaboration
The $42 million AeroFarm investment (see previous post) isn’t the only cool thing happening in Danville… Amazon Web Services and Sumitomo Electric Lightwave collaborated with Danville Community College to create an innovative fiber-optic fusion splicing certificate. Approximately 30 individuals took part in the December 9-10 course. Fusion splicing, according to a statement from the Governor’s…
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The Future of Agriculture — in a Danville Industrial Park
by James A. Bacon Newark, N.J.-based AeroFarms will invest $42 million to build its largest, most sophisticated indoor vertical farm to date in a joint Danville-Pittsylvania County industrial park. The project will create 92 new jobs. Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project. Subsidies include a $200,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund, a…