Author: Peter Galuszka
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Libertarian Wins Gubernatorial Debate
By Peter Galuszka The most interesting thing about the Virginia gubernatorial debate Wednesday night wasn’t the bitter personal attacks between the two lackluster candidates from the dominant political parties. It was the television ad by the man who wasn’t there. Looking young and fresh, Libertarian Robert Sarvis, kept out of the debate, cast himself with his…
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Facts, Reality and the “War On Coal”
By Peter Galuszka Now that the Obama Administration is finally getting ready to set long-overdue regulations on limiting carbon dioxide at new coal-fired electricity plants, Big Coal and its allies are again beating the “War On Coal” drums. The rules, which will apply only to new coal-fired plants, will shut down the industry, kill jobs,…
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The Cooch and the Pope
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Federal issues, Gun rights, Immigration, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka “It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” says Pope Francis, leader of the globe’s Roman Catholics, regarding abortion, gays and contraception. One wonders if Ken Cuccinelli gets the message. Or maybe even Bob McDonnell. The attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate and the sitting governor have worn…
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Suspicious Trading In Gas Ethanol Credits
By Peter Galuszka On the busy Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, some 33 squat petroleum tanks sit just across the water from the giant cranes of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. The tanks, along with 31 other ones just south of downtown Richmond, play a role in an intriguing and mysterious…
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Charlottesville’s Surprising Start-up Strength
By Peter Galuszka It may be a throwback to the glam years of the 1990s, but there’s always been an aura about bright minds getting ideas and having the fortitude and guts to push them to fruition without the warm womb of a big corporation or university to keep them nice and safe. Finally, after…
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Virginia Does NOT Say Yes to Nuclear
By Peter Galuszka In his typical business-only fashion, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has named several nuclear energy industry executives to the new, 17-member, non-profit Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority set up this year just as the move to end the uranium mining moratorium was augering in for a crash. Hmm. Let’s check this out. State…
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Whatever Happened to Virginia Uranium?
By Peter Galuszka A big effort to mine uranium in Southside Virginia seemed stymied when the General Assembly failed to end a moratorium on such activity in the last General Assembly. It would seem that exploiting a large deposit of ore in Pittsylvania County by a wealthy local family and some obscure Canadian investors had…
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Ask a Slave!
By Peter Galuszka Historical reenacting is a major pastime in our state and region, but it should hinge on fact. Ever since I was about six years old, my parents would drag me to Colonial Williamsburg where we got the White Toast version of what life in Ole Virginny was supposed to be like.The darkies…
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The Syria Conundrum
By Peter Galuszka Where I live in the piney woods of southern Chesterfield County, one can gauge U.S. foreign policy by sounds in the night sky. Listening to them, I was able to mark the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and later, in 2011, the SEAL Team Six mission against Osama…
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Good News on Virginia’s Offshore Wind Power
By Peter Galuszka News that Dominion Virginia Power has won an auction to lease about 113,000 acres about 27 miles off Virginia Beach for an offshore wind turbine farm is welcome, but don’t expect anything to happen right away. Dominion won the rights to develop the shallow waters from the Interior Department for $1.6 million.…
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The “GiftGate” Cast of Characters
By Peter Galuszka GiftGate appears to approaching its dramatic conclusion with attorneys for Gov. and Mrs. Robert F. McDonnell scheduled to appear before federal prosecutors again before Sept. 15. A decision about whether to indict them is expected soon. The plot, while delicious, is a bit hard to follow in what is the worst ethics…
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The McDonnells’ “He Said, She Said” Defense
By Peter Galuszka The latest in the months-long GiftGate soap opera engulfing the governor’s executive mansion has been revealed. The federal probe of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife Maureen and businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., has been slowed down as prosecutors mull over new evidence McDonnell’s team was legally forced to surrender. Lawyers for…
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GreenTech Auto: Lots of Smoke, Little Fire
By Peter Galuszka This year’s bizarre gubernatorial race has had stories beyond belief. There’s Jonnie, Maureen, Todd, Ken and Bob. And there’s also Terry, Xiaolin and Benjamin. The tantalizing tales of the first group need not be repeated. They, of course, involved tardily disclosed stock holdings, a wife not telling husband about stock buys, big-time…
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The Phoniness of “March” Coverage
By Peter Galuszka Today is the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington that attracted hundreds of thousands of people from various backgrounds and one purpose: to register their support of change in America’s perpetually strained race relations. At the time, I was 10 years old, spending my first full summer in West Virginia where…
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Ethics Issues Go Far Beyond McDonnell
By Peter Galuszka The major focus of speculation in Richmond these days may be on whether or not Gov. Robert F. McDonnell will be indicted, but there are plenty of other, lesser situations involving public officials that show just how badly Virginia’s ethics rules need fixing. State and local officials have a long history of…