Category: Property rights
-
The Koch’s Bizarre Meddling in Chesterfield
By Peter Galuszka The Koch brothers are back in the bucolic suburban tracts of Chesterfield County. This time, their national group, Americans for Prosperity, has launched a robocall campaign to oppose a proposed real estate tax hike of 4.6 cents to help pay for $304 million renovations to schools or perhaps hire more teachers to…
-
The Terrible Link Between Income and Longevity
—
by
in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka Call it a tale of two Virginias. One is rich with military retirees, ample benefits and gated communities. The other is remote, poor and polluted, where the life expectancy for men is merely 64 years. The former is Fairfax County at the heart of NOVA, Virginia’s economic engine, the land of federal…
-
McDonnell’s U.S. 460 Debacle
By Peter Galuszka Towards the end of his term, former Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his transportation chief, Sean Connaughton, bulldozed through a dubious project that would build a superhighway from Suffolk to Petersburg along the path of old U.S. 460 in southeastern Virginia. Few understood the urgency of such a project, which involved a…
-
Coal Giant Alpha Pays Biggest Water Fine Ever
—
by
in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka Alpha Natural Resources of Bristol, the coal giant that took over troubled Massey Energy of Richmond in 2011, has the dubious honor paying the highest fines ever of $27.5 million for water pollution violations at its coal mining operations in five Appalachian states, including Virginia. Massey Energy, the owner of the Upper…
-
A Distracting Doctrine
Instead of fixating on the United Nation’s Agenda 21 as a threat to American liberties, conservatives should articulate fiscally responsible, market-driven policies to address the very real challenges facing local governments in the United States.
-
Dominion Benefits As Renewables Struggle
By Peter Galuszka Dominion Virginia Power, as is its style, has achieved a quiet but far-reaching regulatory victory. The General Assembly has passed a complicated bill that would help Dominion write off costs for a new nuclear reactor while avoiding giving potential refunds or rate cuts to customers. The bill, which easily sailed through the…
-
Tar Heel Grief Just Down the Road
—
by
in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Housing, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka It’s sad to see two states to which I have personal ties – North Carolina and West Virginia — in such bad ways. The latest raw news comes from the Tar Heel state where we are seeing the handiwork of hard-right- Gov. Pat McCrory who has been on a tear for a…
-
Journalism’s Death Is Greatly Exaggerated
—
by
in Business and Economy, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka “Investigative reporting, R.I.P. In-depth reporting is dead. If not dead, it’s comatose. Reeling from declining revenue and eroding profit margins, print media enterprises continue to lay off staff and shrink column inches.” Err, maybe not. James A. Bacon Jr., meet Rachel Maddow. The quote comes from advertised “sponsorships” in which an outside…
-
NOVA’s a Mess? Blame the CIA
By Peter Galuszka Northern Virginia, the economic engine that drives the rest of the state, has always been strongly linked to the federal government. By extension, that means tied to the Pentagon, and, as a recent book shows, the Central Intelligence Agency and today, all its antecedents. Author Andrew Friedman, a history professor at Haverford…
-
Big Koch Brothers Are Watching You!
By Peter Galuszka Steve Serrao of Midlothian found something strange in his mailbox this summer. It was an official-looking letter in “report card” form from the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation claiming that he had not registered as a voter and that the group intended to inform his neighbors. According to reporting by Jim McConnell…
-
Thank God It’s Over: Seven Election Takeaways
—
by
in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The awful Virginia gubernatorial contest is over. Utter disaster has been averted with the defeat of strident rightwinger Kenneth Cuccinelli. Here are seven takeaways from Election Day: 1. Winner Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, now gets to deal with a contentious General Assembly where the GOP maintains firm control on the House of…
-
Pittsylvania County Loses a Good Man
—
by
in Business and Economy, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Infrastructure, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka During these days of GiftGate with top Virginia officials and their families accepting unreported Rolex watches, turkey dinners, corporate jet rides, New York shopping sprees, real estate loans and wedding presents, it is important to remember other public servants who shoulder on doing their work as honestly as they can. On Thursday,…
-
There’s No Place Like Home (Owners Associations)
by James A. Bacon Developers hewing to the New Urbanism school of design pay close attention to the arrangement of public spaces, the architectural details of the buildings and the profitability of their projects. Typically, they address the rules for Home Owners Associations (HOAs) as an afterthought. And that can lead to unhappy residents, lawsuits…
-
Why Bundling Parking Costs… Well, a Bundle
When you subscribe to a cable TV service, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of Sean Hannity or Rachel Maddow, you’ll get a package that includes access to FOX News, MSNBC and CNN, not to mention a host of other channels that you may or may not ever watch. Even if you find Hannity…
-
“Near Certainty” on Humans and Global Warming
—
by
in Business and Economy, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Energy, Environment, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka Here’s some red meat for global warming deniers: A draft report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says there’s “near certainty” that humans cause global warming. This is the group of hundreds of scientists and other experts who review global warming data under the auspices of the United Nations and are…