Category: Demographics
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A Southern Oasis of Low Crime
Virginia has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, according to 2012 FBI crime data, as plotted by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia. That applies to both violent and non-violent crime. The Old Dominion is a real outlier compared to other Southern states. Maybe this is…
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Sarvis as Spoiler — for McAuliffe
Rick Sincere makes the case on Bearing Drift that Robert Sarvis, the Libertarian candidate for Virginia governor, cost Democrat Terry McAuliffe more votes than he cost Republican Ken Cuccinelli — contrary to the conventional wisdom and, indeed, contrary to the expectation of the Cuccinelli campaign itself. CNN exit polls suggest that had there been a two-man…
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Thank God It’s Over: Seven Election Takeaways
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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…
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Virginia: More West Coast than East Coast in Temperament
Social scientists have divided the United States into three distinct regions based upon the preponderant personality type: friendly/conventional, relaxed/creative and temperamental/ uninhibited. The map above was compiled by Jason Rentfrow, an American by birth and senior lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and published by Time. Virginia and North Carolina represent an isolated, East Coast…
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Sunday Morning Coming Down
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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, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Planning, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka With apologies to Kris Kristofferson, this Sunday morning presents a grab bag of interesting morning newspaper stories and positions. To wit: GiftGate Update, Getting the Stories Straight: According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Star Scientific boss Jonnie R. Williams Sr. told federal prosecutors he insisted on meeting personally with his then-buddy Gov.…
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The Tobacco Commission, GiftGate and Sleaze
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Infrastructure, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The latest turn in the McDonnell GiftGate scandal goes back to a familiar entity, the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission which has acted as a large slush fund for favored projects in Virginia’s tobacco land for more than a decade. No surprise there. The tobacco fund is swimming with money…
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The Dangers of the Biking Craze
By Peter Galuszka There is no question that bicycling is a hot trend, favored by fitness advocates and Smart Growthers alike. What’s not to like? Bikes don’t pollute, don’t require expensive parking lots and provide riders with lots of flexibility not to mention muscle and cardiovascular workouts. You hear a lot about it on this…
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Virginia’s Medicaid Travesty
By Peter Galuszka Some things never seem to change in the South and in Virginia, namely the idea among conservatives that the poor, notably African-Americans, are not worthy of help. Such is the predicament faced Virginia and other states that have not expanded the federal Medicaid program to help the poor with health insurance just…
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Think Henrico Government Has Cut Back? How about Henrico Citizens?
by James A. Bacon As Mark Twain famously said, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Anyone can slant an argument in his favor by cherry picking statistics. I try to avoid that. As proof, I will offer some numbers regarding Henrico County government expenditures over the past decade that make my opposition to the…
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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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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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Middle Class Flees New York. Who Needs ‘Em?
by James A. Bacon For decades pundits (including myself) have been predicting the eventual demise of New York City, yet the city continues to defy the prognostications. With its world-class financial, entertainment and advertising sectors and its burgeoning entrepreneurial tech sector, the Big Apple has demonstrated such a capacity for reinventing itself that it remains…
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How to Squeeze 40,000 More People into Richmond
by James A. Bacon According to growth projections cited by the Urban Land Institute, the population of the Richmond region is expected to grow by roughly 200,000 households (430,000 people) by 2035. Where will that growth go? How much of it can be absorbed by existing urban areas, and how much will end up, by…
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IG of the Day: English as Second Language
Data geeks should have fun with a new interactive map published by the U.S. Census Bureau, which maps the distribution of speakers of 15 non-English languages across the United States. The data comes from the latest American Community Survey data. No surprise that Spanish is the top non-English language spoken in Virginia. That’s followed by…
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The Rise of the Aspirational City
by James A. Bacon Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox have introduced the concept of the “aspirational” city — cities to which people move “to change their circumstances and improve their lives.” These are cities on the rise — restless, growing and entrepreneurial magnets of opportunity. I was pleasantly surprised to find Richmond ranking No. 7…