Category: Business and Economy
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Lee Enterprises Newspapers in Virginia Combine Huge Online Subscription Price Increases with Difficult Cancellations
by James C. Sherlock Lee Enterprises, in a bold move, has massively raised prices for online subscriptions to its Virginia newspapers, to some of which I subscribe. Lee’s “brands” here include: The Daily Progress – Charlottesville The Free Lance Star – Fredericksburg Danville Register Bee/Go Dan River – Danville Bristol Herald Courier – Tricities –…
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VPM Reporter Digs Into Power For Tomorrow
Ben Paviour at Virginia Public Media has fleshed out additional substantial details on the political activities of Power for Tomorrow, a utility advocacy group with major funding from Dominion Energy Virginia. Questions asked and issues hinted at by this report on Bacon’s Rebellion now have more clarity. Yes, Paviour found quite a few Virginia incumbent…
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Without Full $1B Tax Cut, Let July 1 Deadline Pass
by Steve Haner Because the federal government cannot operate without constantly borrowing money, members of Congress in both parties recently held their noses and voted for a compromise budget and borrowing deal. That need not and should not happen now in Virginia. There is no similar pressure in Virginia, even though the June 30 end…
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New Jefferson Institute CEO: Derrick Max
The following was released this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy: The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy announced today that Derrick Max has been appointed the new CEO and President of Virginia’s non-partisan, free-market public policy organization. An experienced thought leader and advocate, Derrick Max will succeed outgoing CEO Chris Braunlich,…
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Deflating Degree Inflation
by Robin Beres In May 2021, The Harvard Business Review featured a column by Michael Hansen, CEO of Cengage Learning titled, “The U.S. Education System Isn’t Giving Students What Employers Need.” Hansen argued that today’s education system is not equipping students “with the skills and capabilities to prepare for a career where they can obtain…
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Is Dominion Campaigning Behind a Front Again?
By Steve Haner An electric power industry lobbying and public relations group which has been financially supported by Dominion Energy Virginia is mailing out flyers to voters praising legislative incumbents who helped Dominion pass favorable legislation this year. A mailer supporting incumbent Fairfax Democratic Senator George Barker caused the Democrat blog Blue Virginia to respond…
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Every Day is Memorial Day in Normandy
by Kerry Dougherty My most memorable Memorial Day did not take place on Memorial Day at all, but a few weeks earlier. In May of 1982. But then again, every day is Memorial Day when you stand on those beaches at Normandy. It was a glorious spring morning on the coast of France. The sky…
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First Lawsuit Over Whales and Wind Dismissed
By Steve Haner A federal district judge in Massachusetts has rejected an effort to stop an offshore wind project near Nantucket Island on the basis of danger to whales, apparently the first court test of similar claims being raised against wind turbine proposals along the U.S. eastern seaboard, including here in Virginia. On May 17,…
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The Subversive Power of Doughnuts
by Steve Haner Let me get this straight. An elected member of the General Assembly comes to school buildings to give doughnuts to teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and the leftist Democrat agitators of the teachers’ union are “triggered”? They whine about her generosity to the gutless school management, which then caves to…
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The Virginia NAACP Has Proven Itself an Obstacle to Improving the Educations of Black Children in Virginia Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock I just read that the NAACP has issued a warning against traveling to Florida. Which must have come as a surprise to the 3.5 million Black citizens of that state. It did not surprise the NAACP board of directors chairman Leon W. Russell, who lives in the Tampa area. His defense:…
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Dominion Seeks Permit to Harass 100s of Whales
By David Wojick The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking public comments on a massive proposal to harass large numbers of whales and other marine mammals off Virginia by building a huge offshore wind complex. There is supposed to be an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed harassment, but it is not there…
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Renewables? Fossil Fuels? Americans Want Both.
by Steve Haner Given a choice between an energy future that is dependent on a) generation using sun, wind or falling water; or b) thermal generation sources using fossil fuels or uranium; or c) a combination of both, which do Americans prefer? Should it surprise anybody that the answer is both? Reliance on both, the…
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One of My Pet Peeves
by Dick Hall-Sizemore State law exempts from registration fees trucks, trailers, and other motor vehicles, used solely for farm purposes either on highways near a farmer’s land or for hauling farm products to market (see here and here). This is one of the most abused Code provisions. The picture above was taken in my…
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An Utterly Inspiring Woman
By James C. Sherlock Cheri Shores died Saturday, May 13. She was simply one of the most gracious, generous, skilled and inspiring people I have ever met. Cheri and her husband Lance in 2006 opened their first Citrus restaurant in Virginia Beach a couple of blocks from where my late wife and I lived. Jo…
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Christie Using FERC Pulpit for Dire Prophecy
by Steve Haner Virginian Mark Christie is using his position on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a national pulpit to preach a message of energy reliability doom, and he is being heard. It helps that he is not alone in spreading the alarm. It also helps that he is basing his warning on actual…