Category: Business and Economy
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Principles for Virginia’s Energy Future
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Energy is our economy. Energy is the basis of wealth and a comfortable life. As Virginia chooses a new set of legislators to wrestle with the old and new energy issues facing the Commonwealth, here is a review of some…
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Navy Ditches Drag Queen Recruiting Videos
by Kerry Dougherty Whoa. Stop the presses. Big news out of Washington. Navy brass has confirmed that it’s scrapped its ingenuous recruiting tool. You know, the one we wrote about last spring: drag queens. Yep, Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, a non-binary sailor who likes to dress up like a woman and prance around on…
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Giant Utility Rejects Net Zero Power; Big Fight Follows
by David Wojick Dominion Energy, Virginia’s big electric utility, is telling the state it does not foresee complying with the 2045 net zero power target in the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The preferred option in Dominion’s latest Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) retires no fossil-fueled power generators, other than the few old ones that are…
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Will Dove Get the Bud Light Treatment?
by Kerry Dougherty Does the name Morgan Bettinger sound familiar? Perhaps not. She’s just another victim of fake hate at the University of Virginia. A girl who was wrongly labeled a racist and who suffered as a result of a relentless, mean-spirited campaign to drive her out of school. Meanwhile, the person who accused her…
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Virginia’s “Runaway” Budget Negotiators
by Derrick A. Max (This column was first published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy) Fear of commitment is a common theme in Hollywood — where romantic comedies are replete with characters that sidestep long-term commitment primarily out of fear that someone better may come along. Think of Runaway Bride, where Maggie, played…
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Did Assembly Trim Dominion Bills $7-$14? No.
by Steve Haner When the Virginia General Assembly passed a complicated electricity regulation change a few months ago, the Richmond Times-Dispatch parroted as fact this Dominion Energy Virginia claim in a front-page paragraph: The compromise on electric bills — in legislation that passed nearly unanimously — would bring an immediate $6 to $7 cut in…
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Youngkin’s Partial Tax Wins are Still Impressive
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and the legislators of both parties who have given him at least some of the tax reforms he asked for need to stop being shy and take a real victory lap. He has been in office…
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POLLS: Inflation Top Issue; Virginians Reject Democrats’ Position on Abortion
by Shaun Kenney New polling data from Founders Insight reveal that 24% of Virginians are putting inflation as their top concern heading into the November elections, with abortion coming in at 15% and split between Democrats and Republicans. To make matters worse for Virginia Democrats, a summer spent pushing abortion rights has backfired spectacularly, as…
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Legislature Moves To Fill Power Vacuum It Created
By Steve Haner State Senator Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, showed today that he had something which the State Corporation Commission now lacks – a quorum. Surovell and the other legislators will gather in Richmond tomorrow to address the state budget but are expected once again to fail to fill the two vacancies on that vital…
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TJI To SCC: Keep Dominion Gas Plants
The following has been submitted to the State Corporation Commission via the public comment portal it has established for Dominion Energy Virginia’s pending 2023 Integrated Resource Plan. It was drafted by Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy Senior Fellow Stephen D. Haner. Dominion Energy Virginia is acting reasonably and prudently by planning to maintain most…
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Labor Day: A New Start
by Kerry Dougherty Labor Day. America’s most ambiguous national holiday. Think about it. On other special days – Memorial, Independence, Veterans, Thanksgiving, Presidents, Martin Luther King and Christmas – we pause, however briefly, to honor a beloved person or a historical event. We have parades, visit cemeteries, blast fireworks, give thanks, recite a famous speech…
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The Virginia State Budget and the Rising Costs of Registered Nurses
by James C. Sherlock I was asked yesterday by a reader about the relationship between nursing homes, rising registered nurse salaries and the new Virginia budget agreement. Good questions. Virginia’s workforce includes nearly 70,000 registered nurses. The state pays its workers, but it also pays its Medicaid share for private sector nurses. Pay for private…
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Virginia Has an Opportunity to Take the Lead in Nursing Home Technology Insertion to Improve Care with Existing Staff
by James C. Sherlock A pending new federal rule defining strong nursing home staffing minimums has finally accomplished something that I thought unlikely in my lifetime. It has in a single stroke aligned the interests of patients and their loved ones, nurses, nursing homes, state and federal governments, and taxpayers in finding ways to make…
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An Overdue New Federal Rule to Improve Nursing Home Staffing
By James C. Sherlock What would happen if the federal government were to propose for the first time specific nursing home staffing minimums? We are about to find out. A new rule. A new federal proposed rule introduced yesterday has already survived fierce opposition from the industry, which tried to kill it in the womb.…
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Short Term Rentals — Long Term Impact
by Jon Balilies The City of Richmond has been discussing altering and revising regulations about short-term rentals (STR’s) and the next action will take place at the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday afternoon (September 5th). It is an important decision because it is entirely possible the decision by the Commission and ultimately City Council could…