Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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Utilities Face Paperwork Blizzard to Provide Relief
by Steve Haner Virginia utility customers who are behind on their bills in the COVID-19 recession are closer to receiving government payments toward their debts, but there is one more paperwork hurdle that may trip some of them. A few days ago, the Virginia State Corporation Commission completed a preliminary allocation of the $100 million…
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What Do We Do “For the Children” Now?
by James C. Sherlock I just read Jim Bacon’s column. In it he revealed: “Most Virginians (64%) said they were somewhat or very satisfied with how school officials have handled instruction this fall. Only 22% were dissatisfied. At the same time, an even larger majority is worried that their children will fall behind: 53% very…
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EPA: PM 2.5 At Current Levels is No Threat
By Steve Haner “Everything is a poison, nothing is a poison. It is the dose that makes the poison” – Paracelsus (1493-1541 AD) A micron is a tiny thing. A grain of beach sand is about 90 microns, and a human hair 50 to 70 microns in diameter. In the coming session of the General…
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Chronic Absenteeism and SOL Failures in Virginia Schools
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes common sense is not so common as we think. Common sense will tell you that if a kid misses too much school, he or she is not going to keep up with the academics. That apparently has not occurred to the Virginia Board of Education or the Department for which…
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Omissions and Lies in the Annual Report of the Virginia Board of Education
by James C. Sherlock This weekend I read the 168-page 2020 Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia (the report) published by the Virginia Board of Education appointed by Governor Northam. The report is most notable for its omissions and occasional lies. Poverty. First the good news. The Board…
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Solar Panels in Virginia: A Primer
by Emilio Jaksetic Virginia law (Virginia Code, Section 67-701 ) makes it easier for owners to consider installing solar panels on their property by limiting the ability of community associations to prohibit or restrict the installation of solar panels on the owner’s property. While the statute is likely to encourage the use of solar panels…
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The Strange Case of the Pandemic Patriots
by Peter Galuszka In rural Southwest Virginia, the coronavirus pandemic has gotten so bad that Ballad Health, a major health care provider there, is suspending elective surgery for a month. System-wide, Ballad, which also operates in adjacent states, had 45 available beds as of Wednesday, only 13 or 14 of them ICU beds, according to…
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Herring’s Loudoun County Determination Part II – State-Sponsored Extortion
by James C. Sherlock Part one of two essays on this subject described a new Virginia law, a new Division in the Attorney Generals office, its function as a kangaroo court and its astonishing and sweeping “determination” against Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). The law requires LCPS to block Asian American kids from the competitively…
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GOP Group Seeks Repeal of 2020 Energy Omnibus
By Steve Haner A Virginia GOP activist group aimed at suburban voters will be advocating repeal of the Virginia Clean Economy Act by the 2021 General Assembly, seeking to return a herd of cows that is well out of the barn and busting down the pasture fence. The Suburban Virginia Republican Coalition has produced a…
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Thanksgiving Secrets
by Kerry Dougherty It’s a little like Mao’s Cultural Revolution, with cranberry sauce. I’m talking about Americans and their secret plans for Thanksgiving. Everywhere I go I bump into people whispering about where they’ll be and who they’ll be with this Thursday. Thanks to despotic governors and other meddling government officials, Thanksgiving shaming is a…
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Mark Herring’s Worst Thanksgiving – Conspiracy Against EVMS may lead to Federal Involvement
by James C. Sherlock Scandals are sometimes overrated. Not this one. I have reported here before on the strange case of the EVMS-ODU merger. I posted here on Nov 1, Nov 2 and Nov 3 with my own concerns on the subject. Many of my assessments came to fruition. On November 13 and 20, the Checks…
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Stewart Gets Last-Minute Gift From Trump
Peter Galuszka Corey A. Stewart, a conservative firebrand from Prince William County, is getting a last-minute going-away present from President Donald Trump. As Trump’s administration comes to an end, Trump has created a position on trade at the U.S. Commerce Department that is just for him. In 2016, Stewart headed Trump’s Virginia election campaign before…
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AG Mark Herring Takes Aim at Gun Show
by Kerry Dougherty Mark Herring is so proud of himself that he took to Twitter yesterday to do a little preening. Virginia’s attorney general even put those silly flashing light icons at the top of his post so you’d know this was really big news. Yep, Herring’s chuffed because he successfully stopped Virginians from buying…
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RGGI Carbon Tax Hits Dominion Bills Next Summer
By Steve Haner Beginning August 1 of next year, Dominion Energy Virginia proposes to begin to collect the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax from its customers, collecting $168 million during the first year through yet another of those proliferating rate adjustment clauses (or “RACs”). It will get it by charging a flat $.002388 per…
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Another VA Gas Pipeline Project Dies Under Fire
By Steve Haner Another proposal to build a pipeline pumping wealth and prosperity into the Virginia economy has been brought down. That is my impression of what the impact would be of expanding natural gas supply to our state – added wealth and prosperity. This beneficial project is not to be. Virginia Natural Gas has…