Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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Virginia’s Philosophical Crossroads
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t OversightStanding before a trim, white, clapboard house off Lafayette Boulevard in Norfolk last week, friends and supporters of gay rights cheered loudly as two same sex couples approached a front-yard podium to celebrate their legal victory in having Virginia’s gay marriage ban overturned. The night before, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen, citing Abraham Lincoln…
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Why Are Virginians Such Weather Whoosies?
By Peter Galuszka The other day I tried to book a lunch date with the Blogger in Chief but was informed that inclement weather was looming on the Old Dominion and he might be hibernating for a few days. Imagine my surprise this morning when I awoke to find a few inches of snow and…
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What E-Cigs Mean for Tobacco-Happy Virginia
By Peter Galuszka A couple of weekends ago, RVA Vapes, brightly lit with colorful lights, held its grand opening in Richmond. It’s one of a rising number of new outlets that cater to “vapers” or people who use electronic cigarettes. There are plenty of such stores, many decorated in a 1960s head shop style from…
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Time to Overhaul Traffic Engineering Guidelines
by James A. Bacon Employees of the Virginia Department of Transportation, like most transportation departments, see themselves as being in the profession of building roads for cars. The challenge is to move the highest volume of cars as rapidly as possible through a given number of lanes. Designing roads for the convenience of pedestrians, bikers…
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Yet Another Coal-Related Mess
By Peter Galuszka More and more, “The War on Coal.” seems like “The War On Us.” Just a few weeks after 300,000 people in the Charleston, W.Va. area were without drinking water because of a coal preparation chemical leaked into the Kanawha River system, another spill involving coal could threaten the drinking water of Danville…
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Matatus for America
by James A. Bacon What would happen if government didn’t subsidize publicly owned mass transit systems in the United States? How would millions of car-less Americans ever get around? It may be instructive to look at the example of Nairobi, Kenya, a city of three million that hasn’t gotten around to establishing a municipal transit…
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Why Is Anatabloc Still Being Sold?
By Peter Galuszka One real question involving indicted former governor Robert F. McDonnell may well not be the issues about the ethics of public officials he raises. Indeed, according to Forbes and Slate, the real problem is that unregulated dietary supplements that McDonnell was promoting for his former friend and benefactor Jonnie R. Williams Sr. of…
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Big Box, Big Bollox
by James A. Bacon Lefty Smart Growthers loathe big box stores, none more so than Wal-Mart. The big boxes are ugly as sin, they (allegedly) oppress their workers, they perpetuate dysfunctional, auto-centric human settlement patterns and they drive small, independent merchants out of business. If only there were a way to legislate them out of…
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Message to GOP: Shoe’s On The Other Foot
By Peter Galuszka Not three weeks ago, Newly elected Gov. Terry McAuliffe stood before the Virginia State Capitol and extolled a new era of bipartisanship in Richmond. It doesn’t seem to have lasted very long. Whether by design or chance, a series of events have strengthened the state Democrats’ hand and terrified the Republicans who…
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McDonnells: Don’t Need “Quid” for “Quo”
By Peter Galuszka How many times have you seen on this blog the comments or headlines regarding the McDonnell case as “No quid for the quo” as if that somehow absolves the former governor and his wife of any legal problems and brings them to automatic innocence? Well, before we all become over-Baconated in amateur…
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In Court With the McDonnells
By Peter Galuszka The courtroom was packed and I ended up in the hallway of Richmond’s fairly new and modern look federal courts building. Inside, history was being made: a bond hearing for Robert F. McDonnell, the first Virginia governor, former or sitting, ever to be charged with misconduct while in office. Inside, U.S. Magistrate…
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The McDonnells and Their Apologists
By Peter Galuszka It seems bizarre to balance news of the worst political corruption scandal in the state’s history and efforts by bloggers and commenters on Bacons Rebellion to dismiss it all as “everyone does it.” The apologia is getting a little too hot and heavy here. One famous blogger wanted to smack former governor…
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A Sad Day for the Commonwealth
By Peter Galuszka It’s a sad day for Virginia. Former Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his wife have been charged by federal authorities with 14 felony counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obtaining property through their office in connection with their relationship with Jonnie R. Williams, former chief of Star Scientific. The…
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West Virginia’s Lessons on Fracking
By Peter Galuszka Tap water is now drinkable for most of the 300,000 residents in the environs of Charleston, the capital of Virginia’s sister state to the west, but the mess has ample warnings for future problems notably fracking for natural gas. The national newspapers are filled with interesting pieces this morning about the problems…
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Journalism’s Death Is Greatly Exaggerated
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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…