Category: Science & Technology
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Data Shows Hospital Billing Outrages
By Peter Galuszka It’s long been fascinating how Big Hospitals, linked with Medicare, Big Pharma and Big Managed Care, have come up with an extraordinarily convoluted system of setting prices for various hospital procedures. There is plenty of nonsense about including on this blog about bringing “free market efficiencies” to health care, as if human…
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Made in Virginia: Boron Nanotubes
by James A. Bacon I’ve long held a pet theory that Virginia should strive to achieve a leadership position in high-performance fibers. We’ll never wrest semiconductors and software from Silicon Valley, we’ll never replicate the biotech assets of Boston. There’s no point in chasing faddish industries. Just pick a cool but under-appreciated industry to build…
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Smarter Analytics for Smarter Roads
As information technology continues to penetrate traditional industry sectors like transportation, the innovations just keep on rolling in. The latest case in point comes from a San Francisco-based start-up, StreetLight Data, co-founded by Richmond native Laura Schewel. StreetLight Data combines a variety of data sources — wireless data, GPS navigation data, Census data — to…
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VDOT Privatizes Management of Traffic Control Centers
by James A. Bacon The McDonnell administration is tapping Serco., Inc., an English firm with international traffic management experience, to take over Virginia’s five transportation management centers. The six-year deal, announced yesterday, will be implemented as a public-private partnership in a $355 million contract. Thirty-two firms had responded to the state’s Request for Proposal. Serco…
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Don’t Look Over Your Shoulder, Richard Bland College May Be Gaining on You
by James A. Bacon While Virginia’s largest public universities continue to jack up tuition at rates far surpassing inflation and the growth in wages in order to protect Business-As-Usual education, the state’s tiniest public institution of higher education is experimenting with hybrid online learning. Petersburg-based Richard Bland College has launched a global online institute that…
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Millennials, Cars and Smart Phones
by James A. Bacon Several years ago, I gave a speech at a Virginia Department of Transportation event calling into question travel-demand forecasts based upon the extrapolation of past trends endlessly into the future. Among the looming changes I mentioned, as I recall, were the retirement of the massive Baby Boomer generation (retirees drive less),…
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McAuliffe: Can a Schmoozer Transform?
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in 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, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka On Easter Sunday, I was driving in a cold rain to Charlottesville for a family event. My cell phone started beeping with messages from Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe. He said he was on his way to his own family brunch but wanted to tap me for $5. I got similar messages…
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“Not about Doing Education on the Cheap”
by James A. Bacon About a year ago, Philip Zelikow, the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia, knew little more about online learning than the average man. But one day he found himself in an executive retreat at the Boar’s Head Inn with Meredith June-En Woo, dean of the College…
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Sullivan’s Risky Bet on STEM
by Reed Fawell III Teresa Sullivan’s proposed four-year financial plan will forever alter the character and mission of the University of Virginia, undermining the financial model that has enabled the university to thrive. If adopted by the Board of Visitors, the plan will raise student tuition to fund the conversion of the University from a…
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The Rise of Civic Tech
Call it digital cities, call it civic tech, call it what you will — information technology is transforming the way local governments deliver services. This brief video by Ben Hecht, CEO of Living Cities, gives a flavor. My favorite example he cites: The Boston Bump. Instead of dispatching engineers around the city to survey the…
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Technology and UVa’s Mission
by James A. Bacon Three days ago, I criticized University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan for proposing to jack up tuition roughly 20% over the next four years. Clearly, the four-year plan she is submitting to the Board of Visitors champions the interests of the faculty and administration over those of the students. But that…
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What’s the Deal With Star Scientific, McDonnell and Cuccinelli?
By Peter Galuszka What, exactly, is the relationship between Governor Robert F. McDonnell, his family, and Attorney Gen. Kenneth Cuccinelli with the head of a money-losing, tobacco-related dietary supplement maker that is the target of federal prosecutors? All involve Jonnie R. Williams Sr., chief executive of Star Scientific, a Henrico County-based firm that has sold…
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The “New” Mind of the South
By Peter Galuszka What is “the South” all about? It’s a great question about what could fairly be described the most unique, tortured and remote region of the United States. Being “Southern” requires not only a special state of mind, but a special spirit that is, by turns, as alluring as it is odious. It…
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Big Brother Is Not Watching… Yet
Spanish scientists have devised a way to make GPS accurate to within six feet, a development that will make it possible to improve maps and directions in cities where tall buildings block satellite signals, find and reserve parking spaces, and eventually to create smart traffic systems with GPS-guided cars. All very cool. But there’s a…
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Virginia May Help Offshore Wind Power Up
By Peter Galuszka About 22 miles off Virginia Beach, at points too far to see with human eyes, Virginia’s first real effort to harness the wind for electricity is about to take shape. Richmond-based Dominion Virginia Power will begin work this year on erecting two wind turbines, each capable of producing 6 megawatts of electricity…