Category: Science & Technology
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Is 2013 the Year of Bill Bolling?
By Peter Galuszka It’s not even 2013 year and the maneuvering in the gubernatorial race is mystifying, showing disarray in both political parties. Mild-mannered, former GOP loyalist Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is showing new backbone that can only be taken to be mean he may well run as an independent now that he has abandoned…
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Rise of the Machines?
By Peter Galuszka Economic regions go through natural iterations of what makes money and creates jobs. But that “what” can be transitional if not ephemeral. Consider industries for Dutch tulips or New England ice. Ditto Virginia. It’s been through tobacco, apples, battleships, retailing, furniture, textiles and moonshine. A couple of decades ago, with proponents of…
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Dragas, U.Va. Board Get Wrists Slapped
By Peter Galuszka Knocking down the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia a tad, a regional college accrediting agency has issued a warning, its lowest level of disciplinary action, because of the way the BOV handled the forced firing and reinstatement of President Teresa Sullivan earlier this year. The Southern Association of Colleges…
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Is Offshore Wind Finally Twirling in Virginia?
By Peter Galuszka After years of hemming and hawing about offshore oil drilling, Virginia finally seems on track to develop wind energy off its coast. The U.S. Interior Department announced Nov. 30 that next year it would lease rights to 112,800 acres of ocean bed a little more than 23 miles off the southern part…
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Has Road Privatization Gone Frankenstein?
By Peter Galuszka Since 1995, Virginia’s politicians have had a ready tool that they love to use as a ruse to build roads without raising taxes: the Public Privatization Transportation Act. Once considered a nation-beater and major step in the craze of putting private management methods and money in pubic transport projects, the PPTA was…
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A Bump in the Road for the Cville Bypass?
Foes of the Charlottesville Bypass have won an important ally. In an advisory opinion, the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) consider alternatives to the 6.5-mile bypass of U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville. Sean Tubbs fleshes out the details in Charlottesville Tomorrow: “Alternatives analysis is the heart of [the…
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Black Friday, Internet Retailing and the Tax Base
by James A. Bacon As millions of Americans plot their insane Black Friday retail rush, trampling over one another to reach the best deals in Wal-Mart and Target, millions of other Americans are planning to sit at home and shop online. Who needs the risk of getting crushed like a fallen participant in the Pamplona…
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Solid Thinking about Richmond’s Future
by James A. Bacon Richmond’s Future, a regional think tank founded by former Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene Trani, is spear-heading the most interesting conversations taking place today about the future path of the region’s economic development. It’s a welcome change from the regional leadership’s old habit of touring other cities in the search of…
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Va. Offshore Oil Back on the Front Burner
By Peter Galuszka Pressure is building to open up Atlantic seafloor off of Virginia for oil exploration. This time, according to a New York Times article, both of Virginia’s Democratic Senators are on board with Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and the state’s mostly GOP Congressional contingent to open up tracts off the coast for…
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Coal Firm Swears off Mountaintop Removal
By Peter Galuszka In what may become a widespread trend, a major American coal firm, Patriot Coal, has agreed in a court case to ween itself from mountaintop removal mining practices in the Central Appalachian region of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Bankrupt Patriot agreed to shut down a huge drag line at its…
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Is Now the Time for a Carbon Tax?
By Peter Galuszka With the 2012 election decided, there seems to be some movement towards considering establishing a carbon tax to cut greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change. Despite the Kyoto Protocols of 1997, which the U.S. did not sign, and a slew of renewable energy projects in places such as Europe, there has been…
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The Scary New World of Uneven Sea Water Levels
By Peter Galuszka Ten days later, New York City and parts of the New Jersey and New York coast are still reeling from Super Storm Sandy as yet another nor’easter packing 50 mile per hour winds approaches. Scientific evidence points out that sea level rises caused by melting polar icecaps caused, in turn, by climate…
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President Barack Obama!
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in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, 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, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka President Barack Obama’s re-election and success with Virginia in Tuesday’s contest could provide a fresh opportunity to solidify more economic recovery than what have otherwise may have happened. It could be a real chance for bipartisan progress. Here’s my takeaway at 2:30 a.m.: Virginia has again shown that it is morphing into…
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“The Bay,” The Chesapeake As Horror Movie
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in Agriculture & forestry, Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Environment, Government Finance, Health Care, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Property rights, Science & Technology, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka Imagine you are enjoying a refreshing summertime swim in the Chesapeake Bay or one of the Rivahs. You feel great, but shortly afterwards, you become very ill. Before you know it, new forms of parasitic isopods are eating up your heart, lungs and kidneys. You are terrified, in great pain and you…
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Celanese: The “War on Coal” Versus Reality
By Peter Galuszka The “War on Coal” has marched on Giles County and the propaganda is flying. Yet the problem is a bit more complicated. The latest skirmish involves a Celanese Acetate plant that makes products for cigarette filters and other items. The largest employer in the mountainous county, Celanese opened its chemical works on…