Energy Star another Greenwashing Program?Government Accountability OfficeUndercover GAO investigators submit 15 phony products making outrageous energy efficiency claims, including “gasoline-powered alarm clock,” for certification. Most are approved. Conclusion, the program is ripe for fraud and abuse. Medicaid Expansion and the Physician ShortageNational Bureau of Economic ResearchWhat happens when we expand Medicaid during a doctor shortage?…

Virginia is a surprisingly diverse state — not diverse in the multi-cultural sense, although that is increasingly true, but in the sense of having eight distinct regions. To provide a more accurate picture of how Virginia is changing, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service has published eight regional profiles based on the 2010 Census…

As California’s political class continues to demolish the Golden State’s business climate, private businesses are fleeing in record numbers. Virginia is one of the primary beneficiaries. Blogging as the “Business Relocation Coach,” Irvine, California-based Joseph Vranich has built a comprehensive database of corporate investment decisions based on public domain information, closure notices to the state…

Speaking of the Rail-to-Dulles project, it’s nice to see that I’m not alone in focusing on the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) that would require the prime contractor of Phase 2 to hire a union workforce, or the role of Dennis Martire, vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of America (LiUNA) in shepherding the requirement…

Here’s a terrifying idea: Make the Rail-to-Dulles heavy rail project cheaper to finance by letting the Commonwealth of Virginia issue its bonds. With its AAA credit rating, the commonwealth recently paid 4% interest rates on transportation bonds that it issued earlier this year. That’s a lot cheaper than the 7% to 7.5% the Metropolitan Washington…

Schools Trying to Create a Health Environment but Have Long Way to GoRobert Wood Johnson FoundationSchools have gotten the message they need to provide better nutrition to their pupils, but most kids still have access to pizza, fries, soft drinks and other junk food. Transportation in an Age of Fiscal AusterityBipartisan Policy CenterHow federal transportation…

Virginia Uranium Inc., a tiny Chatham-based firm that wants to mine uranium in south central Virginia near Gretna, is flying more than a dozen state legislators to France to drum up momentum to end the state’s ban on uranium mining in next year’s General Assembly. The lobbying effort includes all-expenses paid and three days off…

Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton is popping up everywhere. He has successfully pushed a plan to add $3 billion in road construction money that he just borrowed on the capital markets. He’s in Sunday’s Washington Post telling us how his boss, Gov. Robert McDonnell, really has passenger rail at heart even if he won’t go…

Now this gets my attention! As a follow-up to my recent post, “The Brutal Facts Facing Southside and Southwest Virginia,” let me bring to your attention today’s press release from the governor’s office announcing the creation of a Center for Applied High Performance Computing in Danville. Noblis, a non-profit scientific organization, and Cray, Inc., a…

Higher education is a highly profitable business. That applies not only to “for-profit” colleges like the University of Phoenix, which reported a 30% operating profit margin in the first quarter of 2011, but the so-called “nonprofits.” How can a nonprofit have a profit? Economically speaking, as Vance H. Fried with the Cato Institute argues in…

How Uncle Sam Can Drive Education Reform at the Local LevelCenter for American ProgressCongress should reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to make the federal government a stronger catalyst for reform of local school systems. Save Southern Forests by Taxing on Basis of Current Use, not Market ValueWorld Resources InstituteRising property taxes resulting from…

There is one very important benefit to building roads and parking spaces: They facilitate travel by automobile. Cars are a wonderful convenience. The personal mobility afforded by automobiles ranks so high in the list of fundamental human desires that people in developing countries around the world purchase cars as soon as they can afford them.…

Proposed EPA Clean-Air Rules Expensive, but Worth ItBipartisan Policy CenterA slew of regulations under consideration by the Environmental Protection Agency will require significant investments in the electric power system but the benefits to the environment and public health exceed the compliance costs. The Role of Research Universities and Labs in Manufacturing CompetitivenessCouncil on CompetitivenessTo stay…

This column published in the Washington Times this morning is a Virginia story even though the Upper Big Branch mine is located in West Virginia: Massey Energy and Alpha Natural Resources are both Virginia-based companies. Later this month, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is expected to release the findings of its investigation into…

I am nearly ready to pull the trigger on a major re-design and re-launch of the Bacon’s Rebellion blog and website. But the new design you see on this page isn’t it. Blogger has just introduced some new templates, which I’m taking advantage of because the result is so much better than the old Blogger…