The Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (TICR) has spent 12 years and $756 million on the goal of revitalizing the tobacco- and manufacturing-dependent economy of Southside and Southwest Virginia. What do the residents of those regions have to show for all that money? That’s the question I would like to have seen answered in…

Benchmarking VirginiaJoint Legislative Audit and Review CommissionJLARC compares Virginia to the other states on 34 measures of demographic, economic and fiscal performance. Lots of raw material for public policy junkies. VCU Meets Performance StandardsJoint Legislative Audit and Review CommissionVirginia Commonwealth University met all but one of 17 performance standards in its most recent review. The…

Barnie Day has reviewed “Boomergeddon” over on Bob Holsworth’s “Virginia Tomorrow” blog. Barnie doesn’t like the cover… make that, he hates the cover… but he praises what’s inside. Here’s the juiciest nugget: The cover not withstanding, Boomergeddon should be required reading. Period. This is not some policy Pooh-Bah’s slanted screed, although Bacon can hold his…

Virginia state and local governments increased their indebtedness by almost $400 per capita — up 6% –in FY 2008 compared to the year before. But the commonwealth’s ranking among the 50 states slipped only one notch, to 28th most debt-ridden state in the union, because state and local governments nationally borrowed more as well, piling…

It’s often tempting to refer to Virginia’s state legislature as an ignorant rabble, but that caricature is difficult to maintain in light of a Chronicle of Higher Education research report showing that 88.6% of the 140 members of the General Assembly have college degrees — the second highest level in the country. Only California ranks…

Summer Learning, Summer FunRand CorporationSummer learning loss is a problem for all kids, lower-income ones especially. Developing summer learning programs in the current fiscal environment is challenging but feasible. * * * Find more than 240 studies and reports on public policy issues affecting states, metropolitan regions and communities. Peruse the latest research by topic…

A new Government Accounting Office report has mapped the locations of some 284 tall smokestacks, 500 feet or higher, around the country. The purpose of tall stacks, located primarily at coal-fired power plants, is to lift sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other pollutants high enough into the air that they can avoid concentrated pollution…

Cutting Higher Ed Spending: The Oklahoma ExperienceOklahoma Council of Public AffairsDespite recent cuts in state subsidies, higher ed spending in Oklahoma universities is still higher than five years ago, adjusted for inflation and enrollments. Meanwhile, many students learn little, and many never graduate.

Do you wonder why: ● The US and about half the planets population is stalled in a Jobless ‘recovery’? ● There is no sign of an end of decline in the price of dwellings and land held for speculatively Urban development? ● Most citizens do not believe The Great Recession is ‘over’ and most do…

The municipal government lobby has long had a powerful presence in the General Assembly in the form of government officials and paid lobbyists. But local government leaders still feel out-gunned by powerful special interests. So, now, members of the Virginia Municipal League are voting in an online referendum whether or not to launch a Political…

After reading James Bovard’s blistering account in the Wall Street Journal of working a summer job for the old Virginia Highway Department back in 1973, all I can say is, yikes, I sure hope the corporate culture of the Virginia Department of Transportation has changed in the last 38 years. As a 16-year-old flagman, Bovard…

U.S. Anti-Poverty Programs Are Paternalistic, But They Do Reduce PovertyNational Bureau of Economic ResearchEntitlement benefits have a major impact on poverty rates in the United States, reducing the percentage of poor people from 29% to 13.5% (2005 data). Measuring Value in Healthcare: Still Fraught with IssuesUrban InstituteNearly everyone agrees that the U.S. healthcare system needs…

In Fiscal 2010, Massachusetts state and local governments spent $10 billion on public school education, or $11,068 per student — about $1.3 billion more than the minimum “foundation budget” required by state law. The authors of a new study, “Why Massachusetts Should Spend Less on Education,” ask an important question: Has that extra spending generated…

Drawing upon 2009 U.S. Census data, the Brookings Institution has mapped out the ratio of high, moderate and low skilled immigrants in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The good news for Virginia: All three of our major metros — Washington, Hampton Roads and Richmond — are among the 44 regions in which high-skill immigrants…

Hard Child-Care Choices for Poor Working FamiliesUrban InstituteProblem: Poor, working parents have a hard time finding decent child care for their children. Solution: Increased federal funding for child-care assistance. Getting Buy-In for Medical Outcomes ReportingRobert Woods Johnson FoundationMaking medical costs and outcomes data available to the public will drive the transformation of the health care…