In his 9 July post “Downtown Plans and Balanced Communities,” Jim Bacon mentioned that we are working on a book (TRILO-G) to be published “in the near future.” That is “near future” in book writing time, not in blog time. Do not expect to see a copy of this three Volume set in your in…

Yes, that would be me. Right now, I feel head-smackingly stupid. I had every intention of attending the Blogs United conference in Newport News today. I registered, sent in my check, lined up a hotel room at the Marriott and entered the date into my calendar. I got up early this morning, hit the road…

Prince William County’s crackdown on illegal immigrants may spawn imitators around the state, reports the Times-Dispatch. Chesterfield County, which is studying the illegal-alien issue, might consider proposals similar to Prince William’s actions. Said Supervisor Chair Kelly E. Miller: “I don’t know until we get back the report what kind of options exist for us legally,…

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors grabbed center stage yesterday with its resolution, one of the toughest local ordinances in the country, designed to curtail illegal immigration. But the PWC supervisors weren’t acting in a vacuum. The House of Delegates had laid much of the intellectual groundwork this spring, passing a number of bills…

The illegal immigration debate may have dialed back to a simmer in Congress but it’s heating back up locally. The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last night to curb access by illegal immigrants to public services and to step up immigration enforcement by local police. The public hearing was Prince William’s largest…

Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder can be his own worst enemy: He’s picked a fight with just about everyone in the city there is to pick a fight with. But that doesn’t make him wrong. He is dead-on accurate with his criticism of the city’s woefully underperforming schools. And he’s the only one in recent memory…

The decade of the 2000s has witnessed an extraordinary growth in spending and taxation at the local level in Virginia. Nowhere does this point emerge more clearly than a chart prepared by the Fairfax County Taxpayers Association that shows inflation-adjusted real estate taxes per household in Fairfax County. Comparable charts for neighboring jurisdictions, I am…

Jim Bacon sketched out a menu of potential actions for the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County in “Midlothian Leviathan” the column and Bacons News Service release he previewed in the Blog post “Challenged in Chesterfield” of 28 June. It is too bad that the loooooong Fourth of July weekend(s) seems to have sapped interest…

Aesthetes of the world, why trouble yourself with those mangey, lesser blogs when you can indulge in the very finest of social agitation and political perturbations at the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine? You can view the July 2, 2007 edition right here. Don’t miss a single malcontented issue — sign up for a free subscription here.…

Edith White, president of the Hampton Roads branch of the Urban League, says apology resolutions and expressions of regret for slavery, in Virginia and in other states, are a step in the right direction. According to the Associated Press, White hopes that the resolutions will “get more people talking about race.” Yeah, that’s a big…

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher has picked up on concerns that Bechtel Corporation, the lead contractor in Boston’s Big Dig fiasco, is the company in charge of extending Metro rail to Tysons Corner and beyond. He adds a few tidbits to the general knowledge base, quoting Sam Carnaggio, the state’s project director for the Metro…

We’re beginning to see results from Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s “Government & Regulatory Reform Task Force”. The task force has issued 63 recommendations in the realms of agriculture, health care and small business. While the effort is noble in intent, the fruits of the task force’s labor are less than breathtaking. Indeed, most recommendations are…

One of the crowning accomplishments of the Warner administration was creation of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, which was supposed to rationalize the state’s IT systems. Yesterday, widespread computer crashes across state government disrupted service to at least one-fifth of Virginia government agencies, reports Peter Bacque at the Times-Dispatch. The effects: State and local police…

The front page of today’s WaPo Business section has a graphic that should become the screen saver for every politician and every advocate for Fundamental Change. The graphic portrays federal spending as a percentage of GNP — history and projections to 2050. The article has the “positions” of six of the 37 people who has…

The University of Virginia will allow same-sex partners of students and employees to join the university’s gyms. Gay and lesbian staff members had pushed the university for years to add the benefit, according to the Daily Progress. Earlier this month, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell informed the university it could provide gym memberships to adults…