The General Assembly would express “profound regret” for Virginia’s role in slavery and for “historic wrongs visited upon native peoples” in the latest version of a proposed apology that cleared the House Rules Committee yesterday, reports Pamela Stallsmith with the Times-Dispatch. The revised version of an apology originally authored by Del. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico,…

I don’t know how practical his idea is, but you’ve got to admire Del. Steve Landes, R-Augusta, for his moxie. Reports Hugh Lessig with the Daily Press: [Landes] wanted higher education institutions to report back on policies that would ensure academic freedom in support of intellectual diversity. The reports were optional, and Landes said he…

Bills that would begin to dismantle the state’s innovation-stifling process for approving and regulating health-care facilities died in the House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee yesterday, reports Tammie Smith with the Times-Dispatch. Del. John M. O’Bannon III, R-Henrico, a physician, asked that his deregulation bill be stricken after a key stipulation was removed during a…

The American Journalism Review has published a balanced overview of the “Culture Clash” in the newsroom of the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a new publisher, Tom Silvestri, and executive editor, Glenn Proctor, endeavor to reinvent the august family newspaper in an era of declining circulation and stagnant revenue. Here’s the summary graph: Some have bristled at…

Bacon’s Rebellion has upgraded its Blogger software. The main change that should be visible to readers is the “label” for each story. If there is a particular editorial theme that you want to follow, click on the label link at the bottom of each post. You will be taken to a page where only posts…

The House of Delegates has killed the move to raise the minimum wage in Virginia from $5.15 per hour to $7.15 in 2008. (Read the account in the Virginian-Pilot.) I know all the free-market arguments against minimum wage, but I had nearly convinced myself that raising it wouldn’t hurt. So few people are making minimum…

I had planned to drop the Apology for Slavery theme — let’s talk about what we can do to improve the lives of all Virginians now instead of wallowing in the past — but the Times-Dispatch published a story yesterday that was so outrageous, I have to respond. Here is the lede paragraph of a…

Virginia’s transportation crisis is largely a commuting crisis: traffic congestion encountered along the routes, and during the time of day, that people drive between home and work. This crisis is as much an artifact of late 20th-century social arrangements as it is a shortage of road capacity and dysfunctional land use patterns. As long as…

Sam Clay and his friends at the Fairfax County library system, compilers of our “Nice & Curious Questions,” column have departed from their usual deep dive into the offbeat, curious and eccentric in Virginia to recount their own bizarre tale. The Washington Post published an article inaccurately implying that library officials were purging their stacks…

The Jan. 22, 2007, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion has been published. Don’t miss a single issue —click here to get it delivered free into your inbox. Here are the highlights: Power PlayNorthern Virginia could face blackouts by 2011. But is it necessary to run a high-voltage transmission line through Virginia’s piedmont to avert them? Many…

The Washington Post has published a must-read article about the nexus of ties between the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and local developers. Michael Laris and David Fallis deserve major kudos for the kind of investigative journalism that has become all too rare in Virginia today. The article starts out strong and just gets better:…

Michael Shear with the Washington Post tells the story of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering of Republican leaders in the General Assembly to overcome their differences and cobble together a compromise transportation “solution.” What comes through very clearly: Fear of retribution at the polls drove the compromise. Writes Shear: Shocked by George Allen’s loss in last year’s…

Jim Bacon will be staying on top of the “transportation / land use” issue with blow by blow postings. The MainStream Media and those standing for election in November call this “solving Virginia’s road crisis.” Others call it “the mobility and access crisis” which, along with “the affordable and accessible housing crisis,” have the potential,…

The funding mechanisms in the GOP transportation package are a Frankenstein monster of ill-fitting body parts hideously stitched together. They are atrociously, terrifyingly bad. If enacted, the funding package would sever any connection between those who use the transportation system and those who pay for it. This transportation package would subsidize people who drive more…

The Republican transportation package recommends a number of valuable reforms, but it omits at least three critical components to any meaningful re-shaping of Virginia’s transportation system. Technology. Other than a bill that would require all tolls to convert to electronic payments, the GOP package fails to utilize promising new technologies. Intelligent Transportation Systems would put…