Category: Uncategorized
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Eclipse Wash Out
Here was the view of the 86% eclipse from my house. Woo hoo! This big flippin’ cloud sailed in from nowhere just in time to block out everything. I’ll take another whack at it in 2024. I wonder how Bill Tracey fared.
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Sweet Sunset
I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Virginian and would never seriously think about moving to any other state. But if I did… The North Carolina coast would be at the top of the list of places I’d consider.
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Fulminations about Yuppy Scum and Idiot Technology
OK, I’m really ticked off, my wife is out of the house, and I have no one to vent to. So, I will air my wrath online. First thing that happened: I was picking up some branches out of Countryside Lane at the intersection with River Road. (No, I’m not much of a Good Samaritan,…
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Everything Is Better with Bacon
Quick, load up on bacon while you can! The national craving for bacon is pushing U.S. pork belly prices to record highs, reports the Wall Street Journal. Americans purchased 14% more bacon at stores in 2016 than the previous year, and stocks of bacon in commercial freezers have begun running low. Farmers increased the size…
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Fralin Assumes SCHEV Leadership
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) elected W. Heywood Fralin, a prominent Roanoke businessman and former rector of the University of Virginia, as chairman Wednesday. Fralin replaces G. Gilmer Minor III, much beloved by SCHEV staff and fellow council members, who after two terms was ineligible for reappointment to the board. Minor,…
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An Extraordinary Ordinary Man
My dad was not a famous man, but he was a great man — at least in my eyes. He served his country in the military. He rose from humble beginnings to a high-level position in the corporate world. He was active in the community, helping those less fortunate than him. He loved his family,…
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Chesapeake Crabs Rejoice at Crab Picker Shortage
For many years, the big challenge besetting Chesapeake Bay watermen was the declining crab population. As the number of crabs dropped from 680 million in 1990 to 300 million in 2014, so did harvests. The crab count rebounded to 553 million last year. Now the problem isn’t a shortage of crabs, it’s a shortage of crab pickers.…
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Josh Lief Releases Album
Josh Lief, an economic development official in the Gilmore administration, was in the starting line-up of Bacon’s Rebellion columnists when I started publishing in 2002. He moved on to run the Virginia International Raceway and, then, five years later, to practice law. I lost track of him, but he has resurfaced with the roll-out of…
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How to Destroy a Small Town: Build More Stroads
I have a meeting tomorrow with Augie Wallmeyer, author of “The Extremes of Virginia,” a book that highlights the perilous social and economic condition of rural/small town Virginia. In anticipation of the conversation, I have been reflecting upon what it takes to stabilize rural counties whose economies have been devastated by the decline of coal,…
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How Kumbaya Disciplinary Policies Hurt Black Students
Here we go again… The Richmond Times-Dispatch tells us this morning that a “pattern” in Chesterfield and Henrico counties of suspending black students with disabilities at a disproportionately high rates has triggered a response from the state. Chesterfield, Henrico and the City of Richmond are among seven Virginia school districts mandated to set aside federal…
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Health Care as Entitlement for All
by Allen Barringer For seven years now we have lived with “Obamacare,” the Affordable Care Act, and now we are engaged in rewriting it as the American Health Care Act, and, yes, it’s “all very complicated.” One thing already is clear: both Democrats and Republicans talk about “affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans” —…
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Fix the Broken Regulatory Process
There must be a better way for federal agencies to review infrastructure mega-projects. A few days ago, I asked why, after three-and-a-half years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to give a yea or nay on Dominion Virginia Power’s permit request for the Surry-Skiffes Creek transmission line. The issue I’m raising isn’t what the Army…
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Tommy Norment: W&M’s Highest Paid Adjunct Prof
The $60,000 a year that state Sen. Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, gets paid by the College of William & Mary makes him the highest-paid adjunct faculty working for the university, according to Travis Fain with the Daily News. One hundred and fifty-five W&M adjunct faculty are paid less than $10,000 a year. Of the 44 faculty members…
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In Defense of Out-of-State Students
As recently as the 1990s, the Commonwealth of Virginia did something that would be considered unthinkable in today’s political environment — it subsidized 25% of the tuition of out-of-state students enrolled in Virginia’s public colleges and universities. Legislators believed there was a value to attracting bright young people to the Old Dominion. In two-and-a-half decades, says…