Tag: University of Virginia
-
Whatever Happened to “Boomergeddon?”
By Peter Galuszka Attention ditto-heads! Before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last night, there was an interesting piece on CNN of hard-line conservatives claiming two years ago that the U.S. economy would collapse if Obama were re-elected. They claimed that the U.S. faced uncontrollable government spending and ever-growing budget deficits. Obama’s efforts…
-
Back to Pork at Ft. Pickett
By Peter Galuszka It was curious that Gov. Terry McAuliffe, while emphasizing that the state needs to wean itself from the sweet milk of federal spending, pushed a very interesting government project in the piney woods of Nottoway and three other counties. In his speech to the 2015 General Assembly on Wednesday, McAuliffe said he…
-
Takeaways From Bob McDonnell’s Sentencing
—
by
in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka The outpouring of support for convicted former Gov. Robert F. McDonnell was overwhelming at his sentencing hearing yesterday at which he was told that he will serve two years in a federal penitentiary. And this very support stands in marked contrast to McDonnell’s performance on the witness stand during his marathon trial…
-
In Wake of Rolling Stone Fiasco, UVa Officials Also Have Some Explaining to Do
by James A. Bacon and Reed Fawell III On June 20, 2014, five months before the publication of a devastating article alleging a gang rape at the University of Virginia, Emily Renda, an employee of the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, testified on sexual assault issues before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The…
-
Virginia’s Top Stories in 2014
—
by
in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka The Year 2014 was quite eventful if unsettling. It represented some major turning points for the Old Dominion. Here are my picks for the top stories: Robert F. McDonnell becomes the highest-ranking former or serving state official to be convicted of corruption. The six-week-long trial from July to September of the Republican…
-
Dominion’s Pipeline: The Battle Is Joined!
—
by
in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka One hundred and seventy-eight Virginians will be getting not-so-merry Christmas presents from the electric utility Dominion Resources soon – official notifications that lawsuits have been filed against them that Dominion demands access to their land so it can survey for a $5 billion natural gas pipeline. According to the Waynesboro News Virginian,…
-
Redistricting, Ethics Panel Pushes Ahead
By Peter Galuszka Against strong chances that their efforts will be killed in the self-serving General Assembly, a panel is pushing ahead with badly needed reforms in government ethics and redistricting. The bipartisan Commission on Integrity and Public Confidence in State Government wants to change the state constitution to create and independent redistricting commission tasked…
-
Keeping Them Fed
By Peter Galuszka Here’s a little touch of cartoon humor courtesy of our friends over at the Blue Virginia blog. An artist was apparently was inspired by one of my postings from a couple weeks ago. Enjoy!
-
Sex, Genes, Love and Rape
by James A. Bacon Emotions are running high in the discussion of the “epidemic of rape” at the University of Virginia. I get the sense that we’re wandering in a fog. Not only are there wildly conflicting numbers regarding the incidence of rape (a worthy topic for another blog post), making it difficult to gauge how…
-
Our Throwaway Culture
By Peter Galuszka As the holidays approach, what happens to the gifts after you give them? Many end up in the trash. I pondered those questions in the December issue of the Chesterfield and Henrico Monthlies. It deals with a polyglot of forces including the planned obsolescence of many goods, especially electronics, global trade cycles,…
-
Feds Back Lengthy Prison Term for McDonnell
By Peter Galuszka Spotlighting once again just what a parallel universe Virginians live in, federal probation officers have recommended an unusually lengthy sentence for Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican who was the first present or former governor ever to be convicted of public corruption in the Old Dominion. The recommended sentence is a minimum of…
-
Big Energy’s Conspiracy with Attorneys General
—
by
in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka What seems to be strong opposition to a host of initiatives by President Barack Obama and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to curtail carbon and other forms of pollution is no mere coincidence. According to a deeply reported story in Sunday’s New York Times, some state attorneys general, most of them Republicans,…
-
Suddenly, It’s Raining Gas Projects and Tax Breaks
—
by
in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka Suddenly it seems to be raining natural gas pipelines and snowing millions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for rich electric utilities. Dominion Resources, the powerful and politically well-connected Richmond-based utility, apparently is getting $30 million in public money from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Revitalization Commission without apparently asking for…
-
Rolling Stone Backs Down on Rape Story
By Peter Galuszka This just in. I am sure there will be plenty of comment. It seems that the descriptions that “Jackie” had of her alleged rapists don’t match reality. The very fact that Rolling Stone now says it has “misplaced” its trust is a huge and troubling step that will seriously damage its credibility.
-
The Tragedy of Unregulated Home Child Care
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s attitudes about light regulation are coming home to roost in a most sensitive area – day care for toddlers. The point was underlined Wednesday when Chesterfield County charged Laurie F. Underwood, 46, with only a misdemeanor involving the death of one–year-old Joseph Matthew Allen who died after a fire at Underwood’s…