Category: Planning
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Dominion Resources Is on a Tear
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka Dominion Resources has been on a tear recently. It’s been muscling through a dubious law in the General Assembly that would allow it to avoid State Corporation Commission rate audits for six years. And, it has been throwing its weight around in less populated sections of the state. It is suing to…
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The Many Problems of Offshore Drilling
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka Almost five years after the infamous Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama has again proposed opening tracts offshore of Virginia and the southeastern U.S. coast to oil and natural gas drilling. The plan poses big risks for what may be little gain. Federal surveys show there could…
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The Importance of “Selma”
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in Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Economic development, Electoral process, Government workers and pensions, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka “Selma” is one of those fairly rare films that underline a crucial time and place in history while thrusting important issues forward to the present day. Ably directed by Ava DuVernay, the movie depicts the fight for the Voting Rights Act culminating in the dramatic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in…
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Interview: McAuliffe’s Economic Goals
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, 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 For a glimpse of where the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe is heading, here’s an interview I did with Maurice Jones, the secretary of commerce and trade that was published in Richmond’s Style Weekly. Jones, a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and University of Virginia law, is a former Rhodes Scholar who had…
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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…
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Wind Power Hits Some Nasty Gusts
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka Wind power has taken some hits with the New Year. A proposed 145-acre, 20-megawatt project in Clarke County is being scuttled because Dominion Resources has shown little interest in buying its power. In New England, a pioneering offshore wind project, Cape Wind, is on the ropes because of the merger of two…
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Takeaways From Bob McDonnell’s Sentencing
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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…
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Virginia’s Top Stories in 2014
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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…
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Dominion’s Pipeline: The Battle Is Joined!
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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,…
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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…
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Is McAuliffe Crying Wolf on the Economy?
By Peter Galuszka Just how bad is the Virginia economy, really? Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who released a rather modest state budget proposal just a few days ago, has said that the state’s economic picture is bleak because of government spending cuts, most of them at the U.S. Department of Defense, the state’s largest employer, and…
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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!
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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,…
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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…
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McAuliffe Goal: Take a Closer Look at Incentives
by James A. Bacon Governor Terry McAuliffe’s great gift is salesmanship. He approaches the job of Virginia’s chief economic development officer with great enthusiasm, and he loves to wheel and deal. It’s not surprising, then, that his new strategic plan, “New Virginia Economy,” calls for an increase in the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to keep it “competitive with…