Category: Uncategorized
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Empty Pews in America
by Kerry Dougherty Of all the disheartening news this week, the piece that hit me hardest was this story in The Hill: “Churchgoing and Belief in God Stand at Historic Lows, Despite a Megachurch Surge.” The Hill cited studies that showed a dramatic drop in church attendance and – more alarmingly – a loss of…
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RVA 5×5 – Holiday Briefing
by Jon Baliles It’s Friday! Which means this newsletter would normally be filled with stories and analysis about what is happening in the RVA region (not all of it good), with an honest and insightful take (so far as that is possible). For instance, this week we could have stories about: A non-profit that presented…
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Democrats Allege Democratic Party Suppressed Democratic Voters in Democratic Primary
by James C. Sherlock It must be Republicans’ fault. Bill Atkinson of the Progress Index reported yesterday that Tavorise Marks, a candidate, Hopewell businessman and local civil-rights advocate, claimed to have witnessed voter suppression in Wednesday’s Democratic primary for the open House of Representatives seat in Virginia 04. That he, Marks, a Democrat, had seen…
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Reparations for the Violators
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin has proposed reparations for people who violated legal orders. Included in his budget proposal is a directive to reimburse all fines, fees, and interest imposed on individuals “due to violations of COVID-19 related practices, guidelines, rules or operating procedures” and to waive all such fines imposed. The budget language earmarks…
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Youngkin’s Budget Amendments: No Radical Changes
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Budget is policy. The budget reflects the policy choices a government makes. Any Virginia governor, upon assuming office, inherits a biennial budget proposal developed by his predecessor. The new governor is limited significantly in the changes that he can affect in that budget in his first General Assembly session. If the new…
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Bad Times at Richmond Jail
by Jon Baliles If anyone knows what the hell is going on at the Richmond City Jail, please raise your hand. Stand up. Write it down. Grab the mic. Something. Anything. In a bizarre series of stories in recent days, people are dying, guards are getting beaten, and strange and awful things are happening at…
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Tumblin’ Dice
by Jon Baliles The casino project proposal in Petersburg was unveiled this week and it is a big one. In poker terminology, it could be considered an “all-in” proposal. The Progress–Index reports that The Cordish Companies propose a $1.4 billion “‘city within a city’ of entertainment, retail, office and residential property. Its centerpiece would be…
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Crossing the County Line
by Joe Fitzgerald They’re the exaggeratists. Maybe the Exaggerati. They take the smallest thing and blow it up to a crisis. Their eye is not on the sparrow, but on its feathers. And heaven help the sparrow whose feathers don’t decently cover her. In the city this year the Exaggerati went door to door speaking…
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Dominion’s Wind Gamble Could Cost Customers
by William O’Keefe A study by the Kleiman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania concluded that reaching long-term offshore wind power targets presents serious challenges with “the most pressing being the need to build out the electric grid to reliably and economically deliver vast quantities of offshore wind power.” And that also…
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Now It’s a Party: Local Elections May Be Decided in June for a While
by Joe Fitzgerald It looks like 12 percent of people voting in Harrisonburg’s Nov. 8 City Council election cast a vote for only one of the four candidates instead of the two they could have voted for. But that number needs more asterisks on it than a home run record. Single-shot votes are difficult to…
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Alumni Free Speech Alliance to Safeguard VMI Campus Free Speech
The Cadet newspaper and The Cadet Foundation were honored, by unanimous acclimation, to become full members of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). By this honor, Virginia Military Institute (VMI) cadets, alumni, faculty. and staff at VMI now join a prestigious collection of alumni groups representing Ivy League and other major institutions of higher education…
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A Christmas Guide to De-Bugging Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty This is not a sponsored post. I wish it were; I could use the loot. This is just my gift to you, a last-minute Christmas shopping tip. You’re welcome. I don’t know why more people don’t do their Christmas shopping at truck stops. These friendly joints stock loads of items you can’t…
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Indictments For Loudoun County School Officials
by Kerry Dougherty Looks like Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares just turned up the heat on Loudoun County. When he was elected, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order calling for an investigation into what happened in Loudoun County Public Schools, where an alleged predator in a skirt reportedly got a pass for raping one…
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Helping Minorities Thrive in STEM
by James A. Bacon There is a shortage of doctors, scientists, engineers and other employees with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) backgrounds in the U.S. economy. One reason is that American institutions of higher education aren’t turning out enough graduates with STEM degrees. And a big reason for that is that roughly half the…