Daniel Kay Hertz of the University of Chicago had a thought-provoking piece about declining transit bus ridership on NewGeorgraphy.com January 5th (picked up from CityObservatory). Hertz noted that since the Great Recession there has been a decline in both transit bus ridership and transit bus service (vehicle revenue miles), and...
Demand for workers with skills in higher paying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as the STEM subjects, is expected to continue to outpace demand for non-STEM workers over the next decade, based on a new 10-year projection from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of the third quarter of...
European scientists from Chalmers University of Technology Sweden suggest consumers should stop eating so much beef and dairy and limit climate change. The new study concludes eating beef and dairy products create too much methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), which is blamed for global warming. SCIENCEDIRECT published the study in February,...
The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee has effectively killed two measures designed to encourage the creation of charter schools in Virginia, ensuring that public education in the Old Dominion, one of the most stultifyingly top-down school systems in the country, will remain that way. “Localities and parents need to maintain control...
In what seems to be an admission that the Obama Administration often opts for symbols over substance, a recent editorial in The New York Times asserts that the White House’s latest budget submission is, “like all presidential budgets,” merely “a statement of values and priorities, a blueprint to turning ideas...
Counties in Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia have filed a friend of the court brief (Amicus Curiae) in the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) case between the American Farm Bureau Federation v EPA. Seventeen county governments in these three states spell out why they oppose EPA’s attempt to control non-point source...
From 1982 to 2014 the annual direct cost of traffic congestion in America’s metro areas increased from $42 billion to $160 billion (both measured in 2014 dollars). A major reason for this was that states and metro areas cut way back on adding capacity to their urban expressways and major...
Military triumphs and catastrophes have often hinged on how well (or luckily) armies and navies employed, avoided or benefited from weather and other natural events. Severe storms helped the British navy defeat Spain’s Armada in 1588. George Washington knew horrid weather meant the Hessians would not expect an attack across...
The General Assembly is debating how best to allow private homeowners to rent their extra bedrooms on a short term basis. That decision may be made this year or next, but it is an important one in this changing economy. Here’s why its a good idea … and some issues...
As I write this, the status of major the health care reform passing the General Assembly is in doubt. It seems that the heavy-handed lobbying of the hospitals might keep costs high and competition at bay. The hospitals actually sponsored a television and radio ad that so distorted the facts...
