I had occasion the other day to visit an inner city convenience store in Richmond while working on an article (see the next issue of the Jefferson Policy Journal). I am not exactly Mr. Health Food Guy — I won’t touch tofu, cauliflower or fish oil — but even I...
One year ago this month, I wrote “Animal agriculture may soon owe Feld Entertainment Inc., the parent company of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, a deep debt of gratitude” (April 23, 2012). Now, a win on attorneys’ fees in U.S. District Court by Feld (a Virginia based company)...
(This article first appeared in the April issue of Surface Transportation Innovation.) This is not an environment newsletter, but since a growing amount of transportation policy stems from concern over global warming, it’s important for transportation people to keep up-to-date on this critically important subject. To that end, you should...
In their 2013 legislative session, the Virginia General Assembly passed and Governor McDonnell signed HB1790 and SB1138. These identical bills were proposed by Governor Bob McDonnell as a part of his 2013 legislative agenda. The legislation, titled Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC), will become law on July 1, 2013. VNEC...
The Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS), in cooperation with the United Nations, has issued a UN report on nutrient threats and benefits involving production agriculture. The 128-page report prepared by 50 experts is entitled “Our Nutrient World – The Challenge to Produce More Food and Energy with Less Pollution.”...
(This column first ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch on April 8, 2013) Looking back over my years of forecasting, it’s clear that macroeconomic shifts that impact the national economy for lengthy periods lead to winners and losers among the states. Computers and information technology, for example, have driven national...
Virginia approved nearly 3,400 economic development incentive grants totaling $718 million over the past 10 years, according to a new report, “Review of State Economic Development Incentive Grants,” published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The projects benefiting from those grants created more than 68,000 jobs. “Incentive grants...
Journalists and commentators are misleading the public to believe that a large portion of Americans are going hungry. Following in the footsteps of Paul Kurtz of CBS News, Bob Beckel of Fox News, and Paul Krugman of the New York Times, Stoyan Zaimov of the Christian Post recently made it...
Now that the nagging issue of our transportation needs has been settled for the foreseeable future, it is time to turn to serious tax reform that can grow our economy, provide more spending money for our citizens, and relieve businesses of some truly job-killing taxes. This can be done in...
Nearly ten months after the president of the state’s flagship university was fired due to a vaguely explained conflict of visions with its board and a somewhat clearer conflict of management styles, the standoff remains unresolved. Rector Helen Dragas and president Teresa Sullivan, who was reinstated by the nervous trustees...
