The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pushing to control the waters of the United States. And at least one political leader is pushing back. “To let EPA begin to regulate all waters of the United States would have devastating impacts on rural towns, farmers and local governments,” says Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. ...
Can you name one thing on which Governors George Allen, Jim Gilmore, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Bob McDonnell agreed? Here’s one: the importance of Virginia’s Standards of Learning. The Standards of Learning, or proverbial “SOLs,” became the basis of our public school accountability system under Allen in the 1990’s....
Most parents of children with disabilities don’t worry about the nuances of school governance for full-time virtual schools in Virginia. They just want their child to receive the services he or she needs. The Virginia Virtual Academy provides full-time online instruction to nearly 350 children throughout Virginia, including students with...
Urban Mining is the Way of the Future BackgroundAround the world as historical commodity prices climb and metals and raw materials become more scarce and more valuable, utilizing and recycling all such materials is becoming more prevalent each day, starting new industries and creating jobs, and monetizing traditional waste streams....
How many golf courses does the Commonwealth of Virginia own? No, that is not a ‘how many people does it take to screw in a light bulb’ question. Owning and operating golf courses is not a core government function. It is effectively competing against private enterprises that usually do the...
In September House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, gave a major policy speech to the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce declaring that money alone cannot solve Virginia’s transportation problems. He called for a “new way” to think about those problems that relies heavily upon new technology and prioritization of projects by Return...
Watch the government bureaucrats in December of any year. The Government Accountability Office issued a report (CLEAN WATER ACT –Changes Needed if Key EPA Program if to Help Fulfill the Nation’s Water Quality Goals) in late December, 2013, which will put another EPA bull’s-eye on farmland and ranch operators and...
In 2007, the Virginia General Assembly replaced one eighth-grade social studies Standards of Learning (SOL) exam with three required middle school SOL tests. In 2009, Virginia’s state superintendent proposed eliminating the third-grade social studies SOL exam, but backed off after opposition from members of the General Assembly. My. What a...
President Obama’s pledge, to the effect, “if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” oft repeated in the run-up to passage of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), has already been condemned as false by no less an authority than The Washington Post. That, however, was before the calendar...
Increasing government regulations tend to have varying degrees of effect on different industries. Even though their impacts on the broader economy may be modest, for certain industries, the impact can be quite severe.Susan Dudley, director of the George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, said in a report that the Obama...