The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones wants to tackle the city’s entrenched poverty, and he wants to do it by investing smartly in community revitalization efforts. The big question is, what works? Supporting job training might seem a logical way for the city to lift people out of poverty. But what good...
(This column first ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch.) Two years from this September, the Richmond region will take center stage for the entire world. That’s when the area will host the 2015 UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) World Road Cycling Championships which are expected to draw 450,000 spectators and a...
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 2013, said “Extortionate demands for property in the land use permitting context run afoul of the (Constitution’s) Takings Clause not because they take property but because they impermissibly burden the right not to have property taken without just compensation.” What does that mean?Last...
Did you know that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) actually pays the salary (no, we taxpayers pay the salary) of 200 employees who work full time on labor union business? All this even as IRS furloughs employees and cuts back on taxpayer advice under the guise of the budget sequester....
The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy released its fourteenth annual Virginia Economic Forecast last week . It was again authored by Dr. Christine Chmura and her team at Chmura Economics & Analytics of Richmond, the state’s leading private economic consulting company. With Virginia facing the brunt of the federal...
While Virginia’s political class – new and used – tries to make sense of what happened in on June primary elections for both Republicans and Democrats, let’s just get some things out of the way early. This was NOT a repudiation of House Bill 2313 that raised revenue to fund...
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon have the chance to improve opportunities for Americans and protect our representative democracy when it decides a case involving the gargantuan power grab by the federal bureaucracy. America’s new competitive manufacturing advantage, utilizing our plentiful natural gas, coal and oil, will be negated by...
No one likes paying for parking, but the prospect of parting with a buck or two is nothing compared to the hassle of rummaging through your pockets, in your glove compartment or under the floor mats for stray coins. The only thing worse is worrying about your time expiring, dashing...
(This column first appeared in Surface Transportation Innovations.) For the last several years, popular media have featured articles about “peak car” and the recent decline of vehicle miles of travel (VMT) in developed countries. The anti-auto group PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) made a big splash last month, when their...
(This article first ran in thehill.com on April 11, 2013.) Ever since the Virginia Company was founded in Jamestown in 1607, America has been the land of opportunity for generations of immigrants, who often risked everything to strive for their American Dream. America must continue to be a magnet for...