The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
(Editor’s Note: With hundreds of rivers and tributaries (not to mention the Chesapeake Bay), rules defining “what is a wetland” are critically important for the state’s Agriculture industry. Here, Gary Baise explores what is (and what isn’t) a wetland under new rules proposed by the Trump Administration – and what...
For several decades, some policy analysts on the center/right have advocated a more-robust 21st century version of federalism, under which there would be something of a return to the founding fathers’ vision in which the federal government focused on a relatively limited number of functions (defense and foreign policy, macroeconomic...
The tax relief proposals advancing in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate return at most half of the estimated additional state revenue created by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) over six years. As Virginia leaders have debated what to do about the situation, all...
Should Virginia teachers have equal access to any legitimate employee association offering professional support, insurance and other benefits, so they can find the best deal for their money? Legislation introduced by Senator William DeSteph would give non-profit Virginia teacher associations an equal opportunity to make their pitch to teachers in...
As Donald Rumsfeld famously said of the Iraq War, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns — things we know we don’t know, and things we don’t have a clue we don’t know. The same thing could be said of Governor Ralph Northam’s now-infamous medical school yearbook photo of a...
(Editor’s Note: With public-private partnerships and tolling all under consideration for improving I-81, extending I-495 to Maryland, and extending I-95 south to Fredericksburg, Mr. Feigenbaum’s commentary is especially timely) Using a public-private partnership (P3) to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain a highway has at least five potential advantages compared...
Should Virginia teachers hae equal access to any legitimate employee association offering professional support, insurance and other benefits, so they can find the best deal for their money? Senator William DeSteph thinks so. The teacher unions prefer to maintain their monopoly.
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Virginia’s most effective tax collector is inflation. Virginia’s long refusal to adjust any element of its income tax for slow but constant inflation means that each year, a slightly higher percentage of your growing income is taxed, and the rising costs of living shrink the value of the standard deduction...
The City of Bristol, having mortgaged its future with a failed mall development project, is betting on another big-ticket project: a proposed $150 million casino with accompanying hotels, conference center, retail, and restaurants built at the failed mall location. The backers assert that the Bristol Resort and Casino would create...
(Editor’s Note: Chester Finn has a long and distinguished career in education, academe and government. He is currently Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. More importantly, he recently completed his term as member of the Maryland State...