( This article is responded to by John Butcher in the next column.) Maybe it’s time for Virginia to scrap the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. The SOLs arose in the mid-1990s as a way to provide feedback to the community on how well local schools were performing. It was...
Everyone in high school is taught about the low water mark in yellow journalism — Remember the Maine. We are taught that the era of “yellow journalism” died with the rise of editorial standards in the 1930s and 1940s in the wake of FDR and the master propagandists of the...
In a recent news release, Governor Terry McAuliffe heralded the fact that 86 percent of Virginia schools were fully accredited – “a record high” for his administration and a five point improvement over last year. He neglected to mention that 88 schools failed accreditation – a 203 percent increase in...
How do you handle a situation when a student is admitted to a college but isn’t academically prepared to do the work? Traditionally, colleges and community colleges have required students who fail basic readiness tests to take remedial courses. Nationally, students spend an estimated $7 billion a year on such...
EPA’s Inspector General (IG) claims EPA has not developed emission estimation methods (EEM) to determine whether concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) comply with the Clean Air Act (CAA). The IG Report, while not receiving much publicity, will eventually impact animal feeding operations throughout the country. The report on September 19,...
Suzette Kelo bought what she thought was her dream house, a little pink cottage in Connecticut with a great view, where the Thames River flows into Long Island Sound. She lovingly restored the home, but her dream didn’t last. When a pharmaceutical plant was built nearby, the City of New...
Speaking of populist critics of P3 concessions, one of the oddest is a Virginia writer named Randy Salzman. In pieces written for various media, including Thinking Highways, Salzman has put forth the view that P3 concessions are actually scams that harm taxpayers. The opening sentence of his Feb. 9, 2017...
