Author
How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers six questions
By Melissa Hawkins, American University The pandemic has brought many tricky terms and ideas from epidemiology into everyone’s lives. Two particularly complicated concepts are vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. These are not the same thing. And as time goes on and new variants like omicron emerge, they are changing, too. Melissa Hawkins is an epidemiologist and […]
Chickahominy Pipeline: Should we trust them?
By Karen Gill The developers promoting Chickahominy Pipeline are asking central Virginians to allow them to build an 83-mile gas pipeline to feed a merchant gas plant, permitted for Charles City County. As they work to convince landowners to allow initial surveying and eventual construction of a high pressure pipeline for transmission of natural gas, […]
Keep Virginia moving forward: accelerate efforts on workforce development and equity
By Scott Jenkins and Brian Sponsler To those who appreciate good government and the smooth transition of power from one administration to another, the scene of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Gov. -elect Glenn Youngkin together represented a moment to celebrate. Northam presented the next governor with his challenge coin and Youngkin graciously accepted it, […]
Virginia’s flood woes: It’s time for some consistency
By Skip Stiles For those of us working on the threats that sea level rise and intense rainfall flooding pose to Virginia, December has been a confusing time so far. On Dec. 1, Virginia received an early Christmas present when the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) auction generated nearly $38 million for the statewide Community […]
We can’t ‘Build Back Better’ without immigrant workers
By Jaime Contreras As our nation faces the unprecedented crisis of a worker shortage, a perfect solution is staring members of Congress right in the face. By investing in the men and women who build and maintain our nation’s infrastructure, Congress can actually ‘Build Back Better’ through a work permit legalization proposal to protect millions […]
Regulators should respect citizen water monitors and reject the pipeline permit
An encounter this summer with the Department of Environmental Quality shocked me but may provide a valuable glimpse at the way some DEQ leaders regard the people they serve. That apparent disregard or disdain for the public’s role in decision-making, has popped up several times during major gas pipeline cases. It continues to this day. […]
DEQ is still failing to protect state waters from MVP
By Freeda Cathcart The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is failing to protect our rivers, streams, wetlands and endangered species from harm caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project. Imagine that a driver accumulated multiple speeding and reckless driving tickets, clearly demonstrating a public safety threat. The driver is fined but retains his license. The […]
Political rage: America survived a decade of anger in the 18th century – but can it now?
By Maurizio Valsania, Università di Torino Americans have an anger problem. People rage at each other. They are angry at public officials for shutting down parts of society. Or for the opposite reason because they aren’t doing enough to curb the virus. Democrats vent their rage at Republicans. And Republicans treat Democrats not as opponents, […]
How can scientists update coronavirus vaccines for omicron?
By Deborah Fuller, University of Washington If the omicron variant of the coronavirus is different enough from the original variant, it’s possible that existing vaccines won’t be as effective as they have been. If so, it’s likely that companies will need to update their vaccines to better fight omicron. Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist who […]
Dominion is abusing its monopoly. Time for a new model.
By John Hanger The power of voters and consumers to choose their representatives and suppliers of goods and services is the foundation of our government and economy. Indeed, in the marketplace, with the prominent exception of state-sanctioned utility monopolies, the single greatest consumer protection is the power of choice, the ability to take your business […]
The NRA could be winning its long game even as it appears to be in dire straits
By Robert Spitzer, State University of New York College at Cortland No observer of contemporary gun politics could fail to notice a jarring disconnect between the two very different trajectories of the gun rights movement today. On the one hand, more states are allowing Americans to carry weapons in public without permits, and the gun-rights […]
Why Biden’s approval ratings have sunk
By Clodagh Harrington, De Montfort University Ten months into his presidency, Joe Biden’s poll numbers are, by any measure, lukewarm. According to the latest figures, taken on Nov. 24, only 43 percent of Americans approve of his performance in office, while a majority think he is not doing a good job. In a week when […]