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Guest Column

Guest Column

Views of guest columnists are their own. To submit an op-ed for consideration, contact Commentary Editor Samantha Willis at [email protected]

COMMENTARY

How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers six questions

By: - December 17, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

Chickahominy Pipeline: Should we trust them? 

By: - December 16, 2021

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, […]

COMMENTARY

Keep Virginia moving forward: accelerate efforts on workforce development and equity

By: - December 15, 2021

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, […]

COMMENTARY
living shoreline

Virginia’s flood woes: It’s time for some consistency

By: - December 14, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

We can’t ‘Build Back Better’ without immigrant workers

By: - December 14, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

Regulators should respect citizen water monitors and reject the pipeline permit

By: - December 14, 2021

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.  […]

COMMENTARY

DEQ is still failing to protect state waters from MVP 

By: - December 8, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

Political rage: America survived a decade of anger in the 18th century – but can it now?

By: - December 7, 2021

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, […]

COMMENTARY

How can scientists update coronavirus vaccines for omicron?

By: - December 3, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

Dominion is abusing its monopoly. Time for a new model.

By: - December 3, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

The NRA could be winning its long game even as it appears to be in dire straits

By: - December 1, 2021

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 […]

COMMENTARY

Why Biden’s approval ratings have sunk

By: - November 30, 2021

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 […]