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Weather emergency in Virginia | The Washington Post

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) declared a state of emergency Wednesday evening, authorizing state and local agencies to take necessary precautions against coastal flooding as the state is walloped simultaneously by a coastal northeaster and the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida.

UPDATE: Storm moves on but leaves Hampton Roads a mess | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, Va. — Powerful winds and torrential rain were expected to weaken today across southeastern Virginia, but authorities kept close watch over high tide and cautioned residents whose homes and streets have been flooded.

Va. official: About 500 flee to higher ground | Inside Nova

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia emergency management spokeswoman says about 500 Hampton Roads residents have gone to shelters or sought refuge on higher ground because of flooding.

Barge breaks away from tug, threatens pier at Sandbridge | The Virginian Pilot

Transportation, education top Fairfax’s wish-list to Richmond | The Washington Examiner

Fairfax County will look to blunt lawmakers’ budget knife on education funding while asking for state legislators to find new long-term transportation dollars.

Swine-flu cases drop in Va. | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, Va — Swine flu appears to have been cut in half in Virginia.

DRMC shares vision with city leaders | The Danville Register Bee

Danville Regional Medical Center’s leaders shared the hospital’s challenges and vision for the future with City Council on Thursday afternoon.

Immigrant from Vietnam Gives GMU a $5 Million Gift | The Sun Gazette

George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering has received a $5 million gift from Northern Virginia business executive Long Nguyen and his wife, Kimmy, and will name the university’s new state-of-the-art engineering facility the “Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building.”

VCU plans to eliminate 91 jobs | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, Va. — The state’s community colleges will increase tuition for next semester, and Virginia Commonwealth University plans to eliminate 91 jobs as the schools attempt to absorb multiple cuts in their budgets.

Va. keeps focus on early-childhood education, official says | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Despite tough economic times, Virginia has taken a strong interest in maintaining its programs for early-childhood education, according to a member of the Virginia Board of Education.

County says schools will get $6 million less from Virginia | The Daily Progress

Albemarle County schools expect about $6 million less in state funding next fiscal year than this fiscal year — likely equating to another blow to teachers and less funding for operational expenses.

‘Fan Cans’ dispute still unsettled | The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG — Anheuser-Busch’s controversial “Team Pride” promotional campaign never really got started in Blacksburg.

For eighth-grader, head scarf is badge of faith, burden | The Washington Post

Smar Abuagla steps out her front door at 7:20 a.m., her shoulders slightly hunched, her eyes watchful.

Fairfax School Psychology Named Tops in Virginia | The Sun Gazette

Wendy Rudolph, senior school psychologist and Flint Hill Elementary School psychologist, has been named the recipient of the 2009-10 School Psychologist of the Year Award from the Virginia Academy of School Psychologists and Virginia Psychological Association.

Hatrick Warns Budget Cuts Could Fundamentally Change Loudoun Schools | Leesburg Today

In the first face-to-face meeting dealing with the projected deep revenue shortfall in the FY11 budget, county supervisors and school board members last night got an overview of the wide gap they face in their efforts to find middle ground in their work to maintain needed services while keeping residents’ tax bills affordable.

Community college board approves midyear tuition increase | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The State Board for Community Colleges today approved a midyear tuition increase to offset state budget cuts.

Novel will not be banned from Roanoke Co. school libraries | The Roanoke Times

A controversial novel challenged by the parent of a Roanoke County high school student will not be banned, but school officials have chosen to restrict access to it.

Va. Railway Express rail warns of Fredericksburg-line delays Monday | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

FREDERICKSBURG — Virginia Railway Express commuters are likely to experience severe delays Monday as scheduled signal work on the Fredericksburg line likely will push schedules behind by up to an hour.

Perriello, Nye defend opposing votes on health care | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, last night held a telephone town hall with more than 8,000 participants to explain his vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul.

ABC charge dropped against Spirits owner | The Star Exponent

A General District Court judge on Thursday dismissed a misdemeanor alcohol charge against the manager of Spirits, a yet-to-open restaurant at the Lord Culpeper Hotel.

Company releases details of bid to buy SPSA | The Virginian Pilot

A company that submitted a proposal this week to buy SPSA wants to purchase the trash authority for a total of $240 million, according to details released this morning.

No more books for Beach board – it’s time to go electronic | The Virginian Pilot

After years of toting binders stuffed with reams of paper to School Board meetings, board members are switching to sleek laptops.

Flood reduction project may be paying off | The Roanoke Times

Late Thursday morning, with rain still falling and streams rising, the National Weather Service predicted the Roanoke River would crest at 15.5 feet at about 1 p.m.

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Kaine declares state of emergency in Va. | The Washington Post

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) declared a state of emergency Wednesday evening authorizing state and local agencies to take necessary precautions against coastal flooding, as the state is walloped simultaneously by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida and a coastal Nor’easter.

Gov. Kaine declares state of emergency as big nor’easter brings wind, rain | The Daily Press

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared a state of emergency for Virginia on Wednesday evening in response to a coastal storm battering Hampton Roads.

UPDATE: Officials urge motorists to curtail driving | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, Va. — State highway officials encouraged motorists in Hampton Roads today to avoid driving if possible. People who have to drive should use extreme caution.

Richmond Marathon course appears safe from flooding | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The head of the group that runs the SunTrust Richmond Marathon says it appears that the course for Saturday’s race will not have to be altered because of rain-induced flooding.

Richmond freight train wreck blocks Richmond-Newport News Amtrak service | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

A freight train westbound from Newport News to Richmond derailed east of the Fulton yard near Darbytown Road in Henrico County at 6:10 a.m.

McDonnell to meet with House Democratic Caucus | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Ten days after his lopsided victory diminished their numbers, Governor-elect Bob McDonnell will meet tomorrow with members of the House Democratic Caucus.

The face of a changing Columbia Pike | The Washington Post

Despite the tough economy, the majority of plans to revitalize and enhance Arlington County’s Columbia Pike Corridor have remained on schedule, county officials said.

Charlottesville firm, U.Va., work on new turbine design | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A Charlottesville company and researchers at the University of Virginia are developing a new turbine to harness wind power for electricity.

Coal company to keep headquarters in Southwest Va. | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources chose to build a new corporate headquarters in Bristol for economic reasons and to stay close to its roots in rural Southwest Virginia, its chief executive officer said.

Foreclosure filings down in Virginia for month, year | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The number of homeowners on the brink of losing their homes dipped in October, the third straight monthly decline, as foreclosure-prevention programs helped more borrowers.

UVa posting its doctors’ financial deals online | The Daily Progress

The University of Virginia has begun posting its doctors’ financial dealings online for the world to see.

U.Va. center to undertake Bush presidency history | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

President George W. Bush has selected the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia to conduct an oral history of his presidency, the Miller Center and the George W. Bush Foundation announced today.

School Construction Plan Faces Shut Down | Leesburg Today

While two versions of the schools’ portion of the Capital Improvement Program were presented to the School Board Tuesday, neither option meets the fiscal guidance adopted by the Board of Supervisors last week, highlighting the complexity of the tough choice county leaders will be called on to make in developing the FY11 budget in the wake of still declining revenues.

Teacher has a gift for making math add up | The Washington Post

Woodbridge Senior High School freshman Tina Warner said math never came easily to her, until a unique teacher sent her in a new direction.

A lesson in dedication | The Washington Post

Thirty years of service in Virginia schools and at least 50 years old: That’s the formula to be able to retire with full benefits from Prince William County public schools.

VUU hosts planning session for Civil War sesquicentennial | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Elvatrice Belsches found the evidence on microfilm and Tuesday night presented an enlarged copy to the president of Virginia Union University.

Radford provost’s ouster urged | The Roanoke Times

RADFORD — Faculty senators from Radford University asked President Penelope Kyle to replace Provost Wil Stanton at a special meeting called Tuesday to discuss a no-confidence vote taken by the senate last month.

Class to share green ideas | The News Leader

STAUNTON — For two months, students from the University of Virginia School of Architecture’s Green Lands class have been assessing Staunton’s existing green infrastructure, enhancing the city’s Geographic Information Systems map, and compiling recommendations for the city.

‘Toxic stew’ of chemicals blamed for intersex fish in Potomac | The Washington Post

Pollutants that mimic natural hormones have created a “toxic stew” in the Potomac River, altering the sexual development and the immune systems of fish, a local nonprofit group warned in a report Wednesday.

Police crack ring of thieves targeting South Asians in Va. | The Washington Post

Fairfax County police think they have cracked a ring of burglars who were stealing only gold from Indian and South Asian homes, after a U.S. deputy marshal spotted a suspected vehicle in Centreville Tuesday night and arrested three people.

Authorities seize heroin headed to Roanoke | The Roanoke Times

Authorities on Sunday seized about $30,000 worth of heroin from a vehicle en route to Roanoke from New York City, the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Pessimism abounds that McDonnell can fix transportation | The Washington Examiner

Bob McDonnell won election as governor on the promise of digging Virginia out of its transportation mess, without raising a cent of new taxes. But the Republican governor-elect’s plan to fund a languishing road and rail network has done little to spark optimism that his administration will succeed where others have failed.

Drivers are looking for the exit on I-95 | The Washington Post

Travelers responding to my suggestions [Dr. Gridlock, Nov. 1] about long-term solutions to Interstate 95’s traffic congestion had their own practices and policies to propose.

New chapter in Loudoun library history | The Washington Post

In 1997, Karen Montgomery of South Riding began advocating for a library her three children could use. At the time, the Loudoun County branch closest to her was in Middleburg. Driving into Fairfax County took her less time, even after Ashburn got a library in 2003.

City left with surplus in fiscal ‘09 | The Daily Progress

Charlottesville still had a surplus at the end of the last fiscal year, despite that the economy is forcing many localities to deal with growing budgetary holes and fewer ways to plug them.

Council OKs $100,000 for Battle of Manassas event | The Daily Press

Members of the Manassas City Council like the idea of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas so much that they’re ready to give up $100,000 to make it happen in 2011.

I thought it would be interesting for many of you to have more information about the organizations behind the Sept. 21 petition to EPA. It is always helpful to know the background of your opposition, their true purpose and also gauge their understanding of agricultural practices.

The HSUS is a national and international non-profit organization. Its goal is protection of all animals. The organization claims to have 10.5 million members, maintains an office in Washington, DC and claims offices and staff in 25 states and foreign countries.

HSUS says it is the most effective animal protection organization in the United States. HSUS has an animal protection litigation section that claims to conduct precedent-setting legal campaigns on behalf of animals. It does this with 13 staff lawyers in Washington, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

It further claims to have a network of over 1,000 pro bono lawyers (lawyers who work for free) and dozens of active cases. Agriculture has nothing like this to defend its interests. Have any of you ever seen USDA’s lawyers intervene to help out a farmer?

Another organization joining the Humane Society in petitioning EPA is the Dairy Education Alliance (DEA). This alliance claims to be a national coalition of farmers, grass roots activists, public interest lawyers, and economists. DEA claims to have member organizations in 10 states. The alliance operates in conjunction with the Western Environmental Law Center which says it defends the West’s air, water, and wild lands since it was created as a law clinic at the University of Oregon’s Law School in 1976.

Spotted owl fame

The Western Environmental Law Center gained fame over its seven-year litigation regarding the spotted owl. You may recall the victory in this case helped shut down logging in many parts of the West. The DEA claims member organizations such as the Center on the Race, Poverty and the Environment, located in California; Family Farms located in Missouri; the Idaho Concerned Area Residents for the Environment; and the Idaho Rural Council. These organizations want to hold CAFOs accountable for air emissions and educate the public about the serious environmental damage caused by CAFOs.

Another alleged nonpartisan and non-profit organization seeking to regulate air and water pollution from CAFOs is the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). One of EIP’s main areas of focus is ‘factory farms,’ or CAFOs. EIP was founded by former EPA enforcement attorneys and is supported by a number of major foundations. EIP’s founder and executive director resigned from EPA and publicly expressed his frustration with the Bush administration when he claimed it sought to weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act.

EIP claims to have five attorneys and works with grassroots organizations to force alleged polluters to reduce their emissions. EIP opposes the waste created by CAFOs and does not seem to understand that many of us use the valuable manure for fertilizer. You might think that such organizations would applaud the recycling of material, but apparently EIP does not understand agriculture.

There are several other organizations filing the petition with EPA that I could describe to you but the last one I want to bring to your attention is the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, which claims it is an environmental justice litigation organization. It claims it has beaten a 55,000-cow mega-dairy. I assume this means the dairy was never built! It further claims it has cut pollution in California’s great agricultural San Joaquin Valley by reducing 7,237 tons of volatile organic compounds and reduced 29,600 tons of ammonia per year. The Center claims thousands breathe cleaner air today as a result of their work.

Improved air quality

After reading about these organizations and their claims, one would believe that EPA and the 50 state environmental organizations are hardly doing a thing to maintain air quality standards. As we know, this is not the case because there has been enormous improvement in the nation’s air quality since 1970 when the Clean Air Act was passed under the Nixon administration.

Notwithstanding these successes, these groups deserve to be watched carefully because they are smart, have excellent lawyers, and are dedicated to greater regulation of CAFOs. I recently was involved in trying a case in the Midwest where many claims were made with regard to alleged terrible air pollution emitted by a CAFO. We proved these claims to be false and the jury returned a 12 to 0 verdict in my client’s favor. This case demonstrates how important it is to deal in facts and not in scare tactics.

Nevertheless, HSUS and the organizations described above with their enormous foundation support, financial resources, legal resources, and close contacts in the Obama administration, are worthy adversaries and agriculture must organize itself in a similar fashion to protect its interests. As you can see, these organizations which filed this petition with EPA are not easily dismissed.

We encourage Dr. Schnare to put down his Jane Austen novel and pick up the latest in a long series of independent scientific peer review reports on the full suite of Chesapeake Bay models.  And on this account we agree with the author—“Sounds dreadfully dusty and dry”—but very important when one wants to accurately describe the work of others.

Models are a tool for generating information and insights into managers’ what if questions for understanding the vast complexities of many sources of pollutants across the six-state Bay watershed, and for quantifying what actions are needed to ultimately achieve the states’ Chesapeake Bay water quality standards.

Many of the models being used in making Bay water quality restoration decisions—the air deposition model, population land change model, Bay watershed model, Bay tidal water quality and sediment transport model, and the Bay oyster and menhaden filter feeder models—are in their 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th generation of development and scientific improvement since the early 1980s.  Each has been independently reviewed by a panel of scientists with nationally recognized expertise. Each is approved by the state and federal Chesapeake Bay Program partners prior to management application. But these models are still just tools in the much larger and complex decision making arena of Chesapeake Bay restoration.

Though these models are based on hundreds of published works of scientific research, calibrated and verified based on decades of monitoring at hundreds of locations across the watershed and the Bay’s tidal waters, generating literally millions of individual data points, they are only as good as the science and data that goes into their development and application.

Thus, we do agree on one fact – we (that being all the watershed states, USDA, EPA, our conservation districts and farmers) would benefit from a more complete accounting of the conservation practices put on the ground by our producers. It is a component of information that we all share a responsibility for filling. However, like water quality monitoring and measuring pollutant loads from wastewater treatment plants, we must have a system in place to not only report but verify the full implementation of such conservation practices. Just claiming widespread implementation does not lead to better decisions, from the field scale on up, without verification.

The model of focus within Dr. Schnare’s essay is the Bay watershed model – the complex accounting tool that considers past and present land uses, pollution sources, human and animal populations, reported implementation of thousands of conservation practices and pollution control technologies, along with long term rainfall and other weather conditions and river flows. It is calibrated and verified to match up with actual measured stream and river water quality and flow conditions at hundreds of stations throughout the watershed across the past two decades.  Thus, the Bay watershed model provides a solid representation of the ambient water quality conditions in the Bay watershed’s streams and rivers, which, in turn, directly reflects what’s happening on the land, what’s discharged from point sources of pollution and what falls on the land and water surface from air deposition.

The more accurately we – again, referring to all of us – measure, report and verify what’s happening on the land, what’s being discharged and what’s falling on the land/water, the better we are all positioned to understand relative contributions to pollution sources and how to proceed from here in restoring Bay water quality. For example, the six states, the District of Columbia and EPA are tracking pollutant discharges from 483 significant municipal and industrial wastewater facilities across the watershed. We are working together on the final stage of compiling similar data for almost 3,000 smaller municipal and industrial facilities.  Given the latest version of the Bay watershed model is segmented to provide information at the county scale and for the smaller underlying watersheds below the county scale, accurate load reporting and location of the discharge facilities is critical to ensuring that loads showing up in the streams and rivers water quality data are traced back to these land-based sources.

No where else in the country, for such a large interstate watershed and waterbody, is there tracking, reporting and crediting at the scale and detail that is carried out every year in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. We all have been positioned to make better decisions given the application of these tools, the world-class science developed by our universities and colleges, and by the unprecedented monitoring networks across the Bay and its watershed generating data for the past decades.

But we can and must do better – better reporting, more verification of the full array of conservation practices and pollution technology controls that will help all us - from conservation districts to state capitals - make better decisions on restoring Bay water quality.

Finally, back to models. Someday soon the weatherman is going to predict rain. Now we may say that this prediction is just as good as their model’s representation of weather. We may say weather models don’t have all the inputs perfectly represented. We may say that, and we’d be right. But the prudent among us will take our umbrellas.

The elections are over; Virginia has a new Governor and several new members of the House of Delegates, and when Bob McDonnell takes the oath of office and the General Assembly reconvenes in January multiple problems will be awaiting attention.

Among them are a series of land use issues that will affect Virginia’s competitiveness in future years. Producing land use policies that strike a careful balance between our cherished quality of life and the needs of Virginia’s business community is an important part of our efforts to maintain the Old Dominion’s status as the best place in America to do business.

One item that the new Governor and the General Assembly may have to deal with right off the bat is stormwater. It is likely that in December the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board will give its final assent to stormwater regulations that adopt a new, very strict standard on phosphorus runoff. Most business community stakeholders are rightfully concerned that these new requirements could bring to a halt many – perhaps most – development projects within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The stormwater issue is complicated when you consider two recent developments. First, as pointed out by the Fountainhead Alliance, a group of businesses from across Virginia that promotes balanced environmental policies, in recent months the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has significantly raised Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay phosphorus allocation – the number upon which the proposed new regulations are based. Virginia is only barely above its new non point source allocation now, and with the stormwater controls already being employed, the phosphorus loading from development sites is already in decline. This suggests that the proposed regulations might be a very expensive solution in search of a problem. It certainly supports the position advocated by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Home Builders Association of Virginia, the Fountainhead Alliance and others that the technical review portion of this process needs to be undertaken again to ensure that the standards coming forth are based on the best available science and are truly tailored to achieve a positive environmental outcome for the Bay.

Second, even though the EPA has raised Virginia’s phosphorus allocation, they have also sent out a letter to the various Bay states requiring them to have plans with a high degree of accountability in place to meet the majority of their pollution reduction goals by 2017. According to press reports, the letter from President’s Obama’s Bay Czar, Chuck Fox, trumpets “a new era of federal leadership for the Chesapeake Bay, one that is marked by new accountability.” So, however Virginia chooses to address stormwater, it will have to do so in an environment of increased federal scrutiny.

In addition to stormwater, it is possible that the new Governor will have to address the issue of cash proffers. While many in and outside the business community recognize the need for infrastructure funding to support economic growth, they also recognize that the cash proffer system as it is practiced in some localities is drastically affecting the affordability of housing in Virginia. You will recall that in 2008, Senator John Watkins introduced Senate Bill 768 to repeal the ability of local governments to accept cash proffers and instead give them the power to charge impact fees on new residential development. While many in local government have advocated for impact fee authority, they were not supportive of this legislation as it contained caps on the fees they could have charged. The residential development industry, which has long been a foe of impact fees, would not support them without some sort of cap mechanism. While the bill went away, this issue has not. In fact, it has been the subject of much discussion in the Joint Commission Studying Development and Land Use Tools, which is chaired by Delegate Clay Athey, and it is possible that this issue will come before the General Assembly again.

A third issue, and one also being discussed by the Athey Commission, involves changes to the land use reforms that were a part of House Bill 3202 from the 2007 session. One of those changes is the requirement that localities establish Urban Development Areas (UDAs), areas designed to be the places where future growth would be focused. The intent is to promote more compact development patterns thereby controlling the cost of providing infrastructure, particularly transportation, to future neighborhoods and commercial areas.

As localities have worked to implement this requirement, concerns have emerged. For example, the legislation requires that localities make their UDAs large enough to accommodate 10-20 years of future residential and commercial growth at a minimum density of 4 residential units per acre and a commercial floor area to land ratio (FAR) of 0.4 (that means 17,424 square feet of commercial floor space per acre). Debate has arisen over the appropriateness of that minimum standard and whether the law requires that minimum density on every site or just as an average across the UDA. Resolution of these and other issues will be something that the new Governor and the General Assembly will have to tackle in a balanced, thoughtful manner if we are to retain our pro-business reputation and our competitive edge.

And one policy on which he marched in bipartisan lockstep with President Barack Obama was the issue of developing quality public charter schools – particularly those that would serve as a turn-around mechanism in areas where individual schools or school systems had consistently failed to make progress over the past decade.

The Obama Administration’s support for public charters as a means of improving the educational futures of at-risk students is well known. And recent reports from Boston, New York and Washington, DC demonstrate that a quality charter school can make a dramatic difference in the education and the lives of at-risk children. At Harlem’s Democracy Prep, for example, charter school students scored almost as well as students in the affluent Scarsdale suburban school district.

McDonnell’s campaign joined in that bi-partisanship, but it appears to have stopped at the shores of the Potomac River. In a post-election newspaper interview, Virginia Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw declared his opposition to expanding the charter school law on the grounds that they weren’t needed in suburban areas – thus throwing under the bus kids in urban schools where up to 40 percent of the students do not graduate from high school on time.

One would hate to conclude that, given the choice between siding with failing kids or siding with the teachers’ union (which opposes all charters in Virginia), the Democrats are choosing union power over kid power.

Instead, it would be more generous to conclude that there’s simply a concern about expanding any kind of charter, regardless of its quality. In that reservation, there is a kernel of truth.

Public charter schools are designed to be independently operated – schools where educators are given the freedom to design instructional programs that best serve their student population. In return, those schools are to be given strong accountability systems and oversight for student performance.

But not all public charter schools are quality charter schools. It does not serve a child if he leaves a traditional public school that is failing him or her, only to move to a similarly failing public charter school.

While many good parents want better opportunities for educationally at-risk children, starting an effective public charter school isn’t quite like the old films where Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland decide “Oh boy, let’s put on a show!” Too few of those who want to organize a charter have the skills and background to develop a successful instructional program and assessment measures.

But similarly, too many local School Boards – currently the only entities that can authorize a public charter school – misunderstand the role of charters or the School Board’s role as authorizers. They confuse oversight with daily management, and focus on inputs rather than student outcomes. In short, there is a tendency to believe charter schools are okay as long as they are run by School Boards and look like the regular public schools surrounding them – which sort of defeats the purpose in the first place.

The most successful charter schools – the Knowledge is Power Program, Aspire, the Achievement First network – have important common qualities. Among them are high expectations, extra time for students, effective (and multiple) assessment tests and a strong faculty and team spirit.

But these successful qualities flourish best in places where there is a strong balance between offering schools a high level of school autonomy and freedom and demanding strong accountability systems for student performance. Public charter schools that are forced to be dependent on local school systems (and subject to regulatory burdens and limitations on basic operations) rarely succeed. Forcing restrictions on charter schools that limit the level of innovation and flexibility those schools can use tend to result in failure. And focusing on inputs rather than student outcomes puts the emphasis on the wrong end of student learning.

Learning how quality public charter schools operate – and how effective charter authorizers genuinely supervise, rather than manage, those schools – is an important step in revamping Virginia’s charter school law and offering new opportunities for educationally at-risk students.

That’s why the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy will have three charter school experts – Sara Mead, of Democrats for Education Reform; Don Soifer, of the DC Public Charter School Board and Diona McLucas, of the Black Alliance for Educational Options – speak at their annual Education Policy Luncheon on the subject of “What Makes a Quality Charter School?”

This luncheon will be held in Williamsburg on November 18, just prior to the Virginia School Boards Association Convention, and will examine the characteristics of quality charter schools, and what authorizers must do to ensure educational achievement.

Nancy Scola of Tech President takes a look at the role of new media in Bob McDonnell’s victory. Long story short,

There are those close to the ‘09 Virginia governor’s race who will tell you that Deeds was simply outmatched online by McDonnell and the web of consultants he reached out to — and funded — throughout the course of the campaign. It’s a disparity that grew worse as the Deeds campaign struggled to the finish line, and advisors with the Democratic campaign poured more money into the more traditional mediums of television and radio. In the first three weeks of October, for example, Deeds poured more than $3 million into television and radio ads. According to Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) filings, Deeds dedicated just over $117,000 or so to online politicking through late October.

In contrast the McDonnell campaign spent more than $600,000 on new media in the same time period. There is a lot more interesting stuff in the article, but the basic point is that McDonnell absolutely outclassed Deeds in terms of new media.

Adobe and Open Government

Adobe is heavily pushing its own software, particularly their Flash and PDF standards, to make government more open and transparent. But does using Adobe make sense for anyone but Adobe? Sunlight Labs says no.

Here at the Sunlight Foundation, we spend a lot of time with Adobe’s products– mainly trying to reverse the damage that these technologies create when government discloses information. The PDF file format, for instance, isn’t particularly easily parsed. As ubiquitous as a PDF file is, often times they’re non-parsable by software, unfindable by search engines, and unreliable if text is extracted.

While the Sunlight Foundation acknowledges that any time the government releases data in any format it is generally better than the status quo, closed standards like PDF and Flash are much less useful to citizens and developers than open standards like HTML or XML.

Problems with Recovery.gov

The Sunlight Foundation also takes  a look at some major failures with the site set up to track stimulus spending.

In short what’s happened is that the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board has launched a website, asked citizens to report waste fraud and abuse on that website, and filled it full of data that they knew was either questionable or blatantly inaccurate. This doesn’t sound productive for either the recipients of the funds, the government or the citizens seeking to monitor this spending. What’s the point of reporting waste, fraud or abuse if none of the data is correct?

While Recovery.gov has generally been a major step forward on government transparency, there are clearly problems. Hopefully the administration will take articles like this from watchdog groups seriously and continue to work to improve recovery.gov.

Data Catalogs Gain Ground

Two major developments on the push for putting more government data online, which we’ve covered here before.  In the first instance the Federal Election Commission has launched a data catalog to give online developers better access to campaign finance data. Even more exciting, the FEC action was based in part on the testimony of citizens who, organized by the Sunlight Foundation, petitioned the FEC to launch a data catalog.

The other major data development is that the British Government is launching its own data catalog, initially modeled on the US system, but with the potential to grow into something much greater.

In seriousness, the involvement of Berners-Lee raises the possibility that the British data site might be a step beyond its U.S. inspiration, lending itself more readily to use by normal citizens than its American counterpart has thus far proven itself to be.

That’s because Berners-Lee has, for many years now, been trying to sell the world on the idea of a web were linkages are based on human language, rather than hard-coded hyperlinks. His vision is of a web that understands the connections between disparate bits of information in a way similar to how the human mind might effortlessly connect an address on London’s Whitehall with the events of World War II that Winston Churchill directed from an underground bunker there. Data woven through with more human ways of interpretation might, just might, make the gap between making government information public and making it useful a little smaller.

How Transparency Can Improve Government Performance

The Commonwealth Institute (of Pennsylvania), brings our attention to a study by the Mercatus Center that looks at the benefits of government transparency.

First, transparency naturally deters corruption by addressing the principal-agent problem. In other words, as investors are required to be informed about the true state of a venture in which they invest, taxpayers are entitled to be informed about the true state of the government they fund. You can’t keep government accountable if you don’t know what it’s up to.

Secondly, governments can use transparency to improve efficiency, like for-profit business, by placing pressure on employees to exert themselves. But transparency isn’t a panacea – competition is by far the most powerful solution.

Today’s Topics

• Energy
• Technology
• Legal
• Budget
• Environment
• Economy
• Development
• Education
• Health
• Veterans
• Local

Energy

Kaine, Md., Del. governors back wind-power accord | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The governors of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a formal tri-state partnership for the deployment of offshore wind energy in the Middle Atlantic region.

Technology

IT chief reopens talks with Northrop Grumman, draws fire | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

RICHMOND, VA — Despite warnings from lawmakers to back off, the state’s computer chief quietly reopened negotiations with Northrop Grumman over additional services that could add millions to Virginia’s information-technology bill.

Legal

Attorney general to join Hunton and Williams | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Attorney General Bill Mims, a confidant of Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, is joining a Richmond legal powerhouse in January as a lobbyist.

Western District proposes local rules for first time | Virginia Lawyers Weekly Blog

The judges of the Western District of Virginia are inviting comments on the first-ever set of local rules proposed for federal courts in those parts.

Budget

Houck paints dire budget picture to city and Spotsy | The Freelance Star

If you could declare the recession over today, it still wouldn’t mean a return to rosy times for state and local governments.

Environment

Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country | The Virginia Pilot

Virginia has the second-dirtiest waterways among the 50 states.

Economy

Alpha Natural Resources to build new corporate headquarters in Bristol, Va. | The Bristol Herald Courier

ABINGDON, Va. – Alpha Natural Resources will build its new corporate headquarters in Bristol, the governor’s office announced early Wednesday.

Quicker rebound seen for D.C. area | The Washington Post

An anticipated expansion of the Washington area economy — to be spurred largely by a federal hiring spree and military base realignment — should help local governments restore tax revenue to pre-recession levels quicker than other municipalities across the country, according to a new report Tuesday by the bond rating firm Moody’s Investors Service.

Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce sponsoring business trip to China | The News & Advance

The Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a business trip to China in October, chamber officials announced this morning.

Development

Timing of Tysons road needs and development outlined

Fairfax County planners are inching closer to making pivotal decisions about the transformation of Tysons Corner: How much development will be allowed, and when.

Education

CNU Board of Visitors meet on school’s budget Thursday | The Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS – Christopher Newport University’s Board of Visitors will meet at noon on Thursday in the board room of the David Student Union on campus. University officials and the board will discuss CNU’s budget and consider forecasts for the upcoming year. The state decreased financial support for CNU and other state public colleges and universities in September, about forcing the institutions to cut their budgets after the academic year had begun. It was the fourth time in two years that state support for the institutions was decreased. The cuts in March and September totaled $6.4 million for CNU, but were offset by $5 million in federal stimulus funds. Education officials are concerned about how much stimulus money will be available for 2010-11, and much more state support lawmakers may cut state revenues continue their decline.

Officials consider history in UVa design | The Daily Progress

University of Virginia officials say they are trying to follow Thomas Jefferson’s architectural and academic precepts in the design and redevelopment of the university’s Grounds.

Roanoke board fires principal over test scandal | The Star Exponent

ROANOKE — The principal of a Roanoke school is out of a job follow-ing a state investigation that found testing irregularities.

Health

Health care protest spurs counter-demonstration | The Daily Progress

On one side, speakers, placards and a bus that played country music. On the other, a band, chanting and banners.

Veterans

Veterans asking Wittman for help | The Freelance Star

Chuck Vroman of King George County, a retired Navy veteran who is disabled, wanted to know why the Veterans Administration office in Roanoke was taking so long to process a request.

Local

Manassas council agrees to spend $100K on civil war anniversary | Inside Nova

Members of the Manassas City Council like the idea of commemorating the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas so much that they’re ready to give up $100,000 to make it happen in 2011.

Dulles area golf course lien holders still left in the lurch | The Fairfax Times

Six miles of poplar hardwood form the moldings and trims at 1757 Golf Club’s clubhouse.

Cantor plans Culpeper job fair | The Star Exponent

More than two dozen local businesses will participate in a job fair the week of Thanksgiving at the Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper.

Suffolk will stop charging residents for bulk waste pickups | The Daily Press

SUFFOLK - The city of Suffolk will stop charging residents for bulk trash pickup next month after the city council voted to apply $550,000 of budget surplus to that utility.

Monacans await Senate vote on tribe’s federal recognition | The News & Advance

Victoria Hamilton, a fifth-generation Monacan Indian Nation member, has lived on the same site beside High Peak Road near Monroe for her entire life, even after the structure was rebuilt after a 2004 lightning-strike fire.

Today’s Topics

• Environment
• Budget
• The McDonnell Administration
• Economy
• Transportation
• Health
• Education
• Legal
• Agriculture
• Energy
• Local

Environment

EPA proposes penalties in Chesapeake cleanup | The Washington Post

Trying to impose new accountability measures in the failing effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Obama administration is considering an odd-sounding threat.

Budget

Population, inflation fuel 10-year budget growth in Va. | The Washington Post

Virginia spent 74 percent more money overall in its most recent budget than it did 10 years earlier, the result of the economy, population growth and decisions by the General Assembly, according to the legislature’s watchdog agency.

The McDonnell Administration

McDonnell drops hints on direction of administration | The Washington Examiner

Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, in a round of post-victory television appearances, is signaling he will simultaneously chart a course heavily focused on the economy while risking partisan rancor over issues like abortion.

McDonnell disagrees with study on trimming tax breaks | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia officials looking for cash to balance the state budget should consider delaying or junking some tax breaks, according to an economic think tank whose study was knocked down by Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell.

McDonnell election grounds gas tax hopes | The Washington Examiner

The election of Republican Bob McDonnell as Virginia governor puts another barrier in front of a gas tax increase, a proposal already unlikely to succeed in a deeply divided state legislature.

Local officials press for increase in gas tax | The Washington Examiner

Maryland is long overdue for an increase in the gas tax to help build new roads and ease congestion, Montgomery County Council President Phil Andrews said Monday.

County Officials Hope New Governor Will Support Anti-Discrimination Legislation for Gay Workers | The Sun Gazette

Del. Adam Ebbin (D-49th) plans to introduce legislation that would provide protections for state government workers based on their sexual orientation.

Economy

ODU forecast: Falling retail sales, job losses to continue | The Virginia Pilot

Job losses, depressed retail sales and falling hotel-room revenue will continue in Hampton Roads through yearend, but a resurgent U.S. economy will slow the decline, an economic forecasting team at Old Dominion University predicted.

Virginia business startup Web site reaches milestone | The News and Advance

ROANOKE—A state-run Web site to help streamline the process of starting a business has reached a milestone.

Transportation

VDOT prepares for winter roads | The Daily Progress

Despite losing more than 600 jobs and closing 19 interstate highway rest areas this summer because of Virginia’s budget crisis, Virginia Department of Transportation officials say they have the manpower, materials and equipment to keep the roads clear of ice and snow this winter.

Health

Perriello defends vote for health bill | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and supporters yesterday defended his vote in favor of the $1.2 trillion health-care overhaul, while an anti-tax group picketed his offices in Martinsville, Danville and Farmville.

Education

Art center teachers keep busy outside classrooms | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Keri Wormald directed “Well” at the Barksdale Theater at the same time she led her high school students in a production of “Pride and Prejudice.” Both plays opened within one week of each other in the spring.

Tech’s budget picture is grim | The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG — While some sectors of the economy are bouncing back from deep recession, in the short term Virginia Tech’s budget won’t, university officials told the board of visitors on Sunday.

UVa’s Cavalier Daily to trim number of publication days | The Daily Progress

The 119-year-old student newspaper at the University of Virginia announced Monday that it will not publish a print edition on certain days this academic year to cut costs amid the economic downturn.

Legal

Senate OKs Maryland’s Davis for 4th Circuit | Virginia Lawyers Weekly Blog

The U.S. Senate voted this evening to confirm President Obama’s nomination of U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis to a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Raids uncover bomb makings | The News Leader

WAYNESBORO — Authorities seized bomb-making materials and combat-related items last week from two area properties associated with a man who made videos of himself exploding stuffed animals, according to search warrants filed in Augusta County Circuit Court.

Agriculture

Latest crop to crack top 20 in Virginia? Try a glass of it | The Daily Progress

Among the success stories in Virginia agriculture in 2008 was wine grapes, which became one of the state’s top 20 agricultural commodities, according to new data.

Energy

Arlington company buys ADMMicro | The Roanoke Times

On Monday afternoon, ADMMicro, a Roanoke-born and -based energy management technology company, announced its acquisition by GridPoint, an Arlington-based company that develops “Smart Grid” software for electric utility companies.

Local

Judge rejects request for injunction to block Gloucester payments | The Daily Press

GLOUCESTER — A visiting judge declined Monday to block a motion passed last week by the Board of Supervisors that calls for the county to pay $343,000 in legal fees for four Board members.

Second firm makes offer to buy regional trash authority | The Virginia Pilot

There are now two proposals to buy SPSA, the region’s struggling trash authority.

Slumlord to do time in Richmond rental home | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

Convicted slumlord Oliver C. Lawrence will get to experience life in the Richmond City Jail and one of his own neglected rental properties.

ABC hearing into strip club charges continues today | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

A few hours in the Champagne Room didn’t come cheap for state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents investigating a strip club in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom.

Group details local benefits of federal stimulus spending | The News Leader

WAYNESBORO — More than $200,000 in federal stimulus funds have been awarded to local organizations and the money will save seven jobs and benefit more than 1,500 low-income area residents.

City fears deeper cuts | The News Leader

WAYNESBORO — The state has cut its budget and local tax revenue is lagging, so city officials are bracing for more cuts of their own.

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