One of my hardworking colleagues just found out that her family’s health insurance premiums are about to go from about $250 to $1200 a month. Upon hearing that, I was tempted to sarcastically exclaim, “Thanks Obama” and rethink my limited support for the Affordable Care Act. But then I looked into the reason her premiums […]
Today I read Andy McCready’s long opinion piece in the Pulaski Patriot. While Mr. McCready uses many true facts, I could write 10,000 words about how they are presented without sufficient context. However, I’ll focus on a few key points organized around his topic headings. Pulaski County Spending: While Pulaski County has increased its contribution […]
Schools Cannot be Fixed for only $9 million Recently, I noticed that Andy McCready gave an interview to WSLS in which he stated that the “Plan B” for the middle schools if the referendum fails is to enact a $9.3 million dollar plan. The Plan, seen in its entirety here, can best be described as […]
If your news feed looks anything like ours right now, it is probably full of stories about Russia, the proposed new Pulaski County Middle School, and the Senate’s health care plan, in that order. We’re not going to touch the Russia story at this point, but we do want to take a look at how […]
Read Part I Here My recent article about the land use program spurred a great deal of debate, which I think should always be the purpose behind any reporting. However, I think some of the debate came about due to some misunderstandings for the purpose underlying my writing of the article. So I hope to […]
When I first read comments from a certain Board of Supervisors member last week, I, like many others, was angry. But over the weekend, I began to see this middle school fight as a welcome opportunity to build and strengthen relationships across the entire county not just because it’s the right thing to do, but […]
If you haven’t been to downtown Pulaski lately, you should visit. It’s difficult to keep track of all the exciting developments. As the lyrics go in my new favorite musical, “Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now…history is happening in [Pulaski] and we just happen to be in the greatest […]
Should companies like Comcast be able to sell your internet browsing history without your permission? Most Americans would say “no”, yet the Congress voted to allow just that. Americans have enjoyed a legal right to privacy from your communications provider under Section 222 of the Telecommunications Act for more than twenty years. When Congress made […]
Congress votes tomorrow on TrumpCare. According to the numbers projected by the Center for American Progress, the average Virginia enrollee will pay $4,000 more annually by 2026. A few points of reference: $4,000 is almost 10% of the median income for Pulaski County. 1,115 Pulaski County residents were enrolled in an ACA plan in 2016 and […]
68.1% of Pulaski County voters voted for Trump, but, according to the editorial staff of the Roanoke Times, when we look at his recently shared budget proposal, 45 has “an odd way of returning the favor.” The Roanoke Times staff did a good job covering this betrayal and what it could mean for southwest Virginia […]
