By Paige Winfield Cunningham on September 2, 2010
Maybe Virginia’s unemployment funds would have lasted longer if the state hadn’t given 15 percent of its payments to unqualified claimants last year. In October 2009, the state’s unemployment money ran out and it had to borrow $347 million from the federal government. The same year, it paid $166 million to Virginians who didn’t qualify [...]
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By Paige Winfield Cunningham on August 31, 2010
Virginia schools are putting band-aids on the Titanic. That was the metaphor used by Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association, when we spoke last week about using one-time federal dollars to postpone teacher layoffs. After last year’s stimulus package sent $1.1 billion to Virginia schools, many districts used their portion to fund teacher [...]
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By Paige Winfield Cunningham on August 25, 2010
After Gov. Tim Kaine left office, the Web site he set up to track Virginia’s portion of the federal stimulus money was, for all practical purposes, abandoned. Six months later, and two months later than projected, Virginia Comptroller David Von Moll has launched a revamped version that uses Google maps and allows visitors to search [...]
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By Paige Winfield Cunningham on August 23, 2010
Sometimes politics is like a Rube Goldberg machine. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli usually sets Virginia’s ball in motion, triggering a predictable chain of events. The sequence goes like this: 1. Cuccinelli issues an opinion or files a lawsuit. 2. Right away, Del. Bob Marshall strongly and publicly supports it. 3. Democrats such as Sen. Creigh [...]
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By Paige Winfield Cunningham on August 18, 2010
Lay off workers, pay more taxes. Pay more taxes, lay off more workers. Repeat. An irony has been cycling through Virginia’s economy lately. The number of Virginia businesses filing for bankruptcy doubled between 2007 and 2009. When these companies close their doors, they leave behind laid-off workers — and their compensation needs. That prompts higher [...]
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