Local governments across Virginia are preparing for an epic battle next year in Richmond. They want a piece of the Airbnb action. Geoff Skelley at UVA’s Center for Politics says lawmakers realize they may be setting an important precedent. “We’re probably going to have other companies coming along changing the lay of the land in other areas of the economy, and so how they act here could also foretell how they might act in other areas too."
"Loyalty is a key reason why Trump picked them,” said Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics. “Trump wants people he can trust and I think he’s skeptical of some Republicans actually sort of following through and supporting him."
(Commentary by Josh Bowers, a UVA associate professor of law) It’s been a bad year. It started with the unexpected passing of my uncle, Larry Schreiber – a family doctor who was willing to trade medical care for firewood; a humanitarian who ran a special-needs adoption agency and raised 14 children, 10 of them adopted, one a refugee from war-torn Cambodia. Upon his passing, his hometown paper, The Taos News, remembered him as “the Albert Schweitzer of the Sangre De Cristos.” The year now draws to a close with the presidential election of a man who, from my perspective, ...
One of the largest employers in Charlottesville wants to keep its workers healthy. The UVA Medical Center is finding it also saves money in the long run. UVA Medical Center started its "be well" employee wellness program almost nine months ago and today hosted hospital systems from all over the country to learn about how they do it.
Many state college budgets have been cut significantly since the start of the Great Recession, forcing them to find places to make cuts. At some schools, the situation has pitted technical courses against classic liberal arts classes. With the support of Thomas Jefferson, the flagship University of Virginia – established in 1825 – blended a practical curriculum with traditional higher education that included a strong focus on the classics.
(Commentary UVA lecturer Michael Signer) Since Nov. 9, Donald Trump has been described as our “president-elect.” But many would be shocked to learn that this term is actually legally meaningless. The Constitution sets out a specific hurdle for Trump to ascend to the presidency. And that will not happen until Dec. 19, when the members of the Electoral College meet in their respective states to vote for the president.
William J. Kehoe, William F. O’Dell Professor of Commerce at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, received the Paul Goodloe McIntire Citizenship Award at the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 103rd annual Chamber Dinner on Thursday.
The U.S. Constitution lays out procedures for how a new state may enter the union, but there are no protocols for a nation to exit. “There’s no legal path to secession,” said Cynthia Nicoletti, a UVA associate professor of law and author of the upcoming book, “The Treason Trial of Jefferson Davis: Secession in the Aftermath of the Civil War.”
Charlottesville and UVA are working together to make getting to Grounds a little easier. The Planning and Coordination Council met Thursday at CitySpace to discuss the Emmet Street and Ivy Road entrance corridor.
America’s next President is trying to assemble a team for his upcoming administration, and it’s been happening in “fits and starts.” UVA’s Larry Sabato says Donald Trump should expect fewer hassles now that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is leading the transition team.
Bob Gibson, senior researcher at the Academy for Civic Renewal at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service and co-editor of the Virginia News Letter, said the trend of red areas becoming redder and blue ones becoming bluer is something he’s seeing across the state and nation.
“The president spends most of his or her day doing things that he’s not particularly eager to do," Brian Balogh, a presidential historian at UVA’s Miller Center, said. “My guess is that Donald Trump as a businessperson did plenty of things that he wasn’t particularly eager to do. However, in business, there is a pretty clear criteria – it’s called the bottom line.”
“No one outside the process can be 100 percent certain, but it sure does look like Christie was singled out,’’ said Larry Sabato, head of UVA’s Center for Politics.
The majority of experts interviewed for this story said that, in theory, the idea could work. The reason it hasn’t, says UVA economist Jennifer Doleac, is because the government isn’t incentivized to study gun violence the same way think tanks and academics such as herself are.
(By Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik, and Geoffrey Skelley of UVA’s Center for Politics) Bite-sized observations on a wild election. Now that we’ve had a week to digest the results of the 2016 election, here are some observations about what happened and what the results might tell us about the future.
Children who lived in food deserts without easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables appeared to have higher rates of asthma than children who lived closer to sources of healthy foods, according to a study by Dr. DeVon Preston of the UVA Health System and colleagues.
"These risk factors related to heart disease and stroke appear to worsen rapidly in the years leading up to menopause, and during the postmenopausal period they progress less rapidly," said Dr. Mark DeBoer, the study's senior author and a UVA associate professor of pediatric endocrinology.
Given the option of spending time on a beach or in the mountains, which would you choose? Researchers have determined that your preference is related to how outgoing you are. In a series of five experiments, UVA psychologists found that introverts generally prefer mountainous areas, whereas extroverts opt for beaches.
“A Trump presidency will likely lead to a more heated relationship with China,” suggests Aynne Kokas, a UVA professor of media studies. “His rhetoric could generate anti-Americanism that could affect box office sales, new theme-park investments, and even the quota for film imports.”
Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe hoped to balance the books with new federal money that would have come with expanding Medicaid. But now, says Geoff Skelley at UVA’s Center for Politics, that seems out of reach. “To some degree you have to figure this is just providing more ammunition for Republicans who have opposed efforts to expand Medicaid. They’ll argue that, well, it’s proven to be more costly."