EPISODES

Drop Box Security, School Accreditation, and Bringing Semiconductor Jobs to Virginia
Pod Virginia Pod Virginia

Drop Box Security, School Accreditation, and Bringing Semiconductor Jobs to Virginia

The conservative Heritage Foundation recently gave Virginia a perfect score on its "Election Integrity Scorecard" because of the strong security around its election drop boxes. As Michael and Thomas discuss, that news directly counters fear-mongering around election integrity issues in the state. Researchers at Virginia colleges are on the cutting edge of semiconductor research--that's paired with an attempt by Virginia lawmakers to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Three sites are currently being marketed by the Youngkin administration, mostly in Southside Virginia, representing billions of dollars in potential revenue and improved security. Governor Youngkin says Virginia's new new accreditation system reflects a broken system that doesn't reflect learning loss or the achievement gaps--but education experts say the new system encourages improvement and focuses less on punishing low-performing schools. A New York Times investigation reveals that Bon Secours hospital chain was committing fraud--taking federal dollars intended to help low-income citizens access life-saving medicine, and distributing that money to wealthier people in the medical system.

Read More