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J&J vaccine put on pause in Va. due to safety concerns

Updated 6:30 p.m. April 13: Virginia health officials say the CDC has confirmed the Virginia woman’s death is connected to their call earlier Tuesday for a pause on use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Earlier:

On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health immediately put a pause on its use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine as federal health agencies recommended halting use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they examine safety issues, including rare blood clots. According to federal data, a woman in Virginia died last month after receiving the vaccine, but state health officials emphasized they do not know yet if the fatality was related to the federal pause.

According to The New York Times, nearly seven million people have received J&J shots, which are effective after one dose, and nine million more doses have been shipped nationwide. Six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed a rare blood clot disorder within about two weeks of vaccination, and one woman died, the Times reported.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a 45-year-old woman in Virginia died from a stroke-like syndrome in March, less than two weeks after receiving a J&J vaccine manufactured by Janssen Biotech Inc., a pharmaceutical company owned by Johnson & Johnson.

State vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said in a press call Tuesday afternoon that he has contacted the CDC and the FDA for clarification. VDH does not know if this incident is related to the J&J vaccine pause, spokespeople emphasized.

According to the CDC report, the woman in Virginia, who was in her 40s, went to the hospital March 17 complaining of a suddenly worsening headache, dry heaves and left-sided weakness. A CT scan revealed a brain hemorrhage. After being admitted, she was intubated “for worsening mental status.” After further decline, she was diagnosed as “brain dead” on March 18, the day she died. The CDC report does not confirm whether the death was caused by the vaccine, which she received March 6, and then began to feel ill six days later.

Avula’s statement earlier Tuesday did not address how long it would take for J&J vaccine appointments to be rescheduled, but some health districts and departments in Virginia have said they will give Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to people who had appointments this week to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“We are closely monitoring the actions by the federal government to pause all Johnson & Johnson vaccinations while it investigates an extremely rare possible side effect,” Avula said in a statement. “In Virginia, we will cease all Johnson & Johnson vaccines until this investigation is complete. If you have an upcoming appointment for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you will be contacted to reschedule that appointment.

“This pause is reassuring in that it demonstrates that the systems that are in place to monitor vaccine safety are working. We look forward to a thorough review by federal health officials. Meantime, we will continue Virginia’s vaccine rollout at this time with the other two authorized vaccines, developed by Pfizer and Moderna.”

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement that the agencies are recommending a pause in the vaccine’s use, and they will not be offering J&J shots at federal clinics. Other states, including Ohio and Virginia, have followed suit in the hours after the announcement, advising health practitioners in their states to stop using the vaccine for now.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” read the statement from Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat.

J&J’s vaccine ran into trouble earlier this year when a batch of 15 million doses had to be thrown out after it was discovered ingredients were incorrectly mixed at the Baltimore-based pharmaceutical plant Emergent BioSolutions.

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COVID roundup: Most of Va. is now in vaccine phase 2

Update, April 13: Virginia Department of Health pauses use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration advise halt due to rare blood clot issue.

Earlier:

The majority of the state has entered the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination as of Monday, opening eligibility to anyone age 16 and older who wants a shot. Still in phase 1c are Northern Virginia and parts of Hampton Roads, among other regions, but the entire state is expected to be in phase 2 by Sunday, the governor has announced.

Meanwhile, the state recorded 10,691 new COVID-19 cases last week and 126 deaths related to the coronavirus, reflecting rising numbers seen elsewhere in the nation. Two weeks ago, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky issued a warning of another deadly surge of the virus, following a similar surge in European cases. Although Virginia has not, some states have dropped masking mandates and loosened other restrictions. As of Monday, the state has reported 636,862 total cases and 10,486 total deaths, and the current seven-day positivity rate is 6.1%, down 0.3% from last week.

Vaccination continues apace, although the number of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses received this week by the state is down significantly due to the mix-up at the Baltimore-based pharmaceutical plant Emergent BioSolutions. Fifteen million doses had to be tossed out, and Dr. Danny Avula, Virginia’s vaccine coordinator, said the incident might delay efforts to vaccinate college students. As of Monday, 4.7 million doses have been administered statewide, and 36.6% of the population has gotten at least one dose, while 21.3% is fully vaccinated. The state is administering an average of 74,909 shots per day, the Virginia Department of Health reports.

The following counties are in phase 1c, which prioritizes vaccinations for people working in energy, higher education, finance, legal and housing and construction sectors, as well as water, waste removal, food service, transportation and logistics, information technology and communication, media and public safety, and public health workers not included in earlier vaccination phases: Amelia, Arlington, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Greensville, James City, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Prince George, Prince William, Surry, Sussex and York.

The following cities are in phase 1c: Emporia, Fairfax, Falls Church, Hampton, Hopewell, Manassas and Williamsburg.

Full information on health districts’ phases is available here.

Although there are exceptions in which communities are allowing walk-in vaccination, appointments are still required at most places, even for localities in phase 2. All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

The state now ranks 12th in the nation for percentage of vaccine doses administered, according to CDC data analyzed by Becker’s Hospital Review.

As of Sunday, Virginia has seen 349 cases of the U.K. variant, an increase of 159 over the past week. Public health officials, including scientists tracking COVID-19 at the University of Virginia, have warned about the B.1.1.7 variant, which is highly contagious and likely the dominant strain in Virginia. In last week’s report, U.Va. researchers said that the Mount Rogers Health District in Southwest Virginia is experiencing a surge in cases. In addition to the variants, “vaccine hesitancy is the largest long-term risk to containing the impact of the pandemic,” the U.Va. report says.

With race and ethnicity information available for only 60.5% of people who have received shots in the state, the majority of shots have been received by white, non-Hispanic people — 65.2% as of Monday, according to VDH. Black Virginians have received 14.2% of shots, although they make up 19.9% of the state’s population, according to 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census; 9.1% of vaccines were given to Latino residents, who comprise about 9.8% of Virginians.

State health officials have focused attention on equitable administration of vaccinations, especially as Latino and Black residents are heavily represented among people who have been infected, hospitalized and died from the coronavirus. Among Virginia’s COVID deaths for which ethnicity and race were recorded, 24.8% were Black, and 6.4% were Latino.

As of April 8, the following health districts have positivity rates of 10% or higher:

  • Mount Rogers — 14.2%, up from 11.4%
  • Hampton — 10.9%, down from 13.4% on April 1

Globally, there are 136.2 million reported COVID-19 cases and 2,940,670 confirmed deaths, as of April 12. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 31.2 million confirmed cases so far, with 562,360 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February 2020. According to the CDC, 120 million U.S. residents have received at least one vaccine dose, or 36.4% of the nation’s population, and 74 million people, or 22.3% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated.

New, continued jobless claims in Va. stay steady a second week

The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week ending April 3 was 81% lower than the same period a year ago, when the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic saw unemployment filings near peak levels. The number of new filers last week increased slightly from the previous week.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday that 28,526 people filed initial claims last week, an increase of 282 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 57,344, a 0.5% decrease from the previous week and 75,840 lower than the 133,184 continued claims a year ago. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week (and the prior four weeks) reported being in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade and health care and social assistance industries, according to the VEC.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. 

This week, the VEC announced it would begin contacting unemployment recipients across the state in May to inform them that they must start applying for two jobs a week to continue receiving state and federal assistance. This is the typical policy, but the requirement was suspended last year due to the pandemic.

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending April 3:

  • Alexandria, 1,806
  • Norfolk, 1,578
  • Richmond, 1,241
  • Virginia Beach, 1,255
  • Fairfax County, 1,165
  • Prince William County, 904
  • Portsmouth, 790
  • Fredericksburg, 784
  • Portsmouth, 729
  • Fredericksburg, 710
  • Hampton, 636

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 744,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 6,161,308 initial claims during the same week last year.

VEC to reinstate weekly work search requirement soon

All Virginia recipients of unemployment insurance will have to apply for two jobs a week soon to continue receiving benefits, Virginia Employment Commission announced Tuesday. Although the exact timeline was not provided, the VEC will begin notifying residents in May, it said.

According to the news release, VEC has received more than 1.5 million claims over the past year, a more than 1,000% increase from the previous year, and it has paid more than $12.2 billion in state and federal benefits, which is now entering a third round of stimulus payments.

Under normal circumstances, unemployment insurance recipients must apply for at least two jobs a week to continue receiving benefits under state and federal law, but that requirement was suspended during the pandemic, when jobs in some fields were scarce, particularly restaurants and hospitality sectors. After May, recipients will have to report details of their job search activity each week to the VEC, and the requirement extends to recipients of federally funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

The VEC will work with Virginia Career Works centers across the state to help job seekers with their searches, as well as accessing child care when they return to work.

Va. restaurant, hospitality industry seeks $270M+ in relief funding

Hard hit by the pandemic, Virginia’s restaurant and hospitality industry is asking the General Assembly to dedicate more than $270 million from the state’s share of federal American Rescue Plan dollars to assist hotels, restaurants and other hospitality-related industries.

In a letter sent Tuesday to members of the state legislature’s money committees, the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association requested that the General Assembly allocate $273.35 million from the Virginia state government’s $3.76 billion share of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

Eric Terry

“Supporting these organizations with additional funding will ensure that more businesses survive, that workers stay employed, and that tourism across the commonwealth rebounds more quickly,” VRLTA President Eric Terry said in the April 6 letter addressed to House Appropriations Committee Chair Del. Luke Torian and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Janet Howell.

Signed into law by Biden on March 11, the federal plan stipulates that 25% of American Rescue Plan funding should be allocated to assist states and communities “that have suffered economic injury as a result of job and gross domestic product losses in the travel, tourism, or outdoor recreation sectors.”

Virginia and its localities are receiving about $6.9 billion from the American Rescue Plan, which includes extending expanded unemployment benefits through Labor Day, $1,400 relief checks to individuals, and grants for small businesses.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Virginia and its localities to alleviate the economic losses sustained through the pandemic in the hospitality and tourism industries,” reads a statement from the association.

Tourism accounts for $27 billion in annual revenue in the commonwealth. Restaurants brought in more than $18 billion in revenue for 2018 and lodging accounted for roughly $6 billion in the state in 2019. The state association estimates that collectively the industries lost $14.8 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic, with tourism alone losing $10 billion.

In the April 6 letter, the association is requesting the following relief funding:

  • $184.7 million for hotels and other lodging establishments
  • $36.7 million for restaurants
  • $20 million for the Virginia Tourism Corp.
  • $10 million for tourist attractions
  • $12.25 million for tourism entities
  • $2 million for campgrounds
  • $4.7 million for wedding venues
  • $1.5 million for convention centers
  • $1.5 million for job training for restaurant and lodging employees seeking jobs or improve skills

“You got a $27 billion industry that needs help, and we would do that for any other industry, I think,” Terry said in an interview with Virginia Business.

COVID roundup: Parts of Va. open vaccinations to all over age 16

As of Monday, parts of Virginia have entered the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination — allowing all Virginians age 16 and older to receive shots, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The entire state is set to enter phase 2 by April 18, Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week.

The following counties are in phase 2: Accomack, Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Botetourt, Brunswick, Campbell, Clarke, Craig, Culpeper, Fauquier, Franklin, Frederick, Halifax, Henry, Madison, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Orange, Page, Patrick, Rappahannock, Roanoke,  Shenandoah, Warren.

And these cities are also in phase 2: Chesapeake, Covington, Danville, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Norfolk, Roanoke, Salem, Virginia Beach and Winchester.

Most of the rest of the state is in phase 1c, which prioritizes vaccinations for people working in energy, higher education, finance, legal and housing and construction sectors, as well as water, waste removal, food service, transportation and logistics, information technology and communication, media and public safety, and public health workers not included in earlier vaccination phases. Full information on health districts’ phases is available here.

Appointments are still required for vaccination, even for localities in phase 2. All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

The state now ranks 10th in the nation for percentage of vaccine doses administered, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed by Becker’s Hospital Review.

As of Monday, 2.8 million people, or 32.8% of the state’s population, have received at least one vaccine dose; 1.5 million people, or 18.1% of the state, have been fully vaccinated. The state administered an average 77,879 doses per day over the past week.

The state also has seen an increase of 9,662 COVID-19 cases in the past week, with a positivity rate of 6.4% over the past seven days, up 0.6% from the previous week. Researchers at the University of Virginia warned last week that the highly contagious United Kingdom-based variant of the coronavirus is gaining purchase in parts of the state and may cause another peak in late spring or early summer, depending on prevention measures. As of Sunday, Virginia has seen 190 cases of the U.K. variant. The state recorded 141 COVID-related deaths last week, VDH reported, an increase of 49 from the previous week. As of Monday, the state has recorded 626,171 total cases and 10,360 fatalities.

With race and ethnicity information available for only 61.7% of people who have received shots in the state, the majority of shots have been received by white, non-Hispanic people — 66.4% as of Monday, according to VDH. Black Virginians have received 14.1% of shots, although they make up 19.9% of the state’s population, according to 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census; 8.2% of vaccines were given to Latino residents, who comprise about 9.8% of Virginians.

State health officials have focused attention on equitable administration of vaccinations, especially as Latino and Black residents are heavily represented among people who have been infected, hospitalized and died from the coronavirus. Among Virginia’s COVID deaths for which ethnicity and race were recorded, 24.7% were Black, and 6.4% were Latino.

As of April 1, the following health districts have positivity rates of 10% or higher:

  • Hampton — 13.4%, up from 12.6% on March 25
  • Portsmouth — 12.9%, up from 10.1%
  • Mount Rogers — 11.4%, up from 9.6%
  • Norfolk — 10.8%, up from 9.4%
  • Chesapeake — 10.2%, up from 9.1%

Globally, there are 131.5 million reported COVID-19 cases and 2,855,894 confirmed deaths, as of April 5. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 30.7 million confirmed cases so far, with 555,035 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February 2020. According to the CDC, 106 million U.S. residents have received at least one vaccine dose, or 32% of the nation’s population, and 61 million people, or 18.5% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated.

PPP loans deadline extended to May 31

Businesses and banks received a two-month extension to apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans this week, as President Joe Biden signed legislation delaying the deadline for the latest round of PPP loans from March 31 to May 31.

This week’s extension takes some of the pressure off bankers and businesses, says Steve Yeakel, president and CEO of the Virginia Association of Community Bankers. So far in this 2021 round, he says, Virginia banks have written nearly 65,000 PPP loans totaling $4.49 billion.

This round of PPP loans is more targeted, with some additional challenges that come with second-draw loans, he says: “But at the end of the day, more money is getting to more people who really need it.”

Since the PPP loan program launched in April 2020 in the wake of the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank has processed 15,700 loans totaling approximately $2.2 billion — “the vast majority” of PPP loans in Virginia, bank president and CEO John Asbury says. Tthe program has brought more than 3,000 new customers to the bank since last year, Asbury says.

Atlantic Union has received a little more than 6,000 applications since the latest round of PPP began, writing more than $591 million in loans. So far, the SBA has granted a little more than 5,000 loan applications.

Atlantic Union stopped taking PPP loan applications March 19, but has reopened the process because of the extension. “The program keeps getting better,” Asbury says. “All changes being made are to the advantage of the borrowers.”

He and Alison Holt-Fuller, who runs the bank’s PPP program in her role as head of product and enterprise first line risk management, say some changes make the program more appealing.

Those include a more streamlined forgiveness process and the ability to take a second draw — including the potential for businesses to receive two draws in 2021, as long as the covered periods required by the program don’t overlap. They say another change is that businesses may apply for both a PPP loan and a shuttered venue grant.

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Va. new unemployment filings up last week, VEC reports

The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week ending March 27 were 75% lower than they were this week a year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact was fully reflected in Virginia’s unemployment statistics. However, the number of new filers increased from the previous week.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday that 28,244 people filed initial claims last week, an increase of 10,684 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 57,072, a 2.0% decrease from the previous week but 15,245 higher than continued claims a year ago. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week (and the prior four weeks) reported being in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade and health care and social assistance industries, according to the VEC.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. 

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending March 27:

  • Alexandria, 1,720
  • Norfolk, 1,719
  • Richmond, 1,268
  • Virginia Beach, 1,240
  • Fairfax County, 1,053
  • Prince William County, 822
  • Portsmouth, 790
  • Roanoke, 775
  • Fredericksburg, 710
  • Hampton, 660

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 719,000, an increase of 61,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 5,981,787 initial claims during the same week last year.

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All Va. adults to be eligible for vaccines by April 18

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday that all Virginians age 16 and older will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 18, ahead of a May 1 national deadline set by President Joe Biden.

Northam made the announcement during a visit to a vaccination clinic at First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Prince William County, noting that most residents in the highest risk groups who have pre-registered for a vaccine have received at least one dose. Also, much of the state has moved into phase 1c, the last group of prioritized Virginians in essential jobs in the fields of energy, higher education, finance, legal, housing and construction, and other sectors.

Once residents in this group who are registered for a vaccine have received shots or been contacted for appointments, the state moves into what it calls “phase 2,” allowing anyone age 16 or older to receive a vaccination. According to the governor’s office, health districts can individually open vaccination to the general public beginning Sunday, April 4, if they have contacted all local residents registered in group 1c to get their shots.

All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

So far, the state has administered 3.85 million vaccine doses, and 30.1% of the state’s population has received at least one dose. More than 1.3 million people, or 16.1% of the state’s population, is fully vaccinated, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

“The COVID-19 vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel — and that light is getting brighter every day as more and more Virginians get vaccinated,” Northam said in a statement. “We continue to work with diverse providers and community partners across the commonwealth to distribute vaccines in a fair and equitable way and ensure those at the highest risk are vaccinated first. Expanding vaccine eligibility to all adults marks an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to put this pandemic behind us, and I thank all of the public health staff, health care workers, vaccinators and volunteers who have helped make this possible.”
Also on Thursday, the state lifted some restrictions on private gatherings and attendance at entertainment venues, including allowing 30% capacity or a cap of 5,000 people at outdoor venues such as stadiums, and gatherings of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors at private events.

 

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Better times ahead

Back in the early 1980s, a co-worker of mine and his wife became first-time homeowners. They felt pretty good about getting their new house and signing a mortgage note at a whopping 18% interest rate! By today’s standards, that’s pretty unthinkable. While much time has passed since those days, we’ve had only six new presidents since Ronald Reagan: three Republicans and three Democrats.

The average annual 30-year U.S. mortgage rate in 1981 was 16.6%. Since then, there has been a fairly continuous decline. Last year, the rate for a 30-year mortgage averaged 3.05%.

Similarly, the U.S. inflation rate in 1980 was 13.55% and the federal funds rate peaked at 20%. Last year’s projected inflation rate was just 0.62% and the fed funds rate was just a quarter point above zero. For economic hawks who fear inflation, suffice it to say that money has rarely been cheaper. In recent times, only during the 2008 Great Recession were these numbers anything like what they are today.

The timing around all of this could not be better, with Dee Cee passing a $1.9 trillion stimulus package in the Biden administration’s first 50 days. That legislation, of course, follows the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed under President Trump in March 2020.

As the COVID fog begins to lift, the economy is now awash with cash. And it’s not just cash from the federal government. We are poised to begin a sharp V-shaped recovery from a year of reduced consumer demand across nearly all business sectors. Cash has been quarantined on the sidelines.

The 1918 influenza pandemic was responsible for an estimated 50 million or more deaths worldwide. In the United States, about 675,000 people died from that flu pandemic. On its heels, however, came the Roaring Twenties, a decade of economic and cultural prosperity in both the United States and Europe.

As of mid-March 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for nearly 540,000 U.S. deaths, including more than 10,000 deaths here in Virginia. Looking back to the pandemic a century ago, it’s not hard to imagine that a Roaring 2020s will soon follow this 21st century global pandemic.

Managing a recovery is never easy.

Any tendency to lionize the “Reagan Revolution” generally skips right past the high interest rates, the high inflation and high government spending, as well as the high federal budget deficits that characterized the Reagan years.

During the Japanese economic bubble of the late 1980s, real estate and stock market prices became greatly inflated. By 1992, those asset prices were in a freefall. In hindsight, Japan’s response to this decline has largely been characterized as too little, too late. And as a result, the Japanese recovery took almost three decades.

Similarly, the Obama administration’s response to the Great Recession of 2008 has been characterized as overly cautious, leading to a longer and slower recovery period than anyone would have wanted.

In Virginia, our economy particularly benefits from federal spending. Let’s not forget that the Northern Virginia juggernaut rose from swampland during the New Deal-fueled spending recovery from the Great Depression in the 1930s. During the Bush-Cheney administration, the commonwealth particularly benefited from military spending on hot conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This time around, it is good to see Dee Cee pivoting from trickle-down to trickle-up economics, by putting money directly into the hands of consumers. It is also gratifying to see federal spending moving beyond just the military and technology and into health care and the environment. Virginia stands to gain from all of these new policies.

Let the good times roll!