PODCAST · news
Bold Dominion
by Virginia Audio Collective
A state politics explainer for a changing Virginia
Episodes
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Why aren't there more passenger trains in Virginia?
Episode Notes Our episode about everything passenger rail in Virginia. From the history of rail in the state, to why our trains aren't as fast as Europe's, to some of the improvements to the rail system on the horizon, we discuss the ins and outs of rail travel in the Commonwealth. Special thanks...
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What (niche) legislation did the General Assembly pass in 2025?
The General Assembly session is just about wrapped up for the year. The Democrat- controlled house sent Republican Governor Youngkin 916 bills to consider. On Sunday, Youngkin signed 599 bills into law, vetoed 157 bills, and sent 159 bills back to the General Assembly with amendments. On this...
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What are all the boxes on my VA Tax Return?
We just couldn’t get enough of tax season so we’re back again this week to talk in more detail about our Virginia state income tax returns. What do all those questions on the forms actually mean and why do we have them? https://www.tax.virginia.gov/news/whats-new-filing-season...
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Does Virginia have progressive taxes?
When doing your state taxes, it’s easy to just click through the boxes and not think much about what they mean. So on this episode, we are doing a deep dive into Virginia state taxes. What are the types of taxes we pay, where does the money go and how did we wind up with the system we have?...
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How to keep up with General Assembly news
This time of year, there is a ton of news about the Virginia general assembly. Bills being proposed, bills being passed through committee, and soon, crossover! If this has you spelunking into the depths of your high school civics class, we are here to give you a refresh! We’ll talk about the...
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Why does Virginia have ABC Stores?
In the United States, every state regulates alcohol and liquor in a unique way. Their right to do so is even enshrined in the Constitution! So how did Virginia’s Alcohol and Beverage Control Authority come about? Why is liquor only sold in ABC stores? And is it true that Virginia doesn’t have any...
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What can the General Assembly do about affordable housing?
44% of all renters in Virginia pay more than 30% of their income in rent and the average rent in the US has gone up 19% since 2019. So what is Virginia doing about it? What’s the role of state government in affordable housing policy? The Democrat-controlled General Assembly and the Republican...
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Who did Virginia Elect in 2024?
More than 4 million people voted in Virginia and on this episode we break down those results from the top of the ticket down to the upcoming General Assembly special elections. We also discuss the controversial purge of voters days before the election, other voting access issues and the end of...
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Tim Kaine’s ‘Virginia Nature Triathlon’ on Virginia Outdoor Adventures
Check out Virginia Outdoor Adventures! https://virginiaoutdooradventures.com/ US Senator Tim Kaine has covered 1,222 miles of Virginia’s trails, rivers and scenic roadways as part of what he calls “The Virginia Triathlon.” The Virginia Triathlon is a challenge to hike the Appalachian trail from…
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How are Virginia Roads Built and Maintained?
This week we’re talking about roads. How they’re built, how new projects are proposed and funded, and how they’re maintained. Michael Barnes, Director of Planning for Albemarle County breaks down these questions and helps us better understand the considerations of transportation planning.
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What’s the impact of solar farms on Virginia land?
Solar has been getting a lot of attention in the past couple years and counties across Virginia have been passing stringent regulations on new solar developments. This week we spoke with Dr. Lee Daniels, Professor Emeritus of Land Rehabilitation and Dr. Ryan D. Stewart, Professor of Soil Physics…
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Why isn’t the VA minimum wage increasing in 2024?
In 2020, Virginia started on a path to incrementally increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. But this year the governor vetoed the annual increase. In this episode, we talk with Levi Goren, Director of Research & Education Policy at the Commonwealth Institute, about what the minimum…
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Does Virginia recycling actually get recycled?
Hundreds of thousands of Virginians take time every day to sort and clean their recyclable materials. As a consumer, maybe you even think about whether a material is recyclable before you buy it. But what happens after you put your bottles, cans, and boxes out by the curb? In this episode, Phil...
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Why are school board meetings getting so divisive?
This week we’re talking about school boards. While many folks will associate their school board with local decisions about infrastructure or teacher salaries, many Virginia school boards have been forums for highly politicized debates and decisions about issues like book bans or transgender…
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Food assistance is confusing! This episode can help
Food is just more expensive than it was a few years ago. The rate of inflation for food has leveled off in 2024, but we’re still adjusting to the price increases we saw in 2022 and 2023. So in this episode, we look into food assistance programs like SNAP, WIC and food banks: how they work, how...
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91 - What does local climate policy look like?
Episode Notes In the face of ever-worsening climate change, it takes more than paper straws and recycling to make a dent in our carbon emissions--it takes policy on a national, state, and local scale. So what does local climate action look like? How do cities and counties set policy in the realm…
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90 - What's the legacy of the Byrd Machine in Virginia?
Episode Notes We’ve all heard of machine politics. Tammany Hall. Boss Tweed. Right in the heart of New York City, the Gilded Age, an era synonymous with corruption in America’s history. But Virginia has its own slice of machine-politics history: under the control of Harry Byrd, Sr., the Byrd...
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89 - What's the takeaway from Virginia's 2023 primaries?
Episode Notes The 2023 primary results are in...and they're pretty interesting. Many incumbents held onto their seats, but some challengers won key victories--Democratic Senators Joe Morrissey and Chap Petersen were defeated by Lashrecse Aird and newcomer Saddam Salim, while Republican Senator...
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88 - How can we end gun violence in Virginia?
Episode Notes The United States saw over 44,300 deaths from guns in 2022. And as the last year has made painfully clear, Virginia is not immune. Our state has been rocked by the horrific shootings in Charlottesville, Chesapeake, and Newport News. But even so, almost no meaningful gun safety...
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87 - How does immigration shape Virginia?
Episode Notes Whether coming for school, work, or to escape bad situations at home, immigrants are a vital part of Virginia’s culture and economy. So today we’re digging into the opportunities and the obstacles facing immigrants and refugees in the state. First, we talk with Freddy Mejia, Deputy...
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86 - What’s the Dillon Rule and how does it define power in Virginia? (reprise)
Episode Notes As the Bold Dominion team works on an upcoming episode, here's one from the vaults -- a Bold Dominion classic covering the perennially important, yet frequently misunderstood, Dillon Rule. This episode originally aired in February 2021. Virginia politicians like to talk about…
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85 - How can we fix Virginia's criminal justice system?
Episode Notes This week, we tackle criminal justice and incarceration in Virginia from two angles: for one, what injustices are criminal justice reform advocates trying to fix? For two, how can we help incarcerated people stay out of prisons and live better lives? To answer the first question, we...
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84 - What's the future of energy in Virginia?
Episode Notes Here on the podcast, we like to keep tabs on Dominion Energy. As the largest of only 2 publicly regulated utilities in the state, Dominion is a monopoly. The caveat is that it’s a state regulated monopoly, meaning its rates and profits are monitored by a regulatory agency called the...
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83 - Is Virginia ready for ranked choice voting?
Episode Notes Maine does it. Alaska does it. And since 2021, Virginia can do it too, in certain city and county elections. It’s ranked choice voting, which works exactly how it sounds: voters rank their favorite candidates in order. If no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, it triggers an…
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82 - What did the General Assembly accomplish this year?
Episode Notes The 2023 General Assembly session drew to a close last Saturday. And with divided majorities in the General Assembly, it was a little underwhelming. Despite a year of big, hot topic issues, little was accomplished on abortion rights, gun control, or even setting up a market for...
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81 - Why does Virginia make incarceration so expensive?
Episode Notes In Virginia, incarceration is expensive. In prison and jails across the state, inmates have to pay to communicate with family members. They also have to pay for extra food, clothing, and sanitary products in the prison commissary. And with the highest prison wages only 45¢ per hour,...
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80 - Why is Virginia's government getting so little done?
Episode Notes After two years of Democratic control, Virginia's elected government is now divided once again. The result? A lot fewer laws likely to pass this year. This podcast started partly as a response to the media cycle that covered the General Assembly--every year around this time, there…
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79 - What's behind right-wing attacks on education?
Episode Notes In 2021, Glenn Youngkin rode the idea of “parents' rights” to victory in his gubernatorial race. And now, Virginia conservatives have latched on to the idea as a tactic for banning books, attacking public education and starving publicly funded institutions. The fight for public...
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78 - What can we expect from the 2023 General Assembly?
Episode Notes The General Assembly starts its 2023 session next Wednesday--with Republicans in control of the House of Delegates for the first time since this show started in 2020. In this episode, journalist Michael Pope explains what we should be looking out for as lawmakers meet next...
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77 - Bold Dominion's Best of 2022!
Episode Notes As we approached the new year, we found ourselves feeling a little reflective. So we made a special episode for you. In “Best of 2022”, Nathan and Alana sit down to discuss some of our favorite episodes from this year on the podcast. Join us as we look back on the big issues of the...
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76 - How does collective bargaining empower workers in Virginia?
Episode Notes For decades, Virginia was one of only three states in the country that banned public sector collective bargaining. That meant teachers, healthcare workers, and first-responders couldn’t have a say in how their contracts were written, leading to lower pay and poorer working…
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75 - How can Virginia make homeownership more affordable?
Episode Notes This year, the average price of a single family home in Virginia crossed the $400 thousand dollar mark. Virginia’s urban populations are expanding without the housing supply to keep up. Staring down skyrocketing prices, many people are forced to accept that homeownership won’t be in...
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74 - What's behind Youngkin's "parents' rights" rhetoric?
Episode Notes From the school board meetings in Loudoun County to pushes to ban "racially divisive" books in schools, conservatives have been relying on one concept in particular: “parents' rights.” Glenn Youngkin latched onto parents’ rights during his campaign and rode it to victory over Terry...
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73 - Crossover! What's going on in the 2022 midterms?
Episode Notes Here at Bold Dominion, we typically focus on the machinations of power, money, and lawmaking in Richmond. But Virginia also sends 11 lawmakers to the U.S. House of Representatives. And all of them are on the ballot on Tuesday, November 8th. That means Election Day is less than two...
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72 - Why are Virginia legislators in session for just 2 months?
Episode Notes Here at Bold Dominion, we pubish a new episode every two weeks. We have seventy something episodes under our belt, and still so much more to talk about. Keeping up with politics is a year-round job. But for Virginia legislators, it’s not actually year-round. In odd numbered years,...
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71 - How is Virginia leading the push for broadband expansion?
Episode Notes You're listening to this show thanks to high speed internet. And as awesome as this podcast may be, there's a whole lot more that makes high speed internet indispensable for modern life. During the pandemic, school, work, health, and social life all moved online. Access to the...
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70 - What does the new federal climate law mean for Virginia?
Episode Notes This time of year, climate change is particularly hard to ignore. We’ve just made it through another scorching summer. Virginia’s coastal regions are grappling with sea water rise. And on some days, that haze covering the Blue Ridge is smoke from California wildfires. Despite this,...
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69 - What does inequality look like in Virginia?
Episode Notes Virginia is home to four of the ten richest counties in America -- all in Northern Virginia. Virginia is also home to some of the most economically distressed counties in America -- all in Southwest Virginia. And of all fifty states, Virginia has the largest gap between the minimum...
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68 - How can citizens craft legislation?
Episode Notes What does a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" actually look like in practice? If you listen to Bold Dominion, you probably vote every November, call your lawmaker about issues you care about, maybe have attended a protest or two. But sometimes it's hard…
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67 - Five years after Unite the Right, what does right-wing extremism look like in Virginia?
Episode Notes This week, we revisit the terrible anniversary of August 11th and 12th, 2017. Five years after the Unite the Right Rally, "Charlottesville" is still a shorthand for Nazis and fascists invading a community. As we look at Virginia politics and American politics today, where are we…
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66 - Does Virginia really have a "shadow government" of lobbyists? (reprise)
Episode Notes Longtime Richmond Times-Dispatch journalist Jeff Schapiro has a sort of shorthand on Twitter that I appreciate. When he tweets about the consulting firm McGuireWoods, he refers to it as The Shadow Government. Such is the influence that McGuire Woods holds over policymaking in...
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65 - With Roe overturned, what's next for abortion access in Virginia?
Episode Notes The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade. You’ve probably seen maps about what this means on a state-by-state basis. We know that abortion will be legal in places like New England and the West Coast. We know that women in the Deep South will need to travel long distances to...
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64 - What is the "Best State for Business" like for workers?
Episode Notes Business news media company CNBC does annual rankings of the best state for business. And Virginia has come out on top as the Best State for Business two years in a row. ``` On this episode of Bold Dominion, we explore what this title means, and how ask how it affects working...
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63 - How can Virginia get quality healthcare to everyone?
Today on Bold Dominion, we’re talking with two experts who have been on the ground working to find ways to expand access to healthcare services. Almost half a million Virginians are covered by Medicaid. But the number of uninsured Virginians is expected to increase. We have many more steps to go…
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62 - How will post-Roe v. Wade unfold in Virginia?
Episode Notes Today on Bold Dominion, we’re talking with several women about how things could unfold in Virginia after Roe v Wade is overturned. Earlier this month, an anonymous source leaked a draft opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. It showed that a majority of Justices…
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61 - Where does Virginia's trash come from and who does it get dumped on? (reprise)
Episode Notes Virginia is a bona fide trash capital. For decades, Virginia has been the second biggest importer of trash from other states. We even accept trash from other countries. About a quarter of all the trash dumped in Virginia originates from outside the state -- nearly 6 million tons of...
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60 - What should be done about prison labor in Virginia?
Episode Notes Products made from prison labor are all around us, and you might not even realize it. In fact, state law requires state agencies and public colleges to purchase products made by Virginia Correctional Enterprises. Inmates do get paid, but only 27 - 80 cents per hour. Defenders of...
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59 - What's the state of voting rights in Virginia?
Episode Notes Back in 2020, Democrats swept into majorities in Virginia's House and Senate. And they passed laws to make voting easier in Virginia. To increase democracy, if you will. But around the country, voting rights are under attack again. Mostly by right-wing groups falsely claiming…
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58 - How does the budget sausage get made?
Episode Notes So the General Assembly ended its regular session without agreeing on a state budget. The state has a big surplus, and both Democrats and Republicans want to pass some tax cuts. You'd think this would be a good thing, an easy thing to resolve. But you would be wrong. There's a gap…
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57 - How can we sum up the General Assembly session as a game show? (Crossover with Pod Virginia)
Episode Notes This week marked the end of the 2022 Virginia General Assembly session. Unlike the last two, this session had split party control of state government. So did Virginia lawmakers set partisan politics aside? Did they craft wise legislation to move the Commonwealth forward? Not really....
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A state politics explainer for a changing Virginia
HOSTED BY
Virginia Audio Collective
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Bold Dominion have?
Bold Dominion currently has 108 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Bold Dominion about?
A state politics explainer for a changing Virginia
How often does Bold Dominion release new episodes?
Bold Dominion publishes regularly with 108 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Bold Dominion?
You can listen to Bold Dominion on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Bold Dominion?
Bold Dominion is created and hosted by Virginia Audio Collective.
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