Al Alborn

1 week ago | insidenova.com | Al Alborn

In 2012, the Prince William Committee of 100 hosted a panel on the “Future of News.” At the time, I was a citizen journalist reporting on things I thought newsworthy on my blog (albornbiz.blogspot.com). I reported on that panel discussion as part of a post titled, “The future of news.” On May 15, the Committee of 100 will revisit the future of news in a panel titled “News Reboot: When news went live.”At the time of the 2012 panel, Tara Slate Donaldson was managing editor of The Gainesville Times.

1 month ago | insidenova.com | Al Alborn

The Prince William Committee of 100 recently held a panel about the Department of Government Efficiency’s effects on Prince William County’s economy. Experts talked about exactly what DOGE is doing, presented their data, addressed the business impact and talked about jobs of the future.

1 month ago | insidenova.com | Al Alborn

Nature is a system, and everything in that system is connected. Left to its own devices, it knows how to seamlessly integrate everything in its system to support birth, life, transition, death and whatever is next. Snags are my favorite example. In forest ecology, a “snag” is a standing dead or dying tree. They are an important part of nature’s system. Snags provide shelter, nesting sites and perches for a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects.

2 months ago | insidenova.com | Al Alborn

In an earlier column,  “Our ‘factory town’ might be in danger,” (Jan. 30 edition), I discussed the fact that the government and the contractors who support it are Prince William County’s primary industry.  We really don’t know what effect the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is going to have on Prince William, Northern Virginia, the Washington metro area, the country or the world.

2 months ago | insidenova.com | Al Alborn

Everything is connected. That is what I walked away understanding after chatting with Rick Canizales, Prince William County’s transportation director.  Canizales has worked for the county’s transportation department for 20 years. The budget he manages usually is in the $1 billion range, including capital projects. The traditional way to do transportation planning is to think about how to move cars around, but Canizales explained how he and his team now focus on how to move people around.