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Jobs, transportation on McAuliffe priority list
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe had his choice of flavor of doughnut in Manassas on Tuesday.
The executive was on hand for the grand opening of Paradise Donuts on Route 28. McAuliffe shook the hand of new franchise owner Keith Buck, a 24-year veteran of the Naval Reserve, who opened the shop after two years of work.
“My goal is to make Virginia the most vet-friendly state in the country,” said McAuliffe.
His appearance came on the heels of him signing new legislation into law Monday at the Woodbridge Campus of Northern Virginia Community College, at that allows military veterans the ability to get college credit for prior military training.
The governor said Virginia has more military veterans under age 25, and all have unique skill sets that are needed to fill jobs in today’s workforce.
Many of those jobs — at least 30,000 of them in Northern Virginia — are in the IT field, McAuliffe told crowd gathered at the Hylton Performing Arts Center for the Prince William Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the Chamber event Tuesday.
“Jobs in big data, personal medicine, that’s what the new economy will look like,” McAuliffe told a crowd of business owners.
Jobs in web coding and cybersecurity will also play a role/ Moving away from traditional four-year degree programs and focusing on two-year training and certification courses will put more people to work faster, he added.
And while Virginia — a state that is so heavily reliant on federal defense spending — has seen the government ratchet back those dollars, McAuliffe said he’s convinced a new FBI headquarters will be built in the state. He’s also lobbying President Barack Obama for a new cyber defense facility that would house national defense and intelligence under one roof.
The governor also spoke about reducing the number of SOL tests Virginia school children must take, expanding Obamacare in the state, ending veterans homelessness. He also talked about improving transportation along Interstate 66 by adding HOV lanes, and improving Metro.
“In transportation, I”m all in. We just authorized the new cars for the Silver Line because it does no good if the train shows up, and its full,” said McAuliffe.
