Steve Case has returned to his roots. He’s building again, pushing for innovation in stodgy industries much as he transformed Internet communications in his earlier life as co-founder and chief executive of America Online.  Joining Case in a couple of ventures is longtime friend and former AOL colleague, Ted Leonsis.

Talk about yin and yang.  I sat down with Case and Leonsis yesterday at the Washington, D. C. office of Revolution LLC, the private investment firm Case started in 2005. Ted is gregarious, impeccably groomed in a dark suit and all smiles because his dark horse NHL hockey team, the Washington Capitals, won the Southeast Division and will play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He quips that Case once sent his annual review via instant message.  “He said, ‘You’re doing a good job. You can stay another year.’”

In title, Leonsis remains vice chairman, emeritus, of AOL.
Yet, his time there is winding down, seven years after AOL merged with Time Warner, an old-line media company, in a move that was ill-timed and later deemed a business bust. 

Five years have elapsed since Case served as chairman of Time Warner, and he has moved on.  At 49, he looks relaxed in a blue shirt, dark slacks, no tie. He is the more low key and introspective of the two. But there’s nothing low key about his goals: to create new platforms for consumer empowerment in such oligopolistic industries as health care and credit cards. “I thought it would be fun to start over again, back in the garage, if you will,” says Case. To learn more about their new business ventures and why these Northern Virginia residents think NOVA is a good place for startups, check out the June issue. 

The U.S. markets may be in one of the worst financial crisis since the World War era, but the current situation is nothing like the Great Depression, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

“We will not experience anything remotely like that,” Bernanke told a sold-out audience at a World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond luncheon at the University of Richmond.

During the 1930s the Fed “took a passive approach,” Bernanke said. “We now know the lessons of that, which is to not allow the financial system to collapse.”

The Federal Reserve certainly has taken a different approach in the current turmoil, cutting the federal funds rate faster than at any time in the last two decades. The Federal Reserve dropped the federal loan rate between banks to 2.25 percent, down from 5.25 percent in September.

And the Fed could receive unprecedented power under a plan the Bush administration proposed last week.

The Fed would oversee the entire makeup of the U.S. financial system, including supervising commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies and hedge funds.

On Thursday, Bernanke addressed more immediate solutions than the ones proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Bernanke said policymakers and regulators must begin working now to prevent another financial crisis. “We do not have the luxury of waiting for markets to stabilize,” he said.

Bernanke suggested that federal and state regulators should create stricter regulations on mortgage lenders and that states should adhere to a uniform licensing program.

He also suggested that increasing transparency, improving risk management, and better coordination of regulators is necessary to stabilize markets.

It looks as if state lawmakers will return to Richmond in May or June to discuss ways to raise new money for transportation.

But arguments likely will reflect the same divisions as the 246-day special session held in 2006. Taxes versus no taxes. Regional versus statewide solutions.

Reports show neither side is budging. Republicans believe redesigning regional plans for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads is the way to go. (The Virginia Supreme Court found the 2007 version unconstitutional.) Democrats think that shifts the state’s job to local governments.

Some Democrats still are pushing for a statewide increase in the gasoline tax — a move vehemently opposed by Republicans.

So, unless someone budges, Virginians in the state’s most congested regions will have little relief.

But if legislators aren’t willing to compromise, maybe they should just stay home. Taxpayers spent $250,000 on a special session that went nowhere in 2006. They can probably think of better ways to spend their money.

Who would have thought the lowly kernel of corn would carry so much weight over fuel pump prices? If you think gasoline is high now, consider this factoid from the American Farm Bureau Federation: fuel could cost as much as 10 cents more a gallon if it were not blended with ethanol, a corn-based fuel.

Last year, the U.S. ethanol industry produced 32 percent more of the corn-based fuel than in 2006. As usage went up, so did corn prices, rising from $2 per bushel to more than $5.50 per bushel. Still, farmers aren’t getting rich. 

Tony Banks, a commodity and marketing specialist for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, notes in a recent statement that “corn producers’ production costs for expenses like fertilizer and fuel have doubled, gobbling up most of any added income from the higher crop price.”

And just to set the record straight, the American Farm Bureau says that increased ethanol production is not responsible for higher food prices, although it has had a role in higher prices for certain foods such as meat and dairy.  The major factors affecting prices of U. S. crops, says the bureau, are investors’ growing interest in commodity-focused funds, rising world demand (particularly in countries such as China and India which have a growing middle class), the declining value of the U. S. dollar and , of course, record-setting oil prices, which have already reached more than $100 per barrel.

Virginia now has about 900,000 residents who are 65 or older. That number will double by 2030. Getting ready for that “age wave” is the aim of Older Dominion Project, a task force of representatives from business, government, nonprofit groups and community foundations.

It’s goal is to broaden awareness of aging issues and prepare a statewide strategy for accommodating the state’s graying population, says John Martin, president and CEO of Richmond-based Southeastern Institute of Research (SIR). Other states, including Texas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, already are addressing these issues, he says. “We’re behind. We need to catch up fast.”

About 60 people involved in the project gathered today in a meeting room at the Richmond Times-Dispatch to examine SIR’s initial research on aging issues in Virginia. The group included observers from Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.

SIR’s research found that many businesses already are trying to accommodate aging workers by offering flexible scheduling and job sharing. Respondents also acknowledged that their employees’ care-giving roles for family members have an impact on their organizations.

The research echoed the comments of Hugh Keogh, president of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, who said the aging work force is a top concern of the state’s business community. He noted that 40 percent of the welders and shipfitters at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding are expected to retire in the next 10 years.

In addition, the availability of a qualified work force has been the chief determinant in a company’s decision to locate in a community, Keogh said. He believes many Virginia companies likely will turn to recent federal government and military retirees in their efforts to find employees. “Virginia can only be a strong as its work force,” he said.

Marilyn Tavenner, Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources, stressed to the group the importance of a broad-based approach in planning strategy. “I don’t think that any of this will work without private sector involvement,” she said.