Latest news with #NedOliver
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Yelp's addition of a ‘Black-owned' tag led to a slight drop in business ratings in Detroit
Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury Matthew Bui, University of Michigan and Cameron Moy, University of Pennsylvania When the online review platform Yelp added a 'Black-owned' tag in 2020, it boosted the visibility of Black-owned restaurants in Detroit. It also caused their ratings to drop, according to our recent study. Both local and nonlocal reviewers who showed awareness of a restaurant's Black ownership rated restaurants 3.03 stars on average. Those who did not acknowledge Black ownership gave a rating of 3.78 stars on average. The tag seems to have caused the average rating to drop by attracting more reviewers who were aware of Black ownership. Technology companies often introduce new features and tools to influence user behavior and make their platforms more usable. Although Yelp intended to support Black communities with the Black-owned tag, the design intervention was harmful to Black restaurant owners in Detroit because Yelp failed to consider platform and community-based factors that significantly shape user interactions. Yelp's user base is predominantly white, educated and affluent. Making Detroit's Black-owned restaurants more visible to Yelp users may have amplified cross-cultural interactions and frictions. For example, non-Black users sometimes mentioned 'slower' and 'rude' service as justifications for lower ratings. Close readings of these reviews hinted at intercultural and communicative clashes. And even businesses that don't select the tag are identified within searches as Black-owned, based on user reviews and relevant links. Yelp doesn't provide a way for the business to opt out of these search results. To examine the local impacts of Yelp's Black-owned tag, we collected over 250,000 Yelp reviews of Black- and non-Black-owned restaurants in Detroit and Los Angeles. We identified Black-owned restaurants through community-sourced lists for Detroit and Los Angeles and then generated a random sample for the non-Black-owned restaurants. We then identified reviews that explicitly noted 'Black ownership' for closer analysis. Detroit's Black-owned businesses saw a greater loss in business compared with 'ownership-unreported' restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means they also potentially had more to gain from the new tag. We found the awareness of Black ownership on Yelp significantly increased following Yelp's addition of the Black-owned tag in June 2020. A year after the tag was added, reviews in Detroit mentioned Black ownership 4.3% more often than a year before it was rolled out. Detroit Black-owned restaurants also saw a small temporary spike in their number of reviews, largely around the time Yelp added the Black-owned tag. At the same time, the restaurants' average star ratings dropped from 3.91 to 3.88. In contrast, non-Black-owned restaurants' ratings stayed relatively steady at 3.90. This metric is an aggregate of all Detroit restaurants' Yelp reviews over their entire existence, so a .03-star rating change is small but significant. Even minor changes to star ratings affect the number of diners restaurants attract, their earning potential and the likelihood they will sell out of food. Adding obstacles in digital platforms serves to reproduce and amplify inequalities these businesses already face, rather than alleviate them. For example, Black-owned businesses have a harder time getting loans and are relatively underrepresented in Michigan as a whole. These findings may seem surprising given that Detroit is a majority Black city. However, Black users on Yelp are a minority. Keeping in mind the skewed user base of Yelp, we hypothesize the lower reviews for businesses featuring a Black-owned tag reflect existing racial and digital divides in the city. Generally, our study provides additional evidence that digital interventions are not 'one-size-fits-all,' nor is digital visibility inherently positive for all businesses. The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. Matthew Bui, Assistant Professor of Information and Digital Studies, University of Michigan and Cameron Moy, PhD student, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kilgore, Va. House GOP members slam Spanberger's newly unveiled energy plan
Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) After Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger released her energy plan for the state this week, Virginia House GOP members wasted no time bashing it. Her plan emphasizes fair cost share, efficiency projects, and supporting a pilot program to handle peak energy consumption times. 'Her plan leans heavily on demand-side management: programmable thermostats, weatherization programs, utility subsidies, and incentives to reduce consumption during peak hours. That might sound reasonable in theory, but here's the problem: managing scarcity isn't a solution — it's a symptom of failure,' an op-ed penned by House GOP leaders and members read. The demand-side management they referenced is a recently-passed pilot program that requires utility companies to petition the State Corporation Commission to consider how to optimize energy use during peak times, by using virtual power plants, peak-shaving, and other incentives. Dominion is set to go before the Commission on July 15 to present its electric distribution grid plans for the pilot program. The pilot allows homes and businesses to opt in to have their thermostats, appliances and solar arrays controlled during high-demand times. Spanberger's plan also emphasizes weatherization of homes to limit energy waste and aims to reduce the need for additional power plants and transmission lines. Republican House lawmakers pushed back against those measures. 'No one wants to sit through a July heatwave hoping their A/C unit is grid-compliant, or that their A/C won't be the one that someone in Richmond decides that it needs to shut off to save the grid. No one should have to worry that peak-hour surcharges or remote-control thermostats are going to make their daily life harder and more expensive,' the Republican legislators' letter read. Ten of the GOP House members who signed on to the letter voted in favor of Senate Bill 1100 in this year's legislative session, which allowed the pilot program to move forward. Dels. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, Wren Williams, R-Patrick, Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery, Ian Lovejoy, R-Prince William, Geary Higgins, R-Loudoun, Paul Milde, R-Stafford, Mark Earley, R-Chesterfield, Rob Bloxom, R-Accomack, Chad Green, R-York, and Anne Ferrell Tata, R-Virginia Beach, added their signatures to House GOP Leader Del. Terry Kilgore's. Kilgore, recently selected as House Republicans' caucus leader, sponsored a bill in 2023 that capped Dominion's profit margin, and this year, will allow the SCC to manage the profit margin rates. The General Assembly has also recently passed legislation aimed at expanding the state's market for Small Modular Reactors, a nuclear energy source that's still being developed and hasn't yet been deployed anywhere in the United States. Virginia lawmakers pass competing proposals to encourage small modular reactor development A House GOP spokesperson said the members who voted in favor of SB 1011 are more interested in ramping up energy production in the state to meet increasing energy needs. Spanberger's plan doesn't rule out new energy projects coming to the state to help meet demand, and touts the use of 'advanced energy technologies' like 'modular nuclear reactors, fusion, geothermal, and hydrogen.' The framework also states her administration will 'ensure regulatory agencies in Virginia such as DEQ and VDOT are adequately staffed to deliver timely responses to permit applications.' The GOP letter said they are in favor of speeding up permitting for all energy sources, not just renewable ones. Spanberger's energy outline doesn't go into details on plans to expand natural gas, nuclear, wind, or solar energy sources. It does lay out ideas to ensure the SCC works with stakeholders on efficiency methods to cut back on energy use – something the GOP members took issue with. 'You don't solve an energy shortage by asking people to get used to less. You solve it by building more power,' the letter said. Utility rates in the PJM markets have steadily increased in recent years as brownouts in the summer months have become a growing concern. Virginia was rated as the state that received the most electricity from other states in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. GOP House members want to shift away from this heavy import of energy and boost Virginia as a player in the energy production market. In 2020, the General Assembly passed the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act that put the commonwealth into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Participating states can buy allowances of carbon emissions, and the proceeds are returned to the state for flood and energy projects. Gov. Glenn Youngkin pulled Virginia from RGGI, framing the additional cost to consumers for the program as a hidden tax. The withdrawal was later found to be unlawful by the courts. The state's inclusion in the program is on hold while appeals play out in the legal system. Spanberger's plan suggests negotiating a deal to get the state back in on RGGI and use funding for efficiency projects. Judge deems Youngkin's actions to withdraw Virginia from RGGI 'unlawful' 'Abigail consistently hears from Virginians who are facing high energy bills, and she knows affordable energy is essential for driving economic growth. That's why her plan to make Virginians' energy bills more affordable includes increasing local electricity generation and speeding up the timeline to bring new projects online,' a spokesperson for Spanberger said in a statement. 'As Governor, Abigail will be focused on making Virginia more affordable — and she looks forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans alike to make it happen.' Last week, Republican candidate for governor Winsome Earle-Sears said on the campaign trail that she wants to bolster the state's energy profile through expanding fossil fuels and nuclear energy, according to the Prince William Times, to meet the state's surging energy needs. Data centers in Virginia have 'substantially driven up energy demand in the state, and demand is forecast to continue growing for the foreseeable future,' a 2024 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report found. Earle-Sears didn't mention data centers specifically, but acknowledged that Virginia's electricity demands have led the commonwealth to import 40% of its electricity from other states. Her administration, she said, would push for an all-of-the-above energy approach, an echo of Youngkin's energy platform. Earle-Sears did not respond to the Mercury's request to elaborate on her energy platform. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venomous, floating fire ants are invading Virginia and more state headlines
The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • 'Venomous, floating fire ants are invading Virginia.' — Axios • 'Virginia Breeze sets ridership record.' — CBS19 • 'Virginia Beach introduces program to address school-related threats.' — WAVY • 'Police: Driver killed in Virginia State Police shooting had a knife.' — WTVR • 'Fairfax County seeks input on update to vision for Fair Lakes area.' — FFXnow SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spanberger hunts for votes in MAGA-rich pockets of Virginia and more state headlines
The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • 'A Virginia Democrat hunts for votes in rural pockets where MAGA has strengthened its grip.' — Associated Press • 'Shannon Taylor touts her experience in run for Virginia attorney general.' — VPM News • 'How much revenue do tolls bring in to Northern Virginia?' — WUSA9 • 'Small child diagnosed with measles confirmed as Virginia's third case in 2025.' — WRIC • 'Local judge indicted on charge of bribery of a Spotsylvania County public official.' — Fredericksburg Free Press SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Virginia is a hot spot for immigration enforcement and more state headlines
The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • 'Virginia is a hot spot for immigration enforcement.' — Axios • 'Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor talk about how they'd fight Trump while working with Republican legislators from rural Virginia.' — Cardinal News • 'Will the Republican statewide ticket appear together this election cycle?' — WVTF • ''We're not interested in collecting revenue': Fairfax Co. board chairman says more speed cameras are being installed.' — WTOP • 'Replica gun recovered after 18-year-old shot by Virginia Beach police, authorities say.' — 13newsnow SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
