by David Radcliff

The clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh killing hundreds — another in a string of such tragedies in the past year — is a reminder of the high cost of our cheap clothes.

Not only are the mostly female workers in these factories paid pitiful wages (in Bangladesh, as low as 14 cents an hour for 14-hour days), but they must risk their lives to labor in unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, the CEOs of the clothing corporations earn $10,000 to $17,000 an hour, shareholders rake in profits, and we brag over our latest “find” of an inexpensive garment purchased at the mall.

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Radcliff is director of the New Community Project. Originally from Blue Ridge, he now lives in Peoria, Ariz.

By Nabeel Chohan

Are independent bookstores gaining popularity once again?

Throughout the past year there has been some buzz among booklovers over the success stories coming out of many newly opened independent bookstores. Independent bookstores, that brand of endangered species that was condemned to death owing to competition from major retail stores and the advent of Amazon, are indeed making a comeback of sorts.

According to the American Booksellers Association, sales from independent bookstores rose by 8 percent during 2012, with dozens of new bookstores opening across the country.

But does all this really translate into an increase in the number of people buying traditional books?

Independent bookstores may be increasing, but are people really reading?

Although we repeatedly hear phrases like “Remember the good days when people actually read,” or “Not enough people read these days,” it is simply not true, and such statements are based on inaccurate historical assumptions.

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Chohan is a student at Virginia Tech. He currently lives in Blacksburg.

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States would gain from legislation in Congress ensuring Internet purchases are treated like traditional sales.

No, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Marketplace Fairness Act is not about levying a new Internet sales tax, though opponents find it useful to characterize it that way.

It is about collecting taxes that are due to states and localities that now go uncollected on Internet purchases, giving a price advantage to online companies over brick-and-mortar businesses.

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The Peaks of Otter will be back in business none too soon.

We would place the Peaks of Otter among the nation’s top scenic vistas in the National Park Service’s vast collection of the world’s most beautiful and treasured spots. Visitors, though, have been scarce since Thanksgiving due surely to the usual winter slowdown, but also to the closing of the restaurant, lodge and other concessions along the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Mile Post 86.

So it is welcome news that the park service has entered into a 10-year contract with Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts to reopen and manage the Peaks of Otter facilities.  …

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By Todd A. Leeson

On April 14, The Roanoke Times published companion articles on the front page of the Sunday Business Ticker section entitled “A harsher workplace” and “When technology makes work harder,” written by Alana Semuels of the Los Angeles Times. The gist of the articles is that companies are treating employees unfairly, monitoring their every move and making them work harder with fewer benefits.

I do not doubt that there are companies and managers who are quite demanding of their workers. As an employment lawyer who has represented Virginia employers, large and small and in a wide variety of industries, for almost 24 years, however, I take issue with several of the exaggerated claims in these articles.

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Leeson, an employment lawyer with Gentry Locke in Roanoke, serves as legislative director for the Virginia State Society for Human Resource Management Council.

A legislative commission threatens gridlock on health care reform, but business leaders are speaking out.

Five state senators appointed last week to a legislative commission overseeing Medicaid reforms either support expansion of the health insurance program to cover low-income workers or are open-minded about the potential benefits of that policy.

Their presence on the panel ensures a vigorous discussion of the issue, but that’s about it.

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A no-tax rule means Roanoke County’s de facto real estate rate has declined while demands have increased.

Roanoke County supervisors heard this week that the gap between lagging county revenues and increasing demands for services has reached a critical point. The public is going to begin feeling the pain.

The board’s response? The economy’s sure to get better. Meanwhile, maybe a review of county ordinances might turn up some growth-stunting business regulations that could be eliminated.

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McAuliffe needs to come clean on his role at GreenTech.

By itself, Terry McAuliffe’s failure to announce his resignation as chairman of GreenTech Automotive Inc. would not raise many eyebrows. But when the news was reported last week — four months after McAuliffe quietly resigned — it added to questions about the gubernatorial candidate’s ties to the electric car company he founded in 2009, and claims he has made about it on the campaign trail.

McAuliffe, the Democratic nominee by default, promotes himself as a job-creating entrepreneur. He has used GreenTech to try to burnish that image. He should have a clear explanation why GreenTech chose Mississippi, not Virginia, for a manufacturing plant.

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Gov. Bob McDonnell allowed his relationship with a business executive to become inappropriate with free jet trips and noshes for his daughter’s wedding.

Gov. Bob McDonnell shouldn’t need an ethics commission to tell him his friendship with the executive of a dietary supplement company crossed the line from innocent camaraderie to unseemly misbehavior between bites of free poached jumbo shrimp served up at his daughter’s wedding.

A random survey in downtown Richmond would have generated enough guffaws to nix that indelicate delicacy before the butter melted.

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By Beth Doughty

Runners from across the United States and several countries will flock to Roanoke for America’s toughest road race — the Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon on April 20. Along with the recently opened River Rock climbing gym, expanded green­way system and new outdoor events, the Roanoke region is making progress on an economic development vision — to leverage our outdoor assets to enhance quality of life, which will attract talent, jobs and investment to the region.

Along with education and transportation systems, the outdoors — trails, parks, greenways, lakes and rivers — are building blocks of a vibrant economy. A Knight Foundation study called Soul of the Community says social offerings, openness and aesthetics are factors that attach people to their community. The higher the level of attachment, the stronger the economic growth.

In the Roanoke region, the outdoors is the venue that stimulates social interaction and welcomes all in a beautiful stage. It’s also a laboratory that’s inventing our economic future.

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Doughty is executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, which has focused on an economic strategy around the outdoors through programs such as RoanokeOutside.com, the Blue Ridge Marathon and GOFest.