Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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One Hand Applauds for Dominion “Bill Relief”
by Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s customers still owe it $1.26 billion for fuel they have already used, as of the end of June. The utility is going to give us either seven or ten years to pay off that debt, but at a total cost of over $1.54 billion if we take seven years…
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Nursing Shortages Require Better Oversight of Virginia Nursing Homes – Part Two – State Action Required
by James C. Sherlock Patterns of understaffing, medical harm and abuse in nursing homes are traceable: in some cases to a business model of understaffing to increase profits. Federal fines are built into the business models of the bad actors. Some of the worst post double-digit annual operating margins; in some to other systemic chain-wide…
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Nursing Shortages Require Better Oversight of Virginia Nursing Homes – Part One – The Problem
By James C Sherlock We have some great nursing facilities in Virginia. We also have far more than our share of bad ones. Virginia has a decision to make about the latter. The federal government sets standards for those that are paid with federal funds. It both levies fines and denies payments as it feels…
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Check Out Which New Virginia Laws Go Into Effect July 1st
by The Republican Standard staff The Virginia General Assembly passed several small bills due to the split between the Republican-led House of Delegates and the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate. Yet the areas where they did find co-operation could matter to many Virginians as we head into Fourth of July weekend. Enhanced Penalties for Fentanyl Manufacturing…
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Roanoke County Quietly Extends Contract For $109,000 Year Registrar But Questions Persist
by Scott Dreyer For many historical and cultural reasons, America has traditionally been what sociologists call a “high-trust” society. As reported in this report from the Pew Research Center, cultures with high trust (such as Canada and Sweden) usually have low crime and corruption while the reverse (such as South Africa and Peru) is also…
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Profound Registered Nurse Shortages in a Virginia Beach Nursing Home
By James C. Sherlock Registered nurses (RNs) both supervise medical treatment and are the primary medical care providers in nursing homes. Physicians are on call but generally are not present. One Virginia nursing home is currently advertising: RN’s Now hiring All Shifts! Pick your shift. Perhaps not good news for those patients. Some of the…
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Predatory Virginia Nursing Home Owners
by James C. Sherlock Merriam Webster: Pred*a*tor: (noun) one who injures or exploits others for personal gain or profit. The most medically vulnerable of us reside in skilled nursing facilities (SNF). Nobody plans to be there, but that is where about thirty thousand Virginians find themselves at any one time. People who are moved from hospitals…
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Clean Virginia Win is Bad News for Gas Consumers
By Steve Haner Renewable energy donor Clean Virginia Fund was the biggest winner in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, going head to head against Dominion Energy Virginia in several nomination contests and often winning. Senior incumbent Democrats with strong Green New Deal voting records went down to defeat, because good wasn’t good enough.
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Past Time for Serious Sanctions for the Commonwealth’s Worst Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Effective May 1 of this year, Karen Shelton M.D. became Virginia’s Health Commissioner. Dr. Shelton is now the licensor and regulator of Virginia’s nursing homes. By law, state-licensed nursing homes must comply with federal and state laws and standards. By regulation, the Health Commissioner “may impose such administrative sanctions or take such…
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Lee Enterprises Newspapers in Virginia Combine Huge Online Subscription Price Increases with Difficult Cancellations
by James C. Sherlock Lee Enterprises, in a bold move, has massively raised prices for online subscriptions to its Virginia newspapers, to some of which I subscribe. Lee’s “brands” here include: The Daily Progress – Charlottesville The Free Lance Star – Fredericksburg Danville Register Bee/Go Dan River – Danville Bristol Herald Courier – Tricities –…
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Virginia Nursing Home Regulations and Inspections – A Strategic Improvement Recommendation
By James C. Sherlock Those who read this blog know that Virginia has far more than its share of bad nursing homes. They just do not know what can or should be done about it. This third in a current series on Virginia nursing homes will take on a problem that is self-inflicted – the…
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Scandal in Plain Sight – Virginia’s Failed Regulation of Law-Avoiding Nursing Home Owners
by James C. Sherlock One of the most important and heart-wrenching decisions families make for their elderly loved ones is whether they are able to keep them in their homes as they get older and sicker. Sometimes that is not feasible for a long list of reasons in each case. More than 30,000 Virginians live…
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RGGI Reg Repealed, But RGGI Tax Returns to Bills
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Wednesday to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, keeping Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s promise to eliminate the related carbon tax that has been imposed on electricity ratepayers under RGGI since January 2021. The bad news is the tax itself won’t disappear until at the…
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First Lawsuit Over Whales and Wind Dismissed
By Steve Haner A federal district judge in Massachusetts has rejected an effort to stop an offshore wind project near Nantucket Island on the basis of danger to whales, apparently the first court test of similar claims being raised against wind turbine proposals along the U.S. eastern seaboard, including here in Virginia. On May 17,…
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Dominion Seeks Permit to Harass 100s of Whales
By David Wojick The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking public comments on a massive proposal to harass large numbers of whales and other marine mammals off Virginia by building a huge offshore wind complex. There is supposed to be an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed harassment, but it is not there…