Category: Uncategorized
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Bias-Based Traffic Stops — A Rejoinder
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Department of Criminal Justice Services has published its annual report on traffic stop data. In a recent article on this blog, Jim Bacon rendered his verdict on whether the data shows police bias in traffic stops: Still No Proof. The report shows that, in the period of July 1, 2021, to…
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Safety and Accountability
by Jon Baliles Richmond City Council approved plans earlier this week for a Civilian Review Board (CRB) for the Police Department that left people on all sides a bit upset, which fulfills one of the telltale signs of good legislation — if everyone is a little bit upset, then it is probably done right. If…
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Stress, Fuzzy Symptoms, and Long COVID
by James A. Bacon WHRO Public Media tells the story of Chesapeake nurse Megan Temple, who contracted COVID-19 in October and has dealt with “long COVID” ever since. She got over the initial illness quickly. But in the weeks and months that followed, during which she also recovered from abdominal surgery, she developed an array…
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Grrrr. Pit Bulls.
by Kerry Dougherty Harrowing. Bloodcurdling. Horrific. Those are the only words I can find to describe the latest two pit bull fatalities. Last Wednesday afternoon two children, a 2-year-old girl and a 5-month-old boy, were savaged to death by their family dogs in Millington, Tennessee. Their mother was mauled into critical condition trying to save…
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Things that Work — Virginia Department of Elections and the Virginia Beach Registrar’s Office
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes, government offices are better than you can imagine. My wife and I cast early ballots on Thursday. We went to the Virginia Beach Director of Elections office at the Municipal Center. Everything about the experience was great, and better than it needed to be. Now, an interruption in a communication…
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Fixes are Available for Nurse Shortages – Virginia Needs to Take Action in the Upcoming GA Session
by James C. Sherlock A future without enough nurses is unacceptable. There is some good news. Clinical nurses make a lot more money now than they used to. COVID fixed that. The travel nurse bubble is burst, but the pay raises for staff nurses appear to be sticking. The raises for nurses across the field…
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UVa Rules Out a “Pattern” of Hate Crimes
by James A. Bacon University of Virginia executive leadership has issued a remarkable statement that lends insight into the fraught state of race relations at Virginia’s flagship university. Three recent incidents have taken place on the Grounds since the new academic year began that have “caused some to speculate that they are linked or part…
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Political Damage to Primary Instruments of Improvement in Virginia Schools
by James C. Sherlock We need all the help we can get assessing Virginia schools and producing actionable information to make them better. The Standards of Learning exams show the results of poor learning, but do not identify actionable causes. Directed to choose an additional measure of school quality by the federal ESSA (Every…
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What is a Good School, How is One Measured and How do Poor Schools Improve?
by James C. Sherlock I wrote yesterday about the dumpster fires that were Fredericksburg Public Schools during and immediately after the pandemic. They completely fell apart. It is not clear how and whether the children, with whose well being, development and education those schools and their parents were charged, will ever recover from the experience.…
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Fredericksburg Schools Need a New Superintendent
by James C Sherlock Note: I took the unprecedented step of taking a column down ten days ago. I did so out of an abundance of caution in response to an outpouring of disbelief among colleagues and the readers about the 71% chronic absentee rate posted by Fredericksburg Public Schools in 2020-21. Many insisted the number…
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Presumed Racist Until Proven Innocent
by James A. Bacon Around 11:15 p.m. last Wednesday, a White male dressed in dark clothing climbed the statue of the blind poet Homer on the grounds of the University of Virginia and hung a noose around its neck. The next day University President Jim Ryan declared the incident to be a “hate crime” and…