The “news desert” is expanding in Virginia, as it is across the country. Twelve Virginia counties have no local news sources, and 81 counties have only one, according to a study by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
There is a shred of consolation. As traditional newspapers continue to lose circulation, digital media are popping up all over. But even that good news comes with a caveat: digital publications are found mostly in urban areas, not rural counties where the news drought is most pronounced.
Nationally, the United States has lost more than one-third of its newspapers since 2005, and the survivors have cut back their news operations.
“This research shows that the crisis in local news is deepening, and fewer Americans have access to news they need about their communities to be informed citizens,” said Tim Franklin, director of the Medill Local News Initiative.
Richardson Carter Bell, on trial for voter fraud. Photo credit: Cardinal News
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
In one of the rare trials in Virginia for voter fraud, a Nelson County jury recently found a man not guilty.
As reported by Cardinal News, on Nov. 4, 2023, Richardson Carter Bell voted early for the General Assembly and local races. On Nov. 7, Election Day, he went to his precinct and presented his ID to vote. When the system indicated that he had already voted, the election worker sent for the chief of elections. While waiting for the chief, Bell explained that he was only testing the security of the system. Apparently, officials were not amused and Bell was charged with trying to vote twice, a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
When questioned by the State Police, Bell said, “I was messing to see if they were gonna let me vote again to see what kind of fraud was going on. But I went in and gave them my ID and then it showed up [that] I’d already voted. So I was doing a little detective work.” The Commonwealth’s attorney took the position that Bell was not authorized to test the system and compared his action to pulling the fire alarm to see if the sprinklers work.
Sign of the times: Shoplifting in ABC stores in Hampton Roads is on the rise. The thefts are creating such a strain on the resources of local law enforcement that Virginia Beach’s police chief is calling for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority’s Bureau of Law Enforcement to take over primary responsibility for investigating liquor thefts.
Roughly 31,000 bottles of alcohol worth more than $1.6 million have been stolen from Virginia ABC stores so far this year, according to data provided by the authority from Jan. 1 through Oct. 16. In the Hampton Roads region, Norfolk has had the most thefts to date with 6,199 bottles of booze stolen at a total value of more than $233,000.
The Pilot did not say how much thefts increased statewide compared to the previous year, but it did note that shoplifting from ABC stores in the City of Chesapeake rose by 90% from 2022 to 2023.
The worst theft problems at ABC stores have been by organized crime groups in Northern Virginia, said Tom Kirby, ABC chief operations officer. Thieves have such a predilection for Cognac that the Authority is considering putting bottles in clear lock boxes on the shelves. — JAB
The claim that 70%+ of Virginia schools would be in the bottom two of four summative categories of the new accountability system has spread in the press and on social medial for almost two months. One activist group claimed it “makes schools all over Virginia ripe for takeover, reputational damage, and privatization” (never mind that the Virginia Constitution would likely not permit a state takeover of a school). TheWashington Postreported on allegations that the new system is a “politically driven decision to paint schools in a bad light.”
In fact, the “up to 70%” claim had been an off-the-cuff estimate by Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) member Anne Holton based on partially modeled data during the VBOE meeting on August 28, 2024. In response, Superintendent Lisa Coons had warned, “I think we’re making assumptions before we have data so I caution us to make assumptions without that information.”
The press ran with such claim anyway, and it was pushed on social media to the extent it became common knowledge. In particular, state politics reporter (not opinion columnist) Anna Bryson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch (RTD) gave the incomplete data such breathless coverage that one has to wonder about her motivations.
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) finally debunked this claim in an FAQ last week, clarifying that the amount is 37% based on more complete data (along with debunking other misinformation, like tracking of students into the military and with English Learners). Here is the relevant excerpt:
The United States, including the Commonwealth of Virginia, has a demographic problem. Luke Rogers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimate Branch explains,“The first Baby Boomers reached 65 years old in 2011. Since then, there’s been a rapid increase in the size of the 65-and-over population, which grew by over a third since 2010. No other age group saw such a fast increase. In fact, the under-18 population was smaller in 2019 than it was in 2010, in part due to lower fertility in the United States.”
General fertility—number of live births for 1,000 women in their child-bearing years (15-44) in a given year.
Total fertility—estimated number of births that 1,000 women would have over their lifetimes based on the age-specific birth rate in a given year. It is used in connection with the replacement rate—the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself (2,100 births per 1,000 women),
As the graph below shows, both the number of births and the general fertility rate in the United States has been generally decreasing since 2007. In 2023, the number of births declined 2 percent from 2022 and the general fertility rate was down by 3 percent, to a historic low.
Furthermore, the total fertility rate decreased by 2 percent to 1,616.5, considerably below the replacement rate of 2,100. “The rate has generally been below replacement value since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007.”
As newspapers shrink, leaving us with nothing but The Wall Street Journal, Wordle (formerly known as The New York Times), and the dried-up husk of a Washington Post, who will report the news? Some publications are backed by foundation money — The Virginia Mercury and Cardinal News here in Virginia, for instance. Some reporting is bubbling bubble up from the citizenry. A couple of recent cases in point:
The Chinese gave how much to a Virginia high school? Marissa Fallon, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Parents Defending Freedom, has dug into the $3.6 million that three Chinese entities donated to the Thomas Jefferson Partnership Fund maintained by the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. What did the Chinese get for their money? A seven-year collaboration setting up an elite Chinese high school in Shanghai. “China-linked entities gave money, and TJHSST delivered documents and intellectual property,” Fallon writes in The Washington Examiner.
As Virginian as Texas barbecue. Audrey Carpenter, operating out of Loudoun County, has posted articles under “neighbor news” on the Leesburg, Va., Patch, giving Suhas Subramanyam, Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District, the kind of scrutiny that legacy media cannot (or will not). Two weeks ago, Carpenter questioned Subramanyam’s credentials as a volunteer firefighter. Writing again on a neighborhood blog Monday, she disputed the candidate’s claims that he’s a “native Virginian” who “grew up here.” Subramanyam, she writes, “actually grew up in Houston, Texas, and attended Clear Lake High School there.” He then attended Tulane University in New Orleans and Northwestern University in Chicago. (For the record, Carpenter does not address where Subramanyam lived before high school.)
Meanwhile, a host of micro-publications are pushing out local news. Here are a few that have found their way into my inbox:
Rachel Sheridan, chair of the Board of Visitors audit committee (above) and Vice Chair Porter Wilkinson, are running the investigation into alleged med school abuses.
Many University of Virginia faculty members expressed skepticism during a meeting of the Faculty Senate last week that an investigation into alleged misdeeds by the UVA Health System and School of Medicine (SOM) will be independent and credible.
Their fears were inflamed by a letter that President Jim Ryan distributed to SOM faculty members last month critical of a letter signed by 128 employees of the UVA Physicians Group (with names withheld from the public) alleging widespread abuses in the health system and medical school. Ryan’s reaction was dismissive. He described the charges as vague and generalized, although he added, “Without specific details or names to follow up with, we will do our best to investigate.”
Porter Wilkinson
A few days later, the University announced that “the University Board of Visitors and President Ryan” had agreed to conduct an “independent review” of the allegations, adding that “the Board and President Ryan will receive the findings of this review.” It was unclear from the statement who, exactly, would be in charge or how the investigation would be structured.
Those questions were answered at the Faculty Senate meeting Friday: The Board of Visitors’ Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee is running the investigation, not the UVA administration.
In an age when it seems every house has a Ring-style doorbell, every business has closed circuit cameras both inside and out, it seems almost futile to argue that drivers shouldn’t expect to go through a digital license plate line-up every time they leave their driveways.
Yet two modern day Don Quixote-types are saying just that. They’ve filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that Norfolk’s ubiquitous Flock license plate cameras violate the 4th Amendment.
Need a refresher?
Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Immigrant mother from Honduras fleeing with her children from tear gas at the Mexican border Photo credit: NBC News
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
The politicians raising the alarm about the large number of immigrants in the United States, as well as those trying to get in, cite several reasons for blocking their entry or deporting those who have gotten in. They are criminals. They bring in fentanyl. They are terrorists. They are a burden on the communities they settle in. By definition, they are illegal. The list could go on, but these complaints seem to be the most prominent. This installment of the series will examine the objections singly.
Crime
Since he declared his candidacy in 2015, Donald Trump has characterized immigrants as being predominantly criminals. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center reported that 57 percent of Americans say that the large number of immigrants seeking to enter the country leads to increased crime. Breaking the responses down by party, 85 percent of Republicans hold that belief, while only 31 percent of Democrats agree that more immigrants lead to more crime. Those numbers support the maxim that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will come to believe it.
Study after study after study has consistently shown that, not only is there no positive relationship between immigration and crime rates, but immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens. Furthermore, there is evidence that the crime rate of undocumented immigrants is lower than that of legal immigrants.
Norfolk flooding 2022. Photo credit: Jim Morrison and The Virginia Mercury
by James A. Bacon
I don’t share the apocalyptic alarmism of those who assert that global warming is increasing the frequency and severity of hurricanes. (Read Roger Pielke’s latest essay on the use of a fake data set to buttress the claim.) But I do agree about one thing. Flooding in Hampton Roads is increasing in frequency and severity. And I also agree that it makes no sense for federal flood insurance to repeatedly reimburse property owners for damage to flood-prone housing if they refuse (or cannot afford) to invest in risk mitigation.
The Virginia Mercury highlights a new tool created by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which reveals that owners of 7,000 Virginia properties made repeated claims for flood damage over 10 years. Of those, only 554 mitigated their flood risk by filling their basements, raising their houses, or replacing their houses with structures better able to withstand flooding. Reports the Mercury:
In Virginia, three-quarters of the repetitive loss properties are in Hampton Roads. Of those, 841 are severe repetitive loss properties, which have reported four or more claims of more than $5,000. The vast majority — 689 — have not been mitigated against future flooding. They accounted for 1% of the Virginia claims but 21% of the payments.
Advocacy of flood-insurance reform represents a rare but happy conjunction of fiscal conservatism and environmentalism.
Immigrants attempting to cross segment of Darien Gap Photo Credit: Council of Foreign Relations
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
Immigrants are human beings.
The Old Testament of the Judeo-Christian tradition declares that God created human beings “in his own image.” One of the founding documents of the United States declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
It follows that immigrants are human beings, the same as all Americans, and that they have, like us, an inherent right to “life, liberty, ad the pursuit of happiness.”
“Immigrant” is a broad term. To be clear, in this article, when I refer to immigrants, I am addressing the undocumented immigrants already living in the country as well as those who come each year seeking asylum because they do not fit into one of the narrow categories that U.S. immigration law establishes.
This article will delve into how many there are, who they are, why they come, and how they got here.
The Biden/ Harris administration, which fought against including the SAVE act in a spending bill last month (that’s the the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act that would require proof of citizenship to vote.) is now suing Virginia over Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s efforts to get more than 6,000 non-citizens off the voter rolls.
What is it with these lefties and their love affair with noncitizens and especially illegals?
As it turns out, Virginia already has a law that keeps noncitizens from voting. Ironically, it was signed was signed by Gov. Tim Kaine and went into effect in 2007.
It requires an affirmative declaration of citizenship at DMV in order to register to vote.
Despite that law, Youngkin’s administration found more than 6,000 names of “self-identified” non-citizens on the voter rolls. These were Virginia drivers who reportedly told DMV that they were not citizens. Nonetheless they were registered to vote.
Who knows how this happens: It’s likely sloppiness or clerical errors rather than something more nefarious. But you never know and it doesn’t matter.
However these non-citizens got on the rolls, they need to come off. Now.
What is it like to be conservative Christian in Hollywood? Kevin Sorbo, star of “Hercules,” “Xena Princess Warrior,” and “God’s Not Dead,” can tell you Wednesday night at The Virginia Forum, held 7 p.m. at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center. Come hear how an actor who is a true believer thrives in the challenging ecosphere of intolerant leftism.
Sorbo has seen the inside of the entertainment industry. Cancelled for his views, this award-winning actor has learned how to fight back. Wednesday evening is sure to spark and crackle with insights such as “Hollywood took a $1.4 Billion dollar loss last year — you think that would wake them up!”
Sorbo grew up in a Midwestern Lutheran household. Unapologetically Christian and conservative, he knows his history. He believes civics need to be taught in schools. He discourses on how Hollywood and the D.C. political elites are aligned. (Listen to him on The John Reid Show on WRVA.) Contrasting the current Hollywood climate with the Hollywood of Jimmie Stewart and John Wayne, he says, “I’m going to do movies like Hollywood used to do.” But he has no time for self-pity. When his conservatism cost him his job, he started Sorbo Studios, which now produces four movies a year. His hit “God’s not Dead” cost $2 M to make and grossed $140 million in profits.
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.
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