Bacon's Rebellion

  • Roanoke’s Remarkable Symphony Under the Stars

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Maestro David Stewart Wiley took the baton and launched the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s 71st year.

    by Scott Dreyer

    As more folks are putting the Covid lockdowns in the rearview mirror, larger gatherings are occurring, as seen by the crowds at the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s (RSO) “Symphony Under the Stars” on Saturday, August 26. The hillside amphitheater in Roanoke’s Elmwood Park was packed by music-lovers as the sun went down, the temperature dropped, and the excitement rose as Maestro David Stewart Wiley took the baton and launched the RSO’s 71st year.

    In an age tarnished by so much disappointment with failed leadership, Wiley stands out as a bright success. The RSO board just announced they had extended his contract for another four years, making him the longest-tenured conductor in their seven-decade history. In fact, Maestro Wiley was recently honored during his 25th season leading the RSO by the governor and a joint bipartisan resolution in the Virginia General Assembly. (more…)

  • Virginia Has an Opportunity to Take the Lead in Nursing Home Technology Insertion to Improve Care with Existing Staff

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    A pending new federal rule defining strong nursing home staffing minimums has finally accomplished something that I thought unlikely in my lifetime.

    It has in a single stroke aligned the interests of patients and their loved ones, nurses, nursing homes, state and federal governments, and taxpayers in finding ways to make existing nursing home staffs more efficient and effective.

    That alignment brings the miracle of the loaves and fishes to mind.

    It takes some explaining.

    1. The value of the new regulations to patients and loved ones and nurses is clear. Better quality of care for patients and better working conditions — less stress and better job satisfaction — for the nurses.
    2. The nursing homes and their lobbyists oppose the new rule, but it appears that it will happen. They face a significant shortage of registered nurses in Virginia and competition for nurses from hospitals with deeper pockets. So, they very much want to somehow reduce the new minimum federal requirements.
    3. The state and federal governments, and thus the taxpayers, will inevitably see demands for Medicare and Medicaid payment increases to pay for the new staff. So, it would benefit taxpayers and the national debt to reduce those ratios as long as the desired levels of care could be maintained.

    One answer to address all of those interests is extensive automation of processes in which nurses are involved. Just some of the requirements:

    • Integrate electronic health records (EHR) and nurse support apps for real-time data entry on mobile devices;
    • Remotely pre-screen, prioritize and automate alert and alarm workflows;
    • Alert to medication administration requirements and help prevent medication errors;
    • Enable nurses to notify the appropriate responders to crises with one click on a mobile device.

    (more…)

  • An Overdue New Federal Rule to Improve Nursing Home Staffing

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    By James C. Sherlock

    What would happen if the federal government were to propose for the first time specific nursing home staffing minimums?

    We are about to find out.

    A new rule.  A new federal proposed rule introduced yesterday has already survived fierce opposition from the industry, which tried to kill it in the womb.  They are not done opposing, but the administration seems to have its course set.

    And the new rule is clearly within the letter and spirit of the Social Security Act that requires safe, quality care.

    The new proposed federal rule consists of three core staffing proposals:

    1. minimum nurse staffing standards of 0.55 hours per resident day (HPRD) for Registered Nurses (RNs) and 2.45 HPRD for Nurse Aides (NAs);
    2. a requirement to have an RN onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week (currently 8 hours a day); and
    3. enhanced facility assessment requirements.

    While the final rule minimums will be phased in over a three-year period, five for rural facilities, they would, if in force today, render non-compliant 245 of the 281 Virginia nursing homes that are rated for staffing by CMS.

    There are also groundbreaking provisions for transparency on the percentage of Medicare and Medicaid payments spent on direct care staff, not just for nursing homes but also for community and home care.

    The new proposed rule is potentially a great improvement for prospective patients coming out of the hospital to recuperate and rehabilitate or entering long term care.

    Which includes a lot of very vulnerable Virginians.

    (more…)

  • Short Term Rentals — Long Term Impact

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Jon Balilies 

    The City of Richmond has been discussing altering and revising regulations about short-term rentals (STR’s) and the next action will take place at the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday afternoon (September 5th). It is an important decision because it is entirely possible the decision by the Commission and ultimately City Council could have a tremendous impact on housing availability, high sale prices, and neighborhood character.

    For the last few years, the city has done a good job of holding public meetings and soliciting feedback through various methods and gathering information about short-term rental properties (like AirBnB and VRBO, etc.). Until 2020, they were technically illegal and unregulated but they did exist (they rose to a more visible status when the UCI 2015 Bike Championships came to town).

    In gathering information and developing the first ordinance, the city said it wanted to find the right balance to allow property owners to take part, but also make sure it was done right to protect neighborhoods. Some other cities dove in head-first with few, if any, regulations, which led to adverse, if somewhat predictable, effects. Richmond smartly agreed to revisit the ordinance after having some time to evaluate the initial regulations. Currently, in residentially zoned areas, the city requires that owners must claim primary residence at least 185 days (just over half the year) to rent out as a STR. If the property owner has a converted garage, etc., then they may rent that out all year. In commercially- zoned areas, there is no residency requirement being proposed in the new legislation. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    In case you were wondering, there is such a thing as International Bacon Day. Read about it here. The day brings together the diverse peoples of the world in reverent appreciation of God’s greatest gift to mankind.

    Bacon fun fact: In the 12th century, a church in the English town of Great Dunmow created a tradition of gifting bacon to married men who could take an oath that he had not argued with his spouse for a year and a day.

    Sadly, no man ever qualified. (OK, I made up that last part.)

    Bacon sad fact: Native Americans never tasted bacon before the arrival of the Spanish in the New World. Hernando de Soto, known primarily for his explorations, brought 13 pigs with him to the Americas in 1539.

     — JAB

  • Politicians Back Interest-Heavy Fuel Debt Payoff

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Better yet, how about ten years from now? With a decade of interest added on, of course.

    By Steve Haner

    Several Virginia legislators have encouraged the State Corporation Commission to allow Dominion Energy Virginia to convert a $1.3 billion unpaid fuel debt into a ten-year revenue stream for the utility, adding up to $370 million in additional costs onto its customers.

    The SCC will open a hearing Tuesday on the utility’s pending application to convert the unpaid fuel costs for the past three years into a bond. A public comment period on the application just ended, and four legislators and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce filed letters supporting Dominion’s request. The 2023 General Assembly created the bonding option during session as part of an omnibus regulatory change.

    The issue is simple. Dominion failed to foresee the explosion in fuel costs caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the generalized wave of inflation. A year ago the SCC approved a plan to cover the first batch of those unpredicted costs that accrued through June 2022, with a three-year payoff schedule.

    But the second year of unexpected fuel expenses added almost $700 million more to the unpaid balance by June 2023. Years two and three of the original payment schedule and the new additional costs combine to the total of about $1.275 billion, not including interest. And the interest is what this is all about, with the trade-off being smaller installment payments but a decade of interest charges. (more…)

  • A Small Victory – So Far – for Common Sense and Flood Mitigation in Virginia Beach

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    The central Great Neck Corridor drainage system Virginia Beach

    by James C. Sherlock

    Sometimes things work. Perhaps they will this time.

    There was a time in Virginia Beach when a partnership between a developer and a church to build new houses would have breezed through the Planning Commission and the City Council.

    That kind of open season on clearing and building on Virginia Beach’s very low-lying land brought with it lots of problems, including flooding.

    The citizens of Virginia Beach, tired of flooding in every heavy rain and even under a clear sky with a full moon, a couple of years ago passed a very large property tax increase on themselves to create a huge pot of money to deal with it.

    One of the natural flood control systems already in place is a series of contiguous lakes along Great Neck Road in the eastern part of the city. They handle runoff from that major corridor. That system flows into the Lynnhaven River and the Chesapeake Bay.

    To that place comes a developer and a local church with a proposal. (more…)

  • How Many UVa Students Feel Sense of “Belonging”?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    As the University of Virginia Board of Visitors grapples with contentious issues such as equity, inclusion and racial preferences, it could benefit by knowing how well the policies of the Ryan administration have succeeded or failed in making UVa a more welcoming place for students across “every possible dimension” of diversity, to use President Jim Ryan’s words.

    The administration possesses considerable data to answer the question. During the final year of the Sullivan administration, 2018, the university conducted a comprehensive, in-depth “campus climate” survey. Since then, the university has participated in biennial surveys conducted under the auspices of the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) consortium, which, th0ugh less comprehensive than the 2018 effort and fraught with discontinuities in the questions asked, does contain useful information.

    The university’s Office of Institutional Research & Analysis posted results for 2022 for public viewing in August. The graphic below summarizes student responses to the statement, “I feel I belong at university.”

    Three of five (60%) students agreed or strongly agreed with the sentiment that they belonged at UVa. Seventeen percent expressed various degrees of disagreement. 

    Is that a good finding or a bad finding? It depends on context. (more…)

  • Last Year’s SOL Performance — Meh

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Table source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

    by James A. Bacon

    The Virginia Department of Education is running two weeks late in releasing Standards of Learning (SOL) testing data for the 2022-23 school year. The reason cited by state Superintendent Lisa Coons, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is to process retake data and appeals.

    The SOL results, as they appeared on a Richmond Public Schools website before being taken down, were disappointing. Far from reverting to the pre-COVID norm, student achievement remained mired in a post-lockdown slump. Reading and writing scores were mostly unchanged, history/civic scores eroded, and math and science scores improved only a little.

    The Youngkin administration has not commented on the results. The only quote cited by the Richmond Times-Dispatch comes from James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, who dishes out the usual social justice-style rhetoric calling for more money. (more…)

  • Virginia Has Lost Its Mojo — Appalachia Edition

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A new report, “The Future of Appalachia,” outlines economic development strategies for one of the most intractably poor regions in the country. Drawing a distinction between “southern” and “northern” Appalachia, the study observes that southern Appalachia has achieved far more economic success than its northern counterpart. Unfortunately, for purposes of this analysis, Virginia is deemed part of “northern” Appalachia.

    The difference in dynamism can be seen in the map above, which shows net in-migration between 2021 and 2022. Each dot represents 100 people. The mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama are experiencing significant in-migration — Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky almost none.

    Alas, I do not have the time to explore this study in any detail. I’ll settle for filing this under, “Virginia has lost its mojo.” I invite readers to dip into the study and report their observations. — JAB

  • “Let Me Talk to My Sales Manager to See What We Can Do”

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Wren Building, College of William and Mary. Photo credit: Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    George Will had a fascinating column recently whose thesis is counter to the dominant opinion on Bacon’s Rebellion about the cost of higher education. Will cites recent research that concludes, “Students are paying less for college than they did 15 years ago.”

    What is going on, although he does not use this analogy, is a lot like buying a car—hardly anyone pays the sticker price. Relying on a prevailing belief of Americans that higher cost signifies higher quality, institutions of higher education in the 1980s and 1990s began relying on higher tuitions as a marketing tool. For those applicants it wished to enroll, they offered discounts, otherwise known as merit scholarships.

    I got a glimpse of this process a couple of years ago when my grandson was considering which college to attend. When I complimented him on the merit scholarships that were being offered, he and his mother dismissed the compliment, saying they were pretty much automatic for anyone being offered admission.

    The large amount of student loan debt that has accumulated in recent years results from higher education minimizing its discounts by steering parents “toward having government provide the discount with subsidized student loans.” Lots of parents and students, believing the sticker cost is real, “sign the loan forms.”

    This is certainly an interesting wrinkle in the ongoing discussion of the costs of higher education.

  • Secret SOLs

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by John Butcher

    The Superintendent of Public Instruction’s May 10, 2023, memo scheduled posting of the 2022-2023 student performance results to the Build-A-Table tool on August 17. Those data have not been posted.

    It’s not that they don’t have the information. The SOL data, in particular, are collected as they are produced by the online testing. Richmond had data in time to produce for the August 21 Board meeting a 40-page report on progress v. last year.

    Note added 8/31: As of last night, Richmond Public Schools took down the report, which broke the link above. Makes one think there was a phone call from VDOE. In any case, I have a pdf of the report. Shoot an email to cranky1{at}duck{dot}com if you’d like a copy. (more…)

  • Fed-Up Parents Sue Loudoun County School Board

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Donny Ferguson

    A liberal school board in suburban Washington, D.C., is now being sued in federal court over an “Action Plan to Combat Systemic Racism” that reports children to officials for any speech that deviates from approved liberal ideology – even at home or after school.

    Represented by the Liberty Justice Center, several Loudoun County parents filed a federal lawsuit against the Loudoun School Board for “denying their students equal treatment and violating their right to free speech,” the Center reports.

    “The parents say the children will be discriminated against for simply expressing their opinion, or worse, for the color of their skin,” the Center notes.

    The school previously made national headlines for covering up two in-school rapes and transferring the alleged offender without notifying parents, as well as a scheme in which a group of liberal activists, including a School Board member, stalked and monitored parents who criticized the board’s liberal direction – including efforts to have critics fired from their jobs and a discussion of whether to hire hackers to break into critics’ email accounts.

    In June 2020, Loudoun County Public Schools announced what they called an “Action Plan to Combat Systemic Racism.” (more…)

  • Schools Shouldn’t Open Before Labor Day

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Oceanfront, Virginia Beach. Photo credit: Kerry Dougherty

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Better sit down, youngsters. Did you know you’ll only get OUT of school two days earlier than last year? Yep, your last day of classes is June 14, 2024. Last June you finished up on June 16th.

    Joke’s on you. Oh, and the teachers who pushed for the new schedule believing they’d get an early start on summer.

    Until 2019, Virginia’s public schools were prohibited from beginning before Labor Day. The law, nicknamed the “Kings Dominion Relief Act” was passed in 1986 to boost Virginia’s tourism industry, giving teens with summer jobs a chance to work through the traditional end of summer. (more…)

  • Yes, Virginia Democrats Really Do Want Abortion Up to 40 Weeks (and Beyond)

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Shaun Kenney

    This November in Ohio, a referendum measure will be on the ballot that will not only enshrine abortion as a state constitutional right — the measure will eliminate parental notification and parental consent on any and all decisions about sexuality and gender in language so broad that it encompasses not just abortion but transgenderism as a question of “reproductive rights” — and it is coming to Virginia.

    The Ohio referendum is sponsored not only by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, but also by an organization called URGE, and is backed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — two groups whose interest in pushing transgenderism is upfront and clear.

    Already, several Virginia Democrats running for public office have been open about their support for these referenda, many of which will be on the ballot in 2024 in the hopes that they will boost Democratic hopes in the presidential elections.

    The good news in Virginia is that our reticence about referenda is a long-standing practice designed to allow cooler heads to prevail. The General Assembly must approve the referenda twice in concurrent sessions in order for such items to be on the ballot. (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

About

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.

Fund the Rebellion

Shake up the status quo! Your contributions will be used to pay for faster download speeds and grow readership. Make a one-time donation by credit card or contribute a small sum monthly.

Can’t wait until tomorrow

For your Bacon’s Rebellion fix?

Enter your email address to receive immediate notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE

Search Bacon’s Rebellion

Categories

Archives

The Jefferson Council

Protecting Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy at the University of Virginia

Forgot Your Password?

Shoot me an email and I’ll generate a new password for you.

Latest