And this, my god. The rate of gun homicides among Black men is right back to where it was at the height of the early 90's wave of violence. Keep that in mind the next time someone tries to minimize the current resurgence. pic.twitter.com/GTFRzWCL5l
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) November 30, 2022
Who’s more racist — conservatives calling for a crackdown on violent criminals or the people who insist that the surge in violent crime is a fabricated conservative talking point?
by Steve Haner
First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.
The tax on each ton of carbon dioxide emitted by Virginia electricity plants dropped to below $13 a ton in the most recent sale of CO2 allowances conducted by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). That meant Virginia collected only $71 million in tax revenue for the fourth quarter, the lowest amount of the four auctions in 2022. (more…)
by James A. Bacon
There is a shortage of doctors, scientists, engineers and other employees with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) backgrounds in the U.S. economy. One reason is that American institutions of higher education aren’t turning out enough graduates with STEM degrees. And a big reason for that is that roughly half the students who enter STEM programs drop out. The labor shortage is especially marked among Hispanics and African-Americans.
The University of Virginia is trying to address disparities in STEM degrees awarded by applying university funds to leverage a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute — $7.7 million total over five years — to support the Driving Change and Inclusive Excellence 3 initiatives that aim to “enhance the academic experience and success of STEM students, particularly those who belong to historically excluded groups.”
The project director is Josipa Roksa, a professor of sociology and education who gained notoriety a decade ago as co-author of Academically Adrift, a book that demonstrated that more than one-third of college students showed “almost no significant improvement in learning” during their four years in college. Since then, her research has focused on racial/ethnic inequalities in learning.
The underlying problem is that many students who enter UVa STEM programs are academically unprepared for the courses taught. (more…)
I have received several responses from readers who were shocked by a recent post. Was I serious about contextualizing the behavior of a Hampton Roads man for videotaping an act of bestiality with his dog?
The answer is NO, I was not serious!
I was being totally tongue in cheek when I asked if the man’s wife was being judgmental when she called her husband a sexual deviant! I’m libertarian, but not that libertarian. My purpose was to troll progressives who have continually defined deviancy down and to find out if there are any limiting principles to sexual behavior they deem acceptable.
My sense from the comments in the post is that, no, they don’t approve of bestiality but they cannot articulate any limiting principles…. so our society truly is on a slippery slope.
C’mon people, privacy rights for dogs? Surely you knew I was being facetious! Some behaviors, including pedophilia, at the very least, should be taboo. Still, if I failed to make my intention crystal clear, the fault is mine.
— JAB
by James C. Sherlock
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) reportย Pandemic Impact on Public Kโ12 Educationย 2022ย collected and made available a lot of valuable information.
One issue escaped their analysis and recommendations — school discipline.
The authors reported student conduct as the number one concern of school teachers, and then failed to address it in any substantive way.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Virginiaโs official school conduct support system component of Virginia Tiered System of Supports (VTSS), was mentioned only once, in a margin note. ย Possible reasons include:
JLARC has excellent company in its reticence about analysis of student conduct.
JLARC indeed acknowledged that the Virginia VTSS escapes the grasp of most of Virginia schools that have tried to implement it, so it recommended more training.
The truth is that VTSS in general and PBIS in particular is far too complicated and time-consuming. ย A reasonable return on investment seems unlikely at best. ย And most people inside Virginiaโs schools have figured that out.
As such it wonโt ever work at scale. (more…)
by James A. Bacon
The University of Virginia’s newly formed Karsh Institute of Democracy will be housed in a signature building, a key part of the Ivy Road corridor in Charlottesville that will include an Olympic sports center, the football program, the School of Data Science, a conference center, and structured parking. Expecting to invite world-class speakers to the venue, UVa officials want the building to make a memorable architectural statement.
In a presentation to the Board of Visitors last week, University Architect Alice J. Raucher walked board members through the thinking behind the preliminary design. Thematically, the architects sought to link UVa’s founding ideals while looking ahead for the next 200 years and highlighting the university’s “global identity” as a forward-looking institution, she said. The signature staircase was inspired by the Oval Rooms in the Rotunda, and the window panels by the classical columns of Thomas Jefferson’s academical village. The design also is meant to communicate the “message of democracy” by being a “welcoming, inviting, inclusive” place that is “open and transparent.”
Some board members liked the design. But it left others cold. (more…)
by Jon Baliles
STORY #1 โ The Pot Overfloweth
There have been a lot of stories this week about the $21 million surplus announced by Mayor Levar Stoney and what he is asking City Council to endorse and how to disburse it in a budget amendment vote scheduled for a Monday evening vote. โThe growth of the real estate market has caused the taxable real property revenue to exceed the budgeted amount,โ the mayor wrote in a letter to Council.
Dean Mirshahi at WRIC reports that out of the $17 million, $5 million would be used to improve pay scales for first responders and $3.1 million for inclement weather shelters โ two things that are definitely needed and long overdue.
There is an allocation of $1,750,000 to the Department of Economic Development for โcontractual increasesโ involving Richmondโs Diamond District and City Center projects. No one knows what this means, but the Diamond District developer made it clear to VPM News that they were not recipients of any of that allocation (so put away the conspiracy theories). Maybe an explanation is forthcoming Monday night (or maybe not).
Some of the other funding includes $1.1 million for traffic calming projects; $1 million each for the nonprofits HumanKind and Homeward to provide family crisis services and homeless services; $500,000 to NextUP RVA, a free program for Richmond Public Schools middle school students; $2 million would go to a reserve fund to help offset rising health care costs for city employees; about $450,000 for employees assisting with added translation and interpretation services; and $400,000 for the YMCAโs Help1RVA helpline for people in crisis or considering suicide.
The biggest item is $5 million for first responders, which includes $2.6 million for the Richmond Police Department, $1.9 million for the Richmond Fire Department, and $559,000 for the Department of Emergency Communications for pay adjustments that the city says were not accounted for in the pay raises approved last May.
VPM noted that โa press release from the mayorโs office said those pay adjustments would be for employees not accounted for in a $17 million increase in first-responder wages in Mayโs budget.โ (more…)
A 45-year-old Hampton man, Timothy Raymond Moran, has pleaded guilty in circuit court to committing bestiality with his dog in 2021, reports The Virginian-Pilot. A nephew reported finding video footage that showed Moran receiving oral sex from his dog, JB, at his aunt’s home. Penalties could include five years in prison and a fine of $2,500.
Moran’s ex-wife, Jessica Phillips, told the Pilot that the bestiality charge disgusted her. “I felt sick. It’s quite disturbing,” she said. “To me it goes along with pedophilia and other deviant sexual crimes. It’s not a normal action people do.”
My question to readers: is Phillips being too judgmental? If the act was consensual — if the dog was not being coerced into doing whatever he (or she… or they, not sure how the dog identifies) did — what’s the big deal? Do dogs suffer trauma from… from whatever it was that the dog was doing? Consider that dogs have very different attitudes towards sniffing and licking body parts than humans do. What is “normal” anyway? Whose normality are we talking about? Is the bestiality law a relic of Virginia’s racist, patriarchal, heteronormative specie-ist past?
Or can we state unequivocally that Phillips is absolutely right; that sexual taboos still properly exist in our society, and that bestiality is one of them? Social mores are evolving so fast that I can’t keep up. Can we agree on anything?
Bonus question: did Phillips violate JB’s privacy rights by filming the encounter?
Update: I have received several responses from readers who were shocked by this post. Was I serious about defending Moran’s behavior? The answer is NO, I was not serious! I was being totally tongue in cheek when I asked if Phillips was being judgmental about her calling her husband a sexual deviant. My purpose was to troll progressives who have continually defined deviancy down and find out if there are any limiting principles to what they find acceptable. My sense from the comments is that, no, they don’t approve of bestiality but they cannot articulate any limiting principles…. Some behaviors absolutely should be taboo, but we appear to be on a slippery slope.
C’mon people, privacy rights for dogs? Surely you knew I was being facetious! Still, if I failed to make my intention crystal clear, the fault is mine.
— JAB
by James A. Bacon
The shooting of five University of Virginia students Nov. 13 on a bus back from a field trip in Washington, D.C., was understandably traumatic for the young people who witnessed the horror, as it was for family and close friends of the victims, three of whom died.
Indeed, the event was a trauma for the entire UVa community, and the administration treated it as such. The University responded by launching into full therapeutic mode: canceling events and classes, giving students a pass/fail option in their courses, mobilizing counselors, and creating safe spaces.
“There is still profound sorrow and loss that we’re all feeling,” President Jim Ryan said Friday in briefing the Board of Visitors about the administration’s response to the shooting. The horror impacted far more than the homicide victims and those who witnessed the shootings, he said. The circle of those affected included medical professionals who responded to the shooting, football teammates, friends, roommates, and students who sheltered in place during the search for the killer. “This had a large ripple.”
Ryan listed key actions the administration took. Classes were canceled for two days. Events were canceled or rescheduled. Gathering spaces were set up where students could commiserate. Walk-in counseling was made available along with therapy dogs to comfort those in grieving. A basketball game was canceled, as was the remainder of the football season.
Provost Ian Baucom explained that the administration was concerned that the impact might linger and affect students’ ability to function academically. He asked faculty to provide maximum flexibility to allow students to deal with their grief and get them through the exam season, which wound up last week. (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
What makes teachers want to teach?
The satisfaction that comes from helping children and adolescents learn and grow into productive, mature adults. It is amazingly powerful.
What is required for them to choose to teach? Enough money to live comfortably and a safe, supportive working environment.
So that is three:
What happens when those all go badly? We are finding out.
We have far too many schools in which students measurably are not learning. Astonishingly large numbers donโt show up to school.
As for safe, supportive working environments, forget it in many schools. Feral children and adolescents attack one another and their teachers.
Teachers are disgusted and, in some cases, terrified. So are their best students. Teachers are leaving not only their own schools but the profession in ever larger numbers.
Some readers may console themselves that time will heal all wounds. It wonโt in this case. As the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) reported, both the teacher retention and new teacher training curves are sloping dramatically in the wrong direction.
So, the question in the title requires an answer — immediately. (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
With all of the public policy discussion of housing in Virginia, it is useful to examine how burdened Virginians are by the costs of their housing.
Based on brand new data from the Bureau of the Census, the average Virginia homeowner is in pretty good shape compared to others in America.
But still over a third of them carry a cost burden for that housing that exceeds the recommended 30% of household income. Those burdens in turn challenge the futures of the very industries that build and finance housing.
In the case of renters, it is difficult to see how half of them can pay the rest of their bills and save to buy a house.
Just like the rest of American renters.
Weโll take a look. Especially at the outlier case of Virginia Beach. (more…)
by Adam A. Millsap
U.S. housing prices have risen 10 percent since last September and 41 percent since before the pandemic. Though prices have dipped slightly over the last three months, inflated costs remain a major problem. Policymakers around the country are trying to bring prices down, and a new proposal from Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin follows the right playbook but requires further elaboration.
Americaโs housing crisis is largely a supply problem. Data show that housing prices fell at an annualized rate of 1 percent in September, the third straight monthly decline. While this may seem like progress, the decline is largely driven by the Federal Reserveโs interest-rate hikes. A higher benchmark interest rate leads to higher mortgage rates, which means monthly paymentsโanother measure of affordabilityโremain elevated.
To make housing more affordable, policymakers must boost supply relative to demand, while holding everything else, including interest rates, constant. The press release announcing Youngkinโs Make Virginia Home plan acknowledges the supply problem, promising to โpromote increasing the supply of attainable, affordable, and accessible housing across the Commonwealth.โ Thatโs a worthy goal; achieving it is another matter.
Research shows that the primary culprits behind high state and local housing costs are restrictive zoning and land-use regulations that artificially limit the housing supply. Youngkinโs plan is short on details, but it explicitly mentions establishing guardrails for local zoning and land-use review processes. The state would impose deadlines to stop local governments from slow-rolling approvals; such delays impose big costs on developers and make otherwise attractive projects financially infeasible. (more…)
In his latest Rob Is Right video, Rob Smith gives his spin on the deliberately provocative After-School Satan Club at B.M. Williams Primary School in Chesapeake. I’m not sure I agree with him in the final analysis — free speech extends to those with whom we disagree, even to those we think are raving idiots — but he lands some good punches and vividly illustrates the lunacy of the age we live in.
— JAB
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.
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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