Bacon's Rebellion

  • What Is UVA’s Research Overhead?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    And how much is driven by DEI? UVA won’t say.

    Open the Books has published a new report, “Transparency Crisis,” examining the percentage of research funding devoted to university overhead. Nationally, 50% to 60% of federal research grants go to overhead, which is meant to cover university and departmental infrastructure and support. “Recent reports,” states Open the Books, “have suggested exorbitant overhead spending feeds into bloated university administrations that distract from academic inquiry, including through roles and spending related to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

    A laboratory scene with colorful beakers and flasks filled with liquids, featuring a central container overflowing with cash, illustrating the concept of financial issues related to university research funding, with the title 'TRANSPARENCY CRISIS' prominently displayed.

    The report did in-depth analyses of five universities, including the University of Virginia. I have excerpted the UVA section below. — JAB

    University of Virginia only gave Open the Books salary data for the years 2019, 2021, and 2024, although we asked for data from 2013, 2015, and 2017 as well. It is unclear why we did not receive the complete data that we asked for, but lack of transparency prevents the public from understanding historic trends in spending and staffing.

    Additionally, UVA was selected for this report because they had previously provided salary spending databases that included both departments and titles when Open the Books investigated the university in 2024. Having staff salary data that includes departmental information is essential for counting DEI-related positions. This time, UVA only provided titles with no department connection. Therefore, Open the Books cannot include DEI-related staffing as part of this analysis.

    From 2019-2023 UVA received $1.5 billion in federal R&D grants, or about $300 million per year. Grants came mostly from the Department of Health and Human Services ($1 billion). The Department of Defense (now referred to as the Department of War) and the National Science Foundation followed with about $180 million each.

    Because there is no public dataset with all overhead rates, the public relies on universities to post the rates themselves. UVA, unlike many universities, does not post their overhead rate on their website.

    Total university staff increased by about 2,000 over the five years of available data: from 9,799 in 2019 to 11,783 in 2024. Salary spending likewise grew from $966 million in 2019 and $1.3 billion in 2024.

    (more…)

  • Illegal Alien Charged With Murder In Fairfax County

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    James A. Bacon

    Kerry Dougherty provides an update on that illegal alien, Marvin Fernando Ortiz, charged with shooting his roommate a day after his release from Fairfax County jail. (See “Social Breakdown Update: Fairfax Edition.”)

    Ortiz

    That’s right. This illegal hairbag was in jail – and released – last week but the order to turn him over to ICE in order to deport his illegal derriere back to El Salvador, was ignored by the sanctuary county of Fairfax.

    Not only that, seems this particular illegal has been arrested at least six times in Fairfax County (God knows how many times in other jurisdictions) since 2020 on charges ranging from assault and battery, to brandishing a firearm to larceny and disorderly conduct.

    Why wasn’t Ortez deported the last six times he was in custody by Fairfax law enforcement?

    Instead, they waited until he killed someone to decide to actually lock him up without bail.

    It’s worth noting that Descano is not only a George Soros puppet, he’s also a major supporter and pal of governor-elect Abigail Spanberger.

    You’ve been warned, Virginia.

    (more…)

  • An Affordability Suggestion

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Gov.-elect Spanberger has released her plan to make Virginia more affordable. Forgive me if I do not see a lot in there that would quickly make life more affordable for most average Virginians. However, Dwayne Yancey of Cardinal News has identified a measure that could make a major expense more affordable for many Virginia families—college fees, intercollegiate athletic fees in particular.

    Yancey uses James Madison University as an example. Its football team is one of the 12 teams that made this year’s College Football Playoff. His research revealed that “JMU’s mandatory student fees for [intercollegiate] athletics are more than four times higher than all the other College Football Playoff schools combined.” To be fair, those other schools they have revenue from lucrative TV deals they or their conferences negotiated.

    The charges assessed by public institutions of higher education in Virginia can be divided into three categories—tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board. Most of the public attention is on tuition, but mandatory fees and room and board costs exceed tuition and are the fastest growing portion of higher education costs. For anyone interested in the costs of public institutions of higher education in Virginia, this report from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia has a wealth of information.

    (more…)

  • Violent Crime Down 7% in 2024, Homicides by 19%

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    James A. Bacon

    Table displaying crime statistics by offense type for the years 2019 to 2024, including counts and rates for various crimes.
    Source: Crime in Virginia 2024

    Hooray, the Virginia State Police has finally published its Crime in Virginia 2024 report! The big news was that violent crime in the commonwealth dropped 7% that year compared to 2023. The number of homicides (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter) declined from 520 in 2023 to 421 in 2024 — 19 percent!

    There’s much more to unpack in the report, and I hope to hit the highlights in future posts. — JAB

  • VRS Slowly Closing the Funding Gap

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    But liabilities still exceed assets by 17 percent.

    Bar graph illustrating the funded status of Teachers and State Employees plans from fiscal year 2016 to projected fiscal year 2030, showing trends in percentage funded.

    Earlier this week, we discussed how deferred maintenance represents a form of hidden deficit spending. Underfunding pension contributions is another classic gambit of state government. Since bottoming out in the mid-2010s, the Virginia Retirement System has been inching closer each year toward full funding for teachers and state employees, according to this graph published by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission in its 2025 VRS Oversight Report.

    Eighty percent funding is often cited as a benchmark for a healthy pension system.

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    Comparison of two boats: a skiff loaded with barrels and a fishing boat engaged in a catch, illustrating the difficulty in distinguishing smuggling vessels from ordinary fishing boats.

    See more memes at The Bull Elephant

  • Beardsley Selected to Run UVA. Is a Blue-on-Blue Execution Next?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    I figured the University of Virginia’s presidential selection would appoint someone from within the University because who in their right mind would move across the country to Charlottesville knowing the kind of reception he or she would get from Virginia politicians:

    Tweet by L. Louise Lucas addressing Scott Beardsley about the separation of powers between government branches.
    (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

    A man and woman sitting at a table discussing a shopping list, with speech bubbles indicating their conversation about ketchup. The second part shows a hand holding a piece of paper with red streaks of what appears to be ketchup, along with a frustrated comment about not being able to read it.

  • A 10 Percent Increase in Real Wages?

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    Wow! … if true.

    From Secretary of Commerce Juan Pablo ‘s December newsletter: 

    Over the last year, we’ve announced 156 billion dollars in net new capital investment across the Commonwealth. That growth is broad-based. We currently have 220,000 open jobs, with 85,000 more on the way, plus another 40,000 construction jobs. Because of this opportunity, real wages in Virginia have increased by more than 10 percent over the past year. The national average is just 4.2 percent. That means real wages in Virginia are growing at more than twice the national rate.

    Real wages are a critical metric of economic wellbeing. If the 10-percent-increase-in-real-wages figure stands up to scrutiny, that’s an extraordinary accomplishment for Virginia. But does it stand up to scrutiny? Perhaps someone in our desiccated husk of a press corps could look into it.

    Update from Austin Stevens in the Governor’s Office:

    The Secretary’s newsletter was citing data from Virginia Works, which highlighted July 2024 to July 2025 data from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) report for BLS. You can see the wage growth highlighted for total private was 9.42%, which was rounded up to 10%. In the newsletter, we walked people through the nominal increase while highlighting the national/CPI data to end up getting to real wages.

  • Gun Killings Down in 2024

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    But homicides remained highly concentrated in nine old urban localities.

    Table showing gun-related homicides, rates, and trends over the last three years for various localities in Virginia.
    Source: JLARC

    From the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report, “Effects of Community Gun Violence in Virginia“:

    Virginia ranks 23rd highest among states for violent firearm offenses, with 88 per 100,000 residents annually on average (slightly below the 50-state average of 93). Virginia’s statewide gun homicide rate was 5.4 per 100,000 people, which was 21st highest among the states and equal to the national average.

    In related matters… JLARC has access to Virginia’s 2024 homicide numbers. Why hasn’t the Virginia State Police published its 2024 Crime in Virginia report yet?

  • Maps of the Day: Virginia’s Data Center Surge

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Bigger than Texas!

    Map of the United States showing states with varying shades of purple to indicate the number of operational facilities, with Texas and Virginia highlighted.
    Source: Axios
    A map of the United States showing areas under construction or planned, with varying shades of green indicating the number of projects. Texas is highlighted in dark green with 442 projects, and Virginia in a darker shade with 595 projects.

    Read Axios article here.

  • Social Breakdown Update: Fairfax Edition

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A news article header about a man being freed from custody one day before a fatal shooting in Virginia, with an image showing police officers and debris from the scene.
    Source: Man Freed From Custody One Day Before Fatal Virginia Shooting, Police Confirm (Updated) | Elkton Daily Voice

    BONUS TRAVESTY: The dude is an illegal alien!

    (more…)

  • Fairfax Forfeits Transgender Case

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Fairfax County Public School leaders capitulated after a student challenged their pro-transgender policies in court, offering hope that the era of so-called “transgender rights” is coming to a close.

    by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
    Republished with permission from IWFeatures

    Last month, Fairfax County Public Schools, represented by Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, extended a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment to a former student, identified as “Jane Doe,” over its bathrooms and pronouns policies. Virginia’s largest public school district granted the plaintiff $50 and attorney’s fees associated with the case.

    Jane Doe, represented by America First Legal, filed the lawsuit asserting that the district violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, Title IX, and the Virginia Constitution by prioritizing “gender identity” over biological sex and religious conscience. The plaintiff had encountered a boy in the girls’ bathroom while at school, which school policy permits. The district’s code of conduct stipulates bathroom and locker room use is based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex. It also mandates preferred pronoun usage.

    In response to the district’s decision not to fight the case, Jane Doe’s mother told IW Features, “My sincere thanks goes to my daughter’s legal team at America First Legal, who were the only adults during this whole ordeal to listen to my pleas for help to keep my daughter safe while she was at school.” 

    (more…)

  • Youngkin Budget Proposes Partial State Deduction for Tips, OT

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Governor Glenn Youngkin (R), trying to cut taxes to the end.

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed that Virginia conform its tax rules to most of the changes in federal taxes adopted by Congress last summer, including recognizing a state tax deduction for tip income, overtime pay and interest payments on car loans.   

    Those tax policy recommendations are part of the Republican’s final introduced state budget package, which he presented to legislators on Wednesday at a joint meeting of the House and Senate financial committees. Their fate will be decided early next year by the legislators and incoming Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger.   

    The departing Governor also proposed to make other tax cuts he enacted during his term permanent, including the state’s current standard deduction amount of $8,750 per person or $17,500 per couple and the higher Earned Income Tax Credit. Without legislative action the standard deduction would revert in 2027 to $6,000 per couple, which was the allowed deduction at the start of his term. The higher deduction saves a married couple up to $661 per year, so losing it would hurt.    

    “There is no need for any new taxes and there is no need for tax increases,” Youngkin told the assembled legislators and Spanberger, who was watching in the front row. He included in that admonition the carbon tax on electricity imposed by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which he ended but which Spanberger has pledged to reimpose, reaping half a billion dollars per year from energy customers.  

    Youngkin is proposing only partial compliance with the new federal deductions for tips and overtime income, and the car loan interest. Deductions would not be available this current year, unlike the federal deductions. Starting with tax year 2026, a taxpayer who qualified for those deductions at the federal level could take 25% of that amount off on their state tax return, and in subsequent years it rises to 50% of the federal amount. 

    (more…)

  • State Govt’s Maintenance Backlog: $1.1 Billion+

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Bar graph illustrating the percentage of building systems presumed to be expired for over 20 years past their expected expiration dates, including categories like Interior finishes, HVAC, Plumbing, and more.
    Source: JLARC | Capital Maintenance and Construction

    An insidious form of deficit spending is deferred maintenance. Could that be a problem in Virginia? The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission took a look at state-owned buildings, valued at between $31 billion to $47 billion.

    The M-R FIX [database] shows that about half of state-owned buildings are almost 50 years old or older, and about one-third of the systems (e.g., HVAC, roofing, plumbing, etc.) in state buildings are past their expected lifespans (i.e., expired), according to generic lifespan metrics. … M-R FIX does not include data on actual building condition. …

    The state does not currently have an estimate for the total cost of addressing needed maintenance at state-owned buildings. However, data collected by JLARC staff from 12 agencies/HEIs with the majority of state-owned building square footage indicates that current maintenance reserve project needs exceed $1.1 billion. 

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.

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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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