Author: James A. Bacon
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Monopoly Markets and Health Care Costs
by James A. Bacon Hospitals justify mergers with other hospitals in the same healthcare market on the grounds that they eliminate redundancy and duplication, allowing them to pass along savings to consumers. Do the putative benefits actually occur? Or do hospitals simply use their larger market share to negotiate better deals with insurance companies and…
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Virginia: Pretty Darned Enterprising
by James A. Bacon For those who haven’t yet succumbed to state-ranking overload, here’s one more, this from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Its fourth annual Enterprising States report ranks states for the degree to which they are “best positioned to grow, create jobs and prosper in the coming five to ten years.” The Chamber…
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Damned with Faint Praise: Virginia Ranks Tops in South for Bicycle Friendliness
Virginia ranks 16th nationally in the just-published League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycle Friendly States” ranking, and No. 1 in the South. The state of Washington took the top spot, with Colorado nailing down No. 2. Colorado cycling has come on strong in recent years as the business community has mobilized around the goal of making…
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Don’t Look Over Your Shoulder, Richard Bland College May Be Gaining on You
by James A. Bacon While Virginia’s largest public universities continue to jack up tuition at rates far surpassing inflation and the growth in wages in order to protect Business-As-Usual education, the state’s tiniest public institution of higher education is experimenting with hybrid online learning. Petersburg-based Richard Bland College has launched a global online institute that…
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Only Two Words Suffice: Holy Moly! Make that Three Words: Holy Friggin’ Moly!
Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge James A. Cales Jr. ruled Wedesday that the state’s $2.1 billion public-private partnership deal for the Downtown-Midtown Tunnel project is unconstitutional. Reports the Virginian-Pilot: Cales said in his ruling that the General Assembly exceeded its authority in giving VDOT “unfettered power” to set toll rates under the 1995 Public-Private Transportation Act.…
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The Power of Faith-Based Ministry
by James A. Bacon In my previous post replicating an article published in Style Weekly, I put a human face on the ongoing battle to reduce recidivism, save taxpayer dollars and turn criminals into productive, contributing members of society. It is so easy for policy wonks like me to dwell in the abstract realm of…
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Saving Grace
From the toughest tier at the city jail to new jobs and a fresh start, Kingdom Life Ministries gives inmates a second chance. by James A. Bacon Karl Green recalls committing his last act of violence as if it were yesterday. Three years ago he was serving time in the Richmond City Jail. A veteran…
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Safety Last?
The McDonnell administration’s defense of the $244 million+ Charlottesville Bypass as a boon to traffic safety on U.S. 29 falls apart under close scrutiny. by Randy Salzman With apologies to Lewis Carroll, Charlottesville’s so-called Western “Bypass” project gets “curiouser and curiouser.” Each argument for the 6.2-mile highway collapses quickly if anyone does third-grade math. This…
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Chowing on Chickpeas
There sits in my refrigerator a near-empty container of Sabra red-pepper hummus. The Bacon family generally avoids pre-meal snacks and hors d’oeuvres, but when we do indulge, we put hummus on our crackers, not the usual cream cheese-based dips. Hummus, which uses chick peaks as the main ingredient, is high in protein. Not only does…
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De-Gas Stationification
You’ve no doubt seen the phrase, “degasification,” which refers to the removal of dissolved gases from liquids. Now modern American society is experiencing de-gas stationification, or the removal of gas stations from expensive urban settings. The Washington Post highlights a trend in the Washington metropolitan area in which gas stations are disappearing from the inner…
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The War on the Middle Class: Virginia Tech Edition
Virginia Tech has joined the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and other universities in giving the ol’ raspberry to Governor Bob McDonnell’s request to hold down tuition increases to the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index. Virginia undergraduates will pay 4.9% more in tuition next school year, while out-of-staters will pay 5.0%…
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Who is Contractor A?
An audit of MWAA management practices found that a mysterious “Contractor A” charged more than other contractors for the same work — and kept getting business. Who is this company? Who got the money? And why doesn’t anyone seem to care? by Bob Bruhns At the request of Representatives Frank Wolf, R-VA, and Tom Latham,…
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From Tiny Seeds, Mighty Collard Greens Grow
The Healthy Corners project is putting fresh produce into two inner-city Richmond markets. If the idea takes root, one of the nations’ worst food deserts could blossom with outlets for healthy food.
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Smart Tree Huggery vs. Impatient Tree Huggery
Everybody loves trees, right? I mean everybody. It just makes so much sense. Trees are aesthetically pleasing. They provide shade and their respiration helps cool their surroundings. They reduce storm water runoff, filter air pollution and provide habitat for wildlife. Indeed, some writers suggest that humans are hard-wired for “biophilia,” a concept that encompasses the…
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They May Be Reading Trash, but at Least They’re Reading
It’s gratifying to see that two Virginia cities snagged top spots in Amazon.com’s 2012 ranking of the Most Well-Read Cities in America (“well read” being based upon all book, magazine and newspapers sales in print and Kindle format on a per capita basis for cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.) Alexandria ranked No. 1 in…