Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
-
General Assembly to Governor: Not So Fast
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The page 1 lead story of Saturday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch announced what anybody who had been paying attention already knew: the General Assembly will not be taking up the biennial budget bill when it convenes on Wednesday. However, that does not mean the legislators will be able to leave early. They have a…
-
Coming Soon to a Grocery Store Near You — Climate Change Inflation
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Some commenters on this blog have downplayed the effects of climate change and even derided early projections of serious consequences. Except for more frequent flooding in parts of Hampton Roads (which is serious for those directly affected), Virginians have not experienced serious consequences of climate change. However, the American West is experiencing…
-
Honor: An Old-Fashioned Virtue?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There have been numerous articles recently on this blog about the honor codes at various Virginia colleges and universities. I remember a ceremony in which we incoming freshmen at the College of William and Mary signed our honor code pledges. These codes set out the behavior that people expect of each other…
-
The Quest for Ways to Store Energy
by Dick Hall-Sizemore We have frequently discussed on this blog one of the major shortcomings of solar and wind energy — intermittency and the problem of storing energy. There was a reference in a recent discussion about new technologies and even “outlandish” new technologies. Along those lines, I just ran across this article in The…
-
Paying for Miscarriages of Justice
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The 2022 General Assembly appropriated $6.5 million to compensate seven individuals who had been wrongly incarcerated. The men had been convicted of crimes which it was later determined they did not commit. They were: Eugene Stevens–$1.7 million. (HB 394) Stevens was convicted of murder in 1986 in Lancaster County and sentenced to…
-
Teachers Can Take Only So Much
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I learned recently from a friend that his wife, after more than 15 years of teaching, will not be going back to the classroom next year. She teaches in one of the school divisions in the Richmond area. The reasons for her leaving are myriad. However, they did not include students and…
-
Early Exits
by Dick Hall-Sizemore After barely three months in office, there has already been turnover among the ranks of Governor Youngkin’s appointments. The first to go was Phil Wittmer, whom Youngkin appointed to replace Nelson Moe as head of the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA). He left less than a month after his appointment was announced.…
-
More on Vetoes
by Dick Hall-Sizemore At least one reader has requested that I post a list of all the bills that Governor Youngkin vetoed, along with summaries of the bills and the Governor’s explanation for his veto. Such a list is at the end of this post. I agree with some of the Governor’s vetoes, particularly of…
-
What’s That About Telecommuting?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For those who have predicted that the pandemic would result in a fundamental shift in commuting patterns and highway traffic, I invite you to get on I-95 at its junction with the Beltway at 3:00 on a week-day afternoon, driving south. Thursday afternoon, it took me more than two hours to get…
-
Things Are Not Always As Intuitive As They May Seem
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Sometimes, public policy proposals can be counterintuitive. Virginia law authorizes health insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% greater than the premium that would otherwise be effective. The 2022 General Assembly passed legislation that would have repealed this authorization. The bills, HB 675 (Hope, D-Arlington) and SB 422 (Edwards, D-Roanoke), passed…
-
Where Are The Parents?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A story in today’s Washington Post enraged me, amused me, and filled me with admiration. It starts off with a first-grade teacher in Fairfax County. She had expected that her incoming students last fall would be behind in reading and math due to the pandemic. She was surprised that they also could…
-
What Is It About Adam Ebbin?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin seems to have it in for state Senator Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. Of the 26 bills from the 2022 Session that the Governor vetoed, nine (35 percent) were bills sponsored by Ebbin. (Midnight yesterday was the deadline for the Governor to take action on bills passed in the last session.) From…
-
A Continuation of the Gun Debate
by Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock yesterday brought up a case in which a man in Virginia Beach had pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun; in his case, it was a modified Glock. The maximum sentence for the offense is 10 years. There was a robust discussion, primarily on the Second Amendment in general and…
-
A Tale of Three Schools
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One school allots time in its schedule for students “to engage in critical conversations around topics of race, antiracism, social justice, and inclusion.” Its student handbook endeavors to train a “lens toward fairness, equity, inclusion.” Diversity training is required for all faculty and staff. Summer reading included: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You…
-
Youngkin’s Legislative Scorecard
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Almost all recently-elected Virginia governors confront their first General Assembly session at a disadvantage. The legislative session has begun before the inauguration; their personal staffs, Cabinet members, and agency heads are either not yet all in place or are just getting oriented. Finally, they have not had the time to establish the…