Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Republican Senator Quits Redistricting Commission
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg) has resigned from the Virginia Redistricting Commission. He was one of two Republican Senators appointed to the Commission. Newman did not give any reasons for his decision. However, it is difficult to think it was not out of personal pique at the turn the decision process has taken.…
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Redistricting, Part 2: Squabbling Among Democrats, Republicans, and Citizens
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Author’s note: This is the second installment of my reporting and comment on the Virginia Redistricting Commission. Warning — it is long. I apologize for the length, but it seemed best for interested readers to have a fairly thorough summary of the Commission’s doings up through the end of August in one…
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Redistricting: Say You Want Nonpartisanship?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Author’s note: The following is the first of several articles on the redistricting process that is underway in the Commonwealth. There is a lot going on that merits discussion, but it is my sense that relatively short articles, as opposed to long ones with lots of detail, are more appropriate for the…
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Enough Inefficiency to Go Around
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Folks here on BR seem to take great pleasure in pointing out and criticizing the shortcomings and inefficiencies of government. I have spent my entire professional career working in state government and I have suffered through more than my share of meetings at which nothing was decided and have seen a lot…
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A COVID Report From Southside
by Dick Hall-Sizemore With the exception of Carol, the contributors to Bacon’s Rebellion (and, I am guessing, most of the commenters) are in the NoVA, Richmond, Hampton Roads bubble. Therefore, I thought it would be enlightening to bring in some COVID news from my home area, Halifax County, in Southside. The first is an article…
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Supreme Court Refuses to Block Vaccination Mandate; Judicial Review Generally
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The U.S. Supreme Court has flatly turned down a request for an injunction against the enforcement by Indiana University that all students and staff be vaccinated against COVID-19. This request was an appeal of a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denying the request. The order was…
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Oyez, Oyez. The Virginia Court of Appeals is Changing.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the General Assembly’s most cherished prerogatives is the election of judges. When one party controls both houses of the legislature, that power is particularly relished. The Democrats had the opportunity in this special session to exercise its prerogative in a big way by electing eight judges to the Virginia Court…
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Recidivism: The Rest of the Story, Part 3–Who Comes Back to Prison?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Prior posts (here and here) discussed the increase in the Commonwealth’s recidivism rate and the possible explanations for that increase. This post, the last in the series, will examine the characteristics of recidivists, or which offenders are most likely to commit new crimes upon their release from prison. Despite what is depicted…
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Recidivism: The Rest of the Story, Part 2–Explanations for Increase
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A previous post discussed how Virginia’s most recent recidivism rate was an increase over the prior year’s rate. The Department of Corrections (DOC) offers two major possible explanations for the increases in recidivism: more technical violators and more “jail-only” offenders. Technical violators. A recidivist who is a technical violator is someone who has…
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Recidivism: The Rest of the Story, Part 1 — How Large Is It?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Recently, Governor Northam issued a press release applauding the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) most recent recidivism rate of 23.9% and noting it was one of the lowest in the country. All that is true and is highly commendable, but, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Now, for the rest of the story.”…
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Another Bit of Nonsense in the Cost of Health Care
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I just had an experience that illustrates the bewildering complexity of the finances of the American health care system. Yesterday, I had a colonoscopy. I’m a veteran of this procedure, having had several because there is a history of colon cancer in my family. (No polyps this time, by the way.) The…
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Agriculture in Great Falls?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Well, it seems as if rich folks in leftist-leaning Albemarle are not the only rich folks availing themselves of real estate tax breaks. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that Glenn Youngkin and his wife have saved 95% of their real estate taxes on their horse “farm” in Great Falls, the posh area…
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Constitutionality of Vaccination Mandate
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been much opposition expressed on this blog regarding UVa, and, by extension, other higher education institutions, requiring students and staff to be vaccinated against COVID as a requirement for attending class in the fall. The policy has been said to be, among other things, unconstitutional. Not surprisingly, a judge has…
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A Genuine Free Lunch
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Some people commenting on my recent post regrading the G3 Program for community colleges challenged my characterization of it as being a free community college education for some people. They contended that it really was not free; the student may not have to pay tuition, but the money for the program came…
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Even With a New Name, Community College Can Be Free
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Lost in the discussion of last year’s General Assembly actions and the current discussion of renaming community colleges is the restoration of funding for Governor Northam’s “Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back” (G3) program. This program will provide a free community college education for low-and middle-income students enrolled in “high demand”…