Category: Civil Rights, Individual Liberties
-
RVA 5×5: Annual Crime Briefing Numbers
by Jon Baliles The Richmond Police Department held its annual crime review briefing this week and the numbers were positive on the surface, a little mixed in total, and almost miraculous considering the force has more than 150 vacancies. Mark Bowes writes in the Times-Dispatch that “The good news for the city of Richmond from…
-
Virginia Senate Committee Passes Second Look Bill
by Hans Bader Do all inmates deserve a chance for release? Even a serial killer, or a serial rapist who has been locked up and released before? They may soon have that chance in Virginia. In the state Senate, the Judiciary Committee has just approved the Second Look bill, SB 842. It would allow offenders…
-
Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Hubs for Government and Not-for-Profit Services in Inner Cities – Part 1 – the Current Framework
—
by
in Attendance, Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Children and Families, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Discipline and Disorder, Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, General Assembly, Health Care, Infrastructure, LGBQT, Mental illness and substance abuse, Political Influence, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Social Services and Entitlements, Threat Assessmentby James C. Sherlock I believe a major approach to address both education and health care in Virginia’s inner cities is available if we will define it right and use it right. Community schools. One issue. Virginia’s official version of community schools, the Virginia Community School Framework, (the Framework) is fatally flawed. The approach successful elsewhere…
-
The Violent-Child Problem
by James A. Bacon The story of the six-year-old school shooter in Newport News generates endless attention. It seems indicative of so much that is wrong with our society today. Law-enforcement authorities are rightly focused on the question of how a six-year-old child (a) managed to lay hands on a gun that his parents claimed…
-
Hokies, Join the Resistance!
From Campus Reform: Virginia Tech prof accuses student of spreading misinformation, threatens to delete discussion board posts A pro-life student at Virginia Tech was publicly accused of spreading misinformation by her professor after submitting a discussion board assignment expressing pro-life views. After being admonished publicly, student Alyssa Jones met with her professor and recorded the…
-
The Box and the Snowball
by Joe Fitzgerald There’s a box, and there’s a snowball. The box is the support of the Bluestone Town Center. It is a well-constructed but beautifully decorated box, built on strong buzzwords. Affordable Housing, and Climate Change, and Dense Development are the shiny wrapping on this gift. The snowball of opposition rolling toward City Hall…
-
Have Virginia Republican Elected Officials Given Up on Charter Schools?
by James C. Sherlock Two things we know: There is absolutely no question that charter schools run by successful charter management organizations (CMOS) are proven to be the most efficient and effective American public schools in instructing poor urban kids. There is also no question that many Democratic politicians, having eliminated any doubt about their…
-
In Search of the Fountainhead of Religious Freedom in Virginia
by James Wyatt Whitehead, V A recent trip to study the Civil War battlefield of Fredericksburg brought me to stately Washington Avenue in one of Virginia’s most historic cities. The street is adorned with grand Victorian mansions and Kenmore, the colonial home of Fielding and Betty Lewis (George Washington’s sister). Here stands a statue to…
-
Virginia Democrats’ Rent Control Bills Would Make Housing Scarcer
by Hans Bader In Virginia’s legislature, rent-control legislation has been introduced by five Democratic delegates and a Democratic state senator. Economists oppose rent control because it makes it more difficult for people to find decent housing in the long run. In a 1992 poll, 93% of those surveyed said rent control reduces the quantity and…
-
Symphonic Tribute
by Jon Baliles The Richmond Symphony has a long and great history of collaboration and performances that you would not normally think of when you think of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. But next weekend, get ready to experience two performances that will continue that tradition of unusual marriages of sound that produce magic. The Richmond…
-
Senator Boysko on Home Defense
by James C. Sherlock I have a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun in my house for defense against home invasion. Never take it out of the house except to the range. It is locked up but readily accessible, even in the dark by a 77-year-old. If my kids were still at home I would still…
-
RVA 5×5 — Who Really Voted Down The Casino Referendum?
by Jon Baliles The casino referendum is the issue that won’t go away — kind of like a desperate or compulsive gambler who stays put because the next hand is the winning hand, or the slot player who is completely convinced the next pull of that handle will deliver the jackpot. At some point, you…
-
You Support Free Speech? Show It.
by James A. Bacon The leaders of Virginia’s colleges and universities are sensitive to the public’s distrust of higher-ed’s ability to protect freedom of speech and “cultivate robust and divergent viewpoints.” “Today’s students may hesitate to discuss difficult topics for fear of retribution or ostracism,” write four Virginia higher-ed presidents in an op-ed published in…
-
FOIA Council Responds on Request to UVa for Threat Assessment Team Records on Shooter
by James C. Sherlock On Sunday I asked the FOIA Council to provide an advisory opinion on the University of Virginia’s decision that information about that school’s threat assessment team deliberations in the case of the November shooter, Christopher Jones, will not be released as I requested. I received the answer this afternoon, which is…
-
The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn
by Asra Q. Nomani For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has…