Category: Social Services and Entitlements
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Acorn to Oak: “Free” Military Dependent Tuition
By Steve Haner Virginia’s political leaders are embarked upon another of their occasional efforts to clean up their own mess, in this case scrambling to restore a generous tuition waiver at Virginia’s public universities for family members of certain veterans. It is being touted as a benefit for Virginia “gold star families” of the fallen.…
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Four Years In, Energy Subsidy Helping Very Few
By Steve Haner Four years after approval, a state program to provide lower electricity costs to low income families is still struggling to get going. Administrative costs have far exceeded any actual benefits to utility customers to date. It is called the Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) and was created by the 2020 General…
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Proposed Tax for Leave Pay Guaranteed to Grow
By Derrick Max Sitting on Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk is a paid family and medical leave bill that would provide eight weeks of paid leave per year for most employees in the Commonwealth. The program would pay employees 80 percent of their weekly salary up to an amount equal to 80 percent of the regional…
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Why are the Poor Still Paying for Dominion Wind?
by Steve Haner Virginia’s new electricity bill subsidy program for customers of Dominion Energy Virginia has cleared its final hurdle at the State Corporation Commission and will begin enrolling participants in time for this coming winter. It is largely following the schedule previously outlined. In a final order issued October 13, the Commission set the…
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Dominion “Bill Relief” Disappears September 1
By Steve Haner Homeowners willing to cut back power usage when Dominion Energy Virginia asks them could earn rebates of up to $28 a year. So reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch, citing yet another final order from the State Corporation Commission. The Richmond paper is always bringing us such great news about the folks at the…
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An Utter (and Videotaped) Disgrace of the Virginia General Assembly
by James C. Sherlock Whatever the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA), the state’s nursing home lobbying organization, pays its General Counsel, Scott Johnson, it is not enough. He has been representing them for 20 years, and he owns the General Assembly. This is going to sound boring as I frame the background that is the…
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Electricity Bill Caps for Poor Start in November
by Steve Haner Beginning next winter, low- income customers of Dominion Energy Virginia or Appalachian Power Company will be eligible to have their monthly bills capped under a new state financial assistance program. The income cut off to qualify for Virginia’s new Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) assisting low income households with their electric…
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Past Time for Serious Sanctions for the Commonwealth’s Worst Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Effective May 1 of this year, Karen Shelton M.D. became Virginia’s Health Commissioner. Dr. Shelton is now the licensor and regulator of Virginia’s nursing homes. By law, state-licensed nursing homes must comply with federal and state laws and standards. By regulation, the Health Commissioner “may impose such administrative sanctions or take such…
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School Boards, Model Policies and Parental Rights in the Raising of Children
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Beach School Board will vote tomorrow. The announced subject will be transgender rights in schools. It is couched by The Virginian-Pilot as the school board defending transgender students against “unnecessarily cruel policies.“ As opposed, one supposes, to necessarily cruel policies. The local paper refers, of course, to the Youngkin…
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How To Really, Really Tick Off Fairfax Taxpayers
People don’t understand! These political leadership jobs are hard! It is a great sacrifice to serve, and it is only fair that the taxpayers contribute to the comfort and convenience of those of us working so hard for their better future. They can be so ungrateful…. Did that go through Fairfax Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay’s…
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Arlington CPS Seizes Baby Girl Over Tylenol
by Asra Q. Nomani and Debra Tisler Late Wednesday afternoon, in Courtroom 4B of Arlington County’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Sean Jackson beamed widely as a judge granted him and his parents, Carlos Makle and Kim Jackson-Makle, joint custody of Sean’s baby girl, Amoria, instead of relegating her to foster care or instability with…
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Feeding Petersburg
by James C. Sherlock I have written in this space many times about the struggles of Petersburg. Petersburg is blessed in one way. The Progress-Index’s Bill Atkinson and Joyce Chu may be the best pair of local news reporters working in Virginia. Mr. Atkinson, in a series of reports, has detailed the continuing struggles of…
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Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Virginia Public Schools – Dangerous Children’s Services Act Changes Proposed
by James C. Sherlock One of the key elements of state and local efforts to support children with behavioral health, educational disabilities, and other challenges is the Children’s Services Act (CSA) (the Act). In education, its primary role has been paying for placement of children and youth with educational disabilities into private special education schools (PSES).…
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Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Virginia Public Schools – Big Complications and Major Changes
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by James C. Sherlock Rebecca Aman, a member of the Newport News School Board, is frustrated. She told me in an interview that: Without sufficient discipline and access to clinical mental health services, behavioral intervention does not work to make schools safer and healthier. She believes that Newport News schools need to improve both discipline…
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Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Part 2 – Stop Trying to Provide Mental Health Services in School
by James C. Sherlock In Part 1 of this series I described the current Virginia Community School Framework (the Framework) and found it not only lacking, but counter-productive. Its basic flaw is that it assumes all services to school children will be provided in the schools by school employees, including mental health services. When you…