Category: Uncategorized
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Revisiting Virginia’s Public Accommodation Laws
Virginia is for lovers haters. A sad scene unfolded in Lexington, Va., last Friday evening. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Trump’s press secretary, tried to enjoy a meal with her family at the Red Hen restaurant. The owner, a New York transplant named Stephanie Wilkinson, asked the Sanders party to leave the restaurant after starting their appetizers.…
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Millions More for Medicaid Expansion? Now You Tell Us
One of the conceits of Virginia’s Medicaid debate is that expansion would pay for itself. Uncle Sam would pick up 90% of the cost, leaving Virginia to raise money for only 10%. The Commonwealth would save a few hundred million dollars through reduced funding for prison healthcare, mental health, indigent care funding, FAMIS pregnant women, and…
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Hospital Tax (No, Assessment!) Central to Budget Dispute At Special Session
I doubt many not directly involved in the ongoing struggle over Medicaid expansion in Virginia have actually read the budget language that is the heart of the argument. So I have set it out below in full. This is language included in the House version but previously rejected by the Senate, creating more than $300…
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Can Medicaid Expansion Address the Doctor Shortage?
With Virginia on the cusp of Medicaid expansion, it is heartening to see someone asking the obvious question: What good is Medicaid coverage if you can’t find a doctor? Bob Burke at Virginia Business states the obvious: Getting a Medicaid card doesn’t necessarily mean you have a doctor at hand. Plenty of places in Virginia…
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About those Student Loan Default Rates…
The distinction of having the highest student-loan default rate of any higher-education institution in Virginia goes to Everest College in Chesapeake. The default rate at the for-profit college (now doing business as Altierus Career College), which prepares students to be dental assistants, HVAC technicians and the like, is 36%, reports WVTF Radio IQ. In absolute…
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How Coal Saved the Grid in January
The twelve days between Dec. 27, 2017, and Jan. 8 this year saw one of the longest and most intense deep freezes ever recorded for the East Coast. Snow, ice and frigid temperatures plunged much of the United States into winter misery for a seemingly endless period. The so-called “bomb cyclone” also put the East…
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The Mystery of the Empty Tomb
The following passage is excerpted from my unpublished novel, “The Mystery of the Empty Tomb.” The novel purports to be an annotated version of a long-lost manuscript written by Nicolaus of Caesarea, aide to Pontius Pilate, who was assigned to investigate the disappearance of Jesus’s body from the tomb. In chapters preceding this excerpt, Nicolaus…
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Vive L’Appropriation Culturelle!
Heh! Heh! From the Associated Press: Figures released this week revealed that sales of the jambon-beurre – the ham and butter baguette sandwich, a classic of French snacking – have been surpassed by sales of American-style burgers. The study by restaurant consultants Gira Conseil showed that about 1.2 billion ham and butter sandwiches were sold…
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The Northam Administration’s Top Budget Priorities: Medicaid, Rainy Day Fund
The biggest obstacle to enacting a state budget is the disagreement between the Senate and the House of Delegates over Medicaid expansion. But even if legislators could resolve their Medicaid differences tomorrow, Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne said earlier today, they still would have to resolve a $400 million gap over other programs. The second largest…
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Howler Monkey Spotting
Finally – a howler monkey spotting! It took some doing. We rode by skiff to Monkey River Village, a Belizean village down the coast where the population made its living fishing, lobstering, and escorting tourists up the Monkey River to see the howler monkeys. There, we picked up a guide, Brian, who took us upstream…
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The Tax Cuts Are Working
by Jack Hubbard We’re barely three months into 2018 yet, and Virginia is already off to an incredible start. The passage of the Republican tax plan in late 2017 has allowed Virginia’s more than 700,000 small businesses to breathe a sigh of financial relief. Prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,…
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Amazing Vines
If I have good karma and come back as an elevated life form, I hope to return as an evolutionary biologist. Upon ascending to something close to Buddhahood, I would like to be E.O. Wilson (whose most recent book I mentioned in my previous post). As it is, I am who I am, and I’m…
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Demon Ants from Hell
This morning I was taking a standard tourista photo of some exotic rain forest foliage when I absent-mindedly planted my foot on a plot of sand about a foot in diameter. It looked harmless enough, and I paid it no mind as I aimed and clicked my camera. Suddenly, I felt a sensation as if…
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Still Searching for Howler Monkeys
We’re having a fine time at the Blancaneaux Lodge here in Belize. Got in some great hiking yesterday, and took a canoe trip this morning into a cave where the ancient Mayans once performed human sacrifices. Have learned many things, both mundane and astonishing. If I have time, I will report back on the industriousness…
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Where in the World Is Jim Bacon?
The Bacon family is heading off for its semi-annual vacation today. I will consider the trip a success if we spot howling monkeys like these in the wild. Any guesses at to which country we’re visiting? I’m taking my laptop and I hope to blog sporadically. But the wife and I hope to pack in…