Tag: James Sherlock
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A Hill for Children to Die On
by James C. Sherlock I was asked by Dick Sizemore: “As for social emotional learning (SEL), what specifically in that statement do you disagree with?” A serious question from a serious man. The answer is quoted from Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): Find the definition of the “process through which all young…
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The Soul of the University – Still Thinking
by James C. Sherlock The battle for the soul of the University of Virginia is on writes Jim Bacon, like me an alumnus. There is apparently only one fighter on the side of freedom of expression, reasoned debate and the maintenance of order as key foundations of academic freedom. That is the Board. University President…
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Fairy Tales, Absurdities, and COPN
by James C. Sherlock We read in the Virginian-Pilot yesterday this statement from columnist Gordon Morse: “Covering indigent care and doing so in ways that do not undermine the entire health care system is central to the existence of COPN.” In his column, he moved on to this common and reductio-ad absurdum corollary: “You can, as…
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Virginia’s Covid Vaccination Plan – Nothing to Exercise
by James C. Sherlock I have read a lot of speculation here on who is responsible for the mess that has been the distribution and administration of COVID vaccines. I will try offer some clarification. On a day-to-day basis, people get flu shots or shingles shots or whatever from a lot of different providers. The…
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Virginia Pandemic Emergency Plan Was Never Exercised
by James C. Sherlock As we suspected, Virginia did not exercise its Pandemic Emergency Plan from the time it was published in 2012 until COVID-19 struck. I received the following response today to a FOIA request I sent to the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Emergency Management: The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) received your…
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Sentara and the Judge
by James C. Sherlock Updated Feb. 23 at 2:15 pm In an ongoing series of reports, Ray Locker, enterprise and investigative editor of the Checks and Balances Project, has exposed a story with far-reaching implications. Norfolk Circuit Court Chief Judge Mary Jane Hall sat in judgment on a case, Chesapeake Hosp. Auth. v. State Health Comm’r, in…
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Richmond Schools Chief Proposes Year-Round School
by James C. Sherlock Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras has proposed that city schools operate year-round next year to help students impacted by learning losses caused by disruptive COVID-related schooling changes. Unless something changes, Richmond public schools will remain closed to in-person instruction for the rest of the current school year. From an excellent piece written…
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All According to Plan – the Biggest Government Scandal in Virginia History
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Mercury published an excellent article on the difficulties being encountered in Virginia in scheduling COVID shots. But who could have anticipated the need? Who indeed. This story is part of the single biggest government scandal in Virginia history and the press is either ignorant of the underlying issue or…
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Medicare for All – A Cautionary Tale
by James C. Sherlock For those of you who think “Medicare for All” would be a good thing, I offer a cautionary tale from Becker’s Hospital CFO Report titled Hospitals barred from suing over $840M pay cut. A group of more than 680 hospitals can’t revive a lawsuit saying they lost $840 million in payments…
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Holding Richmond Public Schools Accountable — Part I
by James C. Sherlock We have discussed here the failures of the City of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) in educating its economically disadvantaged children, as well as the abysmal performance of Black children in its schools. I intend to help readers understand how it manages to fail repeatedly even with major federal funding as…
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Federal COVID Funding to Virginia K-12 Schools
by James C. Sherlock The federal government allocated a great deal of money in each of two different pieces of legislation in 2020 to provide COVID-related relief to K-12 schools. I will endeavor here to explain briefly what that means to Virginia. The two pieces of 2020 federal legislation that provide funding to K-12 schools…
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Unlikely to Go Well – Unimaginable Amounts of COVID-Related Money and the Rush to Spend It
by James C. Sherlock The federal government is charged to distribute $7 trillion in supplemental COVID-related supplemental funding already appropriated or pending. Real money, and we will have borrowed every penny. Hard to comprehend that much money. That is 7 million million dollars. I will try here to reduce that to human scale. At full…
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Consumer Reports Misleads on Virginia EV Bill
by James C. Sherlock Few media outlets are as influential with their readership as Consumer Reports or as active in soliciting direct contact of public officials on issues that management feels are important to that publication’s political values. That is their right, but false statements in support of their positions is a violation of public…
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Virginia’s Legendary Corruption Blocks Antitrust Enforcement
by James C. Sherlock Readers of this blog have indicated an unquenchable appetite for information about and discussion of Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law and its administration. This essay informs on the negative impacts of the COPN law and the Virginia Antitrust Act (the Act) itself on the enforcement of antitrust laws against Virginia’s…
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Virginia’s Physicians and Nurses Must Take – Yes, Take – More Influence Over Virginia Health Policy
by James C. Sherlock As I have studied and reported upon Virginia’s struggles in COVID response, many things have come into focus that need to be done better in healthcare. I have reported on a lot of them here and called for changes. One major, overarching flaw needs attention. Virginia’s physicians and nurses do…