Some of Youngkin's tip line emails have been revealed
Some of Youngkin's tip line emails have been revealed
Pence campaigned for Kiggans
This is a daily newsletter covering Virginia politics from top to bottom. Please consider becoming the ultimate political insider by supporting non-partisan, independent news and becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter today.
Have a tip? You can reply to this email, or email me directly at Brandon@virginiascope.com
The rundown
After a settlement from a lawsuit by several news organizations against the Youngkin administration for not releasing submissions to his school tip line, we now have a slight glimpse into what tips were submitted.
Pence campaigned for Kiggans
Fairfax says they have completed processing the 11,000 voter registration applications that the state’s Department of Elections delayed in sending out
The Food and Drug Administration added Adderall to its drug shortage website last month, and doctors say Virginia patients being treated for ADHD are feeling the impact. - VCU CNS
Today’s Sponsor
350 emails to Youngkin’s tip line released
After a settlement from a lawsuit by several news organizations against the Youngkin administration for not releasing submissions to his school tip line, we now have a slight glimpse into what tips were submitted. "We are pleased that the attorney general’s settlement with the representatives of several media outlets preserves the principle that a constituent’s communication with a Governor is protected under the law and exempt from FOIA,” the Youngkin administration said in a statement. “The Governor wants constituents to be able to reach out to him without fear that their communications will not be kept confidential.”
Part of the agreement is that only the emails also sent to both the Department of Education and the tip line would be released.
Here are some highlights:
— From USA Today: Despite the hundreds of records in the selection of emails, they comprise a small, vocal group of people at about three dozen email addresses who often reiterated their grievances in multiple missives.
Based on USA TODAY’s analysis of the sample, which may not be representative of what the governor has received, much of the activity may not have been what he was looking for. CRT, the graduate school-level framework that examines how racism continues to shape society, came up rarely. “I explained to him that I was going to use that tip line to address issues that are real – not red-herring issues,” said Kandise Lucas, a special education advocate who accounted for nearly half of the email records obtained by the media organizations.
— From NBC Washington: A series of the emails News4 obtained were from or in response to a Loudoun County man named Mital Gandhi, a father of two boys, including sixth-grader Liam. Liam wanted to take Algebra I in sixth grade but learned Loudoun was not offering Algebra I to sixth graders, claiming the state wouldn't allow it. Gandhi went to work to find out why.
By using the parent tip line, Gandhi learned Loudoun County was standing in the way of his son's accelerated math course, not the state. "With the governor’s tip line, that helped a lot,” Gandhi said. “It’s sort of evened out the playing field in my opinion. What happened with that tip line is that the VDOE got involved, and when the superintendent gets an email from the VDOE saying, ‘Hey, don’t try to blame us, if your school district wants to accelerate him, you can do that.The state is not limiting you,'" Gandhi said.
— From Axios: One Fairfax County parent copied Youngkin on an email to local school administrators complaining about a free online tutoring program offered by the district. "There is no Controls over what these (supposed) Tutors might be telling our children," the parent wrote. “This seems like just another potential path for unknown perverts to gain 1-on-1 access to our children.”
In Chesterfield County, someone complained that the school board had named March 2022 “Equity Month.” … “Equity is so embedded in Chesterfield county they are going to have to dismantle everything,” the email warned.
— From the Washington Post: A high school senior in rural Riner, Va., reported his English teacher to state authorities for the way she was teaching “Beowulf.”
“All my teacher wants to talk about is how the book is sexist because it portrays the warriors as men and not women,” the student wrote Jan. 30 to the teacher tip line that Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) had just set up to banish “divisive concepts” from public education. “I believe my teacher is in violation of Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order which prohibits the teaching of ‘divisive topics.’ ”
From Virginian-Pilot: “While we are grateful to have gotten some insight into the contents of this tip line, we know that this represents only a fraction of the thousands of emails the administration has received,” said Kris Worrell, editor in chief of Virginia Media, which includes The Pilot and Daily Press. “Questions remain about why this line was set up in the first place and how Gov. Youngkin intends to use the information they have gathered from the public, if at all.”
Most of the emails released this week were about reported violations of special education laws. Dozens came from Kandise Lucas, who advocates for families with students with special needs. In her emails, Lucas outlines various reports of schools and districts not complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In one of these emails, Lucas encourages the governor to specifically create a tip line for the public to report IDEA non-compliance.
Former Vice President Pence campaigned for Kiggans
Former Vice PResident Mike Pence campaigned for Jen Kiggans (R) in VA-02 as she looks to unseat two-term Rep. Elaine Luria (D) next week.
Luria’s campaign responded to the visit from Pence with a statement:
“Mike Pence and Jen Kiggans both applauded the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade that stripped away a woman’s right to choose and have made clear that they want to ban abortion," Luria's spokesperson Jayce Genco wrote. "Congresswoman Luria remains focused on running in and winning the Second Congressional District and continuing to deliver for Coastal Virginia.”
Fairfax County says they have completed processing the 11,000 voter registration applications that the state’s Department of Elections delayed in sending out
Jones announces Meet Our Moment has full roster for third training session
Former state delegate and potential 2025 Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones announced on Thursday that his training program for new candidates has reached max capacity for the third training session since its inception last year.
"I'm elated to welcome these future leaders into the Meet Our Moment family and build a pipeline of minority and women candidates to successfully take public office,” Jones said. I know our program will set them up well to serve in a state or local position in the future."
Visit Meet Our Moment's Facebook and Twitter pages to stay current on information about other regional sessions and their respective application deadlines.
Extra content
In Virginia Midterm Battlegrounds, Republican Candidates Borrow From Youngkin’s Approach - WSJ
In the final days of the midterm campaign with a trio of Democratic House seats in play, Virginia Republicans are embracing an approach that helped Glenn Youngkin capture the governor’s mansion: making the case that they listen to parents.
In a recent television ad, Republican Yesli Vega stands before a classroom and says she will “never co-parent with the federal government.” She references Mr. Youngkin’s upset victory last year, in which the Republican won over independents and some Democrats in a blue-leaning state that backed President Biden by 10 percentage points in the 2020 election.
Virginia patients impacted by nationwide Adderall shortage, doctors say
By Meghan McIntyre, Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. -- The Food and Drug Administration added Adderall to its drug shortage website last month, and doctors say Virginia patients being treated for ADHD are feeling the impact. The leading reasons for the shortage, which primarily affects immediate-release Adderall and similar generic versions, are manufacturing delays and insufficient supplies to meet market demands, according to the FDA.
Virginia patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have “absolutely” been impacted by the shortage, said Dr. Dorothy O’Keefe, outpatient clinic director for the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Virginia Treatment Center for Children.
Dr. Kara Beatty, an adult psychiatrist with her own private practice and the president of the Psychiatric Society of Virginia, said her office is “getting phone calls left and right” from patients who say their Adderall prescriptions can’t be filled.
Stimulants such as Adderall are the most commonly used medications to treat ADHD in children and adults, according to prescription price comparison service GoodRx.
Stimulant prescriptions dispensed in Virginia rose 11% from the start of 2021 to June 30 of this year – the largest increase of all controlled substances overseen by the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program, according to its most recent report. The active ingredients in Adderall are some of the stimulants monitored in the program, O’Keefe said. Child psychiatrists or pediatricians are unlikely to use stimulants for any other indication than ADHD, she said.
Data is not recorded in a way to determine the exact percentage of each type of stimulant monitored by the program, stated Diane Powers, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Health Professions, in an email.
Patients treated for ADHD in Beatty’s practice typically start off with prescriptions for Adderall or Ritalin, another stimulant monitored in the program, Beatty said.
Nationwide, Adderall prescriptions for patients ages 22-44 jumped 15% from 2020 to 2021, according to Trilliant Health, a firm that provides market analytics to the health care industry. Other age groups remained relatively stable.
Doctors can prescribe some controlled substances such as Adderall through online telehealth services since the federal government declared a public health emergency in spring 2020, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The health emergency has been renewed several times since the pandemic began, most recently last month.
As a result there was an uptick in online mental health care startups that began prescribing Adderall, Beatty said. Mental health startup Cerebral is currently being investigated by the federal government for potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act, according to CBS.
The Virginia Board of Pharmacy “would like to caution consumers to the risk of purchasing drugs online or through social media from rogue outlets preying on increased demand during drug shortages,” Powers stated.
Meaghan, 43, works in insurance and was diagnosed with ADHD three years ago. She requested to have her last name withheld because she said there is a stigma around ADHD and its treatment. She knows firsthand what it’s like to not be able to access her prescribed Adderall for days due to shortages.
“I’m not going to accomplish what I could have the days that I did have my medication,” Meaghan said. “It’s life changing for a lot of people.”
Children without access to their prescribed Adderall can struggle in school and social relationships, O’Keefe said. Their behavior might become problematic as a result.
“The biggest thing I would say for people with ADHD, besides being impulsive and wanting to do things instantly, is to be able to do the time management,” Meaghan said. “That’s a coping mechanism a lot of people have to develop.”
Going without medication can be “like an inability to function,” Beatty said. There are other types of treatments for people with ADHD, she said, but transitioning from one to another can be frustrating.
Some patients make the switch to Ritalin or nonstimulant medications due to the shortage, but O’Keefe said it can be a gamble whether the new medicine will be as effective.
“If we are forced to make the change because they can’t get the product that they’re used to, it may turn out just fine,” O’Keefe said. “But it may turn out that they end up with a medicine that doesn’t work as well or causes more side effects.”
Patients by law can only get a 30-day supply of Adderall. They can have a difficult time managing insurance policies and trying to figure out which pharmacy has the drug in stock each month, O’Keefe said.
Meaghan’s pharmacy has run out of stock of her prescription several times, she said, and as a result has gone days without it. Some people notice when she hasn’t taken her medication, she said.
“I’m a little quicker on responses, more impulsive in my responses,” Meaghan said. “I tend to get distracted easier than I would without my medication.”
The shortage primarily affects instant release Adderall, according to the FDA, although it depends on the manufacturer and the dosage strengths. Some manufacturers aren’t experiencing any shortage as of Nov. 1, according to the FDA’s drug shortages website.
“We are still writing the prescriptions because it’s not that nobody can get it,” O’Keefe said. “We don’t necessarily know when I write your prescription.”
Teva Pharmaceutical is the largest seller of Adderall in the U.S Their products are estimated to be in short supply anywhere from now until December, according to the FDA. The company “has been supplying above typical forecast due to increase in market demand,” according to a statement on the FDA’s drug shortages website.
“Even though it’s not a deadly consequence,” O’Keefe said, “it is a disruption in their lives.”
More links
In win for GOP, Virginia county ordered to assign new poll workers
Yesli Vega emphasizes stance on economy, parental rights and immigration ahead of midterm elections
Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger says economy is biggest concern for most constituents