Casey Wardynski: Education must focus on children’s needs
Education must focus on children’s needs, and parents must have the discretion to place their children in the educational environment that best prepares their children for life and work. Such discretion entails creating a school choice system in which educational dollars follow students. We have now reached a point at which we can no longer expect that public education will act in the best interest of public-school students and according to the values of their families and communities. Our experience with public education during the COVID19 pandemic and, more recently, as a vehicle for imposing toxic belief systems on students and communities demands a new approach to educating rising generations. During the COVID19 pandemic, public schools suspended regular in-person instruction for a year or longer. At the same time, private, parochial, and home schools continued with in-person instruction. As public-school students attempted to learn via Zoom and other remote learning options, parents gained new insights into untoward content and teaching methods that had crept into their children’s classrooms. Armed with new insights into instruction and teaching methods they reject and alarmed by months of interrupted learning, parents now seek greater control over their children’s education and learning. Parents also reject the Biden Administration’s attempts to create un-American belief systems, and antithetical to values parents seek to instill in their children. For example, Joe Biden’s Department of Education sought to bring the instruction in the 1619 Project to K-12 schools. By offering grants to school systems, leftists at the Department of Education sought to introduce this racist version of America’s founding into K-12 classrooms. Parents can soon expect that Biden’s Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (ED) will seek to resurrect Barack Obama’s 2016 gender-identify agenda in public schools. As they did in May of 2016, leftists at these agencies will seek to force compliance from public schools by threatening them with the loss of federal funding for the school nutrition programs, special needs students, low-income students, and teacher development if they do not afford students facilities and programs according to their gender identity. In May 2016, I rejected the mandate from Obama’s DOJ and ED to afford students with facilities and programs according to their gender identity. When a transgender male student sought to use girls’ facilities and then took a picture in a girls’ restroom, I expelled him and set the stage to fight Obama’s agenda in federal court. Less than a year later, President Donald Trump’s DOJ and ED rescinded Obama’s attempt to use his interpretation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to inject his transgender agenda into schools. I was unwilling to bow to DOJ and ED mandates that would make Huntsville City Schools a vehicle for subjugating the values of families, destroying girls’ sports, and invading the privacy of male and female students in locker rooms and restrooms. Today, I am running for Congress to defeat the leftist agenda that is destroying our country. I am running to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, stop the leftist agenda, and fight the National Education Association (NEA) as I fought the Alabama Education Association (AEA) while I was Superintendent from 2011 to 2016. In the summer of 2021, the NEA vowed to “fight back” against those opposed to teaching critical race theory (CRT) in schools and reiterated its support of the controversial “1619 Project.” These theories and their advocates in teacher’s unions that claim there is no objective truth and that math is racist are harmful to our nation and our children. As Superintendent, I fought the AEA to improve teaching. I recommended the removal or suspension of over 100 teachers and principals who failed their students. I implemented a semi-annual review of teaching in every classroom in grades 3-12. These changes had a strongly positive impact on student learning. Huntsville City Schools went from 9 failing schools and no Blue Ribbon Schools to one failing school and nine Blue Ribbon Schools. By 2015 it was the only school system in America to be named a National Cyber Center of Excellence. Graduation rates rose from 66 percent to 88 percent, while college enrollments increased and student remediation in college fell by 40 percent. Today, leaders, whether they’re the Superintendent of a school system or a congressman, must ensure that future generations appreciate the history, values, and institutions that make America exceptional. Affecting the types of change that invigorated education in Huntsville City Schools and that can undo the damage being done in Washington requires a committed change agent. This change agent must have the experience, knowledge, and grit to join other tough conservatives to end federal overreach and reckless spending and return functions such as education to states and locales. On May 24, voters in Northern Alabama can vote for such a change agent. Based on my experience in education, the military, national government, economics, health care, and small business, I believe I’m that person, and I am asking for your vote. Casey Wardynski is running for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.
Jessica Taylor: Don’t be fooled
The way I see it, the race for U.S. Senate will come down to the classic matchup: outsider versus establishment insider – us versus them. We have seen the political insiders and country club communities across Alabama coalesce like never before around mad mama candidate Katie Boyd Britt. The sheer volume of PAC dollars supporting her candidacy is mind-blowing. Over $10M was spent attacking Mike Durant. Watching them use their money and political crony networks to successfully manipulate the image of an American hero and successful businessman Mike Durant has been nothing short of campaign mastercraft, and it disgusts me. Do not let them fool you. I was and remain committed to making sure the next senator from our great state is not part of the establishment. They are the problem. They are the reason Alabama is last in the country by most standards. Even when Republicans had control of the House and Senate, they did nothing to reduce the size of the federal government and reverse our ill-fated course. Republican leadership has failed us. They are losing the battle to restore fiscal conservatism and small government principles. They go along to get along to stay in power and help their cronies prosper. Spineless, weak-kneed, establishment Republicans have allowed liberals to take control, and they are rapidly destroying our economy and clawing away at our freedoms. Katie Boyd Britt is the most establishment-backed candidate we have ever seen, and she is neither a conservative nor a fighter. Ask yourself why the people responsible for this mess want her elected so badly. The answer is clear; it’s because they want the status quo. It has served them well. Unlike lobbyist Katie Boyd Britt, Mike Durant is a fighter. He is tested and proven. He put his life on the line to fight for our country. For our freedom. Mike spent 11 days as a prisoner of war after his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. After being tortured and held captive, he still served out his term in the military before settling down in Huntsville, Alabama, where he built a successful business from the ground up and raised six kids. Mike has had two successful careers, while Katie has had one – serving politicians. She has been moved from job to job, not based on her accomplishments, but because the powers that be have been grooming her to replace Richard Shelby since her college years. I’ve watched it happen. I attended the University of Alabama when Katie was crowned SGA president by the machine. Since then, and especially during my 15 years of working in Montgomery, I have seen more instances than I can count of her lobbyist and insider cronies manipulating candidates and votes. They think they are in control, and truth be told, they have been. But I’ve had enough of their backroom deals and incompetence. We cannot let the establishment candidate be crowned our next senator. Someone brought up and trained in the ways of the Swamp won’t know how to drain it. Plus, someone who has spent her whole life trying to climb the political ladder is immediately suspect in my eyes. We also know for certain Katie Boyd Britt isn’t a fighter for conservative values. She says she will fight in her campaign ads and talks about the issues her high-dollar pollsters tell her are important to conservatives, but she has a pattern and practice of not fighting for those very issues when given the chance. She says she will fight for life. Yet, she didn’t use her veto power as SGA president to do so, though she used the power two weeks later related to a parking matter. She says she is anti-big government and a fiscal conservative, but she promoted Common Core and advocated for the gas tax increase during her time as head of the Business Council of Alabama. She says she supports Veterans and mental health but declined to stand up for both when her Democrat surrogate, Parker Griffith, diagnosed Mike Durant with PTSD. Katie says she’s a fighter, but her actions show different. She is not a principled conservative; she is a polished establishment puppet. Attempting to paint her as a fighter or a conservative is more of the same campaign mastercraft mentioned above. Don’t fall for it. The well-funded super PACs supporting Katie have blanketed the state with mailers designed to subtly shift your impression of Mike. They say Mike doesn’t live in Alabama and that he hasn’t been campaigning. Both are lies. Mike has lived in Alabama over 20 years. He still has a child in high school in Madison County. As for campaigning, check out his social media accounts. He is on the ground working as hard as any candidate in the race. They said Mike doesn’t support the Second Amendment because of a dismissive sidebar comment made while speaking to the Army War College about military tactics to disarm a community. Mike has spent more time with firearms than all his opponents combined. No one in this race knows the importance of the Second Amendment more than Mike Durant. He risked his life to protect our right to bear arms. He owns over 20 guns, including an AK-47 and AR-15, and he won’t let anyone take them. They said Mike isn’t tough on immigration. Mike Durant is the strongest candidate on border security in this race. Mike knows that President Donald Trump was right: They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. And we stop it all by building the wall. They said Mike is backed by liberals. Mike’s disdain for liberals is clear every time you hear him speak. He wouldn’t accept their money, unlike Katie Boyd Britt. Mike Durant’s biggest donor is Mike Durant! Like President Trump and Coach Tommy Tuberville, he can’t be bought by anyone. Mike’s only priority is to serve the people of Alabama. That’s it. Let’s give Mike Durant a third tour of duty. He
Justice Clarence Thomas: ‘We are in danger of destroying the institutions … required for a free society’
It’s been two weeks and there’s still no word on who leaked the U.S. Supreme Court draft brief indicating that the court was set to overturn Roe V. Wade and returning the issue of abortion back to the states. At a recent event in Dallas, Texas, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, the Hoover Institution, and the Manhattan Institute, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke about the leak and his concern for the rule of law and credibility of the court. A roughly 8-minute clip of his talk was published by C-SPAN, in which he said, “I think we are in danger of destroying the institutions that are required for a free society. You can’t have a civil society, a free society without a stable legal system. “You can’t have one without stability in things like property or interpretation and impartial judiciary. I’ve been in this business long enough to know just how fragile it is.” Prior to the draft opinion being leaked this year, Thomas said it was impossible to think that even one line of one opinion would be leaked by anyone. “No one would ever do that,” he said. “There’s such a belief in the rule of law, belief in the court, belief in what we were doing, that that was beyond anyone’s understanding or at least anyone’s imagination, that someone would do that.” Now, “look where we are,” he said. “That trust and belief is gone forever. When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s like kind of an infidelity, that you can explain it, but you can’t undo it.” New York University professor Melissa Murray holds a similar sentiment. She told the New York Times last week that the leak “violates the omertà that traditionally has shrouded the court’s deliberations. To the public, this not only looks like the kind of maneuvering that we’ve come to expect from politicians, it also strips the court of the mystique it has generally enjoyed.” Meanwhile, Chief Justice John Roberts’ reputation is also at stake. He has a lot riding on whether or not the leaker is identified and punished, Dan McLaughlin at National Review Online notes. “John Roberts’s Court is at stake here,” he argues. “If decisions can be leaked in draft form with impunity in order to influence their outcomes, this will become a regular feature of high-profile cases, placing the Court under even worse pressures and threats than already exist.” The Supreme Court isn’t the only institution that’s changing, Thomas said. Universities, colleges, law schools have all changed over the last few decades. Today, the climate on most campuses doesn’t allow for peaceful debate of differing views, instead policies of censorship are creating a “chilling effect” on speech. He recently met with students attending the University of Georgia, where he said students expressed that they can’t publicly affirm pro-life or traditional family views because of the climate on campus. At Yale Law School, his alma mater, students could once freely speak about anything, “it was anything goes, you do your thing I do my thing,” he said. Now. there’s censorship, he said. “I wonder how long we’re going to have these institutions at the rate we’re undermining them,” Thomas said. “And then I wonder when they’re gone or they are destabilized, what we’ll have as a country – and I don’t think that the prospects are good if we continue to lose them.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Kay Ivey, challengers race to right in Alabama GOP primary
In a pair of campaign ads this GOP primary season, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey falsely declares the election was stolen from Donald Trump and accuses the federal government of “shipping illegal immigrants” to the state. “My message to Biden: No way, Jose,” she says. But a competing ad by former Trump ambassador Lindy Blanchard calls Ivey a “tax-hiking Fauci-loving” liberal, swiping at her for actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and a gas tax increase. Alabama’s Republican primary has become a race to the right, with candidates staking out extreme positions on abortion, immigration, and LGBTQ issues. The race was supposed to be a cakewalk for Ivey — who still remains favored to win a second full term — but right flank opponents are trying to make it a referendum on conservative credentials as they seek to push the Alabama governor into a runoff. Blanchard, who left the U.S. Senate race to run for governor, said there are GOP voters who are not happy with Ivey’s leadership on a number of issues. She particularly cited Ivey’s support for the gas tax increase and mask mandate and business closures during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t want the government anywhere near my health care telling me what to do,” Blanchard said. “I want the people of Alabama to know that if you like Gov. [Ron] DeSantis and Kristi Noem, then you’ll like Gov. Blanchard,” she said, referencing the Florida and South Dakota governors. It is historically difficult for a primary challenger to defeat an incumbent governor. None of the primary challengers have the footprint to defeat Ivey alone. They instead are placing hopes that they can collectively garner enough primary votes and keep Ivey below 50% of the vote to spark a runoff and a new political ballgame. Ivey faces a total of eight primary challengers, including Blanchard, businessman Tim James — the son of former Gov. Fob James — and Lew Burdette, who runs King’s Home, a Christian-based nonprofit with group homes throughout the state. Former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy Lee George, Opelika pastor Dean Odle, businessman Dean Young, Donald Trent Jones, and Springville Mayor Dave Thomas are also challenging Ivey. James has also criticized past mask mandates and the gas tax increase that includes a provision for automatic increases based on the National Highway Construction Cost Index. “Governor Ivey and the political crowd found a way to raise taxes forever without having to vote on them,” James said in the ad. James, in other ads, called transgender swimmer Lia Thomas “a man in a woman’s bathing suit” and criticized a first-of-its-kind charter school in Homewood that was created to welcome LGBTQ students. An Ivey campaign spokesman said the governor is confident she will win without a runoff. Spokesman William Heartsill said the governor’s record speaks for itself. “Governor Ivey has done what other people are only talking about doing.” Among other actions, the campaign cited her record on job creation and her signing of legislation to try to ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy, forbid transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at schools, and outlawing the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender minors. “Kay Ivey is the most conservative governor our state has ever had. She has always been a fighter for conservative values, and that will never change,” Heartsill said. Blanchard, who was Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia, ran an ad that questioned why Ivey didn’t appear on stage with Trump at a Cullman rally. It was there that a cantankerous crowd jeered U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks for suggesting that voters focus energy on the next election since they couldn’t change the outcome of the most recent presidential contest. Ivey greeted Trump at the airport, and her office distributed photos of the meeting. Trump has not weighed in on the Alabama race. The dynamic is playing out in other states. J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” won the Republican primary for an Ohio Senate seat in a race where contenders competed to be the most Trump-like candidate. State Rep. Mike Ball, who is retiring after 20 years in the Alabama Legislature, said the candidates all have staunchly conservative positions and are in a race amongst themselves to be the most conservative of all. “There are some extreme positions being taken in this primary. Look at the ads on these hot button issues,” he said. David Mowery, an Alabama-based political consultant, said right now there is “a lot of sound and fury and we’ll see what it signifies on Election Day.” “Ivey still has the upper hand and at least a solid shot of winning without a runoff,” he said. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Tommy Tuberville and Roger Marshall introduce bill to save clean, safe nuclear power
Senators Tommy Tuberville and Senator Roger Marshall introduced the Thorium Energy Security Act to prevent the destruction of Uranium 233 (U-233), a critical element used to produce clean energy. The senators believe that preserving the United States’ supply of U-233 is of national importance. The Act will immediately halt the Department of Energy’s program to destroy uranium 233, saving this vital national asset for future study, medical research, and clean energy. The U.S. pioneered thorium molten salt breeder reactor technologies in the 1960s at Oak Ridge National Labs. This technology, which employed uranium 233 (U-233), produced clean, safe power, but did not produce plutonium like other reactor designs. As our country was focused on growing our nuclear arsenal, the U.S. shelved thorium and U-233 for decades. In 2001, the Department of Energy began the process of destroying our stocks of U-233. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Energy transferred our thorium technology to China in a cooperative agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a result, China just tested their first molten salt thorium reactor and is believed the be using the thorium to power their newest aircraft carrier. “Thorium and U-233 hold the promise to produce clean, safe power and are vital to our national security. Energy will continue to be at the heart of global conflicts, so the United States must invest in energy technology,” Senator Tuberville stated. “China clearly saw the value in our thorium research—they’ve taken up where we left off, and we may soon see thorium-powered Chinese aircraft carriers and thorium reactors on the Belt & Road courtesy of American technology.” The Department of Energy’s “next generation” reactors are reliant on Russian highly-enriched, low-assay uranium (HALEU). Fortunately, America has the technology and U-233 material to produce energy that doesn’t depend on Russian HALEU. Moreover, molten salt breeder reactors based on the thorium cycle cannot melt down and are capable of consuming nuclear waste, solving the two most pressing problems of nuclear power. “Uranium-233 is too valuable and too useful to just be thrown in the trash, a fact that the Chinese Communist Party understands but our Department of Energy clearly does not. While we are spending millions of dollars to destroy U-233, the CCP is investing in it by preparing to build a new generation of advanced aircraft carriers and nuclear reactors powered by U-233,” stated Marshall.“The United States needs to lead on advanced nuclear reactors and not leave the future of innovative clean energy technologies in the hands of China. Preserving this valuable national resource is the first step on that path.”
Barry Moore blasts Democrats for ineffective solution to self-inflicted baby formula crisis
Rep. Barry Moore issued a statement on H.R. 7790 – Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act. Moore blamed Democrats for letting the formula supply issue go on for months. In February, baby formula producer Abbott Nutrition closed its doors while inspections occurred after a voluntary recall of formula. The production plant never resolved the issues, exacerbating the supply chain issues from Covid. On Wednesday, as pressure mounted to find a solution to a months-long problem, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supplies from overseas. Moore was also critical of the Biden Administration because Congress has already provided funding to address supply chain issues, and they are sitting on $1 billion that the Department of Agriculture could use to address issues like this one. “Asking taxpayers to bail the government out of a crisis it created and let fester for months is Washington at its worst,” stated Moore. “For Democrats, the only solution to every government-caused problem seems to be more government. The antidote after being poisoned is never to take a second dose.” The FDA received a $102 million budget increase just two months ago, including $11 million specifically for maternal and infant health and nutrition. According to Moore, House Republican proposals for strong oversight and a comprehensive approach to the problem were rejected by Democrats, including: Forcing the FDA to develop a plan to address the shortage Accounting for excess stocks of formula at federal agencies that could go to American households Leveraging the federal government’s logistics capabilities to get formula to shelves as quickly as possible
Joe Biden invokes Defense Production Act for formula shortage
President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the Defense Department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the U.S., in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.” Supplies of baby formula across the country have been severely curtailed in recent weeks after a February recall by Abbott Nutrition exacerbated ongoing supply chain disruptions among formula makers, leaving fewer options on store shelves and increasingly anxious parents struggling to find nutrition for their children. “I know parents across the country are worried about finding enough formula to feed their babies,” Biden said in a video statement released by the White House. ”As a parent and as a grandparent, I know just how stressful that is.” The announcement comes two days after the Food and Drug Administration said it was streamlining its review process to make it easier for foreign manufacturers to begin shipping more formula into the U.S. In a letter Wednesday to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, Biden directed the agencies to work with the Pentagon to identify overseas supply of formula that meets U.S. standards over the next week so that chartered Defense Department flights can swiftly fly it to the U.S. “Imports of baby formula will serve as a bridge to this ramped-up production,” Biden wrote. Regulators said Monday that they’d reached a deal to allow Abbott Nutrition to restart its Sturgis, Michigan, plant, the nation’s largest formula plant, which has been closed since February due to contamination issues. The company must overhaul its safety protocols and procedures before resuming production. After getting the FDA’s OK, Abbott said it will take eight to ten weeks before new products begin arriving in stores. The company didn’t set a timeline to restart manufacturing. “I’ve directed my team to do everything possible to ensure there’s enough safe baby formula and that it is quickly reaching families that need it the most,” Biden said in the statement, calling it “one of my top priorities.” The White House actions come as the Democratic-led House approved two bills Wednesday addressing the baby formula shortage as lawmakers look to show progress on what has become a frightening development for many families. One bill with wide bipartisan support passed by a vote of 414-9. It would give the secretary of the Agriculture Department the ability to issue a narrow set of waivers in the event of a supply disruption. The goal is to give participants in an assistance program commonly known as WIC the ability to use vouchers to purchase formula from any producer rather than be limited to one brand that may be unavailable. The WIC program accounts for about half of infant formula sales in the U.S. “I want to say to the mom struggling that we hear you in Congress, and you do not need to handle this on your own. We are working to find you a solution,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. The other measure, a $28 million emergency spending bill to boost resources at the Food and Drug Administration, passed by a mostly party-line vote of 231-192, and it’s unclear whether the Senate will go along. “This bill just continues the Democrats’ strategy of throwing money at the same bureaucrats who caused the crisis and who have not made its solution a priority,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the money would increase FDA staffing to boost inspections of domestic and international suppliers, prevent fraudulent products from getting onto store shelves and acquire better data on the marketplace. “It is essential that we ensure the federal government has the resources it needs to get baby formula back on the shelves,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Abbott’s voluntary recall was triggered by four illnesses reported in babies who had consumed powdered formula from its plant. All four infants were hospitalized with a rare type of bacterial infection, and two died. After a six-week inspection, FDA investigators published a list of problems in March, including lax safety and sanitary standards and a history of bacterial contamination in several parts of the plant. Under Monday’s agreement, Abbott must regularly consult with an outside safety expert to restart and maintain production. Chicago-based Abbott has emphasized that its products have not been directly linked to bacterial infections in children. Samples of the bacteria found at its plant did not match the strains collected from two babies by federal investigators. But FDA officials pushed back on that reasoning Monday on a call with reporters — their first time publicly addressing the company’s argument. FDA staffers noted they were unable to collect bacterial strains from two of the four patients, limiting their chances of finding a match. “Right from the get-go, we were limited in our ability to determine with a causal link whether the product was linked to these four cases because we only had sequences on two,” FDA’s food director Susan Mayne said. Fixing the violations uncovered at Abbott’s plant will take time, according to former FDA officials. Companies need to exhaustively clean the facility and equipment, retrain staff, repeatedly test and document that there is no contamination. As part of the FDA’s new import policy, regulators said companies would need to provide documentation of their factory’s inspections. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
New U.S. hospitals face fiscal crisis over COVID relief money
A whole town celebrated in 2020 when, early in the coronavirus pandemic, Thomasville Regional Medical Center opened, offering state-of-the-art medicine that was previously unavailable in a poor, isolated part of Alabama. The timing for the ribbon-cutting seemed perfect: New treatment options would be available in an underserved area just as a global health crisis was unfolding. In the end, that same timing may be the reason for the hospital’s undoing. Now deep in the red two years into the pandemic, the 29-bed, $40 million hospital with a soaring, sun-drenched lobby and 110 employees is among three medical centers in the United States that say they are missing out on millions in federal pandemic relief money because the facilities are so new they lack full financial statements from before the crisis to prove how much it cost them. In Thomasville, located in timber country about 95 miles (153 kilometers) north of the Gulf Coast port of Mobile, hospital officials have worked more than a year to convince federal officials they should have gotten $8.2 million through the CARES Act, not just the $1 million they received. With a total debt of $35 million, the quest gets more urgent each day, said Curtis James, the chief executive officer. “No hospital can sustain itself without getting the CARES Act money that everybody else got,” James said. Employees are trying to save money by cutting back on supplies but residents including Judy Hutto are worried about the hospital’s future. Hutto drove there recently for tests from her home 15 miles (24 kilometers) out in the country. “The areas need it,” she said. “It’s a nice hospital.” CEO Barry Beus also is trying to plug a gap at Rock Regional Hospital, located south of Wichita in Derby, Kansas. The hospital is due as much as $15.8 million, officials said, but because it only opened in April 2019 and lacks complete pre-pandemic financial statements, it has received just a little more than $985,000. The only thing that’s saved the facility from financial ruin so far is the cooperation of doctors, contractors, and vendors who haven’t pushed for payments, he said. “If we lose them, we lose the hospital,” said Beus. Three Crosses Regional Hospital opened in 2020 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and piled up a staggering $16.8 million in losses in just three quarters while receiving only $28,000 in aid, said Landon Fulmer, a Washington lobbyist working with all three hospitals to obtain additional funding. Each facility is being penalized for being new even though they provided the same costly COVID-19 care as other medical centers and lost revenue from other procedures including elective surgeries, he said. “It really is quite a strange situation in a way, one that shouldn’t have happened,” Fulmer said. With about 420,000 health care providers nationwide already receiving assistance from a $178 billion pot, the government isn’t covering 100% of losses for anyone, said Chris Lundquist, a spokesman for the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which is overseeing the program. “HRSA has strived to provide as much support as possible to as many hospitals as possible within the limits of the law and funding,” he said. The agency said it used proxy financial information for hospitals that opened in 2019 or 2020 to create an equitable payment system. “They have all received funding,” said Lundquist. While virtually all the aid money is spoken for, Lundquist said hospitals seeking additional aid can go through an appeals process. Hospitals also can seek a supplemental appropriation or funding in the upcoming fiscal years, he said. All three of the hospitals say they deserve more. Officials in Thomasville are trying to leverage congressional influence. Mayor Sheldon Day has made several trips to Washington, D.C., to speak with members of the state’s congressional delegation and health officials, and the president of the Alabama Hospital Association, Dr. Don Williamson, has contacted the White House seeking help. “They’ve been assured they’re going to be taken care of. But the fact is, when you’re dealing with government entities, you don’t have the money until you have the money,” said Williamson. Located in southwest Alabama, Thomasville lies within an impoverished area called the Black Belt. About 70% of Black Belt residents qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, and health care has been limited for generations. The last hospital shut down in Thomasville more than a decade ago, leaving only hospitals that offer fewer services in the surrounding region. Officials worked for years to secure a new hospital so residents wouldn’t have to drive 90 minutes for high-tech services such as digital imaging, full surgical options, echocardiograms, 3D mammography, and more. Using a partnership between the city and a municipal health care authority, Thomasville Regional secured federal funding from the Department of Agriculture and opened on March 3, 2020, before cases of COVID-19 caught fire in the rural South. “We thought we were off to a good start,” said James, the chief executive. “And then everything shut down.” Patients stopped showing up for scans, elective surgeries, mammographies, and other moneymaking services because of pandemic shutdowns, and financial reports that looked promising turned perilous within weeks. Recognizing that new hospitals couldn’t calculate COVID-19 losses because they couldn’t compare 2020 numbers with past years, Health and Human Services allowed hospitals to use budget numbers for calculations rather than prior financial statements. That’s how the hospital determined that it was missing out on more than $7 million in aid, James said. While the hospital is still waiting on that aid, he said, the government did agree to provide $1 million in assistance that went to all other hospitals. “That was OK, but other hospitals that are in our region got $8 million, $9 million,” he said. The Birmingham-based Medical Properties Trust recently gave the hospital $2 million and James said leaders are confident Thomasville Regional will eventually get the extra federal aid. “But it will take time,” he said. Like Thomasville Regional, Rock Regional in Kansas saw revenues dry up soon after
