The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Respond/React To Bert Ellis Interview From 4/9; Inside UVA BOV: UVA Health System Investigation

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Respond/React To Bert Ellis Interview From 4/9 Inside UVA BOV: UVA Health System Investigation Inside UVA BOV: Is Jim Ryan Safe? Budget Cuts? UVA Received $354.7M In Federal Funding In ’23 Va Tech Received $282.1M In Federal Funds In ’23 Federal Jobs Equal 16.1% Of All Jobs In Virginia Violet Crown: 2 Years Left On Movie Theater Lease Local Public Schools Have Friday Deadline w/ DEI Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

guys, welcome to the I Love Seaville show. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on a Thursday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville. Boy, do we have a lot to cover. Yesterday we spent an hour and 15 minutes without stopping straight one hour and 15 minutes with Bert Ellis who was fired from the University of Virginia Board of Visitors by the governor of Virginia Glenn Yonkin. Mr. Ellis gave us his most precious commodity his time and he gave us an insider's perspective on what was happening in the Board of Visitors during his time

on one of the Commonwealth's most prestigious and powerful boards. He talked from an insider's perspective on the UVA Health investigation, the resignation of Craig Kent, whether there was fraud with billing, or whether it was just up charging and up coding, and that fine line between fraud and up coding.

He talked yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, about Jim Ryan and his job security, his job status, and whether he will make it till the end of the year as continuing as the seventh president of the University of Virginia. He discussed on this show the amount of money that UVA should cut from its budget. The number he gave, an astonishing more than $500 million should be cut from the University of Virginia budget.

He talked about what it was like to be fired by a governor, including the perspective of being in a room with the governor and why he got pink-slipped by Glenn Youngkin. He talked single sanction honor code and the intersection of free speech and racism and what that looks like. And he discussed what the future of the University of Virginia should be. A university some would say that has leaned entirely too far left and needs to be hook, line, and sinkered back into a center aisle position if it wants to continue in its prestige and continue in its path forward as one of the best in not just

the country but the world. We're going to respond and react to the interview yesterday from Bert Ellis, including playing two short clips in the business, they are called sizzle reels, two clips that we found compelling from an hour and 15 minute interview that was from start to finish, perhaps the best content ever created on the I Love Seville network. And folks, that is not hyperbole. That is fact.

We spent an hour and 15 minutes with a man that has had success everywhere and anywhere he has gone. A man fired by the governor from a post on a board that is one of the most prestigious and powerful in all of our Virginia land. A lot we're going to cover today. Grab your iced coffee, grab your iced tea, sit back and spend some time with us on the I Love Seaville Show. This show thanks to our friends, Judah at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, 60 consecutive years in business, John and Andrew Vermillion doing business the honest way and the right way.

On East High Street, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and folks online at CharlottesvilleSanitarySupply.com. The Vermillion's A plus folks. I also encourage you to check out what we're doing at the Miller Organization. It's a firm that is beautifully vertically integrated from a brokerage standpoint, from a venture funding standpoint, from an advertising standpoint, and folks, 24 rentals in our holding portfolio, the most executive offices in a 300,000 person region, our holding portfolio with what we're doing. All right, Judah Wittkower, I'd like to weave you in on a two shot, if you can go studio camera in two shot.

I count on you often as a voice of reason. The Bird Ellis interview, you had a bird's eye view, you had a front seat to it, directing and producing the show. The feedback has been significant. You have seen it, we've read it, we've heard it. I didn't have a chance yesterday to ask you live on air what you made of an hour and 15 minutes with Mr. Ellis on our show.

I thought it was really eye opening. I think Bert Ellis is a um a careful measured speaker. He you know he he doesn't get uh he doesn't get overly excitable. I don't I didn't hear any uh you know outlandish rhetoric in his uh in his responses. Um I appreciate all of what he had to say. I don't agree with 100% of it but uh uh but I think he's a strong force in Charlottesville. I appreciate the fact that he makes sure to come back here, what was it, 10 days out of every month, to make sure that he's got his finger on the pulse of this city.

I don't think anyone can deny his love for Charlottesville. A double who, Burt Ellis. Listen and watch what I think is the best show that's been done on the I Love Seaville Network, folks, anywhere you get your podcasting content. I echo what Judah said. He is a man that I think is very different than what others have portrayed. The Democrats, the Republicans, Governor Young bully, as a curmudgeon,

as a razor blade toting hothead. He's been portrayed as someone that is trying to de-woke the woke UVA. He's been portrayed as a bull in a china shop. A lot of various outlets have made that portrayal, including me. The Bert Ellis we saw yesterday for an hour and 15 minutes was a man that spoke with passion and sincerity, authenticity, a man that spoke with an obvious commitment to bettering the University of Virginia, a commitment that was contagious, contagious even through a screen. He was in Atlanta doing the interview via Skype. I was impressed with Mr. Ellis yesterday.

Did I agree with everything he said, like Judah Wickauer just mentioned? No, I did not. But the beautiful aspect of being in Charlottesville in 2025, and the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2025, and the United States of America in 2025 as we can have different opinions. We should be able to have different opinions. That's what makes this country special. Mr. Ellis was made the fall guy by the governor. He was made the fall guy by the governor because let's cut to the chase money and influence Trump just about anything in this country,

in this state, in this region, in this town, at this university. Someone or multiple groups had Glenn Youngkin's ear and they said you need to terminate Ellis. You need to get Ellis off the board. Bert Ellis in the interview yesterday said that Washington Post news story, where the Post cited anonymous sources, he straight up said that story was linked by Jim Ryan and his lieutenant, the director of communications at UVA. He said, how else would they have gotten body cam footage from university

police officers outside my restaurant, The White Spot, Ellis, the managing partner, and one of the owners of The White Spot, the institutional eatery on the UVA corner. This is a game of cat and mouse of cat and mouse, of proportions that very few, if any, in their life will play. This is a game of conniving, backstabbing, devious, backroom dealing, only out for yourself chess play that is going on. And frankly, Mr. Ellis was not a pawn on the board, but he certainly was not the king or the queen. The king has proven to be Glenn Youngkin. The queen, the bishops, the knights, and the rooks,

somewhere Jim Ryan is in that mix. Somewhere Robert Hardy, the re, and the rooks. Somewhere, Jim Ryan is in that mix. Somewhere, Robert Hardy, the rector of the Board of Visitors, is in that mix. Somewhere, the future governor of the Commonwealth is in that mix because the governor appoints the members of the board and can remove members from the board. It was an hour and 15 minutes of commentary

where I sat back, I asked questions, and I listened to learn. We are gonna play on today's program roughly six, seven minutes of clips broken up into two sizzle reels. Ladies and gentlemen, two sizzle reels we're gonna play for you. We found these two sizzle reels we're going to play for you. We found these two sizzle reels to be the most fascinating. We found these two sizzle reels to be the most significant in what they offered. Straight up insight from close session board of visitors

meetings, these two sizzle reels, including insight into a investigation into the University of Virginia health system where 128 anonymous physicians have alleged that white collar racketeering is going on with medical chart changing to maintain performance standards, literally doctors being instructed by the C-suite to get medical charts from suffering patients and doctor the charts to the benefit of the health system so UVA can maintain performance standards, regional and national rankings and accolades.

If that was not sketchy as duck, how about the fact that these same rank and file physicians have alleged that fraudulent billing practices were transpiring? Not just fraudulent billing, but the C suite was instructing the rank and file to fraudulently bill patients at their time of their most vulnerable when they were sick and potentially dying and or dying. Mr. Ellis said, here's what happened while I was sitting at the table of the Board of Visitors and here's insight into the investigative report. Here's why Craig Kent resigned. And then I straight up asked him, does Jim Ryan make it through the end of the year as the seventh president of the University of Virginia?

An embattled president, Jim Ryan, who if you take a photo of Mr. Ryan before he took office in Charlottesville and you position it right next to the photo of Jim Ryan, how he stands today, you will see a weathered and whittled. Man. I'd like to get the first sizzle reel ready to go. I'd like to get the first sizzle reel ready to go. This is Burt Ellis, fired Board of Visitors member, offering you, the viewer and listener, what it's like to sit on the Board of Visitors, one of the most powerful and prestigious and influential boards in all of the Commonwealth of Virginia,

the only way you get admitted or entered onto this board is if the governor of Virginia says you can do it. The first sizzle reel is about the UVA Health System investigation, Craig Kent's surprising resignation, and whether fraudulent billing practices are happening at Thomas Jefferson's University. Tell somebody to get on the stream right now and listen, ladies and gentlemen, to what you are about to hear, because nowhere else are you hearing or learning this kind of information. Save the I love Seville show.

Judah Wickauer in three, two, one. Why did Craig Kent resign? What happened in the Craig Kent resignation? Was it surprising? And how bad was that investigative report? I just threw a lot of questions to you here. But these are the questions that everyone is asking right now. The investigative report was very damning. And it was, you know, it put it to the board

that we either, you know, had to, you know, we needed his resignation or we needed to fire one or the other. So he saw the writing on the wall and realized that, you know, he didn't have the support of the board and he resigned. Did the investigation, the investigative report, confirm that fraudulent billing practices were utilized and that medical chart changing was being used to maintain performance standards? No.

You know, fraudulent is a, you know, many different medical operations upcharge, you know. operations upcharge. If you just say any upcharge is a fraudulent upcharge, no. There's a gray area. So there were upcharging and that's one of the ways if you're running a hospital or a medical facility that you do your best to take advantage of the Medicare payment methodologies to get maximum pay? That just from a layman's perspective, that seems to be up charging and exploiting the gray area and pushing it as far as possible,

seems to be right and you'd have to look at every charge to do that. But there were a number of other things that added together, created a track record that necessitated change. The leadership of the health system was going on the wrong direction and they were running completely afoul of their doctors. At the same time, the leadership of the health system was trying to change the compensation system for the doctors. I know when you run a team and you start to try and change the compensation system, the

incentives, the rewards, you will get some blowback. So there was some genuine blowback to that. But I think the path that they were on to try and address and make the operation more efficient and more profitable was a correct path but there were other things that were being done that were not. Craig Kent who resigned as CEO of the UVA Health System was clashing with the University Physicians Group. He wanted to diminish if not do away with the University Physicians Group and roll it under one

umbrella where he had total control and total autonomy and power. Did Craig Kent get a pay day to go away? He kept his severance. He didn't get paid to go away, but you know, his remaining compensation. Yeah, and that's the benefit of residing versus firing. Correct. Jim Ryan's management of the UVA Health System fiasco has left a lot to be desired. He stepped in a pile of you know what from a public relations standpoint

when he authored that initial letter in response to the anonymous 128 physicians. He basically called the anonymous 128 physicians, who interestingly left a bottle of top shelf scotch outside our studio one morning after we've covered this storyline. I got a bottle of top shelf scotch outside our studio one morning after we've covered this storyline. I got a bottle of top shelf scotch with a letter that said thank you anonymous 128 and Mr. Ryan pretty much called them cry babies and said that in any organization there's a small percentage of employees that are bitter and angry and they

should be ignored. This really rankled the anonymous 128 and got them to dig even deeper their heels and their fight into the proverbial ground. Give us some perspective into Jim Ryan's PR management, overall management, leadership skills, lack thereof with this UVA health fiasco, and I think it is a natural segue into the pro-Palestine pepper spraying protests when the Virginia State Police was militarized and pepper sprayed students. I think it's a natural segue into how he's managed this redacted triple homicide under his watch.

I mean, there's a number of points of concern here. The Ziana Bryant Water Street where a student is it Morgan Beninger that was Scarlett Letter by Zyanna Bryant who in shocking capacity is running for Charlottesville City School Board right now. She's going to be instructed she's going to be if she wins has the opportunity to manage a significant portion of the city of Charlottesville's budget and to determine the educational ecosystem for the next generation of public school students in the city of Charlottesville's budget and to determine the educational ecosystem for the next generation of public school students in the city of Charlottesville that leaves me jaw on the table flabbergasted. Talk to us about all these look when it's one when it's when it's one situation it's

it's it's it's it's you know fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Here when it comes to Ryan, there is a cacophony of comedic errors from a management standpoint. It's very simple in my view, Jerry, that this university can be moved to the right, not to turn this into Hillsdale or something like that, but moved from a hard left, woke university to center, center. That's Bert Ellis. And out of clarity, I just want to ask you there, J-Dubbs, you played the health system sizzle reel there, right? Yeah.

That was the 3726 to 4433, right? Yeah. Okay, fantastic. Thank you. That was a sizzle reel from yesterday's full interview. We're going to play one more sizzle reel, then we're going to give you some response that we've gotten. I'm also going to, when this show ends, email the doctors, the UVA faculty senators, that sent us the letter. We got a letter earlier this week

where UVA faculty senators sent us their response to what is evidently a smear campaign from leadership at the health system. The health system's current leadership and retired or post leadership is trying to smear the physicians who are speaking out against what's happening in this organization and current leadership and past leadership, retire leadership, is saying these physicians are motivated by nothing more than money and greed. And that's why they're opposed to change at UVA Health.

And the elected faculty senators at the University of Virginia, they've sent us a letter and said, look, this is bogus. To say that these physicians who are speaking out whistleblowing are motivated by greed is not just a low blow, but is damn near close to slander, and is the antithesis of what being a physician and the oath a physician takes to do what's best for their patients at all time is all about.

So when this show is over, I'll send an email to some of these doctors, one in particular who I know fairly well and has come on the show in the past to see if their schedule permits time with me on the show to discuss all the tumultuous turn of events at the health system, which is the number one driver of revenue at the University of Virginia. If you were to remove the health system from the pit of overhead, a brand and an institution that

would be drowning in financial overhead, quicksand so suffocating that it would not be able to survive. It's the health system that is the driver of money for Thomas Jefferson's university. Now I wanna play one more clip from the interview with Burt Ellis. This will be the Jim Ryan and budget cut clip. I believe this is the one I mentioned to you that was marked 49 minutes and 33 seconds

from yesterday to 5414. I straight up ask Bert Ellis, is Jim Ryan going to be fired by the governor of Virginia? And Bert Ellis answers this question, and he answers this question while also providing insight to the dynamic and the politics and the appetite to firing Ryan by current Board of Visitors members. He says this is their appetite and where they stand. He even calls the Governor of Virginia a schizophrenic in this sizzle reel. He calls Glenn Youngkin schizophrenic in this sizzle reel. He calls Glenn Yonkin schizophrenic in this sizzle reel. He also offers perspective in this sizzle reel how much the University

of Virginia should cut from its budget. This is a budget that's 5.8 billion with a B per year. That is a mind-boggling number. The University of Virginia's yearly budget is five billion eight hundred million dollars per year. And Ellis says this university needs to cut five hundred million from its budget. Here's the challenge, Judah. And this will be the segue into the next into the another topic on today's show. Federal funding for the University of Virginia is in absolute peril right now.

Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Doge, Department of Government Efficiency, they are pretty much, you know, how would you characterize it? They characterize it as government efficiency. Others would characterize it as ruining people's lives, causing people to lose their jobs. Some people would call it trimming the fat.

Some people would call it making sure our country is solvent financially. Other people would say the government's not a business. You can't run it as a business like Elon Musk is trying it financially. Other people would say the government's not a business, you can't run it as a business, like Elon Musk is trying to do. And this basically gets down to party politics and what your ideology is. Regardless the environment,

regardless the environment we're in right now, is Trump and Musk are in power. And I have said for so long that Elon Musk is the most powerful man in the world. Yesterday we saw that Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the world. Yesterday we saw a man talk about tariffs and he was able to take a market that was hemorrhaging, that was in bear market territory, and the word recession was being floated around and has been floated around for a couple of weeks.

Some of these financial institutions, Goldman Sachs said that the likelihood of a recession was well over 50%. Then yesterday you started seeing the word depression floated around. And a recession is one thing, and Trump's not afraid of a recession, but when you start using the word depression, and we've only had one depression in American history, that was the Great Depression, when unemployment was at 25%, when one in four Americans were out of a job.

And what we were seeing yesterday before Trump started talking and said, oh, I'm going to take my foot off the tariff accelerator. These other countries did not want to play hardball with me. I'm going to ease tariffs on every country except China. we saw one of the most whipsaw wild swings in stock market history. History yesterday. Now we've given back a lot of those gains today, but you saw the power of Donald Trump yesterday just through speaking some words. He was able to inject trillions of dollars into US markets just from speaking words. That same power, some call it influence, others call it a bully with a baseball bat.

That same power is being flexed on the University of Virginia. And here's what's happening in Charlottesville. It's the I Love Seaville show, okay? I take macro headlines and localize them to Charlottesville. I'm about to play a headline for you from Bert Ellis who, as of a couple weeks ago, was the second most influential guy in the Board of Visitors. Number one, the rector Robert Hardy, the guy who owns Keswick, Keswick Hall, Mr. Hardy, a man appointed to the board by Ralph Northrum, Jim Ryan and Robert Hardy super tight, BFFs, homies, they chilling.

I would say Hardy is the most powerful guy. He's the rector. He's setting the agenda. Alice as of a couple weeks ago was the second most influential. And I'm going to play a clip where the second most influential guy, the self-proclaimed whip of the board who whips the votes into play. This is like Kevin Spacey's character in House of Cards, the whip. Before he parlayed and backstabbed and wielded and dealed his way into the White

House in House of Cards, he was the whip, Kevin Spacey and House of Cards, Frank. That's what Burt was doing on the board. I'm gonna play a clip of him not only talking about Jim Ryan's job security, Judah, but him talking about, Mr. Ellis talking about how the University of Virginia needs to cut $500 million out of its 5.8 billion yearly budget. Here's the problem as it pertains to Charlottesville.

Trump is talking about cutting the federal funding for UVA. And listen to this as you put that lower third on screen, federal funds and UVA. The University of Virginia received $354,700,000 in 2023 in federal funding. The number one institution in the Commonwealth from a federal funding standpoint in 2023, $354,700,000. Virginia Tech, you want to put that lower third on screen? Second, at $282 million. That is a massive delta between UVA at 354,

basically 355 million. Just rotate those lower thirds. And Virginia Tech at 282 million in 2023. You want to know who was in third place, Judah? Well, before I tell you who's in third place, Judah? Well, before I tell you who's in third place, how about I just give you, say, James Madison University at 3.5 million, say, Virginia State University at 7.2 million. Here's the problem we have.

Can you, in Charlottesville and in central Virginia and at UVA, can you cut $500 million off a yearly budget as some folks on the Board of Visitors want to do? $500 million at the same time that Trump is leveraging, Musk are leveraging $354 plus million with UVA and federal research funding. This is why Jim Ryan has written a letter to UVA employees saying dudes, gals, you're not going to get the 3% cost to live and raise, you're not going to get the 3% cost to live and raise. You're not going to get performance-based bonuses. And funding for discretionary projects is frozen.

And we're not going to fill other positions. Maybe we now know why Bert Ellis is saying the health system has to upcharge up code. I still call that fraud. Okay. I'm just a layman, I'm just a guy that tries to read a lot of stuff and interpret what I'm reading and ask questions, okay? But from my standpoint, I don't know how you feel. If you have a patient and he's sick,

and you have a patient and she's dying, and you're a doctor and you're a physician and you're a team, and you have to assess what do we do what's best for this patient, for this guy or gal. I hope the thinking is let's try to do what's best for them and get them out of here as quickly as possible so they can continue on in their life. I hope what you're not trying to do is how can we maximize margin

with the health system, with up charging, with doing all these tricks of the trade to take as much money as possible from insurance, from Medicaid and Medicare? Because that doesn't seem like honor to me. That seems like a health system trying to look out for itself. But that does not seem like honor to me. That seems like a health system trying to look out for itself, but that does not seem like honor to me. Let's, hey, it's just the insurance company that we're bamboozling. It's not little Johnny that's dying of cancer, and it's not little Kimberly that's dying of a brain tumor, and it's not Harry over there that's got prostate problems, and it's not Harry over there that's got prostate problems and it's

not Sally over there that's got some colonoscopy and colon issues. It's the insurance we're taking the money from. That doesn't seem like honor to me. So here's Burt Ellis I found to be the second most compelling clip where he's talking Jim Ryan and whether he will be the president of UVA for the rest of this year because there's an election in November and the type of money that needs to be cut from the University of Virginia budget. Ladies and gentlemen, this is compelling commentary and the type of insight that you're only going to find on the I Love Seville show. Judah, three, two, one. You could use that 500 million to reduce tuition 10 to 15,000 a family, a person. Each 100 million bucks divided by 20,000 some odd students is 5,000 of tuition. So if you cut 500 million out of this budget, which you can, and then cut the DEI and all

the other stuff that we want to get by doing it, and cut tuition, and move this university towards the middle on dealing with anti-Semitism, dealing with cancel culture, dealing with all the identity politics, horse hockey that we have incorporated into the system. You can make a mark in academia that no other school has the ability to do and no other school's got the reputation and the brand of the University of Virginia.

We become that shining light on the hill and we can do it. We have the votes to do it, but it won't happen if we don't do it now, right now. Does the governor fire Jim Ryan? It's in his power and if he does do it, all those changes can happen and if he doesn't do it, no changes will happen. Jim Ryan is, you know, he is running his own version of the Four Corners. It's just going to juke and jive, delay, delay, delay, wait for Abbie Spanberger to get like it.

The Four Corners, the legendary offense the North Carolina Tar Heels ran. For those that are unsure of Dean Smith's playbook. You're a man with your business success that has vision and is able to see forward. And because of that vision, you hedge risk with business decision making. I'll try a different version of this question here. As a man who's got a lot of vision, Bert Ellis, does your instinct say that the final exit for Governor Yonkin out of the mansion

in Richmond is a pink slip for Jim Ryan? I'm betting on it. So yes. Okay. You know, like I said, his presidency, and it's documented on the show that we do. I mean, the show that we do is documented all over the Internet, so nothing can get taken out of context. His presidency started, as I characterized, with the approachability and the affability and the likability of Barack Obama when he was running for U.S. President. And that's not about Democrat or Republican or conservative or liberal. Barack Obama, you have to give it to the former president with his tie

as half-mast and his sleeves as rolled up and his all-shucks type of personality. The most likable guy ever. Jim Ryan started the same way as he was running around grounds and encouraging students and community members to follow him. He started these community organizations, these work groups where he was asking community members to say, how can UVA make this community a better place? And then during COVID, he was perched at his desk

in his president's office and saying, follow me, we'll get through this pandemic together. And I'm like, this guy's fantastic. And then over the last 36 months, the last 24 to 36 months, I've seen blunder after blunder after blunder. And each blunder, has the man ever said, I'm sorry? Has he ever said, I've done this wrong? That I made a mistake here? It seems like all the blunders and the mistakes and the leadership errors have been convoluted or clouded or hidden through redacted reports or through these like the proverbial cloak and dagger. And it's that like hidden nature of responding to issue

that I have a problem with. And frankly speaking, my dad's a 72 graduate of UVA, my brother went to UVA, I went to UVA, would want nothing more than our boys to go to University of Virginia. We live in Ivy, we live 10 minutes, it would make my wife's whole world to keep her boys close to her.

Bert, I do not even recognize the University of Virginia anymore. This is not the University of Virginia that we attended. It's certainly not the one that my dad attended. I do not recognize this school anymore. And I hate to say this. It falls on the feet of the president. That's what the honor system, which you opened with, the honor system is dead, you know,

right now, effectively dead. All right, that's the last clip. Watch the entire video, the entire interview with Burt wherever you get, Mr. Ellis, wherever you get your podcasting or social media content. I'm going to get to comments that are coming in quickly. Comments, I'm trying to get to as many of these as possible. I don't know if we'll be able to get to all of these. I'm going to try to get to as many of them as possible.

First, number two in the family, John Blair Judah. His comment. It's from LinkedIn. Jerry, first of all, what an interview. Great job yesterday. Very interesting that your interview provides more insight into the past year at the University of Virginia than any other media outlet in America.

And let's not forget that when Ellis, the Ellis removal story started to circulate, everyone seemed to think it was about DEI. If you recall, I said that I would keep my eye on what was going on at UVA Health, and that might be the true reason for YoungKids move. John Blair continues, after yesterday's interview, I am more convinced that his removal is as much

about the health system as DEI. Trust me, there's another story brewing about the health system per two doctors that I know. That's John Blair on LinkedIn. We got the letter from the UVA Medical School faculty in the UVA Senate, faculty senate, right? Some of the doctors that have signed this letter are the most known doctors in Charlottesville.

One of them I'm going to reach out to, and Dr. Bobby Chabra, who's signed this letter, he's come on the show in the past, I will ask him via email if he will join us on this show to discuss what is going on. He signed the letter with his name. I will reach out to Dr. Chhabra to see if he is willing to come on the program to talk about it. I will do that when this show ends via email.

I'll copy Judah on the email so he can confirm that I did this. There is absolutely more to this story. Absolutely more to it. And it's... When the story broke, I said it was the most significant story in University of Virginia history. John Blair said the same thing. And ladies and gentlemen, it's going to prove to be the most significant story in the history of this school.

I'll get to deep throats comments here in a matter of moments. But before I get off this topic, I want to put in perspective what's happening in Charlottesville right now. You have a board that is considering significant cuts to a budget for the number one driver of the economy in Charlottesville.

That's UVA. I'll say it again. The Board of Visitors, number one, you should write, we'll write these down together. These are called, the topic could be called headwinds. Headwinds is the topic. Number one, UVA Board of Visitors budget cuts. Ellis said 500 million, that's 10% of the budget.

Jesus, that's a lot of money. He's right. Any CEO, any business owner can cut 10% off a budget. But when you're cutting 10% off a budget, some of that's gonna be human capital. It's not just gonna put a hold on CapEx. It's not gonna just put a hold on capital improvement projects.

Okay? Some of that's gonna be human capital. So number one, UVA Board of Visitors budget cuts. He said 500 million. Number two, UVVA Board of Visitors budget cuts. He said 500 million. Number two, UVA federal funding cuts. Federal funding cuts. This is Trump Musk Doge. In 2023, the year 2023, according to the news outlet

Virginia Mercury, which is very reputable, UVA received $354,700,000 in federal funding. $354,700,000 in 2023. Musk, Trump, Doge want to trim and cut and whittle that down like a number two pencil after the SATs. Number three, Judah, government contracting, federal work, federal labor, federal contractors, federal jobs, federal employees. According to the Virginia Mercury, today's story, today's website, federal jobs and

contracting accounted for 16.1% of all jobs in the Commonwealth. 16.1% of all VA jobs are federal jobs. The number one driver of GDP in the Commonwealth of Virginia is federal contracting, federal work, government contracting, jobs tied to the government. 16.1%. Those jobs are in the crossfire of Doge, Musk, and Trump. So much so that it's creating a significant surplus of available inventory, real estate,

in the DC area and the community surrounding DC. We have a surplus, year over year, the amount of homes that are for sale right now in the DC area, year over year, this year versus last year, significantly more. Not even close, ladies and gentlemen. So that's a third headwind, because what is the top, what is the number two driver of the Charlottesville and Central Virginia economy, Judah? Injik and the alphabet agencies and defense agencies. Judah's a very smart man. A white paper commissioned by Alamaro County, Charlottesville City, and the Chamber of Commerce

concluded that the spies, I call them, the spy sector, all these injigs, alphabets, 1.3 billion in economic activity, economic driver for the greater Charlottesville area, $1.3 billion. There's another headwind for you, ladies and gentlemen. How about a fourth headwind for you? This is not all doom and gloom, but this is me trying to prepare you, the viewer and listener, to determine the best outcomes for decision making. I'm doing this right now with how I'm positioning

our businesses, what we do professionally, what I do holdings-wise for my family, assets-wise for our family. Number four, Hedwin, are you ready for this? You have a man in the White House right now. I'm not gonna make this about politics. I will not make this about politics, okay? I am going to make this about politics. It's not about Republican, conservative, it's not about anything. You have a man in the White House and Donald Trump.

You talk about markets move as headlines move. The markets are going to move for the rest of his presidency based on what he has to say. You know what markets like? Consistency, certainty, predictability. You know what we have right now? Massive uncertainty, ridiculous uncertainty. Markets are gonna move based on commentary from one man. Okay? Is what it is. That's not about politics. He offers some commentary yesterday about tariffs and throttling tariffs down. Whipsaw, roller coaster upward. My holding is up and I'm aggressive with what I do in stocks and equities because I'm young

and I like to play tech. Nvidia is my top holding. It's been my top holding for way before COVID. Nvidia has been kicked in the nuts left and right. The spike yesterday with Nvidia was ridiculous. Apple and Amazon, ridiculous. People made a lot of money, gave back a lot of money. Today, short sellers got their nuts chopped off yesterday.

Short sellers looking pretty smart right now. That kind of volatility creates a lack of confidence. And whether we want to admit this or not, okay? What's the average median HUD household family income in this market? 125,800. Was it 125,800? I think so. 125,800.

Judah Wickhauer is on point today. Average HUD family median household income, 125,800. Okay? Folks, the families that are well ahead of the $125,800, their sense of confidence in spending and their sense of confidence in going about their life in Charlottesville and central Virginia is tied to when they get on their phone or they're on their computer and they check their Merrill Edge account or their Charles Schwab account. And they look at what happened, whether it's up or down.

And when we see this kind of volatility, it's going to crumble confidence or erode confidence. That's a headwind. Market volatility. It's going to crumble confidence or erode confidence. That's a headwind. Market volatility, I don't care what you say, if you don't think market volatility, macro market volatility is going to impact Charlottesville at a micro level, you are huffing glue behind the dumpster in Paul's Deli in Williamsburg. Okay? in Paul's Deli in Williamsburg, okay? Macro market volatility is going

to impact micro market confidence in Charlottesville. Four obvious headwinds right there. Your top driver, the University of Virginia, I've been here 25 years. I've never seen the University of Virginia facing these kind of headwinds. Board of visitors calling for budget cuts of this magnitude, federal funding cuts, and then all the other brand equity nightmares that are happening.

The government sector, I've been here 25 years, I've never seen the government sector like this. Never. With what's happening, 16.1% of all Virginia jobs, federal, and this kind of volatility on top of all that, now how do you prepare yourself? What do you do? Do you dump it into Bitcoin? Do you dump it into gold? Do you buy real estate? Do you pull it out and put it into gold? Do you buy real estate? Do you pull it out and put it into cash?

You pulled it out before yesterday, you look like a dodo head. You look like a numb nut, says Bert Ellis would say. You make real money in the stock market, what, seven or eight days a year? You make real money in the stock market? You certainly missed one yesterday. You don't pull it out, that's for damn sure. You sit there and you consider the long play. You don't pull it out.

And I wanna highlight this for the viewers and listeners, okay, I'm not making this about politics, okay, I'm not gonna make this about politics. It's not about a national politics show. I could easily do another show that's a national politics show. I've thought about doing a show that's based on national storylines. That's not the I Love Seville show. Something completely different.

I've thought about doing it. Interviewing folks that are national. I've got so much to say about national that I don't do on the show. But I want the viewers and listeners to hear me. I want the viewers and listeners to hear me, okay? I want the viewers and listeners to hear me. Are you ready for this, Judah? If anyone thinks that this tariff war with China is going to lead to the products

that are being built and manufactured in China to all of a sudden get built and manufactured in the United States of America, fine. We can do that. Do you want to pay $5,000 for your Nike Air Jordans? Do you want to spend $3,000 for your Nike Air Jordans? Do you want to spend $5,000, $7,000, $10,000 for an iPhone? What's an iPhone now? A brand new iPhone top of the line is well over $1,000. You want to take iPhones and have a Nike Air Jordans built in America? Do you think if that's what you want be prepared to spend

thousands of dollars for your Nike Air Jordans and even thousands more dollars for your iPhones? Because that's what you're going to get. One of the reasons we have iPhones and Nike Air Jordans at the price points they're at right now is because you have the Chinese doing this at hourly rates and in conditions that ladies and gentlemen would never fly in America. You want to bring the jobs over here? OK.

The result of having the jobs over here is you're going to have cost of goods at levels we've never seen and probably financially are not prepared to pay. And explain to me how a country, what is unemployment at? What's unemployment right now? Great question for Deep Throat. Great question for John Blair. What's unemployment in America right now?

Is unemployment flirting with 4%? Is unemployment around 4%? Is that right? I think it's around 4%. Explain to me when unemployment is around 4% right now in America. How you're going to bring all these jobs over here and find people to work these new jobs. Who's going to work these new jobs when unemployment is around 4%? Is it around 4%?

Yeah, it's around 4.2% in March. Who's going to work these new jobs when unemployment is at 4.2%? Seriously. Bring the iPhone and make it in America. Fine, pay $5,000, $7,000 for it. Get your Nike Air Jordans made in America. OK, a couple thousand dollars for those Nike Air Jordans. You know what? When it's all said and done, and I'm going to get off this topic, and then I'm going to get to comments deep throat,

I'm coming to you here. When it's all said and done, OK, here's what it's all said and done. You know what Americans want? You don't want to know what Americans want? Americans want to wear the Air Jordans. And they want to use the effing iPhone to text message their wife and send pictures of what they're doing with their kids

to their wife. Or they want to get on Instagram or Facebook and post photos, or they want to Snapchat and Tiktok. Well, not Tiktok. Good god. They want to do all these. They don't wanna make the effing iPhones.

They don't wanna make the Air Jordans. And D Throat makes absolutely a very fair point. The leverage he's trying to utilize is to shift the manufacturing away from a devious China into maybe a more trade friendly country like Mexico or Canada or Vietnam. Right? One of these companies, one of these countries where we're not certain, we're not afraid, we're not afraid that they're trying to get our deepest, darkest secrets of how we work our government.

That's what we're, you know what the beef is with China? The beef is with China is we don't trust the Chinese. We don't trust the government. We think China's trying to get our deepest, darkest secrets. We think it's a problem of national security. That's the beef. It's not manufacturing and trades and tariffs, is we don't trust the Chinese. But for the viewers and listeners that are watching the program, and talk more politics on a national

level than I've ever had on the I Love Seaville show, but God, it pertains to Charlottesville. And if you don't think it pertains to Charlottesville, then you're not reading the tea leaves correctly. These jobs aren't going to come here. We're not going to make Air Jordans and iPhones here. All right. Comments are coming in faster than I can keep up with. Deep Throat says, Judah makes a great point with Burt Ellis. Burt Ellis did not come off as like a firebrand or an emotionally dysregulated person. He sounded like someone who would be a forceful presence on a board, not a disruptive presence. This is number one in the family, deep throat messaging.

It makes me feel, deep throat says, like the press smeared him, what a shocker. The press absolutely smeared him. And you know what who probably led the charge? Well, multiple entities led the charge. Clearly, Democrats in Richmond did not want Bert Ellis appointed to the board by the governor.

They smeared him by calling Bert Ellis homophobic, racist, white, rich. They focused on all the worst things. They focused on, you know, obviously the... The razor blade incident should never have been done. I tend to agree, but it was. I asked him, what did he regret about that? I'm surprised he didn't say the razor blade incident. I don't know that it was that the whole thing happened the way it was laid out to us. We got a

email from the Jefferson council that said he went there with the intent of cutting the sign off the door. Yeah but that's I mean that's an act that takes all of five seconds. So the fact that he didn't says, I think, a lot more about the people that are alleging that he went there specifically to cut the sign off the door. Or does it? He knocked on the door.

He got the door slammed in his face when he asked the student to take the sign down, because obviously he loves UVA. And then UVA's security intervened and stopped him. Yeah, but in the time between her slamming the door in his face, like I said, it would have taken five seconds to cut sign off the door. He didn't. So anyways... The smearing.

Yeah, a lot of the hate and the vitriol, a lot of the people pointing out terrible things that he's done, they're looking back at like 50 years ago. They point out things that he did while he was still at UVA. I mean, come on. It's absurd. And I don't hear anybody listing all the good things he's done or getting a group together to buy white spots so that it doesn't fall by the wayside

like so much else that we've seen recently. I mean, yeah, he's definitely been the target of a smear campaign. He's been the target of a smear campaign. He's been a target of a smear campaign. And the more you listen to him and the more you hear about him, at least for myself, the more I appreciate him as a Charlottesvilleian and as a champion for the school and the city. Well said. Well said, Judah Wittkower.

Very well said. Well said, Judah Wittkauer. Very well said. Smeared by Democrats because they didn't want him appointed on the board and hard not to point to Jim Ryan in some capacity smearing him. Bird Ow Ellis straight up said it in the interview. There's no one that wanted Jim, that wanted Burt Ellis off the board more than probably Jim Ryan. Burt Ellis straight wants him fired. Set it on the record in front of a camera, on a microphone, on our show. And we replayed it today. He needs to go. Of course

there's motive to want him off the board. How did the video cam, the officer cam footage of Bert Ellis interacting with police officers outside the white spot get leaked to what? The third most influential newspaper in the United States of America? What would you say? Wall Street Journal One, New York Times Two? Do you go Washington Post Three? Do you go LA Times Three? Something like that. It's clear cut journal, no longer New York Times. Let's sew Times with the two slot.

Post Three, LA Times Three, Post Four? Top Four for sure. How did the body cam footage get linked to Jeff Bezos' paper? Obviously from somewhere inside UVA. I mean, how would anyone even know that existed? Exactly. How would the Post know to Freedom of Information Act, UVA, for this body cam footage?

How would they know if not a smear campaign? You see what is happening in the world today in education, ladies and gentlemen? Deep Throat also says the interview shows how your long format is the best way to cut through legacy media BS. No doubt. Because with the long format, nothing can get taken out of context. And he also says, would BERT now maybe Freedom of Information Act UVA for all communications related to that video footage.

That's damn good, Deep Throat. Then we can see who hatched the plan and what they said in discussing it. So good from Deep Throat. Burt Ellis, that should be, dude, I don't, I have no doubt in my mind that Mr. Ellis is one of the most forward-thinking, few steps ahead of everybody. Jefferson Council, if you're watching this program, please pass along what deep throat number one in the family just said in the comments section. Bert Ellis, do you consider Freedom of Information Act requesting UVA to get all communications

associated with that police officer body cam footage? Good God, would it be crazy if UVA on record is caught contacting the Washington Post saying you may want to FOIA this body cam footage or at least giving them a time range of something to FOIA without mentioning the police specifically? That would be insane. Would it not be? UVA doing something like that against one of the- A Board of Visitors member? That would be insane.

That would be insane right there. If Bert Ellis FOIA's UVA and there's a tip from a.Virginia, a Virginia.edu email account to a Washington Post reporter giving them a time range of what to FOIA. That's effing insanity. FOIA them, Burt. Steve Throes says, making a joke with what the sign, the F-U-KUKK it why don't we FOIA them to get that information? That would be insane no doubt Now I am a guy that is straight up

For just about all aspects of my life, a bullish perspective. I see opportunity everywhere I look. I believe in entrepreneurialism, the American dream, the American chutzpah. I am bullish on things despite the headwinds that I outlined earlier in the show that are very impactful of Charlottesville. We have to understand the headwinds to be able to position our decision making

in the right ways to navigate the headwinds. That's a show by itself. But when federal funding is being threatened at the same time that the Board of Visitors are going to cut operating budget, at the same time that jobs are in peril, I mean, just think about it this way. How many Charlottesvillians or Central Virginians are working hybridly or remotely from Charlottesville for some kind of outfit or entity in the DC area that are now being called back into office. Say they keep their home in Charlottesville

but are making the commute up to DC, right? Doing that commute. That right there is going to have an impact on the Charlottesville economy where you're going to take people out of here and have them working in the DC area, commuting. And not everyone's going to keep their house. Some of them are going to list.

It's going to be this interesting seesaw of listing in the DC area and how many come down here versus listing in the Charlottesville area and how many go back up there? That's bananas. And this is what you get from the show, long form where we can take these deep dives. And I still ask the question, what do you bullish on local business-wise or local sector-wise now that I've outlined those headwinds. Outside of experiential and what, some biotechnology,

what do you bullish on locally? Biotechnology, some data science and experiential operations, experiential businesses, what do you bullish on locally? Still want to know answers to that question. Judah said weed, the hippie lettuce, the cabbage, the shrubbery, the marijuana, the cannabis, the greenery, the landscaping. Then the last item out of the Thursday notebook, will you put that lower third on screen?

According to the editor in chief of the Daily Progress who was interviewed this morning on Jay James' show on WINA, the lease for the Violent Crown movie theater is two years. So Jeff Levine, the Big Apple developer who now has an estate in North Garden, not to be confused with Adam Levine's brother, but Jeff Levine, the developer, is pursuing plans or pursuing governmental approval in Charlottesville City for what he wants to be an 18-story apartment building on the downtown mall, knowing that violent Crown has two years left on its lease.

Two years when you need government approval, you got to get financing in play, have to get the engineers, the architects, the general contractors, and all the other jazz. Two years is nothing. That's why he's timing it with this, because he knows it's going to take him X amount of time to get to him. And if it's two years for Violent Crown with the lease and then they're done, because remember the operators of the movie theater don't own the dirt.

They rent the theater and the dirt from somebody else. The previous operators of the movie theater who sold their business to an outfit out of Austin, Texas, because they said the movie business sucks. They said we're losing money. We don't want to be in the movie business. Then these people who own the dirt and the real estate said we don't want to do this anymore. They found some dummy to take over the operation and to lease from them.

While they were back door dealing with the developer from Manhattan to convert the property that they were buying into potentially a property that they were negotiating to buy into potentially an 18 story building. This is bananas. You see that? The people that own the movie theater said, this business sucks. Jerry can buy a home in Ivy, get five or six brand new televisions, including an 80-incher, for $3,300,000,

including installation. Why is he ever going to come in here when he can, in his boxer briefs, with some cold beer and some popcorn in his hand with his kids and his wife next to him, watch a movie theater from his couch. Watch a movie from his couch instead of coming here. They sold the business to an Austin outfit that's leasing it, knowing the lease was going to be short enough for a developer to potentially come in,

get the plans approved over the course of the lease, and once the lease came up for renewal, they said, we're not giving you a renewal, we're selling to this dude. The same dude that's trying to build a hotel next to the Omni at the site of the livery stable in the Artful Lodger, a hop skipping a jump away from the project he wants to do at Violent Crown. Jeff Levine is playing chess when a lot

of other people are playing checkers. And that's a fact, Jack. Unbelievable. Now, I'll tell you right now, it might be what's best for the downtown mall long-term, Judah. It might be what's best for the downtown mall long-term, Judah, having a hotel next to the Omni, another hotel, and it might be what's best for the downtown mall having an 18-story building at the site of the violent crown. And what might be best for the downtown mall long-term is having that dewberry sold to

these hotel companies that are kicking the tires on it. But in the short term, as these projects are being built and these projects take a couple years to develop, in the short term, that's not going to be best for the downtown mall. Because it's going to be a cluster duck of incredible proportions. On the key part of the mall, the traffic driver of the mall, the gateway and entry of the mall. It's the Thursday edition of the I Love Seville show. I think Judah Wickhauer has killed it of late and has been absolutely fantastic. I sincerely mean that, dude.

For Judah Wickhauer, my name is Jerry Miller and this is the I Love Seaville Show..