A Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily halted removal proceedings for the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery that began Monday, the Associated Press reported.
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State Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) joined protesters outside the Orange County Courthouse on Monday after Judge David Franzén expressed an intention to call a grand jury to call on the Orange Board of Supervisors to remove the Confederate statue on courthouse property. Reeves is calling for an ethics investigation, saying Franzén’s actions violate ethics codes blocking judges from engaging in political activity.
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The City of Portsmouth has settled with Senator Louse Lucas (D-Portsmouth) in her lawsuit against former Chief Angela Greene and Sergeant Kevin McGee, with the city agreeing to pay Lucas $300,000, according to a Greene press release. In June, Lucas sued Greene and McGee for $6.75 million after the police department filed felony charges against Lucas over her alleged involvement in the destruction of the Portsmouth confederate monument in June 2020.
A court dismissed the charges and Portsmouth fired Greene. Lucas’ lawsuit alleges that Greene and McGee committed malicious prosecution, defamation, false imprisonment, and gross negligence. In a statement Friday, Lucas said she’d donate the funds to charity.
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The King George County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday three to two to relocate the county’s confederate monument, with Historyland Memorial Park as a tentative destination for the monument.
“To me this is not doing away with the monument. This is a relocating of a monument,” Vice-Chair Jeff Stonehill said. “It’s on public property, it’s right in front of the courthouse. I think I would not be in favor of having religious symbols in front of the courthouse. I’m big believer in the separation of church & state and justice. If this is offensive to parts of society and to other people in our community, I think it needs to be relocated.”
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The Richmond City Council unanimously approved a resolution laying out next steps to deal with its monuments, currently in storage. The City has received 22 applications from people and organizations who want the statues, ranging from requests for just the cannons to all of the objects.
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Contrary to certain government historical records, the Confederate Private Monument doesn’t depict Boy Hero of the Confederacy Sam Davis. In a previous report, The Tennessee Star relayed information provided by the archives of the Nashville Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution. Both resources concurred that the seated statue atop the monument was a likeness of Sam Davis sculpted by famed artist George Julian Zolnay.
However, several historians contended that this information was inaccurate – that Davis wasn’t the statue subject. The Star confirmed those assessments through the original news publication documenting the monument’s dedication, as well as a contemporaneous history book written on the subject of Confederate monuments.
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Angela Greene says she was fired for upholding the law. The former Portsmouth Police Chief was placed on administrative leave after her department announced felony charges against Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and others alleged to have been involved in damaging the city’s Confederate monument in June. The charges were dropped on November 16, the same day Greene was fired.
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The City of Portsmouth District Court dismissed the felony charges against Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and the others charged with damaging the city’s Confederate monument in June, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office asked the court to dismiss the charges, arguing that by not intervening in the vandalism, officers “either explicitly or implicitly misled [the defendants] to believe that such conduct was lawful.”
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The top four candidates for Richmond’s mayor debated in a forum on Tuesday night that saw incumbent Mayor Levar Stoney again defending his record from attacks on all sides. Councilmember Kim Gray and candidate Justin Griffin took turns attacking Stoney for corruption and mismanagement while candidate Alexsis Rodgers suggested that many of Stoney’s best ideas for the future are cribbed from her own platform.
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The Portsmouth Magistrate has again rebuffed Portsmouth NAACP leaders in attempts to file charges against Portsmouth council members Bill Moody and Elizabeth Psimas. NAACP branch President James Boyd and Vice President Louie Gibbs went to the magistrate on Friday to present emails that they said showed Moody and Psimas committing a misdemeanor violation of the city charter.
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We had #MeToo…#ICan’tBreath…#BLM.
In Portsmouth, Virginia we could have a new social media acronym: #ProtestPrison
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A judge heard arguments Tuesday but did not immediately rule on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue.
An injunction issued in the lawsuit currently prevents Northam’s administration from moving forward with plans announced after the death of George Floyd to take down the bronze equestrian statue of Lee. The figure erected in 1890 is now one of the country’s most prominent tributes to the Confederacy.
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A Confederate statue will remain on a Texas county courthouse lawn, commissioners voted unanimously Thursday.
Parker County Judge Pat Deen said county documents did not provide any evidence that the statue had ever been officially owned by the county, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reported. Deen said the statue is actually property of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. United Daughters of the Confederacy was founded in Nashville in 1894 and seeks to preserve the history of the Confederate States, according to its website.
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FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — Having led the push to take down a statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky Capitol, the state’s governor had a ceremonial role Saturday in its removal from the place it stood for generations. Gov. Andy Beshear pushed the button to a rig that lifted the 15-foot (4.5-meter) marble statue off its pedestal in the ornate Capitol Rotunda. The governor tweeted a photo showing the memorial to the Confederate president being hoisted for removal. “Today I pressed the button to bring it down,” the Democratic governor said in his tweet. “Now, every child who walks into their Capitol feels welcome. Today we took a step forward for the betterment of every single Kentuckian.” Joining Beshear for the historic event were two leading members of his administration — J. Michael Brown and La Tasha Buckner, who are black. In a quintessentially Kentucky twist, workers discovered an empty bourbon bottle in the base after the statue was hoisted. Also found was a newspaper front page. Later in the day, Beshear posted a photo showing the statue — secured in a crate — being loaded by crane onto a truck outside the statehouse. The governor tweeted that the…
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Workers for the state of Virginia inspected Richmond’s huge statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monday before its planned removal. While protesters have toppled some other Confederate statues and some cities have moved swiftly to remove what critics see as symbols of white supremacy, this monument won’t be so easy to take down.
Virginia’s Department of General Services said in a statement that it plans to remove the statue of the Confederate general on a date to be determined, as soon as possible. But officials said it must be done safely, given the memorial’s weight and height.
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