In recent years, the annual number of patients diagnosed with drug use disorder who are treated and discharged by Virginia hospitals has been on an upward trajectory, rising by 11.3 percent from 2020 (57,925 patient discharges) to 2024 (64,460 patient discharges).
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Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin in the 2025 gubernatorial race, defended her record amid attacks from her Republican challengers in the race and stressed the need to continue the “successes” of the current administration into the future during an exclusive interview Monday on The John Fredericks Show.
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Two candidates joined Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears in the race to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday, when both former State Senator Amanda Chase and former Delegate Dave LaRock made moves to enter the race.
Framing herself as the candidate most closely aligned with President Donald Trump, Chase announced her candidacy on Wednesday morning, claiming she determined to run for office after hearing rumors about the Earle-Sears campaign that would purportedly lead to a loss against former Representative Abigail Spanberger, who is likely to become the Democratic nominee.
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On the heels of obtaining confirmation the Trump administration will cease to allow the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) to manage the White House press pool, The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks said the decision would destroy a “monopolistic, power-hungry cartel” that effectively managed media coverage of the president for more than “ten decades.”
In response to a question from Fredericks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the administration will be taking control over the rotating schedule for the White House press pool, giving new media outlets the opportunity to travel with the president on Air Force One, enter the East Room of the White House, and ask President Donald Trump questions during special events.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced the arrest of an illegal immigrant who is citizens of both Turkey and Egypt, but nonetheless entered the United States illegally from Mexico, and is now alleged to have violated the terms of his release into the country by moving to Virginia without informing authorities.
A Friday press release from ICE stated that Noareleslam Abdelrahman was first arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol in June 2023, after he illegally crossed the southern border near Yuma, Arizona, when they served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice judge to determine whether he would be allowed in the United States.
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U.S. Representative John McGuire (R-VA-05) on Monday said that House Republicans are close to presenting one piece of legislation that would accomplish much of the agenda outlined by President Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
McGuire said Monday during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show” that Republicans in the House could have their bill ready as early as Tuesday, which he told The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks would be an historic pace.
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President Donald Trump derided longtime Democratic political strategist James Carville after the former Clinton campaign strategist suggested Democrats should “play opossum” while the inevitable “collapse” of the Trump administration unfolds, fueled in part by a potential loss by Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin this November.
“I’m telling the Democrats, just sit there, play possum. Let them go, let them go, let them go,” said Carville during a Thursday appearance on Fox News. Claiming without evidence that the administration’s poll numbers are declining, he advised Democrats, “Just let the ball come to you. We don’t need to be aggressive now.”
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Dave LaRock, who represented Virginia’s 33rd District in the House of Delegates for a decade before losing the primary in his 2023 bid for the State Senate, confirmed on Wednesday that he is considering entering the race for the Republican nomination for Governor of Virginia.
LaRock confirmed that efforts to collect signatures for hi
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Arlington Public Schools (APS) announced a change to its public pool policy last week, with members of the public now required to undergo screening against a sexual offender database, following the arrest of Richard Cox, a registered sex offender who allegedly exposed himself to women and children in women’s facilities after claiming to identify as a transgender woman.
The public school system, which allows its pools, restrooms, and locker rooms to be used by the public when school is not in session, announced new policies that took effect on Saturday. These include requirements for visitors to have their photo taken, present identification, and consent to be scanned against a national database of sex offenders, among other requirements.
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Virginia House Delegate Wren Williams (R-Patrick) confirmed on Tuesday that members of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration are opposed to the House Bill (HB) 2252, the legislation he proposed that would allow those released from prison with probational conditions to end their probation period early, following the completion certain conditions that promote reintegration to society.
Williams made the statement on his Tuesday appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” when he confirmed the reporting by The Virginia Star John Fredericks indicating members of Youngkin’s political team have expressed concerns his support for the legislation would complicate a future presidential campaign.
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John Reid, the former Richmond radio host who is now seeking the Republican nomination to serve as Virginia’s next lieutenant governor, said on Monday that Governor Glenn Youngkin paved the road for Republicans to “step up” and prevent Democrats from taking back control in 2025.
Reid made the remarks while appearing as the guest host on the Monday broadcast of “The John Fredericks Show,” when he first explained his decision to enter politics began with the riots, election protests and COVID-19 policies pursued by Democrats in 2020 and 2021.
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Virginia Delegate Wren Williams (R-Patrick) said on Thursday that House Bill (HB) 2252, his legislation to create an incentive structure that would allow those released from prison with probational conditions to end their probation period earlier if they complete certain conditions set by the commonwealth.
Williams said the legislation, which passed both the House of Delegates and State Senate with bipartisan support, would streamline Virginia’s probation system while encouraging those released from prison to readjust to society, during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show.”
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Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who last year announced her candidacy to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin, said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump won her support for the second time with his response to the assassination attempt he survived in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Earle-Sears made the remarks during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” telling The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks that even though she urged Republicans to move past Trump following the president’s contest of the 2020 election results, she was moved by his profession of faith following the assassination attempt.
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Virginia Tech stated in a Tuesday notice posted to its website that it would effectively ignore a recent executive order by President Donald Trump that capped the portion of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding which can be used for facilities and administrative costs to 15 percent, citing the recent pause issued by a federal judge in Massachusetts.
In a statement posted to the university’s website by Provost Cyril Clarke and Chief Operating Officer Amy Sebring, Virginia Tech claimed the 15 percent cap would harm the university’s ongoing projects, and said it would continue to anticipate the Biden-era caps until a judge issues a final ruling.
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Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) affiliate VHHA Solutions announced Monday it has partnered with Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), a company which specializes in de-escalation and crisis prevention training across a wide range of environments including the healthcare field.
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U.S. Representative John McGuire (R-VA-05) said on Monday that Virginia Republicans have a “chance” to retain the commonwealth’s executive branch in November, saying that Democrats in the General Assembly are not behaving like a party that is trying to expand its coalition ahead of the 2025 elections.
McGuire, making the comments during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” highlighted the legislative agenda unveiled by Virginia Democrats as evidence the party may not be capable of beating Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who seems likely to become the Republican gubernatorial nominee.
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Former Richmond-based broadcaster John Reid said on Friday that his entrance into the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor was sparked by the recent water crisis in the commonwealth’s capital, which saw most of the city lose access to running water for six days in January.
Reid, who is the latest Republican to enter the race, made the remarks durin
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It was revealed on Thursday that Richard Cox, who is reported to be a convicted child sex offender, allegedly exposed his genitals in four separate incidents between October and December of 2024, including at two Northern Virginia high schools and one locker room where he was granted access to women’s facilities due to his purported status as a transgender woman.
Inmate information made public by the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office shows Richard Cox was booked into jail on December 6, after he was charged with 22 crimes, including identity theft, entering or loitering near a school or daycare as a convicted sex offender, indecent exposure, and indecent liberties with a child.
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Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, the only elected Republican in the county, today said that his campaign to become the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia was motivated by an effort to help the Republican ticket on Election Day, and particularly to help Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears win her election to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Asked on Wednesday by The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks how he expected to win in November if Earle-Sears should perform poorly, as a January poll showed former Representative Abigail Spanberger winning against Earle-Sears by 10 percent, Herrity pointed to his years of electoral success in Fairfax County.
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John Curran, who last year launched his candidacy for the Republican nomination to become Virginia’s next lieutenant general, said on Tuesday that he hopes to bring the commonwealth’s Republicans together, creating a unified front to leverage public opinion and force Democrats to accept conservative legislation.
Curran made the remarks on Tuesday to John Fredericks, who owns The Virginia Star, during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” after the host asked how the James City business consultant planned to use the role of lieutenant governor to advocate for policies that reflect President Donald Trump’s agenda.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday that the federal agency arrested a previously convicted, twice deported illegal immigrant who sexually assaulted a Virginia woman.
The immigration agency revealed the January arrest of Nicolas Alberto Hernandez-Lopez, a citizen of El Salvador who was previously convicted of the second-degree sexual assault of a Fairfax County, Virginia woman in 2019, when the immigrant was determined to have violated the terms of his admission into the country.
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The Trump administration has reportedly ordered a 70 percent cut to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency which manages personnel for the federal bureaucracy. According to OPM, about 160 of its jobs are located in Virginia.
A Federal News Network report published Friday claimed that top members of the Trump administration directed OPM officials to draft plans to cut both programs and personnel by 70 percent, with the Washington, D.C. outlet citing multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting with Trump officials.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares reportedly sent a legal notice to the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and University of Virginia (UVA) health systems, offering guidance on the executive order banning federal spending on transgender surgeries or medicines signed by President Donald Trump, which states that his office is monitoring for compliance.
The legal notice, published by ABC 8 News on Friday, references the Tuesday executive order Trump signed, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Castration.”
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Legislation under consideration by the Virginia House of Delegates would require the U.S. Congress to formally pass an act of war against a foreign country before the Governor of Virginia is allowed to authorize the Virginia National Guard to deploy overseas.
The Defend the Guard Act, or HB 2193 was submitted on January 7 by Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), and on Thursday the legislation was advanced unanimously in vote by the House Subcommittee on Public Safety, prompting the conservative lawmaker to celebrate in a video posted to the social media platform X.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Donald Trump formally dropped the government’s Biden-era lawsuit against Virginia over the commonwealth’s purge of noncitizens from its voter rolls before the 2024 elections.
Legal notice of the voluntary dismissal by the Trump administration’s DOJ was filed on Tuesday, months after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Virginia’s right to remove the noncitizens from its voter rolls despite the Biden-era lawsuit last October.
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The third Republican to enter the primary contest to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor is John Reid, a former radio host based in Richmond who entered the race Monday as conservatives seek a new candidate to replace Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who appears likely to become the party’s nominee for governor.
Formerly a morning host for WRVA, and the son of longtime Virginia lawmaker John “Jack” Reid Sr., the newly-minted candidate announced his campaign in a press release posted to social media, with Reid pledging to follow the example set by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin vowed to veto legislation, currently under consideration in the Virginia State Senate, which would remove the religious exemption that allows Virginia parents to homeschool their children on theological grounds.
Senate Bill (SB) 1031 was submitted earlier this month by State Senator Stella Pekarsky (D-Centreville), and according to its summary the legislation would require families who homeschool on religious grounds to annually provide notice to school superintendents, provide evidence they can provide a sufficient education, and describe the curriculum that children will receive while home schooled.
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The plan by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) to pass the legislative agenda outlined by President Donald Trump could result in accusations of Republican failure, warned Virginia U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09), who said that the legislation could easily be broken into two bills that would be easier for House Republicans to pass through the narrowly divided Congress.
Griffith made the remarks during a Wednesday appearance on “The John Fredericks Show” after Scalise confirmed on Tuesday that House Republicans are “moving forward with one bill,” with the Louisiana Republican additionally telling reporters that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has agreed to the plan that would see Trump complete multiple campaign promises, including his promises to extend his tax cuts, increase border security, and improve domestic energy production.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed a lawsuit against the social media platform TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, alleging the company’s smartphone application was designed to be addictive to young people, and that its creators make false claims about its content being appropriate for minors.
A press release from the attorney’s general office confirmed the lawsuit was filed Friday, and revealed that Miyares argued TikTok was, “intentionally designed to be addictive for adolescent users.”
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U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said on Sunday that he considered his questions regarding the personal character of Pete Hegseth, who President Donald Trump nominated to serve as Secretary of Defense, to be his best shot at persuading Republican senators against confirming the veteran and former Fox News host.
In an appearance on “Face the Nation,” Kaine said that Republicans in the Senate tend to shy away from presidential nominations who may seem unqualified, or who have serious moral failings, and pointing to the example of former Representative Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw his acceptance of Trump’s nomination for him to serve as Attorney General, said he decided to use such concerns against Hegseth.
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President Joe Biden on Sunday issued another round of pardons, including to Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), for his 1994 drug conviction, after the Democrat’s criminal past became the target of criticism by both Chris LaCivita, the campaign manager for President-elect Donald Trump in 2024, and the Republican Party of Virginia.
The White House issued a statement on Sunday, in which Biden confirmed, “I am exercising my clemency power to pardon 5 individuals and commute the sentences of 2 individuals who have demonstrated remorse, rehabilitation, and redemption.” The outgoing president told the public that those he selected, “each made significant contributions to improving their communities.”
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Polling released on Thursday shows the majority of Virginians continue to hold a positive view of the performance by Glenn Youngkin as Governor of Virginia, though suggested voters may nonetheless vote for a Democrat to succeed him when casting ballots in November.
The survey, released by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Civic Leadership and conducted between January 6-13, found 53 percent of Virginia voters continue to approve of Youngkin’s performance as governor, including 87 percent of Republicans, 54 percent of independents, and 19 percent of the commonwealth’s Democratic voters.
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A Virginia State Senate subcommittee on Thursday shelved legislation that would have prohibited biological men who identify as transgender women from competing on sports teams with biological women, despite the bill receiving support from Governor Glenn Youngkin, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and former college athlete Riley Gaines.
Senate Bill 749 by State Senator Tammy Brankley Mulchi (R-Clarksville) would have required schools to clearly state whether sports teams are for men, women, or are coed, and also required student athletes to obtain a signed document from a physician stating they seek to compete on a team that corresponds to their biological gender. The bill would have also allowed students who suffered from a school’s failure to adhere to the law to sue for damages.
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Virginia hospitals and health systems were found to have provided $3.7 billion in economic impact and generated $62.2 billion in positive economic impact across the commonwealth in 2023, a new report shows.
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U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09) on Wednesday was skeptical the House of Representatives would successfully pass “one big, beautiful bill” containing several policies championed by President-elect Donald Trump, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) has suggested lawmakers will pass before April.
Griffith made the remarks during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” telling host John Fredericks, who publishes The Virginia Star, that Congress would run out of time to build consensus, and that House Republicans would settle for passing two bills to accomplish Trump’s agenda.
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Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears on Wednesday reportedly announced raising more than $3 million for her gubernatorial campaign, including one donation of $50,000 from the campaign committee belonging to former Representative Kevin McCarthy.
In the four months since Earle-Sears announced her campaign last September, the lieutenant governor has reportedly raised more than $3 million, with Virginia Scope reporting a spokesman for the candidate said the campaign is “in full-swing” with a “rush of grassroots and financial support” leaving Earle-Sears “in a position of great strength” as Virginia begins its gubernatorial campaign season.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday urged the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to adopt a policy requiring schools to notify parents of on-campus drug overdoses within 24 hours, which would formalize a requirement the governor previously created through an executive order in late 2023.
Drug overdoses in Virginia schools first surfaced as an issue on October 31, 2023, when the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release confirming nine students had overdosed that month. It was later determined a total of 11 students experienced non-fatal drug overdoses overdosed at the same high school over an eight-week period in 2023.
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While Democrats in Virginia have suggested the incoming Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the federal government will be a political liability among voters in the Old Dominion, both Governor Glenn Youngkin and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears made statements last week declaring their support for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) commission to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Youngkin was first to confirm his support for DOGE on Friday, when the governor signed a letter by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04).
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John Curran, the James City business consultant who launched his campaign to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor last year, said on Monday that he is the Republican candidate most closely aligned with President-elect Donald Trump, and vowed to use the platform associated with the elected position to challenge Democrats who obstruct bipartisan progress in the General Assembly.
Curran made the remarks during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” telling host John Fredericks, who is publisher of The Virginia Star, that he hopes to use the lieutenant governor’s “soapbox” to challenge career politicians.
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Tim Parrish, the state director of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) – Virginia, predicted that Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears has a “fighting chance” to beat either former Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) or Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) in the 2025 race for governor as polls show the Republican statistically tied with both candidates.
Parrish made the remarks during a Friday appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” offering his analysis after The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks suggested Earle-Sears has slim odds of repeating the 2021 victory that saw Governor Glenn Youngkin become the first Republican elected governor of Virginia since 2010.
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Chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda released a statement on Friday reacting to President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in the New York City hush money trial, describing the entire case as a “desperate attempt” by the Democratic left to “silence” Trump.
In May 2024, Trump was found guilty by a New York jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
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Former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears are statistically tied in the race to become the next Governor of Virginia, according to polling released Thursday.
The Emerson College poll of Virginia voters found Spanberger narrowly leading with the support of 42 percent of the commonwealth, but Earle-Sears statistically tied at 41 percent of support, with the pollsters reporting a margin of error of 3 percent.
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U.S. Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) said Wednesday that the suggestions by President-elect Donald Trump that the United States should reassert ownership over the Panama Canal and purchase Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark both serve U.S. national security interests.
Wittman made the remarks during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” telling host John Fredericks, who is the publisher of The Virginia Star, that increased access to Greenland would help monitor Russian submarine activity while renegotiating the country’s interest in the Panama Canal would better position the United States against China.
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A majority of Virginia voters want state lawmakers to pass legislation that would set new standards for health insurance companies when it comes to transparency surrounding prior authorization decisions and approval rates, a new poll shows.
The polling firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy polled 625 registered Virginia voters from December 17-December 20 on their experiences and views regarding the healthcare industry, specifically health insurance companies providing customers with prior authorization before receiving medical care.
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Arlington County Republican Committee accused Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti of leniency when it was revealed the suspect in a Pentagon City double stabbing that occurred last month, 23-year-old Leonardo Reyes, previously reached a plea deal with her office in 2021 for armed robbery.
Dehghani-Tafti is one of the prosecutors who received significant political backing from an organization tied to the controversial Hungarian-American financier George Soros, and more recently, the prosecutor argued there was “no basis” to disrupt an anti-Israel encampment that formed near the Virginia home of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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Virginia House Delegate Jason Ballard (R-Pearisburg) introduced legislation last Wednesday that could allow state law enforcement to apply an existing law against those who engage in “swatting,” a slang term for making a false police report to compel an intense police response, typically involving a SWAT team, to a specific address.
House Bill 1583 would amend and reenact the portion of Virginia code specifying bomb threats are a Class 5 felony to include threats, whether real or false, to “discharge a firearm within or at” any location where it is already illegal to call a bomb threat. It also would change the law to make such threats a Class 1 misdemeanor for offenders under 18.
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Legislation filed last month in Virginia would require social media companies to obtain verifiable parental consent before allowing minors to create accounts on social media platforms, effectively raising the age for Virginia’s existing parental consent requirement from 13 to 18, while also prohibiting the sale of data collected about children.
Senate Bill 783 was submitted on December 27, 2024, by State Senator David Suetterlein (R-Roanoke), and the bill’s description explains it requires social media companies to obtain “verifiable parental consent” before any minor Virginian can create an account or at least “before collecting, using, or disclosing such child’s personal data,” specifically in a commercial transaction.
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Outgoing U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), who is leaving Congress to pursue the Democratic Party’s nomination for Governor of Virginia, said it was “dangerous” for President-elect Donald Trump to nominate Tulsi Gabbard to serve as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in an interview with ABC 7 News published Tuesday.
Spanberger, who formerly worked as a federal agent for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and a case officer for the CIA, made the remarks about Gabbard when asked about those nominated by Trump to serve in key intelligence positions during his second term in the White House.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain the law requiring for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social media platform TikTok, to sell its American operations or face a ban in the country.
After Congress raised concerns about TikTok’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that gave ByteDance until January 19, 2025 to sell its American operations. ByteDance sued to block the legislation, but the federal government obtained rulings allowing the law in place from lower courts, leading to the Supreme Court deciding to take the case on January 10, 2025.
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Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) said on Thursday that the “Agenda 47” plan by President-elect Donald Trump to relocate up to 100,000 federal employees from Washington, D.C. to other parts of the country will help unite Democrats ahead of the January 7 special elections.
Scott made the remarks during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Katie Phang Show,” telling the eponymous host he is optimistic his party will fare well in the upcoming special elections sparked by the electoral victories of U.S. Representatives-elect Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10) and John McGuire (R-VA-05).
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