A Confederate memorial was removed this week from Arlington National Cemetery and could be relocated to the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park in the Shenandoah Valley if Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gets his way.
The park is operated by the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, which is run by the Virginia Military Institute, one of the commonwealth’s 15 public universities and the oldest state-supported military college in the U.S.
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The budget Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) proposed on Wednesday includes nearly $95 million in funding for the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, also known as the Norfolk Sea Wall, but tied $21 million of the funding to the completion of a long-delayed casino.
Youngkin’s budget includes $73.8 million for the project, a series of improvements that includes levees, storm surge barriers, pump stations, and other improvements to manage the flow of water during storms. However, the budget calls for an additional $21 million in funding that is “contingent upon the City applying revenues generated by a casino gaming establishment.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) on Wednesday proposed a two-year budget that will see Virginia’s income tax rate decrease, but paired the cut with a sales tax increase that will see some parts of the commonwealth pay nearly 8 percent sales tax.
Youngkin presented his “Unleashing Opportunity Budget” before the Virginia House of Delegates by noting migration trends within the United States that show Americans moving to states with lower taxes and more jobs.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) celebrated on Monday as all 131 Virginia school divisions finalized and submitted their “ALL in VA” plans with the governor’s office. Youngkin originally challenged Virginia’s schools to finish their plans by October 16.
In a statement, Youngkin said he is “pleased all of Virginia’s school divisions have heeded my call to urgently and aggressively take action to help our students recover” from the learning loss suffered as a result of pandemic-era restrictions. Youngkin said the submissions mean Virginia schools “embraced that challenge and are committed to getting our students back on track academically.”
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A new poll conducted by Battleground Connect, provided to The Virginia Star by the congressional campaign of Delegate John McGuire (R-Goochland), indicates the majority of Republicans in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District will support former President Donald Trump over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in March 2024, and may choose McGuire over Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) when voters return to the polls in June.
The survey reported that 71 percent of Republicans in Virginia’s 5th district hold a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to just 15 percent who hold an unfavorable opinion. Just 43 percent of those respondents reported a favorable opinion of DeSantis, while 34 percent had no opinion.
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The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) announced Monday the launch of a new public awareness campaign focused on making sure patients and families in Virginia “know their rights to help them make informed medical decisions.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said in a Friday news conference that he will introduce legislation to the Virginia General Assembly to ban TikTok for minors, restrict other social media from gathering data about children, and expand state-funded mental health initiatives in public schools and colleges.
Youngkin revealed four new legislative efforts he intends to champion during the upcoming legislative session, after first calling for an additional $500 million to address youth mental health in a Friday press release.
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Workers set to relocate Confederate Memorial were spotted Sunday in Arlington National Cemetery preparing the 109-year-old statue for removal. Plans were announced in September that the iconic work would be moved to grounds at Virginia Military Institute’s New Market Battlefield State Historical Park.
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In a gratifying win for religious freedom and free speech, the Virginia Supreme Court concluded Thursday that embattled Virginia high school teacher Peter Vlaming, who had been fired over his refusal to use a student’s preferred pronouns because of his religious faith, was protected by the free exercise and free speech clauses of the Virginia Constitution.
In 2018, Vlaming, then a West Point High School French teacher, consistently referred to his transgender student (a biological female) by the student’s preferred name. However, he carefully avoided the use of third-person pronouns when referring to the student so as to not violate his religious beliefs. This wasn’t good enough for the West Point School Board, which ordered Vlaming to use the student’s preferred pronouns, too.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said on Wednesday that he will support former President Donald Trump if he secures the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
Youngkin confirmed to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that will support Trump, should he first become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
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Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09) formally endorsed former President Donald Trump and his 2024 campaign for the White House on Wednesday, becoming the first congressman from Virginia to endorse the former president’s bid.
Griffith made his endorsement during a radio interview with John Fredericks, the publisher of The Virginia Star, who called it “a huge endorsement” for Trump.
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Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) said the House Freedom Caucus will work to oppose the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) crafted with leadership in Congress, which will reauthorize a controversial government surveillance law that House Republicans previously pulled due to backlash.
Good told John Fredericks, publisher of The Virginia Star, that he plans to rally Republicans against the proposed NDAA due to its inclusion of an extension for controversial government spying under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The current version of the bill, he explained, was created by Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-08), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) revealed on Monday he will seek $90 million in his December 20 budget to fund new research at three Virginia universities that have all suffered from antisemitic protests and demonstrations on their campuses, accusations of antisemitic posts from faculty, or claims of failing to accurately reflect Israel’s position in its defensive war against Hamas at university events.
Youngkin announced in a press release Monday that he is seeking “a total of $90 million in one-time funds to the University of Virginia’s Manning Institute for Biotechnology, Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medicines for All Institute” that will require them to work with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority to increase “commercialization and startup support” for the institutions.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) denied that Virginia Republicans suffered from his political action committee’s heavy campaigning to restrict abortion during the November elections during a Monday interview. However, the governor also acknowledged the majority of Americans are “living paycheck to paycheck” in remarks that follow a leadership challenge against his allies in the House of Delegates, which was reportedly orchestrated due to frustrations over Republicans’ failure to campaign on the economy.
Responding to criticisms that Virginia Republicans may have suffered due to Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC spending heavily in favor of restricting abortion during the 2023 elections, the governor told Bloomberg that campaigning on abortion “was not a mistake.” He seemed to argue the issue gave Republicans something to run on, telling the outlet, “I firmly believe that one of the challenges that we have had as Republicans is we haven’t been clear on what we’re going to do.”
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The U.S. Department of Defense is being urged by members of Congress to develop a national security plan to address China’s interest and investments in seabed mining.
Virginia U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, led over two dozen legislators including fellow Rep. Jen Kiggans in sounding the alarm on China’s involvement in mining critical resources, such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese and zinc from the seabed.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin sent a letter to two federal agencies within the Biden administration, urging them to require federal employees to return to the office in order to save the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) from a budget deficit he claims threatens the future of public transportation in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Youngkin urged the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM)and Office of Management and Budget to order its employees back to their offices “to infuse needed energy into the Greater DC regional economy and provide WMATA with a sustaining ridership level.”
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Jeffrey Clark, an attorney who served at high levels of the Department of Justice under former President Donald Trump, is undergoing both prosecution and bar disciplinary proceedings for his slight involvement with the 2020 election challenges. The District of Columbia Bar, its disciplinary panel, and the federal trial court judge refused to let Clark remove the disciplinary proceedings to federal court, despite the fact there is a federal law providing for removal when the actions in question involve a federal official, so Clark filed an appeal with the D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday.
Clark is being disciplined and prosecuted for drafting a letter to Georgia election officials after the 2020 election advising them of options the Georgia Legislature could take to address the concerns about election illegalities. The letter was never sent or even circulated.
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U.S. Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) raised complaints about former President Donald Trump, highlighting an alleged lack of conservative bona fides, before criticizing the criminal indictments against the former president as “baggage” in an undercover video posted to social media on Wednesday.
The video, which appears to be clandestinely shot, repeatedly features a clip of Good stating “you’re asking me privately, I don’t say this publicly,” before transitioning to clips of Good criticizing Trump.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced his new Building Blocks for Virginia Families initiative a press event on Thursday, declaring the plan will allow the commonwealth to continue funding childcare and early childhood education after pandemic-era funding from the federal government is gone.
Promoting the initiative as part of his administration’s efforts to empower parents, raise the commonwealth’s educational standards, and bring more Virginians into the workforce, the governor promised during a Thursday press conference that the initiative will be “the great underpinnings to having the very best childcare and early education system in the nation.”
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A Williamsburg music and arts festival is denying it ever scheduled a menorah lighting to celebrate Hanukkah after Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) condemned the group’s purported decision to cancel it amid Israel’s defensive war against Hamas.
News broke on Sunday that the 2nd Sundays Art and Music Festival in Williamsburg canceled a menorah lighting scheduled for its December 10 event, with The Virginia Gazette reporting that festival founder Shirley Vermillion “said 2nd Sundays are inclusive to different religions and cultures,” and reported that Vermillion stated the menorah lighting “seemed very inappropriate” due to what the outlet called “current events in Israel and Gaza.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin joined a coalition of governors from 17 states who on Monday sent a letter to President Joe Biden that urged the administration to prevent “dangerous and adversarial governments to infiltrate our country” by purchasing “swaths of real property throughout the United States.”
Citing multiple reports that companies linked to China are purchasing large amounts of farmland, including near U.S. military installations, the governors wrote to demand the Biden administration “reckon with the fact that such entities are plain threats to our national security, our farmers, and our citizenry.”
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Former President Donald Trump was urged to call for a replacement for Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Monday by Patti Lyman, a Republican National Committeewoman representing Virginia. Lyman’s remarks follow claims from McDaniel that Governor Glenn Youngkin, or his representatives, told her that Virginia did not need additional funding prior to the Republicans’ electoral losses in November.
During an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” Lyman suggested Trump could be a deciding factor to determine new leadership at the RNC. She told host John Fredericks, who is publisher of The Virginia Star, Trump is the “one man” who could take “necessary” actions to “get new leadership at the RNC.”
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The University of Virginia (UVA) did little to promote Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) on Wednesday, even as he gathered officials from every public college in the commonwealth at for his “Higher Education Summit on Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity” at the school’s Newcomb Hall to discuss the importance of differing opinions in higher education.
Youngkin told attendees that, “when it comes to freedom of expression, we have to create an environment that protects the ability to challenge conventional thinking,” according to UVA Today. The governor added, “Challenging beliefs and fostering an environment for these debates is exactly why we all exist.”
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A recent report revealed that Virginia’s criminal defense court-appointed and public defense attorneys are underfunded and that most cases are now taking twice as long to defend — leading to an even greater disparity between pay and hours worked.
The report, assembled by the commission that reviews the operation of the commonwealth’s policies and state agencies, attributed increased workload per case to changes in technology, mental health and a slew of policies ushered in by the previous governor’s administration.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) placed third in a Virginia presidential primary poll released on Thursday, while pollsters found the majority of voters favor former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Trump was also statistically tied with President Joe Biden, despite Biden carrying the Commonwealth by 10 percentage points in 2020.
The Roanoke College poll, conducted between November 12 and November 20, found Trump to be the first choice of 51 percent of Virginia Republicans for the Republican candidate for president. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) placed in a distant, second place, with 14 percent of support.
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Virginia State Senator Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) confirmed on Wednesday he will not run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), who earlier this month announced she would not seek re-election and would instead run for governor. McPike noted Virginia Democrats’ “slim majorities” in the Virginia General Assembly amid Democrats’ promises to be a “brick wall” preventing the agenda of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R).
In a post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the senator said he looks “forward to continuing to serve and fight for Virginians in the Senate.” Revealing he was urged to enter the House race, McPike (pictured above) stated “for now, with our slim majorities in the General Assembly, I will continue to fight to improve the lives of everyday Virginians.”
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The office of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) provided The Virginia Star with a copy of a letter written in response to a bipartisan group of Virginia lawmakers who requested the governor seek a delay on enforcement of the state’s ban on skill games.
After the Virginia Supreme Court reversed a stay on skill games in October, which are similar to slot machines but purportedly require skill to operate, 11 legislators sent a joint letter to Youngkin on November 7. The lawmakers informed Youngkin of their intention to regulate the machines in the upcoming legislative session, and according to Richmond Times-Dispatch, asked Youngkin to direct authorities to delay enforcement of the ban until the assembly could act.
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Commissioner Nelson Smith, who was selected by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) to oversee the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, announced in November that a deputy commissioner’s position is being eliminated from the agency in a bid for the agency to meet to the governor’s expectations.
Nelson told employees across the agency’s departments at some point in November that the position of deputy commissioner for administrative services was being eliminated as part of a broadcer reorganization effort, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The job cut will apparently help the agency enact Youngkin’s Right Help, Right Now reforms, which the governor stated will help those suffering from mental health crises in Virginia.
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A Northern Virginia middle school chose “Palestine” as their country to represent as part of a school district-wide multicultural fair, omitting any recognition of the State of Israel – including maps.
The fair was recently presented by the Stafford County Public Schools “to empower multicultural awareness” for students and the community. All 33 schools in the district participated, with nearly 1,000 in attendance. Schools “were able to choose the country they wanted to represent,” according to the school district.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin indicated to local media on Friday that Virginia Republicans will reintroduce a bill to charge fentanyl dealers and distributors with murder if their drugs result in a lethal overdose. Virginia Democrats successfully defeated the legislation in February.
Youngkin told 7 News on Friday, “if you’re a drug dealer and you do drugs and someone dies, you should be charged with felony homicide.” He stressed to the outlet, “[w]e cannot coddle drug dealers.”
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As the holidays approach, so does another, less joyful event for some Virginia localities: Personal property tax deadlines.
All states impose real estate property taxes on their residents, but not all states levy taxes on other forms of property, like motor vehicles, boats, planes or mobile homes. WalletHub released a study in February showing that of the 26 states with vehicle property taxes, Virginia has the highest tax rate, hovering, on average, around 3.96 percent.
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With an early declaration from Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger that she will be running for governor in 2025 and Virginia’s one-term policy preventing Gov. Glenn Youngkin from running consecutively, Republicans can only speculate who their candidates will be.
Spanberger has said she declared early due to next year’s congressional races in which her seat will be reelected. She wanted to give interested parties time to prepare a strong campaign to keep District 7 blue.
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Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares and Sergeant Major Carlos Ruiz, the newest Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps basically changed jobs during recent events in Virginia and on the battlefield in the Middle East.
Known for their fearless service in combat and garrison advising senior officers, political presentations are not part of a Sergeant Major’s job description.
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More than 80 percent of Virginia school divisions have submitted plans to receive funding from the “ALL In” plan unveiled by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) earlier this year. Youngkin created the funding opportunity with the Virginia General Assembly as schools as students continue to struggle, even years after the pandemic forced schools to go digital.
Superintendent of Public Education Lisa Coons said in a press release on Wednesday that Virginia’s education administrators in 110 school divisions “are making major efforts to find specific and meaningful ways to help their students tackle learning loss.” The agency reported the 110 participating school divisions “cover all regions of the commonwealth,” and include “large divisions such as Fairfax County and Virginia Beach,” and “some of the smallest such as Highland County schools.”
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Virginia Speaker-designee Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) said in an appearance on “Meet The Press Now” shared to social media on Monday that he expects Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) to sign Democrats’ forthcoming legislation to restore voting rights for felons, but added that he is ready to take the decision “away from the governor” if he resists their “opportunity” to “restore rights.”
“There are several issues we can work on, I think the governor’s already signaled that he’s ready to reset and ready to work with us,” Scott said, noting Youngkin’s previous suggestion the parties could work together on mental health, drug addiction, and other issues.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) reportedly told reporters that Virginia needs to “get revenue sorted” before he can determine whether to move forward on his 2022 proposal to cut state taxes by $1 billion.
Youngkin spent nearly three hours speaking with the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates on Monday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, and came away from the meeting with uncertain remarks about tax cuts amid claims the state will suffer a $1.3 billion shortfall in its next budget.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly announced joint legislative plans on Monday to enshrine abortion access into the state’s constitution, raise the minimum wage, automatically restore voting rights for felons, and ban AR-15 rifles. The plans were released after Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said he would pursue bipartisan legislation in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.
Virginia Democrats in both chambers of the legislature say they submitted four bills on Monday, the first day of prefiling for the 2024 General Assembly Session, which seek to make good on the party’s campaign partisan campaign promises.
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Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) reportedly warned donors that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) could launch a campaign for his U.S. Senate seat in 2024 in a fundraising email on Friday. Youngkin is term limited, and cannot seek another term as the commonwealth’s governor.
In a fundraising email, Kaine reportedly stressed the importance of maintaining the Democrats’ current Senate majority, citing the decision of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) to retire, before addressing “speculation” about Youngkin’s future political ambitions, according to The Washington Examiner.
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Wildfires have been burning across Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, resulting in parts of the Appalachian Trail being shut down, according to officials.
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Everyone is entitled to a defense, but those willing to serve as court-appointed lawyers in Virginia are growing scarce, and public defenders need more staff to serve their clients properly.
Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission presented a report to members of the General Assembly showing that state caps on court-appointed attorney fees are “embarrassingly low,” according to one judge, and there are neither enough public defenders to meet demand nor enough support staff.
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The University of Virginia (UVA) Medical School hosted an educational session on April 13, 2022, about starting a “gender-affirming” health program and offered a continuing education credit to healthcare professionals who participated, according to a video recording obtained through a public records request by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The session, “Starting a Gender Affirming Surgery Program,” was presented by the UVA School of Medicine Center for Health Humanities and Ethics and featured a lecture from “gender-affirming” surgeon, Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langner. In the lecture, Bluebond-Langner described principles that led to the rapid growth of the transgender surgery program at NYU Langone Health and articulated the need for more gender health programs, saying that “more centers are needed to meet the demand.”
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Virginia State Senator-elect John McGuire, who announced on Wednesday he is launching a primary challenge against against Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05), was described as a “prominent surrogate” for Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in 2021.
McGuire, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who is currently finishing his term as a Delegate in the Virginia House before he moves to the Virginia Senate, was described by The Washington Post as “a prominent surrogate for Youngkin” who “often” introduced him at campaign events when Youngkin was campaigning in 2021.
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The Manassas Mosque, a mosque in the Washington, DC area, explicitly declared its support for the Hamas terrorist organization in a recent newsletter. The mosque’s support for the Iranian regime has raised the concern of several congressmen.
The newsletter, which was first noticed by the Capital Research Center in collaboration with Focus on Western Islamism, states:
We stand firmly with the Palestinian Resistance (Hamas) and the courageous people of Palestine. With the help of Allah (swt), they will bring liberation and justice to Palestine and to the rest of the world. The Israeli regime is weak and afraid of all the calls for the freedom of Palestine taking place all over the globe. The regime’s days are numbered.
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The Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates chose legislators considered allies of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) for party leadership last Sunday, including one who spent over $500,000 to win a district considered safe for Republicans after Virginia’s 2021 redistricting.
Virginia Republicans chose House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) to become the party’s new Minority Leader in the House of Delegates, and Delegate Amanda Batten (R-York) will retain her position as the Republican Caucus Chair.
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Election officials determined on Tuesday that Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj (D) narrowly lost her re-election.
Biberaj lost her bid for a third term to challenger Bob Anderson, a Republican who served in the position from 1996 through 2003, by exactly 300 votes. Anderson received 68,068 votes, or 49.92 percent of the total, compared to Biberaj, who received 67,768 votes, or 49.7 percent of the total. A total of 518 voters wrote in a candidate for their ballots.
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A memo released by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) on Monday credited Virginia Democrats’ recent electoral victories to the party’s commitment to state issues that impact voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia, primarily abortion, as well as the media’s simultaneous focus on the “presidential ambitions” of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R).
In the memo, DLCC Interim President Heather Williams wrote, “while national pundits focused on Governor Youngkin and his presidential ambitions,” Democrats sought to make the election “about state power and the future” of abortion.
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A PAC founded by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares supported some winning prosecutorial candidates in the most recent elections, and plans to keep building momentum throughout 2024.
The mission of the Protecting Americans Action Fund is to help conservative, “enforce-the-law” prosecutors defeat liberal, “social justice” prosecutors – often backed by billionaire and Democratic financier George Soros – in elections to state offices across the country.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) appeared to receive an olive branch from Delegate Don Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth), who the Virginia Democrats elected as their Speaker-designee for the Virginia House of Delegates following Republican losses in last week’s elections, after Scott stated he wants “a reset” between the men during a Friday interview.
In Friday remarks to The Washington Post, the Speaker-designee described himself as a “pragmatic progressive” who is ready for “a reset” with Youngkin. The outlet reported Scott believes Democrats and Youngkin “can find common ground on areas such as education, mental health funding and creating good jobs,” and the publication noted Youngkin made similar promises in a press conference shortly after the electoral defeats of November 7.
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The federal government has selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the location for its new FBI headquarters concluding a search process that began more than 10 years ago.
Congress authorized the General Services Administration to start looking for a new site for the FBI headquarters in 2012 after a decade of complaints about the security, technological capabilities, “deteriorating infrastructure” and other issues with the current facility, located in Washington, D.C. The GSA narrowed its search to Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia, in 2014, and state lawmakers and officials from both states have actively pursued the selection of their state throughout.
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Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates reportedly sought to strip the leadership position of Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandowoah) on Sunday for his failure to caution Governor Glenn Youngkin against fiercely campaigning on abortion, and for demanding Virginia legislators appear at political events they reportedly said were part of a last minute presidential bid for the governor.
At least three Republican delegates anonymously told The Washington Post they planned to punish Gilbert, who was described as a “key ally” of Youngkin in 2022, for pushing legislators to comply with Youngkin’s demands”to appear at Youngkin-led rallies and other events,” which the legislators told the Post “were primarily meant to promote his last-minute bid for president.”
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