Results of a new Gallup poll released this week may give us the sharpest look yet at how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted American education and what may lie ahead. According to the poll, parents’ overall satisfaction with their child’s education dropped 10 percent over last year, while at the same time the number of parents saying they will choose homeschooling doubled in 2020 to 10 percent.
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Members of Trump Virginia delegation gathered at a local Innsbrook bar Thursday evening to celebrate the fourth and final night for the Republican National Convention, and the official nomination of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Bishop Leon Benjamin, a congressional candidate in Virginia’s fourth district, was the main speaker and crowd-pleaser of the event, offering a plethora proclamations about the upcoming election and the efforts of Virginia delegation.
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The Senate advanced House Bill (HB) 5120, sponsored by Sen. Howell (D-Fairfax County), to its third and final reading after spending more than half of the three hour session debating Thursday morning.
The topic which garnered the most discussion during the session was not the bill itself, however, rather one of the multiple amendments within Howell’s legislation.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 1,006,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor figure released Thursday represented a slight decrease of 98,000 new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Aug. 15. The number was about where Wall Street analysts expected it to be, according to CNBC.
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Monuments dominate Virginia’s headlines this week.
On Wednesday, Portsmouth City began removing its controversial Confederate monument. Last week, an anonymous plaintiff petitioned the Virginia Supreme Court to order confederate statues removed by the city of Richmond to go back up. The Richmond Circuit Court has scheduled a trial for October 19 to begin determining whether Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue can be removed.
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In 2016, President Donald Trump won on an America first message on trade, uniting blue-collar union and conservative households to get over the top in the Electoral College in the Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Trump successfully made the case that America had gotten ripped off in prior trade dealings, particularly in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and in trade dealings with China, and that he alone could negotiate a better deal.
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Iran has agreed to allow inspectors in to two sites where the country is suspected of having stored or used undeclared nuclear material, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was “voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve the issues.”
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Members of the Islamic State have reportedly attempted to use the coronavirus pandemic to their advantage, increasing propaganda and attacks, a United Nations counter-terrorism official announced Monday.
Since ISIS reportedly began to rally in Syria and Iraq this year, there has been an increase in threats made to conflict zones and a decrease in threats to peaceful zones experiencing coronavirus related lock-downs and restrictions, Head of the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said.
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Even after just the first night, the 2020 Republican National Convention is already decisively dominating the Democratic National Convention in viewership, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
On C-SPAN’s official livestream, the RNC garnered more than 440,000 viewers simultaneously.
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The Philadelphia Police Department deferred charges against a woman who it says punched an unsuspecting churchgoer during Catholic Mass on Sunday.
Police chose not to charge the suspect, who they identified Monday, because of her mental health issues, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The decision was made with Catholic Church officials and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
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The sign of a good music teacher, I was told as a teenager, is a willingness to allow parents to sit in on lessons. A teacher willing to have parents observe their lessons demonstrates that she has nothing to hide, is open to critique or comments, and is one who partners with parents in helping students succeed. Having witnessed this policy firsthand with my own piano instructor, a woman whose students won competitions and entered world famous music schools, I followed suit when I began teaching myself.
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There will be more Wisconsin National Guard troops in Kenosha, but not nearly as many as local leaders have requested.
Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday doubled the number of troops he’s sending to Kenosha to 500 to help police officers trying to quell riots and looting in the wake of the Sunday shooting of a Black man by police officers.
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About half of all Americans say they are saving money and paying down debt amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to an Associated Press poll published Tuesday.
Roughly 45% of Americans surveyed said they saved more money than usual amid the pandemic, according to the poll. Nearly 30% of respondents in the poll said they are paying down debt faster than they were before the coronavirus pandemic, the poll showed.
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Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, once one of the most powerful politicians in the state, started his prison sentence Wednesday after years of fending off going behind bars.
Silver, 76, reported to a federal prison in Otisville, New York, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was sentenced earlier this year to 6 1/2 years behind bars in a corruption case.
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Two more localities have passed resolutions establishing Second Amendment Sanctuaries.
On August 24, the Front Royal Town Council unanimously passed their version of the non-binding resolution, and the next day, Greene County also passed theirs.
The resolutions are the result of lobbying efforts by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, declaring that the localities will not pass laws restricting firearms. In July, new state laws took effect that allow cities and counties to pass their own gun laws, triggering a flurry of action. Some places are restricting guns, others are passing resolutions declaring they will not restrict guns. The resolutions are like a covenant — local leaders can still pass ordinances to the contrary — but are a way to signal allegiances to citizens and politicians.
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Henrico County officials and the Henrico County Manager shut down a fundraiser to support COVID-19 relief and Black Lives Matter on Tuesday.
State Senator Joe Morrissey (D-16) was hosting and sponsoring the event alongside local Richmond promoters Avantae Jones and Keron Dixon with their company True Society Events, LLC.
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The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would eliminate the mandatory minimum sentence of six months jail time for assaulting a law enforcement officer or other public servants.
The bill passed by a vote of 21-Y 15-N after over an hour of back and forth between Senators.
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A group of Virginians have started Fair Districts, a political action committee (PAC) created to oppose Amendment 1.
Amendment 1 — supported by FairMapsVA, a separate PAC — will create a citizen-led committee to lead redistricting in the state.
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A poll from Roanoke College would have you believe President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Gade are in trouble in Virginia’s November election.
The chairman of the Virginia Trump delegation refutes the findings.
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All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
Called off: Games between Milwaukee and Orlando, Houston and Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland. The NBA said all three games would be rescheduled, yet did not say when.
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Virginia employers face a deadline today to implement new COVID-19 safety standards.
On July 15, the Safety and Health Codes Board adopted the COVID-19 Emergency Standard. The new mandate includes precautions like requiring employers to classify each job for exposure risk, develop policies for employees who have been exposed to COVID-19, and enforce social distancing.
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“I would shut it down, I would listen to the scientists.”
That was former Vice President Joe Biden telling ABC News’ David Muir that if elected President in November, he is prepared to shut down the U.S. economy again to deal with the Chinese coronavirus.
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A Sterling man was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and for inducing aliens to come to the United States using fraudulently obtained H-1B visas, the Department of Justice said.
According to court documents, Ashish Sawhney, 48, allegedly used four corporations to orchestrate the improper submission of fraudulent applications for H-1B specialty-occupation work visas, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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When policymakers across the country decided to “lock down” in response to the March outbreak of the novel coronavirus, they took a leap into the unknown. Not only did we know little about COVID-19 itself at that time, but we knew almost nothing about how shutting down nearly all of society would affect people.
Policymakers focused on their models predicting how lockdowns could help limit the spread of COVID-19; an important factor, to be sure. So, too, many acknowledged the negative economic ramifications of lockdowns. But in the months since, we’ve seen many other dire consequences stem from the unprecedented shutdown of society.
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In a Washington Post op-ed titled “More Republican Casualties From Trump’s Coronavirus Denial,” columnist Jennifer Rubin claims that “red states”—specifically Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas—are “paying the price” for their “arrogant and reckless disregard of expert advice.”
In concert with Rubin, multitudes of reporters and commentators have declared that Republican governors have worsened the effects of Covid-19 by “denying science” and reopening “too early.” Meanwhile, they have praised Democratic governors, like Andrew Cuomo of NY and Phil Murphy of NJ, for their handling of the pandemic.
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has refused more than 25,000 requests to surrender illegal immigrants detained in its jails to immigration agents in the 2020 fiscal year, Fox News reported.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has blocked the transfer of illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to concerns over the conditions at ICE facilities and the possible impact on ongoing criminal investigations, Fox News reported.
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Leaked audio has revealed that representatives of the Joe Biden campaign have privately apologized to Linda Sarsour and other Muslim activists after issuing a public condemnation of her, according to the New York Post.
Sarsour, a far-left Islamic activist with a long history of anti-Semitic and anti-American statements, was one of the speakers at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, speaking as part of the “Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly.” Following widespread backlash over Sarsour’s invitation to speak at the DNC, Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates released a statement declaring that “Joe Biden has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism,” adding that “[Sarsour] has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.”
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A permit for the 57th March on Washington obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation shows that organizers anticipate around 50,000 people will attend the Washington, D.C., event Friday.
The permit for the annual march from the National Park Service grants permission to “conduct a public gathering” to Rev. Mark Thompson and the National Action Network (NAN) to commemorate the 57th March on Washington despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has led to limitations on public gatherings.
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The people closest to President Donald Trump — his family — were starring on the second night of the Republican National Convention as the GOP worked to reintroduce the president to American voters in the midst of the campaign and pandemic.
First lady Melania Trump was delivering Tuesday evening’s keynote address at the White House, while the president’s daughter Tiffany and son Eric were to be featured, too. Trump himself played a significant role throughout the night.
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Protesters repeatedly set fire late Monday night to a police union headquarters building and were repelled by officers spraying tear gas, officials said. Twenty-five people were arrested amid clashes that stretched into Tuesday morning.
People in a group of about 300 people hurled rocks and bottles at officers and set three fires to the sides of the building and one to an awning, police said. All the fires were put out.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed Liberty University’s Business School Dean David Brat to the show to discuss the present and future of the United States economy.
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A journalist for Alpha News was harassed and assaulted Monday night while covering a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Minneapolis.
Rebecca Brannon, an independent journalist who contributes video and photo stories for Alpha News, was identified by several agitators who recognized her from her coverage of previous events. The group then proceeded to follow Brannon as she walked to her car, shouted profanities at her, and eventually assaulted her.
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The Norfolk City Council removed from its agenda discussion Tuesday a new gun ordinance that would have banned guns in parks, city buildings, and at posted events. Gun rights supporters flooded the council with concerns over unclear language in the ordinance and its cover letter.
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The State Corporation Commission (SCC) is extending its general moratorium on service shut-offs until September 16 to help customers struggling to pay their utility bills during the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout.
In an news release Monday, the SCC said it is continuing its emergency measure to give the Virginia General Assembly, currently meeting in a special session, more time to pass legislation addressing the impact of COVID-19 on utility customers over the last six months.
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The House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions killed two bills Tuesday morning that would have allowed Virginians to opt out of a potential COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The bills, HB 5016 and HB 5070, gave individuals and parents the option to object on religious ground to a vaccine mandate by the Health Commissioner, who has authority to institute immediate immunization during a public health crisis, such as COVID-19, under Virginia law.
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Jerry Falwell, Jr. announced his resignation Tuesday as head of evangelical Liberty University amid conflicting claims about a sexual relationship his wife had with a younger business partner.
Falwell’s exit marks a precipitous fall from power for one of the country’s most visible evangelical leaders and ardent supporters of President Donald Trump. The Lynchburg, Virginia, university was founded by Falwell’s late father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.
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University of Virginia employees have formed a new union and launched a campaign Monday centered around moving the school’s current hybrid instruction model to a fully virtual fall semester.
The union, United Campus Workers of Virginia (UCW-VA), is composed of undergraduate and graduate student works as well as university of Virginia (UVA) faculty and staff.
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The man was a walking political disaster.
He was “a minority of a minority” who “has been taking some extreme positions.” His positions were “so extreme that they would alter our country’s very economic and social structure and our place in the world to such a degree as to make our country’s place at home and abroad, as we know it, a thing of the past.” He was horrifyingly “foolhardy,” and a Republican Party in his hands was headed for a certain “crushing defeat … that could signal the beginning of the end of our party as an effective force in American political life.” The man was putting the GOP in “an impossible situation” because he was a “sure-loser in November” who held “extreme and too simple views.”
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Postmaster General Louis DeJoy sparred with Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts over recent U.S. Postal Service policy changes at a congressional hearing Monday.
DeJoy, who appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, called Lynch’s accusations “outrageous” after the congressman blamed DeJoy for reported slow downs in mail delivery. Lynch had also said recent changes to postal service policy were unprecedented and “embarrassing.”
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The coronavirus is shaking up America’s liquor laws.
At least 33 states and the District of Columbia are temporarily allowing cocktails to-go during the pandemic. Only two — Florida and Mississippi — allowed them on a limited basis before coronavirus struck, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
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More than a dozen people have been arrested for looting or planning on looting California homes that have been vacated by those fleeing wildfires, according to a Sunday report.
A total of 13 people have been apprehended as Californians continue to report looting cases, Sheriff Jim Hart told the Associated Press. Thousands have fled their homes in anticipation of wildfires spreading from south San Francisco, AP reported.
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Video app TikTok said it will wage a legal fight against the Trump Administration’s efforts to ban the popular, Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, insisted Monday that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process. The company said it will file suit against the government later Monday in federal court in California. A copy of the complaint could not be obtained.
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Project Veritas (PV) and the Project Veritas Action Fund (PVA) have filed suit against the state of Oregon.
The lawsuit calls Oregon’s laws regarding undercover journalism “unconstitutional,” and says that the law prohibits journalists from “exercising their First Amendment rights to engage in undercover newsgathering.”
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At the small apartment where 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro was shot dead in his sleep, the sliding glass door is riddled with bullet holes. Glass is still strewn on the patio outside, the shards crunching under the feet of Attorney General William Barr and Police Chief Rick Smith as they visit the crime scene.
After the Kansas City boy was killed in June by a gunshot meant for somebody else, the Trump administration launched a nationwide crackdown on violent crime named in his honor. The Associated Press obtained access to briefings and law enforcement operations for an inside look at Operation Legend as Barr visited law enforcement officials in Detroit, Kansas City and Cleveland.
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Texas A&M professor and NASA researcher Zhengdong Cheng was arrested Sunday for alleged conspiracy, false statements, and wire fraud.
According to a United States Department of Justice press release, Cheng allegedly “willfully took steps to obscure his affiliations and collaboration with a Chinese University and at least one Chinese-owned company.”
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Melania Trump is marking the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote with an art exhibit based on works by children from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The first lady called adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that granted women voting rights a “turning point” in the women’s rights movement.
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Former FBI Director James Comey said Sunday that he has not had contact with the federal prosecutor investigating the bureau’s probe of the Trump campaign, but that he “can’t imagine” that he’s a target of a criminal inquiry.
“Given that I know what happened during 2016, which was a bunch of people trying to do the right thing consistent with the law, I’m not worried at all about that investigation of the investigation,” Comey said in an interview Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
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In just about 70 days, you and I will be called upon to decide the fate of the American Republic. Make no mistake, this is no ordinary election. American voters have not faced such a momentous choice since an earlier generation was presented with the Constitution and called upon to decide its fate. The vote to ratify the Constitution established a new regime, the amazingly successful American Republic, which showed the world new possibilities for liberty and prosperity and set a standard still unmatched by any country in the history of the world.
A vote for the Democratic Party this time is a vote for regime change as surely as the original vote for the Constitution was a vote for regime change.
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Monday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host John Fredericks welcomed Republican Virginia House candidate Scott Taylor to the program to discuss what he saw on the campaign trail and the momentum for Trump.
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The city of Richmond’s 2020 census response rate is 59.3 percent, lower than the Virginia and national average, which could result in lost federal funding at state and local levels.
The deadline for census counting is September 30th, moved up a month by President Trump, and Richmond is falling behind not just nationally, but also compared to the surrounding central-Virginia counties.
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