Day: January 28, 2022

Senate Public Education Subcommittee Recommends Blocking Youngkin’s ‘Inherently Divisive Concepts’ Ban Introduced by Sen. Kiggans

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia — The Senate Education and Health Public Education Subcommittee recommended killing two bills from Senator Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach): SB 766 which would ban transgender girls from playing girls’ sports, and  SB 570, which would codify Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “inherently divisive concept” ban. In its Thursday afternoon meeting the subcommittee also recommended killing Senator Travis Hackworth’s (R-Tazewell) SB 20 to eliminate a requirement that school boards adopt policies for the treatment of transgender students.

Kiggans, who is running for Congress, told the subcommittee that she was carrying SB 570 on behalf of the Youngkin administration.

“I said yes to carry this bill because I heard the voices of parents that spoke in November. You know, I was one of those parents as well,” Kiggans said, noting that Youngkin frequently talked about teaching kids how to think, not what to think.

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Breyer’s Retirement Gives President Biden Chance to Name New Justice Before Democrats Lose Senate

Neil W. McCabe

The second most senior Supreme Court associate justice decided to retire from the high court bench at the end of the court’s session in June, according to multiple media reports.

There was no official statement from the Supreme Court, but White House Press Secretary Jennifer R. “Jen” Psaki Wednesday confirmed the retirement of Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Twitter.

“It has always been the decision of any Supreme Court justice if and when they decide to retire, and how they want to announce it, and that remains the case today. We have no additional details or information to share from White House,” she said.

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Commentary: Many Reasons Exist Why Putin Has Not Been Deterred

Virginia Star Staff

Americans want an autonomous Ukraine to survive. They hope the West can stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strangulation of both Ukraine and NATO. 

Yet Americans do not want their troops to venture across the world to Europe’s backyard to fight nuclear Russia to ensure that Ukraine stays independent. 

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Democrats’ ‘America Competes’ Act Allocates Millions for ‘Diversity’ Programs

Virginia Star Staff

Legislation designed to make the U.S. more competitive with China includes millions in appropriations for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The America COMPETES Act, introduced by House Democrats late Tuesday, is a companion to a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in June 2021, though the House version lacks Republican support. The bill is designed to increase domestic technological advancement and innovation in order to make the U.S. more competitive with China, and includes $45 billion to ease supply chain disruptions and $52 billion for domestic semiconductor fabrication.

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Commentary: The Russiagate Evidence Builds

RealClearWire

As indictments and new court filings indicate that Special Counsel John Durham is investigating Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for feeding false reports to the FBI to incriminate Donald Trump and his advisers as Kremlin agents, Clinton’s role in the burgeoning scandal remains elusive. What did she know and when did she know it?

Top officials involved in her campaign have repeatedly claimed, some under oath, that they and the candidate were unaware of the foundation of their disinformation campaign: the 35-page collection of now debunked claims of Trump/Russia collusion known as the Steele dossier. Even though her campaign helped pay for the dossier, they claim she only read it after BuzzFeed News published it in 2017.

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U.S. Economy Grew Faster Than Expected at the End of 2021

Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. economy grew at a faster rate than was anticipated pace in the fourth quarter of 2021, benefiting from solid consumer demand before the slowdown caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant and supply chain disruptions.

U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 6.9% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2021, a 2.3% increase from the third quarter figure, the Commerce Department announced Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated that U.S. GDP would grow at a just 5.5% annual rate.

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Missouri Attorney General Asks Mayorkas to End Policy Allowing Migrants to Use Arrest Warrants as ID

Virginia Star Staff

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to end certain immigration policies he believes have left the country less safe, suggesting the department should also consider a name change.

Schmitt urged Mayorkas to address the use of certain arrest warrants as identification for migrants going through airport security, according to a letter sent Tuesday and exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Dan Bongino Permanently Banned from YouTube

Virginia Star Staff

Conservative talk show host Dan Bongino had both of his YouTube accounts permanently banned Wednesday, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Bongino’s second channel, the Dan Bongino Show Clips, was initially suspended and demonetized for seven days after Bongino posted a video in which he said masks were “useless” in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, violating YouTube’s COVID-19 misinformation policy. Bongino then attempted to upload a video within the seven-day suspension period on his main channel, resulting in a permanent ban for both accounts, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed to the DCNF.

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Evacuation Flight Departs Afghanistan for the First Time Since November

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, after a nearly two-month pause, another evacuation flight departed the country of Afghanistan en route for the United States.

According to CNN, the flight was a Qatar Airways flight that departed from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, paid for by the United States government, with an unknown number of American citizens on board. It is the first such flight since November.

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Attorney General Miyares Announces Rule to Cut His Office’s Student Debt Collection Fees to 15 Percent

Eric Burk

Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a new policy to cut attorneys’ fees for debt collection on student loan debt at Virginia’s public colleges. Under Virginia law, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is responsible to provide debt collection services on behalf of state agencies, and can retain as revenue up to 30 percent. Miyares’ internal policy limits that to 15 percent on new claims referred to the OAG, where possible.

“As someone who worked to put themself through college and still has their own student loans, I understand the strain student loans can put on working families. By working to reduce the attorney collection fee from 30 percent to 15 percent on accounts deemed delinquent by the respective universities, we are making immediate, internal procedural improvements that will help Virginians,” Miyares said in a Wednesday press release.

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Exclusive: Inside Virginia Gov. Youngkin’s Meeting with Democrat Delegate Who Questioned Governor’s Christian Faith

Peter D'Abrosca

A source inside the Virginia Capitol Thursday spoke exclusively to The Virginia Star about Wednesday’s tiff between Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), who claimed in an interview with the Washington Post that the Governor was not comporting himself in a manner consistent with his Christian faith. 

At the time of Washington Post’s publication, Scott was expecting the governor to meet with him in his office. 

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