Month: February 2023

Josh Hawley Proposes Social Media Ban for Kids Under 16

Virginia Star Staff

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation Tuesday barring social media companies from offering accounts to children under 16.

The “MATURE Act” would require social media platforms to verify that users are 16 or older by scanning government-issued ID and prohibit social media companies from opening accounts for children under 16. The legislation would allow parents of children under 16 to sue social media platforms for damages if the platform allows their child to open an account.

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Inflation Rebounds in January

The Center Square

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released fresh inflation figure Tuesday which show inflation picked back up in January.

The BLS Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% last month, part of a 6.4% increase over the last year. Overall, January’s rate is not as high as the peak inflation spikes seen in recent years, but it is still well above the increases considered advantageous by most economists.

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Virginia May Form Work Group to Examine Teacher Pay

The Center Square

The Virginia Department of Education could soon form a work group to consider competitive teacher pay in the commonwealth under a bill receiving bipartisan support in the General Assembly. 

A substitute version of Senate Bill 1215 directs the Department of Education to convene a work group of school board representatives, division superintendents, school teachers, school staff and parents to make recommendations related to “competitive” teacher compensation in the commonwealth. 

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Commentary: The Sudden Dominance of the Diversity Industrial Complex

RealClearWire

Little more than a decade ago, DEI was just another arcane acronym, a clustering of three ideas, each to be weighed and evaluated against other societal values. The terms diversity, equity, and inclusion weren’t yet being used in the singular, as one all-inclusive, non-negotiable moral imperative. Nor had they coalesced into a bureaucratic juggernaut running roughshod over every aspect of national life. 

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Dozens of Hospitals Have Closed in States That Expanded Medicaid, Research Shows

Virginia Star Staff

Medicaid expansion has failed to prevent hospital closure, with almost 50 shutting down in expansion states since 2014, according to research given exclusively to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The research from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) indicates that while Medicaid expansion was intended to solve hospitals’ finances and job shortage, its “empty promises” have done the opposite, report author Hayden Dublois wrote. Hospitals instead have had to shut their doors, lost thousands of jobs and racked up substantial losses, amounting to a loss of almost 5,400 beds.

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Idaho School Board Cancels Gender Identity Policy Following Community Uproar

Virginia Star Staff

An Idaho school board canceled any further action on a proposed policy that would allow the use of bathrooms and locker rooms on the basis of gender identity rather than biological sex, following community uproar.

Caldwell School Board put its gender identity policy on hold on Monday after community backlash caused a previous meeting to abruptly end. The pause comes as Idaho’s Senate Education Committee introduced legislation that would require Idaho students to use bathrooms and locker rooms on the basis of biological sex, according to KTVB 7.

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Commentary: Affirmative Action Is a Thought Experiment

Virginia Star Staff

Imagine for a moment that beneficiaries of affirmative action were randomly selected. Suppose instead of applying affirmative action by race, we randomly assigned every person a number between one and five. Colleges would reserve portions of enrollments so that people with a “one” would only compete against other ones for a reserved number of slots. Likewise, those with a “two” would compete against each other for slots reserved for twos. And so on. 

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Government School Districts Plan K-12 Closures as Student Enrollment Plunges

Susan Berry, PhD

Some of the largest public school districts in the nation are planning to close K-12 schools as they face plummeting student enrollment rates. “Nationwide, public school enrollment fell by more than 1.4 million students to 49.4 million between fall 2019 and fall 2020—a decline of roughly 3%, according to data from the U.S. Education Department,” reported the Wall Street Journal in January. “The following school year, enrollment failed to return to prepandemic levels and remained roughly flat.”

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California Democrat Sen. Feinstein Announces Won’t Seek Re-Election

Just the News

California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced Tuesday she’s retiring at the end of her term and won’t seek 2024 reelection. “I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein, 89, tweeted.

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Lois Lerner 2.0: IRS Chilling Dissent with Interrogation of Nonprofit, Election Integrity Activist Says

Just the News

Much as the Obama IRS targeted conservative groups for audits, the tax collection agency has subjected an elections nonprofit to a battery of prying questions about its policy positions, language choices and methodology for arriving at correct opinions and conclusions prior to peremptorily rejecting its application for tax-exempt status without appeal.

Starting in 2010, the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit directed by Lois Lerner targeted the Tea Party and other conservative groups for intrusive scrutiny, effectively freezing them with lengthy audits. After the politically motivated harassment was exposed in 2013, the Obama administration claimed to find the IRS actions “inexcusable.” But after Lerner invoked her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before Congress and the House cited her for contempt, the Obama Justice Department declined to pursue criminal charges.

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The Progressive Movement to Ban New Homes from Having Any Natural Gas Gains Steam

Admin

by John Hugh DeMastri   A growing number of states and cities are considering or implementing bans for the future construction of not just gas stoves, but natural gas hookups themselves, a move that would raise costs for consumers and potentially have negative environmental consequences, natural gas advocates told the…

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Commentary: ‘Conservatives Need Not Apply’ Under Biden Administration’s Proposed Hiring Rules

Admin

In a move that has gotten little notice in the press, the Biden administration is proposing federal hiring rules that easily could be abused to deny employment to anyone who questions liberal, woke policies, criticizes the government, or belongs to a politically incorrect organization.

The vague, nebulous language of the proposed changes in existing government hiring regulations could be exploited and allow biased government managers to put up a virtual “Conservatives Need Not Apply” sign when it comes to the federal civil service, leaving rejected applicants with little recourse.

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Emails Reveal National Archives Staff Worked to Quietly Collect Biden Records, After Escalating with Trump

Just the News

The National Archives (NARA) coordinated with President Biden’s attorneys for the discreet collection of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., displaying a collaborative spirit in marked contrast to its adversarial stance toward Donald Trump and his legal team in the former president’s federal records case, newly disclosed emails reveal.

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Commentary: The Chivalrous Advocates for Human Rights Behind Today’s Valentine’s Day

Admin

Valentine’s Day annoys many people.

For many in a relationship, the pressure to impress a partner can weigh heavily, and expensive gifts serve as a reminder of the relentless commercialization of the holiday. Meanwhile those still looking for love approach the day with trepidation – another reminder of their single status and the pressure to find a partner.

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California School District Refuses to Let Parents Opt Kids Out of ‘Anti-Racist’ Classes

Admin

In California, a public school district is ordering its teachers to tell the parents of students that their children cannot opt out of diversity classes featuring “anti-racist” lessons, and gender and sexual identity.

According to the Daily Caller, the Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) gave the order in a staff-wide email dictating the terms of the district’s “Non- Discrimination & Harassment and Equity & Anti–Racism” policy. The order declares that any effort to let children opt out of such classes would be enabling “active discrimination.” While the email does say parents are allowed to opt their children out of classes on “comprehensive sexuality education,” they are still required to take classes with “anti-bias lessons about people who are LGBTQ.”

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Commentary: Republicans Can Expose Joe Biden’s Phony Nationalism by Embracing MAGA

Admin

Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, like his entire presidency, was an astonishingly cynical performance. There were plenty of hollow boasts about things Biden hasn’t actually achieved, but he went further than the usual partisan spin. He conveyed, to a primetime audience, a Potemkin village version of his administration’s goals. While he did plug gun control and an anti-police bill, there were few mentions of identity or race. He mostly talked about economics. In fact, he presented himself as a champion of national revitalization.

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FBI Keeps Getting Burned by Reliance on Liberal Sources

Just the News

A dossier alleging Russian collusion funded by a Democrat presidential candidate. A suggestion that school parents were domestic terrorists from a left-leaning school board group. A list suggesting old-fashioned Catholics were extremists from a liberal watchdog on hate speech.

Three triggers for investigation. Three blunders that left America’s premier law enforcement agency reeling with a black eye.

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Nearly 216,000 Apprehended, Gotaways Reported of Illegal Entries at Southern Border in January

The Center Square

At least 156,274 people illegally entered the U.S. in January, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data published on Friday, down 40% from 251,978 in December 2022, it says. The data excludes gotaway numbers referring to those who are known and reported to illegally enter between ports of entry, evade capture by law enforcement, and don’t return to Mexico or Canada.

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Senator Grassley: A ‘Triad’ of Media, FBI, and Democrats Tried to Thwart Investigation into the Biden Family’s Corrupt Business Dealings

Admin

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) detailed how a “triad” of partisan media, FBI, and Democrats used disinformation from a Russian agent to smear their investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

In addition to Grassley, the committee on Thursday heard from Senator Ron Johnson (R- Wis.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former FBI agent Thomas Baker, Professor Jonathan Turley, and former FBI agent Nicole Parker.

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Red State Plans to Strip Accreditation from Schools That Allow ‘Pornography’ in Classroom

Admin

Oklahoma is planning to strip accreditation from schools that allow “pornographic” materials in its libraries, according to the state superintendent.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced a new rule on Friday that would lower the accreditation status of any school districts if “pornographic materials or sexualized content” is available to minors through its libraries. Under the rule, school districts must list, either on an online catalog or to the Oklahoma Department of Education, all books and materials available in their libraries.

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January Migrant Encounters Hit New Low While Biden Admin Paroles Migrants into U.S.

Admin

Federal authorities encountered a new low of more than 150,000 migrants at the southern border in January while the Biden administration paroles thousands of others into the U.S., according to data U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released Friday.

CBP encountered 156,274 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in January, according to the agency. The new low coincides with a new series of policies the Biden administration began implementing for migrants to enter the country using parole authority.

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Commentary: Biden’s Fumble on Corporate Taxes Would Leave Retirees in the Cold

Admin

During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden showed that when it comes to taxes, he is playing a game of yards, because companies, in his view, simply make too much money.

In his “Finish the Job” speech, Biden ran right up the middle of the field of investments set aside by workers who for decades thought they had made wise decisions on their own retirement plans.

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Tie House GOP Energy Production Agenda to Debt Limit, Budget Negotiations, Urges Montana Lawmaker

Just the News

Montana Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale told Just the News that an effort is underway to connect legislation the GOP-led House passed dealing with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a legislative package that raises the debt limit.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is locked in negotiations with the White House over a deal that increases the debt limit. He’s pushing for spending reductions in exchange for the GOP-led House voting to raise the debt ceiling.

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Commentary: Gun Control Laws Backfiring in California

RealClearWire

After the three public shootings over the last two weekends in California, Democrats are again clamoring for even more gun control laws. To California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the solution is to ban more places where people can carry permitted concealed handguns. Unfortunately, the proposal has nothing to do with stopping these attacks, and more gun-free zones only encourage these attacks. Other heavily Democratic states such as New York, New Jersey, and Maryland are making similar pushes.

Concealed handgun permit holders didn’t commit those or other mass public shootings. Permit holders are also extremely law-abiding, being convicted of firearms-related violations at 1/12th the rate of police officers.

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Commentary: Somalia’s Problem Isn’t Climate Change, It’s the Climate Agenda

Admin

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, recently appeared on NPR’s “News Hour” to discuss the looming catastrophe in Somalia and call for more aid to the troubled east African nation. In her interview, she repeatedly cited climate change as the reason for Somalia’s current predicament.

Framing problems, whether they occur in Syria, Somalia, or California, as primarily the result of “climate change” is inaccurate and unhelpful. The drought in the Horn of Africa is indeed severe, so bad, in fact, that NPR reports it as “the worst drought in 40 years.”

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Not One Student Met Grade-Level Expectations for Math in 23 Baltimore Schools: Report

Admin

In 23 Baltimore City Schools, zero students tested proficient in math in 2022, according to a report by Project Baltimore.

Through an analysis of 150 Baltimore City Schools, 23 of them, including 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three high schools and two middle schools, no students met math grade-level expectations, according to a report by Project Baltimore. Approximately 2,000 students took the state administered math exams that tested proficiency levels.

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Kansas City Chiefs Win Super Bowl Against Philadelphia Eagles by 38-35

Just the News

In a classic Super Bowl matchup, a true heavyweight fight, between quarterbacks who were the top two vote-getters for MVP in the NFL this season, the Kansas City Chiefs led by a sometimes hobbling Patrick Mahomes pulled out a dramatic fourth quarter comeback victory over the slightly favored Philadelphia Eagles led by Jalen Hurts by a score of 38-35 in Glendale, Arizona.

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Review of 2020 Election Continues as Texas, Pennsylvania Counties Find Ballot Total Discrepancies

Just the News

An audit of the 2020 election found a discrepancy of nearly 600 absentee votes in a Texas county, while a hand recount in a Pennsylvania county found a far smaller disparity, as more states seek to implement election reviews.

In Smith County, Texas, an audit of the 2020 election showed 584 more absentee voters than absentee ballots, according to KLTV, a local ABC News affiliate. Seven county races were within the 584-vote margin of error, including council races and propositional elections. The audit also found five different totals for absentee ballots.

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Three in a Week: Two Objects Shot Down by Fighter Jets Believed to Be Balloons, Officials Say

Just the News

U.S. fighter jets shot down two objects believed to be surveillance balloons over the weekend, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other U.S. officials on Sunday.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that national security advisor Jake Sullivan told him that “they believe” the objects shot down Friday and Saturday over Canada and Alaska were surveillance balloons.

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NFL Lures Millions to TikTok Despite Rising Security, Privacy Concerns About the Chinese Platform

Just the News

The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off Sunday in the Super Bowl, but their competition extends beyond the gridiron to the social media stage, where the two teams are vying, along with the NFL’s other 30 franchises, for followers and engagement on TikTok, the controversial video-sharing app that reportedly has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Although spy balloons are currently dominating the headlines, the wildly popular TikTok appears to be China’s premier Trojan Horse.

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CDC Adds COVID mRNA Shots to Childhood Vaccine Schedule Despite Known Harms

Virginia Star Staff

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now includes COVID-19 mRNA gene therapy shots in its schedule of recommended vaccines for children, adolescents and adults, despite the shots’ egregious record of severe adverse side effects.

The addition of the COVID jabs to the list, as well as updated guidance on influenza and pneumococcal vaccines; and new vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and for hepatitis B, were published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday, according to CNN.

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Report: Chinese Investors Own 384,000 Acres of American Land

Virginia Star Staff

A new government report reveals that the total amount of American soil owned by Chinese investors is nearly twice as large as the entirety of New York City.

As the New York Post reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed in last month’s report on foreign-held land that Chinese buyers currently own at least 384,235 of American land. By contrast, the full expanse of New York City covers just 193,700 acres. Even Bill Gates’ total land ownership is dwarfed by China’s, with just 270,000 acres.

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Managing Editor Matt Kittle Announces Launch of The Iowa Star on Bannon’s WarRoom

Julie Carr

Saturday morning on WarRoom: Battleground, Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s National Political Editor, Matt Kittle the program to discuss the Iowa caucus, Kari Lake’s reception, and the newly launched Iowa Star digital newspaper.

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Authorities Punish Catholic Priest for Silently Praying Outside Abortion Clinic

Virginia Star Staff

Authorities in the United Kingdom charged a Catholic priest with violating a censorship zone when he silently prayed outside an abortion clinic while holding a sign that said “praying for free speech.”

Father Sean Gough, a pro-life priest stationed in Wolverhampton, England, had also parked his car in the area near the abortion clinic, which is covered by a Public Spaces Protection Order, according to Alliance Defending Freedom International. Authorities also took issue with Gough’s car, which has an “unborn lives matter” bumper sticker on it, ADF said.

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‘Democrats Should Be Ashamed:’ Youngkin Condemns Removal of Parent from Virginia Education Board

Admin

Virginia Democrats who voted to remove concerned parent Suparna Dutta from the state’s Board of Education on Tuesday should be “ashamed,” according to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office.  

“In an appalling show of partisanship, Senate Democrats said the quiet part out loud: Parents aren’t qualified to advise on education in Virginia,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told The Daily Signal. “Suparna Dutta immigrated from India, exemplifies the American dream, and is a Fairfax County public school parent, who has continually advocated for parents and students to have a voice in their education.”

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Commentary: Another Study Refutes Left’s False Claims Against Voter ID and Secure Elections

Virginia Star Staff

Trust the science, we’ve all been told. Well, the science has spoken again: Voter ID laws aren’t discriminatory and don’t suppress anyone’s vote.

For years, liberals have peddled fabricated claims about voter ID requirements, asserting that they give an advantage to the Republican Party by “discriminating against African Americans” and suppressing their vote. They pooh-pooh the notion that such laws protect the integrity and security of elections.

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Commentary: Tennessee’s Conversation About Rejecting Federal Money for Education

Virginia Star Staff

Historically, the Federal Government had limited involvement in Public Education. That changed in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law.

ESEA doubled federal expenditures for K-12 education and gave the federal government much more input into education. That has been the debate ever since, central control of education versus state/local control.

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Montana AG Threatens Legal Action over ESG Investments Made by Non-Profit Attorneys General Group

Just the News

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has threatened to take legal action over Environmental, Social and Governance investments made by the nonprofit organization National Association of Attorneys General.

ESG investment strategies, increasingly prevalent among large-asset management firms, try to leverage investors’ assets to steer corporate decision-making to promote progressive social and environmental priorities.

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GoFundMe Bans Fundraisers for American Cattle Rancher Accused of Killing Illegal Alien

Virginia Star Staff

The left-wing crowdfunding website GoFundMe has shut down all fundraisers for an Arizona cattle rancher who defended his property by killing an illegal alien, thus leaving him and his wife to bear the financial burden of the coming legal battle.

The New York Post reports that 73-year-old George Alan Kelly was arrested on Monday on the charge of first-degree murder, with his bail being set at a staggering $1 million.

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Managing Editor Matt Kittle Announces Launch of The Iowa Star on Bannon’s WarRoom

Julie Carr

Saturday morning on WarRoom: Battleground, Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s National Political Editor, Matt Kittle the program to discuss the Iowa caucus, Kari Lake’s reception, and the newly launched Iowa Star digital newspaper.

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Leaked FBI Memo Citing Southern Poverty Law Center Warning ‘White Supremacy’ Embedded in ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology’ Rescinded

Susan Berry, PhD

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Richmond Division has reportedly rescinded a leaked memo that cited the discredited radical Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) warning that “white supremacy” has “found a home” in traditionalist Catholics.

Former FBI special agent Kyle Seraphin revealed Wednesday at UnCoverdc.com that the federal agency’s Richmond Division released a “finished intelligence product dated January 23, 2023” that cited the disgraced leftist SPLC to warn Virginians about Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists” (RMVE) and “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics.”

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‘Two FBIs’: Whistleblowers Accuse DC HQ of Trampling Constitution, Field Offices

Virginia Star Staff

House Republicans think federal agencies have become a weapon against their own apolitical employees and the constitutional rights of Americans. House Democrats think House Republicans have become a weapon against the prerogatives of federal agencies.

The parties traded laundry lists of grievances stemming from agency and congressional investigations, from the Benghazi attack to the Russia collusion hoax, at the first hearing Thursday of the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

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Massachusetts Teachers’ Union Fundraises on GoFundMe to Pay $300K in Illegal Strike Fines

Susan Berry, PhD

The Woburn Teachers Association in Massachusetts, a local affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA) has created a GoFundMe page to solicit cash in order to pay about $300,000 in fines with which it was penalized following an illegal week-long strike beginning January 30.

“Any help would be immensely appreciated!!” the Woburn Teachers Association [WTA] tweeted Wednesday, providing a link to its GoFundMe page. “We have some fines to pay and unfortunately the (bake) sale couldn’t cover it all!!”

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Second New Jersey Republican Councilman Assassinated Within a Week

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, a second Republican city councilman was gunned down in an overt act of political violence, just one week after another Republican city councilwoman was shot and killed outside her home.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Milford councilman Russell Heller was attacked by a former employee in a parking lot outside of his office, and died from his injuries; his killer was later found dead of a suicide. One week prior, Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed while sitting in her SUV outside of her home, just 15 miles away from where Heller was killed. Local police, who described Dwumfour’s assassination as a targeted attack, say that her killer is still at large.

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