Day: August 16, 2023

D.C. Dealt More Harshly with Pro-Life Protesters than Black Lives Matter, Federal Court Rules

Just the News

Washington, D.C., unfairly enforced its “defacement” ordinances by dealing more harshly with pro-life protesters than with Black Lives Matter activists, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

“In the summer of 2020, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the District to proclaim ‘Black Lives Matter,'” the court wrote in its decision, obtained by Fox News. “Over several weeks, the protesters covered streets, sidewalks, and storefronts with paint and chalk. The markings were ubiquitous and in open violation of the District’s defacement ordinance, yet none of the protesters was arrested.”

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Ramaswamy Tops DeSantis in Latest Scott Rasmussen Poll, Trump Expands Frontrunner Position

M.D. Kittle

Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has overtaken Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in another national Republican primary poll.

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More Restaurants, Bars Stock Up on Fentanyl, Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug as Deaths Soar

Virginia Star Staff

An increasing number of restaurants and bars across the country are keeping a stock of Naloxone, an antidote to fentanyl and opioid overdoses, according to The New York Times.

Local officials and nonprofit organizations are ramping up efforts to more bars and restaurants as overdoses become all too common in public spaces, according to the NYT. Between February 2022 and February 2023, there were more than 105,000 reported drug overdoses in the U.S., according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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New GOP Group Launches Campaign to Encourage Continued Support for Ukraine

Virginia Star Staff

Republicans launched an organization Tuesday to advocate for continued financial support of Ukraine in the war against Russian aggression, according to a press release.

GOP Strategist Sarah Longwell and commentator Bill Kristol will head Republicans for Ukraine, which unveiled its $2 million campaign to encourage party voters and politicians to stand with the nation, according to the press release. The organization will run digital ads of Republican voters’ testimony about why they believe the party should continue providing aid to Ukraine on cable, television and YouTube throughout the remainder of 2023.

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Express Lanes to Open Along Virginia I-95 Corridor

The Center Square

A ribbon cutting this week will commemorate something that Stafford County residents and D.C.-area commuters have long awaited – sometimes impatiently, while cursing out their car windows: The opening of approximately 10 miles of express lanes along the infamously congested I-95 corridor.

The District of Columbia was ranked the eighth-worst American city for traffic in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 rankings and has ranked second-worst in the past. And the southbound stretch of I-95 is chief among D.C. roads notorious for gridlocks and traffic delays, according to the National Capital Region Transportation Board.

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Commentary: Keeping Trump Off the Ballot in 2024 Will Hurt the GOP

Virginia Star Staff

Now there are four separate trials against former President Donald Trump, the latest in Fulton County, Ga., arising from Trump challenging the results of the 2020 election, coming atop trials in New York City over supposed federal campaign finance violations, Miami, Fla. over his receipt of classified documents while he was president and retention when he left office and Washington, D.C. again over his challenge of the 2020 election.

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House Republicans Investigate Foreign Funding to Influence Elections

The Center Square

House Republicans have launched an inquiry into whether foreign actors are funneling money through nonprofit groups to influence America’s elections.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-MO., and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert, R-Ariz., released an open letter soliciting input on the matter, suggesting that some nonprofit groups may be violating the law to help political parties and candidates.

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Commentary: The Bill Comes Due for Blue Sanctuary Cities

Virginia Star Staff

The seemingly low-cost virtue signaling of declaring your non-border city or state a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants has now revealed its hefty price tag.

“If we don’t get the support we need, New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last week of the now crisis-level illegal immigrants who continue to flow into the Big Apple.

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Montana Judge Rules in Favor of Climate Activists in First-of-its-Kind Trial

Virginia Star Staff

On Monday, a far-left climate activist group scored a legal victory when a judge in Montana ruled in their favor, declaring that state agencies are legally obligated to protect citizens from so-called “global warming.”

As ABC News reports, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley determined that the state of Montana’s current policy of evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits is unconstitutional, as it does not include a provision forcing agencies to consider greenhouse gas emissions. If it stands, it could set a similar precedent for the entire country.

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