Day: May 21, 2024

Major Pharmacy Chain Settles with Christian Nurse over Contraceptives Case

Virginia Star Staff
Robyn Strader

CVS Health Corporation settled with nurse practitioner Robyn Strader after she sued the company after it stopped providing religious accommodations regarding “pregnancy prevention services.”

Strader said she had been granted a religious exemption for six years permitting her to not prescribe contraceptives, and filed the lawsuit in January 2023 after having been fired following the policy change in 2021, according to the press release. First Liberty Institute, which represented Strader, announced Monday that CVS had agreed to a settlement of which the terms “were not made public.”

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GOP-Led House to Vote Wednesday on Blocking Non-Citizens from Voting in D.C. Local Elections

Just the News

The GOP-led House is set to vote Wednesday on legislation to block non-citizens from voting in Washington, D.C. local elections.

The proposed bill would “prohibit individuals who are not citizens of the United States from voting in elections in the District of Columbia.”

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Portland Could Sent Its Soros-Backed DA Packing After Crime Surge

Virginia Star Staff
Mike Schmidt and Nathan Vasquez

Voters in Multnomah County, Oregon, which encompasses Portland and its surrounding area, could boot left-wing District Attorney Mike Schmidt on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Nathan Vasquez, a Republican-turned-independent who worksunder Schmidt, could oust the district attorney in the head-to-head nonpartisan primary if he secures over 50% of the vote. Schmidt would be the latest left-wing prosecutor, funded by groups linked to George Soros, to not secure another term after critics argued they were soft-on-crime.

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Michael Cohen’s Testimony Implodes on Prosecutors in New York Trial Against Trump

Just the News

At the conclusion of key prosecution witness Michael Cohen’s testimony Monday in Donald Trump’s so-called “hush money” trial, jurors were left to ponder a litany of damaging statements that have further cut into Cohen’s credibility and likely made the prosecution’s case harder to prove.

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Experts Divided on Biden’s New Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Virginia Star Staff
President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan has legal experts divided, with some citing similar problems to his previous plan struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education Plan is an income-based student loan repayment plan that provides full loan forgiveness in certain cases.

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Republicans Rip Biden Admin Use of ICE Program that ‘Failed’ to Properly Monitor Illegal Immigrants

Virginia Star Staff
Border Crossing

A group of House Republicans is asking federal authorities for answers on a program meant to monitor illegal immigrants throughout the U.S., arguing it has failed to properly track enrollees and has essentially become a “social services scheme.”

Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, along with 15 other House Republicans, sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Executive Associate Director Daniel Bible a list of questions on how the agency is managing the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program in a Friday letter. The lawmakers asked for details on the number of available ICE detention beds, the rate of enrollees showing up to their removal proceedings and information on how these enrollees are supervised, among other questions.

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Media Blame Climate Change for Soaring Insurance Rates, but Data Doesn’t Support Narrative

Just the News
A tornado touchdown in a neighborhood

Homeowners across the U.S. are seeing skyrocketing insurance rates, increased deductibles, excluded protections, and canceled policies.

Insurers say that they’re having to adjust to changing conditions to remain profitable. Among the problems they blame is inflation, rising construction costs, and costs associated with regulatory compliance. But many insurers are also blaming climate change for driving extreme weather events and increasing losses, and much of the media coverage is zooming in on this narrative.

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Commentary: Hispanics Are Shaping A New Conservative Majority

Virginia Star Staff
Hispanic Americans

A new conservative, America First movement is building–and leading the formation of this new governing philosophy are Hispanics yearning for the American Dream they came here to realize. They are shaping and leading a new conservative majority that builds on their shared values of faith, family, freedom, and work.

This rapid shift of Hispanics to the conservative movement has shaken the Left to its core, who for years pinned their political hopes on demographic destiny and the idea that the Hispanic community would be a permanent fixture of their base.

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USDA Delivers Grants to Historically Black Land Grant Universities

The Center Square
Virginia Farmland

The United States Department of Agriculture is awarding $30.8 million to the nation’s 19 historically Black land-grant universities, including the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Virginia State University, for agricultural and nutritional research and growing extension programs.

“1890 Land-grant Universities are a vital part of our nation’s fabric,” said Manjit Misra, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, in a statement. “This investment will strengthen the ability of 1890 Land-grant Universities to deliver innovative solutions that address emerging agricultural challenges impacting diverse communities.”

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Commentary: More Defensive Gun Uses Undermine Government Claims About Armed Civilians

Virginia Star Staff
Hand Gun

It should be painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that the Biden administration distrusts an armed civilian population and is willing to fudge the truth time and again to defend its untenable positions. But for those living blissfully unaware of the Biden administration’s animosity toward gun owners, it once again demonstrated its animosity in clear terms.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security accidentally said the quiet part out loud: It thinks that only the government really can be trusted with firearms, even when the government at issue is notoriously corrupt.

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Commentary: The Disgrace and Fall of the American Elite Campus

Virginia Star Staff
Police controlling anti-Israel campus protest

Anti-Israel/pro-Hamas campus protests have engulfed hundreds of college campuses. But the more coastal, blue-state, and supposedly elite the campus was, the more furious the violence that sometimes followed these demonstrations.

Even rowdier and more vicious street analogs shut down key bridges, freeways, and religious services. Protestors often defaced hallowed American monuments, national cemeteries, and iconic buildings. Visa-holders were among the worst perpetrators, adding ingratitude to their criminality.

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Rubio, Consumer Advocate Want Chinese Online Retailers Investigated

The Center Square
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio

Lawmakers and consumer advocates are calling for a federal investigation into online Chinese retailers Temu and Shein.

The companies have spent billions of dollars in online American advertising with social media companies such as Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, and Google. The probe is warranted, critics say, because of anti-competitive practices skirting U.S. trade and public safety regulations; alleged use of slave laborers to make products sold at cut-rate prices; and advertising targeting children, low-income families and older Americans.

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Federal Judge Blocks Biden ATF Rule Expanding Gun Background Checks

Virginia Star Staff
ATF Agents

A federal judge temporarily blocked a background check rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Sunday night.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the rule covering background checks for firearms purchases April 10, claiming it was based on bipartisan legislation passed in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the rule until June 2.

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Commentary: Congress Unveils Plan to Hold Entire Internet Hostage Annually to Extort Big Tech

Virginia Star Staff
Cathy McMorris Roberts anf Frank Pallone Jr

“It would require Big Tech and others to work with Congress over 18 months to evaluate and enact a new legal framework that will allow for free speech and innovation while also encouraging these companies to be good stewards of their platforms. Our bill gives Big Tech a choice: Work with Congress to ensure the internet is a safe, healthy place for good, or lose Section 230 protections entirely.”

That was House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) in a May 12 oped in the Wall Street Journal outlining their proposed draft legislation, the “Section 230 Sunset Act,” that would end Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protections on Dec. 31, 2025 for millions of interactive computer services, including websites, e-commerce stores and other small businesses.

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