Recent data on school district spending gathered by the Virginia Public Access Project appear to support the conclusion of a late-February Reason Foundation study assessing the relationship between state K-12 education spending and student outcomes.
The foundation concluded that increased spending does not always correlate with higher test scores, and less spending doesn’t always mean poorer outcomes.
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One bust of President George Washington inside the nation’s capitol just can’t catch a break.
The monument at George Washington University was beheaded during the height of the Black Lives Matter riots in June 2020. The university finally had it fixed by the summer of 2022.
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Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen on Monday set the trial date in the “fake electors” case, which saw charges brought against multiple allies of former President Donald Trump, for January 5, 2026.
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The congressional task force investigating the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump will return to the Pennsylvania fairgrounds on Monday where the chaos unfolded last month.
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Immigration policy think tank the Center for Immigration Studies released its updated map of American sanctuary locations on Thursday, revealing a surge in Virginia localities adopting sanctuary status.
The center added 36 Virginia localities to its map for a total of 84.
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Thousands showed up for former President Donald Trump’s rally with Turning Point USA in Glendale, west of Phoenix, with many lining up overnight to get good seats.
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Retired Army Col. Yevegny “Eugene” Vindman, the Democrat nominee for Virginia’s 7th Congressional district, on Thursday was confirmed to be the recipient of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint over an alleged improper contribution from a political organization that supports his candidacy.
Vindman’s twin brother Alexander is the man who overheard the phone call between former President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that led to the first attempt to impeach Trump. Vindman reportedly took the information about the call from his brother and made a report to White House lawyers.
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Former Governor Terry McAuliffe on Thursday disputed the results of a Virginia poll that showed former President Donald Trump statistically tied with Vice President Kamala Harris in the commonwealth, raising allegations about the pollster’s credibility and claims its data was skewed, before arguing federal workers would turnout in sufficient numbers to propel the Harris-Walz ticket to victory.
McAuliffe claimed the pollster who released the Tuesday survey showing Trump and Harris statistically tied, with the Democrat leading the former president by just 3 percent, “has never had a poll that’s been correct in their life,” according to The Washington Times.
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Virginia appears to be in play in the presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding a slight lead over former President Donald Trump in the commonwealth, according to a poll released Tuesday morning.
The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College shows Harris ahead of Trump by three percentage points (47%-44%) in a head-to-head matchup. When other candidates were included, Harris still leads by three points (45%-42%). When factoring in the poll’s 4.5% margin of error, Harris and Trump are in a statistical dead heat.
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As President Joe Biden’s presidential term comes to a close, the administration is bearing down on its goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy and 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2035.
As of 2021, the administration had approved two commercial-scale offshore wind projects, and seven have been approved within the past year.
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The trial of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters ended on Monday, with the jury unanimously finding her guilty of seven of the 10 counts she was charged with.
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The Freedom of Information Act exists to promote governmental transparency, although it doesn’t always accomplish that end, according to the Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, Megan Rhyne.
And though Virginia’s not unique in that regard, it’s difficult to compare states’ open records laws because they can differ by many variables, according to Rhyne.
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The Republican mayor of Lynchburg, Va., has allegedly repeatedly attempted to silence her critics during her two-year term, according to residents, which has had a “chilling effect on free speech.”
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The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission recently approved a pilot workforce housing program to make the region more attractive to new businesses and job seekers.
The commission was founded to foster economic growth and opportunity in 34 counties and six independent cities comprising Southwest and Southern Virginia – a region where tobacco farming was once integral to the economy. It’s funded entirely by proceeds from a major 1990s tobacco lawsuit settlement.
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The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) on Friday declined to provide The Pennsylvania Daily Star with the name of the police officer who claimed to warn the U.S. Secret Service about the possibility of an assassination attempt in a June 13 bodycam video released by the department Thursday.
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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, himself a decorated veteran of the U.S. Navy, on Wednesday said the allegations of stolen valor levied at Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz are “disqualifying” and reveal “hypocrisy” on behalf of the media.
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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, signed an executive order Wednesday, codifying election security measures and listing procedures to prevent non-citizens from voting in elections.
The executive order directs the Commissioner of the Department of Elections to annually certify that election security measures are in place regarding ballot security, testing and certification of ballot counting machines, triple-checking the accuracy of election results, and daily updating of voter rolls.
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Republican attorneys general from 21 states, led by the attorneys general of Montana and Virginia, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia defending the federal law banning TikTok in the U.S.
President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law in April due to concerns that through Chinese-owned parent company Bytedance, the Chinese Communist Party might be able to gain access to users’ private data or influence American youth toward communism. The law threatens to prohibit the app in the U.S. if Bytedance does not sell its shares in the social media company by Jan. 19, 2025.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has a short list for running mates, and it seems Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is her most likely choice.
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A frustrated group of Virginia Military Institute alumni, some of whom have previously spoken out against the institution’s growing embrace of DEI, have taken on a new battle.
The disgruntled alumni have filed a civil rights lawsuit against VMI Alumni Agencies, arguing the relationship between the official alma mater organization and the institute itself is inappropriate, that school leaders have too much control over it.
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The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters wrapped up its first week on Friday, featuring testimony by witnesses for the prosecution including IT professional Gerald Wood.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares on Friday sent a letter to ActBlue, the top fundraising platform for Democrats and liberal issues, demanding answers over the money laundering and fraud allegations levied by journalist James O’Keefe and his O’Keefe Media Group.
Miyares posted his letter to the social media platform X, confirming his office questioned ActBlue over allegations of “fraudulent, deceptive, and/or otherwise illegal acts,” including “hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions through individual donors” in Virginia who purportedly donated “in volumes that are facially implausible and appear suspicious.”
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The chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed the party considers Virginia “competitive” for former President Donald Trump in his campaign to retake the White House in November, pointing toward the 2021 victory by Governor Glenn Youngkin as evidence conservatives can still win statewide elections in the commonwealth.
RNC Chair Michael Whatley told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday that Virginia will be competitive for the Trump campaign after Youngkin showed “how a Republican can win Virginia” with his 2021 victory.
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Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus Virginia Rep. Bob Good has been unseated after losing a recount stemming from a close June primary race.
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The trial against former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters over her efforts combating election fraud began this past week where two witnesses for the prosecution testified all day made disparaging remarks about The Gateway Pundit, a conservative news site.
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Pennsylvania-based radio show host John Fredericks said the Keystone State’s politics are “hanging in the balance” leading up to the upcoming November 5 general election.
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A county supervisor in Virginia on Monday called for an end to sanctuary laws for illegal migrants after two murder suspects were confirmed to be living in the U.S. illegally, 7News reported.
Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, the one-and-only Republican supervisor in the deep blue jurisdiction, is demanding county officials put an end to laws that protect illegal migrant criminals in the county, according to 7News. Herrity’s public comments follow a brutal murder earlier this month along a popular hiking trail in Oakton, Virginia, with accusations that at least one of the illegal migrant suspects benefited from sanctuary laws before the murder.
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Virginia school boards are issuing cellphone free mandates in their local communities, after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered schools to draft plans for cell phone-free education in K-12 public schools.
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Virginia State Police cleared the anti-Israel encampment constructed near the home of Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday after it subsisted for over six months.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) worked with the Virginia State Police to clear the encampment previously constructed on the shoulder of Chain Bridge Road near Blinken’s home on Saturday, with VDOT stating to WTOP the encampment was “unsafe for motorists, bikers and pedestrians and blocks access to emergency vehicles and personnel.”
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an amicus brief Thursday on behalf of the Hanover County School Board, which barred a middle school male student identifying as a transgender girl from playing on the girls’ tennis team.
“Neither the federal Constitution nor any federal statute require Virginia school boards to allow biological males to play on a girls sports team,” Miyares said in a statement. “Rather, civil rights law is meant to protect female equity in athletics. I urge the court to ensure that women’s rights and opportunities remain protected in Virginia.”
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The executive director, chief of staff and chief of surgery at the Hampton VA Medical Center are all leaving after investigations revealed substandard care and potentially willful negligence.
Their exodus stems from congressional investigations and a Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report. The OIG began its latest probe into the hospital (there have been others) after learning of six instances of substandard care by the hospital’s assistant chief of surgery and spotting implications of a lack of internal reporting, oversight and accountability.
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The trial against a former Colorado elections clerk over her efforts combating election fraud is set to begin on Monday.
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The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) confirmed on Tuesday that its delegates to the Democratic National Convention voted unanimously on Monday to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee for the president during its convention next month.
In a statement posted to the social media platform X, the Virginia Democrats confirmed the delegates “met virtually” and “unanimously voted to join President Joe Biden in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.”
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Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance drew on his Appalachian upbringing to connect with supporters at a rally in Virginia on Monday night, focusing on the region’s depleted manufacturing industry, fentanyl and surging immigration crisis.
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Two months after lawmakers passed the commonwealth’s biennial budget containing changes to its tuition assistance program for some military families, legislators reconvened at the Capitol Thursday and passed legislation fully reinstating the program.
Representatives from Veterans of Foreign Wars attended the session and extolled the outcome afterward.
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Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance will headline a rally in Radford, Va., on Monday as the campaign hopes to flip the Old Dominion into the Republican camp for the first time in 20 years.
Former President Donald Trump announced Vance as his running mate this week amid the Republican National Convention. Though formerly a Trump critic, Vance has emerged as one of his most stalwart supporters in the upper chamber.
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Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed on Friday that U.S. Secret Service whistleblowers approached his office to inform him the agency assigned Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel who were not part of the Secret Service to protect former President Donald Trump during the Pennsylvania rally where he suffered an assassination attempt.
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One year after the Virginia Department of Education rolled out new model policies for the treatment of transgender students, the ACLU has undertaken several lawsuits on behalf of students identifying as transgender, saying the policies violate state and federal law.
One lawsuit was dismissed Monday, and the other two will be heard on Aug. 6 and 20, one in federal court and the other in state circuit court.
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Former President Donald Trump has inched ahead of President Joe Biden in Virginia, a state no Republican has won at the presidential level since 2004.
The RealClearPolitics polling average currently shows Trump with 43.8% support to Biden’s 43.4%. The average includes five surveys from Emerson, VCU, NY Times/Siena, Fox News, and Roanoke College.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper during his failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last Saturday, was reportedly diagnosed with major depressive disorder prior to his death.
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A sniper from one of the local law enforcement agencies providing assistance at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 14 saw Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter who was killed at the scene, and photographed the would-be assassin immediately prior to his attack, a Wednesday report claims.
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The U.S. Secret Service last Saturday “created the conditions” for 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb onto the roof of a building and take aim at former President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally “deliberately and with malice aforethought,” argued The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis, who led a series of criticisms against the agency on Tuesday.
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The New York Times/Siena College poll just released results from a voter survey taken before the Trump rally shooting, showing President Joe Biden leading former President Donald Trump by just a few percentage points.
The results are causing more chatter about the role Virginia could play in the upcoming election since Biden won Virginia by 10% in 2020. Prior to a May poll by Roanoke College that showed the presidential candidates tied 42%-42%, Virginia was considered reliably blue for Biden – due to his previous performance and to the fact that George W. Bush was the last Republican presidential candidate to win the commonwealth in 2004.
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Conversations by The Pennsylvania Daily Star with around two dozen neighbors near the house where Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, lived painted a picture of a family that mostly keeps to itself and a young man who had little interaction with the neighborhood.
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An attendee at former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania told The Pennsylvania Daily Star that attendees feared the shooter stood among the crowd, and they felt relief only when Trump rose to his feet and raised his fist.
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Tony Bendele, a social media creator and trained firefighter in Pennsylvania, claimed he resigned his position as a captain in the Sunbury Fire Department on Monday after he expressed disappointment when an attempted assassin failed to kill former President Donald Trump at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., ordered the U.S. and state flags to be “flown at half-staff'” on Monday in remembrance of Corey Comperatore, a volunteer fireman, was killed at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. where Trump survived an assassination attempt.
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Virginia’s traffic fatalities decreased last year for the first time since the pandemic and after a significant increase from 2020-2021 — but they’re still up by 24 percent since 2013.
These trends generally mirror national traffic trends, with traffic fatalities up 25 percent nationally during that same period, according to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The U.S. saw a dramatic rise in traffic fatalities in 2021 and a “modest decrease” in 2022 and 2023.
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Virginia has again ranked first in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business index, its sixth time topping the chart since CNBC started the survey in 2007.
States are ranked on 128 metrics in 10 “broad categories of competitiveness” selected through consultation with business and policy specialists and the states.
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A Northern Virginia school district will teach kindergartners about gay parents and middle schoolers about transgenderism in the wake of a unanimous vote late last month—despite significant parental opposition.
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