Tag: New York

Federal Judge Rules That New York Healthcare Workers Can Apply for Religious Exemption from Vaccine

Virginia Star Staff

An a significant blow to one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates, a federal judge ruled that healthcare workers in New York can apply for religious exemptions from the statewide mandate, according to CNN.

The ruling was made on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd, with Hurd declaring that the New York State Department of Health is “barred from interfering in any way with the granting of religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccination going forward, or with the operation of exemptions already granted.”

Read More

Commentary: The First Step to Rightsizing Education Spending Is Reforming Teacher Pensions

RealClearWire

In the past year, Congress has rushed more than $204 billion in federal emergency funds to states to support K-12 schools. 

But 23 states had fewer incoming students this fall. This declining enrollment is likely in part due to pandemic-related trends but is also a symptom of changing birth rates and families geographically relocating.

Read More

Future Teachers will be Separated into White, BIPOC Affinity Groups at Education College

Virginia Star Staff

Bank Street Graduate School of Education recently touted its new “affinity groups” for White students and “students of color.”

The New York City-based college announced the groups in a September 23 blog post, telling prospective students that “becoming part of an ongoing conversation about race and ourselves as racial beings is one way to engage in this necessary aspect of the work we need to do.”

Read More

Andrew Yang Leaves Democratic Party to Form His Own Third Party

Virginia Star Staff

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang will soon be announcing the launch of his very own political party, after he has officially left the Democratic Party, the New York Post reports.

The former entrepreneur is set to announce his new party alongside the release of his new book, “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy,” which comes out on October 5th. The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House subsidiary Crown, promotes the book as “a powerful and urgent warning that we must step back from the brink and plot a new way forward for our democracy.”

Read More

‘Condition Omega!’ Once-Secret New York Police Department 9/11 Report Recounts Horror, Heroism 20 Years Later

Virginia Star Staff
Across the water from NYC, with a first responder statue

Now relegated to the history files of the New York’s police department, a September 2001 after-action report prepared by then-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik for then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani provides a stunning account of what happened on the deadliest day in American history as four hijacked planes pierced the sunny, blue morning skies 20 years ago.

Nineteen terrorists — working under the command of Osama bin Laden (since executed by the U.S. military) and his chief planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (since captured and on trial now at Guantanamo Bay) — exacted unspeakable carnage on an unsuspecting country that was forever changed.

The report, provided by Kerik to Just the News as part of its “9/11: Never Forget” podcast special, details how the NYPD executed “Condition Omega,” an emergency plan that achieved an unprecedented sealing of the Big Apple, an historic evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the city’s financial district and a grim, gruesome recovery of more than 2,500 bodies, including hundreds of police officers and firefighters who rushed into the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and its adjoining command center.

Read More

Human Rights Campaign Fires Alphonso David for Advising Cuomo on #METOO Allegations

Virginia Star Staff
Alphonso David

The nation’s largest LGBTQ rights advocacy group has fired its president for advising Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the #METOO allegations against the governor.

The two Human Rights Campaign (HRC) boards terminated Alphonso David “for cause” Monday evening, The New York Times reported. David called his termination unjust in a Monday evening statement and accused the HRC board of lying to him about its investigation.

“As a black, gay man who has spent his whole life fighting for civil and human rights, they cannot shut me up,” he said. “Expect a legal challenge.”

Read More

University’s Redesigned Mascot is a Gender-Neutral, Climate-Change-Protesting, Social Justice Warrior

Virginia Star Staff

The New School’s mascot, a Narwhal named Gnarls, got a gender-neutral redesign for the Fall 2021 semester, the university reports.

Gnarls backstory includes an “unconventional” upbringing due to “distressing levels of ice loss” that forced the Narwhal’s family out of its Antarctica home.

Read More

Current New York Governor Kathy Hochul Discloses 12,000 Additional COVID Deaths Previously Obscured by Cuomo Administration

Virginia Star Staff
Kathy Hotchu

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul disclosed on her first day in office nearly 12,000 COVID-19 deaths that were previously unreported in the state’s data tracker during former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration.

The New York State Department of Health’s COVID-19 data tracker reported Wednesday nearly 55,395 virus deaths in the state reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the start of the pandemic, just under 12,000 more than the roughly 43,400 COVID-19 deaths disclosed in the state-managed tracker on Cuomo’s last day in office.

The discrepancy results from the Cuomo administration’s decision to report only laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in which patients died at hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities. The Cuomo administration’s tally deliberately excluded New Yorkers who died from COVID-19 at their homes, hospices, state prisons or state-run homes for those with disabilities.

Read More

TIME’S UP CEO Resigns over Ties to Cuomo Investigation

Virginia Star Staff
Tina Tchen

The second TIME’S UP co-founder has resigned from her position following backlash over reports that she worked against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s accusers.

“Now is the time for Time’s Up to evolve and move forward as there is so much more work to do for women,” TIME’S UP co-founder Tina Tchen said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. “It is clear that I am not the leader who can accomplish that in this moment.”

“I am especially aware that my position at the helm of Time’s Up has become a painful and divisive focal point, where those very women and other activists who should be working together to fight for change are instead battling each other in harmful ways,” she added.

Read More

Despite Resigning in Disgrace, Cuomo Stands to Collect Substantial Pension

The Center Square

A majority of New York lawmakers were ready to remove Gov. Andrew Cuomo from office over misconduct allegations, a removal that was only averted by his resignation. But despite the near-universal condemnation of his actions as governor, Cuomo still stands to earn a substantial pension from taxpayers for his time in office.

News reports this week indicate that Cuomo has filed for his pension as the date when he has promised to resign, Aug, 24, draws near.

Read More

Commentary: New York Gov. Cuomo’s Resignation Has Everything to Do with Democrats Maintaining the Loyalty of College-aged Women

Virginia Star Staff

Under the glare of a looming impeachment, precipitated by Attorney General Letitia James’ report of Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment of 11 women, Cuomo transformed before our eyes from beloved Emmy winner to “the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing.” And it all happened faster than you could say, “Cuomo is responsible for the deaths of more than 15,000 nursing home residents from COVID-19 because of his incompetent-at-best-and-criminal-at-worst handling of the pandemic.”

What happened? Why did the preventable, tragic deaths of 15,000 elderly New Yorkers not sink Cuomo, but the allegations of 11 women about sexual misconduct on his part did?

Read More

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Announces His Resignation

Admin

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday he will resign from office in 14 days, bowing to pressure following a bombshell attorney general report accusing him of violating federal and state laws involving sexual harassment of subordinates.

Earlier Tuesday, an attorney for the governor held a press conference in an attempt to discredit elements of the New York Attorney General’s report, which was released last week. Rita Glavin, who is representing the governor, said “This is about the veracity and credibility of a report that is being used to impeach and take down an elected official.”

Read More

State Lawmakers Strip Four Democrat and Two Republican Governors’ Power After Overreach During COVID-19 Pandemic

Admin

State legislatures in six states limited their governors’ emergency powers wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing executives have overextended their authority.

As of June 2021, lawmakers in 46 states have introduced legislation stripping governors of certain emergency powers, according to USA Today. Legislatures justified their actions as necessary to restore a balance between the branches of state government, pointing to examples of executive overreach and the centralization of power in the hands of governors.

Read More

Over Half of New Yorkers Think Cuomo Should Be Criminally Charged, Poll Shows

Virginia Star Staff

Over half of New York voters think Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be criminally charged after an investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women, a new poll shows.

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 55% of voters think Cuomo should be charged with a crime, while just 29% said the opposite. It also found that 70% believe Cuomo should resign from office and that he has lost his ability to govern, while 25% believe he should not.

Read More

Ex-Cuomo Aide Boylan to Sue New York Governor for Allegedly Retaliating Against Her after Coming Forward

Virginia Star Staff
Andrew Cuomo and Lindsey Boylan

Ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan plans to sue the Democratic governor for allegedly retaliating against her for publicly accusing him of sexual harassment.

Boylan said last year in a series of tweets that she had been sexual harassed by the governor for years, allegations that led to other woman coming forward with similar stories and a state probe into the matter.

“Our plan is to sue the governor and his and his coconspirators,” Boylan’s attorney, Jill Basinger, said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.

Read More

Commentary: Pennsylvania Is a Microcosm of America’s Housing Crisis

RealClearWire
A modern home with a light blue roof and matching siding

In recent years, an acute housing crisis has engulfed both America’s coastal metros and Rust Belt regions. California’s Bay Area, for example, confronts a crisis of affordability and limited supply that hastens a population exodus. Midwest cities like Detroit face low real-estate prices and low demand, intensifying urban decline.

Pennsylvania is a microcosm of such alarming housing trends, especially east of the Susquehanna River, which is seeing an influx of metro New Yorkers relocating to the area.

From the Keystone State’s middle-class suburbs to its post-industrial locales, the housing crisis is a major challenge. In the midstate, most notably in Harrisburg and Lancaster, housing has become significantly more expensive. In the northeast’s anthracite coal region, anchored by Scranton, rents are spiking. And in suburban Philadelphia’s Lansdale, a townhouse went for nearly $500,000.

Read More

Rising Crime Forces Liberals to Reckon with Their Stance on the Police

Virginia Star Staff

by Ailan Evans   As rates of violent crime continue to rise across the country and once-safe neighborhoods face increased dangers, many liberal communities are having to confront their complicated relationship with the police. Following the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, the defund the police movement attracted attention and support…

Read More

New York City Drops Majority of Rioting and Looting Cases from 2020

Virginia Star Staff
People looting Walgreens at night

Several borough District Attorneys in the city of New York have controversially decided to drop the majority of cases against rioters and looters who were arrested over the course of the last year, as reported by Breitbart.

The report first came from NBC New York, which says that “data reviewed by the NBC New York I-Team shows 118 arrests were made in the Bronx during the worst of the looting in early June.” Of those 118 cases, the Bronx DA has dismissed 73 cases, leaving only 45. There are still 18 cases open, and there have been just 19 convictions so far.

“In Manhattan,” the report continues, “the NYPD data shows there were 485 arrests. Of those cases, 222 were later dropped and 73 seeing convictions…another 40 cases involved juveniles and were sent to family court; 128 cases remain open.”

Read More

Immigration Cases Have Doubled Since 2017

Virginia Star Staff
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Immigration cases deciding if migrants will be legally allowed to stay in the U.S. have doubled since 2017, according to migration data released Monday.

Over 1.3 million cases are pending, with more than 110,000 pending in New York courts alone, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Migrants wait an average of two and a half years for a judge to decide their case, Axios reported Monday.

“The number of pending deportation cases more than doubled during the Trump administration, but the court backlog still continues to grow under the Biden administration,” TRAC Assistant Professor Austin Kocher told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.

Read More

New York Psychiatrist Admits in Yale Lecture to Fantasizing About Shooting White People

Virginia Star Staff
Aruna Khilanani

A psychiatrist from New York City went on a racist rant back in April in which she expressed her desire to kill White people simply because they are White, as heard in recently-revealed audio of the lecture, the New York Post reports.

The comments were made by Dr. Aruna Khilanani during a lecture to the Yale School of Medicine on April 6th. She said that she dreams of “unloading a revolver into the head of any White person that got in my way,” and that if she did so, she would leave the scene of the crime “with a bounce in my step.” She added that White people “make [her] blood boil,” and also believes that White people “are out of their minds and have been for a long time.”

The lecture was titled “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind.” During the speech, Khilanani talked about “learning objectives” such as “[setting] up White people’s absence of empathy towards black rage as a problem,” and also claiming that “White people are psychologically dependent on black rage.” These details, along with the full audio of the lecture, were posted online via Substack on Friday, by former New York Times editor Bari Weiss.

Read More

BLM Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors to Step Down Following DCNF Reports of Potential Self-Dealing

Virginia Star Staff
Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, will depart from her role as the organization’s executive director, the charity announced Thursday.

Cullors’ abrupt departure from the charity, which serves as the national arm of the BLM movement, came three weeks after the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that she had used her position as the charity’s leader to funnel business to an art company led by the father of her only child. Charity experts said BLM’s arrangement with the art company, Trap Heals, amounts to self-dealing and raises ethical and legal questions.

BLM Global Network did not provide an explanation in its statement Thursday for Cullors’ sudden departure. The statement said Cullors would be replaced by two senior executives who will lead the group until it “finds a new permanent team.”

Read More

‘Drag Queens in Training’: NYC Department of Education Children’s Show Features 12 Minutes of ‘Lil Miss Hot Mess’ Reading and Dancing

Virginia Star Staff
Person getting makeup done

A children’s show on PBS featured drag queen and author “Little Miss Hot Mess” singing, dancing, and reading a book about drag queens to an intended audience of three to eight year olds.

“Today I’m going to read from my own book, which is ‘The Hips On the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish,’” explained Little Miss Hot Mess, who is reportedly one of the founding members of Drag Queen Story Hour.

“I wrote this book because I wanted everyone to get to experience the magic of drag and to get a little practice shaking their hips or shimmying their shoulders to know how we can feel fabulous inside of our own bodies,” Little Miss Hot Mess said.

Read More

Federal Authorities Search Rudy Giuliani’s New York Apartment, Reports

Virginia Star Staff

Federal authorities in New York on Wednesday raided former city Mayor and President Trump’s attorney’s Upper West Side apartment, as part of a criminal probe into his work in Ukraine, according to multiple news reports.

The investigators confiscated Rudy Giuliani’s electronic devices as part of a search warrant, according to the New York Times, which cited sources.

Read More

Census Bureau Announces States in the South, Northwest Pick up Congressional Seats

Virginia Star Staff

Texas and Florida are slated to gain congressional seats during the decennial redistricting process, while California and New York are set to each lose one, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the decennial state population and congressional apportionment totals Monday, outlining how many districts each state will have for the next decade. The data also determines how many Electoral College votes each state will have through 2032, and allocates how federal money is distributed to each state for schools, roads and other public projects.

The release was originally scheduled for December, but faced delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s unsuccessful effort to exclude non-citizens from the count.

Read More

Children’s Book Used in New York School Faces Backlash over Claims That Police Are Racist

Virginia Star Staff
Police

A public school district in New York state is facing criticism after it promoted a children’s book that falsely claims that police target black people instead of White people, and that black people are more likely to be shot, as reported by Fox News.

In the city of Binghamton, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) denounced the city’s school district for their promotion of the book “Something Happened In Our Town.” The book, which was selected by the school as the “Book of the Month” for April for MacArthur Elementary School, was read aloud to students.

Read More

How Georgia’s Voting Law Compares to Seven Blue, Purple States’ Laws

Virginia Star Staff
Flag with ballot form

Democrats have repeatedly denounced the new Georgia election integrity law that requires IDs for absentee ballots, but seldom criticize blue states that have comparable laws on their books—or in some cases, laws making it more difficult to vote than in Georgia.

“Overall, the Georgia law is pretty much in the mainstream and is not regressive or restrictive,” Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told The Daily Signal. “The availability of absentee ballots and early voting is a lot more progressive than what’s in blue states.”

Here’s a look at how the new Georgia election law stacks up to voting laws in Democrat-leaning blue states.

Read More

‘Dead Meat’: New York Democrat Warns Cuomo Is ‘Not A Nice Person’ and ‘Doesn’t Have Any Friends’

Virginia Star Staff

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is “not a nice person” who “doesn’t have any friends,” according to the former lieutenant governor of New York.

Former New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch discussed the governor’s fall from grace in an interview with the New York Times after the majority of the New York Democratic congressional delegation called for Cuomo’s resignation.

Read More

Bill De Blasio Calls on Cuomo to Resign After ‘Absolutely Unacceptable’ Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Virginia Star Staff

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio became the latest Democratic lawmaker to call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after a sixth woman accused him of sexual misconduct.

After the Albany Times Union reported that a woman accused Cuomo of reaching under her blouse and touching her at his Executive Mansion last year, de Blasio said that the governor “could no longer serve.”

Read More

New York Republicans Seek to Impeach Cuomo as AG’s Office Ramps up Investigation

The Center Square

As New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday announced the attorneys who will conduct the independent review on the sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republicans in the state Legislature said they intend to seek the embattled leader’s impeachment.

James appointed Joon H. Kim and Anne L. Clark to look into the sexual harassment allegations. Kim is a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Clark focuses on employment law.

James said the state is committed to a thorough review and heralded Kim and Clark as experts. Kim and Clark will be able to issue subpoenas, depose people and review records. They will give James’ office a weekly update throughout the investigatio

Read More

Most New Yorkers Do Not Want Cuomo to Resign Despite Underwater Approval Rating, Poll Shows

Virginia Star Staff

Most New Yorkers oppose Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigning despite facing dual scandals that have tanked his popularity across the state, according to a Thursday Quinnipiac poll.

Less-than-half of voters, 40%, more than half which were Democrats, said that Cuomo should resign, the poll showed. Although most voters said the New York Democrat shouldn’t resign, only 36% said that he should seek a fourth term, compared to 59% who said that he should not run for reelection.

Read More

Cuomo’s Troubles Deepen as N.Y. Attorney General Seeks Subpoena Power in Sex Harassment Probe

Virginia Star Staff
Gov. Andrew Cuomo

After a rollercoaster weekend of reversals, recriminations and apologies, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legal troubles are deepening as New York’s top law enforcement officer prepares to secure subpoena powers to investigate allegations of sexual harassment.

Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, announced Sunday night she will deputize an outside law firm to investigate the allegations by two former Cuomo aides after the governor’s effort to fashion his own investigation led by a former federal judge backfired.

Read More

New York Legislature ‘Inching Toward’ Impeachment Probe of Cuomo, Democratic Assemblyman Says

Virginia Star Staff

A Democratic state assemblyman in New York says that lawmakers are “inching toward” opening an impeachment probe of Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his handling of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.

In an interview on the “Skullduggery” podcast, Ronald Kim, a Queens assemblyman, also said he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators in an ongoing probe of the Cuomo administration.

Read More

Cuomo Administration Pushes Back Against Accusations It Withheld Data on COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

The Center Square

Hours after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a scathing report over how the state reported deaths at nursing homes due to COVID-19, state Heath Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker went on the offensive.

Zucker claimed the attorney general’s report affirmed the total number of deaths overall and that the state has repeatedly said its policy is to count deaths by where they occurred.

Read More

Virginia Opts Not to Join Climate Initiative, for Now

The Center Square

Virginia was not in the first slate of states to join the Transportation and Climate Initiative, which proponents argue will help fight climate change and opponents assert will increase costs for households.

Under the multistate agreement, a state would agree to establish a cap on diesel and gasoline sales and require wholesales to purchase carbon allowances to go over that limit, which effectively creates a carbon tax. The initiative has received support from many Democrats and opposition from Republicans.

Read More

Cornell Student Government Members Expel Fellow Senators Who Voted Against Disarming Police

Virginia Star Staff

Activist members of the student government at Cornell University are waging an ideological war against fellow Cornell Student Assembly members who recently voted against disarming campus police.

From launching recall petitions and rallying against their fellow representatives in November, to earlier this month ousting some of them from subcommittees or the entire assembly, these activist student government members say they are motivated to set right what a “white-cis-het” group of their peers did in voting down the disarmament resolution.

Read More

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Accused of Sexual Harassment

Virginia Star Staff

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is facing accusations of sexual harassment from a former aide and advisor, Lindsey Boylan, who insisted he sexually harassed her for several years while she worked in his office.

Boylan, who worked for the Cuomo administration from March 2015 to October 2018 alleged that he repeatedly harassed her and would often make inappropriate comments about her physical appearance while colleagues did nothing.

Read More

Supreme Court Calls New York’s COVID-19 Restrictions ‘Discriminatory,’ Sides with Religious Leaders

Virginia Star Staff

The Supreme Court late Wednesday night sided with religious organizations challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus restrictions and called the New York Democrat’s measures “discriminatory” in its injunction for emergency relief.

The conservative justices, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, favored the religion organizations in the 5-4 ruling, while Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal justices. It was the first time Barrett was a deciding factor as the court’s newest justice after replacing the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Read More

NY Gov. Cuomo Goes on Self-Congratulatory Book Tour as DOJ Probes COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Virginia Star Staff

As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo embarked on a self-congratulatory book tour this week, the U.S. Department of Justice requested additional data from his administration on coronavirus deaths linked to nursing homes.

According to the New York Post, the DOJ’s inquiry could reveal if the state significantly undercounted the number of COVID-19 fatalities among the residents of more than 1,000 private nursing homes.

Read More

Andrew Cuomo Threatens to Shut Down Churches, Synagogues, Says ‘Religious Institutions Have Been a Problem’

Virginia Star Staff
Andrew Cuomo

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened Monday to close down religious institutions, specifically Jewish synagogues, if they do not follow his coronavirus restrictions.

“We know religious institutions have been a problem,” Cuomo said at a Monday press conference. “We know mass gatherings are the super spreader events. We know there have been mass gatherings going on in concert with religious institutions in these communities for weeks. For weeks.”

Read More

Commentary: When Wish Replaces Thought

Virginia Star Staff

Don’t you just love Paul Krugman? One of loudest of the many anti-Trump hysterics employed by the New York Times, the former economist has been a reliable source of comedy at least since election night 2016. Once the worst was certain and the world learned that Donald Trump had indeed been elected president of the United States, Krugman pondered the markets, which had plunged overnight. “When might we expect them to recover?” he asked. “A first-pass answer is never . . . So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight.”

Read More

Former Obama AG Loretta Lynch Is Conducting ‘Independent Review’ of Syracuse University Police

Virginia Star Staff

Former Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch is asking Syracuse University student organization leaders to share their opinions and testimonies about the campus police department, of which Syracuse hired her to launch a review.

Campus Reform obtained an August 19 email from Lynch to student organizations on campus, in which she asked students to share their views on DPS.

Read More

U.S. Department of Education Opens Investigation of Fordham University Over Punishment of Student Austin Tong

Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into Fordham University, about two months after student Austin Tong received notification from the New York City private college that his social media posts violated university policy and that he had been placed on probation.

Read More

Television Viewership Down for Democrats’ Unconventional Convention

The Associated Press

Preliminary estimates show that viewership for the first night of the Democrats’ virtual convention was down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton’s nominating party four years ago.

An estimated 18.7 million people watched coverage between 10 and 11 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the Nielsen company said. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers.

Read More

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler Says Antifa Violence in Portland is ‘a Myth’

Virginia Star Staff

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York said antifa violence in Portland is a myth in a YouTube video published Monday.

Nadler made the comment during an interview with Austen Fletcher. Fletcher hosts Fleccas Talks, a political channel, according to the Dartmouth Review.

Read More

Austin Tong Refuses to Apologize for Gun-Toting Tiananmen Square Protest Photo, Says He Plans to Sue Fordham University

Virginia Star Staff

Austin Tong, a Chinese immigrant, has been barred from the university campus and is required to do mandatory “implicit bias” training, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Administrators also demanded the student write a letter of apology as a consequence of  his June 4 Instagram post, according to a disciplinary letter.

Read More

Actress Spencer Grammer Slashed Outside Manhattan Restaurant

Virginia Star Staff

Actress Spencer Grammer says she was trying to calm an agitated man when he slashed her in the arm and stabbed her friend in the back Friday outside a New York City restaurant.

Grammer, 36, told US Weekly that she and her friend “did what anyone else would do in the same situation” and were “attempting to prevent the altercation from escalating” when they were attacked.

Read More

Abolitionist, Advisor to President Abraham Lincoln – Frederick Douglass Statue Vandalized in New York Park

The Associated Press

Police in Rochester were trying to determine Monday who ripped a statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass from its base on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in the upstate New York city in 1852.

The statue of Douglass was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglass and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom. The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet from its pedestal, police said. There was damage to the base and a finger.

Read More

Black Candidates Tap Protest Energy to Challenge Incumbent Democrats

Virginia Star Staff

Amy McGrath and Eliot Engel live hundreds of miles apart in states with dramatically different politics.

Yet they’re the preferred candidates of the Democratic Party’s Washington establishment as voters in Kentucky and New York decide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday. And both may be in trouble.

Read More