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Richmond and surrounding counties included on federal list of ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions
The city of Richmond, as well as Henrico, Chesterfield and — curiously — Hanover counties are included on a list of local jurisdictions that President Donald Trump’s administration says are “deliberately and shamefully” refusing to enforce federal immigration laws. The list, in line with an executive order issued by Trump this April, was posted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Thursday night. Jurisdictions were identified based on “compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”
Rep. Subramanyam launches congressional Agritourism Caucus at Loudoun County event
Against the backdrop of a small pond, with geese fluttering and lawn mowers humming nearby, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va.-10th District, held up a white paper packet. The document, a newly-minted agritourism resource manual from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is set to serve as a guiding reference for Subramanyam’s Agritourism Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he is set to co-chair alongside Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C.
Subramanyam Relaunches Federal Agritourism Caucus
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10) and farmers from around the region celebrated the reformation of the Congressional Agritourism Caucus at Great Country Farms in Bluemont on Thursday afternoon. Subramanyam also discussed his introduction of the AGRITOURISM Act and addressed a variety of problems that farmers in Loudoun and surrounding counties said they are facing. ... “I basically want champions on Capitol Hill to come together for agritourism and evangelize it in Congress,” he said.
Kaine, Warner condemn closure of Old Dominion Job Corps Center
Virginia’s two Democratic senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine released a joint statement Friday blasting the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to shut down contractor-run Job Corps centers across the country, including the Old Dominion Job Corps in Amherst County. The decision will “abruptly eliminate crucial job training for thousands of young Americans and cut nearly 13,000 jobs across the program’s 99 centers,” the senators’ news release condemning the measure said.
Rep. Jennifer McClellan warns of harm from Medicaid cuts
The US Senate is set to take up a budget bill that’s become the legislative focus of President Donald Trump’s agenda this week after Congress returns from a Memorial Day recess. Before leaving, the US House of Representatives voted 215–214 to pass its version of a tax and spending bill. The legislation put restrictions on who will be eligible for Medicaid coverage. Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D–4th) voted against the bill. She said it would put a heavy burden on some of the most vulnerable people in the state.
Jerrauld Jones—civil rights pioneer, judge and state delegate—dies at 70
Jerrauld C. Jones, a longtime judge and state delegate, has died at 70. Jones became one of the first African-American students to integrate Ingleside Elementary School in 1961 and later the Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg in 1967. ... He became the first African American law clerk to the Supreme Court of Virginia, served as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates for 14 years, represented Norfolk’s 89th District and served as the long-time chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
Leighty: How America drifted from shared power to centralized control
The government of the United States was never designed to be efficient. It was designed to be safe — from tyranny. Having just fought a war to escape centralized power, the founders intentionally created a government that divided authority in every possible direction. They built a system of pluralistic governance — one that splits power across three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) and three levels (federal, state and local). It was a system of friction by design, built to slow down decision-making so no one person — or branch — could dominate.
Trailblazing civil rights leader, state delegate and longtime Norfolk judge Jerrauld Jones dies at 70
Jerrauld C. Jones, a longtime judge and state delegate who began making a name for himself when he was among the first Black students to integrate one of Norfolk’s elementary schools, died Saturday. He was 70. Jones’ son, Jay — also a former state delegate and a current Virginia attorney general candidate in this month’s Democratic primary — made the announcement on Facebook late Saturday. A cause of death wasn’t provided.
Williams: Asians beware. MAGA doesn’t care about racial justice
The prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology — a Northern Virginia magnet school not to be confused with Richmond’s TJ — has become yet another Trump administration battleground in its war on diversity, equity and inclusion. At issue is an admissions process, adopted by the Fairfax County School Board in 2020, that a parents group argued was biased against Asian applicants. A lower court agreed, but the Richmond-based U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling in May 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the matter.
Jerrauld Jones, Norfolk judge and former state delegate, dies at 70
Jerrauld C. Jones, a Norfolk judge, former state delegate and father of Democratic attorney general hopeful Jay Jones, has died at 70. His family, including Jay Jones, who previously held his father’s former seat in the House of Delegates, announced his death Saturday evening.