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Liberty University to appeal lawsuit from employee who said she was fired for being transgender
Liberty University was granted permission to appeal a lawsuit filed against the school by a former employee who said she was fired for being transgender. The case dates back to 2023, when Ellenor Zinski says the school fired her after she told the HR Department she identifies as a transgender woman. In 2024, the ACLU filed the lawsuit against Liberty, which argues that Zinski violated the university's doctrinal statement and policies regarding the biblical understanding of gender.
Loudoun Sheriff: Increase in Traffic Stops are Efficient Policing, Not Racial Profiling
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is pushing back against community concerns that an increasing number of traffic stops and vehicle searches are evidence of racial profiling, instead saying they are result from more efficient policing. On May 6, Sheriff Mike Chapman presented his quarterly report to the Board of Supervisors showing that the number of traffic stops conducted between Jan. 1 and March 31 totaled 7,088. New Virginia Majority, a political advocacy group, raised concerns that that number had risen by 65% over last year’s first quarter total of 4,290 traffic stops. NVM Campaign Director Sofia Saiyed said the stops are “pretextual” and that the Sheriff’s Office is “practicing racial discrimination to target the immigrant community and funnel them into the deportation pipeline” in a May 19 press release.
Lynchburg business leaders speak out against ‘soap opera’ on city council
Over the past week, Lynchburg business leaders have been pushing back against the behavior of members of city council, with some suggesting the council’s conduct could be jeopardizing investment in the city. The discussion was initiated by Dave Henderson, managing partner of Hen + Hound Management Co., the restaurant company that owns The Water Dog in downtown Lynchburg. He sent an email to city leaders and the local news media a day after the council’s most recent meeting on May 13. ... “I needed to get it off my chest,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone would pay attention to the email.” The email had the opposite effect, inspiring other local business leaders to speak out.
Federal spending cuts cause a labor market riptide in D.C. area, data shows
Federal spending cuts are beginning to have a more pronounced impact on the Washington region’s job market, new data suggests, with fewer white-collar jobs available while thousands of residents who’ve lost theirs are looking for work. Job postings in the District this month are down 17 percent since January, according to a report by the jobs site Indeed, driven by steep drops in listings for administrative assistants, human resources specialists and accountants — positions that are common inside federal agencies or companies with federal government contracts. The broader metro area is showing similar signs of contraction, with overall postings down more than 10 percent — far outpacing the national average.
New approach to cleaning Chesapeake Bay rewards success
The biggest challenge to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is figuring out where the nutrients that fuel summertime dead zones come from — and a new approach to pollution control is stressing better targeting. For the past few years, environmentalists and marine scientists have been talking about such targeting with what they call an outcomes-based approach to cutting nonpoint source flows of nitrogen and phosphorus. These are the pollutants that rain — flowing off farm fields, parking lots, streets and suburban lawns — carries into the hundreds of streams and rivers that eventually feed the bay. Now, some of the first efforts are emerging.
Hundreds protest Trump crypto-themed Lowes Island golf club dinner
President Donald J. Trump's May 22 dinner at his Lowes Island golf club with 220 crypto currency investors who paid a combined $148 million to dine with him was hard to digest for the roughly 300 protesters outside the club. As men wearing tuxedos and women in dinner gowns entered the Trump National Golf Club, protesters screamed at them that the dinner was a pay-to-play scheme. They said Trump was trading access and political favors for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Spanberger talks affordability, abortion, guns and right-to-work in Norfolk
Welcomed by about 200 people chanting her name, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger took the stage Friday afternoon at a downtown Norfolk restaurant in her Democratic bid to become Virginia’s first woman governor. The theme for her appearance at Brothers Restaurant was making the Commonwealth more affordable. “I hear from people who are impacted by the challenges we are facing in affordability here in the Commonwealth,” Spanberger said, “whether it’s at the pharmacy counter, the grocery store, when they get their energy bill or on the housing market.”
Loudoun supervisor wants more information on ICE detainees
According to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued 120 immigration detainers as of May 13, for people arrested and held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center this year, and 65 have been picked up by ICE after being released. But ICE and the LCSO haven't revealed their names or information about where they're being held. Last year, ICE picked up 97 of the 232 inmates it issued detainers for at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, according to LCSO.
Virginia War Memorial plans 12-hour marathon reading of fallen soldiers’ names for Memorial Day commemoration
The Virginia War Memorial is preparing a unique tribute to fallen service members this Memorial Day with a marathon reading of nearly 12,000 names of Virginians killed or missing in action. "Veterans Day is all about those that serve. Memorial Day is specifically oriented around honoring those that have died in service to the nation," Ben King, operations manager of the Virginia War Memorial, said.
Senators, Including Kaine, Visit Canada, Seeking a Reset Amid Trump’s Provocations
A bipartisan group of senators on Friday arrived in Ottawa seeking to stabilize the United States’ relationship with Canada, determined to mend a once-tight alliance that President Trump has tested in recent months with tariffs and tough talk. Sporting lapel pins of the American and Canadian flags and red and white friendship bracelets, the group — four Democrats and a lone Republican — met with Prime Minister Mark Carney and senior Canadian officials in a bid to defuse the tension that has built up in recent months after economic pressure and political rhetoric from Mr. Trump that many Canadians have viewed as both destabilizing and deeply insulting.