Category: Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement
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UVA to Pay $9 Million in Mass-Shooting Settlement
The University of Virginia has settled with the families of five victims of a November 2022 mass shooting that occurred after a class outing to Washington, D.C. The university will pay $2 million each to the families of football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry and another $3 million to be divided…
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The Crying Game
by James A. Bacon After President Jim Ryan ordered a breakup of their liberation zone for Gaza a week ago in what one might call a “mostly peaceful” police action, encampment veterans are posturing as victims of “brutal” fascist state “violence” and “trauma.” “I got brutalized by the police at a UNESCO World Heritage site,”…
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Team Ryan Defends Shutdown of Tent Encampment
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia called in the Virginia State Police to disperse “UVA Encampment for Gaza” protesters because they feared the demonstration was spiraling out of control, said President Jim Ryan, University Police Chief Tim Longo, and other University leaders in a virtual town hall early this afternoon. Some protesters had…
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With the Tents Down, the Blowback Begins
by James A. Bacon Following the decision to take down the tents in the UVA Solidarity Encampment for Gaza “liberated zone” at the University of Virginia on Saturday, UVA President Jim Ryan is facing strong blowback from leftist elements in the UVA and Charlottesville communities. Pro-Palestinian protesters had rebuked the administration’s orders to take down…
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At UVA, One Pro-Palestinian Protest Disperses, a Second Persists
by James A. Bacon One of two pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of Virginia wound down around 5 p.m. yesterday without incident. Although the rally was marked by all-too-familiar anti-Israel chants and sloganeering, protesters dispersed at the scheduled time. A parallel demonstration, a tent-free “encampment,” continues this morning. University officials set clear expectations from…
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Greedy Cities and Speeding Ticket Chicanery
by Kerry Dougherty Hire more traffic cops. At the very least hire Virginia companies to fleece Virginia drivers. That’s the advice I have for Chesapeake and Suffolk, where instead of sending cops with radar guns out to catch speeders, they’ve hired out-of-state vendors with cameras. Worse, according to attorney and former Del. Tim Anderson, who’s…
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Jason Miyares–Judicial Activist?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Jason Miyares has struck out again. Miyares, Virginia’s Attorney General, keeps asking the Virginia Supreme Court to interpret a statute, based not on how it is actually written, but based on what the General Assembly “intended.” The court’s response is that its function is to ask “not what the legislature intended to…
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Yes, MSNBC Morons, Virginia IS a Border State.
by Kerry Dougherty Remember back on the night of Super Tuesday when MSNBC’s far-left host Rachel Maddow and former Biden mouthpiece Jen Psaki convulsed in laughter as they reported that the number one issue for Republican voters was the border? “Well Virginia does have a border with West Virginia,” Maddow cackled, sending the panel of…
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Prison Population Down, Crime Up in 2022. Coincidence?
The population of Virginia’s state and federal prisons posted a 10.5% decline between 2021 and 2022 — the largest drop of any state, according to new Department of Justice data. Oregon saw the second largest decline at 5.2%. Many states saw increases in their prison populations, as reported by WRIC news. The total prison population…
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Correction: SMR Bills Cover Both Utilities
Friday’s report that the General Assembly voted to allow early cost recovery on small modular reactors only for Appalachian Power Company was in error. The Senate version of the bill approved March 7 was language applicable solely to Dominion Energy Virginia. A substitute that removed Dominion from the bill was rejected. The error was entirely…
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Which Side Are You On?
by Joe Fitzgerald Dartmouth’s basketball team voted this week to unionize. It’s a shame Harrisonburg’s police officers can’t. The basketball players will join the SEIU, Service Employees International Union, a kind of super union for people who don’t qualify for other unions. SEIU strongly supports health care and a higher minimum wage, making it a…
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Democrats Proposal to Cut Sentences Would Undermine Public Safety, AG Says
by Hans Bader On February 27, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter to Virginia state legislators about a Democratic proposal to allow some violent offenders to receive sentence reductions previously available only to non-violent offenders. Miyares asked legislators to prevent the proposal, passed by the House of Delegates on February 22, from going…
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Virginia Budget Amendment Could Lead to Lawsuits Seeking Many Inmates’ Release
from Liberty Unyielding On February 22, Virginia’s progressive House of Delegates removed language from the state’s proposed budget that limited early releases of inmates who committed both violent and non-violent offenses. It removed that language in a 53-to-44 vote, then passed the House’s version of the state budget by a 75-to-24 vote. If the final…
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What Is It with Democrats and Criminals?
by Kerry Dougherty Elections have consequences. And when Virginia voted last November to give Democrats a slim majority in the General Assembly they also voted to give almost 8,000 violent criminals a shot at getting back on the streets. This ill-conceived measure – SB427 – is the evil brainchild of Sen. Creigh Deeds, who believes…
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Partisan Poison: Va Dems Quash a Bill to Protect School Kids
by Kerry Dougherty How exactly is Virginia’s General Assembly celebrating Black History Month? By killing a bill to protect children in public school lavatories, introduced by Del. A.C. Cordoza of Hampton. Cordoza is an African-American. And a Republican. He was famously denied membership in the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus when he was elected in 2022.…