Free Republic

A group of Virginia churches, Christian schools and a pro-life pregnancy care center have the right to hire individuals who adhere to their religious beliefs amid concern about the impact of a state LGBT anti-discrimination law, according to a new legal settlement.Calvary Road Baptist Church of Alexandria and its school, Community Fellowship Church of Staunton and its school, Community Christian Academy of Charlottesville and Care Net of Loudon County reached a settlement last week with Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.At issue was the Virginia Values Act, a measure signed into law in 2020 by then-Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam that...

CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Senate will press President Joe Biden over multiple airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen without congressional approval. Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: And we have one of those, a- agencies with us later in the program, though far smaller than the 13,000 employees of the UN. President Biden has talked about these U.S. strikes on the Houthis continuing. I know you have some issue with that.

In the first signals of how he’ll act on legislation approved by Virginia’s Democratic General Assembly, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a largely symbolic bill protecting same-sex marriage but took a more adversarial stance to bills dealing with gun control, reproductive rights and marijuana. Youngkin had until Friday night to take action on 84 bills the legislature sent to him on a shorter-than-usual timeline. He vetoed eight, recommended changes to 12 and signed the rest. The General Assembly finished its work Saturday without taking up any of the governor’s initial amendments and vetoes, which means they will be dealt with during...

ASHBURN, Va. (7News) — 7News has learned that portraits and photos of Loudoun County’s former commonwealth’s attorneys are missing. They were last seen when former Commonwealth's Attorney Buta Biberaj was in office. “The portraits and photographs of the previous commonwealth’s attorneys are a part of Loudoun County history. The county needs to have them back so that they can be appropriately preserved,” current Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Anderson told 7News. The 1800s and there are no backup copies of many of them, according to multiple sources. In an email obtained by 7News, Loudoun County Administrator Tim Hemstreet wrote on...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed limit for much of the Atlantic coast in a bid to protect the Whale population. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the federal government nears final approval for a 10-knot maritime speed limit along the East Coast, the Southeastern legal Foundation is warning that such a move would adversely impact the economies of coastal communities. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed limit for much of the Atlantic coast in a bid to protect the whale population. Violators could face up to $20,000 in fines and one...

Biden 47%, Trump 43%

‘These revelations are extremely troubling and raise even more important questions about the DNC/RNC pipe bomb investigation,’ says Rep. Loudermilk ... WASHINGTON—A third U.S. Capitol Police security camera was turned away from the Democratic National Committee during the police response to the pipe bomb found near a bench at DNC headquarters on Jan. 6, The Epoch Times has learned. Security video obtained by the newspaper from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) showed Camera 8021 that was recording the operations of a bomb robot suddenly panned away from the scene just before 2:21 p.m. The change in camera view happened 10 minutes...

A transgender Virginia state senator stormed out of the chamber and she was referred to as 'sir' by a rising star lieutenant governor. Virginia based Democrat Danica A. Roem, 39, was seen marching out of the chamber moments after being misgendered by Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, 59. The remark caused the legislature to go into recess twice, with footage since emerging of the exchange between the two. Senator Roem can be heard asking: 'Madame President how many votes would it take to pass this bill with the emergency clause.' The Lieutenant Governor replies, 'Yes sir, that would be 32', causing...

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears spoke to the legislature about “respect and dignity” after a state senator walked out of the chamber during a session. That senator was Democrat Danica A. Roem, 39, who became the first transgender member of the House of Delegates upon being elected in 2017. Roem’s exit came after being referred to as “sir” by Earle-Sears during an exchange about the number of votes needed to pass a new bill. “Madame President, how many votes would it take to pass this bill with the emergency clause?” Roem is heard asking Earle-Sears who was presiding over the...

A transgender state senator stormed out of the chamber after [he] was incorrectly [sic] referred to as "sir" by the lieutenant governor.

A Virginia firefighter was killed and others were injured after a house exploded Friday evening, officials said. Loudoun County Fire and Rescue responded to the home in Sterling around 7:40 p.m. for an investigation, and firefighters were inside when the home exploded, Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief of Operations James Williams said. "Total devastation," is how Williams described the scene and damage. "There's a debris field well into the street and into the neighboring homes." Officials initially said nine firefighters suffered injuries that ranged from serious to less severe. Loudoun County Fire said Saturday that 11 first responders and two...

Despite the clear transcript and video evidence exonerating Trump for the hoax surrounding Charlottesville, millions of Americans still believe that the 45th President was an open, brazen racist.“Hard to Kill” is a Steven Seagal action thriller from 1990 that garnered scornful reviews, though I loved it as a then-teenager. But that phrase, hard to kill, also aptly describes the “Very Fine People” hoax surrounding Charlottesville and the lingering myth that President Trump praised bigots there.In recent days, liberal social media rabble-rouser actor Michael Rapaport stated on the Patrick Bet-David podcast that “the Charlottesville, that I ranted about, I was wrong…...

Virginia’s House passed a ban an “assault weapons” ban last week and the Senate followed suit on Wednesday of this week, which means an “assault weapons” ban is now headed to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) desk. Breitbart News reported that the ‘assault weapons’ legislation, House Bill 2 and companion bill Senate Bill 2, targets semiautomatic centerfire rifles and semiautomatic centerfire pistols with threaded barrels and semiautomatic shotguns, if the shotguns have “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the shotgun … the ability to accept a detachable magazine … [or] a fixed magazine capacity in excess of...

Two men have been arrested in the theft of LGBTQ Pride flags from outside a queer couple’s home in Arlington, Virginia, over several months. Matthew Henshaw, 20, was arrested and charged in three of the five thefts that occurred from September to January; he was charged with three counts of bias-motivated unlawful entry and three counts of petit larceny, the Arlington County Police Department said in a statement Friday. Joseph Digregorio, 23, was charged with one count of petit larceny in connection with one of the thefts. The men are both active members of the U.S. Army with the 3rd...

Safeway installs new security gates, requiring customers to scan receipts before exiting store.. ... Washington, D.C. supermarkets have started installing high-tech security gates in an effort to prevent rising retail theft and crime in the nation's capital. Over the past week, Safeway grocery stores in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan have installed new security gates that open once a customer scans their receipt. ... The security gates come as retail thefts continue to climb. ... The Safeway in Columbia Heights recently experienced an overnight theft in which thieves broke into the grocery store’s ATM to steal the cash and ordered...

Six Loudoun County residents who allegedly tried to vote twice in last year’s election are under investigation by Virginia State Police. Samantha Shepherd, a spokeswoman for the Loudoun County Office of Elections and Voter Registration, said the voters may have forgotten they voted early or by mail when they showed up at the polls on Election Day. Shepherd said the voters were issued provisional ballots, but their ballots weren’t counted when officials found they had already voted. A total of 141,012 voters casts ballots in Loudoun in November. “It’s not anything that diminishes the integrity of the system or the...

Instead, this is 2024, so the only shots being fired are right now on Facebook as Lynchburg prepares for city council elections — and a potentially party-defining choice for the Republican nominee for the Ward IV council seat. Over the past few weeks, city councilman Marty Misjuns has posted the following about fellow council member (and vice mayor) Chris Faraldi: We need principled leaders that are going to cast the right vote, every time, consistently. 2024 is going to be a great year to remove incompetent fraudsters at the ballot box. Why would someone respect a liar, and opportunist that...

A Fairfax County man was sentenced to 100 years in prison Tuesday for fatally stabbing a Target co-worker in a parking lot at the store in the Baileys Crossroads area. Bazen Berhe, 25, pleaded guilty in October to first-degree murder in the April 17, 2021, killing of Hernan Leiva, 58, in what Berhe described to a judge as a fit of rage. Authorities said Berhe, then 22, attacked Leiva with knives and a hammer when the victim arrived at work that morning. In an unusual statement to Judge Robert J. Smith in Fairfax Circuit Court, Berhe pleaded for a stiff...

House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) formally endorsed former President Trump’s campaign for president in 2024, just minutes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ended his presidential bid. “It is my privilege to provide my complete and total endorsement for Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States. President Trump was the greatest President of my lifetime, and we need him to reinstate the policies that were working so well for America,” Good wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Good’s endorsement comes just after DeSantis announced he was withdrawing from...

Virginia Democrats are expected to push numerous gun controls this legislative session, including an “assault weapons” ban, expanded gun-free zones for concealed carry, and gun lock requirements. WTKR noted the Democrats will push for an “assault weapons” ban and for a requirement that a locking device be provided with every gun sold. Democrats are also expected to pass legislation “[creating] liability for the owner of a gun if a minor uses it in a crime.”