Free Republic

Lynchburg mayor shuts down critics, exerts ‘chilling effect on free speech’ amid controversy At an explosive city council meeting last month, Mayor Stephanie Reed called for the press to be shut out.

A school district in Lynchburg, Virginia, has received multiple death threats after the Washington Post published an article that claimed the board created a “blueprint for how to belittle, betray and dismiss kids” because it refused a $10,000 donation from a radical LGBT-pushing group. The Lynchburg City School Board voted 7 to 2 against the creation of LGBT “safe spaces” in its schools – designed to take children out of lessons and allow them to talk about their feelings in “comfortable chairs, blankets and low light” – with funds from the charity “It Gets Better.” The rejection infuriated Petula Dvorak...

A man in Virginia had a not-so-average trip to Waffle House recently. He went there to grab a bite to eat, but when he went inside there was no one to be found. William Davis woke up hungry and drove from Brookneal to the Waffle House in Lynchburg around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. When he got there, he saw something he never expected: an empty restaurant. "All kinds of things go through your mind when you see stuff like that, you know, out of the ordinary," Davis said. Davis was not expecting to find a scene like this. In the...

A former Heritage High School student was sentenced Friday to 10 years behind bars in a shooting that wounded two students at the school last fall.Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile sentenced Jacari Taylor — who was 15 at the time of the September shooting and is now 16 — to a blended sentence that will include juvenile detention and state prison time. Prosecutors said Taylor and a 17-year-old student were arguing in the school cafeteria One bullet entered behind the 17-year-old’s left ear, lodging in his lower left jaw, with the teen also struck in the leg and finger. Another...

LYNCHBURG, Va., (WSET) -- The Chairman of the Lynchburg Republican Party has filed a lawsuit against the Lynchburg Registrar's Office regarding the processing of absentee ballots. Eric Harrison, Chairman of the Lynchburg Republican Party filed the lawsuit after the Lynchburg Registrar's Office began pre-processing thousands of absentee ballots without a Republican Officer present. "We don't file this with happiness, we're upset and saddened that we had to take this extraordinary step to file this lawsuit, but we're prepared to do what it takes to make sure that the ballots are counted fairly and that the law is followed," said Harrison....

Over 1,000 people have signed a petition to rename the City of Lynchburg named after founder John Lynch. Lynch was a Quaker described as progressive for his time in the 1780s, according to Chief Public History Officer Ted Delaney. "He believed in emancipating slaves," Delaney said. "He had slaves but he freed all of his. He supported recolonization, which is sending slaves back to Africa. He did not believe in perpetuating the institution of slavery in this country." Delaney explains that the term lynching is actually named after Lynch's brother, Charles Lynch. He would tie British soldiers to a tree...

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) -- Over 1,000 people have signed a petition to rename the city of Lynchburg. The city of Lynchburg is named after founder John Lynch. "He believed in emancipating slaves," Chief Public History Officer Ted Delaney said. "He had slaves but he freed all of his. He supporting recolonization, which is sending slaves back to Africa. He did not believe in perpetuating the institution of slavery in this country." The petition was started by Daisy Howard, who grew up in Lynchburg. Howard believes that it is possible to honor the city's founder without using his last name.

Eleven students who attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, have come down with coronavirus symptoms after returning to campus. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. decided to reopen the campus to students at the end of spring break despite public health officials warning him not to do so. The Democratic governor of Virginia Ralph Northam had previously banned gatherings of more than 100 people in the state to which Liberty said it would transition most classes to online.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. told Hill.TV on Tuesday that he has begun sharing information with the FBI in what he alleged was a criminal conspiracy against him by former board members at the school. Falwell said in an exclusive interview that in the coming days the FBI will review university documents at the Lynchburg, Va., campus. He accused former colleagues of stealing school property in the form of emails and then sharing them with reporters in an effort to damage his reputation. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Our attorneys have determined that...

A group of about a dozen American evangelical leaders led by Pat Robertson met with Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Led by Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network, the group included author Joel Rosenberg, evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Charisma Media founder Stephen Strang, Maryland Bishop Harry Jackson, and Jonathan Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the son of Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell Sr. Not only did the group discuss the future of the South American country and their shared belief in traditional Christian values, but...

A dire warning from the National Weather Service has forced an evacuation around the College Lake Dam in Lynchburg, Virginia. A flash flood warning issued Thursday night by the NWS reports "if a complete failure of the dam occurs, the water depth at Lynchburg could exceed 17 feet in 7 minutes." The area impacted would be the city of Lynchburg, which is one mile downstream from the dam. An updated report issued just after midnight by the NWS said the dam has not failed, and is being closely monitored by emergency personnel for any signs of structural failure." Lynchburg Water...

What you’ve heard about us is true: We are big. Liberty University ranks as the largest Christian university in the world, the largest university in Virginia, the second largest non-profit and the fifth largest overall university in the United States. And we’ve grown most explosively during the past decade: from 38,000 enrolled to over 110,000. Our online programs drove that growth, with the rapid spread of high-speed internet making it possible for everyday people to gain a high-quality education at a low-dollar price point. When you have this much growth as fast as we have seen it come, it can...

Three illegal alien MS-13 gang members are in a Virginia jail, charged with the murder of a teenager in Virginia. Prosecutors charged the three Salvadoran men that belong to the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang with second-degree murder for their alleged roles in the death of 17-year-old Raymond Wood of Lynchburg, VA, according to The Roanoke Times.

Real-estate tycoon Donald Trump began his Monday-morning speech on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by touting his "record" crowd size there. Trump was speaking in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University's convocation. The Republican presidential front-runner noted that he also drew a big audience in 2012 when he addressed the Christian university.

Wednesday at a press conference after his remarks at Liberty University, Republican presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson was asked about what he would do with the 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the Untied States. Carson said proposed a six-month registration period to register, then after that the case would be made on the legal status. -snip- Carson said, "When you look at farming industries, I've talked to farmers with multi-thousands acres farms and they say their business would collapse, I've talked to hotel owners and they say that they would have a very difficult time without them. That's...

The war of words over climate change is getting blisteringly hot between Gov. Jerry Brown and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, with the Republican presidential candidate blithely dismissing the Democratic governor as one of those “global warming alarmists” who relies on ridicule and insult. A Brown campaign strategist shot back Monday that the “factually irrational” Cruz is apparently now determined to “stand out from a pack of troglodytes in the GOP race for the White House.” The public slap down — and the dis of Brown — came as Cruz formally announced his run for the White House at Liberty University...

Energy: Three million gallons of Bakken crude burning in rural West Virginia after an oil train derails in a snowstorm ought to underscore the environmental safety of replacing rail cars with the Keystone XL pipeline. One of the reasons President Obama says he'll veto the Keystone pipeline bill that, as a result of last November's GOP electoral gusher, has found its way to his desk is that it will only carry Canadian crude to foreign markets and is not worth jeopardizing the environment. Two things are wrong with that argument. The first is that Keystone XL will also bring Bakken...

Autumn Parry/The News & Advance Norma Jean Freeman, 81, died at the hospital from injuries after someone entered her Martins Lane home in Madison Heights and attacked her and her son, Allen H. Freeman Jr., early Thursday morning. A “brutal” home-invasion attack Thursday morning that left a woman dead and her son badly wounded has rocked the quiet community in Madison Heights. Autumn Parry/The News & Advance First responders investigate the scene of a "brutal" home-invasion in Madison Heights early Thursday morning. The attacker's identity remains unknown. Norma Jean Freeman, 81, died at the hospital from injuries she sustained after...

Another major derailment of a train carrying oil through a town in the U.S. has caused the evacuation of 300 people, with oil washing into the James River in Virginia, which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A CSX Corp train carrying crude oil derailed and burst into flames in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia on Wednesday, spilling oil into the James River and forcing hundreds to evacuate. CSX said 15 cars on a train traveling from Chicago to Virginia derailed at 2:30 p.m. EDT. Fire erupted on three cars, the company said. Photos and video from the scene showed high flames and a plume of black smoke. It was the second oil-train accident this year for CSX. About two hours after the derailment, CSX said the fire had been extinguished. City officials said there...