From The Center Square:
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced late Sunday the commonwealth will file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to block the return of more than 1,500 noncitizens to voter rolls.
The appeal follows a unanimous panel ruling Sunday from the Fourth Circuit of Appeals rejecting Virginia’s request to stop an order from a lower court to reinstate noncitizens removed from voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
From the Associated Press:
A Virginia elections official who faced criminal charges, later dropped, over a botched vote count in the 2020 presidential election sued the state attorney general Thursday, alleging malicious prosecution…
The attorney general’s office, in a written statement, said the “lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law. The Attorney General’s office looks forward to defeating this case in court.”
White was the registrar in Prince William County, Virginia’s second-most populous county, in 2020. Miyares indicted White in 2022 on charges of corrupt conduct, making a false statement and willful neglect of duty for errors in the county’s 2020 vote count.
The event covered first responders from the Fredericksburg and Caroline, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties, filling the main ballroom at the Convention Center. There were 19 awards given out to local Virginia State Troopers and county police officers from all over the area. Included in the 19 awards was a lifetime achievement award given to Fredericksburg Fire Chief Mike Jones, Caroline County Citizens Valor awards given to Shericka Twyner, Russell Trainer, and Desiree Dushane, and the Stafford County Fire and Rescue Citizens Valor Award went to Guillermo Shelton and Austin Leonard.
“We are a better region because of you,” added Steve Cox of Rappahannock Goodwill, one of the sponsors at this event, which the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce hosted.
“In many ways, you represent the best of Virginia,” said Jason Miyares, the attorney general of Virginia. He compared them to World War II’s ‘greatest generation’ and the soldiers that landed at Normandy. “You go to work each morning and put on the bulletproof vest,” he added. “The hardest thing I have to do as Attorney General is speak at the funerals of the fallen first responders,” he said.
As the awards were presented, some details were shared about the officers’ criminal enforcement and other community improvement actions.
Captain Crystal Hill of the Fredericksburg Police launched the city’s first lobotomy program, while Fire Captain John Hanson honed the water rescue program on the Rappahannock River. “The efforts of his work are recognized,” said Stafford Fire Department Chief Joseph Cardello. There were many stories that day that showed the professionalism of all involved.
For the first time at this event, the Chamber introduced the Lifetime Achievement Award to honor exceptional contributions in the field. Retired chief of the Fredericksburg Fire Department, Eddie Allen, presented the award to current Fredericksburg Fire Chief Mike Jones.
Jones began his fire service career in 1979 with the Falmouth Volunteer Fireman’s Association. He excelled in training and became a key member of the team. Jones followed in his father’s footsteps, who was a firefighter for Fairfax County. His commitment to excellence saw him rise through the ranks from Lieutenant in 1987 to achieving his dream of becoming Fire Chief in March 2020, a challenging time marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. He played a crucial role in public outreach, recording daily updates to inform and reassure the community during those dark months.
Throughout his career, Jones has been dedicated to community service and building relationships with civic organizations, state agencies, and the Fredericksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad, where he has been a member for over 38 years. He has also been a mentor, preparing others for leadership roles and actively participating in community programs like Leadership Fredericksburg.
Kevin Dillard, Chair of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and this event stated, “Serving as chair of the annual First Responders event provided me the opportunity to do some research whereby I discovered that our organization had never honored a first responder for a lifetime of service in the Commonwealth. I strongly believe that the men and women who have served for many years, whether as volunteer or career first responders, deserve recognition for their many years of public service.”
The sponsors were highlighted as well, and the list included Goodwill Rappahannock, The Oberle Academy, Pierpoint Construction, Lifecare Medical Transports, Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, Mullins & Thompson, Tire Tread Service, Dominion Energy, Spartan, Fredericksburg Public School Foundation, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Riphean, Fredericksburg Nationals Baseball Team, CIP Finishes, Arsenal Events, Truist, Found and Sons, Hilldrup, Matern, Germanna, Little Tire, Discover Next Step, Topside, PRSA, The UPS Store, Virginia Credit Union, Black Rifle Coffee, Mattaponi Springs and RSQ.
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District has dismissed an appeal by a right-wing advocacy group ordered to stop distributing false, threatening, and misleading mailers prior to November’s election, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Friday,” Insidenova.com reports.
The Center Square: “A coalition of 26 state attorneys general is calling on the new U.S. Speaker of the House to pass a Florida-sponsored bill that would grant states the authority to enforce federal immigration law when the federal government refuses to do so.”
“The AGs, led by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, on Monday. In it, they called on Congress to pass U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s bill, the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act. Posey, R-Florida, first filed the measure in 2022 and again in March 2023.”
Attorney General Jason Miyares press release: “Attorney General Jason Miyares today joined 24 other state attorneys general challenging the Biden Administration’s proposed regulation on vehicle tailpipe emissions. The Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan would forcibly phase out gas-powered vehicles and completely restructure the automobile industry around electric vehicles (EVs) at an alarming pace. The aggressive proposal aims to boost certain EV sales from 8.4% of total vehicle sales today to 67% by 2032.”
“The attorneys general argue such a move by the EPA would damage regional economies, undermine the reliability of our electrical grids, tax the families and small businesses who depend on them, and jeopardize our national security.”
“Sleazy ‘lead generators’ try to trick people into consenting to receive spam calls or texts from hundreds of companies they’ve never heard of and never want to hear from. We are asking the FCC to toughen the rules on consent requirements so Virginians only hear from organizations they agree to,” said Attorney General Miyares.”
“The FCC is proposing to amend its rule concerning consent to close a so-called “lead generator loophole.” Lead generators are entities that collect personal information (like telephone numbers) from consumers and sell it to third parties, who then use that information to solicit consumers to purchase goods or services. As the attorneys general explain, “Telemarketers, voice service providers, and scammers need people to call (and/or text),” so lead generators have “proliferated into a billion-dollar industry.”
“A common lead generator practice is to offer a consumer a quote for a good or service online (like insurance products), and in order to receive the quote, the consumer has to agree to receive calls or texts from the lead generator’s “marketing partners.”
“The attorneys general urge the FCC to draw a “clear line in the sand,” adopting a rule where consumers can consent to be called by a single seller, and that there be a ‘clear and conspicuous disclosure’ of the consequences of providing the requested consent.”
“Joining in the letter are attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.”
“A copy of the letter can be found here.”
The event will be held at the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, 9119 Dean Ridings Lane in Spotsylvania, at 9:30 a.m. The first half will be open to the public. However, “due to security and privacy reasons, the second half of the event is closed….”
According to the U.S. State Department, “Trafficking in persons,” “human trafficking,” and “modern slavery” are umbrella terms – often used interchangeably – to refer to a crime whereby traffickers exploit and profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex.? When a person younger than 18 is used to perform a commercial sex act, it is a crime regardless of whether there is any force, fraud, or coercion involved.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), released Global Estimates of Modern Slavery in September 2022. This report estimates that, at any given time in 2021, approximately 27.6 million people were in forced labor. Of these, “17.3 million are exploited in the private sector, 6.3 million in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and 3.9 million in forced labour imposed by state.”
On Thursday, May 18th, Attorney General Jason Miyares will host a human trafficking roundtable with law enforcement and local officials in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
The roundtable aims to improve awareness, offer resources, and make connections to support further collaboration by the Office of Attorney General with law enforcement, experts and organizations within the region. During the event, participants will discuss gaps faced in supporting human trafficking survivors and bringing traffickers to justice in the Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Orange County region.
Delegate Tara Durant, Virginia State Police Captain Michal Jenkins, and Virginia State Police Human Trafficking Unit Commander First Sergeant Justin Cowan will participate in the roundtable, along with others. Attorney General Miyares and Office of the Attorney General Anti-Human Trafficking Director Tanya Gould will provide remarks.
