Seven Virginia hemp businesses have filed a federal lawsuit arguing that while the state has the authority to regulate hemp products, it cannot destroy the value of existing businesses and lawfully acquired inventory without providing just compensation. The complaint,...
Fall of Freedom bills itself as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.” The organizers aren’t pulling punches: they argue that democracy is under attack, threats to free expression are rising, dissent is being criminalized, and institutions, including the arts, are being bent toward...
Every morning at 9 a.m. in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, the world stops. Cars freeze in the streets, trams halt mid-track, and pedestrians stand silent as the national anthem plays. It lasts a minute, a ritual pause to remember the dead and remind the living what they’re fighting for. Dr. Jeffrey Young stood too, still and listening. A trauma surgeon from...
"Congress has forgotten to serve the people they represent." -- Lisa Vedernikova Khanna I often ask myself, what is the American Dream? Is it the white picket fence and a two-and-a-half-kid household? Maybe you picture the Statue of Liberty welcoming new arrivals to a land of promise or hear a faint echo of the Constitution’s preamble. ...
Editor’s Note: This story includes remarks from a national webinar hosted by the Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA) on Friday, November 8, 2025, before Senator Mitch McConnell’s hemp amendment was inserted into the government funding package over the weekend. The comments reflect the industry’s final warning before the language...
And Governor elect Spanberger urges Democrats to reopen government, not prolong fight Virginia’s senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, find themselves on opposite sides of a Senate proposal to reopen the government, a sign of rising Democratic tension as the shutdown drags into its sixth week. The proposed agreement, brokered by a bipartisan group...
At the Richmond Convention Center on Tuesday, supporters of Abigail Spanberger gathered to mark a turning point in Virginia’s history. By night’s end, Spanberger, a former CIA officer and three-term congresswoman, became the Commonwealth’s first woman governor. Her victory led a broader Democratic sweep across the state, wins for lieutenant...
This week, Zohran Mamdani won the race to become the next mayor of New York City in one of the nation’s most closely watched elections. A Democratic socialist who campaigned alongside Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in both the primary and the general election. But beyond the political...
“You want me to tell you what’s immoral? War is immoral. Poverty is immoral. Racism is immoral. Police brutality is immoral.” — a defendant in Punishment Park I read that director Peter Watkins had passed away last week and realized I’d never heard of him. As it turns out, Watkins was one of the most radical filmmakers of the twentieth century, a...
"We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025 Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos." — Governor-elect, Abigail Spanberger. Cheers erupted throughout The Richmond Convention Center as Abigail Spanberger was officially declared the 75th governor of Virginia at 7:53 pm. In a race that felt more...
