From President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign: WATCH: Kennedy Family Endorses Biden-Harris 2024 Today, the Kennedy family announced its endorsement of President Biden and Vice President Harris for reelection. Later today, members of the family will join President Biden for a campaign event in Philadelphia before participating in an organizing event to mobilize local supporters and volunteers around the stakes of this election. This morning, Kerry Kennedy spoke to her family’s support for President Biden’s reelection bid, emphasizing his agenda for democracy, freedom, and decency, w ..read more

by Lowell Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, April 18. Climate change may cost $38 trillion a year by 2049, study says (Instead, how about spending a lot less than that to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy ASAP???) Climate crisis: average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth by 2050 (“Cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than price of limiting global heating to 2C, study finds” SIX TIMES!!!) Climate damages by 2050 will be 6 times the cost of limiting warming to 2° Dubai’s record-shattering “rai ..read more

From Freedom Virginia: Republicans Fail Working Families By Sustaining Youngkin Veto of Paid Family and Medical Leave Bill Legislation would have guaranteed workers up to eight weeks of paid time off to welcome a new baby or care for a family member with a serious illness RICHMOND, VA — During today’s reconvene session, Democrats in the Senate attempted to override Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of legislation that would have created Virginia’s first paid family and medical leave program. Not a single Republican joined them in the attempt, so the ..read more

From Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office: General Assembly Leaders, Governor Glenn Youngkin Joint Statement on Next Steps in Reaching a Budget Agreement RICHMOND, VA – Speaker of the House Don Scott, Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas, House Appropriations Chair Luke Torian and Governor Glenn Youngkin released the following statement on budget discussions following the General Assembly’s Reconvened Session: “Following a series of productive conversations, we have agreed to continue our work on the budget. We are all committed to creating a budget that mee ..read more

From Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia: To: Media and Interested Parties From: Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia Date: April 17, 2024 Re: Reproductive Health Care Votes to Watch for During Reconvened “Veto” Session The General Assembly reconvenes today, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 for the purpose of considering bills returned by the Governor with recommendations for amendment or bills that received a veto. While Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia will be watching throughout, we’re particularly focused on the outcome of the following votes t ..read more

Leading up to tomorrow’s “veto session,” Speaker Don Scott nails “Pretending Glenn” Youngkin: Speaker Scott: “We raised the minimum wage, we gave teachers a pay raise, we expanded access to healthcare and education” TV News announcers: “Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a series of bills”; “Youngkin laid out the reasons why he wouldn’t sign the bipartisan approved budget”; “The governor called to proposed budget backwards”; “Youngkin used his power in a punitive way after key Democrats rejected the governor’s coveted arena deal” Text on screen: “Don’t let Pretending Glenn shut down the government ..read more

Per the FEC, here are the latest (1Q24) fundraising numbers for Virginia candidates in key races. US Senate Sen. Tim Kaine – $1,855,252 in net contributions, $8,755,482 cash on hand Hung Cao: $774,206 in net contributions, $571,261 cash on hand Scott Parkinson: $179,888 in net contributions, $371,951 cash on hand Jonathan Emord: $40,825 in net contributions; $32,165 cash on hand VA02 Rep. Jen Kiggans: $530,819 in net contributions; $1,785,014 cash on hand Missy Cotter Smasal: $323,774 in net contributions; $299,078 cash on hand Jake Denton: $209,182 in net contributions; $127,931 cash on hand ..read more

by Lowell Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, April 16. Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record (“The percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress is increasing by about 1% a week, scientists say”) Climate crisis increasing frequency of deadly ocean upwells, study finds (“Intense patches of cold water rising from the depths are killing sharks, rays and other creatures, researchers say”) After Navalny’s Death, Russia’s Opposition Is Divided in Exile Johnson ma ..read more

From the VA NAACP: Virginia NAACP Files Lawsuit Against Governor Youngkin’s Office for Violation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act  RICHMOND, VA—Today, the NAACP Virginia State Conference (“Virginia NAACP”) filed a lawsuit with the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond against Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Office for violating the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“VFOIA”), Va. Code §§ 2.2-3700 et seq. The Virginia NAACP’s lawsuit details the Governor’s failure to produce any records responsive to the group’s request for public information sent on August 31, 2023. The r ..read more

From the DCCC: TAX DAY REMINDER: Jen Kiggans Is Determined To Hurt the Middle Class, While Bailing Out Big Corporations and Billionaires Tax Day is a potent reminder that if Jen Kiggans and House Republicans were to maintain the majority, they would work with former President Trump to rig the tax code to benefit the well-off and well-connected at the expense of middle class families. The GOP Tax Scam of 2017 was a corporate tax giveaway that disproportionately benefited the ultra rich – and on the stump, Donald Trump is selling his plan to cut taxes for billio ..read more