50 Years Ago 🎾 Arthur Ashe Won Wimbledon; July 4 Parades; Feds Reinstate $33 Million for Virginia Schools

Jul 06, 2025

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Above: Fifty years ago today…

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July 4 Parades: Dems March Together, GOP Rides Apart

Above: Democratic nominee for Attorney General, Jay Jones

After the Republican statewide ticket had their first joint appearance together on July 1, the three were separate for the July 4 parade in Fairfax, Va.

As the GOP candidate John Reid told reporters after their unity rally on July 1 in Vienna, they are in fact looking as if they will be traveling separately for the time being. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears rode in a car with her husband at the lengthy and well attended Fairfax July 4 parade.

Reid walked the parade route and shook hands with onlooker in another part of the parade from the Lieutenant Governor. Reid was accompanied by a large group of Republicans who held signs for all three statewide candidates.

While Sears, Miyares, and Reid all share top billing on the GOP statewide ticket, it’s unlikely there will be any cozy photo-ops or a joint campaign bus tour anytime soon like they one Democrats recently completed.

Lt. Governor Earle-Sears appears to be content to lean into her personal brand: a no-nonsense Marine Corps veteran and the first Black woman elected statewide in Virginia, who’s not afraid to throw elbows on ideological fights with Democrats.

………

Fairfax Democrats marched together in a large contingent with all three statewide candidates in attendance together. Led by Democratic nominee for Attorney General Jay Jones, who energetically sprinted over to several in the crowd watching the parade, both Abigail Spanberger and LG nominee and State Senator Ghazala Hashmi walked the parade route. All three Democrats were also on hand in Prince William and Dale City for those 4th of July parades as well.

Above: Republican LG nominee John Reid greets parade goers and the Fairfax July 4 parade. Below: Lt. Governor Earle-Sears rides the parade route with her husband in a car.

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50 Years Ago Arthur Ashe Won Wimbledon

Tennis legend Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia on July 10, 1943. He attended Maggie L. Walker High School. Ashe was the first Black player on the United States Davis Cup team in history, and the only Black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. On July 5, 1975, Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors to win Wimbledon.

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Feds Reinstate $33 Million for Virginia Schools

By Nathaniel Cline. Virginia and other states will regain the ability to use $33 million in emergency relief funds, after the federal government last week reversed course on a March decision that prohibited them from using the funds.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon abruptly accelerated the deadline for schools to spend all allocated funds on March 28, leaving schools scrambling to make plans for the money.

McMahon announced the rescission of that policy in a June 26 letter to chief state school officers, after several states sued the agency in the Southern District of New York, leading to injunctions that prevented the DOE from enforcing its policy. Virginia was not one of those states involved in the litigation, but its state education agency did file appeals with DOE.

The Virginia Department of Education said DOE’s announcement will unlock a total of $52 million for Virginia, including $26.3 million for state-level projects and $25.7 million for school projects. The state education department previously received an extension for $18 million for statewide tutoring services.

“The original intent of the policy announced on March 28 was to treat all states consistently with regards to safeguarding and refocusing their remaining COVID-era grant funding on students,” wrote McMahon.

She said that, given the ongoing litigation against the policy, states can submit reimbursement or route pay requests for their Education Stabilization Funds programs. The agency will review requests and evaluate them consistent with the prior process.

McMahon wrote that states that have already submitted requests and receipts as part of the review and appeals process do not need to resubmit.

Beginning in 2020, states, including Virginia, received millions in grants through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations and the American Rescue Plan Acts.

Schools have used the funds to support safe operations for students and staff, and address the pandemic’s negative impacts on learning with tools such as tutoring and after-school programs.

Although the federal government extended the deadline to use the grant funds under President Joe Biden’s administration, schools were required to return all unspent funds, which were intended for immediate and short-term needs.

“We continue to work closely with impacted school divisions to ensure their reimbursements are submitted to USED to close out the ESSER III projects and funding,” VDOE said in a statement. “The continued use of the funding through the original approved late liquidation period will allow school divisions and the state to complete projects that were either almost completed or well underway.”