Michael Vick NSU Watch; More on No Tax on Tips; Annual Virginia Union MLK Breakfast; Connolly Wins Over AOC

Dec 17, 2024

🚩 8 days until Dec. 25 🎅🏽 Christmas + Hanukkah and 10 days until Kwanzaa
🚩 17 days until Jan. 3, 2025 the 119th Congress is sworn in.
🚩 22 days until the Virginia General Assembly convenes on Jan. 8, 2025.
🚩 34 days until the MLK Holiday on Jan. 20, 2025.
🚩 34 days until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025.

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New Corrections Ombudsman to Focus on Red Onion Prison

Virginia Mercury: Virginia’s top investigatory body is turning its attention to Red Onion State Prison following alarming reports of self-harm and poor conditions at the supermax facility in Wise County.

Andrea Sapone, the state’s new corrections ombudsman, announced Monday that her office will prioritize an investigation into living conditions and the health and safety of incarcerated individuals at the prison, which has faced scrutiny after a hunger strike in 2023 and six cases of people burning themselves this year. READ ENTIRE

Vick NSU Watch: Uh Oh Vick Talking to Sacramento State Too

The Virginian Pilot reported yesterday that superstar QB Michael Vick recently interviewed for the head coaching job at Norfolk State University. Later in the day sports reporter Adam Schefter reported that Vick is also talking to Vick.

RELATED: Finally Free: An Autobiographyby Michael Vick (2012)

Michael Vick, who is from Newport News, was the NFL’s first QB to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season and changed the game with his play. Vick confirmed to The Virginian-Pilot that he spoke with Norfolk State University President Javaune Adams-Gaston and athletic director Dr. Melody Webb and is expecting a resolution “soon.”

More on the “No Tax on Tips” Proposal by Gov. Youngkin

Governor Youngkin announced a budget proposal to exempt service tips from Virginia’s state income tax. Yesterday at the McLean Family Restaurant, Youngkin, Lt. Governor Sears were on hand to make the announcement on No Tax On Tips. Both Youngkin and Sears served food at McLean Family Restaurant at the announcement.

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and President-Elect Donald Trump agreed that no tax on tips was a policy they would offer in The White House. The policy has specific impact in a battleground state: Nevada. Las Vegas’ economy and wages is animated by tips.

“This builds on the more than $5 billion in tax relief already delivered for Virginians under his administration,” a Dec. 17, 2024 statement yesterday from the Governor’s office.

“Any idea that’s going to put money back into the pockets of hardworking Virginians, we’re going to strongly consider and take a hard look at,” House Speaker Don Scott said on Dec. 16.

RELATED: How do Taxes Work: From Income to Inheritance (2024)

Annual Virginia Union MLK Community Leaders Breakfast

The Virginia Union Annual Community Leaders Breakfast will take place in Richmond on Jan. 17. The keynote speaker will be Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan.

Connolly Wins Over Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez to Become Senior Democrat on House Oversight Committee

The House Oversight Committee will be one of the essential platforms to battle the incoming Trump Administration. Who leads it and does the messaging is key. House Democrats decided today that person will be Gerry Connolly.

Even though AOC has 12 million followers on X, 8 million followers on Instagram she was defeated by Virginia’s Rep. Gerry Connolly. Communications strategy has been a big issues for Democrats. This year, Republicans once again won the messaging war and the disinformation war with a build in ecosystem of their own right-wing news.

But Connolly has shown himself to be an aggressive actor on the Democratic side. Virginia will now have two members who are the most senior member on the Committee they serve on, with Rep. Bobby Scott being the other Virginian leading the Education Committee.

Virginia Delegation

The members of the Virginia congressional (minus Rep. Jen Kiggans) delegation got together today to present a gift to the outgoing members of the delegation. The outgoing members are Reps. Bob Good, Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton.

Reading List

1- Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (Oct. 2024)
2- When Mayor Doug Wilder Ruled Richmond: Strong-Arm Politics in Virginia's Capital City by Linwoood Norman (Aug. 2024)
3- Rumor, Repression, and Racial Politics: How the Harassment of Black Elected Officials Shaped Post-Civil Rights America (Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America) by George Derek Musgrove
4- Son of Virginia, A Life in America's Political Arena (2015) by L. Douglas Wilder
5- The New Jim Crow (2010) by Michelle Alexander
6- Remaking Virginia Politics by Paul Goldman (Jan. 2022)

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