A Henrico judge partially reversed the state’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ for minors in a win for free speech and religious liberty.
by Samantha Flom
Virginia became the first southern state to outlaw so-called “conversion therapy” focused on helping children embrace their God-given gender and sexual orientation in 2020.
At a time when kids’ mental health is sinking to new lows, the law has limited their options for help by barring licensed counselors from performing “any practice or treatment” aimed at changing a minor’s sexual orientation or “gender identity.”
Now, the state is walking back that harmful policy.
A Henrico County Circuit Court judge ordered on June 24 that licensed counselors may legally provide talk-based therapy to minors to help them overcome unwanted feelings of gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction.
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently laid off 1,350 employees as part of a broader restructuring effort, the media response was swift and emotional. Stories of tearful farewells, union outrage, and dramatic claims of “fascism” filled the airwaves. One would think these federal employees had lifetime appointments and that accountability or right-sizing government were foreign concepts.
But this moment deserves a broader lens. Government job losses, while painful, are not unique. Nor are they the most damaging.
The State Department’s workforce had grown from 57,340 in 2007 to over 80,000 by 2024. The recent layoffs represent just a fraction, less than 2%, of the total. They were part of a legitimate effort by the Trump-Rubio administration to streamline bureaucracy, eliminate redundant offices, and align the Department with core national priorities, cutting positions tied to DEI, climate alarmism, and fringe ideological programs.
Yet while federal layoffs dominate headlines, there is deafening silence when government policies destroy jobs in the private sector.
Where was the national outrage when President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One, killing as many as 11,000 blue-collar jobs overnight? Where were the candlelight vigils for the 80,000 coal workers displaced during the Obama years, victims of regulatory assaults and a politicized “war on coal”? Instead of assistance, they were told to “learn to code.”
David Ambrosio Herrera walked out of the Albemarle County Circuit Court Friday. Photo credit: The Daily Progress
by James A. Bacon
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have discovered that an easy way to crack down on illegal-alien criminals is to pick them up in local courthouses where they are processed for alleged crimes and misdemeanors. It strikes me that ICE is entirely within its rights, but the strategy does have unintended consequences. Scared that they’ll be nabbed and deported, some undocumented immigrants have skipped their hearings.
Such appears to be the case in Chesterfield County where ICE detained fifteen people over a four-day period in June, mostly for traffic violations. This week, ICE returned to the Chesterfield courthouse looking for three more people. One appeared and was detained but the other two were no-shows. Commonwealth’s Attorney Erin Barr says some aliens “see our courthouse as a place to fear.” (Interestingly, WTVC-News refers to them as “victims.”)
People can have a reasonable debate over whether it is a good or bad idea for ICE to detain illegal aliens at Virginia courthouses. But I’m not much impressed by critics who have taken to demonstrating against the practice in places like Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
Word went out Friday that ICE was planning to deport 36-year-old David Ambrosio Herrera, who was charged with exposing himself to a girl at an Albemarle County bus stop. A “larger-than-normal crowd” had gathered inside the circuit court gallery. Daily Progress reporter Hawes Spencer noted that there were “some tense moments” as lawyers braced themselves for an ICE raid.
In this case, according to the Daily Progress, the victim — the real one — was an 11-year-old girl. Prosecuting attorney Armin Zijerdi said Ambrosio Herrera lives near the girl and frequents the same bus stop.
Probably not. And Winsome Sears, who has failed to capitalize on her position as lieutenant governor, is no exception.
Paul Goldman
Virginia’s political reporters and pundits need to be honest. Here in 2025, being a Black woman is a very serious political disadvantage for GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears. No useful public interest is served by doing some Epstein-style discombobulating. The truth is what it is.
Fact 1: No Black woman has ever been elected Governor of any state. Do you honestly believe there haven’t been many qualified Black women over the years to serve in these positions?
Fact 2: In 1989, Doug Wilder became the first Black person elected Governor of any state in the country, not only in Dixie. Since then, several dozen Black candidates have tried to be elected Governor in the southern states. They have all been defeated. Even when starting out as the polling favorite. Just coincidence?
Fact 3: Several highly qualified Black women ran for the Virginia Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination in 2021. They received a combined 31.6% of the vote. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a Black man, got 3.6%. Meaning the three Black candidates got 35.4% combined. Based on Dr. Larry Sabato’s research over the years, it would seem about 35% of the primary votes were from Black Virginians.
Meaning: The two black women candidates – both incumbent legislators and considered to be exceptionally qualified — likely got less than 5% combined of the white vote outside of the their legislative districts. Five percent! I thought young Democrats say they’re woke? They couldn’t find even one Black person qualified for the job?
The issue goes back to 2020, when the General Assembly passed the “Clean Economy Act,” which set ambitious goals for renewable technologies in Virginia, mandating that they comprise 100% of Virginia’s energy load by 2045. (Right now, it’s less than 10%).
Of course, nobody at that time understood how the “AI” revolution would transform the grid: creating a massive need for new data centers and related electrical infrastructure. The resulting demand will double Virginia’s expected need for electricity.
Of course, the most common form of renewable energy comes from solar panels. As a State Senator, I authored the “Solar Freedom Act” of 2012 which allowed widespread use in suburban HOA communities.
Ridgetop road to turbine sites. Photo: Eric Claunch
By SteveHaner
Virginia’s first (and so far, only) installation of onshore utility-scale wind turbines is in its early construction phase, with opponents hoping the Botetourt County project will draw the attention and opposition of the new Trump Administration. They are also complaining to regulators about soil running off the job site and fouling a nearby trout stream.
Apex Clean Energy’s proposed Rocky Forge Wind languished for years without a buyer for its energy output, but a power purchase agreement with Google finally brought it to life. The county approved construction in January.
Locator map from Rocky Forge Wind website.
Google is also planning a data center elsewhere in the county, just north of Roanoke, but the power from Rocky Forge won’t feed that directly. The wind energy when produced will become another asset in the PJM Interconnection energy marketplace. The financial details are not public, but presumably Google will share in any energy revenue, tax credits and the very marketable renewable energy certificates.
If the project is completed and connected to PJM next year as the developer intends, it will meet the amended deadline for tax credit eligibility created by the new federal omnibus tax legislation. The 13 planned turbines, each 655 feet tall, will produce about 75 megawatts of electricity when operating at peak efficiency. When there is no wind, there will be no power.
It’s been 21 days and counting since Jim Ryan resigned as president of the University of Virginia, and the Board of Visitors hasn’t announced a search committee to look for a successor. Indeed, it’s still soliciting “input” on who should serve as interim president.
Meanwhile, UVA has vacancies in other top positions: the provost (the chief academic officer) and the top three executives in the health-care division.
For god’s sake, man, somebody do something!
It may be summer break for students and professors, but it shouldn’t be for the men and women appointed to govern the university.
The news of the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) returning to Richmond for the first time since 1997 was big news this week but quickly overshadowed by the left hook out of nowhere that the city will close off parking and vehicular access to the city’s waterfront (including easy access to Belle Isle, Brown’s Island, and the Potterfield Bridge) on days bands perform at the new amphitheater.
It was recently reported the city will close the 60-space parking lot known as the “Belle Isle lot” as well as closing 5th Street, Tredegar Street and the 2nd Street Connector for the entire day on numerous dates to use as a staging area and for staff and VIP parking for amphitheater shows on those dates. This week, access was closed off for four days to accommodate the two DMB shows and the conventional wisdom from the city is apparently, since the roads are closed, it justifies closing the parking lot too since it is inaccessible.
It’s beyond a shame that in recent years it seems more and more like the city is moving away from ensuring access to the river is a priority. Especially since it is the one thing that binds the region together and is more of a DNA marker of Richmond than anything else (it’s not even close).
WHRO, the Norfolk-based public radio station, will lose $2 million in federal funding following a U.S. Senate vote to slash $9 billion in federal spending on public broadcasting and foreign aid. That amounts to 9% of the station’s $21 million budget, reports VPM News. WHRO serves the same media market as WTAR, which broadcasts The Kerry and Mike Show. — JAB
by Kerry Dougherty
Every weekday morning it’s the same: My alarm goes off at 4 a.m., I jump in the shower, throw on my clothes and head out the door. By 5 a.m. I’m in the studio, doing show prep and getting together drops for that day’s show.
At 6 a.m. we’re in our places, behind our microphones, headsets on when the red “ON AIR” light flashes and The Kerry and Mike Show goes live for the next three hours as Mike Imprevento and I try to entertain and inform our audience.
Yes, we’re conservative. And lots of companies are eager to market their products to our audience.
Our show is made possible by our sponsors who pay to advertise during our three hours. The Sinclair sales reps hustle all day selling our show to local and national businesses.
Meanwhile, 4.3 miles across town in the WHRO studios, some radio host — I have no idea who — is going through the same motions.
The big difference? His or her show is sponsored in part by taxpayers.
Being paid with my tax dollars. Meanwhile, over at the WTAR studios, we’re broadcasting on the commercial model. Why should I subsidize my competition? https://t.co/gyUMpJT8hi
When I ran Doug Wilder first historic statewide campaign, we initially didn’t take the “Wilder is pro-criminal” attacks very seriously. Doug was a war veteran. A long-time, well-known state senator. He had a solid mainstream record on criminal justice issues. Calling him pro-criminal was absurd. What reasonable person could possibly believe it? I was sure the Republicans would seem desperate. Eventually, I had to change my perspective — and our strategy to combat the attacks.
Accordingly, my old campaign-manager instincts perked up when reading the recent article in Bacon‘s Rebellion by Jacob Grandstaff about Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones. The article was entitled, “Jones a Woke Champion of Criminals,” with “Jones’ soft-on-crime, anti-police stances will undermine public safety in Virginia” the sub headline.
As the saying goes, the article went downhill from there. One quote should suffice: “Virginians deserve an attorney general who will prioritize public safety and uphold the rule of law—not someone who will make their state a magnet for criminals.” (Emphasis added).
Wow. But politics is a contact sport. Played at the hardball level when you’re running statewide. Rough back in the 1980s for sure. Especially since Doug was trying to rip down the “No Blacks Need Apply” sign hanging for hundreds of years on the door to statewide office.
We can debate whether it’s rougher or less so in the MAGA age.
The basic point being however: It will be rough enough in 2025 by any relative standard one may choose to adopt.
License-plate readers discriminate. Some readers might think that automated license-plate readers are a good thing: They help law-enforcement authorities capture lawbreakers. But if your priority is protecting illegal immigrants, that’s a big negative. License-plate readers, you see, were used to track down four people who escaped from an ICE detention center in Farmville. According to VPM News, federal authorities accessed Richmond’s license-plate reader system to catch the runaways. “If ATF had formally requested access for that purpose, I would have denied it,” said Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards a week ago. Virginia ACLU director Chris Kaiser finds the ICE’s use of the cameras disturbing, says VPM. “Even with the guardrails, the more likely it is they’re going to be used in a discriminatory manner or to target vulnerable communities, like immigrants.” Yes, ICE does tend to “target” immigrants. Illegal ones. They’re in the business of border enforcement!
Now for some actual discrimination… Some medical schools continue to discriminate on the basis of race in admissions, finds Do No Harm in a national survey of med-school admissions based on MCAT scores and admission rates. Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited racial preferences in college admissions, Old Dominion University’s Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) is one of the worst. At EVMS the admission rate at the same MCAT score for Black applicants is four times the rate for Asians, and significantly higher than that for Whites. At the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, by contrast, Asians were admitted at the highest rate, Whites at the lowest rate, and Blacks in between, although the differences between groups were much smaller. The University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University declined to participate in the voluntary survey, a likely sign that they have something to hide. “Overall, while schools aren’t admitting many students from the very bottom of the performance distribution,” the study says, “they are admitting students from the center at the expense of those at the top.”
Why does college cost so much? One reason is that it takes longer to graduate. And why does it take longer to graduate? Two things, according to Minding the Campus (MTC). First, degree requirements are bloated. States MTC: “A standard bachelor’s degree requires about 120 credit hours, but at least 25 percent of those are unrelated to the degree itself, and probably 10 percent are completely useless. … Categories like ‘Social & Cultural Diversity’ often translate to semesters spent in courses unmoored from academic rigor and laden with ideological messaging, which not only keeps students in college longer but also delays maturity.” Second: high schools suck. “An increasingly large number of students arrive for college seriously deficient in reading and writing ability,” says MTC’s Glenn Rickets, “and so they need to register for remedial courses simply to get up to speed.”
Jones’ soft-on-crime, anti-police stances will undermine public safety in Virginia
by Jacob Grandstaff
Virginia Democrat Attorney General candidate Jay Jones has persistently demonstrated a troubling pattern of leniency toward criminals through his legislative record and statements. Virginians deserve an attorney general who will prioritize public safety and uphold the rule of law—not someone who will make their state a magnet for criminals.
As a House Delegate, Jones developed a pattern of voting for lighter sentences for criminals and expanding their rights. His most dangerous position, however, centers on his leftist contempt for law enforcement. This raises serious concerns, as he is running to serve as Virginia’s top law enforcement officer.
Creating a safe haven for criminals
Since his election as a Virginia Delegate, Jones has consistently supported policies that make Virginia less safe. His record includes multiple examples of promoting leniency toward criminals and undermining deterrence.
State Senate Democrats announced yesterday a deal to pay off $36 million in toll debts accumulated by thousands of drivers using the Downtown and Midtown tunnels connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Woo hoo! Free money for everybody! Well… free money for some! Image credit: Bing Image Creator
“I’m proud to announce because of our 2025 Appropriations Bill, the Virginia Department of Transportation and Elizabeth River Crossings have successfully completed negotiations and reached an agreement to wipe out all outstanding toll balances and fees from 2014 to December 31, 2023, for drivers in Portsmouth and Norfolk. That’s right, the toll debt is gone,” said House Speaker Don Scott, D-Scott, as reported by WVEC News.
“If you have been buried under toll tickets and those late fees have been holding you back, if you felt like no one in Richmond was listening, we heard you,” said Scott. “Nobody should be buried under hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines just because they are trying to get to work or take care of their kids.”
But not just anyone gets their debts wiped away. As WVEC makes clear: “The relief package is targeted specifically at Portsmouth and Norfolk drivers, recognizing that they have carried the brunt of Elizabeth River Tunnel toll costs since the fees were imposed.”
Hmmm. Don Scott’s district is Portsmouth. The district of his collaborator in this deal, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas includes… Portsmouth.
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.
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