News from the South - Virginia News Feed
Earle-Sears comments on federal layoffs spark outcry from unions, veterans
by Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury
April 4, 2025
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide.
A newly surfaced recording of Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is drawing sharp criticism from Democrats and federal employee unions, who say her remarks downplaying the impact of recent federal layoffs show a disregard for the thousands of Virginians — many of them veterans — who have lost their jobs under President Donald Trump’s administration’s workforce cuts.
In the clip, released last week by the progressive media outlet Meidas Touch, Earle-Sears is heard downplaying concerns from federal workers about job losses tied to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has already axed more than 6,000 veterans and is on track to cut at least 80,000 VA employees nationwide, according to the Associated Press.
In the recording, which appears to be from a March 13 gathering, Earle-Sears addresses the recent federal layoffs tied to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Now I’m hearing about DOGE and all of that,” she begins, before quickly shifting to a broader defense of Virginia’s job market. She insists that “we don’t want folks to lose their jobs,” but points to what she says are “over 250,000 jobs that we’ve created since we’ve been in office” as evidence of economic strength.
Earle-Sears then pivots to suggest that job loss is a common experience, asking the crowd, “How many here have ever lost a job?” When some respond affirmatively, she continues: “Oh, you mean it’s not unusual? It happens to everybody all the time? Okay.” She concludes by criticizing the media coverage surrounding the layoffs, saying, “The media is making it out to be this huge, huge thing. And I don’t understand why.”
The reaction from union officials and political opponents was swift.
“She was caught on tape saying she doesn’t know why this is a huge deal,” said Christine Surrette, national vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) District 4 and a former VA employee.
“I’ve had to console employees who were laid off, who don’t know how they’ll make rent. Some have taken their own lives. Sears isn’t on the side of Virginians,” Surette said on a Zoom call set up by the Democratic Party of Virginia Thursday.
Earle-Sears, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran herself, is currently leading the pack in the Republican gubernatorial primary and has leaned heavily into her alignment with Gov. Glenn Youngkin and, despite disavowing him more than two years ago, Trump.
The layoffs, which have significantly affected Virginia’s large population of veteran federal employees, are part of a broader federal workforce reduction effort launched under Trump’s second-term agenda of fiscal reset.
A spokeswoman for Earle-Sears’ campaign declined to comment, but pointed to a video the lieutenant governor posted on X, formerly Twitter, in February, where she expressed empathy for federal workers facing layoffs.
“I have been in your shoes and I totally understand what it is to not know how the next paycheck is coming,” Earle-Sears said in the video. “I know it from being an employee and I also know it from being a small business owner, and so I want to say this to you that we see you.”
At the same time, she reaffirmed her support for Trump’s efforts to cut federal spending — even if it results in job losses.
“Our government, without question, owes us answers to how the money is being spent,” she said. “We work very hard for those dollars in order for the government to tax us, and so the government must be accountable to us and tell us how it is spending our hard earned dollars.”
Earle-Sears added that it’s also important to ensure support is available for those who lose their jobs and want to pursue new opportunities.
“It is also a given that we want to make sure that you have the money that you need to find a job or if you want to start a new career or even to go into business and how to do that,” she said.
Earle-Sears went on to promote Youngkin’s plan to connect laid-off federal employees with new job opportunities in Virginia.
But her critics say the damage is done.
“She’s talking about someone’s life being turned upside down,” said Monique Samuels, president of AFGE Local 1992, which represents Defense Logistics Agency workers in Richmond. “Losing a job in any situation is devastating. With thousands of Virginians facing layoffs, there will be a larger economic impact that will hurt every Virginian, but Sears doesn’t care.”
The layoffs have already disrupted essential services at facilities like the Hampton VA Medical Center, where 12 employees initially lost their jobs although one later was allowed to return, and the soon-to-open clinic in Chesapeake, where local lawmakers are already raising concerns about staffing levels.
“We were struggling before,” said Sheila Elliott, president of AFGE Local 2328. “We’re already seeing appointments being rescheduled because doctors and nurses can’t do their jobs because they don’t have the tools that they need to get that job done. Yesterday we received 50 messages, people are worried about what’s happening next.”
Former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, also weighed in.
“Virginia’s federal employees are real people with real bills to pay,” she said in a statement. “Now is not the time for the lieutenant governor to put blind ideology and allegiance to a political party ahead of the livelihoods of our neighbors and the strength of Virginia’s economy.”
Virginia is home to the Pentagon, multiple military bases and one of the highest veteran populations nationwide. Many of those veterans transition into federal civilian roles after their service — jobs that have become increasingly precarious as DOGE enacts mass terminations in the name of “efficiency.”
“I understand firsthand the importance of ensuring that our VAs are fully staffed and prepared to care for and support the men and women who have served our country. And right now, that’s all at risk,” said Ottis Johnson, AFGE District 14 vice president and a veteran himself.
“As VA and employees are facing layoffs, our veterans earned their benefits, and they deserve better than threats to their care. But it is not just veterans who are at risk because of these attacks on federal jobs. Virginia’s economy depends on federal jobs. People are going to feel this in every corner of the commonwealth.”
Less than a week after the leaked remarks were recorded, Earle-Sears appeared alongside Youngkin at a March 19 event in Richmond where both officials defended the job cuts as part of a larger plan for national economic health.
“Today, we know we have a federal government that is facing huge fiscal issues with $37 trillion in debt, with $2 trillion being added every year,” Youngkin said. “What that requires is real action quickly.”
Earle-Sears echoed the message, calling Virginia “resilient” and citing CNBC’s ranking of the commonwealth as the top state for business in 2024. Both touted the state’s Virginia Has Jobs platform, which they say lists over 250,000 available positions for displaced workers.
But union leaders say those promises don’t match reality.
“These workers can’t just walk into another job next week,” said Surrette. “Many are specialized professionals. Some are still waiting on severance. And in the meantime, veterans are waiting on appointments, prescriptions, and essential services.”
Surrette added that the disruption goes far beyond temporary economic turbulence, but that it strikes at the heart of the values many federal employees hold.
“These are people who dedicated their lives to serving others … many of them twice, first in uniform and then in federal agencies. They deserve more than lip service. They deserve respect, support, and stability.”
If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
The post Earle-Sears comments on federal layoffs spark outcry from unions, veterans appeared first on virginiamercury.com
SUMMARY: A Delta Airlines flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam via Minneapolis experienced severe turbulence, injuring 25 passengers. The Airbus A330, carrying 275 passengers and 13 crew, rapidly ascended 500 feet then nosedived 1,500 feet as turbulence struck while attendants served food. Passengers without seatbelts hit the ceiling and then the floor, with food carts also thrown about. The pilots declared an emergency and diverted to Minneapolis, where ambulances awaited. Most injured passengers have been released from hospital. The FAA is investigating, and Delta is sending a care team to support those affected. The incident caused significant fear among passengers.
More than two dozen passengers were taken to the hospital after a plane hit severe turbulence.
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News from the South - Virginia News Feed
Is it time for Virginia to stop holding elections every year? Lawmakers are taking a serious look
by Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury
July 31, 2025
In a year when Virginia voters will choose their next governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 members of the House of Delegates, a little-noticed legislative panel is asking a potentially seismic question: Should the state stop voting every year?
The Joint Subcommittee to Study the Consolidation and Scheduling of General Elections met for the first time last week to begin exploring whether Virginia — one of just a handful of states with statewide elections in odd-numbered years — should sync up with the federal calendar and move all general elections to even-numbered years.
On the surface, the idea may seem like a bureaucratic scheduling tweak. But in practice, it would touch nearly every aspect of Virginia politics, from voter turnout and local governance to campaign finance and the nationalization of state issues. It could also spell the end of one of the commonwealth’s most distinctive — and some say outdated — political traditions.
“There’s a ton of information to digest, a ton of things to consider,” said state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, who chairs the bipartisan panel. “But at the end of the day, I think there’s two things that we should care about: turnout in elections and people’s voices, right? And how do we maximize that?”
A state that votes every year
Virginia’s political calendar is famously relentless. This November, voters will select a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and all 100 House of Delegates seats will be on the ballot.
In 2026, Virginians will vote for 11 congressional representatives and a U.S. senator. Then in 2027, the entire state Senate and House of Delegates will be on the ballot again. In 2028, it’s back to federal races, including the presidency.
This yearly rhythm has its roots in Virginia’s early political history. Brooks Braun, senior attorney with the Division of Legislative Services, told the subcommittee that elections in the 18th and 19th centuries were frequent but limited in scope — delegates were elected annually, but governors were selected by the legislature and voting rights were restricted to property-owning white men.
“Not unlike today, frequent elections were the norm,” Braun said. “The franchise was also very limited, only property-owning white males could vote and voting was done via voicing and no ballots.”
The federal government standardized federal elections in 1845, scheduling them for the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years.
But Virginia never fully aligned itself with that model. Following the Civil War, elections were imposed by federal authorities in ways that entrenched an off-year pattern. Later, the segregationist Byrd Machine maintained the off-year system as a means of limiting voter participation and holding onto power.
“It’s easier to maintain power in circumstances where you’re voting year by year and you have a machine,” said Henry Chambers, a professor of law at the University of Richmond who has studied the intersection of voting rights and political structure.
National attention, national money
The off-year elections have made Virginia an outsized political bellwether. Only two states — Virginia and New Jersey — elect their governors the year after a presidential election, drawing national media coverage and millions in campaign contributions as the nation looks for signs of political momentum.
“Virginia now has a unique role in the U.S. electoral landscape because of when we have our gubernatorial election,” said veteran political analyst Bob Holsworth. “Virginia’s electoral cycle has enhanced the visibility and importance of the commonwealth’s gubernatorial election. Everybody’s looking at this nationally.”
Holsworth noted that former governors like Terry McAuliffe and Tim Kaine parlayed their victories into national roles, and Virginia’s races have repeatedly offered early clues about changing voter moods.
“Shifting to an even-numbered electoral cycle would diminish the distinctiveness of the Virginia governor’s race,” he warned.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, who sponsored the legislation that created the subcommittee, sees that visibility as a double-edged sword. He argued that Virginia’s status as a political canary in the coal mine has come at the cost of overexposure and hyper-partisan spending.
“People are kind of sick of politics right now, and sick of elections,” he said. “We have a lot of issues to talk about. We’ve got to talk about turnout effects, campaign finance, political implications … The logistics of trying to change election dates for thousands of elections in Virginia is extraordinarily complicated.”
Surovell added: “The increase in money has been astonishing. People are willing to spend $12 million to figure out who gets an $18,000 job. That’s crazy.”
Would turnout improve?
For those supporting consolidation, boosting voter turnout is the most compelling argument.
“If turnout is your only consideration or your major consideration, you stuff everything into a presidential year,” Holsworth said. “Because you’re going to go from 40% turnout to 70% turnout.”
Holsworth provided historical context: Gubernatorial election years have seen a steady rise in participation, from 40.4% in 2009 to nearly 55% in 2021, according to Virginia Department of Elections data. But turnout in legislative-only years still lags, hovering just above 40%.
Still, the impact of changing the calendar isn’t cut and dry. Holsworth noted that while presidential elections drive turnout, there’s no guarantee that moving a gubernatorial race to a midterm year would significantly change participation rates.
Chambers echoed the complexity, warning that a high-turnout “wave election” in a presidential year could sweep both federal and state governments in one political direction — only to provoke a backlash in the next cycle.
“It’s not clear that you want a wave election to change Virginia state government and federal government for four years,” Chambers said. “You could be in for two to four years of what you may be surprised that you voted for.”
The “Lollapalooza Ballot”
A consolidated ballot may also be harder for voters to navigate.
“There may be reasons to keep state offices separate from federal offices,” Chambers told lawmakers. “You may well have folks who lose the thread … on the differences between electing state officials and electing federal officials.”
The result, he said, could be a “true Lollapalooza of an election,” where voters face a ballot that includes the president, governor, congressional seats, General Assembly races, and more.
Del. Rob Bloxom of Accomack, a rare Republican voice at the panel’s first meeting, worried that national races could drown out local campaigns and drive up the cost of elections.
“They should be talking about potholes, the tree trimming — not immigration or abortion,” he said of candidates for local office. “It ruins some of the local discourse.”
He noted that a previous effort by Democrats to move local elections from May to November had made those contests more expensive and less visible.
“They go into November, and they get lost,” Bloxom said. “Those elections are competing for costs with us. It creates higher demand and makes elections cost more.”
Following the lead — or breaking the mold?
Virginia isn’t alone in its off-year schedule, but it’s part of a dwindling club.
Braun cited New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky as other states that elect statewide officials in odd-numbered years. West Virginia, he noted, recently passed legislation to consolidate its municipal elections with even-year federal contests by 2032.
Some of those states have debated changes similar to Virginia’s current effort but have yet to act. Kentucky, for example, sees perennial proposals to move its gubernatorial elections to presidential years — but none have passed.
Virginia itself last considered the question in 1979, when a study commission similar to today’s looked at consolidating election dates but issued no final report. Nearly half a century later, the conversation has returned.
And with it, concerns about how consolidation could alter the dynamics of power.
Chambers warned that elections conducted without strong voting rights protections could be ripe for manipulation.
“When you have a higher-stakes election, you may have more of a likelihood of shenanigans,” he said. “And without a federal Voting Rights Act there to protect quickly … you could be done with the election before you can respond to the behavior that’s going on.”
What comes next?
VanValkenburg said the subcommittee’s work this year will be focused on gathering input, hearing from legal and political experts and understanding the consequences of any potential overhaul. In 2026, the panel is expected to begin crafting legislation, including possible constitutional amendments.
“These four meetings this year are going to be informational meetings,” he said. “Next year is going to be more about writing code, writing amendments, figuring out kind of how we want to go about this.”
If the General Assembly approves a plan in 2026, it would have to pass the legislature again in 2027 before voters weigh in via a ballot referendum. The earliest a consolidated election system could be implemented would be 2029, with some local offices not shifting to the new cycle until 2040.
And while the idea of consolidating elections may lack the drama of a campaign-season scandal, its long-term consequences could be more profound.
“My take is part of the issue for us is, because we’ve done it this way before, I think we have a rhythm and we’re used to it,” Chambers said. “Now, is that a good thing? Not necessarily. And do I think that Virginians would absolutely adapt? No doubt.”
As Holsworth put it: “There’s just enormous attention (on Virginia elections) … and shifting that would change how the rest of the country sees us, and how we see ourselves.”
Whether that’s a change Virginia is ready to make — or willing to risk — remains to be seen.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
The post Is it time for Virginia to stop holding elections every year? Lawmakers are taking a serious look appeared first on virginiamercury.com
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article presents a balanced examination of Virginia’s election calendar debate, offering perspectives from both Democratic and Republican voices as well as nonpartisan experts. It highlights historical context, potential benefits like increased voter turnout, and concerns about political and financial impacts without endorsing a specific side. The language is neutral, focusing on factual explanations and quoting various stakeholders fairly. The coverage is thorough and measured, aiming to inform rather than persuade, which situates the article clearly in a centrist, neutral reporting stance.
News from the South - Virginia News Feed
Mom's lawsuit blames 14-year-old son's suicide on AI relationship | NBC4 Washington
SUMMARY: A Florida mom is suing AI company Character AI after her 14-year-old son Sewell’s suicide, claiming his virtual relationship with an AI bot caused his depression and suicidal thoughts. Sewell interacted with fictional characters like Daenerys Targaryen in the app, which lacked adequate safety features to address his distress. When he expressed self-harm intentions, the AI engaged without intervention. After his death, the company removed bots using Sewell’s likeness. Character AI has since added safety warnings and tools, including directing users to crisis helplines. Experts urge parents to monitor AI use and discuss the risks, emphasizing AI is not a real person.
Sewell Setzer, age 14, killed himself after what his mother describes as an intense relationship with a Character.AI bot. The platform reminds users that the bots are made-up. For Sewell, it felt real, his mom told News4’s Susan Hogan after the mother filed a lawsuit.
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