Virginia

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Jury Awards $10M to Teacher Shot by 6-Year-Old

Jury finds assistant principal ignored warnings that child had a gun at Virginia school

(Newser) - A Virginia jury has awarded $10 million to Abigail Zwerner, the first-grade teacher shot by a 6-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in January 2023. The verdict found that assistant principal Ebony Parker ignored multiple warnings that the child had a gun, a failure the panel deemed gross negligence, NBC...

Pollsters Didn't See the Democratic Wave Coming

They underestimated Democratic and Latino turnout in NJ, Virginia races

(Newser) - Pollsters were caught off guard by the scale of Democratic wins in this week's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill's 13-point victory far outpaced the final Real Clear Politics polling average, which predicted a narrow 3-point lead. The discrepancy prompted Mike Madrid,...

Big Takeaways From Tuesday's Election
Big Takeaways
From Tuesday's
Election
THE RUNDOWN
Nov 5, 2025 6:42 AM CST

Big Takeaways From Tuesday's Election

Victories in key races signal shifting voter sentiment in favor of Democrats

(Newser) - Democrats scored sweeping victories across major states in Tuesday's elections, signaling a sharp backlash to President Trump's policies and offering their party new momentum ahead of the 2026 midterms. Voters turned out in "extraordinary" numbers for an off-year contest, per the New York Times , delivering wins for...

Virginia Gets First Female Governor: Abigail Spanberger

Former congresswoman defeats Winsome Earle-Sears

(Newser) - The first big race on Tuesday's ballot has been called: Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the governor's race in Virginia and will become the first woman to hold the seat, reports the AP . The former congresswoman defeated Winsome Earle-Sears, the current GOP lieutenant governor, with the AP calling the...

4 Key Races to Watch in Tuesday's Vote

Including the gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia

(Newser) - Another Election Day has arrived in America, the first major one in President Trump's second term. Some of the big races that readers of political tea leaves will be watching:
  • New York City mayor: Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner, is trying to fend off former Gov. Andrew Cuomo,
...

Trump Endorses Dozens, but a Key Name Is Absent

Virginia's GOP gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears isn't mentioned

(Newser) - President Trump issued a flurry of endorsements on Sunday night for more than 50 Republicans ahead of Tuesday's elections, but Politico spots a notable absence: Trump didn't mention Virginia's GOP gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. She is trailing in the polls against Democrat Abigail Spanberger in...

Obama Doesn't Quite Endorse in Call to Mamdani

Former president offers counsel in New York mayoral race

(Newser) - Barack Obama quietly reached out to Zohran Mamdani on Saturday, offering a rare gesture of support days before New York's mayoral election. The former president's 30-minute phone call, described by people familiar with the conversation, was not an endorsement, the New York Times reports, but Obama praised Mamdani'...

The States With the Highest 'Top 5%' Income

Connecticut is No. 1 on GOBankingRates list, with average household income of $637,673 for top 5%

(Newser) - How much does it take to count oneself among the top 5%? It differs per state, but in Connecticut, the top contender in GOBankingRates' ranking , the average household income for this elite demographic exceeds $637,000, while the median household income across the entire state just cracks $93,000. In...

Va. Governor Candidate's Bus Bursts Into Flames

No injuries in incident days before Virginia election between Earle-Sears, rival Spanberger

(Newser) - Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign for governor hit an unexpected snag on Thursday when her bus caught fire en route to an event. "Everyone is safe," Earle-Sears assured in a statement on X , thanking first responders for their swift reaction, per the Hill . The incident occurred just...

Teacher Shot by 6-Year-Old: 'I Thought I Had Died'

Former Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner is suing former assistant principal

(Newser) - A former Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in 2023 testified Thursday that she thought she had died that day. Abby Zwerner testified in her $40 million lawsuit filed against a former assistant principal who is accused of ignoring multiple warnings that the student...

Lost Laptop Forces United Flight to Make Abrupt U-Turn

Runaway laptop battery prompts midair return to Washington Dulles

(Newser) - A United Airlines flight from Dulles Airport to Rome was forced to turn back midway through its trip after a passenger's lost laptop vanished into the plane's innards. According to the airline, the computer slipped behind a cabin wall panel on the Oct. 15 flight and found its...

Ex-DOJ Officials, Scholars: Comey Case Must Be Tossed

Former officials say prosecution is political retribution, not justice

(Newser) - More than 100 former Justice Department officials are pushing a federal judge to dismiss the criminal case against former FBI director James Comey, alleging the prosecution is driven by political motives rather than legal merit, the Washington Post reports. The group—which spans both Republican and Democratic administrations and includes...

Honduran Man Fleeing ICE Dies on Virginia Highway

Agency says 24-year-old ran into Virginia traffic during enforcement stop

(Newser) - A Honduran man was fatally struck by a pickup truck on a Virginia highway after fleeing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a traffic stop, authorities said. It happened Thursday morning on Interstate 264 near the Military Highway interchange in Norfolk. Virginia State Police identified the man as 24-year-old...

President's Daughter Returns Home After 185 Years in Paris
President's Daughter Was in
Unmarked Grave for 185 Years
in case you missed it
Oct 25, 2025 1:00 PM CDT

President's Daughter Was in Unmarked Grave for 185 Years

Eliza Monroe Hay, who died destitute in 1840, will be reinterred in family plot in Virginia

(Newser) - A chance discovery in a college archive has reshaped one of American history's oldest family stories and brought a president's daughter home after nearly two centuries abroad. Retired teacher Barbara VornDick was digging through old letters at the College of William & Mary in Virginia when she found...

New York AG Pleads Not Guilty in Fraud Case

Letitia James is fighting back on case against her pushed by President Trump

(Newser) - New York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges accusing her of lying on mortgage papers to secure favorable loan terms in a case pushed by President Trump. James' first court appearance in Virginia sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle between the Republican...

Virginia Democrats May Be Next to Redraw Maps

Move could give national party 2 or 3 more seats in the House

(Newser) - And now, Virginia. Democrats there plan to redraw the state's congressional map to gain their party two or three more House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, reports the New York Times . It's the latest salvo in the redistricting battles being waged nationwide by both parties. Virginia would...

In 2 High-Stakes Governor Races, Obama Hits the Trail

Former president will campaign with Spanberger in Virginia and Sherrill in New Jersey

(Newser) - Former President Obama will campaign alongside Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in the final stretch of their statewide campaigns for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. Spanberger's and Sherrill's campaigns said in Tuesday news releases that Obama will campaign with both candidates at Nov. 1 rallies...

Justice Department Wins Charges Against Letitia James

Trump's new prosecutor presented case to grand jury in Virginia

(Newser) - The Justice Department obtained a grand jury indictment on Thursday against New York Attorney General Letitia James, charging her with bank fraud in relation to the purchase of a Virginia property in 2023. The case, which centers on claims that James misrepresented her intended use of the Norfolk home...

Centuries-Old Animal Bones Reveal New Jamestown Fact

The colonists brought a donkey with them

(Newser) - A recent study in Science Advances is changing the story of how some of North America's earliest European settlers used animals. "While Spanish colonists brought horses to the Caribbean decades earlier, settlement of the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, was among the first dispersals of horses to...

FBI Punishes Supervisor Over 'Perp Walk' for Comey

Patel addresses internal tension in post

(Newser) - The FBI has suspended a supervisor who resisted facilitating a "perp walk" for James Comey, as tensions rise in the agency over the prosecution. Comey, indicted on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, is to appear in federal court next week. But FBI bosses...

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