State News

The political champagne corks barely stopped popping at Democrat headquarters before the Virginia Supreme Court dropped a legal bunker buster right down the middle of their gerrymandering fantasy.

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled against the Democrats’ effort to redraw the state’s maps.

One of Virginia’s top Democratic power brokers and longtime state senator denounced an FBI raid on her Portsmouth office and cannabis business as an attempt to intimidate critics of the Trump administration.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost indicated Thursday that he will resign from office, telling families of fallen officers and other attendees at the annual peace officers memorial that “Today will be the last time I am here in this role.”

The FBI on Wednesday raided the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas in connection with a corruption probe that has ensnared the Democrat power broker and close ally of Gov. Abigail Spanberger, sources told Just the News. Officials said FBI agents executed search warrants at multiple locations, including a state Senate office in Portsmouth, Va., and a cannabis business with ties to the state senator.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., on Monday signed into a law a new slate of congressional maps that is expected to add several Republican-leaning seats to the state's congressional delegation. "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered," DeSantis posted on X, along with an image of the new slate of maps.

Florida lawmakers on Wednesday approved a slate of congressional maps expected to bolster Republican chances in the midterms. The map largely limits Democratic-leaning districts to Orlando and a series of urban areas on the southwest coast. It is expected to face legal challenges, according to Politico.

The Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a motion from state Attorney General Jay Jones to lift a stay on the certification of the state's redistricting referendum result. The decision follows a Tazewell County Circuit court blocking certification while legal challenges to the referendum persist. The referendum faces multiple challenges and a separate court blocked a GOP-driven challenge earlier this week.

Federal Bureau of Investigation officers reportedly raided over 20 childcare facilities in Minneapolis on Tuesday.  The raid is being reported by Fox News and CBS News, based on information from sources. 

The Supreme Court  on Monday opted not to hear a gender secrecy case out of Florida, in which parents objected to a policy that kept their child’s school from informing them of a gender transition. The case involves the School Board of Leon County, Florida, which in 2018 said that when students informed their school’s administration that they would assert a different gender identity, the school would treat students consistent with that gender identity. The plan said that school administrators revealing this to parents could be dangerous to the well-being of a student, CBS News reported.

After voters in Virginia approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that will give Democrats a big edge for U.S. House races, the battle has now shifted to the state’s highest court.

A Virginia County Court on Wednesday barred certification of the state's redistricting referendum, pending appeal, according to former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and state Rep. Wren Williams, R-Va. The Tazewell County Circuit Court issued the injunction barring certification. The order will face certain appeal and likely head to the state Supreme Court, which is already expected to address a challenge to the referendum.

Virginia voters narrowly approved a gerrymandered House map Tuesday — one expected to add four Democratic seats in the midterms. The 2026 Virginia redistricting amendment passed with 51% of voters backing the “yes” campaign and 49% casting their ballot for “no” with 94% of votes counted, the Associated Press reported. As a result, the light blue state, where former Vice President Kamala Harris won less than 52% of the vote in 2024, will likely see 91% of its House seats drawn to favor Democrats.

Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said -- prior to Virginians on Tuesday night voting in favor of a referendum to redraw the state's congressional map to give Democrats 10 House members and leave Republicans with just one -- that his group has a lawsuit in the legal pipeline to stop or reverse the effort.  "We already have a case that's in the courts right now," he said on Just the News, No Noise, prior to the vote tally in which the referendum passed 51.5% to 48.5%.

The Texas State Board of Education on Thursday gave preliminary 9-1 approval to a pared-down mandatory literary works list for all public school students in grades K-12, including multiple Bible passages and stories presented as required reading.