Activists Harrass Immigrant Parents Celebrating SCOTUS Ruling Against Anti-Asian Racism
Just as Education Secretary Cardona instructed to "go on offense," leftist activists shouted down parents of Asian-American students.
Two congressional staffers for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) were hospitalized Monday after a bat-wielding individual reportedly entered his district office and assaulted the staffers.
Connolly explained in a statement that the perpetrator, armed with a baseball bat, entered his district office in northern Virginia Monday morning. The perpetrator then "asked" to see Connolly "before committing an act of violence against two members of my staff." Connolly was not present at the office at the time.
Both staffers were hospitalized. Their names were not released, but their injuries are fortunately "non-life threatening," according to Connolly. The lawmaker later told a reporter one of the victims is an intern whose first day was Monday.
Connolly said police quickly apprehended the perpetrator.
"I have the best team in Congress. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day," Connolly said in a statement. "The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating."
Fairfax police confirmed they had apprehended the suspect, but did not release that person's name. It's not immediately clear what charges the suspect faces.
Connolly told a CNN reporter the perpetrator is a constituent, though he does not know the person.
Without knowing the motive behind the attack, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) connected the attack to "increased instances of political violence."
But to his point, members of Congress and their staff have been subjected to an increasing amount of violence in recent years.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R) was nearly killed when a gunman opened fire on him and other Republican lawmakers in 2017. Now-former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) was attacked while running for governor last year. The husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was injured in a brutal attack last year. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was violently assaulted in February in an elevator.
More from CBS News:
Last year, the U.S. Capitol Police investigated about 7,500 cases of potential threats against members of Congress. It was a slight decrease from 2021, when there were 9,600 case, but the number of cases in 2021 doubled from four years earlier.
Meanwhile, Jeffries said that he had spoken to the House sergeant-at-arms and Capitol police and asked them to continue "collaborating with our members." Members of Congress, outside of senior leadership, do not travel with security details.
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A Virginia parent group is angry that elementary school students were spotted sitting on the ground in below-freezing temperatures Tuesday while a teacher read to them, WUSA-TV reported.
The Fairfax County Parents Association tweet said "young children are having story time on the cold concrete" outside Waynewood Elementary School in Alexandria and included a photo. WUSA said temperatures in Fairfax County were below freezing Tuesday.
"This is the result of poor leadership and confusing guidance to teachers," the tweet continued. "Get these little ones inside!" A second tweet from the group included video of the students sitting outside.
Video of the elementary school kids sitting in 24 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, below freezing) at @waynewoodes today. This is Virginia, where kids don't routinely wear down and wool. @Karen4Schools @FCPSSupt @fcpsnewspic.twitter.com/6scCWizHEy— Fairfax County Parents Association (@Fairfax County Parents Association) 1641923937
A number of commenters were aghast at the sight of children sitting on the ground in sub-freezing temperatures:
But not everybody saw it as a negative — and one commenter shot back at the parents' association: "Shame on you for posting this amateur video without all the facts and exposing children to the Internet without parental permission. Shame on the woman who took this video. We support our teachers at Waynewood. Crazy...but we also support a few minutes of fresh air when needed."
Others who supported the idea of students being outside even in freezing temperatures, such as during recess, were countered by those who said students typically are moving and running around and not sitting on the ground.
Fairfax County Public Schools defended what was seen in the video as a "snack and mask break," WUSA reported.
“This morning on Twitter, an anonymous parent group posted a video that was taken outside of Waynewood Elementary School in Alexandria," the school district said in a statement to the station. "In the video, a group of third-grade students are taking a snack and mask break in front of the school."
The district added to WUSA that the students were outside for less than seven minutes and that the weather conditions were monitored. In addition, the district told the station the teacher was reading to the students to keep them entertained.