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Don Scott becomes first Black Speaker in Virginia Legislature's 400 year history
Don Scott, Speaker the Virginia House of Delegates, has had a meteoric rise in the Statehouse. The Delegates unanimously voted him in as Speaker on Wednesday.
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Don Scott, Speaker the Virginia House of Delegates, has had a meteoric rise in the Statehouse. The Delegates unanimously voted him in as Speaker on Wednesday.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
The Virginia General Assembly unanimously elected Democrat Don Scott as house speaker on Wednesday, making him the first Black speaker in the Virginia House of Delegates’ history.
Del. Scott approached the podium to cheers and a standing ovation as he took the oath of office and began his term as the leader of the House.
“My first immediate emotion is just gratitude. I’m very grateful,” said Scott, tearing up as he thanked his 88 year old mother and his wife, watching from the gallery.
“The historic nature of this moment is not lost on me,” he told the House.
“I pray that it is a proud moment for all of us, as we nominate Delegate Don Scott as our next speaker of the house,” said Del. Luke E. Torian in his nomination speech.
“Over 400 years ago, people who looked like Delegate Scott gave their sweat blood and tears to build this Capitol,” Del. Torian elaborated. “And I would say that is probably only right and fitting and appropriate that 400 years later, a person of color, an African American, whose ancestors helped to build this capital now stands to help lead this House of Delegates.”
From prison to politics
Scott says the Navy ships docked in his district, like the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), are a reminder of a call to public service that started with his time in the Navy as a young man.
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Scott says the Navy ships docked in his district, like the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), are a reminder of a call to public service that started with his time in the Navy as a young man.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
Scott, a 58 year-old Navy veteran and lawyer representing the Southeastern Virginia city of Portsmouth, quickly distinguished himself in the Democratic Caucus in part thanks to his unconventional path to the statehouse.
As a law student, Scott was convicted on a drug-related charge in 1994 and spent nearly eight years incarcerated in federal prison. After his release, Scott built a successful career as a trial lawyer in Portsmouth, which put him in the public eye and drew attention to his past.
In 2018, while in the midst of defending a city councilman accused of forgery, a local reporter learned of Scott’s time in prison and contacted him for a story. Scott hadn’t tried to keep his conviction a secret, but now it was widely known, and on the front-page of the Sunday paper.
“When you have a conviction, which I had a felony conviction that’s now 30 years old, you never really feel comfortable,” Scott told NPR, from his office in Portsmouth. “You always feel like you have to be careful on how far you can go and you put limits on yourself.”
That changed for Scott when a friend reached out after reading the article.
“You’re free now,” Scott remembers the friend texting. “So whatever you want to do now, you can do it.”
And what Scott wanted to do was run for office.
Scott credits the women in his life, including his wife, Dr. Mellanda Y. Colson Scott, for restoring his self-confidence and ambition after prison.
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Scott credits the women in his life, including his wife, Dr. Mellanda Y. Colson Scott, for restoring his self-confidence and ambition after prison.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
A platform built on personal experience
Scott won his first race for the Virginia House in 2019. He ran on a platform of criminal justice reform, shaped by his time on both sides of the legal system. Scott says, those experiences gave him another edge on the campaign trail, too.
“I used to always say the worst thing that will happen to me will not be losing an election,” he muses.
Scott grew up in Texas; one of six children raised by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet. Scott remembers meals of mayonnaise sandwiches and long hours at the local library, which his mother leaned on for free childcare. The young Scott turned into a voracious reader, which he says contributed to him going to college.
After serving in the Navy as a surface warfare officer, Scott went to law school. It was there, in his last year, that a federal court convicted him of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Scott says that he was only picking up money for a dealer he knew, and had no intention of selling the drugs himself. He was sentenced to 10 years, and graduated from law school before heading to prison.
Released nearly 8 years later, Scott took a job in Delaware as a case manager on a workforce program for people on public assistance, and worked his way up the career ladder. Now married and with a young daughter, Scott says the constant travel was hard on his family. So he tapped his law degree, passed the bar exam and took a job in a firm, where he is still a partner.
As minority leader, Scott was tasked with retaking the state legislature during the 2023 elections. His stump speeches focused on abortion access and combatting internal threats to democracy.
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As minority leader, Scott was tasked with retaking the state legislature during the 2023 elections. His stump speeches focused on abortion access and combatting internal threats to democracy.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
Headwinds turn to headway in the Virginia Capitol
Scott entered the General Assembly in 2020 and started introducing legislation on criminal justice reform. He introduced nearly a dozen bills to change the commonwealth’s parole, records expungement, and probation policies. But the freshman delegate quickly ran into a roadblock: his own Democratic party, which held the majority in the Virginia Statehouse at the time and killed Scott’s bills, nearly all upon their first committee hearing.
Then, things shifted.
Not long into Scott’s first term, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked protests in state capitals across the country. Suddenly, the issues Scott had tried to tackle were top of mind in Richmond.
Scott revived some of his old bills on earned sentence credits and limited probation, which passed this time.
Going toe-to-toe with Virginia’s conservatives
In legislative sessions, Scott’s confrontational style full of quips and asides on the floor contributed to his quick rise within the Democratic caucus.
Early in 2022, Scott took on Gov. Glenn Youngkin after the Republican set up a “tipline” for Virginians to anonymously report educators for teaching so-called “divisive concepts” like Critical Race Theory.
“What I’ve seen from his day one activities is not someone who is a man of faith, not a Christian, but someone who wants to divide the Commonwealth,” Scott proclaimed to the Virginia House of Delegates, amid boos and jeers from the Republican side of the aisle.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin came to see Scott in his office after the Delegate criticized the Gov.’s policies on critical race theory.
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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin came to see Scott in his office after the Delegate criticized the Gov.’s policies on critical race theory.
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Scott took it in stride. “I know the truth hurts. I don’t want to make you cry, like saying ‘critical race theory,’ because I know it hurts your feelings.”
Scott says soon after that, Youngkin, who often speaks publicly about his faith, asked Scott to the governor’s mansion.
“I said, he ain’t the principal and I ain’t a student,” laughs Scott. “If you want to see me, come over here. And to his credit, he came, he came to see me.”
The exchange raised Scott’s profile again, and less than six months later, he was chosen as house minority leader. After serving just three legislative sessions, Scott was now responsible for taking back the chamber from Republicans in the 2023 election.
Building on Black history at the Virginia Statehouse
Virginia Democrats did win control of the legislature last fall, and chose Scott as their nominee for speaker.
Before he headed to Richmond for the first day of the new legislative session, Scott gathered supporters in his district for a sendoff party.
As Scott spoke to the crowd, he took a moment to appreciate his rise: from the child of a poor single mother, to leader of America’s first statehouse. He expressed gratitude to the Black legislators who served before him.
“We didn’t even see ourselves ever even raising our hand to run for speaker of the house, let alone achieve it,” he recounted them telling him after his nomination.
“So I’m so grateful that I get the opportunity standing on those giants,” Scott told the crowd. “And want y’all to, when you see me in the room, understand I carry all of y’all with me.”
Scott also took a moment to recognize the enslaved Virginians who built the state Capitol.
Don Scott thanks his supporters during a sendoff party in his home district, before heading to Richmond for the opening of the 2024 legislative session.
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Don Scott thanks his supporters during a sendoff party in his home district, before heading to Richmond for the opening of the 2024 legislative session.
Shaban Athuman/VPM
“Every time I walk into that Capitol y’all – and this is true, I promise you – I see ghosts,” he told the crowd.
“I see our ancestors who were in there, who were emptying people’s urine and emptying the spittoons, building the buildings, breaking their backs while people made decisions about whether they were human or not.”
That history continues with Scott’s ascension as the first Black speaker.
Jahd Khalil is a reporter for VPM News
News
Federal immigration agents shoot 2 people in Portland, Oregon, police say
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in a vehicle outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, a day after an officer shot and killed a driver in Minnesota, authorities said.
The Department of Homeland Security described the vehicle’s passenger as “a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring” who had been involved in a recent shooting in Portland. When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants Thursday afternoon, the driver tried to run them over, the department said in a written statement.
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot,” the statement said. “The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene.”
There was no immediate independent corroboration of those events or of any gang affiliation of the vehicle’s occupants. During prior shootings involving agents involved in President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement in U.S. cities, including Wednesday’s shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, video evidence cast doubt on the administration’s initial descriptions of what prompted the shootings.
READ MORE: What we know so far about the ICE shooting in Minneapolis
According to the the Portland Police bureau, officers initially responded to a report of a shooting near a hospital at about 2:18 p.m.
A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Officers then responded there and found the two people with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers determined they were injured in the shooting with federal agents, police said.
Their conditions were not immediately known. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said during a Portland city council meeting that Thursday’s shooting took place in the eastern part of the city and that two Portlanders were wounded.
“As far as we know both of these individuals are still alive and we are hoping for more positive updates throughout the afternoon,” she said.
The shooting escalates tensions in an city that has long had a contentious relationship with President Donald Trump, including Trump’s recent, failed effort to deploy National Guard troops in the city.
Portland police secured both the scene of the shooting and the area where the wounded people were found pending investigation.
“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” said Chief Bob Day. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end all operations in Oregon’s largest city until a full investigation is completed.
“We stand united as elected officials in saying that we cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” a joint statement said. “Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences.”
The city officials said “federal militarization undermines effective, community‑based public safety, and it runs counter to the values that define our region. We’ll use every legal and legislative tool available to protect our residents’ civil and human rights.”
They urged residents to show up with “calm and purpose during this difficult time.”
“We respond with clarity, unity, and a commitment to justice,” the statement said. “We must stand together to protect Portland.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, urged any protesters to remain peaceful.
“Trump wants to generate riots,” he said in a post on the X social media platform. “Don’t take the bait.”
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News
Video: What Trump Told Us About the ICE Shooting
new video loaded: What Trump Told Us About the ICE Shooting
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Alexandra Ostasiewicz, Nikolay Nikolov and Coleman Lowndes
January 8, 2026
News
Community reacts to ICE shooting in Minnesota. And, RFK Jr. unveils new food pyramid
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
Today’s top stories
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman, yesterday. Multiple observers captured the shooting on video, and community members demanded accountability. Minnesota law enforcement officials and the FBI are investigating the fatal shooting, which the Trump administration says was an act of self-defense. Meanwhile, the mayor has accused the officer of reckless use of power and demanded that ICE get out of Minneapolis.
People demonstrate during a vigil at the site where a woman was shot and killed by an immigration officer earlier in the day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 7, 2026. An immigration officer in Minneapolis shot dead a woman on Wednesday, triggering outrage from local leaders even as President Trump claimed the officer acted in self-defense. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey deemed the government’s allegation that the woman was attacking federal agents “bullshit,” and called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting a second day of mass raids to leave Minneapolis.
Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
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Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
- 🎧 Caitlin Callenson recorded the shooting and says officers gave Good multiple conflicting instructions while she was in her vehicle. Callenson says Good was already unresponsive when officers pulled her from the car. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claims the officer was struck by the vehicle and acted in self-defense. In the video NPR reviewed, the officer doesn’t seem to be hit and was seen walking after he fired the shots, NPR’s Meg Anderson tells Up First. Anderson says it has been mostly peaceful in Minneapolis, but there is a lot of anger and tension because protesters want ICE out of the city.
U.S. forces yesterday seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the north Atlantic between Iceland and Britain after a two-week chase. The tanker was originally headed to Venezuela, but it changed course to avoid the U.S. ships. This action comes as the Trump administration begins releasing new information about its plans for Venezuela’s oil industry.
- 🎧 It has been a dramatic week for U.S. operations in Venezuela, NPR’s Greg Myre says, prompting critics to ask if a real plan for the road ahead exists. Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded that the U.S. does have a strategy to stabilize Venezuela, and much of it seems to involve oil. Rubio said the U.S. would take control of up to 50 million barrels of oil from the country. Myre says the Trump administration appears to have a multipronged strategy that involves taking over the country’s oil, selling it on the world market and pressuring U.S. oil companies to enter Venezuela.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released new dietary guidelines for Americans yesterday that focus on promoting whole foods, proteins and healthy fats. The guidance, which he says aims to “revolutionize our food culture,” comes with a new food pyramid, which replaces the current MyPlate symbol.
- 🎧 “I’m very disappointed in the new pyramid,” Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert who was on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, tells NPR’s Allison Aubrey. Gardner says the new food structure, which features red meat and saturated fats at the top, contradicts decades of evidence and research. Poor eating habits and the standard American diet are widely considered to cause chronic disease. Aubrey says the new guidelines alone won’t change people’s eating habits, but they will be highly influential. This guidance will shape the offerings in school meals and on military bases, and determine what’s allowed in federal nutrition programs.
Special series
Trump has tried to bury the truth of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. NPR built a visual archive of the attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of the people who were there. “Chapter 4: The investigation” shows how federal investigators found the rioters and built the largest criminal case in U.S. history.
Political leaders, including Trump, called for rioters to face justice for their actions on Jan. 6. This request came because so few people were arrested during the attack. The extremists who led the riot remained free, and some threatened further violence. The government launched the largest federal investigation in American history, resulting in the arrest of over 1,500 individuals from all 50 states. The most serious cases were made by prosecutors against leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. For their roles in planning the attack against the U.S., some extremists were found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Take a look at the Jan. 6 prosecutions by the numbers, including the highest sentence received.
To learn more, explore NPR’s database of federal criminal cases from Jan. 6. You can also see more of NPR’s reporting on the topic.
Deep dive
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump takes 325 milligrams of daily aspirin, which is four times the recommended 81 milligrams of low-dose aspirin used for cardiovascular disease prevention. The president revealed this detail in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published last week. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that anyone over 60 not start a daily dose of aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease if they don’t already have an underlying problem. The group said it’s reasonable to stop preventive aspirin in people already taking it around age 75 years. Trump is 79. This is what you should know about aspirin and cardiac health:
- 💊 Doctors often prescribe the low dose of aspirin because there’s no benefit to taking a higher dose, according to a large study published in 2021.
- 💊 Some people, including adults who have undergone heart bypass surgery and those who have had a heart attack, should take the advised dose of the drug for their entire life.
- 💊 While safer than other blood thinners, the drug — even at low doses — raises the risk of bleeding in the stomach and brain. But these adverse events are unlikely to cause death.
3 things to know before you go
When an ant pupa has a deadly, incurable infection, it sends out a signal that tells worker ants to unpack it from its cocoon and disinfect it, a process that results in its death.
Christopher D. Pull/ISTA
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Christopher D. Pull/ISTA
- Young, terminally ill ants will send out an altruistic “kill me” signal to worker ants, according to a study in the journal Nature Communications. With this strategy, the sick ants sacrifice themselves for the good of their colony.
- In this week’s Far-Flung Postcards series, you can spot a real, lone California sequoia tree in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in Paris. Napoleon III transformed the park from a former landfill into one of the French capital’s greenest escapes.
- The ACLU and several authors have sued Utah over its “sensitive materials” book law, which has now banned 22 books in K-12 schools. Among the books on the ban list are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. (via KUER)
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
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