Virginia
More than 100 Virginia Democrats attend DNC in Chicago. What they do and don't want to see.
![More than 100 Virginia Democrats attend DNC in Chicago. What they do and don't want to see. More than 100 Virginia Democrats attend DNC in Chicago. What they do and don't want to see.](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5bcee9d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x672+0+24/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx-default-stgec.uplynk.com%2Fause%2Fslices%2F409%2Fab537de11df9456cb23cbc1d7e732de9%2F4090c7330c8a4c35921ef1f4b2654d7c%2Fposter_908563af72c849ab897be123a1c2bc1b.jpg)
RICHMOND, Va. — More than 100 Virginia Democratic politicians, activists, and voters descended upon Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention.
The Virginia delegation wants to see Democrats come together at the convention as they formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presidential nominee, Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Susan Swecker told CBS 6.
While most Virginia voters have selected the Democratic presidential nominee in the last few elections, voters elected a Republican ticket for the top statewide offices in the 2021 election.
“I believe that there is a lot of buyer’s remorse for what [voters] did in 2021,” Swecker said. “Voters are seeing it, and we’re going to make sure they know what is at stake in this election.”
Protests over the war in Gaza are taking place in Chicago and have drawn comparisons to protests over the Vietnam War at the 1968 Democratic Convention, also held in Chicago.
“Democrats want to come out of this convention A, united, and B, really supportive of Kamala Harris,” CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said. “What they don’t want to happen here, and this is the one fear they have, they don’t want to have this convention in some ways defined by the demonstrations outside the convention.”
Gaza gets little attention inside DNC hall — except from Biden
“America, I gave my best to you”: President Biden concludes his speech at the DNC
Thousands of marchers churned through Chicago’s streets protesting U.S. support for Israel during the war in Gaza. But inside the convention hall, the combustible issue went largely unmentioned until President Joe Biden got to the microphone.
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez got cheers when she praised Harris for working “tirelessly to get a cease-fire in Gaza and get the hostages home.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia made a brief allusion to the conflict.
A handful of delegates who ran on an “uncommitted” ticket protesting Biden’s position on the war unfurled a banner during his speech that read “Stop Arming Israel.” But it was blocked by supporters waving Biden signs before it was wrestled away and the lights over that section of the audience were shut off.
Biden himself addressed the issue head-on, saying he’d keep working to “end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East.”
“Those protesters out in the streets have a point,” Biden said. “A lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides.”
The crowd cheered, and for a moment the war didn’t seem like it was dividing the party at all.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Every day CBS 6 is giving a voice to the stories happening in your community. If you have a story idea, email our team at NewsTips@wtvr.com or click here to submit a tip.
EAT IT, VIRGINIA restaurant news and interviews
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Virginia
Houston man named to ‘40 Under 40′ arrested in Virginia over violent threats against Texas governor, local attorneys
![Houston man named to ‘40 Under 40′ arrested in Virginia over violent threats against Texas governor, local attorneys Houston man named to ‘40 Under 40′ arrested in Virginia over violent threats against Texas governor, local attorneys](https://res.cloudinary.com/graham-media-group/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/c_thumb,w_700/v1/media/gmg/QNABD54XUJHJ7KIWV5LEIOZQQI.png?_a=DATAfRfiZAA0)
HOUSTON – Federal agents arrested a Houston man in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday after he’s accused of making violent threats for weeks against a state governor, deputy U.S. Marshal, Houston attorneys and their family members, according to a newly unsealed federal criminal complaint.
According to emails obtained by KPRC 2, the threats were targeted at Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Henry Kopia Keculah Jr., who once appeared to be a rising star in Houston’s education world, now faces three federal counts including influencing a federal official by threat, cyberstalking, and interstate threats.
“When my people get her in possession, we gonna chop her hands off, and she’s gonna be an amputee the rest of her life,” Keculah said in a now-deleted video posted on YouTube and shared with KPRC 2. “Don’t never steal from me again. Now one of your kids might not have no hands.”
In the video, he named the daughter of Greg and Angela Marcum.
“It’s hard to describe how you feel because you just kind of go numb,” Angela Marcum said. “It does scare you, you know, makes you want to fly up and you know, sit in front of her front door and walk her to her office every day.”
The Marcums have been on the receiving end of the threats for about three weeks, they said, after Houston attorney Greg Marcum successfully defended a Houston contractor in a lawsuit filed by Keculah.
The lawsuit dealt with Keculah’s denied insurance claim for water damage at his Houston home, which Greg Marcum said he was found to have caused. Keculah has now been ordered to pay more than $200,000, Greg Marcum said, mostly for attorneys’ fees, some in contract damages, and others in sanctions.
“He sent emails to me over and over again saying, ‘I’m never going to pay’,” Greg Marcum said.
The emails escalated and soon targeted more than just their family.
According to the criminal complaint, another Houston attorney connected to the same lawsuit told authorities she received threats by both email and a phone call to her law office.
In a recorded call to the law office, Keculah identified himself and told a woman on the other end the attorney needed security because “people are gonna start dying” and that there will be body bags, records state.
During the court proceedings for the lawsuit, a federal judge issued a bench warrant for Keculah and a deputy U.S. Marshal went to Keculah’s home in an attempt to serve the warrant, according to records. They saw Keculah fleeing the home. They left a notice that they attempted to serve the warrant and left. They returned a few days later to try and serve the warrant again, but Keculah was not at home.
Following this, Keculah allegedly sent an email to about 25 people, including the attorney and the deputy marshal, threatening to kill them.
In one email to the federal law enforcement agent, Keculah allegedly threatened to “light your a** up like a Christmas tree!”
In response to Governor Greg Abbott’s post on X about sending resources to California to help fight wildfires on July 28, Keculah allegedly responded “You and I in the same room, that is what you call a successful assassination attempt. (Emoji) I don’t need three attempts, I just need one! Up your security!”
The account “@Henrykeculahjr” was suspended for several days and the governor’s security detail was alerted, according to the complaint.
“By Friday, if you all don’t intervene, I will take whatever necessary actions to protect myself,” Keculah wrote in an email obtained by KPRC 2. “That even includes killing Governor Greg Abbott, because I am under duress. You can check every award I have won.”
That’s where Keculah included a link to the Houston Business Journal, which named him a “40 Under 40″ honoree in 2019. The headline described him as a former teacher who dedicated his life to helping underserved students.
A quick Internet search reveals Keculah has been a speaker at SXSW, is President of the Liberian Association of Greater Houston, and he founded a company called 4.0 GPA, which he claims “has worked with some of the biggest school districts in the United States.”
FBI Special Agents used phone data to track his cell phone to Virginia, and in calls with him, he allegedly admitted to making the threats.
Records show he was arrested in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday, the day after the warrant was signed and about three weeks after the threatening contact began for the Marcums.
They are relieved he’s in custody but uneasy that Keculah was so close to their daughter, who had been a target of the threats, all while they thought he was still in Texas. It’s not clear why he was in that region.
“You never know what’s going to turn them into leaving their computer behind and actually, you know, going out and literally hurting someone,” Angela Marcum said.
Keculah had been wanted in Harris County since July 28 for similar allegations, state court records show, but prosecutors filed to dismiss the cases on Aug. 8 citing insufficient evidence.
“Hopefully justice will be served,” Greg Marcum said.
Keculah has a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Virginia.
“I don’t want him to let him bond out that close to my child that he’s threatened their life,” Angela Marcum said.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
Virginia
UVA Cancer Center First in Virginia To Offer New Lung Cancer Treatment
![UVA Cancer Center First in Virginia To Offer New Lung Cancer Treatment UVA Cancer Center First in Virginia To Offer New Lung Cancer Treatment](https://news.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/Header_NA_LungTreatment_JD.jpg)
“This treatment requires intensive monitoring and careful coordination among a large team of care providers,” Dr. Ryan Gentzler, a UVA Health lung cancer specialist, said. “We were able to treat our first patient so quickly after FDA approval thanks to successful collaboration and interdisciplinary efforts among our nurses, pharmacists, information technology team members and social workers.”
Doctors credit the UVA Cancer Center’s nurse navigator program, which simplifies and streamlines the approval process by guiding patients through the steps required to receive tarlatamab. Nurse navigators schedule appointments and manage referrals from doctors across Virginia and beyond, as well as handle other logistics.
“Our nurse navigators are just one example of how our team comes together to bring the latest advances in cancer care to our patients,” Dr. Richard Hall, a UVA Health lung cancer specialist, said. “Our thoracic oncology team is on the cutting edge of cancer treatments, and our experienced team has the expertise required to be among the first in the nation to offer groundbreaking new therapies like tarlatamab to our patients.”
UVA Cancer Center is one of 56 U.S. cancer centers to receive a “comprehensive” designation from the National Cancer Institute. The recognition honors elite cancer centers with the most outstanding cancer care and research programs in the country.
Patients looking to learn more about receiving tarlatamab at UVA Cancer Center can call 434-924-9333.
Virginia
Suspect in fatal shooting of Virginia deputy dies at hospital, prosecutor says
The man charged in the fatal shooting of a southwest Virginia sheriff’s deputy and the wounding of another deputy earlier this month has died in a Tennessee hospital, a local prosecutor said.
Timothy Wayne Goodman, 65, of North Carolina, died early Friday at Johnson City Medical Center, according to a news release from Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Blevins.
PREVIOUS: Gaston County man accused of shooting, killing Virginia deputy, hurting another
Channel 9 confirmed Goodman was from Cherryville in Gaston County.
Goodman had been charged with aggravated murder in the Aug. 9 death of Smyth County Deputy Hunter Reedy and with four counts of attempted murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, Blevins said earlier. The other Smyth County deputy wounded was released a day after the shootings and is recovering at home, news outlets reported.
Goodman was hospitalized after also being shot in an exchange with officers, according to police.
Goodman’s death “concludes a significant chapter in this matter, but our commitment to supporting Deputy Reedy’s family, the other officers involved, and the entire law enforcement community is as strong as ever,” Blevins said in the release.
According to authorities, the shootings happened during a traffic stop that Reedy participated in along with police officers from Marion. An investigation found Goodman was involved in a confrontation with Marion officers and the deputies before the shooting, according to Virginia State Police.
Reedy’s funeral was held Saturday at a church in Chilhowie, with Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares among the speakers. Reedy. 28, went to high school in Chilhowie and was a police officer there before joining the sheriff’s department. He was married with three children.
(WATCH BELOW: Gaston County man accused of shooting, killing Virginia deputy, hurting another)
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