Virginia
Move over Napa Valley, Northern Virginia is now wine country – WTOP News
Northern Virginia was named America’s next great wine region in The Wall Street Journal. So what makes up the success of the area’s wineries?
WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander spoke with wine expert and columnist Dave McIntyre about how Northern Virginia is becoming the country’s next big wine region.
If world-renowned winemaker Robert Mondavi was right when he said that “making good wine is a skill; making fine wine is an art,” then there must be a lot of artists in Virginia.
Northern Virginia was named America’s next great wine region by The Wall Street Journal’s wine columnist Lettie Teague.
“What’s special is that it’s here,” said wine expert Dave McIntyre. “We don’t say ‘I’m going to wine country’ and get on a plane and fly to San Francisco like we did 20 or 30 years ago when I got started into wine.”
The wine columnist for The Washington Post told WTOP that a trip to wine country used to mean heading out to Sonoma or Napa in California.
“Now it means Loudoun, Charlottesville or Front Royal,” said McIntyre. “It’s really a great experience to be able to take a day and go visit two or three wineries. You might meet the actual winemaker, you’ll learn something, taste something that you’ve never tried before and you’ll probably have a great time.”
The reason Virginia wines are getting better, according to McIntyre, comes from the fact the winemakers now have more experience.
“They’re finding a site to grow wine, rather than having land and (saying) ‘What should we do with it? Let’s grow grapes,’” explained McIntyre. “So they’re growing them in better places.”
McIntyre also believes the area’s winemakers now have a better idea of which grapes perform better and ripen better in Virginia’s climate.
Two other factors that add to why area wine is getting better, McIntyre said, is the support it’s received from the state of Virginia and marketing.
“It’s gotten notoriety around in food magazines and wine magazines. Some very influential writers from London have come and visited Virginia and written about the wines,” said McIntyre. “I think all of that has helped.”
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The leader of the El Salvadorian MS-13 gang was arrested by federal law enforcement officers on Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
“Just captured a major leader of MS13,” Trump wrote.
The 24-year-old suspect, Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos, was arrested in Woodbridge, Virginia, just south of Washington DC, local news reported. Officials have confirmed that he is one of the top three leaders of the gang within the United States.
The operation was a joint effort by the FBI, ATF, ICE, Virginia State Police, and the Prince William County Police Department, according to US Attorney-General Pam Bondi. Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were present for the raid.
Santos was the leader of the gang for the US East Coast, Bondi announced.
“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer,” Bondi said in a press conference.
Santos, originally from El Salvador, was taken into custody Thursday on what CNN described as an “outstanding administrative immigration warrant.”
During the raid, federal agents found numerous firearms within the place where Santos was residing. He was charged with illegal possession of a firearm.
“It’s time for us to recognize that Virginia is not a sanctuary state,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
Youngkin had recently threatened to withhold state funding for local government if they did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Recruited in middle school?
During an interview on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News, Bondi explained who Santos is and how he became the leader of MS-13 on the East Coast.
“We believe he was recruited in middle school – in middle school!” she said.
“He’s been living here illegally with friends and family, and the Biden administration did absolutely nothing to deport these people. You know, as the president says, we didn’t need new laws, we needed a new president to fix this.”
A task force that consisted of the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, US Marshals, and others worked together with ICE to collect and share data to catch Santos, Bondi explained to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“He was one of the top leaders, and he was living half an hour from where we’re sitting right now, living among us,” Bondi said. “We took one of the worst of the worst off the streets today. Americans are safer because of Donald Trump.”
Bondi said that the Justice Department will try to deport Santos to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.
“Let’s send him home. That’s where he belongs,” she said. “You know, he belongs back in that El Salvador prison, and that’s where he should go, but we’re going to – you’re going to see a lot more charges on him.”
What is MS-13?
Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is an internationally recognized criminal gang and terrorist organization that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s by El Salvadorian immigrants that came to the US to escape the civil war at the time.
Some of the original members of the group were trained in guerilla warfare and the use of military weapons, the Office of Justice Programs explained.
MS-13 is also known for the use of fear and intimidation to extort payments from legitimate or illegitimate business owners to conduct their businesses in MS-13 territory.
They are also notorious for rapes and witness intimidations.
Virginia
GPS technology legend and Virginia native Gladys West reflects on her career and contributions
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. – The identity of the top MS-13 gang leader who was arrested on Thursday morning in Dale City has been released.
MS-13 gang leader arrested
What we know:
The 24-year-old suspect has been identified as Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos. The suspect was illegally in possession of guns, silencers, and additional items at the time of his arrest.
READ MORE: What is MS-13? Here’s what we know
According to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, the arrest took place in Dale City on Thursday morning.
The suspect was charged with being an undocumented immigrant in possession of a firearm.
AG Bondi shared officials have been working on this operation for days and weeks. The suspect apprehended was the top leader of MS-13 for the U.S. East Coast.
“He is an illegal alien from El Salvador, and he will not be living in our country much longer.”
President Trump’s response
What they’re saying:
“Great job by Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Tom HOMAN, and Kristi N, on the capture of MS13 leader – A big deal!” President Donald Trump wrote on social media.
The Trump administration has deported several top members of MS-13 to El Salvador for incarceration.
The Source: Information from FOX News and The Associated Press was used to write this report.
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