Virginia
Valente, Gdovic drive to Modified victories at Langley Speedway; Music heads Virginia Racers field
The Ryley Music Show continued on a busy Saturday night of racing at Langley Speedway in Hampton, though DJ Valente and Rick Gdovic scored 30-lap Modified victories.
Music, one of the area’s best young drivers, made it look as easy as 1-2-3 on Mosquito Joe’s Night. He finished second and third in the Modified twin events and won the night’s longest race, a Virginia Racers 50-lapper.
Valente gained his second triumph of the young season, holding off Music by 0.343 of a second in a race with eight drivers. Gdovic, who placed sixth in the opener, bounced back in the nightcap as Peyton Ferree was the runner-up.
Virginia Racers: After almost 23 1/2 minutes, Music fended off Donovan Edwards by 1.057 seconds to emerge atop the field of 16 and score his second victory this season in the division.
Grand Stock: Longtime Langley competitor Paul Lubno made it 2 for 2 this year in getting to Victory Lane, beating Tim Wilson by 496-thousandths of a second over almost 27 minutes. Eight drivers started the 40 laps.
UCAR: Christian Keller remained in charge of the division, beating nine foes and winning his third race in as many tries. It came by a whopping 8.700 seconds over Thomas Fontaine in a 25-lap event that took Keller just less than eight minutes.
Enduro: Ryan Vinson led the field of 18 in a 30-lap race that took less than 10 1/2 minutes. He held off Zachary Herdlein by 1.096 seconds for his first victory of the year. Alex Floroff, who won the division’s first two races, was third, 1.435 seconds off the pace.
Legends: Tommy Jackson motored to his second victory in two tries, easing past Cody Carlton by 3.262 seconds in a 25-lap race that took more than 12 minutes and began with 11 drivers.
Bandolero: Bryson Nichols earned his second victory in two starts this year, overcoming Nevaeh Edwards by 253-thousandths of a second as they took just more than 8 1/2 minutes to complete 15 laps.
Saturday night’s results in Hampton (car numbers).
Modified 30 #1: (8 starters); 1. (18) DJ Valente; 2. (47) Ryley Music; 3. (3) Brad Adams; 4. (23) Peyton Ferree; 5. (11) Chris Roberts.
Modified 30 #2: (8 starters); 1. (64) Rick Gdovic; 2. (23) Peyton Ferree; 3. (47) Ryley Music; 4. (18) DJ Valente; 5. (3) Brad Adams.
Virginia Racers 50: (16 starters); 1. (47) Ryley Music; 2. (26) Donovan Edwards; 3. (9) Ayden Millette; 4. (45) Doug Warren; 5. (78) Atley Wiese.
Grand Stock 40: (8 starters); 1. (14) Paul Lubno; 2. (17) Tim Wilson; 3. (22) Bill Eaker; 4. (47) Nate Lundin; 5. (22) Mike Parker.
UCAR 25: (10 starters); 1. (6) Christian Keller; 2. (64) Thomas Fontaine; 3. (3c) Mikey Chinn; 4. (3) Michael Walters; 5. (7) Dwight Nikles.
Enduro 30: (18 starters); 1. (25) Ryan Vinson; 2. (32) Zachary Herdlein; 3. (17) Alex Floroff; 4. (11) Phil Nelson; 5. (12) Charles Jarvis.
Legends 25: (11 starters); 1. (87) Tommy Jackson; 2. (11) Cody Carlton; 3. (5b) Charlie Beals; 4. (7) Spencer Saunders; 5. (16) Ryan Mycka.
Bandolero 15: (12 starters); 1. (80) Bryson Nichols; 2. (02) Nevaeh Edwards; 3. (11) Addison Schumann; 4. (18) Tristan Burnelli; 5. (1) Tuggie Case.
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(WSET) — More than a million Virginians are expected to hit the road for Memorial Day weekend — despite rising gas prices.
Right now, the state average is around $4.30 a gallon. That’s 50 percent higher than it was three months ago, before the war in Iran.
Right now, it will cost you $4.29 a gallon to fill up at the 76 on Langhorne Road. And prices could keep climbing, potentially making this the most expensive summer at the pump in years.
GasBuddy says the national average could hit $4.48 a gallon by Memorial Day, a big jump from $3.14 this time last year.
Prices may keep rising, averaging around $4.80 a gallon throughout the summer.
SEE ALSO: Veto halts bipartisan push to lower medication prices in Virginia
Despite this, experts say many Virginians are still willing to hit the road for the holiday weekend. They are just finding alternative ways to save.
Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said, “If you’re driving long distances, going 65 miles an hour instead of 75 can boost your fuel efficiency 10 to 25%. The equivalent of getting two gallons for free when you fill up.”
Unfortunately, there is no guarantee when these prices will drop. That is why experts say you should plan ahead and shop around. You can also save by filling up earlier in the week.
Instead of being supportive of the child’s educational endeavors or simply not responding, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx chose this moment to respond with vitriol.
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Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, taught a child a very important lesson. You’re never too young to learn that politicians will fail you.
Foxx made headlines in May when she responded to a 10-year-old Greensboro student named Christian Mango, who wrote to the congresswoman proposing a $5,000 tax credit for people buying electric vehicles. Christian sent the letter as part of a school project where the kids were challenged to write persuasive essays on topics of their choosing.
Instead of being supportive of the child’s educational endeavors or simply not responding, Foxx chose this moment to respond with vitriol, according to a letter dated May 1 that Christian’s mother, Emily, shared on social media.
“Please ask your teacher to explain propaganda to you,” Foxx wrote. “While I will never be able to know, my guess is that your teachers will not give you a good educational experience and help you learn to think, as they are too interested in indoctrinating you. How sad.”
This would be a wild response to receive as any constituent – let alone one who’s still in elementary school. Foxx – a former educator and the former chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce – should know that the best answer to someone you disagree with is no response. Especially if the person you disagree with is a 10-year-old.
But beyond the embarrassing decision to respond in such a hateful way, there’s irony in Foxx’s response. She is clearly unable to see that the real “propaganda” in this country is coming from the mouth of President Donald Trump and members of the Republican Party. If there is anybody who knows what propaganda looks like, it’s the Republicans.
What is propaganda anyway? Here’s what Republicans have been up to.
In the interest of educating all of us, I decided to look up the term “propaganda” in the dictionary. According to Merriam-Webster, “propaganda” is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.”
What does that look like? Well, it looks like everything we’ve seen out of President Donald Trump’s Republican Party for the last decade.
“Propaganda” is Trump’s insistence that he is always right. It’s him putting his name and face on everything. It’s him lying about an election being stolen for years. It’s harming media institutions that call lies into question, calling them the “enemy of the American people.”
It is disparaging immigrants as the source of the country’s problems. It’s using extremist rhetoric in White House communications. It’s posting an AI image depicting yourself as Jesus.
It’s lying to Americans about an economy that is clearly flatlining, that you claim is the best it’s ever been. It’s making promises you can’t deliver on. It’s claiming that tariffs will save the country while costs are simultaneously pushed onto consumers. It’s claiming huge trade deals with China without elaborating on the details. It’s saying gas prices are down when they’re not. This is all propaganda, and it’s affecting the day-to-day lives of Americans who take him at his word.
The GOP has mastered propaganda. They have convinced their supporters that they are the sole saviors of the nation, that they are the only ones who can make America great again, while they’re aggressively making it worse. Meanwhile, educators in this country have to deal with attacks on their profession while making a dismal salary and teaching children that their voices can make a difference.
North Carolina deserves better than Virginia Foxx
Christian’s mother was rightfully angry about the letter in her Instagram post.
“This is a totally inappropriate response to one of her youngest constituents,” Mango wrote. “Clearly she is out of touch. I’m embarrassed that she represents NC.”
Unfortunately, the congresswoman has a history of embarrassing remarks and controversies. She once said that Matthew Shepard’s death was a “hoax,” for which she later apologized. She used a racial epithet on the House floor in 2009. In the aftermath of the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021, Foxx was fined $5,000 for failing to go through metal detectors to get to the House floor. She’s been a loose cannon, and this incident is not out of character.
I’ve long wondered what it would take for Foxx to lose re-election in North Carolina’s fifth district. It seems that, like Trump, no reprehensible comment or behavior is enough to warrant her ouster from Congress. But the people here deserve better than a politician who talks down to anyone she disagrees with. Lord knows they deserve better than someone who chooses to have beef with a fourth grader instead of doing literally anything else that would improve the quality of life in the state.
I hope this incident peels back the curtain and shows Foxx’s constituents who she really is. I just doubt it’ll make much of a difference.
In the meantime, I’m sure Christian and his mother will find comfort in the fact that Republicans are making sure kids everywhere learn exactly what propaganda is.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social
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