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Virginia First Lady and Attorney General launch fentanyl awareness campaign

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Virginia First Lady and Attorney General launch fentanyl awareness campaign


ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – First lady Suzanne Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares came to Roanoke to launch a new campaign to tackle the fentanyl and opioid crisis. It aims to bring awareness to the dangers of fentanyl.

The campaign is focusing on fentanyl prevention in Roanoke, because Roanoke has the highest concentration of overdose deaths of metropolitan areas in Virginia, according to the first lady.

“Families and communities are being rocked by fentanyl,” first lady Youngkin said.

The Virginia Department of Health reports more than 7,000 people in Virginia have died from a fentanyl overdose since 2020. That accounts for 75% of all overdoses during that time.

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Deaths from fentanyl have increased 12% each year since 2020. In Virginia, among teens and young adults, more people died from fentanyl overdoses than car crashes in 2022.

In the Roanoke and Salem area, about 64 people die every year from an overdose.

Christine Wright is an overdose survivor and now works to help others in active recovery.

“I did not want to raise my hand and say when I grow up, I want to be a drug addict,” Wright said. “However that’s exactly what my reality became.”

Wright sees first hand how deadly fentanyl is, claiming at least 1,500 lives in Virginia every year, and how easy it is for young children to come in contact with it.

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“I think you start age appropriate education and increase that knowledge as they increase in age,” Wright said. “It takes brutal honesty and vulnerability to really speak about the truth of the situation of addiction and fentanyl.”

The campaign, ‘It Only Takes One’, is about educating parents and caregivers on the deadly drug. Attorney General Miyares explained talking with your kids is the best prevention tool.

“Don’t just talk to your child about their school day or their favorite sports team, talk to them about this because it literally could save a life,” Attorney General Miyares said.

The campaign also provides prevention and recovery resources to schools and community partners. First lady Youngkin plans to work with Roanoke leaders once a month for the next six months to stop fentanyl from taking more lives.

“Bring it out in the open, tell people about the dangers and have more people come along with us on this journey of care and compassion so that we can turn those numbers around and make sure that fewer Virginians are dying of fentanyl,” first lady Youngkin said.

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This awareness campaign is the first of its kind in Virginia, and while it’s starting in Roanoke, it’s message is going throughout the entire state.

The Virginia Department of Health is also working with this campaign to make life saving drugs, like naloxone and Narcan, available in the Commonwealth.



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AG Miyares urges Virginia schools to adopt stricter definition of antisemitism

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AG Miyares urges Virginia schools to adopt stricter definition of antisemitism


Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares urged all Virginia public schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism (IHRA definition) into their codes of conduct and anti-discrimination policies.

His office pointed to a 25 percent increase in reported hate crimes statewide in 2024, with crimes involving anti-Jewish bias rising 155 percent – the sharpest increase among all categories tracked by Virginia State Police in their most recent annual crime report.

READ MORE | Shots fired near Compass Creek Parkway in Loudoun County

In the letter addressed to superintendents and school boards sent Monday, Miyares states Jewish students “have been excluded, harassed, threatened, and even assaulted.” Miyares pointed to the U.S. Department of Education using the IHRA definition to enforce Title VI and to the Commonwealth’s 2023 adoption of the non-legally binding definition “as a tool and guide for training, education, recognizing, and combating antisemitic hate crimes or discrimination and for tracking and reporting antisemitic incidents in the Commonwealth.”

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“Thus, the law of the Commonwealth requires use of IHRA to ‘recognize’ the discriminatory motive behind antisemitic conduct and act upon such discrimination findings pursuant to the Virginia Human Rights Act,” Miyares wrote in the letter, adding: “As part of your compliance with Federal and Virginia law, you must implement the [HRA definition and its contemporary examples into your codes of conduct and discrimination policies to assess unprotected activity.”

7News has reached out to Northern Virginia school districts for their response to Miyares’ letter.



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Annandale teen and grandmother killed in Christmas day crash

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Annandale teen and grandmother killed in Christmas day crash


A Fairfax County family is demanding justice, saying the driver who caused a crash that killed a grandmother and a high school student is out free while they’re grieving an unimaginable loss.

The Vu family, from Annandale, was at a holiday dinner on Christmas day, but on their drive home, Virginia State police say another driver rear-ended the Vu family’s van on the Beltway in Fairfax County.

Duy Cao was driving the van — her 75-year-old mother, Su Nguyen, and her 15-year-old daughter, Annie Vu, were killed.

The family said according to Virginia State police, the driver who hit them was going more than 100 miles per hour.

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“I don’t know how to, how to live,” Cao said, sitting alongside her husband An Vu, as the couple
gasped through their grief and recover from their own injuries.

There were six people in their van, and everyone was rushed to the emergency room, including their son, Annie’s brother, 12-year-old Andy.

“When he came out of it, his first question was, you know, ‘Where is Annie?’” said Kathie Vu, Annie’s godmother.

She says Annie’s brother was just released from the hospital four days ago and is struggling to cope with losing his sister and grandmother.

“My mom, the best. My mom, she came here, 11-years-old. She takes care of my children,” Cao said.

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Nguyen was a devout catholic who helped raise the kids while their parents worked. Annie was a bright student at Annandale High School, where the principal says grief counselors have been made available for students.

At the beginning of this school year, Annie introduced herself to her classmates in her AP Seminar class at Annandale High School. Her principal shared with News4 what she wrote about herself. She told her classmates to count on her to always be hard-working, respectful and collaborative. She talked about her family and how her grandmother taught her to speak some Vietnamese. She hoped to major in biology at the University of Virginia saying, “although I don’t know what to do in the healthcare field, I’m sure I want to help others.”

“The other day, I heard my brother-in-law say, ‘There will be no more Christmas now.’ They’re always going to come into this time of year thinking about what happened,” Kathie Vu said.

The Vu family is demanding answers about the man who hit their car. Virginia State Police have not released his name nor any charges. The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney says reckless driving charges were filed, but News4 hasn’t been able to confirm that via court records.

While News4 has not been able to confirm if reckless driving charges have actually been filed against the driver who allegedly caused this deadly crash, the prosecutor’s office says it is waiting for the results of a toxicology test. Once those results are back, it could determine what charges the driver might face.

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The family says that misdemeanor charge isn’t enough, they want him tried for involuntary manslaughter.

“I want everybody to pray for my mother-in-law and for my daughter so they can, you know, in heaven,” An Vu said.



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Former Oklahoma Sooners DB transferring to West Virginia

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Former Oklahoma Sooners DB transferring to West Virginia


The Oklahoma Sooners are fully in the swing of transfer portal season in early January, as they’re making additions to the roster and seeing former players land at their new schools. The portal officially opened on January 2nd, and it will be open until January 16th.

One of the latest players to find his new school is former OU defensive back Maliek Hawkins, who has committed to West Virginia. Hawkins is the son of former Oklahoma defensive back Mike Hawkins Sr., who played for the Sooners in 2002 and then played multiple years in the NFL. He’s the younger brother of former OU quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., who started five games in Norman over the last two seasons. Both Hawkins brothers are now headed to Morgantown, with the older Hawkins hoping to win the starting QB job, and the younger Hawkins hoping to crack the rotation at cornerback.

Hawkins was a member of Oklahoma’s 2025 recruiting class, signing with the Sooners as a three-star recruit. He played in just one game during his true freshman season, and now arrives at WVU as a package deal with his older brother.

Despite the Sooners expecting to return starters Eli Bowen and Courtland Guillory at the CB spots in 2026, the portal exits of Hawkins, Devon Jordan, Gentry Williams, and Kendel Dolby have thinned the depth at that position. With Jacobe Johnson also expected to return, Oklahoma will be looking to add a key rotational cornerback or two in the transfer portal ahead of next year.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.





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