Southeast
Biden's energy policy ripped by Republican governors: 'Done nothing but attack American energy'
CHALMETTE, LA – Republican governors charge that President Biden has “done nothing but attack American energy” and are urging the president to end what they call his “regulatory war” in a bid to lower fuel and food prices for people across the nation.
Seven Republican governors, standing in front of a large oil refinery along the Mississippi River a few miles east of New Orleans, Louisiana, also highlighted “a comprehensive list of immediate steps that should be taken to unleash… American energy independence.”
“From day one, President Biden has done nothing but attack American energy,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry claimed. “He paused new oil and gas leases. He canceled the Keystone pipeline. He prioritized foreign energy over domestic energy, which means he prioritized foreign jobs over domestic jobs. The Department of Energy and the EPA are releasing rules and regulations at a neck-breaking speed.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt spotlighted a joint-letter signed by 20 GOP governors that lists what they spotlight as “commonsense steps” the Biden administration could take to lower regulations and “adopt an all-of-the-above homegrown energy plan.”
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Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, speaking at the podium, is joined by, from left, Govs. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Glenn Younkgin of Virginia and Doug Burgum of North Dakota, at a news conference to criticize President Biden’s energy policy, on June 3, 2024, at an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Stitt said that includes “ending regulatory overreach that is restricting domestic energy production and driving up costs, increasing the number and quality onshore and offshore lease sales of all forms of energy production, expediting the approval of federal drilling permits.”
He also called for “expanding critical mineral mining and processing to counter China.”
REPUBLICANS CLAIM AMERICA’S ENERGY FUTURE UNDER THREAT FROM BIDEN
The news conference was led by Landry and Stitt and included Govs. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, and Doug Burgum of North Dakota, who’s considered to be on former President Trump’s short list for 2024 running mates.
While the nation has been producing more oil than any country in history for six straight years – according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration – the governors said oil output should be increased.
“We’re producing about 13 million barrels of oil a day. We should be doing 15, 16, 18, 20 million barrels of oil a day,” Burgum emphasized. “That would be not just energy independence, that would be energy dominance. We’d be selling that to our allies instead of our allies having to buy from our enemies.”
Asked about climate change, the governors responded that the U.S. produces fuels more cleanly than other countries, and they argued that red states were taking the lead in green energy, including wind power production.
“We’re not about despoiling the environment,” Dunleavy said. “If you don’t do it in America and you do it overseas, there’s no EPA overseas, there’s no Army Corps overseas.”
The governors also argued that energy is also a matter of national security.
“If the Biden administration continues this drive to repress our domestic industry and strengthen our demand for Chinese industry, we are causing a further national security crisis than the one we’re already in,” Youngkin claimed.
The Democratic National Committee, responding to the criticism from the Republican governors, emphasized that “President Biden has put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work in the energy sector with new, good-paying jobs fueling the 21st century economy.”
And DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd charged that “while President Biden is walking and chewing gum – fighting for American workers while lowering energy costs – Donald Trump is trying to sell out America’s energy policy to the highest bidder. Trump would threaten President Biden’s made-in-America energy boom and roll back tax relief that lowers energy costs for working families – all so Trump can trade favors for campaign cash with his Big Oil and Gas backers. Trump’s pay-for-play energy agenda would put special interests donors over hardworking families and American energy production.”
President Biden speaks about gas prices in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
But Landry, speaking with Fox News Digital, argued that “another four years of Joe Biden, I don’t think the American people could tolerate it…. we know that what we’ll get under President Trump is what we had before, which is lower energy prices, more economic activity, and a better quality of life for all Americans.”
Kemp and Sununu, who’ve had sharp differences with the former president in recent years, said in exclusive interviews with Fox News that a second Trump administration would be an improvement over four more years of Biden in the White House.
Asked if a second Trump administration would be friendly to the energy sector, Kemp pointed to the former president’s efforts to reduce government regulations during his four years in the White House, and said, “I think it would be a big difference.”
Sununu agreed, saying “ask every single American paying more at the pump, paying more for food because it costs more to grow crops, more to transport every product in America. It costs more to make every product in America.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
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Southeast
GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.
“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.
The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted.
“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.
The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.
“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.
Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021.
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She is one of the candidates currently running in the South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary.
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Southeast
Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay
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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.
The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.
Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signs executive orders. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.
Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.
Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original.
“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.
Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.
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“It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.
Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.
In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”
“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.
“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”
“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.
The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.
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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.
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Southeast
Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges
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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)
Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day.
He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later.
Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing.
A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding.
In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported.
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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia. (Fairfax County Police Department)
Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”
“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said.
“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”
Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia. (Provided)
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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person.
“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states.
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