Virginia Democrats in the state’s House of Delegates introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would establish a task force to investigate the Virginia Military Institute and determine if the historic military college should continue to receive funding. 

The move is the latest of Virginia Democrats’ efforts to reinvigorate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy in the state after much of the DEI mandates and policies were revoked after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024.

“This takes away from VMI, takes away from its mission,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told Fox News Digital. “I think that it’s harmful to the Commonwealth of Virginia, harmful to VMI as an institution, harmful to all the incredible military leaders and community leaders that have come out of VMI.”

“It’s just reprehensible that they would even go down this road,” Wittman added. “But, it seems to be what’s happening in Richmond.”

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Wittman, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, represents the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and parts of the Peninsula of Virginia. He attended Virginia Tech University and was a member of the Corps of Cadets, which he says had a friendly rivalry with VMI. 

VMI was founded in 1839, making it the oldest public senior military college in the country. VMI has had several notable graduates, including sitting Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and Gen. John “Dan” Caine, Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Wittman was not the only member of Congress who voiced concerns about the potential Democratic-driven demise of the nation’s first state-funded military college.

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Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and pointed to newly elected Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger as the culprit of the threat to VMI.

“Less than a month in office as governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger has shown a commitment to turning the commonwealth into California,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “The left’s renewed focus on VMI is not intended to benefit our military.

“Instead, it’s yet another avenue to tear down an institution that has developed exceptional leaders and statesmen who have made significant contributions to our nation, such as George C. Marshall, Mike Waltz, and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, whom I had the privilege of serving with in the Air Force,” Fallon added.

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In 2021, then-Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered a state-sanctioned investigation into VMI’s DEI structure. An investigation which specifically looked for racism and sexism. The audit came in President Joe Biden’s first full year in the White House, when DEI policies were running rampant at universities and corporations across the country. 

One of Spanberger’s first acts since being elected was appointing Northam to VMI’s Board of Visitors.

“To appoint disgraced former Governor Ralph Northam, a man of poor moral character, to the Board of Visitors at VMI is an insult to our nation’s oldest state-supported military school and the leaders it produces,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “He has no business overseeing VMI, and leftists like Spanberger can’t help themselves from advancing their radical, far-left agenda.”

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Spanberger has received sharp criticism for many of the liberal policies she has implemented in her short time in office, including an executive saying local and state law enforcement are no longer required to cooperate with ICE, a reversal from a previous order issued by former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“Screw any and all of you who lied to low-information voters and sold Abigail Spanberger as some kind of moderate,” Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, posted to social media. “She’s been in office like 6 hours and is already trying to turn Virginia into Minneapolis.”

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Should the legislation introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates make it to Spanberger’s desk, it is possible that the military institution will not survive if state funding is revoked. 

“There is no logic, there is no logical reason why you would do this,” Wittman told Fox. “If you have issues with VMI, many of those have played out in years past, the institution has done everything that the General Assembly has asked for them to do.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

Two decades after Jennifer Kesse mysteriously disappeared, her parents say they continue to search for their daughter every day as emerging technology gives them a sense of optimism.

Jennifer Kesse was 24 years old when she vanished Jan. 24, 2006, after failing to show up for work in Orlando, Florida.

In an interview with Fox News affiliate WTVT, marking 20 years since her disappearance, her parents, Drew and Joyce Kesse, described how the passage of time has not brought closure.

“We look for Jennifer pretty much every day,” they said. “It seems like an eternity. It seems that we’re still living in a surreal state.”

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Jennifer’s car was later found about a mile from her home. Surveillance video showed a person of interest parking her car and walking away, but the individual’s face was not visible.

Drew previously shared with Fox News Digital that after Jennifer’s employer called to report that she failed to show, he immediately tried to reach his daughter, relying on a family rule that they would always answer each other’s calls. But her phone went straight to voicemail. 

“I knew something was wrong immediately,” Kesse said. 

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Drew and Joyce made the two-hour drive from their home in Tampa to Orlando, where they found their daughter’s apartment empty with several outfit choices laid out on her bed. 

The parents immediately called the Orlando Police Department (OPD) to report Jennifer missing. 

“They looked around her apartment, shrugged their shoulders and said, ‘She had a fight with her boyfriend probably. She’ll be back,’” Kesse said. “They walked out. And that was Jennifer’s last chance.”

The Kesses later sued OPD to gain access to Jennifer’s case file, which spans more than 16,000 pages.

“It exhausts you. It drains you physically, mentally and emotionally, and it will in time take a toll on your actual physical health,” they told FOX 13.

With the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) now overseeing the case, the Kesses said they are pursuing new investigative approaches, including working with an artificial intelligence firm to analyze the case file and surveillance video.

One focus has been on identifying the person of interest through physical characteristics visible in the video.

“An ear is just like an eye or a fingerprint. It’s very unique to a person,” Drew said. “When we find the ear, then we’ve found the person.”

The Kesses also said new DNA samples were tested last year and that investigators are closer than ever to identifying several people they would like to speak with.

As they continue to wait for answers, Jennifer’s parents said they still believe she was taken shortly after disappearing.

“I personally still think that Jennifer was taken and taken out of the area — state and maybe country — very quickly,” her father said, adding he believes she may have been targeted because she was alone.

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Now nearing 70, Jennifer’s parents said their determination has not faded since the search began two decades ago.

“Till we die,” Joyce said. “Whatever it takes. There’s no quit in us.”

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Anyone with information about Jennifer’s disappearance is encouraged to contact FDLE’s Orlando office at 407-245-0888 or OROCColdCaseTips@fdle.state.fl.us.

The OPD and the FDLE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.

A chaotic scene unfolded in Kentucky during a middle school basketball game on Thursday night, as a fight led to someone getting tased.

Emmalena and Carr Creek elementary schools were competing in the A-Team Championships at Knott County Central High School, and things got ugly when two players tackled each other onto the court.

That prompted coaches and players to try to break up the fight, but chaos grew when parents came down from the stands to try to end the fracas.

That only made matters worse, resulting in one adult on the floor getting tased.

The announcers on the call gave A-plus commentary.

“Look here, this ball game’s gotta get over,” one announcer said.

Then, when the moment happened, the announcer called it as if it were a normal occurrence.

“They just tased Ryan,” the announcer said.

Perhaps middle school basketball just means more in Kentucky.

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The announcer’s call got some love. A Barstool Sports personality likened it to Al Michaels call of the “Miracle on Ice.”

“He said ‘they just tased Ryan’ like Ryan has been tased before,” another X user wrote.

Somehow, no arrests were reported. The game was called due to the brawl, with Carr Creek leading 48-30, but no winner was declared.

That wasn’t the only basketball brawl in Kentucky this week, as a high school game had fisticuffs and benches clearing.

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