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'Food is medicine' takes shape as RFK Jr. praises school menu changes in West Virginia

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'Food is medicine' takes shape as RFK Jr. praises school menu changes in West Virginia

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Friday as the Republican governor signed the first letters of intent seeking waivers to allow the state to eliminate soda from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit eligibility.

Kennedy, who is spearheading the Make America Healthy Again movement, praised Morrisey during a news conference at a school in Martinsburg. The governor introduced his four pillars of a healthy West Virginia.

“Food is medicine,” Kennedy said as Morrisey spoke of the need to ensure “taxpayer-funded nutrition programs promote wholesome, nourishing choices.”

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In attendance was TrueMed co-founder and MAHA advocate Calley Means, who is rallying behind the call to target sodas and ultra-processed foods in schools.

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“President [Donald] Trump is leading the first administration in American history to clearly say that the goal of its Health and Human Services department is to reverse the chronic disease crisis,” Means told Fox News Digital.

“Food is medicine,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a news conference with West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Friday. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Means called Kennedy’s speech an important moment for the MAHA movement.

“An HHS secretary never in history has stood at a podium and said ‘food is medicine’ before Bobby Kennedy [did so] today,” Means said. “This is a profound statement.”

He added, “What Bobby Kennedy is saying is that we need to address the root cause of our chronic disease crisis and focus on food.”

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A Department of Agriculture survey from June 2021 found that 61% of SNAP participants said the most common barrier was the affordability of foods that are part of a healthy diet.

The regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages like soda is linked to an increased risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Obesity and chronic disease can be linked to sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, MAHA leaders claim. (iStock)

Meredith Potter, senior vice president of the American Beverage Association in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital the health of Americans is an “important conversation to have.”

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“The reality here, though, is that soda is not driving obesity in this country,” Potter said.

“Obesity rates have increased,” she added. 

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“At the same time, soda consumption has declined. Beverage calories overall have declined.”

Potter said cutting soda from SNAP eligibility won’t save taxpayers money.

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“You’re not reforming the program. You’re not cutting the program. You’re just telling certain Americans who need help making ends meet at the end of every month what they can and can’t buy,” she said.

TrueMed co-founder Calley Means said Americans should question whether the government should be subsidizing soda companies. (Fox News Digital)

Means said the goal is not to take soda away from anyone.

“What this move from Secretary Kennedy does is say that states can prevent the taxpayer subsidy of soda,” he told Fox News Digital.

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At the news conference on Friday, Gov. Morrisey shared his plans to change school lunches.

“Let’s start with no more dyes and dangerous additives in the schools,” he said. “We know that studies show that can lead to issues with hormones and hyperactivity and learning challenges.”

Morrisey, at left, and Kennedy posed for a photograph on Friday while wearing Make America Healthy Again hats. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Earlier in the week, the governor signed legislation that prohibits certain harmful food dyes in school lunches.

MAHA bills have popped up across the country, with many targeting nutrition in schools.

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In February, the Arizona House of Representatives passed the state’s Healthy Schools Act, which bans ultra-processed foods containing harmful additives from being served in public school meals.

“We have said since 2006 that schools are special places,” Potter also said. 

“When it comes to kids, parents should decide.”

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Peter Burke of Fox News Digital contributed reporting. 

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Southeast

GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’

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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)

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“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)

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“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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Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

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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)

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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.

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“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.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges

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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)

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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.”

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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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