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Rep. Virginia Foxx said in a heated exchange with Acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr. this morning that she thinks the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is out of line. Foxx, the leading candidate to become the next chair of the House education committee, said that “for too long, the OCR has gone around Congress,” and she isn’t sure about the “legitimacy and… Read more »

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and other Republican members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation said Tuesday that they would try to stop President Barack Obama’s effort to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Advocates of closing Guantanamo say that the prison has long served as a recruiting tool for militant groups and that holding extremists suspected of violent… Read more »

Omega Construction of Pilot Mountain recently welcomed U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC 5th, along with 15 students from the Appalachian State Sustainable Technology and Built Environment department to one of its job sites. The purpose of the visit was to give Appalachian students who are interested in pursuing a career in construction the chance to tour an active job site so they could… Read more »

Representing the Watauga Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and Western Youth Network, Hollie Storie, Gretchen Summerville and Tommy Boyd were among 2,700-plus substance abuse prevention specialists and advocates from across the country in the Washington, D.C., area Feb. 1-4 for the 26th annual National Leadership Forum of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Considered the… Read more »

The U.S. Department of Education has agreed to create a searchable database to publicize which Christian colleges and universities have applied for exemptions from a 44-year-old gender-equality law. The announcement comes a month after the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group, accused Christian institutions of “hidden discrimination” for obtaining Title… Read more »

The No. 2 Republican on the House Education and Workforce Committee is endorsing Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) to become the panel’s next chairman. In an interview with The Hill, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said he would fully support Foxx to succeed retiring Education Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.). The endorsement all but guarantees Foxx — a current member of the GOP leadership team — will… Read more »

The White House Jan. 16 unveiled details about ambitious proposals to provide wage insurance for laid-off workers and expand existing jobless benefits, but the initiatives remain unlikely to get off the starting block during President Barack Obama's final year in office. The proposed wage insurance program would offer up to $10,000 in benefits for workers who are laid off and later… Read more »

Capitol Hill may be the only place where something that is supposed to take 15 minutes usually consumes 28 minutes, then triggers un-muted braying when the event suddenly consumes just 19 minutes. Such was the case Wednesday in the House as lawmakers voted on a bill to sanction Iran. Rep. Bradley Byrne presided over the vote. When the roll call began at precisely 11:30 am et, the… Read more »

President Barack Obama didn’t change any Republican minds with his final State of the Union address on Tuesday. Within hours after Obama’s Tuesday speech, most of Rowan County’s representatives in Congress offered their opinions on the address, some in more words than others. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., waited a longer than others to chime in with his thoughts on the speech. On… Read more »

When second amendment legislation is created, altered or oftentimes even mentioned at the federal level, its effects trickle down down and make waves in even the smallest locales. Avery County is no exception. After President Barack Obama issued his most recent executive orders involving gun legislation, The Avery Journal-Times culled statements from local politicians about the hot-button… Read more »