WMRA Daily 8/12/26

For WMRA News, I'm Calvin Penn. Shenandoah County students and the NAAC won their lawsuit against the county school system last week, and lawyers for both sides are considering their next steps. We'll hear part two of WMRA's series about several immigrant dairy farm workers who were detained in Page County and deported. Vaccination rates are below what's needed to establish herd immunity in many Virginia counties. People are calling for a pause on data center development in Virginia, and the Perseid meteor shower could be visible in areas with clear skies. This is the WMRA Daily for Wednesday, August 12th. In a landmark decision last week, a federal judge in Harrisonburg ruled in favor of Shenandoah County students and the NAACP who sued the county school system over its controversial decision to revert two school names to Confederate names. Now lawyers for both sides are considering next steps as an appeal seems as likely as mounting court costs. WMRA's Bridget Manley reports. When I heard the verdict, I was actually, I was in Mayerman hanging out with my buddy. My mom texted me. I started losing. Mom's jumping around this dude's house. I mean, I'm losing it. A.D. Carter, one of the student plaintiffs in the case against the Shenandoah County School Board, told a packed press conference Monday about his reaction after hearing the verdict that a federal judge ruled in the student's favor. And so I told him, I said, hey, we just won. And so, of course, he's asking, what did you win, what you win? And so I had to tell him, I said, hey. We just beat discrimination. What? Judge Michael Urbansky issued his long-awaited order in a court case that has been ongoing since 2024, after the school board reversed a 2020 name change, returning two schools to their former Confederate names. Urbanski ordered the Shenandoah County School Board to, quote, remedy the constitutional and statutory violations by removing the names Stonewall Jackson and Ashby Lee and adopting new school names on a racially non-discriminatory basis with all deliberate speed. Appeals to the opinion seem almost a foregone conclusion. However, lawyers for the students and the Virginia chapter of the NDACP have sent a letter to the school board's lawyer, Jim Gwynne of Gwynne Waddell, asking the school board to consider mediation rather than appealing. Gwen previously told WMRA his clients were prepared to take the case as far as the U.S. Supreme Court. Lawyers with the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs said that because of the decision, the plaintiffs are entitled to an award of reasonable costs and fees based on the hours attorneys and legal staff have committed to the case. In the letter, lawyers outlined the cost to Shenandoah County taxpayers, stating that, quote, the actual cost.

costs incurred are approximately $500,000, and the attorney fees incurred exceed $15 million. They do anticipate seeking fees significantly less than the total amount incurred, but their petition to the court for attorney fees will still be in the $7 to $10 million range. School starts this week, and they still have time to remove the Confederate name from the schools before school starts. But we want to be clear that if they don't do that, it will cost Shenandoah County. Lee Reid is an attorney with Covington and Burling LLP, representing the students and the NACP. Speaking at the press conference, she said that before seeking litigation, the students had tried to resolve the dispute. Our clients have never sought money in this case. They only saw for the name to be removed so the students would feel welcome and safe in their school environment. Plaintiffs also made every effort to resolve the case without possible litigation. Before involving counsel, they sent multiple letters, they went to school board meetings, they advocated for themselves in every way possible to stop the school war from changing the names. Further, Reid said, attorneys continued throughout the litigation to reach out and settle, offering to, quote, resolve the matter without any cost to the school board, and that the board knew going into the trial that they would be responsible for costs and fees should they lose. They say that if the school board chooses mediation and that mediation is successful, quote, in order to put this dispute to an end, lawyers for the students and the NACP would be, quote, willing. to reduce the amount of the award of costs and fees by millions of dollars. However, the attorneys warned that if the school board decides to continue appeals, they will not agree to discounting any fees or costs, and that they want to, quote, provide an off-ramp to bring a prompt resolution to this litigation and reduce the financial burden that will be visited on the local community. Gwynne told WMRA that he understands the school board will appeal. and that he is waiting for the official word before filing the appeal. When asked about the letter, the possibility of mediation, and the amount of attorney fees that could be paid by Shenandoah County taxpayers, Gwen said he could not comment because he had not, quote, discussed them with his client. For many, it was more than a name change. It was a reminder of history. of exclusion and discrimination. Kim Carter is the mother of A.D. Carter, one of the student plaintiffs. I'm hopeful that we can move behind that purple chapter and focus on building a future that brings people together. And our schools can be a place where everyone feels welcomed and respected and valued in our county. Thank you.

For WMRA News, I'm Bridget Manley. You can find all of our reporting on this case at WMRA.org and on the WMRA app. A dairy farm in Page County lost half of their employees when they were detained in a traffic stop and deported in June. Their story illustrates the nature of U.S. immigration and customs enforcement's partnerships with local law enforcement and the impact of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign on American family farms. WMRA's Randy B. Hagey reports in the second of a two-part series. As we reported in part one, Billy and Becky Yancey have run a dairy farm on Billy's family land near Luray for more. than three decades. In recent years, they hired four men from Mexico and Honduras to fill out their staff of eight farm workers. Those four men were detained by the Page County Sheriff's Office on June 12th after going to Walmart to buy groceries. They were quickly transferred to ICE custody as part of a one-day immigration enforcement operation in the Luray area. WMRA obtained body camera footage from this traffic stop via a Freedom of Information Act request. It begins with the car stopped on the side of the road. Page County Lieutenant Casey Bryant leads the stop wearing a vest that says police ICE. He says officers pulled the men over for failing to maintain their lane and asks them for identification. Sheriff Chad Cubbage appears on the scene as they're handcuffing the guys. The deputies express sympathy for the farm owners and chat about the day's ICE operation. They make no mention of suspecting any of the men of having a criminal record. I do feel bad for the 80s because they're stuck holding. How many's that? Oh, this is 10 or 11. Because we let one go. Yeah. And then I guess the interdiction unit's got six or seven. Six arrests or six arrests? Yeah. All right. So it's a good night. Gilles piss. Oh, actually. They're loving it. The video shows the moment when Martyr Reyes is thrown to the ground, although it's seen through a car window on the other side of the vehicle. The footage stops after the recording deputy later asks another officer what happened. Did the front passenger get squirley? Or did he be falling that ditch? No, he didn't want to put his phone down.

The driver, Carlos Nieto Martinez, was not written a ticket for his alleged traffic infraction. Reyes and Nieto Martinez later recounted this experience in text messages to the Yanceys and agreed for the family to share them with WMRA. We had them translated into English and read by a voice actor, Hugo Morales. Here's an excerpt from Nieto Martinez's text. They did not give us blankets or anything to protect us from the cold. It was extremely cold and we kept asking for blankets, but they refused. It was a terrible experience. They put us on a plane and sent us to Texas. Then from Texas to Louisiana, they held me there for five days. And here's Reyes. While the ICE officer was interviewing us, he forced us to sign up deportation order. He told us that if we didn't sign, we will spend six months locked up in jail. They gave us an injection. We don't know what medicine they gave us. All four eventually consented to deportation rather than remaining incarcerated indefinitely. WMRA sent ICE a list of questions about their accounts, including whether any of the men have a criminal record, which facilities they were held in, if detainees are administered vaccines, and if they are ever denied blankets upon request. A spokesperson emailed a statement confirming the deportation of two of the men to Honduras, but did not answer our other questions. Sheriff Chad Cubbage declined an interview request. The Page County Sheriff's Office is one of 27 Virginia law enforcement agencies that have 287G agreements with ICE, through which local officers are authorized to carry out immigration enforcement. Paperwork shows that Page County has requested $107,500 from ICE for a transportation and equipment stipend for their collaboration. A sheriff's office spokesperson told WMRA they haven't received any money yet. These arrests took place a year to the day after President Donald Trump told reporters that ICE shouldn't target farm workers, as Forbes reported. Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers, they've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that. We can't take... farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don't have... This sentiment rings hollow to the Anseys. I mean, there's plenty of videos out there. He says, I'm not going to harm the farmer, but that's a lot. In the eight weeks since the arrest, the family has tried to hire local employees, some of whom immediately didn't show up for work. They do have six people on the crew now. We're all in our 50s, 60s, and 70s except for one young buck that has burnt the candle at both ends. But they've had to sell cows to lighten the workload. So we've been going since 92. Started off with 66 cows, and we grew and grew until we were milking 250. Well, we did. We've been selling cows left and right because we had to stop the bullying. We have no labor. It's too much. Can't do it. We've sold... 30 cows this week. But now our only option is to downsize, is to get it back down to where all our current employees and myself, we can handle it. They stay in touch with the men, and Nieto Martinez at least hopes he can find a way to come back. We've left his camper exactly the way it is. In the meantime, they're down to 217 cows, forced to whittle away their American dream.

For WMRA News, I'm Randy B. Hagey. And you can find both parts of this report along with more information at WMRA.org and on the WMRA app. Emergency workers recovered the body of a man from the south fork of the Shenandoah River in Warren County on Monday. The Northern Virginia Daily reports that emergency personnel from Warren County Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the area in response to a call that two people had jumped from a boat into the river and one did not surface. According to a news release from Warren County Fire and Rescue, Cruz could not find the drowning victim Sunday and switched from rescue to recovery. He was found dead the next morning. Authorities have... not release the name of the drowning victim. Virginia has logged 177 measles cases so far this year. As kids are heading back to school, kindergartener's vaccination rates are below what's needed to establish herd immunity in many counties as Christine Cuter reports for Radio IQ. Six-year-old Naomi starts school this week. I'm kind of nervous, but really excited and really nervous. Nearly 9 and 10 of Virginia's measles cases so far this year occurred in the middle part of the state. In Albemarle County, where Naomi lives, fewer than 90% of kindergartners got the MMR vaccine. Naomi is fully vaccinated against measles. Her mom, Claire Payton, got Naomi's three-year-old sister, Lena, the second measles shot early. Because we sort of saw all this coming on the horizon, and we just wanted our kids to have... to be safe. In Albemarle, Amherst, Bedford, Green, Madison, and Rockingham counties, between 81 and 89% of kindergartners are fully vaccinated against measles. Rates that fall below the 95% threshold needed to establish herd immunity. To understand how that works, picture 100 sheep in a pen. unfortunately has measles. If you imagine 95% of the sheep are immunized against measles, if you're imagining the immunized ones kind of surrounding the one that actually has the disease. That's UVA nurse practitioner and professor Jessica Kymalpas, who cares for kids with cancer. 95 immunized sheep would kind of offering is a... buffer to those who maybe like my patient can't get immunized or that baby that is six months old that cannot get immunized yet. When that number drops below that threshold, there's less of that buffer. Anyone in Virginia who needs vaccines or information about them can contact their local health department. Reporting from Albemarle County, I'm Christine Cuter. Is data center growth out of control in Virginia? Radio IQ's Michael Pope tells us some people are calling for a pause. for a moratorium on data centers in Virginia. That's the proposal from state Senator Glenn Sturtevin, a Republican from Colonial Heights. He says now that Northern Virginia is rejecting proposals, developers are moving toward his district in Central Virginia. Because many of them don't feel welcome and Loudoun Fairfax anymore, they're moving their way south down I-95, and they're barreling right towards the area that I represent in the Richmond area, Central Virginia.

The fishing industry says more data on menhaden populations is needed. That was Patrick Larson reporting. And if you're able to get away from city lights tonight, you just might get one of the best glimpses of the Perseid Meteor shower of our lifetime. Radio IQ's RoxyTod has the details. The Perseid Meteor shower is visible every year. But this will be a great opportunity to try to see it in Virginia. This will be the best one for about another 28 years. Scott England is an aerospace professor. at Virginia Tech and explains meteors are small pieces of dust and ice that look like shooting stars as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. It lasts for a couple of nights, but its peak will be Wednesday night to Thursday morning. As many as 100 shooting stars an hour will be visible if the conditions are right. Still, stargazers have something to hope for because there won't be competing light from the moon. It's also happening during a new moon, which is going to make the night sky particularly dark. England says the meteors won't reach the earth, so there isn't a danger to those watching. He recommends finding a place with scattered clouds or clear skies forecasted. Allow your eyes to adjust to total darkness. Don't look at your phone, and don't use a flashlight. Just look up between midnight to early Thursday morning. And maybe you'll see some shooting stars. I'm Roxy Todd. I should note that partly cloudy skies and thunderstorms are forecasted tonight in the WMRA listening area, but we've got our fingers crossed that they'll hold off for the meteors. For WMRA news, I'm Calvin Penn. Thanks for listening and enjoy your Wednesday.