We have horrifying news to report out of Virginia today.
Justin Fairfax, 47, a prominent lawyer and former lieutenant governor of Virginia, appears to have died by suicide after murdering his wife, Cerina Fairfax.
The shootings reportedly took place just after midnight on Thursday.
Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax presides over the Senate at the Virginia State Capitol, February 7, 2019 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Police say the Fairfaxes had been in the throes of a “messy divorce” since July of last year.
“It is high-profile in nature, it’s tragic in nature. Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favor,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a statement, according to The New York Post.
“So tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred. So yeah, there’s a lot going on,” Davis continued, adding:
“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that there’s been a divorce proceedings that have been ongoing.
“From what I understand in this early stage, former Lieutenant Governor Fairfax was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding that apparently led to this incident last night.”
The former lieutenant governor had been on local authorities’ radar for several months.
Back in January, Justin falsely accused Cerina of physically assaulting him inside their home.
Police determined that he had made a false report after reviewing security camera footage.
It was not the first time that Fairfax had been embroiled in public controversy.
Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) speaks during a news conference on June 4, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
According to the Post, two women accused him of sexually assaulting them in 2000 and 2004.
The claims surfaced in 2019, apparently helping to bring about the end of the Fairfaxes’ marriage.
Fairfax maintained that the encounters were consensual, and he refused to resign from his post.
He launched his own failed bid for the governorship in 2021.
Fairfax was eventually ousted from his lieutenant governor post with the election of Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in 2022.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Guy Fieri is no stranger to controversy, but after a questionable exchange at a UFC event, the Food Network star was compelled to respond to public criticism.
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In a peculiar and controversial CBS Town Hall, Erika Kirk addresses conspiracy theories regarding her late husband’s death. (Image Credit: CBS)
She couldn’t make it due to an alleged threat against her person
On Tuesday, April 14, Erika quote-tweeted a Fox News video of Andrew Kolvet and JD Vance.
The two men were seated on stage in front of several dozen members of the far-right Turning Point USA organization.
Kolovet announced that Erika had skipped the event as a result of “some very serious threats in her direction.”
Obviously, he tried to make use of this claim, calling the alleged threats a “terrible reflection of the state of reality in the state of the country.”
There are certainly terrible reflections of the state of the country and reality itself in this video. But the alleged threat to Erika is unsubstantiated.
Erika Kirk is skipping an event with Vice President JD Vance due to “some very serious threats in her direction,” TPUSA says. pic.twitter.com/TlSxfd06Lk
In her quote-tweet, Erika put her own spin on her absence from the event.
“I was so looking forward to tonight’s event at the @universityofga with our Vice President @JDVance,” the controversial widow claimed.
“But after all our family has been through,” Erika explained, “I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously.”
She is likely referring to Charlie Kirk’s death in September of last year.
“Thank you to our amazing Georgia chapter for your support,” Erika concluded. “God bless you all!”
In a quote-tweet, Erika Kirk explained why she skipped out on a small Turning Point USA event due to an alleged threat against her. (Image Credit: Twitter)
Say what you will about Candace Owens, but she is a dedicated hater
Like so many others, Candace Owens struggled to believe that Erika was at risk of anything but being photograph in front of a room of mostly empty seats.
(The fairly large auditorium was mostly empty.)
“Stop. This is exhausting. You pulled out because of bad ticket sales,” Owens accused. “For the same reason TPFaith had to ‘reschedule’ the Pastor’s Summit and various other events quietly.”
She added: “People don’t believe you and don’t line up for you because you struggle to tell the truth about even the most basic facts.”
Owens demanded: “Where is the video of Charlie appointing you as CEO weeks before his death?”
In a lengthy tweet, Candace Owens poked holes in Erika Kirk’s claims. She suggests that the real “threat” was bad PR from appearing before a crowd of empty chairs. (Image Credit: Twitter)
“Were there actually a viable threat,” she suggested, “the Vice President would not have continued the event.”
Owens scathingly continued: “Your closest threat is the s–t Public Relations team you hired that continues to operate under the delusion that they are smarter than the public.”
She concluded: “They aren’t.”
The line about the Secret Service is particularly persuasive. What sort of threat would send Erika into hiding, but allow JD Vance to oafishly sit on the stage and whine about the pope without fear?
In her ‘Bride of Charlie’ docuseries, Candace Owens lists a lot of information and implies and states many claims. (Image Credit: YouTube)
Reality check
As always, you do not, under any circumstances, “gotta hand it” to Candace Owens.
She is a bad person who tends to identify and latch onto real problems but then suggests bogus and bigoted explanations or solutions.
However, this is an example in which she latches onto a popular idea — that Erika is a bad, dishonest person — and runs with it. That helps her grow her audience, to whom she spouts unhinged nonsense.
Interestingly, this particular tweet didn’t delve into the theory that Erika felt shy about appearing on stage with JD Vance. Remember, they had some weird vibes together after Charlie was out of the picture.
It’s unclear whether the dozens who gathered below the stage, or any of the ghosts in empty seats, felt disappointed at Erika’s absence from the event. So, whether or not Erika felt scared off by any tangible threats, it’s unlikely that anyone was missing out.
Rep. Alyse Galvin, I-Anchorage, speaks on the House floor on Apr. 13, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska House of Representatives on Monday rejected a bill passed by the Senate that would have applied state corporate income taxes to privately owned oil and gas companies that currently do not pay them. Supporters said the bill would have generated up to $100 million in new revenue for Alaska.
The proposal would have required companies licensed as S corporations or as limited liability companies to pay state corporate income taxes for profits earned in the state, which they currently do not pay. The largest company affected would have been Hilcorp, a privately run Texas-based company that operates the Prudhoe Bay oil fields as well as most of the oil and gas operations in Cook Inlet.
The state does not levy a tax on income earned by S corporations and LLCs because their profits go to owners or shareholders. In many states, those people would pay personal income tax on the money, but Alaska does not have a personal income tax, so such companies avoid taxation on profits. Traditional corporations, or C corporations, are publicly traded and already subject to existing state tax law.
Four members of the multipartisan House majority caucus objected to the proposal, and split to join the all-Republican minority members to reject the Senate’s version of House Bill 194 by a 23 to 17 vote.
House Majority Leader Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, was among those to oppose the bill.
House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, speaks on Monday, March 24, 2025, in favor of House Joint Resolution 11. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
“This policy creates uncertainty at the exact moment Alaska needs more energy development,” Kopp said on Monday on the House floor. “These are the people that are actually keeping our energy crisis at bay right now.”
Kopp argued the change would potentially hamper new oil and gas development. “It’s been a cold winter in Southcentral and along the Railbelt, and this is at the same time we’re asking these folks to drill more, to produce and store more gas, to explore more and to sign long term gas contracts. So it seems shortsighted to hamstring gas producers when we need them to invest a lot more right now, just to keep our schools warm, our homes heated and our businesses going,” he said.
Anchorage Independent Rep. Alyse Galvin, and Democratic Reps. Carolyn Hall of Anchorage and Robyn Frier of Utqiagvik also joined the minority caucus to oppose the bill on Monday.
Anchorage Democrat Sen. Forrest Dunbar sponsored the amendment to levy the corporate tax on privately owned oil and gas companies on a bill that would have been a routine renewal of a state oil royalty lease agreement, which passed the Senate last month.
Dunbar criticized the House decision in a Wednesday interview, saying it was a missed opportunity to bring in revenues for Alaska.
“They took potentially $100 million or more and rather than put it towards schools or the state of Alaska, they hand it to a billionaire in Texas. I think that was a mistake,” Dunbar said. “This is some of the lowest of low hanging fruit.”
“So I’m very disappointed in their actions,” he added. “And frankly, I’m surprised that some of the members of my party voted the way they did.”
On Monday, Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe argued against the bill saying a tax focused on specific corporations that could result in lawsuits against the state. “I would suspect that this will lead directly to the courts,” he said. “This is just plain wrong. We shouldn’t be doing this.”
Galvin, a member of the multipartisan majority caucus, said she opposed that the measure was added to the underlying bill, but said she sees the need for more revenue. “I do think that it’s confusing when we add one bill to another, and haven’t properly vetted (it),” she said.
Galvin said she has proposed legislation, House Bill 152, which would include the corporate income tax provision, as well as a 4% state income tax on individuals earning more than $150,000 and an annual $150 tax per Alaskan to help pay for state services like education. It’s now being considered by the House Finance Committee.
“In a bill that I’m working on, I’m certainly careful to not call out one company,” she said. “But we do need to look at fairness also in all of our taxation. And I think that there is a place for us to address this.”
Galvin also requested to be excused from the vote citing a conflict of interest, but there was an objection on the House floor and she was required to vote. She told the Anchorage Daily News her husband works for Great Bear Pantheon, an Alaska subsidiary of Pantheon Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas exploration company.
Several members argued in support of strengthening corporate income taxes to provide much-needed revenues for Alaska.
Rep. Ky Holland, I-Anchorage is seen during debate on the operating budget on Apr. 13, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Rep. Ky Holland, I-Anchorage, supported the provision saying it was a defining moment for the Legislature to take action to address what he called the “Alaska disconnect” — being a resource rich state without capturing the economic value and benefits for residents.
“I believe this is a defining question for many of us, who I think, recognize that our state has moved past looking for the fiscal cliff and is now out beyond it,” he said. “And it’s now time for us to decide, are we willing to take some difficult votes and take some difficult action?”
Holland said failing to change the tax code could create a scenario where other businesses incorporate as S corporations or LLCs to avoid corporate income taxes. “This bill offers a way to address a point of fairness in the taxation that we have,” he said.
The amended bill now returns to the Senate, which can remove or change the provision. Those acts could result in a conference committee made up of representatives from both chambers to reach agreement on the bill.
The original legislation was introduced by the governor and passed the Alaska House last year. It would renew a three-year oil royalty agreement between the state and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, for state owned oil to be processed at its refinery in Nikiski, on the Kenai Peninsula, valued at between $4 million and $18 million in state revenue.
Several lawmakers in the House, including Kopp, said the company was no longer interested in the state contract, voiding the need for the legislation. A spokesperson for Marathon declined to comment on Wednesday, saying the company does not comment on its crude oil sourcing.
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