Monday News: Koch Rips Trump, Cruz; “The 8 A.M. Call”; “Virginia Bucks the Trend”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, April 25. Also check out President Obama’s press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

• Cruz, Kasich agree to collaborate in effort to stop Trump in 3 states (A little late for that!)
• Here Are The Media Figures Calling Out Trump’s Sham Reinvention (Anyone in the media who allows Trump to get away with this is not fit to be a journalist.)
• Obama to send 250 additional U.S. special forces troops to Syria
• Billionaire GOP donor Charles Koch says Clinton might be better than Trump or Cruz
• We can celebrate Harriet Tubman without disparaging Andrew Jackson (One of the first thoughts that jumped into my mind when I heard the news about Andrew Jackson was what Jim Webb, for whom Jackson is a huge hero, was thinking. Well, now we know…)
• Why I’m ashamed to be Republican (“The candidate leading in the polls doesn’t represent my values.”)
• Jim Webb writes a repulsive love letter to Andrew Jackson
• Krugman: The 8 A.M. Call (“That 3 a.m. call is one thing; but what about the 8 a.m. call – the one warning that financial markets will melt down as soon as they open?…Mrs. Clinton isn’t just the most knowledgeable, well-informed candidate in this election, she’s arguably the best-prepared candidate on matters economic ever to run for president.”)
• “Complete and total destruction of the Republican Party”: Former Reagan official Bruce Bartlett on why he backs Trump (“Republican apostate Bruce Bartlett sees Donald Trump as the calamitous reckoning the GOP desperately needs”)
• Meet the Vigilantes That Patrol Trump’s Rallies (“From Lions of Trump to Bikers for Trump, these volunteer watchdogs have become the Donald’s security forces—and they plan to follow him to the convention.”)
• Virginia Bucks the Trend (“The governor’s order giving 200,000 people with felony convictions the right to vote is a rebuke to voter suppression efforts.”)
• Attorney general’s office intervened in investigation into Jamycheal Mitchell’s death
• Heroin fuels spike in 2015 overdose deaths
• Virginian-Pilot editorial: U.S., region pay a price for negilgence (Yes, they spelled it “negilgence” – niiiice, guys.)
• Metro sank into crisis despite decades of warnings (“Red flags were raised about the transit system even before it opened.”)
• In Chesapeake, voices differ on the meaning of “smart growth”
• Nationals enter ‘Twilight Zone’ with improbable 16-inning win (“There will more important games played this year, but few — if any — will be so bizarre and improbable.”)
• Suffolk City Council votes unanimously to approve vacant-lot gardening
• Fate swung at the Capitals again. This time, they punched back.
• Warm and partly sunny today, then clouds, showers and storms take over