Latest news with #Veasey
USA Today
a day ago
- Business
- USA Today
Alabama baseball pitcher enters transfer portal, then commits to ACC program
Alabama baseball pitcher enters transfer portal, then commits to ACC program A two-year member of the Alabama baseball team has entered the transfer portal and committed to an ACC program. Sophomore right-hander Ariston Veasey announced his commitment to the Clemson Tigers in a post to social media Tuesday afternoon. Veasey pitched in five games in 2025, totaling 3 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs on three hits for a 9.82 ERA, striking out six batters and walking six. He appeared in one game for the Crimson Tide in 2024. Listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, Veasey committed to Alabama out of Starr's Mill High School in Fayetteville (Ga.). A two-way player, Perfect Game ranked him the No. 3 outfielder in the state of Georgia and No. 17 nationally. Veasey is one of five players to enter the transfer portal since Alabama's season ended with back-to-back close losses to the Miami Hurricanes and Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the Hattiesburg Regional of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend. Right-hander Jonathan Stevens entered the transfer portal on Sunday after two seasons at Alabama, as did sophomore right-hander Sam Mitchell. Freshman outfielder Ahmaad Duff entered the portal on Monday, and the Tuscaloosa News reported Tuesday that right-hander Egan Lowery had also entered the portal. Alabama finished the 2025 season 41-18 overall and were 16-14 in SEC play during the regular season in coach Rob Vaughn's second year. Alabama was ranked No. 20 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll entering the NCAA Tournament. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinions.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Congressman Marc Veasey calls Tarrant redistricting proposal ‘Jim Crow politics'
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey on Tuesday compared Tarrant County's proposed redrawing of voting precincts to 'Jim Crow politics' and called on the public to oppose the plan. 'I want to be absolutely clear: it's racial gerrymandering, plain and simple,' the Democratic congressman said during a news conference outside the county courthouse. Tarrant County commissioners are expected to vote on one of five proposed redistricting maps on June 3. The two Democrats on the five-member commissioners court are against it, and both stood with Veasey on Tuesday. Veasey warned that 'gerrymandering by the GOP' is an effort to undo work for racial equality. He said he is concerned for the voting rights of minorities nationally, but especially in Tarrant County. 'Because that's where we've seen so much of the egregious racially discriminatory tactics that have taken place the last couple of decades,' Veasey said. 'And so we are determined to make sure that we do not allow the clock to be turned back when it comes to the rights of black and brown communities.' On Friday, mayors of 10 cities in Tarrant County including Fort Worth and Arlington signed a letter urging County Judge Tim O'Hare to 'strongly consider' delaying the June 3 vote. The letter calls the maps flawed and in violation of state and federal law. The Arlington City Council on Tuesday night was expected to consider a resolution opposing the plan, following a similar proclamation by Fort Worth's council last week. Republican members of the commissioners court have said that redistricting is needed because of Tarrant County's growth in recent years. One of them, Commissioner Manny Ramirez, has strongly denied that race played a role in drawing the maps. In April, the Tarrant County commissioners began an unusual mid-decade redistricting process, hiring Public Interest Legal Foundation to assist. The legal firm then subcontracted map drawer Adam Kincaid from the National Republican Redistricting Trust, an organization that coordinates 'the GOP's 50-state redistricting effort.' Five weeks later, the commissioners court was presented with five maps that favor Republicans according to voter trend data. Veasey said the redistricting process led by O'Hare is intentionally opaque and rushed so the new map can be in place for the 2026 election, when O'Hare, Ramirez and Democrat Alisa Simmons are up for reelection. 'He's refusing to share racial data. He's ignoring elected commissioners. He's ramming through,' Veasey said. 'He's ramming this through in just six weeks with only four public hearings in a county of over 2 million people, over 2 million people. Think about that. Fort Worth is now the 11th largest city in the country. This isn't democracy. It's a demolition job.' Opponents of redistricting have threatened legal action if the commissioners approve one of the maps. 'We're not going to be silenced,' Veasey said. 'We're not going to be erased, and we're not going to let them drag us back into Jim Crow politics.' Simmons spoke to the redistricting process in 2021, when a Republican-led commissioners court agreed that the 2011 precinct map still held up. She said the only purpose of this redistricting is to crack Precinct 2 and pack Precinct 1. 'Cracking and packing' are two techniques used in gerrymandering. Cracking is when a group with similar interests is divided to weaken their voting power. Packing is when a group with similar interests is drawn into as few precincts as possible, so they can only vote for one or two seats on a ballot. Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles said approving one of the proposed maps would be the result of the Republican's calculated effort to suppress minority voters. 'We are no longer living in the era of reconstruction of Jim Crow, but let's not kid ourselves,' Miles said. 'The methods may have evolved, but the mission to weaken black and brown political power has not disappeared. It has simply found new disguises.' Fort Worth council members Chris Nettles, Elizabeth Beck, Jared Williams and Jeanette Martinez also spoke during Veasey's event. Some criticized O'Hare and Ramirez for not attending town halls on the issue. O'Hare did not respond to the Star-Telegram's request for comment. Williams implored Tarrant County residents to let the commissioners know that 'this is not okay.' 'We'll read and remember this moment, this moment where we stood in solidarity, we spoke up for what was right, even though it may be uncomfortable,' Williams said, 'because our kids are watching, and so is history.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
"We're going to get answers": Texas Democrat presses ICE over an avowed "fascist" in its ranks
As President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown rears its head, filling federal courts across the country with cases of immigrants caught up in his effort to carry out mass deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been at the center, carrying out in high numbers the arrests, detentions and removals the administration has sought. But a February investigative report uncovered that among the agency's ranks is a Dallas-area prosecutor alleged to operate a racist social media account. Months later, a lack of information about the prosecutor's standing has pushed federal lawmakers to press the agency for a definitive response. "We're going to get answers from ICE on this situation," U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, told Salon. "It's not 'if' we're going to get answers. We're going to get answers from ICE on this, and we expect for the answers to be timely, and we're going to continue to push if they don't." In February, a Texas Observer investigation found that an ICE prosecutor working in the state's immigration courts has likely been operating X account GlomarResponder, which has made a number of openly racist, xenophobic and pro-fascist posts on the platform since the account went live in 2012. 'America is a White nation, founded by Whites. We are the historical and majority population, and it was founded for our benefit. Our country should favor us," GlomarResponder said in one January 2025 post. Other posts include one from last September stating, 'All blacks are foreign to my people, dumb f***,' and another from May where the account owner professed to be a "fascist." GlomarResponder also authored a number of anti-immigrant posts, including one from August last year that said, ''Migrants' are all criminals.' Two months later, the Observer reported, the account posted an image that read, "It is our holy duty to guard against the foreign hordes." In January, he made a separate post evoking violence against immigrants. After cross-referencing biographical details shared on the profile with other social media accounts, public records, interviews and court hearing attendance, the Observer linked the account to James Joseph Rodden, a Dallas-area assistant chief counsel for ICE who represents the agency in removal cases. The account, now private, had nearly 17,000 followers as of Tuesday. Following the report, Rep. Veasey wrote to ICE Acting Deputy Director Kenneth Genalo on Feb. 24 requesting a "full and transparent account" of the actions the agency is taking to investigate the claims within 30 days. Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., joined Veasey in demanding a response from the Trump administration in a separate Feb. 24 letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "ICE prosecutors play a crucial role in enforcing our nation's immigration laws," Veasey wrote. "Any association with white supremacist ideology by an ICE official not only undermines public trust but also raises legitimate concerns about bias in prosecutorial decision-making." In a phone interview, Veasey said it was important for him to seek accountability from the agency because the notion that a federal employee who largely interfaces with people of color from outside the U.S. is operating a "KKK-equivalent" social media page is "absolutely alarming." That he even made it through any sort of background check is even scarier, Veasey added. "It calls into question just all sorts of things: How was he vetted before he was hired? How are they vetting people that worked at the agency or potential hires? It's scary to think about the fact that someone like him was ever working at this agency in the first place." Veasey would receive a response from ICE on March 6, with the agency acknowledging the media report and stating that the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility will "ensure the allegations are addressed appropriately, fairly, and expeditiously," according to the Observer. The letter also noted that OPR typically completes those administrative investigations within 120 days. That response, Veasey said, though appreciated, was wholly insufficient. But it was all the response he and his colleagues would get. Now more than a month removed from his last correspondence with the agency, the congressman said he still has yet to receive any updates on the agency's investigation into the allegations or information on Rodden's standing with it. "This should have been something that they should have been able to get back with me two weeks at the latest," Veasey said, calling a 120-day response time for a situation like this "ridiculous." "I've been doing this a long, long time," he added. "You're not going to fool me at all. I know how long it takes for agencies to respond to people and to get back with people. I understand what sort of case work inquiries and what sort of findings take longer than others, and this is not one that should take 120-plus days. It's just absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary, and they should get back to us immediately." ICE did not respond to an emailed request for comment. At the time of the initial report, an ICE spokesperson declined to confirm Rodden's employment to the Observer or release personnel records for Rodden without his consent. The spokesperson also insisted that the agency "holds its employees to the highest standards of professionalism and takes seriously all allegations of inappropriate conduct." Whether Rodden remains employed at the agency is also unclear, a point of contention Veasey called "ridiculous." "We don't understand why ICE won't just be transparent," he said. "But it also begs the question, too: How long is it going to take for them to find out whether or not he acted in malice, and whether or not he was racist in handling many of these different cases that most likely he touched at one time or another?" That lack of transparency demonstrates that the Trump administration believes its "running some sort of strongman, authoritarian, backwards country" and that it doesn't have to be accountable to Congress, he said. But the current Congress has a permissive dynamic with the administration that enables that behavior, he added. "We have a very subservient U.S. Congress, led by Republicans that, quite frankly, are not exercising their authority as a coequal branch of government in holding this White House accountable," Veasey said. "Obviously, you want to be able to work with the president, particularly if you control the House of Representatives. Democrats wanted to work with Joe Biden, and I'm sure that Republicans want to work with Donald Trump. But what I will also tell you is that it's our job to check the administration when they think that they've gone too far." Veasey said he worked to hold former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden accountable several times over the course of his 15-year tenure. "It's their job to stand up and to show courage and to demand that these agencies be ran with transparency and that we exercise our congressional oversight when things go too far like they have with this Rodden situation," he said. "But right now, Congress is a very compliant Congress led by these reckless, radical Republicans, and it's not good for the country." Veasey said that he and his colleagues are continuing to press the agency — and the Trump administration — for answers about the investigation. Their hope, he said, is that they will soon receive a decisive answer. At the very least, he said he expects ICE to be more responsive, transparent and prompt in addressing his inquiry. In the interim, he said they will continue to demand that ICE turn over information regarding Rodden, the results of its investigation and what disciplinary actions it may be taking, and will take further actions to ensure they comply if they continue to be resistant. "They have a responsibility to give us answers," Veasey said. "Again, we have coequal branches of government, and the executive branch has the responsibility — and it's their duty, by law — to give us answers to questions about how these agencies are run. There's a reason why Congress has oversight, and these inquiries are a form of oversight, and I continue to plan on exercising that oversight." In conducting oversight when government officials or agencies are reluctant to produce information, Congress normally launches special inquiries into alleged misconduct, which involves gathering testimony and calling witnesses to obtain answers. "I'm not worried about if I'm going to get it," Veasey added. "We're going to get it, and if they think that we're just going to go away and not talk about it anymore, they're wrong. We're going to keep pressing it."
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NC veteran to have Raleigh post office named after her
City leaders in Raleigh are honoring Millie Dunn Veasey, a World War II veteran who served in the only overseas all-Black women's 6888th Battalion. According to WTVD in Raleigh, the city's Brentwood post office will be named after Veasey. 'The story of her service is one of trailblazing leadership in the face of adversity,' WTVD reports Congresswoman Deborah Ross said after making the announcement. ALSO READ: Celebrating the legacy, contributions of the Montford Point Marines During her time in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, Veasey worked with soldiers on the front lines to make sure they received letters from loved ones at home. 'Some of the things that she went through we did not know about,' Eugenia Pleasant, Veasey's niece, told WTVD. 'She was very humble, and she just did what she had to do and moved forward.' According to WTVD, Veasey lived to be 100. She was buried in the Raleigh National Cemetery. 'She was caring,' Pleasant told WTVD. 'She loved her church. She loved just any organization where she could serve.' ALSO READ: US looks to honor 855 Black women who solved war time mail crisis The Six Triple Eight, as they were called, was made up of 855 Black women. They were sent to Europe in 1945. At that time, Black organizations wanted more members of the community to be included in the Women's Army Corps and allowed to serve along with white service members overseas. Their trip to their assignment was not an easy one, The Associated Press reports. They had to avoid German U-boats and a German rocket when they made it to Glasgow. Last December, film maker Tyler Perry released 'The Six Triple Eight,' starring Kerry Washington. The movie tells the Battalion's story, underscoring the unforgettable difference they made during World War II. 'The Six Triple Eight' is now streaming on Netflix. WATCH BELOW: Black mayors of Charlotte gather to discuss city's past, future
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Know your rights.' Near high school, Fort Worth congressman answers concerns about ICE raids
A 'Know Your Rights' table was set up Thursday across from North Side High School by Congressman Marc Veasey to inform families about their legal options if detained by ICE, and address community anxiety after a substitute teacher made a social media post inviting immigration officers to the Fort Worth high school to arrest students. Veasey along with constituent service representative Maria Robles answered various questions that concerned community members, educators and parents had on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 30. 'I am an educator at elementary school. What should I do?' 'I have a legal permanent residence. Will I face consequences?' 'Can ICE raid community gatherings at parks?' These were some of the questions posed as members of the north side community gathered around the table. 'I know that after that substitute teacher made those idiotic comments that a lot of people in this community, that have kids at this school, had a lot of fear and uncertainty about exactly what was happening,' said Veasey, a Democrat who represents Texas' 33rd Congressional District. He said he wants people to know their rights when they are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Veasey said if someone gets detained they have a right to legal counsel, and there are certain procedures that have to take place before they are deported. ICE has been posting statistics on the number of arrests nationwide each day. The most recent numbers showed 1,016 arrests were made and 814 detainers were lodged on Jan. 29. 'They're not about to deport all the people that they're saying because it would drive a massive hole in the economy,' Veasey said. 'We wouldn't be able to produce any oil and gas, there would be no homes built in the state, no food that would be processed. Our farms would go dry,' 'I'm urging people to know your rights, but then asking the president, instead of playing these stupid, ignorant games, bring Democrats and Republicans together, and let's come up with a real solution to this, and not this made up for TV crap,' Veasey said. On display at the event were templates of what a search warrant signed by a judge looks like compared to a search warrant signed by ICE officials. And privacy release forms for ICE that community members with the help of government offices can use to inquire about people arrested or detained. 'We need a secure border, but until you do something about the economical piece of this, then you're not going to have a secure border, it's just not going to happen,' Veasey said. 'I want parents that are worried to be able to have this information and sit down and talk with their kids, just in case their kids come home and they're not there, so their kids can at least have some peace of mind just by being able to talk about these things now — just in case this thing gets really, really bad,' he said. Robles, the congressman's constituent service representative, said community members can also use the Executive Office for Immigration Review website to download and print privacy release forms. To 'ease that anxiety of not knowing where their loved ones are, they could print it out and get a copy, fill it out, and then at a later time, use it as needed,' she said. Robles said there has been a lot of misinformation on social media so they want to make sure they provide clear and accurate information. 'We're still a nation that has a constitution, that has a judicial system. Not everything is lost, and we can't just give up,' Robles said. 'So as a person that knows some of these things, it's really heartwarming to be able to share and then see in their faces that fear may come down a bit.' A 34-year-old woman from the Fort Worth Riverside area who opted to remain anonymous was there to get some answers about specific questions that are in the minds of community members, she told the Star-Telegram. 'At this moment, we have national, statewide and local policies that are impacting our migrant, immigrant communities, Black and brown people, and it's very complex, so it can be very confusing and intimidating for regular people to try to find out what the solution is or find help,' she said. 'It only continues to strike distrust and fear between regular people and those in elected power and elected leadership,' she said. 'We should have been doing this before Trump was even elected, or inaugurated.'
