A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood since 1910.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F.

A Virginia school board has voted to restore the names of Confederate military leaders to a high school and an elementary school four years after the names had been removed.

Crews removed a Confederate monument from a Jacksonville, Florida, park following years of public controversy.

A Confederate memorial's days at Arlington National Cemetery are numbered.

The landmark Washington National Cathedral has unveiled new stained-glass windows with a theme of racial justice.

Civil rights groups are criticizing a concert series with Black performers dubbed “Soul Fest” that is being held at a Georgia park with a giant carving of Confederate leaders.

The Supreme Court says it won’t review North Carolina’s decision to stop issuing specialty license plates with the Confederate flag.

Quietly at the end of last month, members of the Rockbridge County-based Stonewall Brigade dedicated a property that will one day become a park that is home to Confederate statues and monuments.

A grand jury in Virginia has indicted multiple people on felony charges for carrying flaming torches with the intent to intimidate during a rally at the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville nearly six years ago.

A Delaware man who threatened a Black police officer with a pole attached to a Confederate battle flag as he stormed the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to three years in prison.

An official says work to remove the final city-owned Confederate monument from Richmond, Virginia, should start this week.

A commission created by Congress is recommending changes at West Point when it comes to commemorating Robert E.

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano posed in a Confederate uniform for a faculty photo at the Army War College, three years before he retired from the U.S. Army.

An independent commission says renaming nine U.S. Army posts that commemorate Confederate officers would cost $21 million.

A federal judge has convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

A bill that would allow state employees to take the Juneteenth holiday or any other day instead of Confederate Memorial Day has unanimously passed the South Carolina Senate.

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were tear-gassed by Richmond police during a protest in June 2020.

The enormous pedestal where the Robert E.

Conservation experts in Virginia’s capital have pulled books, money, ammunition, documents and other artifacts from a time capsule found in the remnants of a pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says crews wrapping up the removal of a giant pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin have been found in a time capsule hidden beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Crews working to remove the pedestal where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee towered over Richmond for more than a century believe they've found a time capsule that was buried there in 1887.

Crews working to remove the pedestal where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Two unsuccessful bidders for the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that drew violent protesters to Charlottesville have filed a letter protesting the city's process to get rid of the statue, which ended last week in the acceptance of a proposal to melt it down and turn it into new art.

The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that drew violent protests to Charlottesville, Virginia, will be melted down and turned into a new piece of public art by an African American heritage center.

Preliminary work to remove an enormous pedestal that until recently held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee got underway Monday in Richmond.

Sunday, Governor Ralph Northam announced the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument pedestal that displayed the Confederate General. This is part of an agreement reached with the City of Richmond to transfer the state-owned land to the City.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has announced that his administration will remove an enormous pedestal that until earlier this year held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Virginia's Supreme Court won't reconsider its decision to allow removing a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was cut into pieces and hauled away from Richmond's Monument Avenue weeks ago.

Washington National Cathedral says an artist renowned for his works depicting African American life will design new stained-glass windows with racial justice themes to replace ones with Confederate imagery.

A towering statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond is about to come down this week.

A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

The Virginia Supreme Court of Virginia ruled Thursday that the state can take down an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has towered over a traffic island in Richmond for more than a century and has become a symbol of racial injustice.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled unanimously that the iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Lexington City Council recently approved the first name change for a street with a Confederate-related name.

More flags have been stolen from Virginia Tech’s religious organizations.

At least 13 organizations and one municipality have expressed interest in acquiring two statues of Confederate generals removed from downtown Charlottesville parks, including one monument that was the focus of a violent white nationalist rally in 2017, according to city documents.

A decades-long fight has been resolved in Tennessee, over the bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that stood in a place of honor inside the state's Capitol.

A Roanoke County judge has ordered a Confederate statue in Salem located outside the Roanoke County courthouse to be removed.

The City of Roanoke is now steps closer to changing the name of Lee Plaza, named after the Confederate leader, Robert E. Lee.

Christiansburg Town Council approved an African American History and Storyboard Project to be permanently installed in the Town Square near an existing Confederate monument.

A new wave of no parking signs and fencing is up around Charlottesville’s two Confederate statues as the city readies to relocate them.

A Confederate monument that helped spark a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been hoisted off its stone pedestal and hauled away to storage.

A Confederate monument that helped spark a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville is set to come down Saturday, the city announced.

If a court clears the way, the state of Virginia will not just remove a soaring statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Officials in a Virginia city have voted unanimously to remove two statues of Confederate generals, including one that was the focus of a violent white nationalist rally in 2017.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has heard arguments on whether the state has the right to take down a 131-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

The Supreme Court of Virginia is set to hear arguments in legal challenges to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's plan to take down a 131-year-old statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

A Confederate monument that was stolen and became the object of an odd ransom scheme is back in an Alabama cemetery where it once stood.

Workers in Memphis, Tennessee, have begun the process of digging up the remains of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Police in Alabama have issued an arrest warrant for a man in connection with the bizarre theft of a Confederate monument that was taken from an Alabama cemetery and found in Louisiana.

The City of Roanoke has narrowed it down to four possible names for Lee Plaza. It’s the former home of the Confederate memorial in downtown Roanoke and council wants the name changed.

On Thursday night the board tasked with renaming Lee Plaza, the former home of the Confederate memorial, decided it needs more public feedback.

Virginia’s highest court has ruled that the city of Charlottesville can take down two statues of Confederate generals, including one of Robert E.

Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year's wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters here and across the nation by working to make it a felony to damage or destroy any public or private monument or statue. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)PHOENIX – Republicans in the Arizona Legislature are reacting to last year's wave of damage to Confederate monuments by civil rights protesters here and across the nation by working to make it a felony to damage or destroy any public or private monument or statue. Rep. John Kavanagh supported his proposal at a Senate committee hearing Thursday by saying public monuments are a statement by the community that demand more protection. The proposal adds defacing a monument or statue to existing law that makes it a aggravated felony offense to deface a cemetery headstone or church. Scores of Confederate statues, monuments or markers were removed from public land across the country after Floyd’s death.

The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing this afternoon about moving a Confederate monument. The public hearing is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing about tax rates for the next fiscal year. The board will also hold a public hearing about incorporating the amended Oak Grove Plan into the county’s Comprehensive Plan. AdThe Salem School Board could adopt the budget for the next fiscal year.

FINCASTLE, Va. – Botetourt County leaders are holding a public hearing Tuesday to decide the fate of a Confederate monument. The monument currently sits outside the county courthouse in Fincastle. While it will likely be relocated a few hundred yards away, within Courthouse Square, before any move can happen, board members need to hear from the public. “It’s important to get a broad perspective from the people of Botetourt County,” said Clinton. If the board votes to move the monument, there’s a 30-day waiting period to hear offers from museums or historical societies.

RICHMOND, Va. – Gravestones and memorials were toppled and spray-painted at a cemetery in Virginia that holds the graves of two U.S. presidents as well as Confederate soldiers and generals. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that $200,000 worth of damage was done Saturday at the Hollywood Cemetery. More than 18,000 Confederate soldiers and generals are buried there. AdThe damage was done in the Presidents Circle section of the cemetery. That’s where U.S. presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried.

ROANOKE, VA. – The Confederate memorial in downtown Roanoke was removed last summer and now city leaders are working on renaming the plaza where it stood. On Thursday night, the public got to weigh in on what they think Lee Plaza, named after the Confederate General, should be called. A few others liked something more generic such as Patriots Plaza or Freedom Plaza. Roanoke’s Democratic city council has looked unfavorable on Lee Plaza and the memorial over the last few years. A local cemetery took possession of the Confederate memorial and intends to put it on display with appropriate context.

FILE - This June 27, 2017, file photo, shows the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that stands in the middle of a traffic circle on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. A lawsuit seeking to prevent Virginia Gov. Ralph Northams administration from removing an enormous statue of Gen. Lee can proceed, a judge ruled Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, clearing the way for a trial in the fall. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Mark Herring has asked the Supreme Court of Virginia to reject an appeal from a group of Richmond residents seeking to stop the governor from removing an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. In a brief filed Wednesday afternoon, Herring urged the court to reject the plaintiffs’ petition for an appeal outright or expedite the proceedings if the court decides to hear the case. A circuit court judge sided with the state after a trial in October.

FINCASTLE, Va. – The plan to move a Confederate monument in Botetourt County is moving forward. The monument, which is currently in front of the Botetourt County Courthouse, will likely be moved not too far away. On Tuesday, the county’s board of supervisors unanimously accepted a committee’s recommendation to move it a few hundred yards away from its current location to the Botetourt County History Museum and add a plaque to provide historical context. Before any move can happen a public hearing will need to take place. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.

FILE - In this July 31, 2017, file photo, the sun sets behind the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. – A state agency announced Monday that it was installing fencing around an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond that Gov. “As we await the resolution of legal challenges that have delayed the statue’s removal, DGS wants to be prepared to act quickly upon a final determination. The Lee statue is among the largest Confederate tributes in the United States.

Both within and outside the walls of the Capitol, banners and symbols of white supremacy and anti-government extremism were displayed as an insurrectionist mob swarmed the U.S. Capitol. “These displays of white supremacy are not new,” said Lecia Brooks, chief of staff of the Southern Poverty Law Center. While not all the anti-government groups were explicitly white supremacist, Tuchman said many support white supremacist beliefs. “This is their new ‘Lost Cause' and a continuation of the original ‘Lost Cause,'” she said. Brooks said she worries the rampage at the Capitol and proliferation of white supremacist symbols will encourage similar actions at state capitals.

Members of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Honor Guard prepare to raise the new Mississippi State flag at the Capitol in Jackson, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Tate Reeves signed a law that created the new state flag with magnolia at the center, six months after the state retired the last state flag in the U.S. that included the Confederate battle emblem. The law retiring the old flag also specified that the commission's proposed new flag would go on the Nov. 3 ballot for a yes-or-no vote. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the Confederate battle flag for decades. A few dozen people demonstrated on the south steps of the Mississippi Capitol in support of reviving the old flag.

Transformed by leaving the virtually all-white town where she grew up, Dunston has been leading the demonstrations since August. “Everybody’s getting tired,” Marshall County Commission Chairman James Hutcheson said in an interview. Organizing through social media and word of mouth, Dunston decided to take on the Confederate monument. Travis Jackson, a Black Lives Matter activist who lives near Montgomery, said coming to protest in little Albertville is motivating. Counterprotesters are common, including an area Black man who supports the Confederate monument and rebel flag.

BOTETOURT COUNTY, VA. – After months of discussion on where the Botetourt County Confederate Monument should go, a decision is growing near. The monument currently sits in front of the courthouse in Fincastle and it likely won’t be going far, although its new home will not be in front of the courthouse entrance. The committee asked the architects that are renovating courthouse square to find it a new home. “The long and short of that is it will be located not too far from where it has been but the actual location will depend on the reconfiguration of courthouse square itself,” Botetourt County Board of Supervisors member Steve Clinton said. The committee will formally present its research and recommendation to the board in January.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, setting the stage for what would be the first veto override of his presidency. House members voted 322-87 to override the veto, well above the two-thirds needed to override. Trump rejected the defense bill last week, saying it failed to limit social media companies he claims were biased against him during his failed reelection campaign. The veto override was supported by 212 Democrats, 109 Republicans and an independent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a rare break with Trump, had urged passage of the defense bill despite Trump’s veto threat.

This Monday, Dec. 21, 2020 photo provided by the Office of the Governor of Virginia shows a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee being removed from the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington. The statue that has represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years has been removed after a state commission decided that Lee was not a fitting symbol for the state. (Jack Mayer/Office of Governor of Virginia, File)The Robert E. Lee statue that stood in the U.S. Capitol on behalf of the state of Virginia for 111 years has been taken to a museum in Richmond. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the 700-pound bronze statue of Lee arrived Tuesday at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Ralph Northam requested the statue’s removal and a state commission decided that Lee was not a fitting symbol for the state.

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 17: Tourists walk past the Statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that is located inside the US Capitol August 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has called for the removal of all Confederate statues from the United States Capitol. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)WASHINGTON – A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has represented Virginia in the U.S. Capitol for 111 years has been removed. The Washington Post reports that workers removed the statue from Statuary Hall early Monday morning. Lee’s statue had stood with George Washington’s statue since 1909 as Virginia’s representatives in the Capitol’s honorary hall.

The Pentagon has endorsed a new slate of initiatives to expand diversity within the ranks and reduce prejudice, including in recruiting, retention and professional development across the force. After extensive wrangling and debate, Esper this summer issued a directive that banned the display of the Confederate flag, without mentioning the word “ban” or that specific flag. Confederate flags, monuments and military base names became a national flashpoint in the weeks after Floyd's death. Ten major Army installations are named for Confederate Army officers, mostly senior generals, including Robert E. Lee. Among the 10 is Fort Benning, the namesake of Confederate Army Gen. Henry L. Benning, who was a leader of Georgia’s secessionist movement and an advocate of preserving slavery.

ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. – Arlington County is changing its logo to remove a stylized version of its namesake mansion because of its ties to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The county announced Wednesday that its County Board voted unanimously to adopt a new logo. The current depicts the pillars of Arlington House, a mansion overlooking the Potomac River that was Lee’s home before the Civil War. The change comes as Confederate names and symbols are removed from schools, roads and parks across Virginia and the South. It also comes shortly after northern Virginia congressional members introduced legislation to end the official designation of Arlington House, a National Park Service site surrounded by Arlington National Cemetery - as a “Robert E. Lee Memorial.”

RICHMOND, Va. – Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has announced a proposal to spend $25 million to transform historical sites in Virginia, including the Richmond spot where a soaring statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee became a focal point of protests against racism. Northam said at a news conference Friday that nearly $11 million of the money would be used to reconstruct Richmond’s Monument Avenue, a historical boulevard that was lined with the Lee statue and other Confederate monuments for more than a century. His budget proposal would require the approval of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.

The Stonewall Jackson statue being removed from its location on VMI's campus on Dec. 7, 2020. LEXINGTON, Va. – Virginia Military Institute starting the process of relocating its Stonewall Jackson Statue on Monday. “VMI does not define itself by this statue and that is why this move is appropriate. We are defined by our unique system of education and the quality and character of the graduates the Institute produces. Once all parts have arrived, crews will work to install the statue in the roundabout in front of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War.

BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – The Confederate monument in front of the Botetourt County Courthouse is likely to be on the move and should end up in one of two places. That is what the Committee on Monuments and Memorials in Botetourt County is set to recommend to the Board of Supervisors next month. In mid-2020, county leaders set their eyes on the monument and formed the committee. Board of Supervisors member Steve Clinton is a member and said early on their decision was clear. “I’m sure the recommendation will have a great deal of influence on what the board decides, but the final decision is in the hands of the board of supervisors,” Clinton said.

Republicans are vowing they will not send the broader bill to Trump if it includes language requiring bases named after Confederate officers to be renamed. “It's Senate language that we want to agree to," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash. “So there shouldn't be controversy here." “Look, the defense bill is really important," Smith said, expressing hope that Republicans would relent. Both the House and Senate defense measures passed by veto-proof margins but GOP leaders want to avoid the chances of a veto coming to pass. The Associated Press erroneously reported that failure to pass the legislation could hold up a pay raise for the military.

The Confederate monument outside Franklin County’s courthouse is staying put. Officials voted on Tuesday to keep the monument, which stands outside the courthouse in Rocky Mount, in place. This comes after voters weighed in on a nonbinding referendum, with more than half voting to leave the statue instead of moving it to a museum or other historical site. Some of the supervisors talked about the possibility of putting a plaque near the monument to add context during Tuesday’s meeting, but the board pushed that discussion to a later date.

A judge in Virginia has dismissed charges against a Black state senator who police said conspired to damage a Confederate monument in the city of Portsmouth. The Virginian-Pilot reports that the charges against Sen. Louise Lucas were dismissed Monday at the request of the city’s top prosecutor. The Commonwealth’s Attorney said the elements of the charges weren’t properly met. The charges stemmed from a protest in June during which heads were ripped off some of the monument’s statues. Many said the charges against Lucas were political and unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny.

In Franklin County, voters overwhelmingly said “no” to relocating a Confederate statue from the courthouse grounds. Bridgette Craighead is the founder of the Franklin County chapter of Black Lives Matter, and she said she wasn’t surprised by the result. “I also know that a lot of the white people don’t know what’s going on or why we feel so strongly about the Confederate statue," Craighead said. Leland Mitchell is the chairman in Franklin County and said he was surprised more people didn’t vote to remove it. “If they have a heart, I would hope that they would vote to remove it," Craighead said.

The magnolia flower centered banner chosen Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020 by the Mississippi State Flag Commission flies outside the Old State Capitol Museum in downtown Jackson, Miss. – Mississippi will fly a new state flag with a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust,” with voters approving the design Tuesday. It replaces a Confederate-themed flag state lawmakers retired months ago as part of the national reckoning over racial injustice. The final push for changing the Mississippi flag came from business, education, religious and sports groups — including, notably, the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the Southeastern Conference. Separately, supporters of the old Mississippi flag are starting an initiative that could revive the old flag by putting the Confederate-themed banner and some other designs up for a statewide vote.

LEXINGTON, Va. – Virginia Military Institute is removing a symbol of its history: the Stonewall Jackson monument on Post. You know, Stonewall Jackson or these other Confederate traditions that they continue to uphold” said Tucker. On the app, Bunton said that cadets have talked about protecting the statue at all costs and putting up a 24/7 guard. Though he said that there is a heritage at VMI and that Stonewall Jackson should not be viewed through a 21st century lens. “It’s much larger than the Jackson statue.

Two Confederate symbols could be on the move. In Franklin County and Halifax County, voters will voice their opinions as to what they think should happen to them. In both cases, county leaders are just looking to gauge public opinion, as the decision to move either symbol still completely rests with each county’s board of supervisors. When 10 News reported on this issue in Franklin County back in July, board chairman Leland Mitchell said the results would be non-binding and the board would not just toss the vote aside. Below, you’ll notice that the election results below refer to a Confederate statue in Franklin County and a Confederate monument in Halifax County.

LEXINGTON, Va. – After months of debate, VMI’s Board of Visitors voted Thursday afternoon to move the college’s Stonewall Jackson statue. “The board should consider addressing social issues, and that’s what we are here to address today," said J. William Boland, the VMI Board of Visitors president, during the meeting. Along with moving the Confederate statue, the board of visitors wants to implement more actions to increase the school’s diversity. The board recommended considering some of VMI graduate and Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy’s recommendations to improve the institute. Boland asked the board to submit their desired qualifications for the next superintendent to Scott within the next 10 days.

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – A group of protesters took their opposition of Franklin County’s Confederate monument to the street Saturday afternoon. The “Caravan For Justice" slowed their cars and honked their horns outside of the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount. Voters in Franklin County will decide whether or not to relocate the statue during the November election. “It’s time to move Franklin County forward," Turnage, who is Black, said. My daughter wants to be a lawyer; she can’t walk in that building and be a lawyer.”A Confederate monument has stood tall outside of the courthouse since 1910.

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – Election night is deeper than just who you may vote for in Franklin County. Voters will decide whether a Confederate monument will continue to live outside the county courthouse or be taken down. Henry Turnage, a Franklin County native, says the monument sends a negative message to the people of color in his community. “You can’t run people of color in there and tell them they can receive justice," said Turnage. The group will caravan from Mary Elizabeth Park to the statue before heading to Pig River for a small rally.

Across the nation, there are now fewer symbols of the Confederacy as 102 of them have been removed since the death of George Floyd in May. Virginia has removed the most Confederate symbols of any state with 40, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC said that June and July each saw 38 symbols removed, with 13 in August, 12 in September and one this month. The organization said it track symbols that celebrate the Confederacy on public land, meaning symbols in graveyards, battlefields, on private property, or those erected in the spirit of reconciliation are not included in its count. Below is a list of the 102 symbols that have been removed:

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 30, 2020 file photo, Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration employees Willie Townsend, left, and Joe Brown, attach a Mississippi state flag to the harness before raising it over the Capitol grounds in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t named in any of the 120 statewide ballot measures up for a vote on Nov. 3. But this year's nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice are major factors in the campaigns in several states for measures with distinctive racial themes. In Mississippi and Rhode Island, Black supporters of the ballot measures hope this year’s nationwide spotlight on racial injustice will bring a different outcome than when similar proposals were on the ballot previously. In Utah, the slavery measure’s lead sponsor was Rep. Sandra Hollins, the only Black person now serving in the Legislature.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. – A county in Virginia spent more than $100,000 to take down its Confederate statue and hold and event around the removal. The Daily Progress reported Tuesday that the cost to pay a construction company for the removal in Albemarle County cost about $60,000. But there were also costs that included staff overtime, setting up barricades and live-streaming the event because of virus restrictions. Last month, the county removed the “At Ready” soldier statue and its base from outside its courthouse. In Charlottesville three years ago, hundreds of white supremacists gathered in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – In a state where Confederate monuments have stood for more than a century and have recently become a flashpoint in the national debate over racial injustice, Virginians remain about evenly divided on whether the statues should stay or go, according to a new poll. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead had its origins in a city debate over whether to remove Confederate statues. On another topic, the poll found only about 1 in 4 Virginians support keeping schools in the state completely closed to in-person learning. According to the poll, only 27% of Virginians say K-12 schools should not reopen at all, and 22% say the same about colleges.

In a state where Confederate monuments have stood for more than a century and have recently become a flashpoint in the national debate over racial injustice, Virginians remain about evenly divided on whether the statues should stay or go, according to a new poll. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The poll conducted this month by Hampton University and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46% support removal of Confederate statues and 42% oppose removal. The 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead had its origins in a city debate over whether to remove Confederate statues. On another topic, the poll found only about 1 in 4 Virginians support keeping schools in the state completely closed to in-person learning.

A judge in Virginia has appointed a county prosecutor to investigate whether Richmond’s mayor broke any laws when his administration hired a company to remove the city’s Confederate monuments. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday that Richmond Circuit Court Judge Joi Taylor has appointed Augusta Commonwealth’s Attorney Timothy Martin. The Levar Stoney administration originally authorized a $1.8 million contract with the company NAH LLC for the removal of Richmond’s Confederate monuments in July. Confederate statues have been coming down throughout the southern United States in the wake of protests against racism and police brutality. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A crowd cheered Saturday as workers in Charlottesville removed a Confederate statue near the site of a violent white nationalist rally three years ago. The removal of a bronze figure of a Confederate soldier known as “At Ready” is seen in Charlottesville as a milestone in eliminating divisive symbols of the Civil War. The process of removing the statue began Saturday morning as workers affixed straps to the 900-pound statute to prepare to remove it from its base. A crowd of about 100 people cheered behind metal barricades as the figure was lifted from its pedestal and lowered to the ground. The statue has been outside the Albermarle County courthouse for 111 years.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Officials in a Virginia county say its Confederate soldier statue, cannons and cannonballs are being relocated to a battlefield in the Shenandoah Valley after they are removed on Saturday. The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reports the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to give the items to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, a historic-preservation group. The foundation was one of 10 applicants to receive the statue and its accessories, which the board had voted unanimously in August to remove. The statue currently sits in front of the county courthouse on Albemarle property that was never annexed by the city.

A Virginia county has voted to change the name of a 12-mile section of highway that currently honors former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. WJLA-TV reports that the Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the change to the stretch of U.S. Route 1 on Wednesday. The highway runs the entire eastern length of the county outside of Washington and through other portions of the state. The vote allows the board to petition the Commonwealth Transportation Board in Richmond for a formal change. The county plans to rename it Richmond Highway, following moves by neighboring Arlington County and Alexandria.

LEXINGTON, Va. – After weeks of conversation, the Lexington City Council voted Thursday night to change the name of a cemetery named after a Confederate general. Effective immediately, Stonewall Jackson Cemetery has been renamed Oak Grove Cemetery. “That area of Lexington probably in the 1700s was a grove of Oak Grove,” said Mayor Frank Friedman. Signage and other materials will soon change on the property. Mayor Friedman said city staff will begin that work immediately.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. The police chief in Portsmouth, Virginia, is on paid leave nearly three weeks after her department charged a state senator and several others from the city's Black community with conspiring to a damage a Confederate monument. City spokeswoman Dana Woodson confirmed in an email on Friday that Chief Angela Greene is on leave and that an assistant police chief will assume her duties in the meantime. Allies of State Sen. Louise Lucas in Richmond have called the felony charges against her legally weak and political. The case is based on words that police say Lucas spoke in the hours before protesters ripped heads off Confederate statues and pulled one down, critically injuring a demonstrator. Greene became Portsmouth's police chief in 2019 after chief Tonya Chapman resigned.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. Another Confederate statue is slated for removal in Virginia. Removal work will be livestreamed on the countys Facebook page instead of allowing in-person observance because of the coronavirus pandemic. The county said it also will be airing interviews and lectures about the statue. The Board of Supervisors will hold a special virtual meeting next week to review statements of interest from those who want the statue. State law requires the board to offer the statue to organizations including a museum, historical society or battlefield.

Ralph Northam's administration from removing an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee can proceed, a judge ruled Tuesday, clearing the way for a trial in the fall. Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant rejected much of the state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of property owners along the residential boulevard where the statue is situated. Herring has vowed to continue the fight in court as long as it takes to see that the statue is removed. Critics of the statues say they distastefully glorify people who fought to preserve slavery in the South. Four other prominent statues of Confederate leaders have been taken down from city property along the avenue this summer.