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CBS host presses former AG Eric Holder on defending partisan redistricting efforts in Virginia
Margaret Brennan pressed Eric Holder on Sunday over whether Democratic-backed redistricting efforts in Virginia amount to partisan “stacking the deck,” as the former Barack Obama official defended the proposal as a response to Republican-led map drawing nationwide during an appearance on “Face the Nation.”
“So by holding this referendum and changing the maps, how do you guarantee that this is temporary and that this doesn’t keep happening?” Brennan asked, after questioning how drawing maps along partisan lines is not simply “stacking the deck.”
Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, framed the push as part of a broader effort to counter Republican gains in states such as Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.
“This is really a national fight. It’s not a fight only about Virginia,” Holder said. “What Virginia is doing, what California did is only in response to that which Republicans started in Texas.”
SOROS-BACKED GROUP AMONG LIBERAL ORGS PUMPING EYE-POPPING CASH INTO VIRGINIA GERRYMANDERING EFFORT
Brennan pointed to Virginia’s existing bipartisan redistricting commission, suggesting it already provided a fairer system and questioning why Democrats were seeking to alter it.
“In Virginia, there already was a bipartisan commission that was set up to do these things… that sounds fair,” Brennan said.
Holder responded that the current proposal is limited in scope and tied directly to voter approval.
“The measure itself says that it is time-limited,” Holder said. “It is only for this cycle, an additional cycle, and after the census that could be changed again.”
BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE RUNS THROUGH VIRGINIA AS COURT OKS HIGH-STAKES REDISTRICTING VOTE
Brennan further pressed whether the move signaled Democrats lacked confidence in winning under current conditions, noting historical midterm trends and political headwinds facing the president’s party.
“Why do Democrats need to do this? It sounds like it’s acknowledging that the Democratic Party can’t win on its own,” Brennan said.
Holder rejected that characterization, framing the effort as a necessary countermeasure.
“The Democrats can certainly win if it’s a fair fight,” Holder said. “It wasn’t going to be a fair fight nationally if you try to steal seats in Texas, in North Carolina, and in Missouri.”
Brennan also cited Holder’s past statements opposing partisan gerrymandering, including warnings that it leads to governments that do not reflect voter preferences and contributes to political gridlock.
“If we don’t respond to that which they are trying to do, we could lose our democracy,” Holder said. “And not have the ability to get back to that fairness fight.”
Brennan also raised criticism from redistricting advocates, including concerns that proposed maps in Virginia could dilute Black political influence.
“What’s in this for us?” Brennan said, referencing criticism from the National Black Nonpartisan Redistricting Organization.
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“That’s simply untrue,” Holder responded. “Do you think that another two years of unchecked Trump power is in the best interest of African-Americans in this nation? No.”
“I hope we’ll pass federal legislation that will ban partisan gerrymandering just outright and do away with this altogether,” Holder said.
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Ted Danson says Bill Clinton grilled him about his ‘intentions’ with Mary Steenburgen using Secret Service
Ted Danson’s early romance with Mary Steenburgen included a high-stakes moment at the White House.
Danson, 78, recalled an intense one-on-one with then-President Bill Clinton that centered around the actor’s “intentions” with Steenburgen — a close, personal friend of the Clintons.
“One of the first things she did was take me to meet her dear friends in the White House,” Danson recalled while moderating a History Talks panel alongside Bill and Hillary Clinton, according to Variety. “Bill — Mr. President — took me around the corner, and there were three Secret Service agents behind him, all of them looking at me. The president asked me what my intentions were.”
“My first question is to you, Mr. President: Do you think that was fair?” the “Cheers” star quipped.
TED DANSON ADMITS FILMING LOVE SCENES WITH STRANGERS MAKES HIM FEEL ‘GUILTY’ AND ‘WRONG’
“No, but it was effective,” Clinton replied. “And I didn’t think I had to be fair. As it turned out, you became the best thing that ever happened to her.”
The couple met in 1993 while on the set of the movie “Pontiac Moon” and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most-loved couples. They got married in October 1995 in a ceremony on Martha’s Vineyard.
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When speaking about their relationship to People in February 2021, Danson explained he knew he had to propose to her because he “couldn’t imagine not being with her at all times.”
“Not to sound corny, but I would sign up for 100 more lifetimes,” Steenburgen told the outlet. “He makes me a better person. He’s a truly beautiful human being. A great big soul. I love how he sees the world and how he cares about people, and he’s deeply hilarious, which is super, super sexy to me, and he smells really nice.”
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After years of leading successful careers, Danson and Steenburgen got the opportunity to work together on Netflix’s “Man on the Inside.” Steenburgen joined the cast for season 2 of the comedy as the love interest for Danson’s character.
Steenburgen told People in November 2025 when she found out she had landed the role, “there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down … because we were so excited to work together.”
“We’re both actors,” Danson told the outlet. “We were trained the same way. We had some really good material to work with. We’d get up every morning giggling about what we get to do.”
Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.
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Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson sound off on California business climate, say state deserves to be ‘s— on’
Comedian Bill Maher and actor Woody Harrelson unloaded on the state of California over its business climate during Maher’s “Club Random” podcast on Monday.
Maher and Harrelson co-own a cannabis dispensary and lounge in West Hollywood called The Woods. The pair discussed the difficulties of owning a pot shop in the liberal state.
“We’re trying. It’s not easy to make a business work in California,” Maher said as he explained why he decided to record the April 20 episode at the pot store.
Harrelson agreed and added, “California just messes with every business.”
CALIFORNIA’S LOOMING CAPITAL FLIGHT PROBLEM COULD RESHAPE STATE IN 3 KEY AREAS
“I mean, I don’t want to like start this off — why not? Why, just s—ing on California. But California deserves to be s— on for a lot of this kind of stuff. And people know and this is why people flee the state,” Maher continued.
The comedian said it “sucks” to do any kind of business in California, but said the state still treats cannabis like it’s “poison.”
“They treat it like you’re lucky that we allow you to do this, and so we’re going to tax you 35%, which is way more. It’s more than double anything,” Harrelson said.
California has a 15% gross receipts tax on the retail sale of cannabis or any cannabis product. It briefly rose to 19% in 2025, but a bill passed in September brought it back down to 15%.
LEGAL MARIJUANA GROWERS ALONG THE WEST COAST STRUGGLE WITH OVERSUPPLY, SEEK INTERSTATE SALES
However, with other local taxes and the state’s sales tax, the rate can exceed 30%.
Later in the discussion, the pair said business at their store was picking up, and Harrelson hammered the tax rate again.
“But I tell you what, there’s nothing we can do when the government is charging 35%. Like they can’t tax us 35%, it’s not right,” he said.
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California metro areas have seen net losses from businesses and corporations leaving the state, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, with a net loss of 156 headquarters since 2018.
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Orange Crush beach blowout nets 26 arrests, cops seize makeshift machine gun as massive crowd tests crackdown
Tybee Island’s controversial Orange Crush weekend ended with 26 arrests and five firearms seized, including one weapon police say had been converted into a makeshift machine gun capable of fully automatic fire.
Between Friday, April 17, and Sunday, April 19, the Tybee Island Police Department and Georgia State Patrol made a total of 26 arrests during the annual beach bash, according to preliminary figures provided to Fox News Digital by Tybee Island Police Capt. Emory Randolph.
Of those arrests, 19 were made by Tybee Island police and seven were made by the Georgia State Patrol. The total marks four more arrests than last year’s event, when authorities made 22 arrests over the weekend. There were 54 arrests during Orange Crush in 2024 and 26 in 2023.
No other details on the arrests were immediately available.
Police also handed out 100 traffic citations over the three-day span, with 49 issued by Tybee Island officers and 51 by state troopers.
During the same period, the island’s 911 center handled 297 calls for service, Randolph said.
The annual event branded this year as “Crush Reloaded,” returned to Tybee Island over the weekend with organizers promoting it online as “THE BIGGEST HBCU BEACH BASH IS BACK” and saying more than 50,000 people were expected.
WATCH: Tybee Island mayor says Orange Crush Reloaded is no longer ‘destructive’
Tybee Island Mayor Brian West told Fox News Digital the city’s security approach closely mirrored what authorities have used in recent years.
“It’s pretty similar to what we did last year. It looks like we might have more people this year, but we put in a safety protocol three years ago that seems to be pretty effective. And it’s pretty much what we’ve seen for the past three years now,” West told Fox News Digital.
West said authorities brought in help from agencies across the region and the state, including the Georgia State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources, Motor Carrier Division, Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, Chatham County Police Department and Tybee Island’s own police force.
West said the stepped-up safety measures followed problems in 2023, when he said people who were not college students came to the event and brought “drugs and guns.”
“We had a really bad situation in 2023. And what happened was we had a lot of people that came to this event that weren’t college students. They were older people that were trying to take advantage of the group, and they were bringing drugs and guns,” West said. “And with the security that we put in place, we’ve been able to filter those people out. And so now we have college students that are here, and it’s more of a spring break type group than it is a destructive type group.”
He also said city leaders have found the event runs more smoothly when students have organized entertainment.
“It really works much better when we work together and have some type of activity for the students to do. In the past, when they just showed up, they kinda had to make their own fun. And sometimes that fun really wasn’t the best thing to be doing,” West said. “So when there’s an activity, when there is a band, when there are things to keep their attention, it works much better.”
WATCH: CEO of Orange Crush says event is ‘rebranded’ with collaboration with police, city
Orange Crush Reloaded CEO Steven Smalls similarly told Fox News Digital the event is intended to give college students a place to celebrate safely.
“It’s about the college students more than anything to come out and have a good time and focus on the graduation that’s coming up in May. It’s a college-based thing and hopefully in the future I’m able to give back to some student debt relief and hopefully one day help one of SSU (Savannah State University) students. Give one of these kids a scholarship if I do good out here, you know, just put back towards the college community,” Smalls said.
Smalls said the rebranded event and cooperation with city officials helped create a better environment for attendees.
WATCH: ILLEGAL STREET RACING ‘TAKEOVER’ EXPLODES AS HUNDREDS SWARM STREETS AND SUSPECTS BOLT
“This is the rebrand. I think that’s probably the best thing that happened. I love the way the relationship is built, and I understand what they got going on, and they understand what I have going on. And working together, it became just right here what you see today,” Smalls said.
He also argued that the organized festival helps channel the crowds.
“If I wasn’t doing this, then they would just be popping out here. There wouldn’t be no sound, no entertainment. It wouldn’t nothing for them to do, it’d just be them being so pushed out. So me bringing the entertainment and me being here, they come out here to have fun. The police presence, that helps you be safe,” Smalls said.
Known for drawing massive crowds to the small Georgia beach town, Orange Crush has long stirred controversy among residents and law enforcement because of past violence, arrests and trash left behind in its wake.
Ahead of this year’s festivities, Tybee Island officials said they were heightening enforcement and preparing for an influx of visitors, as local concerns grew over public safety and so-called “teen takeovers” that have been reported around the country and in the region.
“Rest assured that we have heard you and that public safety will always be our top priority,” Randolph previously told Fox News Digital when asked about residents’ concerns over the event.
Beginning Thursday before the festival weekend, residents and visitors saw an increased law enforcement presence from various local and state agencies across the island. Authorities also launched a road safety checkpoint on Highway 80, carved out emergency lanes on main roads and closed the 14th and 16th Street parking lots in an effort to maintain order.
WATCH: Teen takeover in Georgia caught on camera
On April 4, police said an unpermitted pop-up event near the Tybee Island Pier and Pavilion was interrupted by gunfire after hundreds of teens gathered in the area.
Officers said they heard a single gunshot around 6:30 p.m., sending the crowd running.
Orange Crush dates back decades and earned a reputation in the early 1990s as a rowdy, crime-filled weekend.
The festival later moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2021, citing issues including limited parking, lack of resources and alleged civil rights concerns, before returning to Tybee Island in 2023 for the first time since 2020.
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