TOP STORIES: VB school board on DEI, USS Forrest Sherman's departure, Israel's plans for Gaza
The Virginia Beach School Board is set to meet at 5 p.m. on Tuesday to discuss their suspension of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. This special meeting follows rulings from several judges against President Donald Trump's executive order to eliminate DEI in public K-12 education. The resolution to suspend DEI policies was passed by the Virginia Beach School Board in a 6-3 vote without comment on April 8 . This stems from the Trump administration threatening to pull federal funding from schools that do not comply with their directive. In Virginia Beach, that would amount to about $74 million — funds that supporters of the resolution argue are critical to the community. On April 22, over 100 people signed up to speak at a Virginia Beach School Board meeting. As of then, school leaders said no extracurricular activities were halted due to the resolution. Programs such as Tide Coalition and Beach Girls Rock are not impacted, while others, like the African American Male Summit, remain under review. The Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was renamed to the Office of Achievement and Opportunity as a result of the resolution.The USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) is set to depart from Naval Station Norfolk on Tuesday for a regularly scheduled deployment. This will be the ship's first deployment since Dec. 2022. The USS Forrest Sherman is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer which is capable of air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, naval surface fire support, and surface warfare. Roughly 300 sailors are carried on the ship. During its time in Hampton Roads, the ship and crew went through months of training, maintenance, and certification events. In 2022, the USS Forrest Sherman operated in Europe and participated in various maritime activities to support Naval Forces Europe and NATO allies.
Israel has approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip, staying in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, according to Israeli officials. This plan involves displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza to the south. This plan, approved by Israeli Cabinet ministers, will activate tens of thousands of Israeli reservists to enter areas of Gaza that had previously been unaffected. The Israeli military is also expected to change the method for aid to enter Gaza — it's envisioned that aid will be distributed by contractors directly to Palestinians on the ground in order to keep it out of the hands of Hamas. However, aid groups and the United Nations say this plan is unrealistic, claiming that it essentially involves using aid as a military tool. Over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed due to Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza, with nearly a third of the dead being under 18, local health authorities say. Israel has captured swaths of territory in Gaza and now controls roughly 50% of the strip. Before the ceasefire ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.
