Teachers in Harrisonburg, Virginia, do not have to ask for or use students’ preferred pronouns after a lawsuit settlement Tuesday.

Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh and Laura Nelson filed a suit in June 2022 against the Harrisonburg City School Board saying their rights protected in the Commonwealth’s Free Speech Clause and the Virginia Religious Freedom Restoration Act had been violated by compelling speech to which they object.

The lawsuit stemmed from the teachers having to undergo training to ensure they were compliant with the school board’s nondiscrimination policy, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented the teachers. The training entailed requiring teachers to ask a student’s “preferred” name and pronouns and to always use them. 

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The teachers said they were also expected to do so without notifying parents or seeking their consent. The Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ nondiscrimination policy threatened discipline against teachers and even “termination” for noncompliance.

The two sides reached an agreement when the school board granted the teachers religious accommodations Tuesday. 

In the settlement, the school board maintained that they do not require staff to ask for or use students’ preferred names and pronouns and “[do] not support hiding or withholding information from parents.” The board agreed to continue to inform staff about religious accommodations that are available.

ADF senior counsel Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said that all teachers are protected “under the Constitution to do their job in alignment with their religious beliefs, including how they refer to their students and the vital information they share with parents.”

“We are pleased to favorably resolve this case on behalf of our clients and ensure that the Harrisonburg City School Board will respect every teacher’s right to speak consistent with her faith,” Anderson said.

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The Alliance Defending Freedom scored a legal victory in the Rockingham County Circuit Court Tuesday, representing Christian teachers who challenged the Harrisonburg City Public Schools. 

The Harrisonburg City Public School Board said in a statement, “The Harrisonburg City School Division is pleased to see this litigation resolved. From the start, our focus has been to support all students and employees with dignity and respect. Before the litigation began, we were open to collaborating on accommodations for diverse needs, as evidenced by our correspondence with ADF in early 2022.

“Our commitment is reflected in School Board policies and actions, including the adoption of a formal religious accommodations policy (Policy 682) over a year ago and the implementation of training for employees this August. These efforts demonstrate our dedication to fostering a respectful and inclusive environment.

“This case concludes because the processes we have always encouraged—both informal and formal—proved effective. We are gratified by this resolution and wish it could have been accomplished without litigation.”

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ADF won a similar case in November involving a Virginia school board firing a teacher for refusing to use a student’s preferred pronouns.

An ADF attorney told Fox News Digital at the time that the settlement had “seismic implications.”

“It protects all teachers in Virginia and its rationale should guide other courts addressing similar issues,” ADF president and CEO Kristen Waggoner said.

The Virginia-based West Point School Board agreed to pay a former high school teacher, Peter Vlaming, $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees after he refused to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns.

A father of three was shot and killed while driving home from his job installing Christmas lights at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

According to the Houston Police Department, detectives responded to a vehicle crash along a busy interstate at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 2.

Authorities found the driver, identified as 37-year-old Robert Schorovsky, in critical condition at the scene. Police said that he had been shot “at least one time.”

“We’re all in shock. It’s been rough. Just one gunshot—no holes in the truck, no windows shot out. Just the one,” his wife, Brittany Ray, told KHOU11.

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Schorovsky was transported by the Houston Fire Department to Ben Taub General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on Nov. 4. 

The 37-year-old was a father of three children, aged 9, 11, and 14.

A flyer asking the public’s help in identifying who killed Robert Schorovsky. (CrimeStoppers)

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His obituary described him as family-oriented and a hard worker.

“Robbie loved to spend time with the family and make lasting memories. If he was not working, you might see him down at the neighborhood pond fishing to clear his mind,” the obituary said. “There are many memories with the kids hiking, bike riding, and traveling that they will forever hold in their hearts. He was a hard worker and took pride that he could fix just about anything – including his white Chevy truck.”

“His focus was on making and keeping his Brittany happy and would go as far as riding roller coasters with her even though he hated them,” it said. “Robbie loved with all his heart and enjoyed helping those around him when he could.”

Police are investigating a homicide that killed 37-year-old Robert Schorovsky. (Houston Police Department )

Police said that there are no known witnesses or suspects. 

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Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. Crimestoppers is offering a $5,000 reward.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Houston Police Department for comment.

White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby maintained that the government still lacks definitive answers regarding the nature of reported drone sightings as public frustration intensifies.

“Many of the corroborated sightings have turned out to be piloted aircraft. I didn’t say all of them, and what I said was those are the ones we were able to corroborate,” Kirby said on “The Story.” “There certainly is ones that we have not been able to, and we don’t know the answer to it, and I strongly recommend that for folks that are seeing these things and documenting them to share that as they can with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.”

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In a Wednesday letter to Biden, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president for more federal resources to address drone sightings, noting that the federal law limits the ability of state and local law enforcement to counter drones.

“… it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” Murphy wrote. “The continued reporting of UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) activity has raised more questions than answers and prompted an outcropping of conspiracy theories across social media and other platforms.”

Kirby addressed the possibility that the reported drone sightings could be linked to a private company, saying that they “could very well be” commercially developed drones of some kind. 

“Why don’t we know? I wish I could tell you exactly why we don’t have an answer for you here in the afternoon on the 13th of December,” Kirby said. “But I can tell you that we are working on it very, very hard to know, because we want to answer those questions the same as those folks in New Jersey want answers to them.”

Kirby disclosed that there was an inter-agency conversation Friday morning about the topic. 

“We have now decided to employ some additional technology to New Jersey and some additional personnel to try to get a better sense of what these things are,” he said. 

New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra took a photo of what appears to be multiple drones hovering in the New Jersey sky on Thursday, Dec. 13. (Paul Kanitra / “Fox News @ Night”)

Monmouth County, N.J., Sheriff Shaun Golden urged officials to declare a state of emergency over the drone sightings, issuing a statement Wednesday evening. The release included a heat map showing the density of drones spotted across his county:

A heat map indicating drone activity in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  (Courtesy: Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office)

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Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., whose district includes parts of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, recounted spending Monday night on a beach where he spoke with several individuals, including a U.S. Coast Guard commanding officer stationed in Barnegat Light. 

According to the commander, he said, a 47-foot Coast Guard vessel had been closely followed by more than a dozen drones the previous night.

Monmouth and Burlington Counties are home to several military installations, including Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

On Thursday, Middletown, N.J., Mayor Tony Perry expressed his “concerns” to Fox News regarding the drone sightings near Naval Weapons Station Earle’s waterfront site in his town, 14 miles north of the Colts Neck installation.

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“I’m not going to lie to you or to the American people, and I’m not going to say we know something when we don’t,” Kirby said. “We would never, ever stoop to think that an American citizen was crazy or nuts because of what they’re seeing and what they’re documenting. We’re taking that imagery seriously, and we’re doing the best we can to analyze it, and we encourage people to come forward if they have additional sightings and imagery.” 

President-elect Trump on Friday posted a message on his Truth Social account that contrasted his 2023 mugshot with his Time magazine cover.

Trump was named Time’s Person of the Year this week, which included a cover and an in-depth interview as he prepares to take office for the second time. 

“How it started, how it’s going,” Trump wrote with his mugshot on the left side and his Time cover on the right. 

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Trump’s mugshot was taken in May 2023 when he was processed at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta after being indicted on election racketeering charges.  

The magazine announced Trump, who faced an assassination attempt last summer and won the first nonconsecutive U.S. presidential term since Grover Cleveland in the 19th century, had been named its Person of the Year Thursday. 

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President-elect Trump speaks at a reception at the New York Stock Exchange after being named Time’s Person of the Year for the second time Dec. 12, 2024, in New York City.  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Trump, in a ceremony after the announcement, called it an “honor.” 

‘Thank you very much for doing it,” he said. “Thank the whole group at Time. Really professional people.” 

Trump, during a ceremony after the announcement, called it an “honor.”  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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He was first named the magazine’s Person of the Year after his first presidential win in 2016. 

Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries, an expert said Friday.

The first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking examination at a research center near the New Zealand city of Dunedin, the local people who led the scientific team, Te Rūnanga Ōtākou, said in a statement issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

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A near-perfectly preserved 5-meter (16-foot) male was found washed up on a South Island beach in July. It was the first complete specimen ever recorded. There have only been seven known sightings and never of a living spade-toothed whale.

New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton van Helden said the whale’s broken jaw and bruising to the head and neck led scientists to believe that head trauma may have caused its death.

“We don’t know, but we suspect there must have been some sort of trauma, but what caused that could be anyone’s guess,” van Helden said in a statement.

All varieties of beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers didn’t know how the spade-toothed type processed its food.

The scientific team found the specimen had nine stomach chambers containing remnants of squid and parasitic worms, the statement said.

Among the more interesting finds were tiny vestigial teeth in the upper jaw.

“These little teeth embedded in the gum tells us something about their evolutionary history. It’s remarkable to see this and it’s just another thing that we had no idea about,” van Helden said.

“It’s a week I’ll never forget in my life, it’s certainly a highlight and it’s the start of the storytelling around this beautiful animal,” van Helden added.

The dissection was also notable because scientists and curators worked together with local Māori people to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and customs into each step of the process.

Following the dissection, the local iwi, or tribe, will keep the jawbone and teeth of the whale before its skeleton is displayed in a museum. 3D printing will be used to replicate those parts retained by the iwi.

To Māori, whales are a taonga -– a precious treasure -– and the creature has been treated with the reverence afforded to an ancestor.

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New Zealand is a whale-stranding hotspot, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation.

The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand’s Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986.

Tennessee Titans rookie cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. shared a powerful message this week after he went viral on social media for his generous gesture at a restaurant in Nashville that a single mother of six says helped her pay rent and afford winter clothing. 

Kristie Johnson, a waitress, recalled the encounter in a post on social media. She said that after the NFL player was asked for an autograph, he took it upon himself to bless her and her family further.

“He then proceeds to ask for my Cash App and sends me more than enough to pay the rest of my rent and get winter clothes for my kids,” she wrote in the post. 

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“He doesn’t even know how bad I needed this help.” 

Speaking to reporters about it this week, Brownlee said he planned to help out several people this month ahead of Christmas when he and his family went to dinner in Nashville after Sunday’s game.

That’s where he met Johnson and heard she was a single mother of six.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said. “My mom was a single parent raising three on her own, and for her to have six, I know it’s harder than what my mom went through. So, for me, just having the chance to help her — man, it touched me. It touched my family. It touched my mom.” 

Tennessee Titans cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. greets fans after a loss against the Minnesota Vikings at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Nov. 17, 2024. (Imagn)

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Speaking to FOX 17, Brownlee shared a message to Johnson, thanking her for allowing him to help her family. 

“God bless you, Kristie,” Brownlee said. “I appreciate you for letting me help you. It’s something that I always planned on doing with just being in this level of profession. This is my dream, and one of my dreams was to always give back no matter where it’s from. No matter if it’s in my community or any other community.

“Nashville is a part of me now. It’s home,” he added. “I look forward to giving back to other families as well, and I hope you’re prepared for dinner. Thank you, God bless you and I look forward to seeing you soon.”

Minnesota Vikings tight end Josh Oliver (84) looks for an opening against Tennessee Titans cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (29) during the second quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville Nov. 17, 2024. (Imagn)

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Brownlee said he is also planning to take the family out to dinner. 

A fifth-round draft pick out of Louisville, Brownlee has started in every game since Week 4. He has 55 tackles and one interception in 13 games this season. 

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