Newsroom 2/17

On Tuesday 2/17, attagirl, unfilteredpanda, and dulcinea covered local, national, and global news stories to the class; consisting of the JMU ICE protests, the year of women farmers, the re-raising of the Pride flag in NYC, and a Zambian woman’s fight for her abortion.

LOCAL NEWS

Local news covered JMU and county happenings. The United Nations declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, and WHSV reporter Kira Fullington met with two local woman farmers to gain their perspectives. Both farmers interviewed were involved with the ownership and operation of their farms (Margaret Crick, Open Door Homestead LLC, and Mandy Lipinski, River Comb Farms), and discussed with Fullington how they thought the UN recognition would shed light on women’s unique approach to the agriculture industry. Crick’s perspective was focused on women’s capacity to lead and manage their businesses, while Lipinski’s view concerned women’s unique, welfare-based approach to animal care.

WHSV’s Kennedy Scales covered the JMU anti-ICE / community solidarity protest on Tuesday, February 10th. Two students, Madeline Barbee Doerfler and Lindsey Hilts, organized the protests. Students walked from Burruss (a location shift from the Quad, following JMU policy changes that tightened restrictions on protest activity on the Quad) to Harrisonburg City Hall, carrying signs, playing Bad Bunny songs, and delivering speeches. The goal of the protest, according to the organizers, was to demonstrate JMU students’ commitment to the local community. More protests and community-building events following the same premise are being scheduled by both the initial organizers and student attendees across various platforms.

NATIONAL

Earlier this month, a large Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument after a January 21st memo from the Trump administration placed restrictions on “non-agency” flags being flown at national parks. Activists were quick to stand up against this memo, and just last Thursday they gathered around the monument and restored the flag to its original position. The Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal questioned “If you can’t fly a Pride flag steps from Stonewall monument, at the National monument for LGBTQ liberation, where can you fly it?” about the matter and supported the activists who restored the flag to its rightful place. When covering this story in class, we talked about the significance of symbols to movements, and discussed other popular symbols and how they have helped or harmed their movements.

For those not aware of the significance behind a Pride flag flying across the street from the historic Stonewall Inn, here’s a link to a Library of Congress post that touches on the Stonewall Riots and their significance to the LGBTQ+ community.

GLOBAL

For our global piece, we focused on a heart touching story of a Zambian woman, unable to afford private care and unaware she was legally eligible for an abortion, was denied services at public clinics and later sentenced to seven years in prison. Her case highlights how stigma, structural inequality, and patriarchal laws restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare.