General Robert E. Lee statue can be removed, Virginia Supreme Court rules
CBSN
Richmond, Virginia — The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled Thursday that the state can take down an enormous statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that became widely seen as a symbol of racial injustice as it towered over Monument Avenue in the state's capital for more than a century.
The high court's ruling came in two lawsuits filed by Virginia residents who attempted to block removal of the 21-foot (6-meter) bronze equestrian sculpture, which shows Lee in military attire atop a 40-foot (12-meter) pedestal.The court found that "restrictive covenants" in the 1887 and 1890 deeds that transferred the statue to the state no longer apply. "Those restrictive covenants are unenforceable as contrary to public policy and for being unreasonable because their effect is to compel government speech, by forcing the Commonwealth to express, in perpetuity, a message with which it now disagrees," the justices wrote.President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.