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As a 23-year-old voter in still-segregated 1960s Virginia, Portia Haskins was convinced she had followed all the rules in order to cast a ballot in Arlington.
Election officials disagreed, saying she had failed to pay the appropriate poll tax still required in the Old Dominion, maintained in part to disenfranchise Black voters.
Haskins took the county, and state, to court. She won, with her case ultimately being folded into the landmark 1966 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Haskins was an unusual legal combatant, committed to seeking unity.
“I’m the type of person who wants to bring everyone together,” the Halls Hill native said at a weekend presentation sponsored by the county library system and hosted by the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.
After her efforts to vote were rejected at the local level, Haskins enlisted support from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to challenge the ruling. She traveled several times to the U.S. District Court in Richmond, then watched as the case and others like it moved to the Supreme Court.
Her reaction at the final outcome? “I was so happy,” she said.
The 6-3 ruling in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections effectively outlawed requiring poll taxes for state elections in those few states, like Virginia, that retained them. The poll-tax requirement for federal elections had been eliminated with ratification of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964.
Lessons from the struggle are still valuable today, said Haskins, now 83.
“Everybody has to come together and fight” when they see injustice, she said. “You have to get together.”
Haskins is among the Arlingtonians profiled in the “From Barriers to Ballots,” an exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Several versions of the exhibition are on display across Northern Virginia, with one at Central Library running through Nov. 4.
The Arlington Historical Society partnered on the exhibition, and was excited about the Haskins presentation, former president David Pearson said.
“She is someone we really wanted to learn about,” he said, pointing to a renewed effort to “really get out the stories of the complete history of Arlington.”
Haskins has been a member of Mount Salvation Baptist Church near the Glebewood neighborhood since 1951, and in the community she has promoted “the spirit of community and empowerment,” said Scott Taylor, president of the Black Heritage Museum.
Haskins lamented that much of the history of the civil-rights movement is being lost in the public consciousness.
“We went through a lot, but people today don’t know,” she said. Young people in particular, she said, “don’t care because they don’t know.”
Her request to today’s youth? “Let everybody know how you feel” and use the ballot box to create change.
“Voting is important. That’s what everybody really needs to do,” Haskins said.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
She granted a temporary restraining order blocking the job cuts, saying she believed the evidence would ultimately show the cuts were illegal and in excess of authority.
Emails sent to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget after the judge’s ruling Wednesday were not immediately returned.a dawdawd
The judge’s decision came after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
The American Federation of Government Employees and other federal labor unions had asked Illston to block the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out. The unions said the firings were an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.
Illston’s order came as the shutdown, which started Oct. 1, entered its third week. Democratic lawmakers are demanding that any deal to reopen the federal government address their health care demands. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on those demands and reopen.
Democrats have demanded that health care subsidies, first put in place in 2021 and extended a year later, be extended again. They also want any government funding bill to reverse the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed this summer.
The Trump administration has been paying the military and pursuing its crackdown on immigration while slashing jobs in health and education, including in special education and after-school programs. Trump said programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they’re never going to come back, in many cases.”
In a court filing, the administration said it planned to fire more than 4,100 employees across eight agencies.
The unions say the layoff notices are an illegal attempt at political pressure and retribution and are based on the false premise that a temporary funding lapse eliminates Congress’ authorization of agency programs.
The government says the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear employment decisions made by federal agencies.
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Here’s another one so we can test random announcements properly.
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A longtime Columbia Pike pizzeria is closing its doors for good.
Lost Dog Cafe will serve its last pies at 2920 Columbia Pike this week after 16 years in business there. The closure comes months after the local business’s owner shared concerns of flagging sales amid ongoing roadwork.
“With the construction in the Pike, we aren’t able to stay in business,” managing partner Sarah White told ARLnow. “We have loved our time there and appreciate all that have supported us over the years. We couldn’t be more proud of our staff and their Herculean effort to keep going, but it just isn’t feasible any longer.”
The restaurant’s last day “will likely be Friday, but we aren’t ruling out closing tomorrow [Thursday],” White said. Any events scheduled in South Arlington will be moved to one of the local chain’s other locations, she added.
Lost Dog Cafe had previously considered closing back in 2021, raising concerns about the high cost of parking in a nearby garage.
The restaurant, which serves sandwiches, salad and soups in addition to pizza, has five Northern Virginia locations, including an original Westover spot that opened in 1985. It’s among several small businesses along the Pike that have shared worries of declining revenue during the years-long construction project, which is expected to reach substantial completion by the end of this year.
Last month, owners of the Celtic House Irish Pub & Restaurant expressed disappointment over the roadwork causing the temporary closure of outdoor patios and some parking spaces.
“It’s no surprise that the loss of our patios and construction on the property will have a direct financial impact on our business, especially in the cooler summer and fall evenings,” the owners wrote.
In April, Acme Pie Co. owner Sol Schott attributed storefront construction and restricted sidewalks to a 50% decrease in retail sales since 2023.
The Lost Dog Cafe team hopes to start future projects “in locations that are better suited to doing business,” White said.
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