Commentary: Will a Three-Way Race in Arizona Deliver the U.S. Senate to Republicans?

Of all the low-hanging senatorial fruit in 2024 — see red states with blue senators in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio, to name three — if not the ripest for conservative pickup, then at least the juiciest might be the three-way contest that is liable to heat up in the Arizona desert.

There, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat-turned-independent incumbent, if she decides to defend her seat, will face an extreme progressive challenger on the left and, possibly, one of the Trumpiest of Trumpists on the right, Kari Lake, who may find herself in a primary battle with a slightly lesser Trumpist in Blake Masters, who lost the other Senate seat in 2022 to Mark Kelly.

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Ohio Law Officers Enforce New Law Making Lights Mandatory on Amish Buggies

A new Ohio law HB30 that went into effect at the end of August is requiring Amish buggies and other animal-drawn vehicles to display a new type of high visibility tape and a yellow flashing light when on public streets.

As law enforcement in Northeast Ohio begins to enforce this law they have strived to educate the Amish community about the new requirements.

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Ohio Law Enforcement Agencies Add Eyes in the Skies with Drones

Several counties in Ohio are looking to use drones to respond to calls for critical injury, surveillance, security, accident reconstruction and measuring, evidence gathering, and fatal crashes.

Drone Pilot, Helicopter Pilot, and Supervisor of the Traffic Unit, Sargent Steven Poff with Butler County Sheriff’s Office, told The Ohio Star that there is a time and place to use a drone.

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Texas Offers $30 Million More to Local Law Enforcement for Border Security Efforts

An additional $30 million in Operation Lone Star (OLS) grant money is available to Texas cities and counties to enhance border security operations, the governor’s Public Safety Office (PSO) announced.

The announcement came two days after six county judges and sheriffs asked the governor to declare an invasion at the southern border, and to do more to help them thwart illegal activity in their counties after experiencing a surge of drug and human smuggling and other criminal activity resulting from the Biden administration’s border policies.

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Michigan House GOP $80 Million Plan Pushes Stronger Police Support

Speaker Jason Wentworth

Michigan House GOP unveiled a plan to spend roughly $80 million to support local police departments.

The plan aims to counter the “defund the police movement,” House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, said in a Thursday morning press conference.

House Republicans say the plan supports law enforcement, strengthens the criminal justice system and expands community policing statewide.

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Two California Deputies Shot in Apparent Ambush in Patrol Car

Authorities searched Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were sitting in their squad car — an apparent ambush that drew an angry response from the president and sparked an anti-police protest outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated.

The 31-year-old female deputy and 24-year-old male deputy underwent surgery Saturday evening, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a late-night news conference. Both graduated from the academy 14 months ago, he said.

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Commentary: Constitution-Respecting Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Lockdowns

Across the country governors, county commissioners and executives, and city and town officials have announced “lockdowns” or stay-at-home orders of dubious constitutional validity. The result of these orders is the bizarre situation in which jails are being emptied of criminals while individuals engaged in their ordinary business at appropriate social distance have been arrested for the crime of being outside their home.

One of the most high-profile examples of this inverted constitutional order happened in California, where a paddle boarder was arrested near the Malibu Pier for ignoring orders from lifeguards to get out of the water. CBS News Los Angeles reports the unidentified man spent 30 to 40 minutes paddling in the ocean waters off Malibu Beach after refusing to heed orders from L.A. County lifeguards to go ashore. LASD Harbor Patrol brought in a boat, at which point the paddleboarder voluntarily swam in and was taken into custody.

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Former Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe, with Past Federal Allegations of Prisoner Mistreatment, Takes Assistant Director Job at Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security

Terry Ashe, the former 30-year-long Wilson County sheriff, reportedly has accepted a job with Gov. Bill Lee’s office. Ashe took a job as deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security in mid-January, according to a story by The Lebanon Democrat. Ashe also works as a Wilson County commissioner, and he told The Democrat he does not believe that is a conflict of interest. He was sheriff from 1982-2012. Gov. Bill Lee’s office has not issued any announcements about the appointment, and Ashe is not listed on the department’s website. Ashe most recently served as executive director of the Tennessee Sheriff’s Association. His biography at the group’s website says he served there since fall 2012 after retiring as sheriff of Wilson County. He was the second-longest serving sheriff in state history and the longest-serving sheriff in Wilson County history. The sheriff’s association said in a Jan. 19 Facebook post, “Our Executive Director and friend, Sheriff Terry Ashe, Ret., has been appointed as the new Deputy Commissioner of the TN Department of Safety & Homeland Security. He has been a great leader and advocate for our Association and our TSA Family across the State. We will all miss…

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Ohio Sheriff Under Investigation for Stealing Drug Arrest Money

A Pike County Sheriff has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars, seized in various drug arrests throughout the county, and using the funds to fuel his “compulsive” gambling problem. The investigation, currently underway, stems from an anonymous complaint filed against Sheriff Charles Reader on November 9. The complaint (copied below) details that the sheriff was able to steal the money by taking the funds from an office safe that only he had access to. He was able to do so because the safe is kept inside his office and only he has access to it. The complaint notes that he “never has any money” and gambles compulsively. The funds in question were seized in local drug arrests made within Park County. He is also accused of taking cars out of the local impound lot and giving them to his daughter for her personal use, and demonstrating behavior unbecoming of an officer. The complaint alleges that he has also borrowed “large sums of money” from two of his deputies after gambling away his own, and owes a local car dealer more than $20,000. “[Sheriff] Reader just does whatever he wants and no one ever calls him on it,” the complaint states,…

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GOP Rep George Holding Blasts Dem Opponent for Supporting Sanctuary Cities After Sheriff Attacked for Cooperating With ICE

by Henry Rodgers   North Carolina Republican Rep. George Holding went after his Democratic opponent for supporting sanctuary cities, after a sheriff in their district running for re-election faced criticism for cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Holding’s Democratic opponent, Linda Coleman, has continued to voice her support for sanctuary cities, despite the arrest of Mario Sigfredo Deras-Lopez, an illegal immigrant who was previously deported and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was arrested on Oct. 28 for raping a 13-year-old girl. Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison notified ICE of Deras-Lopez’s arrest, and ICE filed a detainer request, in order for Deras-Lopez to be deported. Simultaneously, the ACLU spent $100,000 on radio ads attacking Harrison for cooperating with ICE through the 287(g) program to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes, an extremely large number to put into a sheriffs race. Holding, who is currently up for re-election, attacked Coleman, for supporting sanctuary cities and opposing Harrison’s decision to notify ICE. “The ACLU doesn’t like Sheriff Donnie Harrison working with ICE, so it’s spending $100,000 on ads to defeat him. That’s wrong. Donnie Harrison is simply working to protect families in Wake County,” Holding said to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Sanctuary Cities…

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Sheriff Speaks Out After Arizona County Rejects Federal Grant Over Trump’s Immigration Policies

by Will Racke   Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier has the unenviable task of managing public safety throughout more than 9,000 square miles of rugged desert, but county lawmakers may have made his job even harder. A majority of the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to reject $1.4 million in funding from Operation Stonegarden, a federal grant program aimed at boosting cooperation between the federal government and local law enforcement on border security issues. In Pima County — Arizona’s largest by land area and second-largest by population — the Stonegarden grants have long been used to cover overtime pay and equipment replacement for sheriff’s deputies. The money also helped Napier maintain offices in isolated communities more than two hour’s drive from the county seat of Tuscon. Activists have tied the grants to President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, accusing Pima County of supporting controversial federal policies like the separation of illegal immigrant families because of its participation in Operation Stonegarden. Napier says the grant money isn’t put toward immigration enforcement in any way, but rather conventional public safety services in areas that would be impossible to cover without federal funding. He spoke about the controversy with Daily Caller News Foundation reporters, who are…

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Indicted Lawrence County Sheriff Jimmy Brown Loses Election

Jimmy Brown

Lawrence County Sheriff Jimmy Brown, who is under indictment for alleged abuse of power, lost his re-election bid last Thursday. And, a race with statewide interest is drawing questions over irregularities. Military and law enforcement veteran John Myers, a Republican, beat the Democratic sheriff by 53 percent to 31 percent, The (Columbia) Daily-Herald reported Saturday. Independent Rick Osborne took approximately 16 percent of the vote. ‘Boss Doss’ loss raises questions The Lawrence County election process was called into question, especially over the narrow defeat of State Rep. Barry “Boss” Doss (R-Leoma) lost to newcomer Clay Doggett, The Tennessee Star reported. A 16 hour delay occurred in the reporting of the results in the Republican primary. “The fact that several different and inconsistent vote numbers have been reported from Lawrence County over the past 24 hours raises serious questions about whether the disparities are due to incompetence or actual technical issues or something more sinister. The fact that the Secretary of State’s office seemed to have no idea that there were problems indicates that an investigation or a full audit is in order,” Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said. Late Friday, the Election Administrator’s office confirmed to The Tennessee Star that Lawrence…

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Diane Black Announces Additions to Statewide Law and Order Coalition

Gubernatorial candidate Representative Diane Black announced Wednesday that her statewide Law and Order Coalition – who have endorsed her campaign and signed on to provide guidance on law enforcement issues – has grown by five new members. “I’m proud to have such a strong group of law enforcement officials from across Tennessee on my team,” Representative Black said in a statement. “The outpouring of support from the law enforcement community has been humbling and I look forward to working with our new members and the existing members to find solutions on the major issues we face like the opioid epidemic and human trafficking. Together, I know we can make sure that Tennessee is a safe place to live, work and raise a family.” District Attorney General Jennings Jones (16th Judicial District), District Attorney General Brent Cooper (22nd Judicial District), Former District Attorney General Al Schmutzer (4th Judicial District), Decatur County Sheriff Keith Byrd, and Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson have all agreed to join Diane Black’s Law and Order Coalition. In all, the Law and Order Coalition totals  25 current or former sheriffs and 14 current or former district attorneys general from across the Volunteer State. The full list of Black’s Law…

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