Month: August 2021

Department of Justice Announces Investigation of Phoenix Police Use of Force

The Center Square
Phoenix Police Department

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a pattern or practice investigation into the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department, according to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division on Thursday. 

The Special Litigation Section of the DOJ Civil Rights Division will conduct the investigation. It will assess force used by Phoenix officers, including deadly force, the DOJ said in a press release. They said they would investigate whether PhxPD engages in retaliatory activity against people for conduct protected by the First Amendment if PhxPD engages in discriminatory policing and whether PhxPD unlawfully seizes or disposes of the belongings of individuals experiencing homelessness.

The DOJ said the investigation would additionally examine Phoenix practices for responding to people with disabilities. They will review policies, training, supervision, force investigations, and PhxPD’s accountability systems, such as misconduct complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition, and discipline.

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Carey Set for Second Sprint of 2021 Special Election Even as 2022 Elections, Redistricting Loom

Brian Ball
Mike Carey

GOP congressional candidate Mike Carey has jumped right back into campaign mode after besting 10 other candidates on August 3 in a three-month sprint to become the Republican nominee to keep Ohio’s 15th District red with nearly 37 percent of the vote.

The second sprint began the next day, as the November 2 special election to replace five-term Congressman Steve Stivers – and the possibility of May 2022 primary – loom, even as the boundaries of the conservative district covering all or parts of 12 counties could change the political landscape.

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Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend Files Ethics Complaint Against State Sen. Navarrete, Calls for His Expulsion

Cooper Moran
Tony Navarrete and Kelly Townsend

State Senator Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) introduced a formal ethics complaint against her colleague Senator Tony Navarrete (D-Phoenix) and urged Governor Doug Ducey to call a special legislative session to expel the embattled state legislator.

Navarrete was arrested on Thursday and charged with seven felony counts connected to allegations of sexual conduct with two minors. He faces up to a minimum of 49 years in prison.

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Minneapolis Greek Festival Cancels Due to ‘Unrest’

Hayley Feland
Minneapolis Greek Festival - Taste of Greece

The Minneapolis Greek Festival, Taste of Greece, canceled their 2021 festival because of recent unrest in Uptown. Organizers cited the safety and security of festival-goers as a primary reason for cancellation. A statement from the festival’s website reads that they felt they would be “unable to find a successful solution to ensure the safety and security” of all those participating in the festival. The festival was supposed to take place September 9 through September 11.

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Rieth-Riley Workers Win Settlements Against Union for Illegal Strike Retaliation

The Center Square
Rieth-Riley Construction paving a parking lot

Michigan Rieth-Riley Construction Company employees Rob Nevins and Jesse London won settlements against the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324 union.

The settlements order IUOE union bosses not to discriminate against London and Nevins for leaving the union and pay $364 to London for owed health insurance premium.

The settlements stem from charges of retaliation the workers filed during the strike IUOE union bosses ordered in mid-2019. London and Nevins ended their union memberships and chose to keep working.

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Battle to Replace Minneapolis Police Department Heats Up With Ballot Explainer Lawsuit

Peter D'Abrosca
Minneapolis Police officer with dog and children

The battle over a November ballot measure to replace the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is now subject to a lawsuit, as anti-police activists cry foul.

“The Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign filed a lawsuit against the city and the city clerk’s office,” Fox 9 reported. “The group accuses the city of ‘attempting to mislead voters’ about a proposed amendment that would replace the MPD with a department of public safety.”

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Virginia General Assembly Passes Compromise ARPA Allocation Bill

Eric Burk
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax sp ... inance Chair Senator Janet Howell.

RICHMOND, Virginia – After hammering out a compromise between the House of Delegates and the Senate, the Virginia General Assembly voted to send its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) budget bill to Governor Ralph Northam. The bill passed the House 78-20 and passed the Senate 23-16.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) said that she and other senators fought for the Senate’s amendments in a conference committee with representatives from the House.

“As you look at the conference report you will see that on several items our position was affirmed, and on others we were able to compromise,” she reported to the Senate.

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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich Launches Investigation into Refusal of Maricopa County Supervisors to Comply with Election Subpoenas

Cooper Moran
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich launched an investigation into Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the state legislature.

In ignoring the subpoenas, the officials have declined to provide the state legislature, who is conducting a forensic audit of the November 2020 election, additional information and election routers.

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Ohio COVID-19 Vaccination Rate Passes 50 Percent

Admin
Man getting COVID vaccine

Ohio crossed a COVID-19 vaccine milestone over the weekend as more than 50% of the state’s eligible population reached partial or fully-vaccinated status while masking and social distancing requirements continued to vary throughout the state.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced over the weekend the state passed 50% of eligible Ohioans at least starting the vaccine process, along with the increase in vaccinations in 85 of the state’s 88 counties. At the same time, Ohio’s reported cases Friday rose to 1,666 new daily cases and 24 deaths.

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Leon County School Board Member Attempts to Dox Florida Gov. DeSantis’ Children

Grant Holcomb
Rosanne Wood

Leon County, Fla. School Board Member Roseanne Wood posted on Facebook she received word Maclay School, in Tallahassee, has reinstated their mask mandate for students, which she initially claimed happened to be where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sends his children to school.
“I just got word through the listserv at Maclay – where Ron DeSantis is sending his children – has rescinded their opt-out policy and is requiring masks of all people on campus for the beginning of school,” the post said. “Wise decision! Safety first.”

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Federal Judge Sides With Norwegian Cruise Line, Issues Injunction Against Florida Law

Grant Holcomb
Cruise ship in the ocean during sunset

A Miami-based federal judge granted a request from Norwegian Cruise Line and has issued a preliminary injunction blocking a Florida law banning vaccine passports.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the law after this past Spring’s legislative session, which says no business operating in Florida may require customers or patrons to prove they are vaccinated against COVID.

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Georgia Ballots Rejected by Machines Were Later Altered by Election Workers to Count

Admin

A day after the November election, as Donald Trump and other Republican candidates clung to evaporating leads in Georgia, vote counters in Atlanta were confronted by a paper ballot known only by its anonymizing number 5150-232-18.

A Dominion Voting machine had rejected the ballot on election night because the voter had filled in boxes for both Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, an error known as an “overvote.” The machine determined neither candidate should get a tally, and the ballot was referred for human review.

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See Disputed Georgia Ballots Where Election Workers Decided a Vote Was for Biden, not Trump

Admin

As part of a review of hundreds of pages of election documents from Georgia’s Fulton County, Just the News reviewed dozens of disputed ballots in which election workers known as “adjudicators” determined that a voter intended to vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden instead of Republican incumbent Donald Trump.

Just the News’s review of the Fulton documents revealed a system rife with subjective judgment of thousands of ballots on the part of a small number of election workers, all of it governed by a confusing patchwork of state laws that simultaneously seemed to sanction and proscribe the practice of ballot adjudication.

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Commentary: Does the Biden Administration Believe in Its Own Legitimacy?

Admin

What do you call a regime that lies constantly, and then admonishes the people when they question the integrity of the regime and its anointed figurehead? 

If you ask Joe Biden and his propagandists on cable news, it’s called “democracy.” Anyone who doubts Biden’s legitimacy, they’ve been telling us, is part of the “big lie” and quite possibly a domestic terrorist. 

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Aspects of Tennessee’s New ‘Anti-Critical Race Theory’ Law Worry Some

Chris Butler

A Spring Hill woman who says she helped craft a new state law that limits teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools said she objects to certain guidelines state officials have proposed on the matter. Tricia Stickel told The Tennessee Star Sunday that she is not an activist. Instead she describes herself as “an effectivist” — someone she said is effective at making positive changes.

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Conor Lamb the Latest to Jump into Critical Pennsylvania Senate Race

Admin

Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb launched a long-expected Senate bid in his state Friday morning, becoming the latest to join a crowded primary field in one of the country’s most competitive races.

Lamb, a 37-year-old Marine, first won a special election in a Pittsburgh-area swing district in 2018, months before Democrats took control of the House. He is vying to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in a state that President Joe Biden narrowly won, as Democrats look to expand their slim 50-50 majority.

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Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa, and St. Louis Among the Cities Experiencing the Highest Consumer Price Spikes

The Center Square

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve Bank and Congress have taken unprecedented steps to stabilize the economy after entire industries and sectors ground to a halt last year amidst the public health crisis. The Fed has kept interest rates near zero, created lending programs to pump trillions of dollars into the economy, and bought securities to support financial markets. Congress passed three major COVID-19 stimulus packages in response to the crisis: the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March 2020, the $900 billion Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act in December 2020, and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March 2021.

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Gov. Abbott Asks Department of Family Protective Services to Say Whether Trans Surgeries for Kids Are Child Abuse

Admin

Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state’s Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) Friday to say whether transgender surgeries for children constitutes child abuse.

The Texas Republican called on Jaime Masters, commissioner of the DFPS, to make a determination of whether “genital mutilation of a child for purposes of gender transitioning through reassignment surgery constitutes child abuse” in a Friday letter.

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Apple Will Scan All U.S. iPhones for Illegal Child Abuse Imagery, Prompting Privacy Concerns

Admin

Apple plans to scan all iPhone in the U.S. for potential child abuse imagery.

The move announced Thursday generated shock waves among security experts who say it could allow the company to surveil many millions of phones for reasons unrelated to images of child abuse.

“This sort of tool can be a boon for finding child pornography in people’s phones. But image what it could do in the hands of an authoritarian government,” tweeted Johns Hopkins professor and cryptographer Matthew Green.

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Over Half of New Yorkers Think Cuomo Should Be Criminally Charged, Poll Shows

Admin

Over half of New York voters think Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be criminally charged after an investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women, a new poll shows.

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 55% of voters think Cuomo should be charged with a crime, while just 29% said the opposite. It also found that 70% believe Cuomo should resign from office and that he has lost his ability to govern, while 25% believe he should not.

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Commentary: The 2020 Election is Harming the Legal Profession

Admin

The Hill reports that a Colorado federal magistrate judge, N. Reid Neureiter, “sanctioned lawyers who challenged the 2020 presidential election results, calling their election claims ‘fantastical.’” “Plaintiffs’ counsel shall jointly and severally pay the moving Defendants’ reasonable attorneys [fees]”—which is very likely to be many thousands of dollars. This ruling comes while a federal district judge in Michigan, Linda Parker, considers imposing sanctions on attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, both of whom raised questions about the propriety of the 2020 presidential election.

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Tennessee State Rep. Bruce Griffey Says Special Session Should Restrain Governor’s Emergency Powers

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) said Sunday that if he and other state legislators hold a special session then they should consider restraining the governor’s emergency powers. Griffey said legislators should take up the governor’s authority to declare and extend public health emergencies. The governor can do this without oversight by the Tennessee General Assembly.

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Majority of Independent Voters Says Federal Government Reporting on COVID Vaccines Is Biased

Admin
COVID Testing station

Anew poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group in association with Convention of States Action, finds that Americans are losing confidence in the ability of the federal government to present unbiased information about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.

Just over half of U.S. voters are, at this point, not confident that the federal government is reporting unbiased information related to the Covid-19 vaccines; 44.5% remain confident in the government’s ability to do so.

Those figures are further broken down by political affiliation to reveal that among Independents, the feds are underwater. Among the politically unaffiliated or affiliated with a non-mainstream party, 53.4% of voters said they are not confident in the unbiased nature of government vaccine information – 40% of those polled specified they were “not confident at all.”

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Denver Spends More on Homeless Than Schools and Police

Admin

Denver spent twice as much money on its homeless population than it did on its students and police, a Common Sense Institute August report showed.

The city spent between $41,679 and $104,201 per person on its homeless population, compared to $19,202 per student in K-12 public schools in 2020, according to the report. In total it spent $481 million on healthcare, housing and other services for homeless people, over $100 million more than the Department of Public Safety’s budget.

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Michigan University Among Universities Training Future Teachers to Push Critical Race Theory and Social Justice

Admin
School bus with "use your voice" on the windshield

As the controversy over Critical Race Theory rages across the country, several prominent teacher preparation programs are training future teachers to use Critical Race Theory in the classroom.  Several of the nation’s largest teacher preparation programs are training future teachers to use Critical Race Theory in the classroom.

Campus Reform reviewed course descriptions for upcoming classes in college teacher training programs at several major universities. Many intentionally prepare students to use progressive ideology in their own classrooms. Several use Critical Race Theory and social justice as a starting point for learning how to teach.

Among those courses are the University of North Carolina education department’s class, “”Critical Race Theory: History, Research, and Practice.” The course will cover how Critical Race Theory connects to “LatCrit Theory, AsianCrit, QueerCrit, TribalCrit, and Critical Race Feminism,” those terms being more recent areas of study that draw heavily from Critical Race Theory.

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Commentary: The Right’s New Class War

Admin

Much has been made of the idea that the GOP and the American conservative movement in general are currently in the midst of an ideological “civil war” which began the moment Donald Trump left office. Supposedly, the Paul Ryan fusionist ideology of the GOP establishment is battling a new Trumpian populism, both intellectually and electorally. If such a civil war was ever really under way, it was over by 2016. Trump is overwhelmingly popular with the GOP base, and would capture the 2024 nomination effortlessly. Outside of National Review columns and CNN panels, NeverTrumpers are basically nonexistent, and even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) now feels the need to adopt the Trump brand to stay politically relevant. The civil war is over. The “populists” won.

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Commentary: Officer Fanone’s Bodycam Video of Capitol 6 Riot Still Not Released

Admin

At least one federal judge handling several Capitol protest criminal cases is paying attention to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s show trial about the events of January 6.

Judge Thomas Hogan, 83, who has served on the D.C. District Court for nearly 40 years, referred to public testimony given last week by four law enforcement officers while he scolded a husband and wife over their involvement in the protest. 

“[H]e begins by talking about the violence, and makes clear he listened to the police officers who testified before Congress last week about their experience, and notes the recent suicide of [a Metropolitan Police Department] officer,” Zoe Tillman, a reporter for BuzzFeed, live-tweeted during the couple’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday.

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Virginia Republicans and Gov. Northam Clash over Current School Mask Requirements

The Center Square

With the new school year less than a month away, politicians are not in agreement on whether Virginia state law requires school divisions to impose mask mandates for students, teachers and faculty.

Gov. Ralph Northam said current law requires school divisions to enforce universal mask requirements, but some Republican leaders have accused him of lying and falsely interpreting the law.

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Ohio Redistricting Commission Completes First Meeting

The Center Square
aerial view of the Ohio Statehouse

What the first of meeting of Ohio’s new redistricting commission lacked in substance Friday, it made up for in history.

The first-ever meeting of the commission lasted only a few minutes; enough time for members to take the oath of office and for co-chairs House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, and Sen. Vernon Sykes, D-Akron, to make short statements.

The history came in the meeting itself after Ohio voters established the Ohio Redistricting Commission in 2018 to redraw congressional and legislative district maps. The commission consists of Gov. Mike DeWine, State Auditor Keith Faber, Secretary of State Frank LaRose, along with appointments from both House and Senate Republicans and Democrats.

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University of Minnesota Professor Opposes School Hiring Police ‘in the City of George Floyd Uprising’

Admin

A professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is pushing back against the school’s decision to hire more police officers.

Nate Mills, a professor of English, criticized the school in a tweet saying “In consistency with the city of Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota has decided, in the city of the George Floyd Uprising and continued racist police violence, that it too needs *more* police officers.”

In consistency with the city of Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota has decided, in the city of the George Floyd Uprising and continued racist police violence, that it too needs *more* police officers: pic.twitter.com/WANoIeaY5S— Nate Mills (@frozenagitation) July 23, 2021

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KORE Power to Grow in Maricopa County, Bringing Thousands of Jobs

The Center Square

KORE Power, Inc. announced on July 29 that they are building the first lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility owned entirely by a U.S. company in Maricopa County, bringing 3,000 jobs to the Grand Canyon state. 

The one million square foot KOREPlex manufacturing facility 40 miles west of Phoenix in Buckeye will support up to 12 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery cell production. Once operational, the facility will produce enough power capacity for 3.2 million homes each year, the company said.

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Northam Mask Guidelines Reinvigorate Youngkin Campaign Messaging, Other Elections Updates

Eric Burk

Governor Ralph Northam’s new mask and vaccine guidelines are reinvigorating Glenn Youngkin’s campaign messaging. On Thursday, Northam announced that state employees need to get vaccinated or be regularly tested for COVID, and said that people in schools need to wear masks.

In response, Youngkin came out strong: “[Northam] actually misstated and misrepresented CDC guidelines in order to declare a mask mandate for school,” he said on WTVR.

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U.S. District Judge Questions State Law in Norwegian Cruise Line Lawsuit

Casey Owens

The lawsuit filed by Norwegian Cruise Line proposing an injunction against the law (SB 2006) that bans businesses from requiring vaccine passports in Florida, was seen in court Friday by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.

After the cruise line argued to Judge Williams that lawmakers approved the law for “political points,” she did not make a ruling, but she did, however, question the state’s attorneys on the merits of the law.

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Highly Vaxxed Areas in Arizona Have Just as Many New COVID-19 Cases as Other Areas: Analysis

Rachel Alexander
Sick person talking to CDC employee

An analysis of recent data from the Arizona Department of Health Services found that zip codes with the highest vaccination rates in Arizona also have some of the highest percentage increases in COVID-19 cases. At the same time, zip codes with the lowest vaccination rates also have the highest increases, Arizona’s Family Investigates found. 

The top 10 zip codes with the highest increases range from a high vaccination rate of 83% in Carefree to a low vaccination rate of 41% in Surprise. One zip code in Prescott had a 12% increase even though 56% there are vaccinated. 

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Thousands Protest Michigan Vaccine Mandates

The Center Square

About 3,000 people gathered at the Michigan Capitol on Friday to protest governments and employers mandating the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dressed in American flag clothing, Donald Trump flags, and back-the-blue shirts, they waved signs, saying, “my body, my choice.”

“2020: heroes. 2021: victims,” another said of frontline health care workers, many of whom must be vaccinated to continue work or quit.

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Missouri Governor Pardons St. Louis Couple Who Defended Their Home from Rioters

Admin
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson

Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R-Mo.) issued a pardon for the St. Louis couple that successfully defended their home from far-left terrorists last year, after local prosecutors had sought to charge them with a crime, according to ABC News.

Governor Parson made the announcement on Tuesday, following up on a promise he had made previously to pardon Mark and Patricia McCloskey if they were charged. The couple, who are both lawyers, responded to a mob of rioters storming into their gated suburb by standing outside their house with firearms, with Mark wielding a rifle and Patricia holding a handgun. The incident took place in June of last year, at the height of the race riots that burned numerous cities across the country.

After the mob broke through a gate that led into the neighborhood and began shouting violent threats at the various homes in the area, the McCloskeys stood their ground and ordered the mob to leave. The incident was captured on video and went viral, with the McCloskeys being hailed as heroes for standing up to a mob that vastly outnumbered them.

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Florida Department of Education Data Shows Surge in Homeschool Students

Casey Owens
Homeschoolers

Data from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) for the 2020-2021 school year shows a significant increase in the number of students who were enrolled in home education, which the Department believes is “direct result” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not counting public school students who opted to learn virtually, 143,431 students were homeschooled during the 2020-2021 school year, representing a 35.2% increase from the 106,115 students from the 2019-2020 school year.

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Exclusive: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Put Governors on Notice Because They Are a ‘Point of Influence’ for the Chinese Communist Party

Laura Baigert

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he put the nation’s state governors on notice, in an exclusive interview with The Star News Network on Saturday, because they are a real point of influence for the Chinese Communist Party.

The reason, Pompeo explained, is because it is where so much of the commercial activity takes place.

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Tennessee Attorney General Fails to Join Lawsuit Against ‘Critical Race Theory’

Chris Butler
Attorney General Herb Slatery

Tennessee Attorney General Herb Slatery has failed to join several other attorneys general in a lawsuit against Critical Race Theory (CRT).

JustTheNews.com reported this week that attorneys general in more than half of the 50 states disagree on how to address alleged racial disparities in school discipline. Both sides filed competing briefs through a U.S. Department of Education proceeding that reportedly attracted 2,700 comments.

The website reported that Arizona “led a coalition of 15 states to oppose the reinstatement of the Obama administration’s “disparate impact” guidance, which said statistical differences between the races in school discipline could serve as the basis for a federal civil rights investigation.”

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Tennessee Tourism Spending Dropped by More than 30 Percent in 2020

The Center Square

Tourism spending in Tennessee dropped in 2020 for the first time in 10 years, according to data from the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics.

Tennessee tourism spending fell 31.6%, less than the 42% decline nationally.

Within that decline was a 78.7% drop in spending from international visitors during a year that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, according to a report compiled by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

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