In what has become a nationwide trend, food and staffing shortages have reached two of the largest school districts in Georgia.
Both Fulton County Schools and Gwinnett County Schools are facing inventory and food service issues, according to reports.
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GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin crept past Democrat Terry McAuliffe in polling averages on Friday, thanks to a Fox poll that showed the Republican ahead by eight points, well outside the three point margin of error. A Washington Post poll released Friday showed a tighter race, with Youngkin trailing McAuliffe by one point. Youngkin now leads the Real Clear Politics polling average by a hair — 0.9 percentage points. That’s setting Virginians up for a nail-biter on Tuesday evening, but depending on how close the results are, the winner might not be clear for days, since mail-in-ballots can be counted if they’re received by noon on Friday.
“Youngkin has as good a shot as we’ve seen in a decade. Also, attorney general tends to run two-to-three points ahead of governor for us,” Prince William County GOP Vice-Chair Willie Deutsch said. “I’m confident we have a legit shot but I wouldn’t put much money on anyone.”
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Pro-abortion activists in Minnesota want the state to defund its program that provides medical care, housing assistance, education, nutrition assistance, adoption services and more to underserved mothers.
The “Positive Alternatives” program, created in 2005, presently operates on a $3.3 million annual budget and provides grants to nonprofits that mainly assist pregnant women “at what could otherwise be a challenging time.”
For perspective, the state has spent over $7 million on a rest stop, $12 million on an “elevated walking trail” at the Minnesota Zoo, $6.9 million on an unused morgue, and $367,883 on a gay men’s choir.
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Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci on Friday called on several members of the state school board, appointed by Governor Mike DeWine, to resign.
In his statement, Renacci argued that DeWine and the members of the board are advancing Critical Race Theory (CRT), a controversial topic that has appeared in education curriculum.
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Attorney General Mark Herring asked Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) to produce evidence supporting her claims of cheating in the current election.
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp may have another Republican opponent as he vies for reelection next year. The Intelligencer reported this week that former U.S. Senator David Perdue is mulling whether to compete against Kemp.
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After a Wednesday meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tucson Sector, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) explained to KTAR what he learned.
“One real eye-opening thing that we learned yesterday is that the cartels are using social media to pick up folks that have been trafficked over the border,” Ducey reportedly said. “They’re actually offering American citizens cash on the spot if they’ll deliver people from border drop-off points, like an illegal Uber into the state.”
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Recently-unearthed documents revealed a disagreement between the superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), after the former requested increased security measures from the latter in order to combat protesting parents at school board meetings, the Daily Caller reports.
The correspondence was revealed by a public records request from the Fight for School PAC. Documents show that superintendent Scott Ziegler’s requests included an increased presence of officers, a K-9 sweep of the meeting venue, and undercover officers in the crowd, among other measures, all of which were rejected by LCSO as excessive.
The LCSO even went so far as to disagree with Ziegler changing the rules for the school board meeting, including the decision to shut down the public comment section of a meeting that took place on June 22nd; LCSO told Ziegler that measures such as this amounted to silencing political opposition.
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There’s no shortage of Republicans who say the head of Wisconsin’s Elections Commission must resign.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos led the chorus of Republicans who said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe must resign following claims from the Racine County sheriff that the commission broke state law last year.
“People’s trust in Wisconsin’s elections has been tested. Many Wisconsinites feel elections are not safe and secure, and now the Racine County Sheriff’s investigation found clear violations and law-breaking within the Wisconsin Elections Commission,” Vos said. “Clearly there is a severe mismanagement of WEC, and a new administrator is needed. I am calling for the resignation of Meagan Wolfe as Elections Commission Administrator.”
Vos said there are a series of “red flags” that cannot be ignored.
Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said Thursday that the WEC broke four state laws, first by suspending what are called special voting deputies for nursing homes across the state, then by advising workers in those same nursing homes to assist voters by filling out ballots for people who cannot vote themselves.
Schmalling says one woman, referred to in the investigation as Judy, complained that staffers at the Ridgewood Care Center in Racine took advantage of her elderly mother by filling out an absentee ballot in her mom’s name. Judy says her mother had diminished mental capacity and could not have communicated anything about voting to anyone.
State Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, said not only does Wolfe need to go, but any and all staffers involved in the Racine case need to be fired as well.
“I am calling for the immediate dismissal of Meagan Wolfe as the Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator as well as the WEC staff who gave advice to break the law and members of the Elections Commission who voted to break the law. Those actions are the very definition of malfeasance in office,” Sanfelippo said. “And if the Wisconsin Attorney General continues to refuse to uphold the law then he should resign, too.”
Wolfe has not responded to the calls, or to the claims from Racine County’s sheriff.
The chairwoman of the WEC, Ann Jacobs, did respond on Thursday.
“To put it simply, we did not break the law,” said Commission Chair Ann Jacobs, an attorney from Milwaukee. “In fact, without action from the Commission, many residents in Wisconsin care facilities could have and would have been disenfranchised and not able to vote in the 2020 elections.”
Gov. Tony Evers rebuked Vos and the Republicans over their criticism of Wolfe.
“Elected officials can – and often do – disagree on plenty. But what is beneath the offices we hold and the responsibility entrusted to us is using our platforms to publicly and baselessly disparage and singularly belittle public servants,” the governor said. “Speaker Vos’ comments are unbecoming of his office and the people we serve. It’s my expectation – and one Wisconsinites share – that elected officials in this state treat others with civility and respect. The speaker’s behavior today fell woefully short of those expectations.”
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this week he is suing the President Joe Biden administration over a vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The lawsuit says the president does not have the authority to impose such a mandate.
The mandate from Biden says that federal contract workers will have to be fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021, in order to keep their jobs. DeSantis said his administration’s decision to sue the federal government is a kept promise to rein in “federal overreach.”
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The Michigan Freedom Fund, a group that has expressed repeated concerns over Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s actions, launched a new ad on Thursday, calling for action on the growing Benton Harbor Water crisis.
The ad, entitled “Demanding Answers”, requests Whitmer take action and questions when her administration knew about the issue.
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MSNBC host Joy Reid, steadily losing viewership since former President Donald J. Trump exited the White House, has found a new boogeyman in Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.
The homophobic former blogger set her sights on Younkin during Thursday night’s episode of “The ReidOut.”
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A high-ranking official with the Tennessee Department of Education — who is new to the job and previously worked in California — has a resume that includes pushing for math equity. This, according to Breitbart.com.
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-05-AZ) and Rep. James Comer (R-01-KY) sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers regarding new “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law” that they assert hamper the ability of ICE agents to enforce immigration laws. They warn that the new guidelines will restrict enforcement even more than the interim guidance which was implemented in January, which caused arrests and removals to plummet by more than 60 percent.
Biggs called to remove Mayorkas in a statement accompanying the letter, “These guidelines are an affront to the rule of law and will only further incentivize illegal immigration. Instead of preventing ICE from enforcing the law, the Biden administration should be empowering them to keep our country safe. Moreover, Secretary Mayorkas should be removed from his position of authority immediately for implementing crisis-creating policies.”
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – While more than 80 bills in total were filed in each chamber of the Tennessee General Assembly, it was a bill filed by Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Senate Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) that was amended to become an “omnibus” bill to incorporate provisions included in most of the other bills.
The bills were all filed for consideration during the Third Extraordinary Session of the Tennessee General Assembly focused on COVID-related issues which began Wednesday with organizational floor sessions of the House and Senate.
New legislation has been discussed in the Tennessee General Assembly focusing on District Attorneys that do not enforce laws. On Wednesday, Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville-25) proposed new legislation.
Sexton’s proposed bill states that:
District Attorneys – As introduced, allows the attorney general and reporter to petition the court for appointment of a district attorney general pro tem if a district attorney general peremptorily and categorically refuses to prosecute all instances of a criminal offense without regard to facts or circumstances; requires the court to appoint a district attorney general pro tem if the court finds the district attorney general has refused to attend and prosecute according to law.
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In a controversial passage in Plato’s Republic, Socrates introduced the idea of the “noble lie” (“gennaios pseudos”).
A majestic fiction, he says, could sometimes serve society by persuading uninformed citizens of something good for them.
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On October 21st, the Giles County Sheriff Department announced that they will be hosting a spaghetti dinner and online silent auction benefit to help Lt. Shane Hunter with medical expenses.
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HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee – The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday night to discuss a student-centered public school funding strategy. The majority of the attendees that spoke were either current or former teachers, along with a few parents. Commissioner Penny Schwinn spoke at the event and said that she was happy to see so many people and students at the meeting.
“We want to make sure that everyone is heard. Whether you can come out here in person, whether you’re live streaming, whether you want to submit something on your phone,” Schwinn said. “This is really about a needs assessment. What do we want to be true for public education in this state?”
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Members of the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said that a man at the 3700 block of Gallatin Pike used a firearm Tuesday to prevent someone else from stealing his vehicle. MNPD officials said in a press release this week that the alleged thief, Jaden Webb, 20, of Clarksville tried to steal a vehicle outside of a convenience store.
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Throughout Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for president and his nightmarish first year in the White House, he and his acolytes have extolled the virtues of near-limitless immigration. His campaign talked about immigration as an “irrefutable source of our strength” and how it is “essential to who we are as a nation, our core values and our aspirations for the future.” Anyone who suggests that we bring immigration to safe, manageable levels is shamed with a retort of “that’s not who we are.”
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Bowing to pressure from banks and taxpayers concerned about a proposal to require financial institutions to report to the IRS gross inflows and outflows for just about every account in the country, Democrats have attempted to quell concerns by raising the threshold. Unfortunately, even the raised threshold is still laughably low to accomplish Democrats’ stated purpose of cracking down on wealthy tax cheats.
The original proposal would have required financial institutions to report on any account (be it a checking account, savings account, stock portfolio, etc.) which handled more than $600 in inflows and outflows in a given year. Obviously, that’s just about every account.
But the new proposal isn’t much better. This time, the threshold would be set at $10,000, and exempt payroll deposits. In other words, if a given taxpayer received $20,000 in payroll deposits, they would only exceed the threshold were other deposits and spending, taken together, to exceed $30,000.
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The U.S. economy grew at a 2% rate in the third quarter of 2021 as supply chain issues and the delta variant slowed gains.
The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of net services and goods produced, grew at a 2% rate during the third quarter of 2021, the slowest gain of the pandemic era, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Thursday.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – In the more than two years since our first interview, so much has happened in Parker McKay’s life. When I saw that she was trying out for NBC’s The Voice, I knew it was time to catch up.
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The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 281,000 last week as employers compete for workers in a tight labor market where inflation and supply chain disruptions plague the country.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 10,000 claim decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 23 when jobless claims dropped to 290,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, when jobless claims dropped to 256,000.
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A group of House Democrats on Wednesday called for a tax reporting proposal included in the Build Back Better Act to be scrapped, citing concerns over privacy.
“Americans expect their bank or credit union to safeguard their financial information,” the Democrats wrote in a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal. “This proposal would erode trust in financial services providers.”
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The telecommunications industry, like other sectors, is suffering from ongoing supply chain chaos, with equipment delays and heightened costs endangering efforts to bring internet access to rural America.
AT&T announced in August that it would miss its target of supplying internet to 3 million new homes, citing supply chain disruptions, while smaller providers and contractors are reporting widespread shortages impacting their ability to complete jobs. The problem is exacerbated by the ongoing semiconductor shortage, causing long lead times, or the time it takes for products to arrive after an order is placed, for broadband equipment requiring a computer chip like modems and routers.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Wednesday the State Department is conducting an internal review into the evacuation of Afghanistan.
“It’s absolutely critical that we capture and benefit from lessons learned,” Blinken said in a speech at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia, attended by lawmakers, diplomats and others.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to discuss Merrick Garland’s testimony in Wednesday’s congressional hearing.
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The Chinese government ordered its domestic coal suppliers to ramp up production and rubber-stamped approvals for new mines as the country faces an energy crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported.
China, like Europe and many other parts of Asia, has faced rapidly increasing energy costs over the last several months as its economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the WSJ. The rising cost of coal — which accounts for the vast majority of China’s energy supply — has been a main driver of the overall price increases.
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A Hillary Clinton campaign operation to plant a false rumor about Donald Trump setting up a “secret hotline” to Moscow through a Russian bank was much broader than known and involved multiple U.S. agencies, according to declassified documents and sources briefed on an ongoing criminal investigation of the scheme.
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The Mexican federal government committed to deporting migrants caught traveling north to their home countries, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced on Wednesday.
The Biden administration also plans to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy next month, though the success of the program is largely dependent on Mexico’s cooperation, CBS News reported.
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More than 150 years after he led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant may receive another military promotion.
Recently, lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress that would promote Grant posthumously to the Army’s highest rank, General of the Armies. This honor has only been conferred twice: to John “Black Jack” Pershing following his leadership during World War I and to George Washington posthumously for the nation’s bicentennial in 1976.
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A Virginia nonprofit released a report this week that shows potential errors in how Virginia has sent absentee ballots to people looking to vote by mail.
In one case, out of a sample size of 587 addresses in 22 districts across the state, 217 out of 243 live contacts – nearly 90 percent – the absentee ballot information listed did not match the person living there, the report found.
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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday toured the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector Headquarters, praising the employees for their work.
States along the U.S. Southern border have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of migrants entering the country illegally.
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The Tallahassee City Commission passed a resolution urging the Florida Legislature to protect abortion policy and access to abortion. The resolution was passed with a 3-2 vote with Mayor John Dailey and Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter voting in the affirmative.
Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox did not support the resolution because they did not feel the city had the authority to request action from lawmakers.
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Voters in Emporia City and Amherst County are voting on local referenda about whether or not to allow the Colonial Downs Group to bring slots-style pari-mutuel gaming with new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium locations. Proponents say the facilities will bring local jobs and revenue for the locality, but opponents say that profit could come at the expense of locals.
“Voters approving pari-mutuel wagering in Amherst County will allow a Rosie’s to open. That means that dozens of new jobs will need to be filled. 100 new jobs will be created as a result, offering at least $15/hr and a $47,000 average annual salary with benefits,” Amherstwins.com states.
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Two congresswomen from Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Ilhan Omar, participated in a hybrid rally to support an expansion of the Supreme Court this week.
The event, hosted by Take Back the Court Action Fund and People’s Parity Project, took place Tuesday afternoon and featured a variety of speakers, including Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists. The activists joined in via Zoom, while the lawmakers spoke outside the Supreme Court Building.
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More school districts around Ohio continue to drop mask mandates in favor of optional policies as the number of COVID-19 cases has dropped over the past month.
The Ohio Department of Health also has relaxed its quarantine recommendations for students and student-athletes, with the idea of reducing what the state is calling unintended consequences of out-of-school quarantining.
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An ad launched by the American Principles Project, which describes itself as “the premier national organization engaging directly in campaigns and advocacy on behalf of the family,” blasts Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in connection with the rape of a girl in Loudoun County.
“In Loudoun County, Virginia a 15-year-old girl was brutally raped by a male student wearing a dress in the girl’s bathroom,” the ad says. “Democrats covered it up. A few weeks later, the same male student raped a 14-year-old girl.”
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Forefront Books is scheduled, on Tuesday, to release Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s new book, which villainizes former U.S. President Donald Trump and defends the state’s November 2020 election results as authentic. Raffensperger has titled his book “Integrity Counts.”
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Judge Suzanne Van Wyk found, this week, that the ban on online medical marijuana purchases through third-party sites to be an unadopted rule and ordered the state to “immediately discontinue reliance on its policy … regarding online ordering of medical marijuana through third-party websites.”
Van Wyk is an administrative law judge who presided over the decision to reinstate the online purchases after the state banned the practice.
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An antiquated IT system pushed into overdrive when businesses were ordered shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic helped fuel as much as $3.3 billion in unemployment overpayments and $475 million in criminal fraud activity at the Ohio Department of Family Services.
Ohio Auditor Keith Faber on Thursday released the full audit following an investigation launched after the department’s previous management initially failed to disclose risk factors and the magnitude of fraud in the unemployment system as the number of Ohioans filing claims quickly rose to record levels.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Wednesday announced that it has arrested an Arizona man suspected of robbing 23 banks.
“The ‘Back Again Bandit’ has been identified,” the federal law enforcement entity said in a press release. “On Monday, October 25, 2021, the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force with assistance from the Phoenix Police Department arrested Richard Zumbro, 44, without incident following a bank robbery at U.S. Bank, 1855 North Power Road in Mesa.”
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Former Governor Terry McAuliffe is campaigning for reelection with the help of national Democrats, even the currently-unpopular President Joe Biden, but GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin says he wants to keep the race focused on Virginia. Youngkin is largely avoiding the in-state presence of national Republicans, and he highlighted the contrast between the two campaign strategies in comments about his bus tour. On Thursday, Youngkin said that former President Donald Trump would not visit Virginia before the election.
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According to Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, an intensive investigation found that a nursing home in the county was the epicenter of voter fraud.
“Election statute was in fact not just broken, but shattered by members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission,” Schmaling reportedly said.
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A school teacher from Columbus has been arrested for allegedly paying to have sex with a teen whom police suspect was a victim of human trafficking.
“Robert Pea, 60, of Columbus, was arrested Wednesday morning and is charged with one count of compelling prostitution,” according to reports. “The Northland High School teacher is accused of contacting a 16-year-old girl through an online advertisement to have sex at a hotel in Reynoldsburg.”
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After a two-hour delay caused by an emailed death threat, the Michigan Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Committee (MICRC) shortened public comment to 30 seconds and entered a closed-door session for longer than an hour, which critics from both sides of the political spectrum say violated the Constitution.
MICRC spokesman Edward Woods III said in a statement released Wednesday: “At 1:06 p.m. today, the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission received notification of a death threat received through email. We alerted law enforcement and they opened an investigation. As of now, the Commission meeting is suspended until further notice.”
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The University of Wisconsin System doesn’t want to lose its federal grant money, so everyone who works there is going to have to get vaccinated.
UW President Tommy Thompson on Wednesday said the school will comply with President Biden’s mandate that all federal contractors require their employees to be vaccinated.
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Amidst Pennsylvania Republicans’ efforts to make elections more secure, a Democrat in the state House of Representatives has proposed his own very different voting reforms.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Scott Conklin (D-State College), would explicitly authorize “curing” of mail-in and absentee ballots on which there are errors or omissions. County election-board staffers who observe that a mail-in ballot’s declaration either lacks the voter’s signature or the date or exhibits some other error would be instructed to notify the voter and allow him or her to make a correction before polls close on 8 p.m. on Election Day.
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