Month: May 2022

Questions Swirl Around Law Enforcement’s Response to Uvalde Shooting; AP: SRO Driving Nearby, Not at Campus

Neil W. McCabe

The director of the southern section of the Texas Department of Public Safety cut short his Thursday press conference as reporters shouted questions at him about why local law enforcement was ineffective for the hour after Tuesday’s spree shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School as gunshot victims languished inside. The crisis ended when Border Patrol Tactical officers arrived, engaged shooter Salvador Ramos, and killed him.

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Abrams Says Kemp Signed ‘Criminal Carry’ Bill into Law

Peter D'Abrosca

Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in a Friday post accused her incumbent opponent of signing a bill into law that does not appear to exist.

“Our children across Georgia are bearing the heartbreaking consequences of gun violence. Instead of addressing the crisis, Brian Kemp signed criminal carry legislation that will put more guns on our streets and make our communities less safe,” said Abrams on Twitter. 

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Uvalde Police Face Criticism over Response to Texas School Shooting

Admin

Law enforcement authorities in Uvalde, Texas are facing questions and criticism over how much time elapsed during the elementary school shooting Tuesday, before a U.S. Border Patrol team burst in and shot the gunman to death, the Associated Press reported.

There were conflicting reports on Thursday regarding the timeline of events, with some eyewitnesses saying police hesitated outside the building as the gunman, Salvador Ramos, was inside shooting schoolkids, while officials say the police engaged immediately.

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Texas School Shooter May Have Been Arrested Four Years Ago for Threatening to Shoot Up the High School When He Turned 18

Admin

Salvador Ramos, the teenage gunman behind the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, may have been arrested four years ago for threatening to shoot up the Uvalde High School when he turned 18-years-old, according to Texas lawmaker.

Texas Representative Tony Gonzales, whose congressional district includes Uvalde, told Fox News that he found out on Thursday night that “the shooter was arrested years ago—four years ago—for having this plan for basically saying, for saying, you know, when I’m a senior in 2022, I am going to shoot up a school.”

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Public University Evicts, Disciplines Student for Telling Others It Gave Her Vaccine Exemption

Admin

A Michigan public university retaliated against a Russian immigrant for telling others how she got a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, evicting her from campus housing and putting a disciplinary record in her student file, according to her lawyers.

After Inara Ramazanova posted her requested and received exemption in a private Facebook group for similarly situated people nationwide, Oakland University deemed this “collusion or conspiracy” to help others evade its rules, the First Liberty Institute wrote to OU in a pre-lawsuit warning letter Thursday.

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Commentary: Stolen Elections, a Tale of Two D.C. Courtrooms

Admin

The Elijah Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, D.C. is center stage this month to two competing tales of stolen presidential elections.

In the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, federal prosecutors have presented a detailed account of the greatest scandal in U.S. political history: the conspiracy of the country’s most powerful interests to fabricate the Trump-Russia collusion hoax in order to sabotage Donald Trump before the 2016 election.

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In Wake of Surfside Condo Collapse, Florida Legislature Passes Condominium Safety Legislation

The Center Square

A bill to ensure condominium safety passed both chambers of the legislature and was signed Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Within days of the special legislative session starting this week, both chambers passed bills to reform property insurance and increase safety measures for condominiums. Both bills, Senate Bill 2D, Property Insurance, and Senate Bill 4D, Building Safety, were sponsored by state Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance.

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Biden Set to Unveil Massive Student Loan Forgiveness: Report

Admin

President Joe Biden is planning to forgive $10,000 of student loan debt per borrower, according to a Friday report from The Washington Post.

Biden intended to announce the new student debt forgiveness plan at the University of Delaware’s graduation ceremony Saturday but postponed the decision after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, unnamed sources familiar with the issue told The Washington Post. The newest debt forgiveness plan would apply to Americans who in the year prior made under $150,000 and to married Americans who made under $300,000 in joint filings.

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Medicaid Fraud: Pennsylvania Treatment Facility Owner Pleads Guilty to $12 Million Kickback Scheme

The Center Square

The owner of a Pennsylvania drug and alcohol treatment facility has pleaded guilty to a Medicaid fraud case that netted his organization $12 million over three years in an illegal kickback scheme.

The attorney general’s office announced the plea of Dr. Lloyd Reid, the owner of Southwest Nu-Stop Philadelphia Inc., which came about from a joint investigation of the office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Commentary: The Long, Slow Death of ESPN

Admin

So our readers will know, for the near entirety of your author’s life, pro and college sports have been an obsession.

Looking back on it, probably an unhealthy one. Age and maturity and the vicissitudes of 21st-century life are sharply curtailing the fever, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully quit LSU and the Saints (though a possible change in geography might do it; I used to be a Lakers and Yankees fan as a kid and couldn’t give a tinker’s damn about either team now).

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Staff Sgt. Celia Riffey from Sevierville Makes History as First Female to Win Tennessee National Guard Shooting Competition

Kaitlin Housler

Staff Sgt. Celia Riffey, a military police Soldier with the 252nd Military Police Company and native of Sevierville, became the first female in Tennessee history to ever place first at the Tennessee National Guard’s annual Adjutant General Rifle Match, the Tennessee Department of Military announced Thursday in a press release.

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Nashville-Based Jason Whitlock of ‘The Blaze’ Blasts Barack Obama and BLM in Wake of Texas Tragedy

Aaron Gulbransen

In an op-ed titled, “Barack Obama, BLM, and the summer of George Floyd contributed to ‘Uvalde massacre,'” Jason Whitlock of The Blaze said, “As Barack Obama pretends to grieve for the children in Texas, he should make time to recognize that America’s emotional and immature reaction to George Floyd contributed to the slaughter of 19 little kids.”

Whitlock is the host of the program, Fearless with Jason Whitlock, based out of the Nashville area.

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Catholic Cultural Watchdog Group: Five Reasons We Have Mass Shootings

Susan Berry, PhD

The president of a Catholic organization that keeps watch on the national culture writes in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre such mass shootings are likely to continue largely because the race and gun-obsessed establishment media are so politically entrenched they “are looking in all the wrong places” for potential remedies for the real causes of these tragedies.

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Qcells Is Expanding in Dalton, Georgia with Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant, Expected to Bring 470 New Jobs

Kaitlin Housler

Qcells, one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, announced Thursday that the company is building a new solar panel manufacturing facility located in Dalton, Georgia. The new facility will produce 1.4 gigawatts of solar modules per year made with Qcells’ next generation photovoltaic cells, a high efficiency tunnel oxide passivated contact technology, better known as TOPCon, according to the company.

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Rep. John Rose Leads Bipartisan Letter Defending Farmers Against New Environmental, Social, and Governance Investment Regulations

Aaron Gulbransen

U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) led a bi-partisan letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair (SEC) Gary Gensler defending America’s farmers against a proposed new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation.

In March, the SEC proposed a new ESG rule that would require public companies to include “climate-related” disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Policies Prevented Landlords from Evicting Tenants Who Piled Feces in Home

Admin

Some Minnesota landlords are blasting Gov. Tim Walz and his eviction moratorium for costing them more than $100,000 to repair the mess some tenants left behind.

They are sending a message in hopes it will help others speak up after a tenant went 18 months without paying rent or utilities before they were forced to hire an attorney to get her to leave.

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Kemp Extends Gas Tax Holiday as Prices Continue to Rise

Peter D'Abrosca

Georgia’s governor Thursday extended the state’s gas tax holiday amid record-high prices at the pump.

“While President Biden continues to enforce an out-of-touch agenda with damaging effects, we’re responding to record-high inflation and addressing supply chain issues by empowering Georgians to keep their money in their own pockets and keep goods flowing,” Gov. Brian Kemp said on Twitter.

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Defeat ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

Bradley Vasoli

Republicans in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week defeated Democrats’ attempt to pass legislation prohibiting the sale of what they term “assault weapons.”

The bill was introduced last year by then-state Rep. Ed Gainey (D-Pittsburgh) who left his seat earlier this year to become mayor of Pittsburgh. It never received a vote of the House Judiciary Committee, so Democrats moved to suspend House floor rules and record a vote of the full chamber. The legislation failed by a vote of 111 to 87.

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Florida Senator Rick Scott Offers Support for Federal Red Flag Law

Steve Stewart

Amid a debate by elected leaders on how to respond to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Florida Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has indicated he would support a federal “red flag” law.

Axios reported that Scott said he was “OK with supporting a federal red flag law but added that generally such laws should be up to the states.”

Scott supported “red flag” legislation in Florida in the wake of the Parkland shooting which resulted in the death of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when he signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act into law in 2018.

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Sen. Petersen Opposes Washington Commanders Stadium Deal Amid Concerns over Dropping ‘Redskins’ Name

Eric Burk

Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) is opposed to efforts to bring the Washington Commanders football team to Virginia, in part due to concerns over the team’s recent name change.

“I have two concerns. One is that the development is too far removed from an urban setting, unlike Nats Park at The Navy Yard, which will make it solely dependent on vehicle traffic for access. More importantly, I don’t have confidence in The Washington Commanders as a viable NFL franchise,” Petersen said in Wednesday press release.

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Cook Political Report Gives GOP Heightened Chance of Gaining Two Connecticut Congressional Seats

Bradley Vasoli

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report updated its analysis of congressional races this week to indicate 10 contests have a heightened chance of favoring Republicans, including two races in Connecticut.

Cook previously deemed Connecticut’s Second Congressional District, now held by Democrat Joe Courtney, “Solid D[emocratic]”; the journal now considers the district “Likely D.” And the state’s Fifth Congressional District, represented by Jahana Hayes, was moved from “Likely D” to “Lean D.”

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Arizona House Democrats Call for Action on Gun Measures After Uvalde Shooting

Peter D'Abrosca

Arizona’s House Democrats called for action on specific bills they have sponsored that remain in limbo in the state legislature. 

“House Democrats called on Republican Leaders to finally show the courage to make our communities safer,” a Thursday press release said. “In the wake of the violent massacres in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas Democrats again called for action on nearly a dozen common-sense gun violence prevention bills that have gotten a hearing this session or for the past several years.”

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Ohio House Passes Resolution Calling for Only Citizens to Vote

The Center Square

Ohio voters moved a step closer to deciding if noncitizens can vote in local elections after the House on Wednesday approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would put the issue on the November ballot.

Supporters said House Joint Resolution 4 would close a loophole that could allow noncitizens to vote on local candidates and tax issues in cities and villages. If it passes the Senate, it could appear before voters in November.

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Wisconsin Republicans Refuse to Endorse a Candidate for Governor During Convention Amid Growing Criticism of GOP Establishment

Admin

During their annual convention on Saturday, Wisconsin Republicans for the first time rejected a long-standing tradition to endorse a candidate in the primary race for governor. A candidate in Wisconsin needs 60 percent of the vote to win the party’s endorsement. The exercise is meant to signal to voters which candidates are most competitive, and determine which candidate will receive party funds for the rest of the primary and general election.

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Whitmer Issues Abortion-Related Directive to Michigan Agencies, Departments

The Center Square

An executive directive issued by Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer aims to eliminate any state department and agency barriers to contraception and abortion.  

The directive instructs all “State of Michigan departments and agencies to review aspects of reproductive health care that fall within their jurisdiction and identify and assess potential opportunities to increase protections for reproductive health care, such as contraception, long-acting reversible contraception, and emergency contraception,” according to a release issued Wednesday morning by the governor’s office. 

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Georgia Attorney General Signals Possible Withdrawal from National Association of Attorneys General in Letter

Aaron Gulbransen

In a move signaling that he is considering withdrawal, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wrote the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) a letter informing them of his refusal to pay the invoice for membership dues and questioning the organization for its lack of bipartisanship. 

In his letter, Carr said, “This Office received the above-referenced invoice for dues in the total amount of $95,365.00. In light of the outstanding questions posed by a number of Attorneys General regarding the operations of the National Association of Attorneys General (“NAAG”) as well as the recent withdrawal of several Attorneys General from NAAG membership, this Office has determined not to make payment of the invoice at this time.”

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11 Substantial Election Integrity Bills Were Signed into Law Last Year in Arizona; So Far This Year, Only One

Rachel Alexander

A couple of Republican legislators have been holding up election integrity bills from passing this year, but there was plenty of groundwork made last year. The Arizona Legislature pushed hard to get 11 of these bills passed in 2021, in large part due to concern there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election. So far this year, Gov. Doug Ducey has only signed one election integrity bill into law. 

Along with a list of last year’s successful bills provided to Republican Briefs, State Sen. Vince Leach (R-Tucson) said, “For those of you who think that our legislature did nothing for election security, here are the actual bills passed this [past] session. … The rest will have to wait until we have a larger majority.”

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Arizona Senate Fails to Pass Ballot Box Ban, Among Other Election Integrity Bills

Neil Jones

A number of election integrity bills addressing ballot boxes and ballot harvesting failed to pass the Senate on Monday.

“If you think it’s a problem. If you think ballot boxes contribute to ballot harvesting and can be manipulated, you would ban them. Not require that we tape them. It’s too late at that point,” said State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) while explaining her floor amendment to HB 2238.

According to HB 2238, sponsored by State Representative Jake Hoffman (R-Phoenix), “a county recorder or other officer in charge of elections may not use an unmonitored drop box for receipt of voted early ballots.”

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Nonprofit for Special Needs Kids Jill’s House Receives Spirit of Virginia Award

Eric Burk

Jill’s House, a non-proft that provides overnight care with fun activities for special needs children, received the Spirit of Virginia award from First Lady Suzanne Youngkin on Thursday.

Youngkin said in a press release, “Jill’s House’s mission is near to the Governor and my hearts. For a dozen years, Jill’s House has served not only some of our most precious children – those with developmental and intellectual disabilities – but also these children’s entire family units. With an eye to bettering lives, Jill’s House caregivers truly embody the sweet Spirit of Virginia.”

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Virginia Receives $384,736 as Part of $19.2 Million Settlement with Ford over Deceptive Marketing

Eric Burk

Virginia will receive $384,736.40 as its share of a multi-state $19.2 million settlement with Ford over false advertising of fuel economy of 2013–2014 C-Max hybrid cars and the capacity of 2011–2014 Super Duty pickup trucks.

“Virginians should be able to trust car manufacturers’ information as advertised about their vehicles,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a Tuesday press release. “Ford exaggerated the C-Max hybrids’ fuel efficiency and Super Duty trucks’ payload capacity, misleading Virginia consumers. A key component of my office is protecting Virginia consumers, and I’m pleased we were able to reach a fair agreement with Ford.”

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Michigan Board of Canvassers Deadlocks, Blocking 5 GOP Gov Candidates from Ballot

The Center Square

The Michigan Board of Canvassers deadlocked on a 2-2 vote, blocking five GOP candidates from the Aug. 2, 2022 ballot, unless a court intervenes on their behalf.

The four-person bipartisan panel met to discuss the Bureau of Elections report that recommended disqualifying five candidates who apparently didn’t meet the 15,000 valid signature threshold because of 30 petitioners who allegedly submitted 68,000 fraudulent signatures.

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