Month: July 2022

Metro Nashville Committee Won’t Seek Independent Review of Economic Numbers for Tennessee Titans’ New Stadium

The Center Square
Nissan International Stadium

Nashville’s East Bank Stadium Committee plans to parse information on a new projected $2.2 billion Tennessee Titans stadium deal once it’s announced, along with information on the city’s current lease obligations and a $200,000 stadium study the council has planned along with land-use requirements around Nissan Stadium.

But the group will not be producing its own economic impact and tax impact numbers related to the proposed project.

“I am guessing the council doesn’t have an appetite for spending $25M on its own professionals, or $5 million or $1 million or half a million,” committee chair Bob Mendes said in the group’s planning meeting. “So we’re, necessarily, going to have to rely on information from others on that. I assume we’re going to hear about that. When we’re going to get presented with an actual deal, there’s going to be a list of income streams and a look forward on what it generates over time. Sources and uses.

Read the full story

Memphis Officials Silent After Vowing Not to Enforce State Abortion Law

Peter D'Abrosca

Officials in the city of Memphis are silent after the City Council pledged not to follow Tennessee’s law restricting abortions, which takes effect in August and would make performing an abortion a felony offense for doctors. 

Tuesday, Councilman JB Smiley introduced a resolution Reproductive Autonomy Is Necessary (RAIN) Act, which was subsequently passed by a vote of 6-0, with two members of the City Council abstaining. 

Read the full story

Akron, Ohio Mayor Ends Downtown Curfew

Bradley Vasoli

Akron, OH Mayor Dan Horrigan (D) Sunday lifted the curfew he imposed on his city’s downtown area on the Fourth of July. 

The restriction applied between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and affected Akron residents encircled by Route 59, Interstate 76 and Route 8. The mayor gave his initial emergency order two Mondays ago after anti-police protests turned violent and severely damaged Main Street businesses. 

Read the full story

Reps. Wittman, Luria Support House Passage of FY23 NDAA, Most Virginia Republicans Voted ‘Nay’

Eric Burk

The House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with added funding after Virginia Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) blasted the administration’s original military spending proposals for not including a large enough budget and for planning to decommission some ships. Wittman was the only Virginia Republican voting in favor of the bill after the House Freedom Caucus criticized it the day before the vote.

After passage of the NDAA on Thursday, Wittman praised it in a press release: “In today’s increasingly divided political world, today’s passage of the NDAA is encouraging proof that Congress can still work together for the greater good of our nation. This year’s NDAA does right by our servicemembers and their families, reverses Biden’s reckless defense cuts, counteracts Biden’s harmful inflation, provides the resources we need to deter Chinese aggression, and protects our homeland.”

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Toughens DUI Sentences

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Reps. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) and Chris Quinn (R-Media) on Friday lauded area lawmakers and activists for their work toward enactment of “Deana’s Law” which toughens drunk-driving sentences.

The new act is named after Deana DeRosa Eckman, a 45-year-old Delaware County resident who died in a February 2019 car collision caused by six-time Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) offender David Strowhouer in Upper Chichester Township. Strowhouer had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199, more than twice the level the commonwealth permits, and was driving 80 miles per hour before striking Eckman’s vehicle head-on. 

Read the full story

Buckhead City Movement Opposition Peter Aman Named Chief Administrative Police Officer

Addison Basurto

Atlanta Police Interim Chief Darin Schierbaum and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced on Thursday that former City of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Peter Aman would be the first ever chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Atlanta Police Department (APD).

“I created the Chief Administrative Officer position to ensure that the personnel of the Atlanta Police Department have the best tools and support as they fight crime and serve our community,” Mayor Dickens said.

Read the full story

Illinois Opens Doors to Wisconsin Residents Seeking Abortions

The Center Square
Pregnant woman holding ultrasound photo in front of stomach

Illinois will open its doors to Wisconsin residents seeking an abortion after Planned Parenthood announced a partnership between organizations in the two states.

In 2020, 9,600 out-of-state residents received an abortion in Illinois. That’s expected to increase as neighboring states restrict the procedure following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade and sending the regulation of abortion back to individual states. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton this week testified in front of a U.S. Senate committee, saying Illinois has already seen the number of out-of-state abortion patients double since last month’s decision. 

Read the full story

Michigan Fish Hatcheries Get New Ship, $34 Million for Repairs

The Center Square

Michigan fish hatcheries will receive $34 million in the 2023 budget for infrastructure repairs and replacement of a 54-year-old survey vessel.

“Michigan’s fish and aquatic habitats are among our state’s greatest natural, recreational and economic assets, and we must continue working together to protect them for future generations,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “Together with the historic, $450 million investments in our parks and public lands under the Building Michigan Together Plan I signed earlier this year, our bipartisan budget represents a once-in-a-generation investment that will help us continue safeguarding our most precious natural resources.”

Read the full story

Arizona Judge Rules Father May Present an Argument That He Is Representing the Estate of His Aborted Baby to Sue Abortion Doctor

Rachel Alexander

According to Pro Publica, an Arizona judge this week ruled that U.S. Marine veteran Mario Villegas may represent the estate of his aborted child and sue the abortion doctor, and refer the doctor for wrongful death.

Villegas asserts in his complaint that doctors failed to properly inform his now ex-wife of the long-term medical risks of abortion, nor the “reasonable alternatives to abortion” such as counseling and putting the baby up for adoption. He said they failed to talk to her about the “intense and emotionally satisfying maternal bond and relationship inherent in birthing and raising that child.”

Read the full story

New Civics Initiative Launches in Florida Targeting Potential Minority Voters

The Center Square

A new civics initiative launched Thursday in Miami-Dade County in Florida targeting potential minority voters.

The Republican National Committee launched the initiative at its Hispanic Community Center in Doral, Florida, Thursday. It’s designed to help future voters learn more about American history and help lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or green card holders, prepare for the civics portion of their naturalization test.

Read the full story

Largest Teacher’s Union Plans to Compile List of Opposition Groups to Target

Admin

The National Education Association (NEA), the country’s largest teacher’s union, committed to spending more than $140,000 to research and target opposition groups at a convention July 3-6, according to Education Week.

NEA will research and create fact sheets on at least 25 organizations “that are actively working to diminish a student’s right to honesty in education, freedom of sexual and gender identity, and teacher autonomy,” according to a convention business item seen by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  The resolution was approved for $140,625 at the NEA’s convention last week, and the fact sheets that will be distributed to NEA state affiliates, according to Education Week.

Read the full story

Republican National Committee Launches New Program to Coach Immigrants Through Citizenship Process

Admin

The Republican Party is starting a program to train immigrants on the U.S. citizenship and naturalization exam, according to a Republican National Committee (RNC) Thursday press release.

The Republican Civics Initiative will prepare “future voters” who are green card holders hoping to become citizens through basic U.S. civics and history topics included on the naturalization exam, the press release stated. RNC staff will be trained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) certified RNC Strategic Initiatives, according to the press release.

Read the full story

California’s New Pro-Union Law Could Grind the Supply Chain to a Halt

Admin

California truckers are protesting across the state to express their disapproval of Assembly Bill (AB) 5, a new law backed by unions that reclassifies them as employees rather than independent contractors and could send shockwaves through an already-stressed supply chain.

The regulation was partly enacted to protect gig workers at companies like Uber and Lyft that hire independent contractors in large numbers without affording them the benefits given to employees, but will complicate or render illegal the current employment status of many of California’s approximately 70,000 independent truck owner-operators, The Wall Street Journal reported. The law will likely force some truckers out of the industry, thus lowering shipping capacity and raising prices for transporting cargo in the Golden State at a time when California ports have already experienced major supply-chain bottlenecks during the COVID-19 pandemic, CalMatters reported.

Read the full story

Commentary: Adam Schiff Is Hiding Something

Admin

Jeffrey Rosen had a secret on January 6, 2021.

The then-acting attorney general—Rosen was appointed on December 24, 2020 to replace departing Attorney General William Barr—had assembled a team of elite and highly skilled government agents at Quantico, a nexus point between the FBI and U.S. military, the weekend before Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the same time he was rejecting President Donald Trump’s last-minute appeals to investigate election fraud, Rosen was managing a hush-hush operation in advance of planned rallies and protests in Washington on January 6.

Read the full story

Commentary: Study Provides More Evidence That School Mask Mandates Are Not Effective

Admin

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that mask mandates did little to nothing to curb the spread of Covid-19. The latest research further undermines the controversial policy.

A new study analyzing a pair of schools in Fargo, North Dakota—one which had a mask mandate in place in the fall of the 2021-2022 academic year and one that did not—provides more evidence that mask mandates are ineffective public policy.

Read the full story

Judge Orders Discovery Phase in Social Media Collusion Lawsuit Against Biden Administration

The Center Square

President Joe Biden, members of his administration and select social media companies must turn over documents and answer questions within the next 30 days during a discovery phase of a lawsuit alleging collusion to suppress freedom of speech, a court ruled.

The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit in May alleging Biden and eight high-ranking members of his administration and the government colluded with and/or coerced social media companies Meta, Twitter and YouTube to suppress “disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social medial platforms.”

Read the full story

Federal Judge Sentences 69-Year-Old Grandmother with Cancer to 2 Months in Jail for ‘Parading’ in the Capitol on January 6

Admin

A federal judge has sentenced a 69-year-old Idaho grandmother and cancer patient to two months behind bars for parading in the Capitol, a misdemeanor.

Pam Hemphill pleaded guilty in January to one count of demonstrating, picketing, or parading in a Capitol building.  The diminutive senior was photographed inside the Capitol Rotunda.

Read the full story

The University of Virginia Will Not Say If 4.7 Percent Tuition Increase Will Be Reversed

Admin

All but one public university in Virginia are taking steps to address students’ tuition burden after a call to action from the governor. 

Earlier this year, Glenn Youngkin requested that the commonwealth’s public universities reverse their planned tuition increases, citing inflation.

The University of Virginia (UVA) is the only public university not to announce a plan to reverse its tuition increase. NBC29 reports that UVA students will see a 4.7% tuition and fee increase, raising rates for first-year in-state students to $14,878 and $50,348 for out-of-state students. 

Read the full story

TN-5 Candidates Winstead and Harwell Show Significant Cash on Hand in 2nd Quarter FEC Reports, Ogles and Two Others Miss Filing Deadline

Aaron Gulbransen

The July 15 deadline for federal candidates to file their Federal Election Commission (FEC) second-quarter campaign finance reports has passed, and six of the nine candidates for the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat have reports that are available for public viewing.

The FEC second-quarter reporting period covers April 1 through June 30.

Read the full story

The DOJ Is Creating a ‘Reproductive Rights Task Force’

Admin

President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is forming a “Reproductive Rights Task Force” to monitor state and local abortion restrictions, the agency announced Tuesday.

The task force will track state and local legislation that restricts women’s ability to seek abortions or seeks to legally penalize medical workers who perform abortions in a manner consistent with federal law, according to the DOJ announcement. The unit will also collaborate with other federal agencies and take steps to secure and promote abortion access, “including proactive and defensive legal action where appropriate.”

Read the full story

‘Grossly Inflated’: China Is Lying to the World About Its Population Crisis, Expert Says

Admin

Leaked population data from Chinese police files confirmed that China has been fudging its demographic statistics, according to one researcher who has long argued that China’s birth numbers are “grossly inflated.”

Official statistics show that China’s population topped 1.4 billion in 2021, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Researcher Fuxian Yi told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he analyzed a sample of leaked population data and found that birth rates fell short of the requirements to produce the population growth China claims.

Read the full story

Border Deaths Surge Under Biden Compared with Trump, Obama

Admin

Under the Biden administration, deaths of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021 increased by almost 300 from the prior year, and by 200 from the last non-pandemic year, according to a United Nations agency that now classifies the southern border as the “deadliest land crossing in the world.” 

Moreover, more border deaths have occurred in the first half of 2022 than for the entire calendar years of 2020, 2018, and 2017, according to data from the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project.

Read the full story

Gallup Poll Shows Americans’ Distrust of Public Schools Along Party Lines

The Center Square

A new Gallup poll shows how declining trust in America’s public schools differs along party lines. 

Overall American trust in public schools remains low, with only 28% reporting that they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public schools, which is down from 32% last year. Both numbers are short of the 41% reported in 2020, a level of trust not seen since 2004, with only 29% of Americans reporting having a “great deal” or  “quite a lot” of confidence in public schools in 2018 and 2019. 

Read the full story

Commentary: After 18 Months of Biden, We Have Yet to Hit Bottom

Admin

Next week will mark one and a half years since Joe Biden became president on Jan. 20, 2021. On July 20, every American should look within and ask: “Am I better off than I was 18 months ago?”

To Biden’s credit, the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.4% when he took office to 3.6% in June. Today’s figure is a notch higher than the 3.5% joblessness that Americans enjoyed in February 2020, thanks to President Donald Trump’s Republican tax cuts, deregulation, energy dominance, and other pro-growth initiatives.

Read the full story

Ohio Senator Advocates Policy Changes in Wake of Inflation Report

The Center Square

In response to this week’s news of the consumer price index rising to 9.1%, Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio gave a blistering summation and offered direction to the Biden administration.

Portman said numbers provided for Ohio indicate residents are spending an additional $8,300 a year on energy needs, food and clothing. Jonathan Church at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contacted by The Center Square, responded in an email for response to getting state-specific index numbers, “The CPI program does not produce state-level indexes.”

Read the full story

New Polling Data Spells More Bad News for Angie Craig

Admin

As the 2022 midterm elections draw near, data continues to show that a Minnesota congresswoman occupying a crucial seat for the Democratic Party may be in danger of losing.

Angie Craig currently represents Minnesota’s Second Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. In the 2020 election she narrowly defeated Republican challenger Tyler Kistner — by only 10,000 votes out of a total 424,512 cast.

Read the full story

Gov. DeSantis Speaks at Moms for Liberty Conference in Tampa

Steve Stewart

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke for about an hour Friday during the opening day of the first-ever Moms for Liberty National Summit held in Tampa, which was scheduled to continue on Saturday and Sunday.

The summit welcomed “all moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, and friends concerned about the attack on parental rights in education and are ready to defend those rights at all levels of government.”

Read the full story

New Pennsylvania Child Care Tax Credit May Not Benefit the Neediest Families

The Center Square

Tucked into the Pennsylvania budget is a provision for a child care tax credit, funded with almost $25 million. The credit, however, might not be the best way to help families struggling with child care costs. 

As WESA in Pittsburgh detailed, the tax credit refunds up to 30% of child care expenses that a worker claims on their federal income tax return. Filers can claim up to $3,000 for expenses with one dependent or up to $6,000 if they have two or more dependents. 

Read the full story

Michigan Bill Aims to Stop Gas Station Price Gouging

The Center Square

Democrats say a price-gouging bill would stop “Big Oil” greed, but others say it would penalize independent operators of gas stations.

Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, sponsored Senate Bill 1136, which defines price gouging as “an unjustified disparity of more than 20%” between the price of a comparable energy product or service in a market before, during, or after a market disruption.

Read the full story

Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association Launches New Hospital Price Transparency Tool

Eric Burk

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) launched an online tool to direct consumers to price transparency documents, including estimates and services pricing for hospitals across Virginia.

VHHA President and CEO Sean Connaughton said in a press release, “This new online tool continues a long tradition of Virginia hospitals promoting transparency about health care prices, the COVID-19 pandemic, inpatient behavioral health admissions, health care quality in hospitals, and so much more. With the support of our member hospitals and health systems, we are pleased to present this information to the public.”

Read the full story

Andy Biggs Sends Letter to U.S. Departments Demanding They Stop Transporting Illegal Immigrant Minors Across State Lines for Abortions

Neil Jones

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs sent a letter Friday to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the Department of Health and Human & Human Safety (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, demanding they cease transporting illegal alien minors across state lines to receive abortions.

“The Biden Administration is now savagely transporting alien minors in federal custody to receive abortions,” Biggs said in a press release. “This outrageous use of federal resources to transport minors across state lines for abortions or otherwise providing or facilitating abortions in DHS or HHS custody is a heinous act and must be stopped.”

Read the full story

Polls Show Majority of Arizona GOP Voters Still Unsure in Several Races as August Primary Approaches

Neil Jones

As early voting for the August 2nd Arizona Primary Election is underway, OH Predictive Insights (OHPI) held a poll showing that many Arizona Republican Party (GOP) Voters remain unsure who they want to vote for in several races.

“The Governor and Senate primary is taking up much of the oxygen (and airtime) away from these down-ticket races,” said Mike Noble, OHPI Chief of Research. “With voters predominantly undecided in these races, their respective campaign efforts will be critical as they chase ballots, get out the vote, and spend their hard-earned campaign dollars leading up to Election Day.”

Read the full story

House Democrats Advance Abortion Bill that’s Twice Failed in Senate

Admin

The House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that aims to protect rights for women seeking abortion and those providing abortion services despite two previous rejections.

The vote fell mostly along party lines, earning no votes from Republican representatives while only one Democrat, Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, opposed it. The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 would provide protections for abortion providers and patients nationwide, expanding abortion access across the country.

Read the full story

Migrant Encounters at U.S.-Mexico Border Hit Another Historic High

Admin

The number of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border decreased in June, but remained at a historic high, according to numbers released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Friday.

CBP encountered 207,416 migrants at the southern border, a 14% decrease compared to May. There were 92,274 migrants immediately expelled under Title 42, the public health order activated during the COVID-19 pandemic, in June.

Read the full story

Commentary: First Vote on Abortion After Roe Reversal

RealClearWire

Minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the 49-year-old constitutional right to abortion, President Biden addressed the nation. “Voters need to make their voices heard. This fall, Roe is on the ballot.”

Make that late summer. On Aug. 2, Kansas will become the first state to vote on reproductive rights since the landscape-altering U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which took away the federal guarantee of abortion and gave the issue back to the states.

Read the full story

Madison Mayor Proposes $1,000 Fine for Harassing Election Officials

The Center Square

by Benjamin Yount   Less than one month before Wisconsin’s next election, Madison’s mayor is proposing a new ban on harassing election workers. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway unveiled a new ordinance Tuesday that would make it a crime to “engage in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct under circumstances in which such conduct tends to cause or provoke a disturbance” against poll workers or local election managers. Fines would start at $300, and are capped at $1,000. Rhodes-Conway says the $1,000 fine “reflects the harm to the election system, in addition to the effect of such behavior on election officials.” The new ordinance also allows Madison to press for a fine for each instance of harassment. “After the 2020 election and the attack on the U.S. Capitol, election officials in Madison and Dane County and in towns and villages across the state have faced threats and harassment for merely doing their jobs,” the mayor said in a statement. “By introducing these ordinance changes, the entire City of Madison, our police and our prosecutors are standing up and saying ‘enough.’ We are going to do everything we can to protect our clerks and poll workers from threats of violence…

Read the full story