Month: July 2022

State Department Funding Korean Influencers to Rake in International Students

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The State Department is funding a non-profit to recruit Korean social media influencers to drum up international student enrollment at universities in the United States, according to a new grant proposal.

The State Department will pay a non-profit up to $100,000 to organize a 10-day trip providing the Korean influencers with an expansive view of the United States, according to the grant. The program would require the influencers to post at least one blog or vlog post about their experience in the U.S.

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Nearly Half of Small Businesses Are in Hiring Freeze, Citing Inflation and Costs

The Center Square

Nearly half of small business owners are not willing to hire because of labor costs and “skyrocketing inflation,” a newly released small business report shows.

The small business network Alignable released its July Hiring report which found that “45% of small businesses (SMBs) are halting their hiring, largely because they say they can’t afford to add staff.

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Deadline to Submit Application in Search for Next Tennessee Attorney General Is Friday, July 29

Aaron Gulbransen

The deadline for an individual to submit an application to be considered in the Tennessee Supreme Court’s process of choosing the next attorney general is on Friday, July 29.

“Interested candidates must submit an application by 12:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, July 29, 2022. The Supreme Court will hold a public hearing to interview candidates on August 8 and 9, 2022 at the Nashville Supreme Court Building. The hearings will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube page,” the Court said in statement earlier in July.

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Anti-Christian Bully Dan Savage’s ‘It Gets Better Project’ Sends $10K to 50 School Districts to Push Gender Ideology

Susan Berry, PhD

LGBTQ activist organization the It Gets Better Project has awarded $10,000 in grant funds to 50 school districts across the country to promote gender ideology.

The project was founded by LGBTQ activist Dan Savage as an organization that provides anti-bullying support for LGBTQ teens, but Savage has a history of bullying teens himself – particularly, those who identify as Christian.

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Commentary: Tennessee Government Broadband Is Socialization of Effective Industry

Admin
Broadband Installation

In recent years, communities across Tennessee have considered pursuing a municipally-run broadband network. In July of 2021, this trend continued with the Knoxville Utilities Board’s (KUB) proposal for the largest municipal fiber network in the nation being approved unanimously by the Knoxville City Council. KUB’s broadband business plan came with a colossal $702 million price tag, as well as an estimated seven to ten year network build out, with the hopes of providing service to a four-county footprint, the majority of which would be located in Knox County, where the FCC estimates that 98.3% of the area has access to three or more broadband providers already.

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Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Would Vote for ‘Unnecessary’ Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Susan Berry, PhD

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Thursday he would vote in favor of a bill that would enshrine same-sex marriage into federal law, even though he believes the legislation is “unnecessary.”

In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson said about the legislation Democrats have titled the Respect for Marriage Act, “Prior to the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, I supported civil unions.”

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Virginia’s First Casino Earns $3.7 Million in First Week of Operating Temporary Site

Eric Burk

The Hard Rock Bristol Casino’s temporary location earned $3.7 million in adjusted gross receipts (AGR) in its first few days, with a total of over $37.5 million played from July 5 through July 14. The casino had soft openings before opening to the public on Friday, July 8.

Virginia Lottery Deputy Director of Gaming Compliance Gina Smith highlighted the numbers and said the casino was crowded in its first days.

“I will tell you that Saturday, you could not even walk on the floor,” Smith told the Virginia Lottery Board on July 20.

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Commentary: America’s Future Is America First

Admin

The Biden administration promised to “Build Back Better,” but for ordinary Americans, this is a broken promise.

Every day, our nation’s citizens must make ends meet with gas and groceries they increasingly cannot afford, often seeking goods they cannot find. As Americans watch inflation hit a 40-year high, they see glimpses on television of the devastation in war-torn Europe and the trafficking of innocent children across America’s southern border.

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Detroit Leaders Propose $203 Million for Affordable Housing

The Center Square

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and City Council members Mary Waters, Angela Calloway, and Latisha Johnson want to spend $203 million on affordable housing.

A seven-point plan aims to create a new housing division, renovate vacant apartments and Land Bank homes, and provide mortgage down-payment assistance using money meant to recover from COVID, as well as some state and local funds.

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Arizona Democratic Party Chair Refuses to Denounce ‘Defund the Police’ Movement

Cooper Moran

Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán refused to denounce the “Defund the Police” movement in a recent interview.

Terán, who is running for state Senate, has often touted an endorsement from Planned Parenthood. On her website, she highlights the support and says the state must “elect a Democratic majority in our state to protect access to safe and secure abortions for those who seek care.”

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Bill to Mandate Human Trafficking Awareness Training in Lodging Introduced in Pennsylvania

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. Judy Schwank (D-PA-Reading) announced on Monday she will introduce a bill mandating that Pennsylvania hotel and motel businesses train their workers in human-trafficking awareness. 

Human trafficking, an industry the International Labour Office believes to generate $150 billion each year, is a form of slavery whereby human beings are defrauded or coerced into servitude that is often sexual in nature. The U.S. Department of State estimates that about 25 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Of those, nearly a third are children or teenagers and roughly half are women. 

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Ohio Republicans Release New Ad Blasting Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Nan Whaley’s Record on Public Safety

Cooper Moran

The Ohio Republican Party released a new ad, which targets Democrat gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley’s record on crime as mayor of Dayton.

According to the organization, residents of the city became less safe during her first six years as mayor: violent crime increased 23 percent, homicides jumped 70 percent, and aggravated assaults spiked by 97 percent.

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Commentary: Reducing Patient Access to New Medications Is Progressives’ Latest Medicare Price Fixing Scheme

RealClearWire
pharmacy

As negotiations on their tax and spending bill continue, Senate Democrats are working on a legislative proposal to have the government fix the prices of Medicare prescription medications.  Though the details of the 190-page amendment differ in certain respects from earlier versions, the indisputable result would be the same: Reduced patient access to prescription drugs.

Like most giant regulatory schemes, the draft proposal is characteristically complex with numerous provisions, including detailed data collection, new mandates, tax penalties on drug manufacturers, free vaccines, and a cap on out-of-pocket costs. But the heart of the bill is the creation of a Drug Price Negotiation Program administered by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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Report: U.S. Investigates Blacklisted Chinese Tech Giant over Concerns It May Be Spying on Missile Silos

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The U.S. is investigating Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei for potential surveillance capabilities at cell towers near U.S. military bases and missile silos, according to Reuters.

Authorities are concerned that China could exploit Huawei communications equipment in the U.S. to gather sensitive data on military procedures and personnel, Reuters reported Thursday. The Commerce Department reportedly opened the investigation in 2021.

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Minneapolis Residents Resort to Crowdfunding to Pay for Neighborhood Policing

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Residents in Minneapolis are crowdfunding to get off-duty police officers to patrol the streets as the city continues to experience staffing shortages and an uptick in violent crime.

The Minneapolis Safety Initiative (MSI), a nonprofit seeking to increase law and order, is raising money to “buyback officer patrols.” Funds that are raised through the volunteer-led initiative will be sent to the Minneapolis Police Department to get officers deployed for shifts that the officers would otherwise not be working, MSI says.

“Officers working a buyback shift patrol in MPD vehicles, respond to 911 calls, and deter criminals—just as they do in a normal shift,” according to MSI. “All people working on this initiative are volunteers. There are fees for payment processing but otherwise, all contributions will go directly to paying for MPD buyback officer patrols.”

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Biden Administration Accused of Gaslighting Nation with ‘Soviet Level Propaganda’ After Attempting to Redefine Recession

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by Debra Heine   The White House is being accused of gaslighting the American people with “Soviet levels of propaganda” as Biden officials attempt to change the definition of recession amid economic data that shows the United States is entering into a recession. A recession is traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline. The GDP in the first quarter of 2022 shrank at an annual pace of -1.6 percent—far worse than the mild increase analysts had expected. The numbers for second-quarter economic growth will be announced Thursday morning, and they are expected to be ugly. The Atlanta Fed is projecting another -1.6% decline, meaning we have officially entered into a recession—unless we broaden the definition of recession. “What is a recession? While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” Biden’s economic team said in a post on the White House website on July 21. “Instead, both official determinations of recessions and economists’ assessment of economic activity are based on a holistic look at the data—including the labor market, consumer and business spending, industrial production, and incomes. Based on these data, it is unlikely…

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Out-of-State Groups Including Club for Growth Boost Andy Ogles and Attack His Opponents in TN-5 Race

Aaron Gulbransen

Several out-of-state groups, including the Club for Growth, are spending well over a million dollars to boost Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles’ bid for the Republican nomination for TN-5 and to attack his opponents Beth Harwell and Kurt Winstead.

Club for Growth famously spent $1,000,000 against then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

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Ducey Appeals Ruling Against Arizona’s Limiting COVID Relief to Open Schools

The Center Square

Gov. Doug Ducey is appealing a federal judge’s decision blocking his decision to withhold federal COVID-19 relief to unopened schools. 

While Arizona had lifted all mask mandates in April 2021, some schools still maintained a mask requirement.

To incentivize the removal of classroom mask policies, Ducey restricted a $163 million aid package to maskless, opened schools. The aid amounts to $1,080 per student. The state funding came from the $2 billion in federal stimulus money from the American Recovery Plan Act.

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Fairfax County School Employees Charged with Stealing More than 35,000 Laptops

Peter D'Abrosca

According to the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD), three men have been arrested and charged in connection with a scheme to steal and sell laptops from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

A release from FCPD says Franque Minor II, 35, of Maryland and Mario Jones Jr., 21, of Woodbridge, Virginia, were arrested as part of an investigation that began in March, when FCPS notified authorities that several thousand laptops appeared to be missing.

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Report: Georgia Ranks Highly for Workers Quitting Their Jobs Despite Low Unemployment Rate

The Center Square

Georgia ranked among the states with the highest number of workers quitting their jobs, even as state officials tout the lowest unemployment rate on record.

A new analysis from WalletHub found that The Peach State ranked fifth as the state with the highest resignation rate, with nearly 3.9% leaving their jobs over the past 12 months. Nationally, Alaska topped the list, ahead of Montana, Wyoming and Florida.

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Rep. Austin Scott Meets with Taiwanese Ambassador as Rep. Drew Ferguson Lambasts Biden for Oil Relations with Communist China

Addison Basurto

U.S. Representatives Austin Scott (R-GA-08) and Drew Ferguson (GA-03) were among the delegation of American officials that met the Taiwanese Ambassador to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim at a China Task Force roundtable on Thursday.

Rep. Scott took the opportunity to express his frustration at the Biden administration for its stance on energy and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

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Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency Shrugs Off Additional $55.6 Million in Unemployment Overpayments

The Center Square
Unemployment line

The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency announced on Thursday it will forgive an additional $55.6 million in overpayments.

This round of waivers pertains to nearly 7,300 jobless claims the agency erroneously issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as $2.4 million of refunds for claimants paying back benefits or applied toward overpayments.

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Commentary: The Master of Politicizing Schools Says Education Is Too Politicized

RealClearWire

Last week, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tweeted the results of a poll of teachers showing “nearly 9 out of 10 respondents say schools have become too politicized.” As she put it, “AFT members were on the frontlines of the first wave of the pandemic, but in many ways the last year was even harder” due to “mask wars, culture wars, the war on truth, or the devastation in Uvalde.” 

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Big Oil Makes Big Bucks as Pump Prices Stay High

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ExxonMobil’s quarterly fuel profits could reach as high as $4.4 billion in the second quarter as major refiners were set to collectively make $14 billion in profits, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Overall, ExxonMobil is projecting $18 billion in profit this quarter, its highest profit margin in 25 years. The projections come as average fuel prices remain elevated throughout the country, averaging well over $4 per gallon and up as much as $1.50 from this time last year, according to AAA data.

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Popular Minneapolis Restaurant Removes ‘Matt Birk Burger’ After Pro-Life Comments

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Two popular St. Paul restaurants have removed a burger from their menu that was named for former Minnesota Vikings star and lieutenant governor candidate Matt Birk.

The Nook and Shamrocks, operated under the same ownership, changed the name of the “Birk Burger” to the generic “Double Stack Pepperjack Burger,” according to Patch. The restaurants have similar menus and the Birk Burger was available at both locations.

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Commentary: New Cancer Diagnostics Are Being Misdiagnosed in Their Value

RealClearWire

Various methods of cancer screening, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, have been highly beneficial to patients across the world by allowing more effective treatments to be applied earlier. The most recent innovations for diagnosing cancers include genomic blood tests that can detect more cancers at earlier stages than existing screens. If reimbursed and adopted widely, they offer a great potential advance in the war on cancer but unfounded critiques of them misdiagnose their value.

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House Republicans Demand Answers on NPR’s ‘Disinformation Team’ after ‘Misleading Reporting’

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Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde led 13 of his House colleagues in a letter demanding answers from the president and CEO of National Public Radio (NPR) about the launch of its disinformation team given the taxpayer-funded outlet’s denial of the verified Hunter Biden laptop story, among other stories.

The Republicans said the details on the disinformation team were “vague, and the program itself is concerning given NPR’s proven track record of ironically spreading misinformation related to the 2020 election.”

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Release the ‘Colbert Nine’ Records

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Stephen Colbert arguably is one of the loudest celebrity boosters of the January 6 select committee. For months, Colbert, a longtime lover of Democrats and hater of Donald Trump, has covered the events of January 6 on a nightly basis, often using the latest news out of the committee as grist for his opening monologue.

The CBS “Late Night” host recently told his audience that the January 6 hearings are a “must watch” event; in a preview interview on June 8, Colbert asked U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) what Americans could expect to learn from his latest anti-Trump operation, to which Schiff solemnly promised the public would find out “how close we came from losing our democracy.”

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FEC Records Show Financial Reporting Irregularities and Fine Stemming from Andy Ogles’ 2002 Run for U.S. House

Aaron Gulbransen

Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show several instances of financial reporting irregularities, including a fine, stemming from Andy Ogles’ 2002 campaign for the U.S. House in what was then the 4th District.

On June 30, 2003, Ogles was assessed an administrative fine in the amount of $2,700.00 for failure to file the 2002 year end report. He paid the fine in full.

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DOJ Charges Tennessee Man in Alleged $40 Million Medicare Scam

Peter D'Abrosca

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday announced that it charged an Ashland doctor for allegedly scamming a more than $40 million from the Medicare system.

“John R. Manning, 61, faces charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and eight counts of health care fraud,” according to the DOJ. “The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation in which the United States seeks to recover all property, including a money judgement, that represents the proceeds of the violations.  Manning was arrested Tuesday at his home by federal agents.”

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GOP Lawmakers Question Constitutionality of State Department Grants to Spread Atheism Abroad

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Republican lawmakers are questioning the constitutionality of a Biden State Department program to fund the spread of atheism and humanism internationally.

At the end of June, a group of 15 Republican members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about a State Department funding program from April 2021 that “would award grants of up to $500,000 to organizations committed to the practice and spread of atheism and humanism, namely in South/Central Asia and in the Middle East/North Africa.”

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Northern Virginia County Becomes Latest Jurisdiction to Limit Police Cooperation with ICE

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Arlington County is the latest local jurisdiction to prohibit law enforcement from communicating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement about illegal immigrants residing in the county.

The Northern Virginia county’s adoption of its new “Trust Policy” comes after the recent arrest of an illegal immigrant charged with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl in Ohio.

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Over 100 Methodist Churches in Florida Leave Denomination over LGBTQ Stances

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In Florida, over 100 churches formerly affiliated with the United Methodist Church (UMC) have filed a lawsuit against a regional UMC group to negotiate fair terms for formally departing the denomination.

According to The Daily Wire, the lawsuit was filed on July 14th in the Circuit Court for the Eighth Judicial Circuit for Bradford County, Civil Division; the suit was filed against the UMC’s Florida Annual Conference. The lead plaintiff is the Grace United Methodist Church in Lawtey, which argued that, in the process of splitting from the church, it should not be forced to purchase its property from the regional body since the church itself already bought the location before the denomination was founded in 1968.

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Commentary: Solar Panel Programs Increase Your Electricity Bill

RealClearWire

Why are electricity prices rising so fast?

Over the past quarter century, electricity prices across America have increased by an average of 1.8 percent per year, from $8.38 per kWh in 1994 to $13.01 in 2019. Then in January this year both Entergy and Mississippi Power increased their rates by $7.81 per month and $5.27 per month respectively, affecting over half a million Mississippi residents.

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