Day: August 14, 2022

Youngkin Recognizes August as Hidden Heroes Month

Eric Burk

Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a certificate Friday recognizing August as Hidden Heroes Month in Virginia to honor caregivers for wounded, ill, or injured military and veterans.

“Virginia is proud to partner with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and their Hidden Heroes program to support and acknowledge caregivers that receive little support or acknowledgment for their selfless sacrifices,” Youngkin said in a press release. “In fact, most of these Hidden Heroes simply consider the challenging work they do as unconditional love or carrying out their civic and patriotic duty, without realizing they should be categorized as caregivers. I call on all my fellow Virginians to join me in thanking and supporting them. They deserve nothing less.”

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Commentary: When America Needs More Border Patrol, the Swamp Hires More IRS Agents

Admin

To know what our elected officials truly prioritize, it is important to ignore their teleprompter-fed rhetoric and focus on their actions. As Deep Throat once told Bob Woodward in a dark, underground parking garage, “Follow the money.”

At this point, it would take a certain kind of partisan dead-ender to deny our nation faces an immigration crisis. Too many years of our leaders refusing to enforce our immigration laws, combined with the current White House’s blatant contempt for those laws, have brought us to a point of critical mass where the country cannot withstand much more.

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Tennessee Arrests ‘Most Wanted’ Person for TennCare Fraud

Kaitlin Housler

Lindsey Horner, considered the “most wanted” person for TennCare fraud, was arrested Friday, according to a press release by the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration (F&A).

The Tennessee Office of Inspector General (OIG), in a joint effort with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, announced that the 39-year-old  Big Sandy, Tennessee, was charged with TennCare fraud and theft of services. The TennCare fraud charge is a class D felony, and the theft of services charge is a class C felony, the press release notes.

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House Incumbents on Track for Highest Number of Primary Losses in Decades

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The 2022 midterms have seen an unusually high number of incumbents lose their primaries, with several more primaries still left to go that could potentially raise the final number to a 30-year high.

Axios reports that thus far, 11 House incumbents – seven Republicans and four Democrats – have lost their primaries. The high number of primary losses is due to a number of factors, including the effects of redistricting after the 2020 census, as well as a major political realignment within both parties away from so-called moderates and in favor of more hardline, grassroots candidates.

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‘Not Good’: Salman Rushdie Suffers Nerve Damage, Expected to Lose Eye After Knife Attack

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Salman Rushdie is likely to lose an eye after the attempt on his life on Friday, with the writer also serving significant nerve and organ damage, according to reports.

Rushdie was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on Friday while giving a talk on free speech; he has been under intensive hospital care since the incident, while police have meanwhile apprehended his alleged attacker.

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Report: Text Messages Show Ohio Lieutenant Governor’s Involvement with FirstEnergy

Bradley Vasoli

Text messages between FirstEnergy Corp. executives indicate Ohio Lieutenant Governor John Husted (R) had discussions with company officials related to the scandal-plagued House Bill 6, according to a motion filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. 

In July 2019, Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed that measure into law, bailing out the FirstEnergy-operated Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants to $1.3 billion. Federal attorneys have since accused numerous political bigwigs, including former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, of partaking in a $61 million bribery scheme to enact the bill. The company has itself been smacked with a $230 million fine for its part in the scandal. 

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New Website Launches for Military Veterans to Apply for Florida Teaching Jobs

The Center Square

Gov. Ron DeSantis is encouraging military veterans interested in teaching at Florida public schools to consider applying through a new program.

“Florida is leading the way by bringing some of the best, the brightest and the bravest among us into our classrooms through a new program that helps military veterans become teachers,” he said in a video announcement Thursday. “If you served in the military for at least four years, were honorably discharged, have taken 60 college credits, and pass a subject area exam, we want you to be able to teach Florida students.

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FBI Informants Involved in Whitmer Kidnapping Debacle Allegedly Smoked Weed, Shared Hotel Room with Accused Plotter

Admin

FBI informants in the case of the alleged 2020 plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer purportedly shared a hotel room and smoking weed with a target, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. are undergoing retrial on charges of planning to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home in 2020 in response to her COVID-19 restrictions. They and two others were originally acquitted in April, with their defense arguing the FBI entrapped them, The Associated Press reported.

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Kari Lake Unveils Plan to Fix Arizona’s Homeless Crisis

Neil Jones

Arizona Republican Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake recently held a press conference at a Phoenix homeless camp covering the homeless crisis the state is facing and her policies to do something about it if elected as Arizona’s next governor.

“I’ve covered our homeless crisis for many, many years, and nothing seems to get done,” Lake said at the opening of her conference. “We’ve got our hard-earned tax money going to create parks to keep our cities up, and we can’t even use our parks anymore. We can’t walk our streets anymore because we’re afraid. Not to mention it is cruel to allow this chronic homelessness to continue on.”

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Florida School Slaps Advisory Labels on More than 100 LGBTQ, Race-Based Books

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A Florida school district has placed warning labels for parents on more than 100 books containing LGBTQ and raced-based content, according to Fox News.

Collier County public schools in Collier County, Florida, began adding warning labels to books in the district library after a February “Porn In Schools Report,” according to Fox News. The “advisory notice to parents” stickers are placed on books in both the school’s library and online catalog.

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Raphael Warnock Swore off Corporate PAC Money – but Took Thousands from PACs Funded by Big Corporations

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Sen. Raphael Warnock has collected tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from political action committees (PAC) funded by corporations this election cycle, records show. At the same time, the senator has said he’s “never taken a dime of corporate PAC money” and pledged not to do so.

Warnock’s campaign took $29,600 during the first and second quarters of 2022 from Democratic leadership PACs that have in turn accepted $1.6 million from corporate-backed PACs since 2003, according to Federal Election Commission records (FEC) reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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State Report Confirms Violent Crime Skyrocketed on Walz’s Watch

Admin

Gov. Tim Walz’s administration waited until nearly 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon to release a report showing violent crime has soared in Minnesota in back-to-back years.

In its annual uniform crime report for 2021, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) said violent crime increased by 21.6 percent last year, a bigger jump than the 16.6 percent increase seen in 2020.

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Sen. Kaine Says Richmond Residents Owed an Explanation About the Alleged Mass Shooting

Eric Burk

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said that Richmond authorities need to provide an explanation after questions arose about the alleged July 4 mass shooting Richmond police said they prevented.

“If there are facts suggesting that this really was a potential mass tragedy, those need to be put on the table,” Kaine said Friday according to WTVR. “City officials didn’t have to put it on the table at the outset. They could have just said, ‘we’ve arrested some people.’ But they put it on the table that we’ve arrested them, and this was going to be a mass shooting incident.”

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Arizona Representatives React to House Passing the Inflation Reduction Act

Neil Jones

Arizona Representatives, including Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), all recently released statements slamming the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as it passed the U.S. House Friday and will move on to President Joe Biden.

“President Biden and congressional Democrats are so out of touch with everyday Americans that they just pushed through a massive tax and spending bill that will increase taxes, gasoline prices, and utility rates all while making the lives of Americans worse,” Lesko said. “I won’t do that to the American people and that is why I voted no.”

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FBI Likely Briefed White House Before Mar-a-Lago Raid, Ex-FBI Agents Say

Admin

The top levels of the Biden administration, including the White House and officials leading the Department of Justice (DOJ), were likely aware of the Mar-a-Lago raid and may have even moved the warrant forward, two retired FBI agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Former President Donald Trump announced Monday night that the FBI raided his Florida home, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) had an ongoing investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents after 15 boxes of White House documents ended up at Mar-a-Lago, according to The Washington Post.

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Commentary: The Real Job Crisis in Michigan

Admin

The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only those who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor-force participation rate, which measures the share of working-age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, especially for men without a college degree, and practically in states like Michigan. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown. 

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Commentary: The Real Job Crisis in Wisconsin

Admin

The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, particularly for men without a college degree, and especially in states like Wisconsin. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown. 

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Commentary: The Real Job Crisis in Connecticut

Admin

The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all of the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working-age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, especially for men without a college degree. This is especially true in states like Connecticut. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown. 

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Ohio to Devote $1.2 Million to Stop Parole Escapees

The Center Square

Ohio plans to spend $1.2 million to try to stop youngsters from escaping the Department of Youth Services parole supervision and quickly find them if they do, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday afternoon as part of another $5.7 million in law enforcement funding.

The money, coming from the state general fund and the federal American Rescue Plan Act, is expected to be used by DYS to develop the new Community Intervention and Intelligence Unit. It will work with local law enforcement to find and reengage with youth who have active warrants not abiding by terms of parole.

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Commentary: The Real Job Crisis in Florida

Admin

The real crisis in the U.S. labor market is not, as we keep hearing, that there are not enough people who can work. The real crisis is all the working-age people on the sidelines, not even looking for a job. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but that statistic covers only people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks. The labor force participation rate, which measures the share of working-age people working or at least looking for work, shows a long-term decline, especially for men without a college degree. This is especially true in states like Florida. When able-bodied men are not even looking for work, a host of social problems ensue — from crime, to drug addiction, to family breakdown. 

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Tennessee Teacher Accused of Exposing Himself to Students

Peter D'Abrosca

A Robertson County teacher on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges that he exposed himself to students, among other sexual activities inside the school. 

John Keathley, 53, is charged with indecent exposure, solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor, and public indecency for allegedly engaging in sexual behavior with a student at Greenbrier Middle School between March and May. 

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