Arizona Cities Rake in Tens of Millions from Biden Infrastructure Bill

After Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg last week visited Tucson and Phoenix to tout the Biden Administration’s infrastructure bill, those cities have announced that they will receive tens of millions from the federal government for projects. 

“The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the City of Phoenix Public Transit Department a $16.3 million grant for greener (low and no emissions) buses and supporting infrastructure,” according to the city of Phoenix. “The grant is made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the Low-No Emission and Buses and Bus Facilities highly-competitive grant programs. The programs’ goal is to support the transition of the nation’s fleet to more energy efficient and cleaner transit vehicles.”

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Patients’ Average COVID-19 Average Hospital Stay Up During Omicron in Virginia

The average length of stay for COVID-19 patients went up in the first quarter of 2022 according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA).

“What we saw in the Omicron wave was that those coming into hospitals were staying longer for their COVID hospitalization with an average length of stay of ten-and-a-half days,” VHHA Vice President of Data Analytics, David Vaamonde said during a Monday presentation of hospital and emergency department visit trends.

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Phoenix Police Seize Hundreds of ‘Crime Guns’ in Crackdown Operation

The Phoenix Police Department (PHXPD) announced that after roughly a month after the launch of “Operation Gun Crime Crackdown” (OGCC), officers seized hundreds of crime guns to reduce gun violence in the city.

“The results of this targeted effort are a great example of how working with our law enforcement partners can enhance the great work the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department do every day,” said Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams.

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Commentary: Soros’ Claim About Leftist Prosecutors Is Big Lie

George Soros must be feeling the heat of rising crime rates. 

The leftist billionaire recently penned an opinion column in The Wall Street Journal explaining why he financially supports progressive prosecutors. Cloaked in platitudinous language devoid of substance, Soros asserts that “reform-minded prosecutors” have an agenda that promotes safety and justice and are “popular and effective.” 

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Ohio Democrats Want to Stop State Officeholders from Holding Paid Positions

Ohio Democrats plan to announce legislation Thursday that would ban any statewide office holder from holding private employment, performing private work or serving in any private position that they get paid to do.

State Reps. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, and Mary Lightbody, D-Westerville, have called a press conference for 11:45 a.m. on Thursday to announce what they are calling the State Official Integrity Act.

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Incentives Unknown as Georgia Announces Expansion at YKK AP Facility

A manufacturer of windows and doors plans to invest up to $125 million to expand its middle Georgia facility.

Atlanta-based YKK AP America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based YKK AP, will create 100 additional jobs at its expanded Bibb County manufacturing facility. As is typical for jobs classified as in progress, state officials declined to divulge whether the state offered any incentives to entice the expansion or what it might cost Georgia taxpayers.

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Old Case Over Audio Tapes in Bill Clinton’s Sock Drawer Could Impact Mar-a-Lago Search Dispute

When it comes to the National Archives, history has a funny way of repeating itself. And legal experts say a decade-old case over audio tapes that Bill Clinton once kept in his sock drawer may have significant impact over the FBI search of Melania Trump’s closet and Donald Trump’s personal office.

The case in question is titled Judicial Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration and it involved an effort by the conservative watchdog to compel the Archives to forcibly seize hours of audio recordings that Clinton made during his presidency with historian Taylor Branch.

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Mark Green Commentary: Nearshoring Is a Win for Latin America

In just the short span of three decades, China has risen from a populous backwater to become the world’s dominant industrial economy. Western leaders, lured by the promise of profits and the naïve belief that investment would lead the Chinese Communist regime to change its ways, promoted economic integration with China, shipped millions of manufacturing jobs to China, and collaborated with China as it engaged in economic warfare against the rest of the world.

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Black Mom Called ‘Token’ by Florida School Board Member Plans to Sue

A black conservative mom called a “token person” by a Florida school board member plans to take legal action, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Elizabeth Andersen, a Duval County School Board member, called Tia Bess, a black woman and member of Moms For Liberty, a group that advocates for parental rights in education, a “token person” when referring to how the group promotes Bess and her disabled son, according to a clip of the now-deleted April 2022 video. Bess and her attorney, Nicholas Whitney, sent an Aug. 14 letter to Andersen requesting an apology and now plan to sue Andersen, according to documents obtained by the DCNF.

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7,190 Virginians to Receive Debt Forgiveness After Finding That ITT Technical Institute Misled Students

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) granted federal loan forgiveness to former ITT Technical Institute students, including $141.6 million across 7,190 Virginians, after findings that the school falsely advertised the value of its degrees.

“Attending higher education is a big decision, and a sacrifice for many Virginians,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release.

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Michigan Schools, Colleges Have Only Spent 44 Percent of Federal COVID Aid

More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Michigan K-12 schools and higher education institutions have only spent 44% of $7.92 billion of federal relief to combat learning loss.

The United States Department of Education says Michigan schools and colleges have spent $3.49 billion from the Education Stability Fund to combat learning loss for some of the 1.4 million students enrolled in local education agencies and more than 691,000 students in Higher Education.

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Family Doctor Accuses Minnesota Gubernatorial Candidate of ‘Unethical’ Practices, Advocates for Puberty Blockers for Kids

A Minnesota family physician who accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen of “unethical” and “non-evidence based” medical practices believes children should have access to puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

Dr. Rose Marie Leslie, who was identified in December 2020 as the “number one most impactful content creator” on TikTok, posted on the platform a video openly supporting “gender transitions” for children, according to a recent tweet from Libs of TikTok.

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Connecticut Program Seeks to Land Workers in High-Demand Jobs

Connecticut is implementing a new training program that is designed to give workers the skills necessary to fill jobs in high-priority occupations.

CareerConneCT, a $70 million program, backed by American Rescue Plan Act funds, will operate 19 various job training programs, Gov. Ned Lamont said. The training programs are aimed at giving workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic short-term training to get them the credentials needed to work in various sectors of the workforce in higher quality jobs that are in demand.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis Announces Plan to Recruit and Retain Public School Teachers, Calls Florida ‘The State Where Woke Goes to Die’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced a plan to recruit public school teachers from other sectors of the community and retain effective teachers who can apprentice new recruits.

In a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis discussed three proposals he is presenting for Florida’s 2023 legislative session, all of which seek to recruit “the best and brightest” teachers in the state’s public school classrooms.

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Arizona to Lose 21 Percent of Its Colorado River Supply as Feds Announce Water Cut

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) and Central Arizona Project (CAP) released a joint statement addressing the recent news from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) that Arizona will have a fifth of its water supply from the Colorado River System cut in 2023. 

“It is unacceptable for Arizona to continue to carry a disproportionate burden of reductions for the benefit of others who have not contributed,” said ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke and CAP General Manager Ted Cooke. “Arizona is committed to work toward a comprehensive plan that assures protection of the system through equitable contributions from all water users.”

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Pennsylvania Considers Open Primary Legislation

State Rep. Chris Quinn (R-PA-Media) this week testified before legislative colleagues in favor of his bill to open Pennsylvania primaries to voters who choose not to affiliate with a political party. 

About 1.2 million voters in Pennsylvania decline to register as members of either major party and over 740,000 consider themselves nonpartisan or independent. Quinn said he finds it troubling that current law requires many taxpayers to fund GOP and Democratic primaries while excluding those independents from participation in nominating elections. 

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Lesko Congratulates Hageman After Cheney Defeat

A U.S. Congresswoman applauded the next member of Congress from Wyoming, who won her primary Tuesday night all but guaranteeing that she will win her November general election in the deep red state.

“The people of Wyoming have clearly spoken. I want to congratulate Harriet Hageman on her victory in Wyoming, and I look forward to working with her in the U.S. House next Congress to fight for the American people and hold President Biden accountable for his terrible policies,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08).

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Youngkin Speaks at First Board of Education Meeting with Majority Youngkin-Appointed Members, Board Advances Lab Schools Planning

RICHMOND, Virginia – Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne Youngkin made an unannounced appearance at the Virginia Board of Education meeting Wednesday, the first board meeting held with a majority of Youngkin-appointed members. The board is considering how to implement changes required by laws passed by the General Assembly while considering the administration’s priorities, including how to move forward with lab school expansion.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in the first seven months that I hope gives this group a great foundation. At the heart of it, the budget that I had the great privilege of signing this past June was exactly the budget that I think collectively, on a bipartisan basis, we hoped for in education. The largest education budget in the history of Virginia. An extraordinary investment in Virginia’s children. A ten percent raise for teachers. A thousand-dollar bonus. A $1.25 billion dollar capital foundation that supports well over $3 billion of investments into our schools, into the facilities themselves,” Youngkin said in remarks delivered to the board.

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Metro Council Approves Workaround Attempt at Banning License Plate Scanner Use for Illegal Immigration Enforcement

Nashville Metro Council approved on Tuesday a workaround attempt to sidestep the Tennessee state law banning sanctuary city policies via legislation that bans the use of license plate scanner (LPR) technology.

BL2022-1115 amends “Section 13.08.080 of the Metropolitan Code of Laws pertaining to the use of License Plate Scanner (LPR) technology to exclude assisting with immigration enforcement as an allowed use of LPRs.”

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Denounce Maricopa County Supervisor’s Motion for Sanctions over Election Integrity Lawsuit

Trump-endorsed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit along with Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, in April to block the use of electronic voting machines to count ballots in the 2022 election. The Maricopa County Supervisors responded last week with a motion requesting sanctions against the pair and their attorneys, which include former Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, asserting that the suit was “frivolous.” 

Finchem tweeted, “The threatened action by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, is nothing more than the attempted weaponization of the judicial process against the political process. If they can’t stand up to scrutiny for elections, that’s their problem — not our problem. Elections must be secure and trustworthy, Maricopa County has demonstrated neither is the case in the last election. “

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Nearly 5 Million Illegal Aliens Have Entered America Illegally Since Biden Took Office

Since President Joe Biden took office and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas altered federal immigration policies, roughly 5 million people from over 150 countries have entered the U.S. illegally.

This includes 3.9 million who have been apprehended entering the U.S. illegally nationwide and 3.4 million at the southern border. It also includes a minimum of 900,000 gotaways, those who’ve intentionally entered the U.S. illegally and evaded law enforcement who haven’t made asylum or immigration claims. The number of gotaways is significantly higher than what is reported and believed to be well over 1 million, Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officials have told The Center Square.

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Expert Says Restaurants and Barber Shops Are the Real IRS Targets

Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, said on Fox News Tuesday that the expanded Internal Revenue Service wouldn’t just go after billionaires and large corporations.

“They are targeting people that they keep telling us they think are – restaurants and barber shops and so on,” Norquist told “America Reports” guest host Gillian Turner. “That’s their target, and we know this because every single Democrat in the Senate voted against, to defeat an amendment which said this law will not allow any increase in audits on people making less than $400,000 a year.”

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Commentary: Good Riddance, Liz Cheney

Bush Republicanism, that zombie political persuasion which in its heyday did for the GOP and the conservative movement what Jimmy Carter and Mike Dukakis did for the Democrats, might not quite be dead. But rigor mortis set in several years ago to be sure.

Just ask Liz Cheney, whose political career was zombified in January 2021 when she opted to not just turn on Donald Trump in a public fashion — Cheney was always a Never Trumper; she just didn’t out herself as one until she thought the coast was clear — but to harp on the question.

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Study Shows Educators Giving Students Assignments ‘Substantially’ Below Grade Level

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic significantly hampering K-12 education, millions of students across the U.S. are working on assignments substantially below their grade level, according to a study released Monday.

Readworks, a non-profit focused on K-12 literacy gaps, studied 65 million assignments given to three million students in the 2020-2021 school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused students to miss months of learning, according to the report. Students were given assignments below their “grade level,” or academic expectations correlating to their age, one-third of the time.

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After Losing Primary, Liz Cheney Hints at Presidential Run

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said she was considering a run for president in 2024 during a Wednesday morning appearance on “The Today Show.”

“I’m not going to make any announcements here this morning, but — but it is something that I — I’m thinking about and I’ll make a decision in the coming months,” Cheney said when asked if she would run for president by host Savannah Guthrie.

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Report: 44 Percent of Pregnant Women in Pfizer Vaccine Trial Lost Their Babies

More than 40 percent of pregnant women who participated in Pfizer’s mRNA COVID vaccine trial suffered miscarriages, according internal Pfizer documents, recently released under court order. Despite this, Pfizer, and the Biden administration insisted that the vaccines were safe for pregnant women. Out of 50 pregnant women, 22 of them lost their babies, according to an analysis of the documents.

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Tennessee Attorney General Herb Slatery Announces Settlement Agreement with Major Opioid Producer

Outgoing Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced via a press statement on Wednesday that his has reached an agreement in principle with the opioid maker Endo International PLC and its lenders that “would provide up to $450 million to participating states and local governments, ban promotion of Endo’s opioids, and require Endo to turn over millions of documents related to its role in the opioid crisis for publication in a public online archive.”

“In Tennessee, Endo’s tactics were especially profitable for them and devasting for us,” said General Slatery. “From 2009-2015, Tennessee’s Opana ER sales were the highest in the nation, and the drug was abused at three times the rate of the older formulation.”

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