Stacey Abrams Repeats Already-Debunked Claim That Women Seek Late-Term Abortions Due to ‘Traumatic Experience’

Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams defended abortion through all nine months of pregnancy using an already debunked claim by the abortion industry and its allies that women seek late-term abortions due to some “traumatic experience.”

“There is no example of a woman — you’ve gone through the trouble of buying a crib and naming that child — there is no one who wakes up and says at eight months, never mind,” Abrams said last week on ABC’s The View.

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Connecticut Residents Push Back Against Move to Expand ‘Section 8’ Affordable Housing

As Connecticut has the sixth-highest median monthly housing costs, some residents and lawmakers are fiercely pursuing measures to prevent developers from building affordable housing units in their towns.

Renee Dobos, chief executive officer of Connecticut Housing Partners, told The Center Square that more than 30 years ago the General Assembly recognized steps should be taken to lead towns to recognize they have a responsibility to make housing affordable to essential workers, senior citizens, and a wide variety of others with diverse incomes.

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Blake Masters Campaign Celebrates Momentum in ‘Dead Heat’ Race Following New Poll Results

A new poll from the Trafalgar Group shows Trumped-endorsed Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters making momentum against his opponent, incumbent Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

“This race is a dead heat despite Mark Kelly spending $60 million to paint himself as some type of moderate, when he’s been nothing more than a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed agenda. Blake Masters is gaining momentum every day as voters learn about Kelly’s extreme voting record and reject him,” said Blake Masters’s press contact Zachery Henry to the Arizona Sun Times.

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Arizona Democrats Condemn Fellow Democrat State Rep for ‘Misogyny,’ ‘Sexism’

Two Democrat state representatives from Arizona have found themselves in a spat over one’s alleged “misogyny” and “sexism.”

Misogyny and sexism have no place in the Arizona Legislature. What [Rep. Brian Fernandez (D-District 4) did is wrong and not representative of our Democratic Party. We are a party where women are respected,” said Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-District 3), attaching an open letter dated September 16 in which she aired her grievances with Fernandez. 

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Regulator Approves Rate Increase for Dominion Energy Consumers to Compensate for Increased Fuel Costs

The State Corporation Commission approved a Dominion Energy request to increase the fuel factor charged to consumers, leading to $14.93 increase on an average monthly bill. In May, the utility requested the increase citing increased fuel costs.

In its order, the SCC said, “[T]he Commission notes its awareness of the ongoing rise in gas prices, inflation, and other economic pressures that are impacting all utility customers. We are sensitive to the effects of rate increases, especially in times such as these. The Commission, however, must follow the laws applicable to this case, as well as the findings of fact supported by the evidence in the record. This is what we have done herein.”

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‘Arizona Sun Times Sunday’ Debuts on AZTV 7

On Sunday evening, “Arizona Sun Times Sunday,” a half-hour news show produced by The Star News Network, debuted on AZTV 7, the state’s largest independent broadcast entity. 

Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief at Star News and its Arizona Sun Times newspaper, hosts the new Phoenix-based program at 10 p.m. on Sundays. Episodes can also be seen on demand at The Sun Times’s website. 

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Richmond Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging That Virginia Violates Constitution by Permitting Fossil Fuel Production

A Richmond City Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia from an environmental activism legal organization on Friday. In a lawsuit on behalf of 13 Virginia youth, Our Children’s Trust (OCT) argued that Virginia’s policies permitting fossil fuel production and use harmed the plaintiffs’ rights, but the judge agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s argument that Virginia can’t be sued due to sovereign immunity doctrine, according to the AP.

“For decades, Defendants have implemented a policy and practice of approving permits for fossil fuel infrastructure in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including permits for the production, transport, and burning of fossil fuels. Defendants’ historic and ongoing permitting of fossil fuel infrastructure has, and continues to, cause dangerous levels of greenhouse gas pollution, including carbon dioxide,” the lawsuit complaint filed in February states.

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Georgia Taxpayers to Help Agribusiness Technology Manufacturer Build $35 Million Facility

A global agriscience technology manufacturer plans to invest nearly $35 million to launch a campus in Jasper County.

Profile Products, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, plans to produce wood-based erosion control technologies and horticulture substrates at the new plant. The company, which employs more than 500 globally, plans to create 80 new jobs as part of the project.

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Miyares, 50 Other Attorneys General Ask FCC to Expand Caller ID Authentication Requirement

Attorney General Jason Miyares signed a letter along with 50 other attorneys general requesting the Federal Commissions Communications to do more to address illegal robocalls. The attorneys general say robocalls often come from foreign actors who spoof Caller ID to show U.S.- based numbers, and ask the FCC to expand which call network providers are required to authenticate Caller ID.

“Robocalls aren’t just annoying – they are illegal tools used to take advantage of the most vulnerable in our communities. We have to do more to protect Virginians from these scammers, which is why I’m encouraging the FCC to require more robocall protection technology,” Miyares said in a release.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: In Today’s America, Some Really Are More Equal than Others

That once distinguished the United States from illiberal regimes following the Orwellian mantra “some are more equal than others” was the hallowed American idea of “equal justice under the law.”

The phrase is engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court – an ideal that took centuries to achieve. Yet it is an ancient concept – what the Greeks called isonomia that distinguished classical democratic Athens from its anti-democratic rivals. Isonomia later became enshrined as the central criterion of all Western consensual governments.

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Parent-Teacher Tensions Run High over Lack of Mental Health Transparency from Mentor School Educators

Mentor Schools is withholding mental health information about transgender or transitioning students from parents.

An Ohio school board meeting on Tuesday, September 13th raised concern in parents over an e-mail which went out to teachers in the district informing them that they are not required to inform parents if a student, 11 years old or older, who is transgender or transitioning asks to use a different name or pronoun.

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Maricopa County Indicts Two Women Transporting over 850,000 Fentanyl Pills

The Maricopa County Grand Jury indicted two women Monday for possessing over 850,000 counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, enough to cause potentially millions of overdoses.

“Two out of five counterfeit pills that come across our border are laced with lethal doses of fentanyl. These drugs are being marketed to our youth in the most proliferous ways and are being produced in candy-like colors. We must hold those who bring these lethal pills into our community accountable,” said County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.

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House, Senate Panels Start This Week Considering Changes to 135-Year-Old Electoral Count Act

House and Senate committees starting this week will begin work on measures to change how U.S. presidential election votes are counted and certified – including possibly amending the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act and clarifying the vice president’s role in the process.

The House Rules Committee will take up a still-unseen, bipartisan bill Tuesday titled the Presidential Election Reform Act with a floor vote as early as Thursday, according to Roll Call.

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Biden Says COVID Pandemic Is ‘Over’ in the United States

President Joe Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is “over” in the United States.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s– But the pandemic is over,” Biden said during a pre-recorded CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday.

“As you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing,” he said.

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Biden Admin Spends Millions to Create a ‘Diverse Educator Workforce’

The Department of Education (DOE) is giving about $25 million in grants to several universities to help them hire and train a “diverse educator workforce,” according to a Sept. 12 press release.

The DOE partnered with Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP), a group that works on preparing higher education faculty, to provide 22 new five-year grants to several universities, including three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), according to the press release. The institutions receiving grants will work with TQP to “recruit highly qualified individuals, including individuals of color” for educator positions.

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Commentary: School Start Times and Late Screen Time Hurt Teenagers’ Sleep

With the school year underway around the U.S., parents and caregivers are once again faced with the age-old struggle of wrangling groggy kids out of bed in the morning. For parents of preteens and teenagers, it can be particularly challenging.

Sometimes this gets chalked up to laziness in teens. But the main reason why a healthy person is unable to naturally wake up without an alarm is that they are not getting the sleep their brain and body need.

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Tennessee’s Skrmetti Among the GOP Attorneys General Pressing NAAG to Return $280 Million

A dozen Republican state attorneys general are fed up with what they view as the leftward drift and self-dealing of their nonpartisan national association and are asking the organization to change its ways and return roughly $280 million in assets to the states.

The National Association of Attorneys General was created in 1907 as a bipartisan forum for all state and territory attorneys general. Over the last year, several of the group’s Republican members have asserted that NAAG has become a partisan litigation machine that improperly benefits from the many tort settlements it helps to engineer.

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Senate Delays Vote on National Same-Sex Marriage Bill Until After Midterms

A highly contentious vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage at the federal level has been put on hold until after the November midterms, as the legislation struggles to garner 60 votes in support.

Politico reports that the bipartisan group of senators working on the bill, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, made their announcement on Thursday. They had previously been considering a vote on the legislation as soon as Monday of next week, but determined that they could not garner enough Republican support to overcome a possible filibuster that would kill the legislation.

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In Ohio, Trump Says Vance, Other Republicans Will Rescue America from Democrats’ ‘Mayhem and Despair’

Former President Donald Trump addressed a packed rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown this weekend, reprehending Joe Biden, Tim Ryan and other Democrats for economically crushing working Buckeye Staters with unrelenting inflation. 

Trump further laid into the leftists who control Congress and the White House for advancing policies that exacerbate illegal immigration and impress anti-American civic and historical narratives upon K-12 students. He urged listeners to back Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance as well as GOP U.S. House candidates to reverse these trends. He showed particular ehtusuasm for the reelection of U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican who represents the north-central and western Fourth District. 

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Legislators Propose Bill to Help Residents Recycle Electronic Devices in Pennsylvania

Two Pennsylvania legislators on Friday proposed imposing an “eco-fee” on purchases of electronic devices in the Keystone State to fund recycling of those items.

In 2010, the commonwealth adopted the Covered Device Recycling Act (CDRA) to facilitate manufacturer- and retailer-based recycling of such devices as laptops, desktop computers, monitors, televisions, printers and keyboards. These objects become hazardous if improperly discarded because they often contain mercury, cadmium, lead and other poisonous metals. 

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Lutron to Expand Presence in Virginia

Industrial and residential lighting controls manufacturer Lutron Electronics will invest $28.3 million to expand its presence in Hanover County, according to a Thursday announcement of a plan to build a 145,000 square foot manufacturing facility.

“Lutron has been a fixture here in Hanover County, Virginia for many years. It is exciting to see them invest in a manufacturing facility in our industrial park along Lakeridge Parkway and to have quality jobs created for the citizens of Hanover County and the Greater Richmond Region,” Hanover County Supervisor Faye Prichard said in a press release from the governor’s office.

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Ohio Police Union Warns of ‘Ongoing Problem’ Democrat Senate Candidate Tim Ryan Has with Law Enforcement

The Columbus, Ohio, police union president criticized Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan, who is running for U.S. Senate against Republican J.D. Vance, as being “unsafe” for the state and having an “ongoing problem” with police officers. 

“Given Tim Ryan’s track record of calling police officers the new Jim Crow and voting to eliminate qualified immunity, it’s not [a] surprise that this is the way he carries himself around law enforcement,” Columbus Fraternal Order of Police President Jeff Simpson told The Daily Mail on Friday. 

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Georgia Allocates Federal COVID Relief Money to Grady Memorial Hospital

Georgia will allocate $130 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to fund 200 additional beds at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital following the announced closure of Atlanta Medical Center.

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said the additional beds would be enough to cover Atlanta Medical Center’s average patient census. The state will also reallocate a temporary medical unit used during the COVID-19 pandemic to Grady, adding 24 patient rooms and 12,000 square feet to the hospital’s footprint.

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Commentary: John Fetterman’s Progressive Fantasy Campaign

In recent years, Americans have heard some new theories about the world from progressive activists and academics. First, that “your truth” is what matters, not the truth; you can be whoever you say you are. Second, that there is no need to debate “the other side” or confront its ideas. And third, that using the language of the oppressed – no matter how privileged you are yourself – means that you don’t need to listen or think about what would really help people.

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NBC Deletes Tweet with Immigration Activist’s Quote Comparing Illegal Migrants to ‘Trash’

NBC News was criticized after tweeting a quote from an immigration activist who compared the illegal migrants sent by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to “trash.”

The since-deleted tweet included a link to a story titled, “DeSantis sending asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard divides Venezuelan Americans.” The post stated: “Florida Gov. DeSantis sending asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard is like ‘me taking my trash out and just driving to different areas where I live and just throwing my trash there,’ a founding member of a foundation which helps refugees says.”

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New Poll Shows Americans Trust Republicans More than Democrats with the Economy

Voters overwhelmingly trust Republicans to manage the economy, a new poll ahead of this year’s midterm elections suggests, while also viewing the economy as the most important issue.

Roughly 52% of voters said that they trust Republicans to manage the economy, compared to 38% for Democrats, while only 1% of respondents said they agreed with the proposals of both parties to manage it, according to a poll conducted by the Times and Siena College, which measured the relative strength of both parties in advance of the election scheduled on Nov. 8. The economy has been the most important issue to voters heading into the polls; in a July edition of the same NYT/Siena poll, 20% called it the “most important problem facing the country today,” while roughly 76% said that it would be “extremely important” to them as they vote.

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Unpacking the Apparent Trump-Hillary Double Standard: For Her, the FBI Helped Obstruct Its Own Investigation

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch obtained evidence that a computer contractor working under the direction of Hillary Clinton’s legal team destroyed subpoenaed records that the former secretary of state stored on a private email server she originally kept at her New York home, and then lied to investigators about it. Yet no charges were brought against Clinton, her lawyers, or her paid consultant.

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China Sanctions U.S. Defense Industry Tycoons

China announced sanctions against CEOs of two major U.S. defense contractors Friday for their role in an arms package the State Department approved for Taiwan on Sept. 2.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the sanctions against Raytheon CEO Gregory J. Hayes and Boeing Defense CEO Ted Colbert will “defend China’s sovereignty and security interests” against U.S. “military contact” with Taiwan. The Biden administration notified Congress of its intent to transfer $1.1 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan earlier this month, including 60 anti-ship missiles Boeing Defense agreed to produce and 100 air-to-air missilescontracted with Raytheon.

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Report: Transit Agencies May Turn to Taxpayers for More Money When COVID-19 Funds Dry Up

Transit agencies could turn to taxpayers for more money when federal COVID-19 money runs out.

With federal money dwindling, some mass transit agencies are preparing to seek more tax dollars at a time when fewer people are riding, according to a report from a credit rating agency.

Some workers never plan to return to the office, creating uncertainties for mass transit agencies and the taxpayers who fund them, especially those more dependent on riders for fare revenue. A new report from S&P Global Ratings said transit systems could seek additional tax dollars when federal COVID-19 money runs dry in 2025.

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United Way of West TN CEO’s Opposition to Charter School Appeal of Jackson-Madison County Denial Draws Criticism from Supporters

The CEO of United Way of West Tennessee’s public statement opposing American Classical Academy Madison’s appeal of the Jackson-Madison County Public School System’s denial of the school’s public charter has drawn heavy criticism from the school’s supporters.

“Matt Marshall, the president and CEO of United Way of West Tennessee, [spoke] in opposition to ACA during the public comment portion of the American Classical Academy Madison County Charter School Appeal Public Hearing on Thursday, September 15, 2022, in Jackson, Tenn.,” The Jackson Sun reported.

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