Day: November 20, 2022

Arizona AG Opens Inquiry into Maricopa County Election Irregularities, Possible Legal Violations

Just the News

The Arizona attorney general’s office has opened an inquiry into Maricopa County’s handling of the mid-term elections, demanding a full report of well-publicized irregularities and warning there is evidence of “statutory violations.”

The letter from Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s election integrity unit marks a major escalation in the dispute over how voters were treated on Election Day in the state’s largest county, where scores of ballot tabulators had problems because of printing problems.

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Tennessee Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory Life Sentences for Juvenile Murderers

Peter D'Abrosca

Tennessee’s Supreme Court says that mandatory life sentences for minors convicted of murder is unconstitutional, according to a recently decided case. 

In a case called State of Tennessee v. Tyshon Booker No. E2018-01439-SC-R11-CD the state’s highest court says sentencing juveniles to life in prison for murders committed as minors is cruel and unusual punishment. 

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Council Member Says Economist’s Free Report Was More Valuable than Paid VSG Report

Laura Baigert

At the Thursday evening meeting of the East Bank Stadium Committee, a council member praised an economist’s presentation about public investment in sports stadiums as more valuable than the paid report the council approved a company to do.

Professor of Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis at Kennesaw State University, J.C. Bradbury, delivered an information-dense presentation in rapid-fire fashion to the East Bank Stadium Committee (EBSC), of which Council Member Delishia Porterfield (District 29) was highly complimentary and appreciative, especially in comparison to the Vision Stadium Group (VSG) report that had a cost of at least $250,000.

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Arizona Saw Continued Job Growth in October

The Center Square

Arizona had a rise in both employment and unemployment last month.

Arizona added 7,300 nonfarm jobs in October, a 0.24% increase in the state’s labor force participation. However, the state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 3.9%. It marked the fourth consecutive month where the state’s unemployment rate rose. Arizona’s rise in unemployment is due to a rising labor force participation rate. Since May, the state’s unemployment rate has increased from 3.2% to 3.9%, according to Common Sense Institute Arizona. 

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Support for Pennsylvania’s 800,000 Veterans Is Still Lacking

The Center Square

Pennsylvania has the better part of a million veterans living within the commonwealth, but support for them can be lacking.

“I don’t like that veterans have to take care of veterans,” Rep. Joe Webster, D-Collegeville, said, noting a lack of centralized support. “Our nation should be taking care of these veterans. It shouldn’t fall to a 501(c)(3) or a group of guys just helping a veteran down the street … Our nation asks for the full measure – we’re not then taking care of them when they have sacrificed greater than the average citizen.”

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U.S. Western District Attorney Announces Sentences in Three Cases, Including One Prosecuted by Attorney from Miyares’ Office

Eric Burk

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Christopher Kavanaugh announced sentences in three separate drug dealing cases on Friday, including a case prosecuted by an attorney cross-designated between the Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Special Assistant United States Attorney M. Suzanne Kerney-Quillen prosecuted the case against Pedro Loza, who was sentenced to 72 months after he was convicted on charges related to the distribution of methamphetamine as part of an organization that trafficked drugs from Texas and Indiana into Southwest Virginia, according to a joint press release from Miyares and the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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Commentary: America Needs a National Conservative Party

Admin

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Abraham Lincoln and other future-minded Whigs recognized this in 1854 when they created the Republican Party. The Whig Party, a contributor of good ideas and good leaders during its heyday, had been on a losing streak and was divided between incompatible factions, one opposing slavery and the other supporting it. Six years later, Lincoln won the presidency on the Republican ticket, and the Whig Party disbanded.

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Ohio Bill Would Help Rural Lawyers Repay Student Loans

The Center Square

The Ohio House of Representatives wants to spend $3 million the next two fiscal years to help rural lawyers pay off their student loans.

The Rural Practice Incentive Program, passed by the House, would reduce the student loan debt on prosecutors and public defenders in most rural Ohio communities. The $3 million, according to the Ohio Legislative Commission, would be set aside for the first two years, and the overall cost would be determined by the number of participants in the program.

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Ridership Reports of $147.5 Million Taxpayer-Funded Suburban Detroit Transit Agency Kept from Public

The Center Square

SMART officials in suburban Detroit say they won’t release ridership figures for the $147.5 million taxpayer-funded bus operation for fear of misinterpretation. 

“We are currently operating at 65% service levels and ridership is trending back to approximately 70%,” said Brandon Adolph, the acting assistant vice president of marketing and communications for Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation. “Thus, any ridership data wouldn’t be accurate due to the fact we aren’t at our 100% levels prior to the pandemic.”

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GOP Rep. Greene Says Kevin McCarthy, House GOP Will Defund Special Counsel Investigating Trump

Just the News

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday said that current House Minority Leader and likely next House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would deny funding to the Department of Justice special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump.

In a Tweet detailing the plan, Greene insisted McCarthy would invoke the Holman rule, a procedural measure by which the House may adjust appropriations legislation to reduce the salary of or fire specific government employees. They may also use it to cut specific programs.

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American Bar Association Drops LSAT Requirement for Law School Admissions in the Name of Diversity

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The accrediting council for the American Bar Association (ABA) voted 15-1 to no longer require the administering of the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) for law school applications, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Starting in 2025, the ABA will no longer mandate that law schools require a “valid and reliable admission test” as a part of its application process, after feedback from a public comment period suggested that dropping the testing requirement would increase diversity, according to WSJ. Law schools may still require the test as a part of its admissions process, but the LSAT will no longer be required for accreditation.

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Texas Group Sues Biden Administration over Climate Agenda

The Center Square

The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed lawsuits against three federal agencies accusing them of failing to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about their involvement with implementing the Biden administration’s climate policies in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden accepted the terms of the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of the United States. He later announced his administration would set a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) number, pledging an “economywide target of reducing America’s net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent.”

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AG Merrick Garland Appoints Special Counsel to Oversee Trump Investigations

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Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday that he is appointing a special counsel to oversee the federal criminal investigations into former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.

This action comes days after Republicans—who plan to investigate the grossly political Justice Department—won the House of Representatives, and over a week after Joe Biden told reporters that his administration will make sure Trump “will not take power if he does run.”

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GOP Megadonors Who Backed Trump in 2016 Won’t Support Him in 2024: Report

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Major Republican donors Robert and daughter Rebekah Mercer, who backed former President Donald Trump in 2016, will not back Trump in 2024, according to CNBC.

The Mercers, who donated $20 million to GOP PACs in 2016, made their decision while also deciding to cut back overall campaign spending, according to anonymous sources that spoke with CNBC. The Mercers join a growing list of major donors who formerly backed the former president but have since distanced themselves from Trump, including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, businessman Andy Sabin and billionaire Ronald Lauder.

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Reproductive Crisis Looms as Global Sperm Counts Plunge

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New research shows that a worldwide drop in sperm counts over the last 50 years could lead to a major reproductive crisis.

According to the New York Post, a peer-reviewed study in the journal Human Reproduction Update found that global sperm counts have plunged by over 62 percent between 1973 and 2018. The study was led by Professor Hagai Levine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, along with Professor Shanna Swan at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York.

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Oregon’s New Gun Control Law Sparks Buying Spree as Thousands Race to Get Firearms

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Oregon’s new law that will rigidly tighten the state’s gun restrictions led to a massive uptick in attempted firearms purchases, according to NBC affiliate KGW8.

Ballot Measure 114 was passed during the midterm elections and is credited as one of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, sending background checks skyrocketing from 850 per day, prior to the midterms, to 4,000 per day after the law’s passing, according to KGW8. The measure, often referred to as the Reduction of Gun Violence Act, will require deeper background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase any firearm, according to the legislation, set to be effective in December.

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