Day: December 30, 2022

Suspect Arrested in Connection with Fatal Stabbing of Four University of Idaho Students

Just the News

A 28-year-old man has been arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with the stabbing deaths last month of four University of Idaho students, according to several news reports Friday.

Paperwork filed by Pennsylvania State Police show Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was being held for extradition in a criminal homicide investigation based on an active arrest warrant for first-degree murder issued by the Moscow, Idaho, Police Department and Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, according to the Associated Press.

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Street Gang Member Sentenced to 11.5 Years in Jail for Drug Possession, Firearm Charges

Kaitlin Housler

Antwon Brown, a convicted felon and known Unknown Vice Lords street gang member, was recently sentenced to 138 months in federal prison for drug and firearm charges.

Members of the Vice Lords street gang distribute cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and some heroin in Illinois, Tennessee, and other states, according to the Department of Justice. Vice Lords gangs in the Volunteer State are located predominantly in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville.

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Biden Admin to Expand Trump-Era Border Policy to Expel More Illegal Immigrants: Report

Admin
Border surge

The Biden administration is considering expanding the Trump-era illegal immigrant expulsion policy known as Title 42, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The plan includes adding Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians to the list of nationalities expelled under the policy, according to Reuters. The change in policy will also add a humanitarian pathway for migrants of those countries to enter the U.S. if they have sponsors and are vetted at ports of entry.

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CDC Pressures Teachers to Increase ‘LGBTQ Inclusivity’ in Classroom Instruction

Admin

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been forcing teachers across the country to follow certain guidelines demonstrating their commitment to “LGBTQ inclusivity” in their classroom instructions.

As reported by Breitbart, the CDC-issued “assessment tool” asks teachers numerous questions about school employees and their loyalty to the concept of “queer theory,” and forcing sexual education teachers to use gender-neutral language, forbidding them from using terms such as “boy” and “girl.”

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Biden’s ATF Continues Its Crackdown on ‘Ghost Guns’

Admin

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) specified Tuesday that Gun Control Act (GCA) regulations cover types of incomplete pistol frames used in “ghost guns.”

The bureau argued in its open letter to federal firearms licensees that partially complete Polymer80, Lone Wolf and similar striker-fired semi-automatic pistol frames “may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted” to a functional frame and thus fall under GCA jurisdiction based on the Justice Department’s (DOJ) “Frame or Receiver” rule. The rule, which became effective in August, says regulations for completed firearms also apply to gun parts kits that can be readily converted into them.

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Arizona Recount Results Narrows Gap in Attorney General’s Race from 511 to 280, Abe Hamadeh not Conceding Yet

Neil Jones

Results of the Arizona General Election recount were revealed in court Thursday morning, showing that results in the race for Attorney General between Democrat Kris Mayes and Republican Abe Hamadeh shrunk, but not enough to overturn the race. The final results are 1,254,809 for Mayes and 1,254,529 for Hamadeh, narrowing the gap from 511 votes to 280.

Following the reveal, Hamadeh tweeted that his legal team is in the process of assessing options.

“The results of the recount show that my opponent’s lead has been cut by nearly half from 511 to 280 votes. A shockingly high discrepancy. Again, a recount just puts the ballots in the machine again. My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted,” Hamadeh tweeted.

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State Senator Becky Massey Files Bill That Would Offer Reimbursement for Gun Safety Courses

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee State Senator Becky Massey (R-Knoxville) filed a bill this week that would reimburse people for taking a first-time handgun safety course. The bill would reimburse people up to $30 for taking a handgun safety course in Tennessee. The reimbursements would be funded from fees collected by the state’s handgun carry permit application and processing costs.

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Florida Considers Lowering Abortion Ban from 15 Weeks to 12 Weeks

The Center Square

Changes could be coming to Florida’s abortion laws after the incoming senate president, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, said she would like to see Florida’s abortion ban go from 15 weeks’ gestation to 12 weeks’ gestation.

The state of Florida banned abortion in 1900, but that ban was overturned in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case. That ruling itself was overturned by the Supreme Court in June. Anticipating that decision, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to ban abortions from 15 weeks’ gestation, with the law making no exceptions for cases pertaining to rape and incest.

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Connecticut Lawmakers to Get Huge Pay Boost in New Year

The Center Square

Connecticut lawmakers will see fatter paychecks in the new year with a law that bumps their base pay by upwards of $12,000, once it goes into effect.

Legislation approved earlier this year, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, increases rank-and-file lawmakers’ pay from $28,000 to $40,000, with future raises pegged to the cost of living in every two-year legislative cycle. Compensation for the House speaker and Senate president will increase from $38,689 to $50,000 next year under the law.

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Nonprofit Names $1.5 Billion Georgia Rivian EV Plant Incentive as Worst Deal of 2022

The Center Square

A nonprofit has named Georgia’s decision to give $1.5 billion in incentives for a Rivian Automotive electric vehicle assembly plant 2022’s “Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year.”

The Michigan-based Center for Economic Accountability bestows the honor to a government subsidy of a private company that best illustrates the “massive wastefulness and ineffectiveness of government economic development subsidy programs.”

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Ohio GOP Vice Chairman Announces Candidacy to Lead Party

Hannah Poling

Summit County Republican Party Chairman and statewide party Vice-Chair Bryan Williams officially announced his candidacy for chairman of the Ohio Republican Party on Wednesday in a letter to state central committee (SCC) members.

The Ohio Republican Party’s central committee is meeting on January 6th to consider selecting a replacement for current Chairman Bob Paduchik who announced after the November 8th general election that he would not be seeking another term.

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Wisconsin Governor Evers Seeks Recreational Marijuana Legalization

Bradley Vasoli
Tony Evers

Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) is preparing for a potential battle with the Republican-run Wisconsin Legislature over the legalization of recreational marijuana. 

Evers is gearing up to present his biennial budget requests to lawmakers in February and has said there is “no question” he will ask the legislature to permit adults to use cannabinoid substances for fun as he did in his most recent budget proposal earlier this year. 

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Virginia High School Withheld Academic Awards for Equity Reasons, Parents Claim

Just the News

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia, reportedly delayed notifying its students of their receipt of certain academic achievement awards until after the deadlines for early selection at some colleges and universities, which many parents have alleged was done as part of the school district’s alleged efforts to create “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.”

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Minnesota Pastor Accused of Sexual Relationship with Underage Intern

Admin

A former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye, Minn., is facing charges of criminal sexual conduct after he allegedly had sex with an underage intern on multiple occasions.

Witnesses first reported Pastor Nathan Van Alfred Luong to Sleepy Eye police in May of this year, according to a criminal complaint. Around that same time, Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center announced Luong as their new pastor, the Christian Post first reported.

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Commentary: Congress Should Investigate ‘Gain-of-Function’ Research

Admin

I fear that the investigations Republicans have promised in the House next year will be little more than another round of toxic partisan gamesmanship. But there is one investigation Congress should undertake, and that is into so-called “gain-of-function” research.

Before the pandemic, I suspect that most of you, like me, had never heard of gain-of-function research. What we learned during the pandemic is that scientists around the world routinely tinker with the genome of viruses to see how the induced changes will affect replication of the virus (contagiousness) and the effects it has on its host (lethality). Such research has apparently been going on for decades and is routinely funded by governments, including ours.

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Ohio Governor Dispatches ODOT to Aid New York in Deadly Weather Disaster

Hannah Poling

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Thursday that he dispatched support from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to aid in emergency snow removal efforts in the state of New York following an “epic, once-in-a-lifetime” weather disaster responsible for killing over two dozen people.

A convoy of 28 ODOT workers, 12 tandem dump trucks, two utility mechanic trucks, and four crew cab pick-up trucks departed from Ashtabula Wednesday morning for a six-day deployment. The ODOT crew consists of highway technicians, mechanics, and managers from District 4 (Akron), District 11 (New Philadelphia), and District 12 (Cleveland).

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Over 70 Candidates Competing for Arizona Republican Party Offices

Rachel Alexander

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Kelli Ward is not running for a third term, and six candidates have announced they are running to replace her. At least 63 more candidates are running for other positions in the AZGOP, which will be decided in an election at the annual statutory meeting on January 28, 2023. The candidates for chair are Sheila Muehling, Jeff DeWit, Steve Daniels, Dan Farley, Vera Gebran, and Lori Ann Martinez.

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Report: Ohio Ranks in America’s Bottom 20 States for Economic Freedom

Bradley Vasoli

A new report from several free-market think tanks ranks Ohio 35th out of the 50 states in terms of economic freedom. 

The Columbus-based Buckeye Institute issued the Economic Freedom of North America 2022 report in collaboration with the Canadian Fraser Institute, the Puerto Rican Instituto de Libertad Económica and the Mexican Caminos de la Libertad. The study factors in government spending levels, taxation and labor-market flexibility when ranking all states and provinces across the continent. 

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Hobbs’ Pick for Top Doctor Hints at Shift from Ducey’s Management of COVID Pandemic

The Center Square

Gov.-Elect Katie Hobbs’ selection of Pima County Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen to lead the Arizona Department of Health Services marks another likely point in policy changes in contrast to outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration. 

Cullen promoted strict coronavirus measures in the county, which includes Tucson, when it came to precautions like masking, and she has become a high-profile voice in the Arizona medical community.

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Tall Tales: Before George Santos, Politicians from Biden to Clinton Fibbed About Their Past

Just the News

Well before Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) admitted to fabricating key details of his biography, lying about one’s past was a rich political exercise. President Joe Biden got caught boasting about bogus academic credentials, Hillary Clinton made up a sniper attack in Bosnia, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren had to apologize for claiming Native American heritage.

Santos made headlines this week for admitting to the New York Post and WABC radio that he lied on the campaign trail about his education and work experience – specifically about where he attended college and his alleged employment history with high-profile Wall Street firms.

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Universities Have Ban TikTok from School-Owned Devices

Admin

Several universities across the country have banned TikTok from campus-owned devices or wifi after their prospective states approved similar bans throughout the month.

Sixteen states have banned TikTok, a Chinese-owned company and alleged national security threat, from being used on state-owned devices, according to Government Technology. Four states have banned the app on “some” state-owned devices, while Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly making false claims about its content.

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Cuba Announces That It Will Receive Deported Cubans and Blames the ‘Blockade’ for the Mass Exodus

ADN America

Johana Tablada, deputy director general for the United States of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview for OnCuba that the United States will begin the deportation of the Cubans it has detained and who have not passed the credible fear interview, whom she calls “inadmissible.”

These deportations come after an unprecedented wave of Cuban immigrants in history, in which hundreds of thousands of Cubans have left the island and made long and dangerous journeys from South and Central America to reach the United States through the border with Mexico.

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Commentary: Younger Parents Say Their Kids Are Indifferent to the Flag

RealClearWire

A new survey suggests that younger parents don’t share the same values or priorities for civics education as their older peers. According to the survey, conducted by RealClear Opinion Research and funded by the conservative Jack Miller Center, nearly nine out of ten Americans agree that teaching children about our nation’s founding principles is “very important.” But seven out of ten don’t think schools are doing a good job of it.

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