Month: January 2023

Sec. Transportation: Port of Virginia Strong, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Trouble

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia — In a Thursday presentation to legislators, Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller touted reduced DMV wait times, record Port of Virginia profits, and expansion at Virginia’s spaceport, but he said fatality rates on Virginia highways are ticking up and northern Virginia commuter rail and metro options are in bad financial condition.

“WMATA [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] is not so good,” Miller told the Senate Transportation Committee. “A new CEO, really excited about him. A lot of work to do. A lot. Huge deficit looming. Not really sure how we’re going to deal with that.”

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Florida Officials Unveil Bill That Would Ban Tracking of Firearm and Ammunition Purchases

Admin

Florida officials introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit financial institutions from collecting data on firearm and ammunition purchases, alleging that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, according to a press release.

In September, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved the use of a merchant code for firearms stores, which financial institutions, such as credit card companies, can voluntarily adopt to track firearm-related purchases. The “Florida Arms and Ammo Act” would fine credit card companies up to $10,000 per violation, according to WTSP10News.

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School Board in Wisconsin Affirms Parental Rights

Bradley Vasoli

The School District of Waukesha (Wisconsin) Board of Education this week passed a resolution recognizing parental rights with regard to political and gender issues. 

The measure, which passed the board 8-0, furthermore affirms biological sex as determinative in allowing students to join sports teams and use bathroom facilities. Board President Kelly Piacsek said she drafted the resolution to address concerns that numerous parents brought to her and other school directors. She added that she is a parent of three students who attend district schools. 

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Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard Says a Bill to Expedite Election Results Is Coming This Session

Neil Jones

Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) released a new video in his weekly update series titled “The Right Note,” addressing the length of time it took for races to be called in Arizona’s general election. In response to this issue, he stated that legislation to expedite this process is in the works.

“So, what I’m proposing is that folks who are waiting until Election Day to return their mail-in ballots should be treated similar to those who actually walked up to the polls and vote on Election Day. The main difference being that you would have to show ID,” Mesnard said.

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State Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Overhaul Ohio Education System and Board of Education

Hannah Poling

Ohio Senate Republicans are making another attempt to overhaul the state education system and the Board of Education by introducing a bill Wednesday afternoon that reconsiders a proposition that fell short of approval last month.

The 2,000-page bill, Senate Bill (SB) 1, sponsored by state Senator Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), would “restructure” the Ohio Department of Education, create a new administrative division under the governor’s office, and reduce the duties of the State Board of Education. This was the first introduced bill of 2023.

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Lawsuit Filed Against City of Phoenix for Suppressing Speech During Super Bowl

Neil Jones

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) announced that a lawsuit had been filed against the city of Phoenix Wednesday, alleging that it is violating the first amendment rights of some citizens leading up to the Super Bowl in February.

“Hosting sporting events should not come at the cost of surrendering fundamental rights. But by giving the NFL a blank check to censor the messages people can share, the city of Phoenix is trampling on hundreds of business owners and thousands of residents’ right to communicate with the public on their own property,” said GI Staff Attorney John Thorpe in a statement emailed to The Arizona Sun Times.

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Agents Seize Record Amount of Methamphetamine During Columbus Investigation

Hannah Poling

In what the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is describing as one of their biggest arrests in years, authorities recovered eight pounds of methamphetamine from a Columbus apartment and detained two people.

DEA agents in collaboration with officers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol raided the Columbus apartment on Wednesday. Inside, more meth was discovered than the DEA had ever found in a single arrest in Central Ohio. 

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Pima County Reworks Lease with World View Following Successful Appeal from the Goldwater Institute

Neil Jones

Pima County announced Wednesday that its board of supervisors has settled on a new lease agreement with aerospace firm World View following a legal defeat from the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI).

“This revision of the World View lease should put to rest years of legal wrangling over how Arizona counties can participate in economic development activities and business retention. Having prevailed on three of Goldwater’s four claims, and Goldwater on the fourth, we and all the other counties in the state now know where the lines are drawn, which is the silver lining in this costly dispute,” said County Administrator Jan Lesher in a statement shared with the press.

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Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Slapped with a ‘Notice of Violation’ over Local Zoning Ordinance

M.D. Kittle

The regulatory shoe is on the other foot for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, served with notice on that it has violated Winnebago County zoning code. 

It appears the agency failed to secure conditional use and zoning permits before starting construction on a maintenance garage (cold storage building) in the county. 

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Marijuana Legalization Petition for Ohio Legislature Resubmitted by Secretary of State for Four-Month Review

Hannah Poling

An activist-led petition for marijuana legalization in Ohio has been formally resubmitted to the legislature by the Ohio Secretary of State, giving legislators four months to evaluate the change. Advocates may then gather more signatures to get the issue on the November ballot if legislators do not take action.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Secretary of State Frank LaRose stated that he had fulfilled his duty to introduce the reform proposal to the legislature on the first day of the new session and to begin the four-month timeframe for lawmakers to consider it.

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Gaetz: Republicans Will Release 14,000 Hours of January 6 Tapes That Have Been Hidden from the Public

Admin

House Republicans intend to release 14,000 hours of January 6 tapes that have been hidden from the public, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) revealed on Tuesday.

During an interview with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) president Charlie Kirk on his radio show,  Gaetz said that releasing the tapes “would give more full context to that day rather than the cherry-picked moments of the January 6th committee.”

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El Paso Opens Tent-Like Intake Center to House 1,000 Immigrants

ADN America
Border surge

The United States Border Patrol inaugurated this Wednesday in El Paso, Texas, a huge tent in the desert with capacity for 1,000 migrants, in order to help process the record number of people who cross the border between the United States and Mexico .

Located on the outskirts of the city, the temporary facility is the size of 23 football fields or 153,000 square feet and can hold 1,000 people. The facilities are weather resistant, air-conditioned and have spacious areas for eating, sleeping and washing.

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Commentary: Nancy Pelosi’s Other Legacy Is a Mountain of Debt for Our Children

Admin

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi officially stepped away from leadership last week after two decades directing the political agenda of House Democrats.

There’s no denying the historic nature of the California lawmaker’s tenure, whose leadership began in 2002 when she became the first woman elected House minority whip. She’d go on to take up the gavel of House speaker twice (from 2007–2011 and 2019–2023), making her the only female House speaker in history and one of a few to serve nonconsecutive terms.

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House Oversight Panel to Probe China Money to University Where Biden Worked, Classified Memos Found

Just the News

The chairman of the main House investigative committee announced Thursday he is expanding his probe of the Biden family to examine the University of Pennsylvania’s reliance on Chinese donations during the time it employed President Joe Biden and hosted his think tank where classified documents were recently found improperly stored.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James announced the decision after Just the News reported Wednesday night that the Ivy League university affectionately known as Penn collected $67.6 million in donations from Chinese sources between 2013 and 2019, two-thirds of it while it employed Joe Biden as a guest professor and hosted his Penn Biden Center.

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Biden’s Classified Documents Scandal Raises Questions About Penn Biden Center’s Foreign Donations

M.D. Kittle

As a second batch of classified government documents pops up in the garage of President Joe Biden’s Delaware home, Republican lawmakers want answers for the kind of records handling that got former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home raided. 

Meanwhile, the Biden Center, a think tank funded by the University of Pennsylvania, is coming under increased scrutiny as a “dark-money, revolving-door nightmare” where foreign competitors like China are suspected of currying favor with high-ranking officials, according to a government watchdog. 

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Hunter Biden Accessed Garage Where Dad Kept His Corvette (And Classified Material)

RealClearWire

Shortly after the White House announced that a second set of classified documents from the Obama administration was discovered in the Delaware home of the president – and immediately before Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a second special prosecutor into misplaced classified presidential papers – Joe Biden tried to reassure the country by telling reporters that the sensitive documents were behind locked doors. 

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New Twitter File Dump Shows Democratic Lawmakers Knowingly Pushed Fake Russia Narrative About Nunes Report

Just the News

Journalist Matt Taibbi on Thursday released part 14 of the “Twitter Files,” showing how congressional Democrats tried to discredit a report by then-California Rep. Devin Nunes regarding the federal government’s Trump-Russia investigation. 

Emails show how the lawmakers crafted and pushed a narrative claiming Russian bots were responsible for bolstering claims in the report by Nunes, who at the time was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. 

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Garland Appoints Special Counsel to Investigate Classified Biden Documents

Just the News

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president.

He said he initially appointed U.S. Attorney John Lausch, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, to conduct the initial investigation, but because Lausch is retiring, a different special counsel needed to be appointed.

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White House Confirms Classified Documents Found at Biden’s Delaware Home

Just the News

The White House on Thursday confirmed that a second set of classified documents Joe Biden was vice president had been discovered in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” special counsel Richard Sauber said, The New York Times reported. 

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Tennessee State Board of Education Considers Rule Change That Would Result in Change to Value of Education Savings Accounts

TC Weber

On January 30th the Tennessee State Board of Education will hold a rulemaking hearing on BEP to TISA transition rules. Included is a provision that could serve to increase the value of state Education Saving Accounts (ESA), potentially even doubling that value. This could ultimately lead to increased investment by state lawmakers. 

Item number 7 under proposed rule 0520-01-16 governing ESAs reads as follows:

“The maximum annual amount to which a participating student is entitled under the Program shall be equal to the amount representing the per-pupil state and local funds generated and required through the state’s K-12 education funding formula Basic Education Program (“BEP”) for the LEA in which the participating student resides, or the statewide per pupil average of required state and local funds as determined through the state’s K-12 education funding formulaBEP funds, whichever amount is less.”

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Democrats Mischaracterize Bill Protecting Babies Born Alive After Botched Abortions

Admin

Democratic politicians are portraying the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires health care professionals to provide necessary care to infants born alive after failed abortions, as an attack on women’s rights.

Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark and Democratic California Reps. Judy Chu and Norma Torres characterized the legislation as an assault on women’s freedom and bodily autonomy. Certain tweets also appeared to refer to a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning violent attacks on pro-life groups.

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Major Conservative Donor Bernie Marcus Ditches McDaniel, Endorses Harmeet Dhillon for RNC Boss

Just the News

One of the country’s foremost conservative donors on Wednesday endorsed former Trump campaign adviser Harmeet Dhillon to lead the Republican National Committee.

“I am supporting Harmeet Dhillon to become the next chairwoman of the RNC because America’s path forward is at stake,” Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus wrote in a letter to RNC members obtained by Just the News.

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Secretary of State’s Office Urging Vulnerable Tennesseans to Utilize Its ‘Safe at Home’ Address Confidentiality Program

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett is encouraging vulnerable Tennesseans to protect their address by taking advantage of his office’s Safe at Home address confidentiality program.

Hargett’s call for Tennesseans to take advantage of the program comes during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, which was observed on Wednesday.

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House Republicans Call for Ban on Big Tech Private Funding of Election Administration

Admin

Some House Republicans are urging federal action to bar private money from bankrolling election administration after a Big Tech-aligned group that made controversial grants in 2020 is issuing another round of grants aimed at the 2024 elections. 

“Private money has no place in public election infrastructure,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told The Daily Signal in a statement. 

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Group Sues Mainstream Media Outlets over Alleged Antitrust, First Amendment Violations

Admin

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Tuesday night that he and several other plaintiffs had filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against several major news organizations, accusing them of antitrust and constitutional violations.

During a live interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Kennedy, chairman and chief litigation counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said the lawsuit targets the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), a self-described “industry partnership” launched by several of the world’s largest news outlets—including the BBC, The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, The Washington Post, Google Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter—in March of 2020.  The lawsuit argues that the TNI was launched, in part, because the corporate media organizations believed that smaller independent news outlets were threatening their business models.

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Pentagon Officially Overturns Military Vaccine Mandate

Admin

The Department of Defense (DOD) officially scrapped the requirement that all members of the armed forces be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin introduced the mandate in August 2021 as Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines were expected to become available, citing the impact of rising case numbers on the military’s readiness. However, after more than a year of legal challenges to the mandate and at least 8,400 discharges for refusing the vaccine, Congress instructed Austin to reverse course in the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

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‘Chiefs for Change’ Names Newest Member Cohort, Includes Two Candidates from Tennessee

TC Weber

A national education policy advocacy group founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has named its newest cohort of future members. Among them are Tennesseans, Eve Carney of the Tennessee Department of Education and Hamilton County’s Deputy Superintendent, Sonia Stewart. The two are part of the Chiefs for Change seventh cohort of its Future Chiefs ​leadership development program.

Eve Carney, per the Tennessee Department of Education’s organizational chart, serves as the Chief of Districts and Schools, despite the Chiefs for Change press release identifying her as Deputy Commissioner. Carney, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, has served with the TDOE since 2014. 

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Ohio Attorney General Asks Supreme Court to Lift Order Blocking ‘Heartbeat Law’

Hannah Poling

Attorney General Dave Yost is requesting that the Ohio Supreme Court reinstates the heartbeat law as readily as possible, which blocks the majority of abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found.

In accordance with the 2019 Ohio law, doctors are not permitted to perform abortions once heart activity has been identified, or around six weeks into a pregnancy. The law went into effect the same day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th, 2022.

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New Arizona AG Kris Mayes Hires Colleague of Progressive Lawyer Marc Elias as Chief Deputy

Rachel Alexander

Arizona’s new Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes hired progressive attorney Dan Barr as her chief deputy, according to AZ Law and Barr’s LinkedIn profile. However, insiders say the longtime attorney for mainstream media did not resign from the Democratic firm Perkins Coie, where he worked with progressive attorney Marc Elias, until after he started in the position, which would be a conflict of interest, especially if he was involved with any litigation involving the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AAGO).

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Catholic Leaders Mourn Death of Cardinal Pell, Victim of Anti-Catholic Hate

Susan Berry, PhD

A fearless defender of the Catholic faith, Australian Cardinal George Pell is being mourned as a victim of “anti-Catholicism” that drove him to be convicted of sexual abuse in 2018 and sentenced to solitary confinement, until finally he was acquitted by the full bench of the Australian High Court in 2020.

Pell, who died Tuesday at the age of 81, had recently undergone successful hip surgery, but then suffered cardiac arrest.

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Tennessee Lawmakers Consider Adding ‘Health of the Mother’ Exception to Abortion Limit Law

Susan Berry, PhD

Tennessee lawmakers will reportedly consider whether to add “exceptions” to the state’s abortion ban, including the “health of the mother,” a phrase that pro-life leaders say has been used by abortionists and their supporters for decades to prop up the entire abortion industry.

Tennessee’s “trigger” law that bans abortion, titled the Human Life Protection Act, took effect August 25, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

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Pennsylvania Home Construction Down 60 Percent from 2004 Peak

The Center Square

Fayette, Lackawanna and Philadelphia counties weren’t factored into parts of the analysis due to missing or incomplete information, the report clarified.

After the 2008 housing crisis, annual housing permits found a new normal that was much lower than what was seen through the 1990s and early 2000s. As construction declined after the housing crash, demand outstripped supply, leading to higher housing costs across the commonwealth.

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Youngkin Makes Legislative Pitches During State of the Commonwealth Address

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia — Governor Glenn Youngkin continued his call for tax cuts, changes to education policy, and increased funding for law enforcement as part of his Wednesday State of the Commonwealth address; he described his first term as a reversal after his Democratic predecessors, and called on legislators to “press the accelerator.”

“I am here this afternoon to communicate that the state of our Commonwealth is substantially better than it was last year,” he said to applause. “We are still a great distance from our destination. A destination where Virginia truly is the best place to live, work, and raise a family. I’m here this afternoon to urge us to accelerate our efforts to get more done and to get it done faster.”

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DeSantis Wants to ‘Further Advance Protections for Innocent Life’

Admin

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who signed a 15-week abortion ban into law last year, wants more protections for Florida’s unborn babies.

“The upcoming 2023 Florida legislative session starts in March, and we look forward to working with the Florida Legislature to further advance protections for innocent life,” press secretary Bryan Griffin shared with The Daily Signal on Tuesday afternoon.

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Minnesota’s Secretary of State’s Election Reform ‘Wish List’ Includes Automatic Voter Registration

Admin

Those applying for driver’s licenses — or utilizing a plethora of other state agency services — could also automatically be registering to vote at the same time, if newly re-elected Secretary of State Steve Simon’s legislative priority wish list comes to fruition in the coming months at the Capitol.

Simon, a DFLer elected to his third term in November, held a press conference Monday announcing his support for automatic voter registration contained in HF3/SF3 along with a handful of other election-related “Legislative Priorities to Strengthen Our Democracy” that he said would continue to build on “Minnesota’s success story and reputation as a leader in elections and voting” and further expand access to voting.

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Solar Panel Manufacturer Invests $2.5 Billion in Georgia Factories

Eric Burk

Governor Brian Kemp announced that solar panel manufacturer Qcells will invest $2.5 billion to build two new factories in Georgia, a significant expansion after the company opened the largest solar panel factory in the western hemisphere in Dalton in 2019.

“I am honored to announce the growth of Qcells in Georgia for a second time in less than a year,” Kemp said in a press release.

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Detroit Charter Schools Tout College Enrollment Numbers

The Center Square

As Michigan Democrats holding a political trifecta aim to regulate charter schools, data from the graduating class of 2021 show that the top eight open-enrollment high schools for college enrollment in Detroit are all charter schools.

Researchers from Grand Valley State University’s Charter Schools Office analyzed which high schools had the most students enrolling in college within six months of graduation.

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Ohio GOP Majority Discusses Next Steps Following Election of Jason Stephens for House Speaker

Hannah Poling

About a week after 22 Republicans sided with the Democrats to elect moderate State Representative Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) as Speaker of the Ohio House, State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) invited his 45 supporters to a closed-door meeting Wednesday at the Ohio Statehouse to discuss their next steps.

This follows Merrin losing the vote for speaker over Stephens, who won with 22 Republicans and all 32 Democrats voting for him despite the Republican Caucus‘ previous selection in November of Merrin as the new speaker.

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Bill Lowers Threshold for Felony Theft in Wisconsin

M.D. Kittle

Losses from retail theft have soared over the past several years, a problem exacerbated by soft-on-crime prosecutors and judges. Wisconsin has a Supreme Court justice candidate who, has suggested that shoplifters who steal from “big box” retailers shouldn’t be aggressively prosecuted.

State Sen. Andre Jacque says his bill lowering Wisconsin’s threshold for felony theft is in response to the increasing brazenness of criminals and the kid glove treatment they’ve gotten from some prosecutors and judges like Dane County’s Everett Mitchell.

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