Month: March 2023

Commentary: Cleveland Utilities’ Plan for Its Own Broadband System Is a Bad Bet for Local Taxpayers

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Broadband

On Wednesday March 8th, city leaders received an earful from local residents and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) when they took public comments about the city’s plan to build a $72 million municipal network through its electric utility Cleveland Utilities. TPA testified that the project is duplicative and unnecessary, and that there are numerous factors that raise concerns about its viability.

The city anticipates a take rate of 30 percent. In its research, including in the 2020 report “GON with the Wind: The Failed Promise of Government-Owned Networks,” TPA has found that expected take rate percentages rarely materialize when private providers respond to competition by adjusting pricing or services. This is particularly a concern in Cleveland, given that there are already several internet options in the city and Bradley County.  

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Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly’s Support for Censoring Viewpoints on Social Media Is Taken Out of Context: Spox

Rachel Alexander
Sen Mark Kelly

During a Zoom call this past week with federal government finance officials, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) called for censorship of unfavorable remarks on social media. He was referring to posts raising alarm about the financial stableness of banks after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which resulted in long lines of customers attempting to take their money out and the Biden administration stepping in to guarantee deposits of over $250,000, amounts the law doesn’t insure. 

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, expressed his concern in an op-ed for The New York Post titled “Censorship addicts: Democrats seek to squelch speech on banks.” He said, “Rather than convince citizens that their deposits are safe, it is easier to just silence anyone who disagrees with you. So now ‘the expense’ of free speech is too high if it might undermine faith in our banks’ stability.”

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National Transportation Safety Board Chair Says Trains Should Be Mandated to Have More Image and Audio Recorders Following East Palestine Derailment

Hannah Poling

At a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that in light of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, freight trains should have mandates for both inward and outward-facing image and audio recorders.

According to NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, the train involved in the East Palestine derailment was only equipped with an inward-facing camera and because it was immediately put back into service following the accident, the data from the day of the derailment was overwritten.

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Bill to Cut Grocery Tax in Arizona Arrives at Katie Hobbs’s Desk

Neil Jones

The Arizona State House passed Senate Bill (SB) 1063 by State Sen. Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu), which aims to eliminate the grocery tax across the state, sending it off to the governor’s desk for a final decision.

“At a time when thousands of Arizonans are already struggling to make ends meet, government shouldn’t be contributing to higher costs for basic necessities like food,” said State Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) following his vote in the bill’s favor. “With Arizonans facing one of the highest inflation rates in the nation, I’ll never stop fighting to lower costs for families, seniors, and our most hard-hit fellow citizens.”

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Hillary Clinton to Teach Foreign Policy Course at Columbia

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will teach a course in foreign policy at Columbia University during the fall 2023 semester, the university announced Wednesday.

Clinton will teach “Inside the Situation Room” alongside School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, according to the announcement. The course will give students an inside look into how decisions are made in an international relations scale and use case studies and examine decisions including the search for Osama bin Laden, the “red line” in Syria and negotiations with Iran.

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TikTok CEO Dodges on Whether Company Will Cease ‘Spying’ on Americans

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TikTok CEO Shou Chew dodged questions Thursday about whether tactics by parent company ByteDance used to “spy” on American journalists could be used to target more Americans.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington questioned Chew on reporting by Forbes that staff at ByteDance used TikTok data last year to surveil journalists who were covering the company, gaining access to their IP addresses to track whether they had been in proximity to ByteDance employees.

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House Judiciary Committee: ‘No Legitimate Basis’ for Biden Administration to Target Parents Protesting School Boards

Admin

The latest report by the House Judiciary Committee declares that there was “no legitimate basis” for the Biden Administration’s efforts to label parents protesting at school board meetings as domestic terrorists and place them under federal investigation.

As reported by Fox News, the Judiciary Committee and its new subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have completed an interim staff report on the matter of the federal government’s handling of parents’ rights groups, who were “voicing concerns about controversial curricula and education-related policies.”

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Wisconsin Legislature Passes Key Crime Bills, Stops Evers Administration Rule on ‘Conversion Therapy’

M.D. Kittle

In a busy and divisive day, the Republican-led Legislature on Wednesday passed several crime bills, a measure blocking what some say is the Evers administration’s assault on the First Amendment, and a resolution demanding the governor call an election for Secretary of State.

Many of the measures passed mostly along party lines, including a bill that defines “serious harm” and “violent crime” in state law. The proposal is tied to a bail reform constitutional amendment on next month’s spring election ballot. Under the amendment, judges would be allowed to consider expanded factors when issuing bail to violent offenders, beyond whether the defendant would show up for his court date.

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Thousands of Pro-Life Activists Reject More Abortions in Connecticut

Susan Berry, PhD

Pro-life Connecticut activists gathered Wednesday in Hartford at the Capitol building for the second annual March for Life to celebrate life from conception to natural death and to demonstrate against more abortions that could come if two proposals are approved.

Despite the fact that Connecticut already has extremely liberal abortion laws, House Joint Resolution No. 8, introduced by State Rep. Keith Denning (D-Wilton), is a proposal for a constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion. The resolution would enshrine abortion in the state Constitution.

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‘Food Security Is National Security’: Congress Moves to Stop Communist China from Buying Up U.S. Farmland

M.D. Kittle

America’s biggest global threat is buying up U.S. farmland, an acquisition binge that’s putting the nation’s food supply and national security at risk, lawmakers assert.

In a rare act of bipartisanship, members of Congress are looking to stop the sale of American agricultural land to buyers in Communist China and hold the Biden administration accountable for dropping another foreign policy ball.

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House Bill Would Block Biden’s Student Loan Bailout

M.D. Kittle

While the constitutionality of President Joe Biden’s student loan bailout is awaiting a Supreme Court decision, a bill re-introduced by two House members would block the Biden administration from canceling student loan debt on a mass scale. 

The Student Loan Accountability Act, authored by U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Drew Ferguson (R-GA-03) would also prevent forgiven loans from getting an additional tax break and it would bar the Internal Revenue Service from sharing American’s tax information for the purpose of implementing mass loan cancelation. 

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Virginia Names Tennessee Chief Academic Officer as Its New Superintendent of Public Instruction

TC Weber

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced the appointment of Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Chief Academic Officer Lisa Coons as Virginia’s 27th superintendent of public instruction. The move comes as Coons was recently named a finalist for the job of Nebraska’s State Superintendent of Schools. Coons’ appointment is effective April 17, with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera touting her as a welcome addition to the team.

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Tennessee Bill Would Tax Sportsbooks on Total Bets Placed, Not Revenue

The Center Square

A Tennessee sports wagering bill would change the way the state computes taxes on sports betting from taxing the amount sportsbooks make in revenue to taxing all wagers placed in the state.

Currently, the state places a 20% tax on each sportsbook’s adjusted gross income. With that, the state has a rule each sportsbook must make 10% profit on total bets placed. Last year, however, nine of the state’s 10 active sportsbooks did not reach that mark.

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Biden Admin Flew Migrants Caught Illegally Crossing Over from Canada to the Southern Border, Memo Reveals

Admin

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew illegal migrants from the northern border to the southern border to expel them under Title 42, a Trump-era public health expulsion order, according to an internal agency memorandum reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The flights, which are operated by contractor World Atlantic Airlines, also began with a program to move Border Patrol agents from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Canadian border to help with the surge, a U.S. government official familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak, told the DCNF. The Title 42 flights, however, have been costly, with each costing between $150,000 and $200,000, meaning they’re not likely to continue, the source added.

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Biden Admin in Talks to Potentially Bail Out a Third Bank: Report

Admin

The U.S. government is considering backing a potential deal to rescue the struggling First Republic Bank, in a bid by U.S. officials and Wall Street executives to head off the chance of a third major bank failure, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the discussions.

Wall Street investors have expressed an interest in helping stabilize the struggling San Francisco-based bank, which has been selling assets — which lost value amid the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes designed to combat inflation — to pay out a surge in customers pulling their funds from the bank, according to Bloomberg. While the extent of government aid has not yet been decided, the government could cover the cost of First Republic’s losses or offer liability protection to companies involved in a deal.

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Commentary: The Problematic Rise of ‘Media Literacy Education’

RealClearWire

New Jersey is enlisting public-school teachers and librarians to show children how to combat what it calls the grave threat of disinformation.

“Our democracy remains under sustained attack through the proliferation of disinformation,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in signing the nation’s first law mandating “information literacy” instruction for all K-12 students. The law, which aims to provide students with the “critical thinking” skills necessary to differentiate between “facts, points of view, and opinions” will, Murphy proclaimed, ensure “that our kids … possess the skills needed to discern fact from fiction.”

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Connecticut Black Democrat Keynotes March for Life, Celebrates ‘Many Black Pro-Life Women Across the World’

Susan Berry, PhD

Thousands of Connecticut residents attended the second annual March for Life Wednesday where they heard state Rep. Treneé McGee (D-West Haven) assert she is not an “anomaly,” since “one in three Democrats are pro-life and there are many black pro-life women across the world.”

McGee, who also addressed the tens of thousands of pro-life activists at the national March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January, urged her fellow Connecticut residents at the state Capitol in Hartford to help “create a culture of life.”

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Pennsylvania Government Union Political Spending Skyrockets Even as Membership Declines

Bradley Vasoli

Even as Pennsylvania’s public-sector unions suffer net losses of members and dues, these groups continue to ramp up political donations, according to a new analysis by the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation (CF). 

According to the free-market nonprofit, spending from Keystone State government unions like the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13 totaled $6.34 million in the 2011-12 campaign cycle. That amount steadily rose over all gubernatorial and presidential cycles and reached a record $20.2 million in 2021-22. 

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Michigan House Votes to Repeal Right-to-Work, Reinstate Prevailing Wage, End A-F Grading System

The Center Square

The Michigan House on Tuesday voted to repeal right-to-work, reinstate the prevailing wage, and trash the state’s A-F grading system for public schools.

The Democrat-dominated House approved Senate Bill 34 on a vote of 65-52. The bill aims to allow unions to require workers to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment. The Senate approved the bill last week to repeal the policy enacted in 2012 by former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. 

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Ohio Governor DeWine Announces East Palestine Health Clinic to Become Permanent

Hannah Poling

At a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that after speaking to medical leaders from the East Liverpool City Hospital, the temporary health clinic in East Palestine is becoming a permanent clinic for the community.

“This is a long term commitment to the health of the people of East Palestine,” DeWine said.

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Florida Rep. Kat Cammack Says There Should Never Be Another Bank Bailout

Just the News

Florida GOP Rep. Kat Cammack says that there should not be a bank bailout after the recent bank failures because ultimately, the price will fall on the American people. 

“There should absolutely never be a bank bailout ever again,” Cammack said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “We saw the failures of that years ago and now we’re staring down the barrel of another meltdown and contagion because there’s poor management.”

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Arizona State Senator Seeks to Keep National Guard Troops Stateside

Neil Jones

A Senate bill (SB) from State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) passed through the Senate Tuesday to protect Arizona’s National Guard from being deployed into active combat unless there is a declaration of war.

“If the president wants to use the Arizona national guard to fight wars halfway across the world, then it can only be done after a majority of the people’s representatives vote to send them there,” Rogers said on the Senate Floor. “If Congress refuses to vote, then it’s a war the Arizona National Guard should not be fighting.”

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Mexican Resident Caught in Possession of over 1 Million Fentanyl Pills to Sell in Arizona

Neil Jones

The Arizona District of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that Mexican resident Juan Alfonso Torres-Rodriguez, 27, has been charged with possessing over one million fentanyl pills with an intent to sell them in the state.

According to the DOJ’s report, officials witnessed Torres-Rodriguez participating in a drug transaction in early March. From there, authorities searched his residency and vehicle to discover approximately 108 kilograms of fentanyl.

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Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment May Get August Vote

Hannah Poling

Although the “Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment” did not pass in the Ohio House and Senate prior to the February 1st deadline to be on May’s primary election ballot, state lawmakers may reinstate an August special election to consider the amendment. 

House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1 sponsored by state Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) aims to alter the process of how constitutional amendments can be proposed by initiative petitions. Currently, issues proposed by initiative petitions need to meet a 50 percent voting threshold to amend the Constitution. Under this proposal, these issues would need to meet a 60 percent threshold.

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New Bill Would Make Arizona Teacher Pay Increases Transparent, Require School Districts to Comply

Neil Jones

Arizona State Senator J.D. Mesnard (R-Chandler) shared in his weekly update to constituents that his bill, aimed at ensuring school districts comply with the state transparency laws, is moving along through the Legislature.

“Given the importance of having transparency with such a critical topic as teacher pay, I sponsored a bill (SB 1599) that would add some teeth to the law and instruct the Arizona Department of Education to engage if a school district is not in compliance. The bill has passed the Senate and is poised for a House Floor vote,” Mesnard said.

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Commentary: Brown County’s $30 Million Taxpayer Loan for Broadband Expansion Deserves Closer Scrutiny

Admin

Brown County residents may be aware of a proposed broadband expansion project in their area. What they may not be aware of is the potential cost of this project – “$27.2 million loan at 4 percent interest to be repaid over 30 years,” as reported by the Green Bay Press Gazette. This should raise some eyebrows. Not only does Brown County receive service from multiple broadband providers, but there are additional projects on the horizon and federal broadband funding that is expected to flow into the state.

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Norfolk Southern CEO Evades Questions About Support for Rail Safety Act of 2023

Hannah Poling

At a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Norfolk Southern’s CEO Alan Shaw evaded questions about the company’s support for safety requirements included in the bipartisan Rail Safety Act of 2023.

The Rail Safety Act sponsored by U.S. Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) would require that trains carrying hazardous materials be scanned by wayside defect detectors, or “hotbox detectors,” every 10 miles to prevent future derailments caused by faulty wheel bearings. It stipulates that railroad companies must provide advance notification to state emergency response commissions when transporting hazardous materials. It requires railroads to operate with at least two-person crews. It also, increases the maximum fine for rail safety violations.

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Public School Workers Say ‘Dignified’ Retirement Now Out of Reach in Pennsylvania

The Center Square

Pennsylvania educators say the “dignified” retirement promised to them decades ago no longer exists thanks to record inflation and benefits “frozen” in time for the last 20 years.

Thomas Curry, a former art teacher who worked for the Punxsutawney Area School District for 40 years, said he’s watched his pension benefits cover less and less since he retired in 1999. He no longer buys Girl Scout cookies or supports charitable organizations in the neighborhood and his family clips coupons to afford groceries.

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Two Foreign Countries Join Forces in $10 Billion Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Manufacturers

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The Bahamas joined Mexico Wednesday to appeal a federal judge’s November decision to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers for deaths caused by firearms, according to EyeWitness News.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis announced the decision, saying the firearms used to commit violent acts in his country are manufactured by American firearm companies and illegally trafficked across borders, according to EyeWitness News. The appeal follows a November ruling in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts where a federal judge dismissed Mexico’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

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Biden Administration Attempting to Bail Out Moderna

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The pharmaceutical company Moderna, which has already received over $10 billion in taxpayer funds for the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, could receive even more public money at the request of the Biden Administration.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, lawyers with the Department of Justice (DOJ) offered in court filings last month to “relieve” Moderna of any liabilities it may face as the result of a lawsuit claiming that the company has not paid licensing fees for the technology it utilized to develop its vaccine for the Chinese coronavirus.

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Mayorkas Launches Program to Combat Fentanyl Smuggling at the Border

Admin

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the launch of a program to combat the surge in illicit fentanyl smuggling at the southern border.

Mayorkas announced “Operation Blue Lotus” Tuesday during a visit to the Port of Nogales, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made large fentanyl seizures, to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents to the ports to help collect intelligence on drug cartels to create criminal cases against them. CBP illicit fentanyl seizures at the southern border for fiscal year 2023 are on pace to surpass fiscal year 2022’s seizure of roughly 14,000 pounds of the synthetic narcotic.

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Commentary: The Origin of American Exceptionalism

Admin

Today, saying that America is exceptional has become a controversial statement. With the claim that America is a deeply racist and terrible country, American exceptionalism is lambasted as a myth.

But few today know the origins of American exceptionalism and its place as the main storyline of U.S. nationalism. And yet, it’s only by examining the history of this idea that we can have an informed opinion on the issue. So, what is the history of American exceptionalism?

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House Administration Chair Warns Hyperpolitical DAs: Weaponize the Law, Lose Federal Funding

Just the News

Amid the Manhattan district attorney’s reported planning to arrest former President Trump next week under a novel legal interpretation of a state law against falsifying business records, Chairman of the House Administration Committee Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) issued a blunt warning Monday to hyperpolitical big city district attorneys: Any federal funding their offices receive may be at risk if they are abusing their prosecutorial power to settle political scores rather than fight violent crime.

“Often the federal government is funding and providing resources to prosecutors across the United States,” Steil told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “The purpose of that is to make our cities safer. If we find out through this investigation that instead those are being used to weaponize DAs across the country with a purpose of grinding a political ax rather than making our communities safer, we’re gonna have to go back into the funding model.”

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Trump Grand Jury Hearing Canceled Ahead of Possible Indictment: Reports

Just the News

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office reportedly canceled the grand jury meeting scheduled for Wednesday in the case against former President Donald Trump, who faces a possible indictment in connection to alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The jurors are on standby for Thursday, according to multiple media reports.

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Memos from 2018-19 Shake Up Trump Case: Cohen Denied Having Incriminating Evidence on Hush Money

Just the News

An attorney who advised disgraced Trump organization lawyer Michael Cohen provided Manhattan prosecutors with voluminous documentation, including contemporaneous emails and memos, purporting to show that in 2018 Cohen wanted Donald Trump to help cover his legal bills and repeatedly claimed he had no evidence incriminating the former president in a hush money deal with porn actress Stormy Daniels.

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