Month: June 2023

House Censures Democratic Lawmaker After Ethics Committee Found She Committed ‘Disorderly Conduct’ by Hiding Bibles

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona House of Representatives voted to censure State Representative Stephanie Stahl (D-Flagstaff) by a vote of 30-28 on June 13 for hiding Bibles placed on a table at the House lounge at least three times. Earlier this month, the bipartisan House Ethics Committee unanimously determined that Stahl committed “disorderly behavior” and referred the matter to the full House to consider what discipline to implement. 

Some legislators made arguments on the House floor recommending expulsion, pointing to the ouster of former State Representative Liz Harris (R-Chandler) in April for what many believed was not any worse behavior. “How we operate while we are here depends greatly on our leadership and our consistency while we’re in session,” State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale), the Ethics Committee chair, said. “I vote yes.”

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Federal Judge: FBI Must Respond by July 3 in The Star News Network Lawsuit Demanding Agency Release Covenant Killer Manifesto

M.D. Kittle

A federal judge has given the Federal Bureau of Investigation until July 3 to respond to The Star News Network’s lawsuit demanding the agency turn over the manifesto and related records of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer.

The FBI had sought to delay the proceedings by another two weeks or a full month.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Requests Extension of Disaster Declaration for East Palestine Train Derailment

Hannah Poling

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine submitted a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requesting a second extension on the deadline for Ohio to request a major disaster declaration for damage resulting from the catastrophic East Palestine train derailment which occurred earlier this year.

The FEMA website states that a major disaster declaration provides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work.

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Ohio House Advances Legislation to Protect Women’s Sports and Children from Exploitation

Hannah Poling

The Ohio House of Representatives advanced two Republican-backed pieces of legislation on Wednesday that aim to protect women’s sports and children from exploitation in the state.

House Bill (HB) 68, known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, sponsored by State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery), passed out of the Ohio House Public Health Policy Committee by a 7-6 vote advancing it to the house floor for further consideration.

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Commentary: The EPA’s Proposed Carbon Capture and Storage Regulations Is a Trial Lawyer’s Dream

RealClearWire

In May, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations that will require power plants to capture almost all their CO2 emissions, compress them, transport them via a network of pipelines, and store them underground. The plan is economic folly, but the problems go beyond money: CO2 injected underground may well escape into the atmosphere or contaminate underground water supplies, either of which could yield deadly results and create a feeding frenzy of litigation. The liability risks will be another nail in the coffin for the country’s reliance on fossil fuels to supply electricity, which in 2022 accounted for about 60% of all generation.     

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Watchdog: Feds Wasted $683 Million Per Day in Improper Payments in 2022

The Center Square

The federal government wasted over a half a trillion dollars in improper payments during the first two years of the Biden administration, a new analysis from a spending watchdog group found.

The analysis comes from Open The Books, which reports that 82 programs across 17 agencies made improper payments in fiscal year 2022 alone, averaging $20.5 billion per month, or $683 million per day.

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Movement to Decide Presidency by Popular Vote Gains States, Momentum But Also Faces Challenges

Just the News

The effort to change how the United States elects its presidents – from the existing Electoral College process to a national popular vote – is gaining momentum, but critics are questioning its legality and whether it improves the country’s election system. 

Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, with Minnesota being the latest and Michigan and Nevada considering it.

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Biden DHS Rewards Sanctuary Cities, NGOs with $290 Million

Admin

The Biden Administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded over $290 million in taxpayer money to various “sanctuary cities,” as well as pro-illegal alien non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

As reported by Breitbart, the nearly $300 million was taken from the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), a federal initiative that is funded by the U.S. Congress. The money was divided among 34 different cities, NGOs, and other entities.

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USDA to Crack Down on False Labeling in Meat and Poultry Industry

The Center Square

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be cracking down on false claims on labeling of meat claiming it is “grass-fed,” “free-range,” “raised without antibiotics,” or “no antibiotics ever.”

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has received petitions, comments and letters asking the agency to boost oversight of marketing claims made by the meat and poultry industry, the agency said Wednesday in a news release. The agency will then determine if it needs to do more rulemaking on the industry’s claims.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: President Trump, Bud Light, Target, and the L.A. Dodgers

Admin

Millions of Americans’ negative reactions to the indictment of President Donald Trump are not all related to his personal appeal. They are responses to the cultural civil war being waged by an aggressive, immoral, and potentially dictatorial elite minority.

There is a parallel between what is happening to President Trump and the American people’s rejection of woke brainwashing.

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Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance Vows to Block Biden’s DOJ Nominees until Garland Stops ‘Harassing’ Political Opponents

Just the News

Sen. J.D. Vance says he is going to place holds on all of President Joe Biden’s Justice Department nominees following former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment for his handling of classified materials.

Vance, an Ohio Republican, wrote Tuesday on Twitter that he will halt all Justice nominees until Attorney General Merrick Garland “stops using his agency to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents.”

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Massachusetts Middle School Students’ Protest of Pride Celebration Draws Uproar

Susan Berry, PhD

School officials and parents of LGBTQ students in Burlington, Massachusetts, are calling for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training in the district following the actions of some middle-school students who organized a counter-protest of a “pride” celebration by reportedly tearing down “pride” stickers and chanting, “USA are my pronouns.”

“Parents and teachers are outraged over the response to a middle school pride event,” reported WBZ News. “Now families are demanding school officials do more to protect LGBTQ students.”

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Multiple Target Stores Nationwide Receive Bomb Threats from Left-Wing Terrorists over ‘Betrayal of LGBTQ+ Community’

Admin

Multiple Target stores across the U.S. have received bomb threats from LGBTQ+ terrorists in recent days, apparently over the retail giant’s decision to remove some of its Pride Month merchandise.

Over the weekend, Target stores located in Oklahoma, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Louisiana, Ohio, Utah, and Pennsylvania received bomb threats that mirrored those made previously in Ohio, Utah and Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post.

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Commentary: Trump Should Fight Fire with Fire and That’s Exactly What He Says He Will Do

Admin

Fight fire with fire.

That was the message of former President Donald Trump to his supporters in Bedminster, N.J. on June 13 following his arraignment in federal court in Miami, Fla. for alleged violations of the Espionage Act over documents that Trump retained following his presidency that he says he declassified, warning that the “seal is broken.”

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GOP House Settles Rift, Returns to Conservative Agenda in Passing Bill Protecting Gas Stoves

Just the News

The rift with within the Republican House Conference that shut down floor votes last week appears to have been resolved enough for the chamber to resume voting, with the Tuesday passage of a marquee conservative bill to stop Biden administration initiatives to further regulate gas-powered stoves.

The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act passed 248-180, after failing to get a final vote last week because 11 conservative-leaning conference members – in a nearly unprecedented move – blocked a preliminary procedural vote, essentially over what they considered House GOP leadership’s mishandling of the debt-ceiling agreement with Democrat President Joe Biden.

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Parents Furious at Wyoming School Board for Pushing LGBT, Sexual Content on Kids Despite Them ‘Opting Out’

Admin

A district-wide library book policy has parents accusing a Wyoming school board of failing to stop the “sexualization” of their kids, according to ABC13 News.

Laramie County School District No. 1 (LCSD) has given parents the option to opt their kids out of particular LCSD library books by filling out a form asking them the reasoning for the request. During the school board of trustees meeting on June 5, the school board was criticized for how it handled library resources, causing parents to call for a change in the library book policy.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep Mark Green Says He Has Evidence That Some Chinese Migrants Are Tied To CCP, PLA

Admin

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green possesses evidence that some Chinese migrants that crossed the southern border illegally and were released into the U.S. under the Biden administration are connected to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), he told the Daily Caller News Foundation during a press conference Wednesday.

The intelligence came directly from a Border Patrol sector chief, Green told the DCNF. Border Patrol has seen a roughly 393 percent increase in illegal Chinese migrants at the southern border, with 9,711 Chinese migrant encounters recorded between October 2022 and April.

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Vanderbilt Researchers Granted NIH Funds to Study Children’s Mental Health

Peter D'Abrosca

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have been granted $3.2 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research children’s mental health, according to the university. 

“A four-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support the research of Carolyn Heinrich, University Distinguished Professor of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and Melinda Buntin, University Distinguished Professor of Health Policy, into how school-based health interventions affect children’s mental health and education outcomes,” Vanderbilt announced last month. “Schools are serving children with ever-increasing mental health needs, which were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. public schools serve as the primary entry point to mental health services for children, and school-based health centers, or SBHCs, increasingly are a ‘medical home’ for vulnerable children.”

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Gallup Poll: Over Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Transgender Participation in Sports

Admin

The latest poll from Gallup suggests that an overwhelming majority of Americans remain opposed to so-called “transgender” people participating in sports for the wrong gender, despite ongoing social and political efforts to normalize such practices.

As the Washington Free Beacon reports, the poll shows that a staggering 69 percent of respondents believe people who identify as “transgender” should remain in the sports that correspond to their actual biological gender. This marks a 7-point increase from a similar survey taken two years prior.

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Biden to Extend Stay for More than 300,000 Immigrants: Report

Admin

The Biden administration will extend the temporary legal status of roughly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras, CBS News reported Tuesday.

Immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras will be allowed to stay and work in the country for an additional 18 months under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), according to CBS News, which cited two current and former U.S. officials. TPS is granted due to either armed conflict, environmental disaster, an epidemic or other “extraordinary” conditions, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

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Growing Concerns Around Tennessee’s Grow Your Own Teacher Prep Program

TC Weber

Tennessee’s teacher prep program, Grow Your Own (GYO), is in flux. Participating educator preparation providers (EPP) are awaiting Thursday, when they will be notified of how many seats they’ll be available to offer teacher candidates, along with the amount of funding available. The lack of clear answers is making some providers anxious for the fall.

“It is throwing off our staffing plans for next year as we can’t get an answer from Emma McCallie at TDOE or Erin Crisp at the GYO Center,” a source who wished to remain anonymous told The Tennessee Star.

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Senator Blackburn Gets FBI Deputy Director to Admit Agency ‘Protected’ President Biden During Alleged Bribery Scheme

Kaitlin Housler

While being questioned by Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) during a Senate Judiciary Hearing, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate admitted the federal agency redacted information relating to the alleged bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and a Burisma executive in order to “protect” the first family.

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Report: Biden Administration Pushing LGBTQ Ideology Abroad to Alter Foreign Cultures and Eliminate Religious Freedom

Susan Berry, PhD

A report released Tuesday by faith and family values organization Family Research Council (FRC) details how the Biden administration is not only forcing its LGBTQ agenda within the United States, but also pushing specific policies throughout the world in “a coercive attempt to change foreign cultures and laws” and eliminate “human rights like religious freedom.”

The authors of FRC’s report titled “Exporting LGBT Ideology: The Biden Administration’s Foreign Policy Priority” highlight how Biden has “systematically elevated the importance of LGBT ideology in American foreign policy, utilizing the resources and platform of the U.S. government to promote LGBT policies abroad.”

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Michigan Construction Group Opposes Democrats in Union Fray

The Center Square

A statewide association serving Michigan’s commercial and industrial construction sectors on Monday announced their strong opposition to Democrat-sponsored legislation to repeal the state’s 2011 Fair and Open Competition in Government Construction Act.

Shane Hernandez, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, told The Center Square that the effort announced by House Democrats last March would undo protections for 85% of the state’s construction workers who don’t belong to a union. The current law prohibits union mandates for workers on government building contracts.

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Ohio Supreme Court Rules State Issue 1 Ballot Language Must be Rewritten

Hannah Poling

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Ballot Board must rewrite some of the language that will appear as State Issue 1 before voters on the August special election ballot.

In the decision issued by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justices Pat Fischer, Pat DeWine, and Joe Deters the Ohio Ballot Board (OBB) is to address issues in the ballot text, including one that they said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot.

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Trump and DeSantis to Join Full Lineup of GOP Presidential Candidates at Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner

M.D. Kittle

Most of the GOP presidential candidates have committed to attending next month’s Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The annual fundraiser, scheduled for July 28, is a must-attend event for those vying for the Republican Party nomination in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

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Pennsylvania House Passes State Earned Income Tax Credit

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state representatives this week passed legislation creating a state version of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). 

The federal EITC, which went into effect in 1975, is designed to incentivize work. It ranges from $560 to $6,935 and goes to households earning up to $59,187. The proposed state-level counterpart would allow low-wage earners to claim 25 percent of the federal credit on their Pennsylvania taxes. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia offer a similar credit.

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Minnesota Democrats on State House Committee Vote Themselves a Per Diem Pay Bump

Admin

The 2023 Minnesota legislative session wrapped up about three weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers have stopped working.

Democrats in a state House legislative committee voted themselves a pay raise last week that allows legislators in the House of Representatives to retroactively receive a per diem increase of about $20 per day they served during the 2023 legislative session.

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Regulators Vow to Scrutinize Connecticut’s Health Exchange Rate Hikes

The Center Square

The cost of health insurance plans offered through Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act Exchange could increase next year with private insurers seeking double digit rate increases.

The Connecticut Insurance Department said it has received 10 proposed rate increase filings from health insurers for plans that will be available on and off Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance exchange.

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Baraboo Schools Accused of Holding Racially Discriminatory Focus Groups on ‘Racism as a Public Health Issue’

M.D. Kittle

The Baraboo School District held focus groups as part of a “Racism as a Public Health Issue” initiative that was exclusively for black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) middle schoolers, offering the minority students in attendance a $100 gift card plus a pizza party. 

According to records obtained by The Wisconsin Daily Star, the public health session was part of a $35,000 grant issued to Public Health Sauk County by Governor Tony Evers’ Department of Health Services.

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Commentary: The Founders Wouldn’t Recognize This ‘Justice’ System

Admin

Our Founders envisioned a Nation where the rule of law ensures justice for everyone before our legal system. Equal enforcement of our country’s laws, regardless of a citizen’s political affiliation or social status, was the primary hallmark of this system, which, although imperfect, has set a shining example for the rest of the world to follow. Unfortunately, our legal system has been transformed into one in which politics does matter, and personal connections can be the difference between being given a free pass or receiving a guilty verdict.

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Arizona Gov. Hobbs Withdraws Nomination of Progressive Former Lawmaker

The Center Square

Gov. Katie Hobbs has officially withdrawn her nomination of former Sen. Martín Quezada, D-Maryvale, to a cabinet position.

State Senate President Warren Petersen received a letter from Hobbs on June 12 stating that Quezada would be removed, effective immediately. The letter was sent after the Senate Committee on Director Nominations voted 3-2 along party lines not to approve his position as Director of the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

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Loyola Marymount President Blasts DeSantis in Op-Ed, Praises Woke Students for ‘Indoctrinating Us’

Admin

Loyola Marymount University President Timothy Law Snyder recently wrote an op-ed for the Miami Herald arguing Ron DeSantis is on the losing end of the woke battle in education since most students today are already socially liberal by the time they enter college.

Snyder suggests that DeSantis is out of touch with undergraduates, stating, “Has DeSantis met the college students of the year 2023? If he has, he has somehow missed entirely their makeup and conviction.”

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Arizona Localities Receive Portion of National Opioid Settlement

The Center Square

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the finalization of a $50 billion national opioid settlement against drug companies Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens.

Arizona will receive $380 million in compensation over 15 years. Approximately $213 million will go toward local governments, and the remaining $167 million will be allocated to state-level efforts.

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Pennsylvania State Senator Wants to Reform Program That Funnels Taxpayer Money to Filmmakers

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Senator Devlin Robinson (R-Bethel Park) this week proposed changing a program that subsidizes film production to the tune of $100 million annually. 

The Keystone State allots the film-production tax credit to movie and television projects on the basis that it generates net economic growth by bringing in new (if temporary) jobs and boosting local businesses. Robinson is circulating a memorandum among Senate colleagues suggesting the program could benefit from an increased focus on multi-year projects to make the job gains attributable to the program more stable.  

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Pittsburgh ‘Pride Mass’ Canceled Following Backlash

Admin

An LGBTQ group’s “Pride Mass” has been canceled following a report from The Daily Signal highlighting the bishop of Pittsburgh’s condemnation of the event.

The Mass had been scheduled to take place on June 11, at 1 p.m. at Duquesne Holy Spirit Chapel, and was to be presided over by Father Doug Boyd, according to fliers obtained by The Daily Signal, which said the event would be co-hosted by various groups, including Catholics for Change in Our Church and the LGBTQ Ministry at St. Joseph the Worker.

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