Month: July 2023

Southern States Are Booming as Wealth Flees Democrat-Run Northeast

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Six states in the south are seeing rapid growth in the share of national gross domestic product (GDP) as people flock to the region, while states in the northeast are faltering, Bloomberg reported.

Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee are in the middle of a $100 billion wealth migration that started during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses and people moved south, according to Bloomberg. States in the northeast lost approximately $60 billion in 2020 and 2021, falling behind the six southern states in collective GDP for the first time.

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Tennessee Saw Record Number of New Business Filings in First Quarter

The Center Square

Tennessee had a record number of business formations and renewals in the first quarter of 2023.

There were 21,516 new business filings and 199,309 businesses firms renewed their active status by filing annual reports, the largest totals in the 25-year history of the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report from the Secretary of State’s Office and University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center.

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Arizona Senator Calls Out Governor over ‘Harmful’ Veto of Sex Offender Registry Bill

Hannah Poling

An Arizona Republican state senator called out Governor Katie Hobbs for her “harmful” veto of a bill mandating those found guilty of dangerous crimes against children to register on the state’s sex offender website.

Senate Bill (SB) 1583, sponsored by State Senator Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye), aimed to close a gap in state legislation that now only compels those offenders found guilty of committing sex crimes against children to list their names on the website for sex offenders if they pose a significant danger of doing so again. Level one offenders, who are the least likely to re-offend, may not have to list their names on this website.

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Commentary: Societies That Surrender Moral Foundation Historically Self-Destruct

Admin

Despite its origins in the historic Stonewall Riots of 1969, “Pride Month,” which concluded last week, has devolved into a manifestation of moral decay in 2023.

The proliferation of the transgenderism movement, fueled by Marxist ideologies, within our public education system is concerning enough. However, the decision to dedicate an entire month to celebrate moral degradation is a step too far. While I am not advanced in years, I never envisioned a day where transvestites would lecture us on human biology, or sterilizers would pose as health professionals advocating for human rights. It seems that our nation has descended into a state of utter madness, where men can now claim pregnancy and the number of genders rivals the alphabet.

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Increase Drug and Human Trafficking Penalties

Hannah Poling

Two Republican Ohio Lawmakers have introduced a bill into the Ohio House of Representatives that aims to increase the penalties for drug and human trafficking in Ohio.

House Bill (HB) 230, known as the Saving Ohio Communities Act, sponsored by State Representatives Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison) and D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) looks to address the staggering increase in drug overdoses, specifically fentanyl poisoning in the state.

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Virginia National Guard Units Being Sent to the Border Announced

The Center Square

Three of Virginia’s National Guard units will lead Joint Task Force Cardinal as part of Operation Lone Star to help secure the southern border. 

Troops will be deployed from the Guard’s Portsmouth-based 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment and the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with assistance from Army and Air National Guard units from Lynchburg, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Danville, Staunton and Hampton.

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s Growth Council Features One Person Under 40

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Growing Michigan Together Council includes one person under 40 and no one from the Upper Peninsula.

The Council will advise Whitmer on policies to reach a population goal for 2050 and prepare Michigan’s workforce for in-demand jobs and emerging industries. The council will develop long-term, sustainable transportation, and water infrastructure funding solutions.

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Report: Analysis of Minnesota Death Certificate Data Shows CDC Repeatedly Removed COVID Vax as a Cause of Death

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An analysis of death certificates in Minnesota has found that the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) repeatedly omitted the COVID vaccine as a potential cause of death in its classification data. A source provided the Brownstone Institute with the death certificates for all deaths that occurred in Minnesota from 2015 to the present.

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Pennsylvania Hydropower Project Beset by Permitting Delays

The Center Square

A state-backed hydroelectric plant is on track to come to the former steel town of Braddock, but permitting delays have slowed the project and driven up costs.

The Thursday meeting of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, an independent public financing entity that funds “clean, advanced energy projects,” featured upbeat officials on the success of their funded projects, but also noted the slow pace of bureaucracy can slow down a project.

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New Politico Mag Poll Skews the Numbers to Come Up with Another Anti-Trump Narrative, Trump Pollster Says

M.D. Kittle

A poll published last week by German-owned Politico Magazine insists that “most Americans —  including a large number of Republicans … “ agree that the former President Donald  Trump’s trial on federal charges he mishandled classified documents should take place before the Republican Party primary. 

And nearly half, according to the Ipsos poll of more than 1,000 “adults,” believe Trump is guilty. 

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Former Arizona Election Attorney Starts Process to Sue Kris Mayes for Defamation, Demands $2 Million

Rachel Alexander

Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit (EIU) civil attorney under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, started the process this past week to sue current Attorney General Kris Mayes for defamation by filing a Notice of Claim. Someone from Mayes’ office told the media that Wright was fired or forced to resign, but Wright has produced evidence showing she resigned voluntarily. It is common when a new administration from a different political party takes over an office to fire high-level appointees from the previous administration.

“Over the past few years, I’ve become jaded by people in positions of power abusing that power for partisan gain & further subjugation of the American people,” Wright tweeted. “On 1/5/23 I was shocked when an outright lie was propagated by Arizona’s Chief Legal Officer, @krismayes, about me.”

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OPEC Seeks New Members

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OPEC, the world’s largest oil cartel, is looking for new members, the group’s secretary general told reporters Wednesday, according to CNBC.

Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais told reporters at a Vienna conference that he is actively working to grow OPEC — currently comprised of 13 members based primarily in the Middle East, Africa and South America — noting that he had recently visited several oil-producing countries including Malaysia, Brunei, Azerbaijan and Mexico, although he stressed that he was not suggesting those countries in particular had been invited to join OPEC, according to CNBC. The cartel has been working alongside Russia and other nonmember nations in the larger OPEC+ alliance to prop up oil prices via a string of production cuts, to mixed results.

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Poll: Number of Americans Who Fear They Will Not Reach the American Dream Is on the Rise

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In a recent survey, a rising number of Americans say that they do not think they will ever achieve the American Dream.

As reported by the New York Post, the poll by NORC – University of Chicago saw 75 percent of overall respondents say that they felt they had either achieved the Dream or were on their way to achieving it. However, 24 percent said that they feel the Dream is out of their reach, and that America is no longer the “land of opportunity.” In the previous year’s poll, only 18 percent shared this sentiment.

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Commentary: Poland and Hungary Are What Healthy Democracies Look Like

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“Even by today’s low standards, this is shockingly delusional,” I thought after reading Kati Marton’s diatribe against the current Polish and Hungarian governments in the Los Angeles Times last week.

Most such pieces are relatively standard and don’t warrant a response. This one, it seemed to me, mutilated the charred corpse of the truth. As a Polish citizen and Polish speaker who has lived in Hungary, I concluded it was too much to overlook. Allow me to share some of my experiences from these two countries, which most often bear no resemblance to the ones Marton describes.

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Biden Administration Considers $20,000 Fine, Prison for Boaters Who Exceed 11.5 mph in Florida Gulf

Just the News

President Joe Biden’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is moving a step closer to imposing a 10-knot speed limit for large boats in the Florida waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with violations potentially resulting in a felony charge punishable by a $20,000 fine and up to one year in prison. The agency closed a public comment period Thursday on a petition seeking to impose the limit.

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Exclusive: Inside Source Details Extreme Messaging from Far-Left Planning Session

Peter D'Abrosca

An inside source Friday provided The Tennessee Star with more details from a June 28 meeting hosted by radical members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Nashville. 

Earlier this week, The Star reported on the event, where an inside source provided secretly obtained audio recordings from a portion of the meeting. But what was not caught on audio, the source explained, was far more radical than what was caught on audio. 

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Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti Says 6th Circuit Ruling ‘A Big Win,’ Meaning State Law Protecting Minors from Transgender Mutilation and Hormone Treatment ‘Can Be Fully Enforced’

Michael Patrick Leahy

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti released a statement Saturday morning, hours after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling granting the state of Tennessee’s emergency motion for a stay of a June 28 preliminary injunction from a federal district judge that temporarily prohibited the full implementation of a law enacted in March 2023. The law, Prohibition on Medical Procedures Performed on Minors Related to Sexual Identity, was originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1. “The case is far from over, but this is a big win. The court of appeals lifted the injunction, meaning the law can be fully enforced, and recognized that Tennessee is likely to win the constitutional argument and the case,” Skrmetti said in a statement released by his office. The law now goes into full effect on July 8, one week after its originally scheduled July 1 effective date. “Tennessee enacted a law that prohibits healthcare providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries and administering hormones or puberty blockers to transgender minors. After determining that the law likely violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, the district court facially enjoined the law’s enforcement as to hormones and puberty blockers and applied the injunction to…

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Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Vows to Embrace Radical LGBTQ Agenda in Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Delegates at the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual representative assembly in Orlando, Florida, passed a measure this week that pledges the union will organize against what it perceives as anti-LGBTQ legislation and so-called “book banning,” as it also bolsters protections for LGBTQ teachers.

The measure addresses “the prevalence of discrimination and violence targeted” at LGBTQ individuals, reported Education Week, and includes “mobilizing against legislative attacks, providing professional development on LGBTQ+ issues for educators, and strengthening contract protections for LGBTQ+ educators.”

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ACLU Asks New Acting ICE Chief to Close Detention Centers, Stop Local Police from Arresting Illegal Immigrants

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is urging the new acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to limit arrests of illegal immigrants made by local law enforcement and close detention centers.

The Biden administration’s ICE named Patrick “P.J.” Lechleitner as the new acting chief of the agency at the end of June. The ACLU wrote Thursday that Lechleitner should close ICE detention centers and stop an agency program that allows local law enforcement agencies to make immigration-related arrests.

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Biden Admin to Form Global Coalition Against Fentanyl Without China

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The Biden administration is set to form a global coalition of countries to target fentanyl trafficking, but it doesn’t appear that China, a major source of the synthetic drug, will participate.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to host a meeting Friday with representatives from 84 countries to discuss efforts to disrupt the global supply chains of illicit fentanyl, the State Department said Thursday. However, there’s no indication China intends to participate despite the country being the source of precursor chemicals used by the cartels in Mexico to make the synthetic drug.

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Biden Admin Asks for Emergency Order Stopping Ban on Big Tech Censorship Coordination

Admin

The Biden administration requested an emergency order Thursday night to pause the preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge to prevent officials from communicating with social media platforms to censor protected speech.

The administration asked to immediately halt the injunction, issued by Western District of Louisiana Judge Terry A. Doughty on Tuesday, or to issue a seven day administrative stay while their appeal to the Fifth Circuit, which was filed on Wednesday, is pending. Doughty’s injunction bars federal officials in the Department of Health and Human Services, FBI and other agencies from communicating with social media platforms for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

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Constitutional Law Center Urges over 150 Medical Schools to End Race-Based Admissions Following Supreme Court Decision

Susan Berry, PhD

A nonprofit law center whose mission is to defend the constitutional rights of Americans has sent a letter to more than 150 medical schools throughout the country, calling upon them to end their race-based admissions policies in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down affirmative action.

Liberty Justice Center, which won a major victory for First Amendment rights in June 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that non-union government workers cannot be required to pay union fees as a condition of working in public service, has now announced efforts to inform the schools of their “legal obligation to end race-based admissions policies” in response to the Court’s recent ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. 

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Judge Orders Attorneys in Trump Documents Case to Get Security Clearance

The Center Square

A federal judge ordered all the attorneys involved in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case to move forward with the process to get security clearance. 

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon told all the attorneys to “complete all outstanding applicant tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances in this matter” by July 13. 

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Commentary: SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision Ignores Elephant in the Room

Admin
U.S. Supreme Court

Growing up in the Jim Crow South, my parents grew up dreaming of a world where they didn’t have to use “colored-only” restrooms, sit in the back of the bus, attend segregated schools, and could sit in restaurants together with other Americans – regardless of their race, creed, or nationality.

They dreamed of equality for all. Yet, almost 70 years after the Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal,” the recent decision to strike down affirmative action makes it clear that many black progressives like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson – who benefited from the Brown v. Board of Education decision – still view the issues of race and equality through rose-colored glasses.

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Florida Gov. DeSantis-Backed College Trustees Push Creation of ‘Freedom Institute’ to Challenge ‘Cancel Culture’

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The Board of Trustees at the New College of Florida submitted a $2 million budget request to the state legislature Thursday in order to establish a “Freedom Institute” that will seek to combat “cancel culture” in higher education.

The trustees, a majority of whom were appointed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, say that the new institute will allow for the expression of dissenting views, according to the board’s July 6 meeting agenda, which outlines the proposal for the institute. The institute will also honor a commitment to upholding the right to free speech and will prompt civil engagement.

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Pennsylvania State Council to Control Healthcare Costs Faces $1 Million Deficit

The Center Square

Pennsylvania’s state council to control healthcare costs is staring down a $1 million deficit within its own budget.

The most significant costs above funding came from contracted services and salaries and benefits for council staff. The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council is an independent agency that aims to limit cost increases through competition in the health care market.

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Former Minnesota Police Chief Claims City Fired Him Because He’s White

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Former interim Golden Valley Police Chief Scott Nadeau, a white male, claims in a federal lawsuit filed last week that he was effectively fired because of his race.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $75,000 in damages, accuses city leaders of violating the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Nadeau based on race. It also accuses Mayor Shep Harris of defamation because of comments he made during a March 2022 City Council meeting.

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Former Arizona Election Integrity Unit Attorney Jennifer Wright Blasts Fontes’ New Draft of State Election Procedures

Rachel Alexander

Democratic Arizona Secretary of State (AZSOS) Adrian Fontes started sending proposed draft revisions of parts of the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) to county recorders around the state.

Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit civil attorney under former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, where she was extensively involved in reviewing then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ proposed changes to the EPM, said she believes several of the first round of proposed changes would violate the law.

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Calls on Biden to Urge NATO Allies to Meet Their Defense Spending Commitments

M.D. Kittle

As President Joe Biden prepares for this weekend’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is asking the president to hold NATO accountable.

Johnson joined 34 of his Republican colleagues in sending Biden a letter asking that he remind NATO allies to honor their commitment to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

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Wisconsin Republicans Look to End Race-Based Scholarship Programs

The Center Square

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is vowing Republicans will move to end race-based scholarship programs across the state in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court moving to erase race as a factor in college admissions.

Soon after conservatives on the high court used their 6-3 advantage to impose the new standard, Vos took to social media to tweet “we are reviewing the decision and will introduce legislation to correct the discriminatory laws on the books and pass repeals in the fall.”

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Virginia Reps Introduce Bill That Could Have College Savings Plans Applied to Certifications, Workforce Training

The Center Square

Virginia Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Rob Wittman are leading a bipartisan effort to diversify how college savings accounts can be used. 

The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act would increase the number of eligible expenses for 529 savings accounts. Like Roth IRAs, 529 plans are investment accounts allowing individuals to use their after-tax contributions to pay for educational expenses. The earnings from the plans generally aren’t subject to federal or state income tax when used for qualified expenses.

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Stumping in Iowa, Trump Calls the 2024 Presidential Race ‘The Final Battle’

M.D. Kittle

Calling the 2024 presidential race the “final battle,” former President Donald Trump pledged to “expel the war mongers” and “demolish the Deep State” during a campaign rally Friday afternoon in western Iowa.

Campaigning in the shadow of a federal indictment and mounting legal troubles, the Republican Party frontrunner sounded as defiant as he takes on the political fight of his life.

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State Rep. Gress: Scottsdale Could ‘Export’ Homeless from ‘The Zone’ to Hotel Near School, Neighborhood

Tom Pappert

State Representative Matt Gress (R-Scottsdale) is sounding the alarm over a $940,000 state grant to house homeless in a Scottsdale hotel, including former residents of “The Zone” and foreign nationals.

Just under $1 million from the $60 million Homeless Shelter and Services Fund, created by Gov. Katie Hobbs in the new Arizona budget, will be spent on 10 hotel rooms dedicated to the homeless of Scottsdale.

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Ohio Adult-Use Marijuana Activists Submit Signatures for November Ballot Initiative

Hannah Poling

A group of marijuana legalization activists delivered thousands of signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office on Wednesday in an attempt to put an initiative to legalize the purchase and sale of marijuana by Ohio residents aged 21 and older on the ballot in November.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted 222,198 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office before the deadline to go before voters in November.

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Interior Department Included Wuhan Lab Funder on Early COVID Pandemic Research Team

Just the News
Wuhan Institute of Virology

Officials at the U.S. nonprofit that passed taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – whose coronavirus bat research is now suspected by the FBI to be the source of the pandemic – helped the Interior Department research possible transmission of COVID-19 between humans and North American bats, according to newly released government memos.

Lightly redacted documents provided to government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show the “fingerprints” of the EcoHealth Alliance “at key points” of the resulting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paper in June 2020, the group said Wednesday. 

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Commentary: As Hiring Slows Down, So Does the Economy

Admin

The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in June, according to the latest establishment survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than expected as 306,000 were added in May, as hiring slowed down nationwide. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained about the same at 3.6 percent.

Historically, when hiring slows down by establishments, that usually coincides with economic slowdowns and recessions. In the recent cycle, the 2020 and 2021 recovery from Covid notwithstanding, hiring peaked at about 5.2 percent annualized increase in Feb. 2022. Now, it’s down to 2.5 percent.

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