A pair of Green Bay-area lawmakers want to rewrite Wisconsin’s strip search law to make it clear that underwear counts too.
State Rep. David Steffen, R-Green Bay (pictured above, left), and State Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay (pictured above, right), told an Assembly committee on Thursday that the law needs to be updated after the superintendent in Suring Schools stripped five teenage girls down to their underwear to look for a vape cartridge in January of last year.
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The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential nominating cycle is set for one month from yesterday – on August 23, 2023. On that day, presumably, all major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination will assemble in Wisconsin to present their campaign pitches to the American public.
There isn’t an incumbent president in this year’s extravaganza, so it’s only natural that several hopefuls have expressed interest in a campaign. Deference is usually afforded a party president during his reelection run (as Democrats have announced there will be no debates on their side with senile Joe Biden currently in office), yet this year is different.
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One of Wisconsin’s larger health care systems has ended sex reassignment surgeries for adults and children following a directive from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Liberal lawmakers blasted the decision, first reported by Channel 3000 in Madison, as “misguided and dangerous,” while a conservative lawmakers who have championed bills prohibiting the “mutilation” of children called SSM’s change in protocol a “brave” decision.
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July marked the beginning of Fiscal Year 2024 for 46 of the 50 states. It also closes the books on most state legislative sessions in what was an incredible 2023 for hard-working taxpayers.
In recent years, we’ve seen significant income tax relief in the states. Notably, 10 states – Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, Utah, Arkansas, North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, Connecticut, and Ohio – have cut personal income taxes (PIT) in 2023. With the new addition of West Virginia, North Dakota, and Connecticut, 22 states have cut personal income taxes since 2021, with several of these states cutting taxes multiple times during that period.
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After Democrats threatened to censor him during last week’s House committee hearing on censorship, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to hold a “Roundtable on Censorship” next month.
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State officials have removed more than 95,000 from Georgia’s Medicaid rolls, but one Georgia group says the move merely returns the program to how it was administered for its first 50 years.
State officials said that of the 95,578 who lost coverage, 89,168 were removed because of “a lack of information received … to make an eligibility determination.” The state indicated it has information that more than 20,000 of those “procedurally terminated” would not have been eligible for an extension.
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Local libraries have become a fierce battleground in the cultural revolution sweeping America.
“Drag Queen Story Hour” and the promotion of pornographic materials in children and teens sections have prompted parents around the nation to push back—and some families to withdraw entirely.
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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas sent a letter Monday to President Joe Biden, formally responding to threats of legal action from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over his states floating buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande River.
Abbott defended his authority to have the floating buoy barrier built, accusing Biden of flouting U.S. immigration law with his border policies and violating the constitutional rights of states to protect themselves from an “invasion,” the letter read. The DOJ sent a letter Thursday to Abbott, accusing him of breaking the law, according to CNN.
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The New York Post First son Hunter Biden’s novice artwork has raked in at least $1.3 million — with buyers including a Democratic donor “friend’’ who his dad named to a prestigious commission, a report said Monday. Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Los Angeles real-estate investor and philanthropist, bought one of Hunter’s works, according to Business Insider, which cited sales records kept by his art dealer, the Georges Bergès Gallery of Manhattan. Naftali was appointed by President Biden to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad in July 2022 — about eight months after Hunter’s first art show, which took place in Hollywood. It is unclear when Naftali bought her Hunter artwork or how much she paid for it. READ THE FULL STORY
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Chicago Sun-Times The body of the former White House sous chef who worked for ex-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle was recovered Monday in the waters near their Martha’s Vineyard estate, Massachusetts police said. Tafari Campbell, 45, known as one of the chefs who brewed White House honey ale beer while Obama was in office — using honey from Michelle Obama’s famous South Lawn garden — went to work for the former first couple when they left the White House. In a statement, the Obamas said of one of the top chefs in the White House kitchen: “Tafari was a beloved part of our family. When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House — creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together. In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter. READ THE FULL STORY
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Nashville International Airport (BNA) recently announced it served a record number of travelers during its Fiscal Year 2023.
During the airport’s Fiscal Year 2023, it served a total of 21.9 million travelers, which is 18.7 percent higher than its previous record-breaking high in Fiscal Year 2022.
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The Supreme Court could hear a case questioning a California agency’s coordination with Twitter to censor election-related “misinformation.”
O’Handley v. Weber, which concerns the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s work with Twitter to monitor “false or misleading” election information, was appealed to the Supreme Court on June 8. The case raises questions similar to those posed in the free speech lawsuit Missouri v. Biden, now being appealed in the Fifth Circuit: Can the government lawfully induce private actors to censor protected speech?
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday said she would support former President Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
However, Haley also said she does not think Trump is capable of winning the general election.
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“If the allegations made by Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.”
That is what federal judge Terry Doughty wrote in his decision ordering a number of Biden administration officials and agencies from communicating censorship requests to social media companies.
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For good reasons the box office hit movie Sound of Freedom has brought in over $100 million as it tells the true story of undercover federal agent Timothy Ballard and his suspenseful mission to rescue children being sex trafficked in Colombia.
Central to the movie’s plot is the story of a bright-eyed, 11-year-old girl named Rocío, whose childhood innocence is quickly morphed into a nightmare of sexual exploitation when she is recruited into a child sex trafficking ring.
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The Federalist In America, we have the First Amendment and have long prided ourselves on having a free press, but the reality is that it’s becoming harder and harder to exist as an independent publication on the internet. One major reason for this is that lots of bad actors are trying to weaponize concerns over “misinformation.” While misinformation is a problem, in practice the attempts to police it are often wholly incompetent and even more damaging than the alleged misinformation being addressed. Above all else the goal is to keep people from saying things that undermine the authority of America’s obviously foundering left-leaning institutions. Anyway, The Federalist recently got an email from “NewsGuard Technologies” — a relatively new service that’s popped up in the last few years that purports to rate websites on their credibility based on some established criteria. It then sells its ratings services to schools, various corporate entities, and advertisers looking for someone to tell them what news outlets they can supposedly trust or what websites they don’t want to advertise on for fear of damaging their brand. So how does NewsGuard go about making those ratings for websites? Well, it starts with firing off a series…
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The Epoch Times Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, will delay production at its new Arizona chip plant to 2025 due to a shortage of skilled labor. The year-long delay comes as trade relations between Washington and Beijing, have deteriorated over the past several years. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu broke the news to investors on a second-quarter earnings call on July 21. READ THE FULL STORY
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On Monday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, Crom Carmichael served up a trio of recent events that illustrate how the far-Left is using its position and power to force Americans to accept its ideas about culture and society – even at the expense of its own.
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Former New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte launched a bid for governor Monday, just days after Republican Gov. Chris Sununu announced his retirement.
Sununu, who recently ruled out a presidential bid, was first elected in 2016, and said last Wednesday that he would not seek a fifth term as governor. Ayotte, who served for one term as senator, told Fox News that her top priority as governor would be bolstering safety by imposing stricter penalties for fentanyl dealers to reduce the number of overdose deaths.
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Human trafficking received increased national attention this month as millions of Americans watched in horror as the abuse that victims face played out on the big screen. Current estimates place the number of human trafficking victims at 28 million, far beyond what most Americans considered possible. While many of our friends and neighbors may perceive human trafficking to be an overblown third-world phenomenon, in reality the modern day slave trade is very real — and very pervasive — right here at home.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has released a statement regarding a recent comment letter he and 18 other state attorneys general signed opposing a new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule regarding abortions.
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College towns across the United States have come to overwhelmingly support Democrats, which is damaging the Republican Party’s ability to win elections in key swing states, according to a new report.
The American Communities Project (ACP), which has sought to develop a demographic profile of every county in the United States, has cataloged the voting patterns of 171 “college towns,” where major colleges or universities are situated and account for much of their economic activity, according to a report released by the project this year. The towns have seen a dramatic increase in Democratic support since the 2000 presidential election, with over two-thirds now being expressly Democratic, per the report and analysis by Politico.
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Top companies are laying off thousands of diversity-focused workers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Major companies that have championed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, like Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, recently announced the exit of high-profile DEI executives, and thousands of employees working in diversity-related positions have been laid off since last year, according to the WSJ. Employee opinions about the importance of DEI and the funding for related initiatives are changing too, with many workers not seeing it as important.
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Tennessee reached an all-time low of 3.2% unemployment in June, matching the 3.2% mark set in June 2022.
The rate had been 3.3% in both April and May after being 3.5% in January and February.
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Arizona Republican longtime Gilbert resident Andrew Jackson told The Arizona Sun Times that he plans to make an announcement for a run for the Arizona House of Representatives to represent Legislative District 14 (LD) in 2024 “soon.”
“I am very close to running. There is just a process in our district of making sure I talk to everyone and prepare myself. I just want to make sure it’s the right decision. I want to give it time and not make a quick decision. If I’m going to represent Gilbert (Legislative District 14) I want to make sure that I will put in the effort. I expect to finalize my decision in two to three weeks,” Jackson told The Sun Times.
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State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) blamed Arizona Democrats, namely Governor Katie Hobbs, for the continuing Arizona homeless crisis, even as Phoenix’s “The Zone” continues to persist months after court ordered the city to clear the camp.
In a statement to The Arizona Sun Times, Wadsack warned Democrats are “unwilling to work across the aisle” to address the homeless crisis. “I have personally witnessed the human tragedies that occur in ‘The Zone,’ every day when I’m leaving the Capitol. We have the same issues in Southern Arizona.” Wadsack added, “I’ve personally spoken to those affected by homelessness and creating real solutions that start immediately will be a top priority for me in 2024.”
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Special Counsel Jack Smith has contacted Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp regarding the investigation of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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A Republican Ohio lawmaker introduced a bill into the Ohio Senate to prohibit the use of ranked-choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting, in the state.
Senate Bill (SB) 137, sponsored by State Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), would prohibit ranked choice voting in all elections in Ohio except for those conducted in municipalities or chartered counties.
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Many schools in the Washington, D.C., region participate in a program called “No Place for Hate” designed to promote inclusion among students.
At least 143, and possibly closer to 200, are in Virginia and Maryland.
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Pennsylvania’s treasury holds about $4.5 billion in unclaimed property for residents, businesses and local governments.
Recent efforts, however, have seen more of that get returned as the treasurer announced $274 million was returned in the last fiscal year – a single-year record.
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A judge has blocked Arizona’s new law prohibiting transgenders from participating in girls’ sports from going into effect. U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, issued the injunction on July 20 after a lawsuit was filed by two anonymous transgender athletes. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he will appeal the ruling.
Arizona Women of Action issued a response afterwards to the ruling. “Title IX was enacted to protect girls,” the group said in a statement. “To give them equal rights to fair competition, safety, and future opportunities. Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act was enacted to solidify the intent of Title IX — to protect biological girls. Sadly, the judge ruled NOT to protect girls OR Arizona / US law.”
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A Japanese probiotic beverage company recently announced it will establish operations in the Peach State by building a production facility at a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) Certified site in Cartersville.
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Barack Obama succeeded.
He promised his presidency would fundamentally transform America. And it did.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office is warning Tennesseans with student debt of scammers offering relief that they cannot provide in wake of the Biden Administration’s recent forgiveness of $39 billion in Federal student loans.
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The Los Angeles Times published an op/ed Friday in which it perhaps unintentionally poses the central proposition of the mythical energy transition: “whether our expectations should evolve in the name of preventing climate catastrophe.”
The op/ed is appropriately titled, “Would an Occasional Blackout Help Solve Climate Change?” It is a headline that tacitly admits a truth about the transition that boosters of renewable energy have been careful not to publicize: That the notion that generation sources with extremely low energy density like wind and solar cannot hope to be viable alternatives to generation with extremely high energy density like natural gas, nuclear and coal. It is a notion that defies the laws of thermodynamics and physics, and those are laws, not suggestions that can be discarded as a matter of convenience or, as in this case, in pursuit of a hyper-political agenda.
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Congressional investigating are probing whistleblower allegations that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency may have retaliated against a top agency official after he testifying before lawmakers.
House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Mark Green wrote in a letter Friday that they have been told by a whistleblower that El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino was relieved of his command after he finished a transcribed interview with two congressional committees earlier this month.
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The Biden administration unveiled a new oil and gas leasing rule proposal Thursday that would jack up prices at nearly every stage of the public land leasing process.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a subagency of the Department of the Interior (DOI), issued the rule proposal Thursday in an effort to adopt a “more transparent, inclusive and just approach” to federal oil and gas leasing on public lands and “[provide] a fair return to taxpayers,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis said, according to a Thursday DOI press release. The rule nominally aims to boost land conservation efforts, but it would do so by massively increasing minimum bid thresholds and required per-acre fees for energy interests and developers to pay.
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South Carolina GOP Rep. and House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman is weighing a 2026 Senate bid to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary, according to Politico.
Graham has served in the upper chamber since 2003 and has repeatedly beat out primary challengers, but was booed on July 1 by his own constituents at a rally for former President Donald Trump. Conservatives now see an opportunity for another Republican to emerge in 2026 and have been discussing a potential bid with Norman, a source familiar with the matter told Politico.
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The longshoreman turned homespun philosopher Eric Hoffer is semi-forgotten today. But his book The True Believer (1951) is full of pertinent aperçus. One that has recurred to me often of late is the observation that “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
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A security expert who worked with the Secret Service for over 20 years says he’s “surprised” the agency is closing the investigation into how cocaine was found at “one of the most secure buildings in the world” without identifying any suspects.
In briefing Congress earlier this month about the July Fourth weekend discovery at the White House, the agency said it did not conduct interviews as part of its internal investigation, citing the roughly 500 potential suspects, and that it planned to close the probe in the coming weeks.
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U.S. wildfires have burned nearly 75% less land so far this year compared to the same date in recent years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), despite White House rhetoric alleging that wildfires have intensified.
Just 777,732 acres of land have been burned as of Friday, roughly 2.3 million acres less than the average of around 3.1 million acres burned by the same date between 2013-2022, according to the NIFC, which helps coordinate the U.S. government’s response to wildfires. The White House has repeatedly referenced the “growing wildfire threat” driven by climate change in various press releases and other statements issued in the past several months.
Read the full storyThe Hill Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he is confident he will meet the 40,000 donor threshold in time for the first GOP presidential debate next month. “I’m very humbled by the support around the country, which is one of the criteria,” Pence said when questioned about the threshold by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of The Union.” “But yes, having 40,000 individual donors, we’re literally working around the clock. Got about a month to go, I’m confident we will be there.” To qualify for the upcoming debate, GOP presidential candidates must meet certain polling and financial requirements that includes having a minimum of 40,000 unique donors and at least 200 unique donors each from 20 or more states or territories. Once those requirements have been met, candidates must also pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee. READ THE FULL STORY
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Breitbart News An illegal alien from Cuba, released into the U.S. in 2012 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and convicted of murder earlier this year after the public beheading of his girlfriend has now been found not guilty due to his mental illness. As Breitbart News reported, Alexi Saborit-Viltres was originally arrested and charged with second-degree murder in 2021 after being accused of beheading 55-year-old America Mafalda Thayer, his girlfriend, and dumping her body on the street. Several people witnessed the gruesome broad-daylight attack in Shakopee, Minnesota. READ THE FULL STORY Previously
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CNN Ahead of a looming UPS nationwide strike, Teamsters union President Sean O’Brien said during a rally speech in Atlanta Saturday, “We’ve organized, strategized, now it’s time to pulverize.” Speaking with CNN’s Isabel Rosales, O’Brien said 95% of the contract has been negotiated, and “now we’re down to economics, and UPS knows they need to pay our members, especially the part-timers.” A UPS spokesperson has said part-timers receive the same benefits as full-time workers. However, they do make less than full-time employees who make, on average, $95,000 a year, as CNN previously reported. Part-timers start by earning $16.20 an hour and are eligible for a higher hourly rate after 30 days. On average, part-time workers make $20 an hour, according to the spokesperson. READ THE FULL STORY
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Fox News The Biden administration unveiled a regulatory proposal late Friday targeting water heaters, the latest in a string of energy efficiency actions cracking down on home appliances. The Department of Energy (DOE) said its proposal would ultimately “accelerate deployment” of electric heat pump water heaters, save Americans billions of dollars and vastly reduce carbon emissions. If finalized, the proposed standards would force less energy efficient, but cheaper, water heaters off the market. “Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. READ THE FULL STORY
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This week, the Tennessee Department of Education(TDOE) released final data on third-grade retention appeals.
In 2021, Tennessee lawmakers passed the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act. It set forth key academic supports for third-grade students who did not score proficient on the English language arts (ELA) portion of their TCAP assessment. It further updated requirements for students to move to the next grade via multiple pathways for fourth-grade promotion.
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GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign announced Saturday that he has officially met the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) fundraising and polling criteria to participate in debates.
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A Catholic sidewalk counselor petitioned the Supreme Court Friday to reverse a prior ruling that permits states to enforce laws targeting pro-life counseling outside abortion clinics.
In response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2020, Westchester County, New York passed a law creating a 100-foot “buffer zone” outside abortion clinics where it is illegal to approach another person to engage in “oral protest, education, or counseling” without consent. The law is similar to one the Supreme Court upheld in its 2000 Hill v. Colorado decision, which sidewalk counselor Debra Vitagliano, backed by Becket Law, now asks the justices to overrule.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a $5.1 million investment initiative for endangered species recovery implementation efforts for four focal species groups.
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The Miss Italia beauty pageant will not allow male contestants, the contest’s curator told Italian outlet Radio Cusano.
The pageant’s curator, Patrizia Mirigliani, told Radio Cusano that only biological women are allowed to participate in the beauty competition. Weeks earlier, a man who identifies as transgender drew international headlines after winning the Miss Netherlands beauty pageant.
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