Amazon Web Services Plans to Build Two Data Centers in Virginia

After announcing in January that it was going to invest $35 billion over the next 17 years in bringing more data centers to Virginia, Amazon Web Services, the cloud services arm of Amazon, has chosen to invest about one-third of those funds in Louisa County to build two data centers by 2040. 

Northern Virginia – and Loudoun County in particular – is the data center capital of the world, with nearly 300 centers in the region and roughly 70% of the world’s internet traffic routing through Loudoun, according to news source Governing. Data centers house servers, data storage drives, network equipment and other IT infrastructure to store companies’ digital data. They play a vital role in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, necessitating increased storage capacity.

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Ohio State Representative Bob Young to Resign Following Second Arrest

Ohio State Representative Bob Young (R-Green) announced on Friday that he will resign as state representative and chair of the Ohio House Pensions Committee next month following his second arrest in connection with an alleged domestic violence case.

As previously reported by The Ohio Star, a warrant was issued for Young’s arrest in July. He was charged with a 1st-degree misdemeanor domestic violence charge and a 4th-degree felony charge of disrupting public services at his home in Green following an alleged incident at a fundraiser. Young paid $520 of his $5,000 bond or 10 percent plus fees to secure his release and plead not guilty to the charges.

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Group Drops Anti-Affirmative Action Lawsuit Against Yale After Compromise

The group responsible for the nationwide overturning of affirmative action has dropped its lawsuit challenging the race-based admissions policies of Yale University.

According to Politico, Students for Fair Admissions (SFA) came to an agreement with the Ivy League school in which they would voluntarily drop their lawsuit, in exchange for Yale making several changes to its admissions policies prior to the Fall 2023 undergraduate application season.

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Commentary: The Rise of Unapologetically Partisan News Reporting

The Huffington Post was envisioned from its inception as a progressive answer to conservative talk radio and various right-leaning voices being amplified by new technology. Most specifically, it was designed as a counterpoint to the Drudge Report, a widely read and highly profitable website with populist sensibilities. The players involved in planning the new venture belonged to a select clique of Hollywood liberals and political activists in Arianna Huffington’s orbit.

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Hospital System in Georgia Replaces Christmas Eve with Juneteenth on Paid Holiday Calendar

Emory Healthcare replaced Christmas Eve with Juneteenth on the paid holiday calendar for employees last week, according to a memo from the hospital’s CEO, Joon S. Lee.

The healthcare system, which displays “We embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion” on its website as one of its values, is the largest in the Peach State, with more than 425 provider locations and 24,000 employees.

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Commentary: Parents Must Teach Their Kids Discernment

Entertainment today is extremely accessible. We can watch videos and read articles whenever we want. Each of these pieces of media, however, has its own ideology. But often, we do not even notice this ideology that is being presented to us, or the underlying assumptions of the creators.

As Frances Schaeffer explained: “The results of [people’s] thought world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world. This is true of Michelangelo’s chisel, and it is true of the dictator’s sword.” Everything people create is the product of their worldview, so being able to recognize the underlying beliefs in media and entertainment is an important skill.

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‘Wake Up’: Congressman Warns of ‘Genocide,’ ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Against Christians in Armenia

Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith called on his colleagues Wednesday to recognize that 120,000 Armenian Christians living in Nagorno-Karabakh are facing extinction.

“Delay is denial,” Smith, who chaired the emergency congressional hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh as co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said in a statement to The Daily Signal. “The Biden Administration must say immediately that this is genocide—and stop it.”

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Colorado Secretary of State Calls Trump a ‘Liar,’ Vows to See Ballot Lawsuit Through

The Hill Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) called former President Trump a “liar,” after he suggested a recent push to use the 14th Amendment to keep him off the ballot in the state was “election interference.” “Trump is a liar with no respect for the Constitution,” Griswold said in an interview on MSNBC on Saturday.    “To say that a section of the 14th Amendment is election interference and considering how to uphold the Constitution is election interference is un-American,” she continued. “We know that the former president is a liar who will do everything he can to hold onto power.” READ THE FULL STORY  

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California Passes Bill Threatening Custody of Parents Who Won’t ‘Affirm’ Their Kids’ Gender

The California legislature passed a bill Friday that requires a judge to consider whether or not a parent “affirms” their child’s “gender identity” in a custody dispute.

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener and Democratic Assembly Member Lori Wilson introduced the bill in February, with Wiener claiming that the legislation was needed to protect the “health, safety, and welfare of the child,” according to the Associated Press. The bill passed the state Senate Wednesday with a 30-9 vote before making it through the general assembly only days later at 57- 16.

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Judge Denies Meadows Bid to Move Georgia Case to Federal Court

A judge on Friday rejected a bid from former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows to move his charges in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s election probe to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones issued the ruling, saying that “Meadows’s alleged association with post-election activities was not related to his role as White House Chief of Staff or his executive branch authority.”

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Week Four of Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Wraps Up with More Testimony About Wisconsin’s Botched 2020 Election

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney and constitutional scholar, John Eastman, concluded its fourth week on Friday, as Eastman’s team put on his case featuring their key witness, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. The Wisconsin Assembly contracted Gableman to conduct a small investigation into election fraud in the state’s 2020 election, the same issues prompted Eastman’s involvement in the election litigation in Wisconsin.

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University of Tennessee System Guarantees Admission for Certain In-State Students

At a special meeting of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees at Thursday night, the state university system adopted a new policy that will guarantee college admission to certain in-state applicants. 

Effective immediately, Tennessee high schoolers applying to a University of Tennessee school with the following credentials will automatically be accepted to at least one school in the state university system:

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More Americans Taking Second Jobs, Part-Time Work as Inflation Continues to Rage

An increasing number of Americans are taking up part-time work and even getting second jobs as worsening economic conditions such as high inflation have chipped away at their finances, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The median real weekly earnings for Americans are down 2.1% since the first quarter of the Biden administration, with data from August showing a spike in the unemployment rate and a job market that is beginning to cool, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Due to wages failing to keep up with inflation and debt levels increasing, workers are increasingly taking part-time jobs and even second jobs in order to make ends meet, according to economists who spoke with the DCNF.

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Europeans Latest to Provide Evidence Undercutting Joe Biden Story About Firing Ukrainian Prosecutor

A week after then-Vice President Joe Biden began pressuring Ukraine to fire its chief prosecutor in late 2015 by withholding U.S. loan guarantees, the European Union reached internal consensus in a memo saying that Prosecutor Viktor Shokin’s office and the country at large had met its goals for fighting corruption, organized crime and human trafficking.

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New Mexico Governor Faces Call for Impeachment After Banning Concealed Carry

Breitbart New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is facing growing backlash, including a call for her impeachment, following her September 7, 2023, executive order banning concealed carry for self-defense in cities like Albuquerque. Breitbart News reported that the governor’s order took effect September 8, 2023, and lasts 30 days, after which Lujan Grisham made clear she will revisit the issue and may possibly extend the ban. The governor used the order, which bans open and concealed carry–even for licensed concealed carriers–to criticize the levels of gun violence in Albuquerque, particularly referencing the deaths of children. She did not say that licensed concealed carriers, who carry for self-defense, had caused these deaths. READ THE FULL STORY          

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New Iowa State University Poll Shows Trump Up By 37 Points in Hawkeye State

Former President Donald Trump is dominating the field of Republican presidential hopefuls in the Hawkeye State, according to an Iowa State University/Civiqs poll released Friday.

The poll dropped a day before Trump and GOP presidential nominee rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are slated to appear at the Cy-Hawk showdown, the much-anticipated annual college football game between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Iowa Hawkeyes in Ames.

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University of Michigan Students Who Test COVID Positive Must Isolate Off Campus

The University of Michigan’s COVID-19 policies tell students who test positive to “make an isolation plan” for five days by getting a hotel, going home or staying with a friend off campus.

“Make an isolation plan, which could include relocating to your permanent residence, staying with a nearby relative or friend, or finding a hotel space,” the U-M guidance says.

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U.S. Senate Democrats Block Vance’s Legislation to Ban Federal Mask Mandates

On Thursday, U.S. Senate Democrats blocked Senator JD Vance’s (R-OH) motion for unanimous consent on his legislation to prevent the re-imposition of federal mask mandates in the United States.

This follows Vance introducing The Freedom to Breathe Act on Tuesday which aims to prohibit any federal official, including the President, from issuing mask mandates applying to domestic air travel, public transit systems, or primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools. The legislation would also prohibit air carriers, transit authorities, and educational institutions from refusing service to individuals who choose not to wear a mask.

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Pittsburgh Mass Transit Budget Still Treading Water

Amid declining ridership rates, Pittsburgh’s public transit system has become more dependent on federal funds to remain afloat. 

The Port Authority of Allegheny County, which serves Pittsburgh’s 300,000 residents, budgeted $95 million in federal emergency funding to prevent the system from going into debt in fiscal year 2023, according to budget documents. The transit agency received $502.5 million in federal stimulus funding.

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Virginia Governor Announces New Education Initiative After Pandemic Learning Loss

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced his ALL IN VA plan, intended to help Virginia students recover from COVID-19 learning loss and return to higher academic standards, on the heels of the announcement of the Virginia Assessment Results for the 2022-23 school year.

The plan is the latest in a long string of interventions and reforms the governor has made in education during his tenure. 

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Minnesota Sheriff Says He’ll Lean on Federal Law When Issuing Gun Permits to Those with Marijuana Convictions

While recreational cannabis use has been legal in Minnesota for just more than one month, elected officials in local governments across the state are still sorting out just what that means for their communities.

Under the new law, you can’t yet buy or sell the product. You can grow it at your home in limited quantities and give some of that away to others. But many local government officials are having public conversations about where you can smoke it and how many businesses should eventually be allowed to sell it within a jurisdiction. At times, these conversations involve interpretation of potential conflicts between the new state law and federal regulations that still define marijuana as a controlled substance.

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Commentary: Dems Rebut 2020 Rigging Accusations by Rigging 2024

The people most insistent on the purity of the 2020 election work feverishly on rigging the 2024 election. It makes one wonder.

This anti-democratic effort includes interpreting the suffrage-expanding 14th Amendment to deny suffrage to Donald Trump’s supporters in 2024. A Washington, D.C.–based group, for instance, sued in Colorado this week to prevent the name of the candidate favored by most Republicans from appearing on the ballot there. If the involvement of an out-of-state group did not serve as a clue, then its board comprising partisan Democrats — and a “Republican” who endorsed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden for president — signaled the politics-by-other-means purpose of the motley crew. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington President Noah Bookbinder justified preventing the opposition’s preferred candidate from appearing on the ballot by maintaining that “it is necessary to defend our republic both today and in the future.”

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Florida School Board Rejects ‘LGBTQ History Month’ Proposal Again

Miami Dade County school board members rejected a proposal Thursday that would have recognized October as “LGBTQ history month,” according to Politico.

Miami-Dade County school board members acknowledged LGBTQ History Month in 2021 but did not do so in 2022 after the school board was realigned ideologically with members  endorsed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to Politico. School board members voted against the measure 5-3 following hours of public comment and debate on the issue.

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Trump Questions ‘Credibility’ of Fulton County After Grand Jury Recommended Charges for Lt. Gov. Jones, Former Georgia Senators

Former President Donald Trump released a statement expressing further doubts in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and her office, after the grand jury report for the racketeering case against him was made public. The report revealed that, in addition to the 19 charged by Willis, charges were recommended for additional 20 people, including Georgia Lt. Governor Burt Jones, former Republican Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Trump wrote that the grand jury report has “zero credibility and badly taints” Willis, and her case against him, in a post on Truth Social. The report, according to Trump, “undermines the credibility of the findings, and badly hurts the Great State of Georgia.”

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Commentary: 12 Defensive Gun Uses Show That Armed Citizens Make Communities Safer

As the nation continues to reel from historic violent crime spikes, many gun control activists turn reflexively to the same “bumper sticker slogan” policy “solutions” that fail to address real problems while often undermining the Second Amendment rights of peaceable citizens.

Last week, some Hartford, Connecticut, residents made headlines for taking a different approach. Instead of demanding that their fellow citizens abandon their rights to armed self-defense, they announced that they would henceforth start exercising those rights in a public manner to enhance community safety.

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Pro-Life Activist Appeals Lower Court Decision Denying Her Release from Jail Ahead of Sentencing

The Thomas More Society has filed an emergency motion to appeal a lower court decision that denied pro-life activist Lauren Handy’s release from jail ahead of her sentencing.

Attorneys with the Thomas More Society filed their motion to appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday asking to reverse a lower court ruling that denied Handy’s immediate release from jail.

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Jim Jordan Probes Jack Smith’s Office

Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan is launching a probe into Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office over an aide who allegedly “improperly pressured” a lawyer representing a defendant in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case, he announced in a letter Thursday.

The investigation focuses on senior prosecutor Jay Bratt’s alleged effort to pressure Stanley Woodward, who represents Walt Nauta, former President Donald Trump’s co-defendant in the classified documents case. Bratt implied that the Biden administration would be more favorable towards Woodward’s application for a D.C. superior court judgeship if his client cooperated as a witness against former President Donald Trump, according to Jordan’s letter.

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Nancy Pelosi Says She’ll Seek Reelection in 2024

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Friday that she will seek reelection to a twentieth term in the House of Representatives in 2024, according to a post on Twitter, now known as X.

Pelosi, age 83, served previously as the speaker of the House of Representatives for eight years cumulatively, and was leader of the House Democratic Caucus for twenty years from 2003 to 2023. After retiring from leadership at the end of the 117th Congress, Pelosi has remained a member of the House from San Francisco and announced on Friday that she would run again in 2024, according to a tweet.

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New Mexico Governor Issues Emergency Order to Suspend Open, Concealed Carry of Guns in Albuquerque

Washington Examiner New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency public health order that suspends the open and permitted concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days in the midst of a spate of gun violence. The Democratic governor said she is expecting legal challenges but felt compelled to act in response to gun deaths, including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week. The firearms suspension is tied to a threshold for violent crime rates that only the Albuquerque area currently meets. Police are exempt from the temporary ban on carrying firearms. READ THE FULL STORY          

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Tennessee Congressman Mark Green Urges SEC to Reconsider a New Rule on Cybersecurity for Public Companies

U.S. Congressman and Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN-07) signed a letter this week urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rethink a new rule on cybersecurity for public companies.

According to the new SEC rule, effective Tuesday, publicly traded corporations must alert the SEC of a cyberattack within four days of the event. A company’s strategies and procedures for managing cybersecurity risk must also be disclosed on a regular basis, among other requirements.

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Explosive Testimony from Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman is in its fourth week, and on Thursday the State Bar of California rested its case and Eastman’s attorney began putting on witnesses, beginning with former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Gableman was directed by the Wisconsin Legislature to conduct a minimal investigation of the 2020 election, and he revealed numerous instances where he believed the law was broken, and had election officials referred for prosecution.

Thursday’s proceedings began with wrapping up the California bar’s case, as its attorney Duncan Carling finished his cross-examination of Eastman. He asked Eastman if the alternate slates of electors were valid, then could any private group of citizens submit slates to the vice president who would have to consider them? Eastman responded and said the difference is that in 2020, the slates were composed of electors “formally nominated by their own party,” not private people who chose themselves. He referenced a woman in Tennessee who submits her own private slate of electors regularly that gets ignored. Neither she nor her “slate” have been prosecuted or disciplined. 

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Health Insurance Costs Expected to Spike at Highest Rate in over a Decade

Employer health insurance costs are expected to increase significantly in 2024, affecting costs for both workers and businesses as hospital operating costs rise, according to data reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Next year, the costs for health insurance coverage from employers are expected to increase by around 6.5%, which could be the biggest increase in more than a decade, according to survey data acquired by the WSJ. Driving the increase in health insurance costs are inflated labor costs for hospitals and a large demand for expensive new diabetes and obesity drugs, which are being passed down to insurance companies in new contracts with the hospitals.

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Football Coach Who Won Landmark Court Case on Public Prayer Resigns

Joe Kennedy resigned from his position as assistant football coach at Bremerton High School on Wednesday after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in June 2022 allowed him to pray on the football field, according to Kennedy’s website.

Kennedy coached his first game since 2015 on Sept. 1 after he was suspended for refusing to stop praying on the field after each game. He had expressed before the game that he was unsure how long he would stay on as a coach and ultimately offered his resignation this week, citing the ailing health of a family member out of state and a desire to become an advocate for religious freedom, according to a statement from Kennedy’s website.

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Eric Adams Says Migrant Crisis Will ‘Destroy New York City’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned the surging migrant crisis “will destroy” the city that now takes in over 10,000 migrants a month during a town hall meeting Wednesday night.

Adams said he has received “no support” for the growing migrant crisis that he predicted would impact “every community” and “every service” in the city during Wednesday’s town hall. New York City is projected to spend $12 billion over the course of three years to address the crisis as the the Big Apple has cared for over 100,000 migrants with more on the way.

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BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Employees Fired for Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine File Federal Lawsuit

A group of BlueCross BlueShield employees whom the company terminated between October and November 2021 for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine filed a federal lawsuit this week against the company.

As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, In 2021 BlueCross BlueShield of Tennesee (BCBST) terminated 41 of its employees, many of whom worked remotely from home, after the company implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

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Virginia Legislators Pass Budget in Special Session

The Virginia General Assembly met Wednesday in Richmond and voted to finalize the overdue budget deal recently reached by the House and Senate finance committees – but not without a few impassioned speeches from the floor, many over the unique resolution lawmakers were asked to pass.

The assembly passes amendments to the state’s two-year budget every odd year, but this year, the House and Senate continued debating the budget past the July 1 deadline, the start of the fiscal year. Finally, the committees reached a deal, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin called a special session for legislators to codify it. 

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Philadelphia City Council Mulls Lawsuit over Unenforced Herbicide Ban

The Philadelphia City Council may soon file suit against the city’s administration over an unenforced law.

A resolution on the council’s Sept. 14 agenda would permit legal counsel to compel Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney to enforce a ban on toxic herbicides on all city-owned or used public grounds. That would include parks, trails, recreation centers and playgrounds.

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Minnesota Democrats Will Push for Assisted Suicide Bill During 2024 Session

Minnesota Democrats plan to use their governing trifecta to bring assisted suicide to the state next year.

Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, who carried an assisted suicide bill in the legislature this past session, said in a press release this week that “advocates are now ramping up their push to pass the bill during the 2024 legislative session that convenes in February.”

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