Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules Against First Publicly-Funded Religious Charter School

Gentner Drummond

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the approval of what would have been the nation’s first publicly-funded religious school was unconstitutional, according to court records.

Oklahoma’s Virtual Charter School Board voted to approve an application for a virtual religious charter school in June 2023, prompting state Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond to file a lawsuit in October to block the funding, calling it “an irreparable violation of our individual religious liberty” and “an unthinkable waste of our tax dollars.” The Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately sided with Drummond on Tuesday, finding that “under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school” and that “as such, a charter school must be nonsectarian,” per court filings.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Wrote in Journal About Training with Firearm She Purchased with Pell Grant, Concealed in Family Home

Gun Range

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in the journal police recovered from her vehicle about training at a Nashville gun range with one of the weapons she purchased using federal Pell Grant funds and concealed in her family home.

The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained Hale’s journal and a tranche of police documents from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, and on June 6, including a journal entry in which Hale claimed to witness an accidental firearm injury while training at a Nashville gun range just two days prior to her devastating March 27, 2023 attack.

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Started Center to Assist with Mental Health ‘Intervention’ One Day After Covenant School Attack

Therapist

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital announced the creation of its Behavioral Health Clinical Services Center (CSC) on March 28, 2023, just one day after Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale committed her attack that claimed the lives of six, including three children.

The Tennessee Star confirmed it obtained a portion of police documents from the Covenant case earlier this month, including documents that show Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at VUMC who began receiving treatment in 2001 when she was just six years old.

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Only 20 Percent of Workers Nearing Retirement Is Financially on Track

CBS News The rule of thumb for people who are 55 and have another decade of work before reaching the traditional retirement age is to have already socked away about eight times their salary in their retirement accounts. But the median savings of today’s 55-year-olds is just $50,000, far from enough to fund a secure old age, according to a new study. In fact, only 1 in 5 people who are 55 years old have $447,000 or more saved for retirement, or eight times the average U.S. salary, Prudential Financial’s 2024 Pulse of the American Retiree Survey found. The report jibes with another recent study on Gen X’s retirement readiness, which found half of those surveyed believe it would take a “miracle” for them to be able to retire. The new findings come as the oldest members of Generation X, or people born between 1965 to 1980, are now entering their pre-retirement years, giving them a short period in which they can shore up their savings before stepping back from work. But many who are already lagging behind those savings milestones may end up unprepared — at least financially — for retirement, given that it would likely be difficult, if not impossible, to…

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NASA Plans for Doomsday Scenario of Asteroid with 72 Percent Chance of Hitting Earth in 14 Years

New York Post What if a never-before-seen asteroid barreling in our direction was likely to strike Earth? That’s the hypothetical scenario NASA astronomers tested with a recent simulation in which officials attempted to plan for an asteroid that had a 72% chance of hitting Earth in just 14 years. After the theoretical timeline was posed to a group of nearly 100 government representatives in April, NASA found that the best plan they made to counter the horrifying doomsday scenario had several “high-level gaps,” according to their presentation. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington State Judge Blocks Provision Granting Parents Access to Children’s Medical Records

Washington Examiner A Washington state judge paused parts of a new “parents’ bill of rights” law after the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups filed a lawsuit alleging it violates the state constitution. Initiative 2081 consists of 15 rights that parents are entitled to regarding their children’s educational experience in the state’s public schools. It went into effect on June 6. The ACLU of Washington, QLaw, and Legal Voice sued the state over the bill’s provision that granted parents the right to access medical and mental health information from schools about their children. Among those opposed to the legislation, there is a concern that sharing medical and mental health records with children’s parents will “out” them if they are questioning their sexual orientation. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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U.S. Soldier Charged with Building Bombs for the Gulf Cartel in Mexico

Breitbart Mexican authorities arrested a former U.S. soldier who had allegedly been building explosives for the Gulf Cartel just south of the Texas border. The arrest had been kept largely under wraps as federal authorities built up the case against him, as he stands accused of manufacturing land mines and other explosives. Breitbart Texas confirmed with sources from Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office that in May, a group of federal officers arrested William Louis Anhert in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas. The arrest came during a raid at a camp used by the Escorpiones faction of the Gulf Cartel. During that raid, authorities arrested several Gulf Cartel gunmen and seized various explosive devices and components. Almost immediately after the arrest, Mexican authorities flew Anhert to Mexico City, where he has been held while awaiting trial on various federal charges tied to Mexico’s weapons and explosives laws. According to Mexican authorities, Anhert is a U.S. military veteran. However, details of his military career were not released. Anhert, a U.S. citizen, is reportedly wanted in Colorado for sex-related crimes. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Immigration Takes Center Stage in Contested Montana U.S. Senate Race

Tim Sheehy and Jon Tester

Montana has one of the longest shares of the U.S. border with Canada of any state. However, it’s the other border – nearly 1,000 miles away – that is becoming a flashpoint in the state’s ongoing U.S. Senate race.

Montana’s U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is up for re-election this year, with Tester running against Republican nominee Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and aerial firefighter. Sheehy has consistently attacked Tester on immigration and border security – seeking to paint him as an enabler of President Joe Biden’s record on illegal immigration from Mexico – forcing Tester to defend his record.

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State Representative Scott Cepicky: Tennessee’s Public Education Has Opportunity to Be Improved Through Both Universal School Choice Program and Reform Measures

MPL and Cepicky Interview

Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) said the Tennessee House version of the universal school choice bill that failed to pass the General Assembly earlier this year is “eerily similar” to the Wisconsin school choice bill that passed the state’s legislature nearly 14 years ago.

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Confirmed: Steve Bannon to Report to Federal Prison in Connecticut to Serve Four Month Sentence

Steve Bannon

According to a report by CNN, Steve Bannon, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, will be ordered by a judge to report to a Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, stemming from a 2022 conviction on contempt of Congress charges for ignoring a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.

Bannon has been ordered to report to prison on July 1 following a rejected appeal. 

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Exclusive: Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti Says SCOTUS Decision to Take Up Case Challenging State Law Banning Transgender Treatment for Minors Will Be a ‘Major Step Toward Clarity’

Jonathan Skrmetti

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined Tuesday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show for an exclusive interview where he discussed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments and rule on whether Tennessee’s law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors violates the Constitution.

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Journal Recovered by Police Reveals How Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Spent Final Months Before Attack

Audrey Hale

The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained the journal recovered by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) from the vehicle of Audrey Elizabeth Hale after her devastating attack on the Covenant School claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults.

Apparently started by Hale in January 2023, the journal reveals how the killer spent her final months before she was slain by heroic police officers responding to the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.

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Criminal Referral Accuses DOJ’s Kristen Clarke of ‘Perjury,’ ‘False Statements’

assistant attorney general for civil rights Kristen Clarke

The Justice Department’s Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, will be hit with three ethics complaints and a criminal referral Monday, The Daily Signal has learned.

Article III Project is filing both the ethics complaints and criminal referral, which calls upon Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a criminal probe into Clarke on the grounds that she “knowingly and willfully” made “materially false statements” and that she committed “perjury.”

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Analysis: Americans Say 2024 Race is About the Issues Not Candidates Puts Biden at a Sharp Disadvantage

Joe Biden

The mainstream media is running with the headline that the latest Fox News poll shows Former President Trump two points behind President Joe Biden – a difference well within the margin of error – but the poll also reveals an edge for Trump on a majority of electoral issues. In addition, a majority of voters say the race in November will be about the issues, not about the candidates, a finding that could significantly favor Trump.

The poll does show Trump has lost a modest amount of ground since his conviction earlier this month, however, he remains up significantly with key groups of swing voters compared to 2020. The data continues to show Biden in a deep deficit with minorities and young voters but clawing his way back up with older voters and whites.

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Ad Campaign Says Ohio State Hospital Expansion will Mean Higher Costs

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

A coalition of health insurers and employer groups is using a targeted ad campaign to call attention to private-public hospital expansions it says leads to higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.

The campaign comes as the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center continues to move forward with a $1.9 billion, 1.9-million-square-foot inpatient hospital expected to open in 2026.

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Commentary: The Logic in All the Madness

Joe Biden

by Victor Davis Hanson   Most Americans believe it is unhinged to deliberately destroy the border and allow 10 million illegal aliens to enter the country without background audits, means of support, any claims to legal residency, and definable skills. And worse still, why would federal authorities be ordered to release repeat violent felons who have gone on to commit horrendous crimes against American citizens? Equally perplexing to most Americans is borrowing $1 trillion every 90 days and paying 5-5.5 percent interest on the near $36 trillion in ballooning national debt. Serving that debt at current interest exceeds the size of the annual defense budget and may soon top $1 trillion in interest costs, or more than 13% of the budget. Why would the United States suspend military aid to Israel as it tries to destroy the Hamas architects of the October 7 massacres? Why would it lift sanctions on a terrorist Iran? Why would it suppress Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on the Jewish homeland? Why would it prevent Israel from stockpiling key munitions as it prepares to deal with the existential threats posed by Hezbollah? Why would the Biden administration cancel key pipeline projects and put vast…

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Youngkin: America’s Foundations Crumbling Under Biden, Progressives

Governor Glenn Youngkin

The Founders built America on a rock, but today, because of the Left, the rock is crumbling, and the country must assert moral clarity on several fronts to fix it, said Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who fired up the crowd at the Road to Majority Conference Saturday.

“They built it on rock. They unleashed a wave of freedom across the world with the prosperity of seeing a shining sea, the greatest nation ever built,” Youngkin said. “Yet today, we can feel the great American house shaking. Across our college campuses, echoes of extermination speech, while chaos roars across our borders.”

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Maricopa County Temp Worker Arrested for Alleged Theft at Election Center

Walter Ringfield mugshot

A temporary worker at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) was arrested for theft, forcing the county to reprogram its security equipment, which will cost around $20,000.

On Friday, Walter Ringfield, 27, who was on probation for a prior felony, was arrested for allegedly stealing a security fob and keys from MCTEC, KTAR News reported. Ringfield was booked on charges of theft and criminal damage.

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Nearly a Third of ‘Pro-Palestine’ Campus Protesters Had a Job Offer Rescinded, Survey Finds

Pro-Palestine protesters

A recent survey found that 3 in 10 college students or recent graduates had job offers rescinded as a result of their “pro-Palestine” activism.

Intelligent surveyed 672 students or recent college graduates who have engaged in anti-Israel activism and found that 29% of them had a job offer rescinded in the past six months and 55% believe there was bias against them in the hiring process because of their activism.

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Virginia Expands Online Permitting Efficiencies

Virginia Department of Highways

Virginia’s permit-tracking website has expanded from including permits from three state government departments to six. 

Virginia residents and businesses can now follow online in real time the permits they’ve submitted to the Virginia Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Conservation and Recreation, as well as permits from the state Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Marine Resources Commission and Department of Energy.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Bought Accessories for Stuffed Animals After Detailing Gender Fantasies in ‘My Imaginary Penis’ Journal Entry

Audrey Hale with stuffed animals (composite image)

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale purchased a pair of “boots” for her one of her stuffed animals after she used them to simulate heterosexual intercourse, according to an entry titled “My Imaginary Penis” from the journal police recovered from the vehicle she drove to the Covenant School, where she committed her devastating March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.

The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation, and on June 6, published details about one entry Hale titled “My Imaginary Penis.”

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Ohio Proposal Needs $2 Billion to Fix 23 Miles of Congested Columbus Highway

Traffic Jam

The Ohio Department of Transportation says it needs nearly $2 billion to slow the growth of commute times and make a stretch of highway in one of the state’s fastest-growing counties safer.

Delaware County’s population has more than doubled in more than 20 years and increased by more than 15,000 people in the last three years. That growth has pushed a 23-mile area of U.S. Highway 23 north of Columbus to 30% over its capacity.

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Georgia Group Talks Rate Increase for Direct Care Workers

In Home Care

The fiscal 2025 budget, which Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed, includes $9.2 million for the Child and Parent Services Program and pay increases for direct care workers.

According to a national organization of family caregivers, the rate increases lawmakers passed are $6 per hour for direct care workers helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and $3 per hour for direct care workers supporting older adults.

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GOP Rep. Luna to Force Vote Requiring Detention of Attorney General Garland

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna

Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Monday informed lawmakers that she would bring a resolution to require the House sergeant at arms to detain Attorney General Merrick Garland and bring him before the lower chamber.

The House this month held Garland in contempt of Congress in a 216-207 vote over his refusal to turn over the audio tapes of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden. The Department of Justice has indicated it will not prosecute Garland.

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