Day: April 8, 2025

State Democratic Leaders Walk Out as Border Czar Tom Homan Addresses the Arizona Legislature Regarding Vast Improvements in Border Security

Rachel Alexander
Tom Homan

Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s Border Czar who previously served under the first Trump administration as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, addressed the Arizona Legislature Tuesday regarding border security efforts. House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-Glendale) said, “I consider it an honor to call him my friend,” and Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) provided a warm welcome, “Just want to let you know that Arizona will do anything we can to support you in your efforts.” 

The Democratic legislators in the House of Representatives’ chamber stood up and walked out as Homan began, “The Biden administration created the most significant immigration crisis in the history of this nation.” In contrast, since Trump took office, “We’ve run the biggest deportation operation in the history of this nation.” He said the administration is prioritizing finding 300,000 children of illegal immigrants who have gone missing, many who were transitioned into forced labor or sex trafficking.

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Tennessee House Passes Bill Banning Schools from Giving Students Products with Controversial Food Dye Targeted by RFK Jr.

Tom Pappert

The Tennessee State House of Representatives on Monday passed legislation that would prohibit schools from selling or offering to students any food or drink product containing the Red Number 40 food dye, commonly known as red 40, which has been targeted by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy.

A legislative summary for House Bill (HB) 134 by State Representative Elaine Davis (R-Knoxville) explains the bill would require Tennessee school districts “and public charter schools to prohibit food or beverage items that contain Red 40 to be sold, offered for sale, or provided to students on school property.”

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Reporter Details Legal Ramifications of FBI Releasing Covenant Killer Documents Exclusively to Third Party Amid Ongoing Lawsuit

Kaitlin Housler
MPL pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) release of the 1,299 pages of writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale to independent journalist Megyn Kelly may have legal ramifications as a case brought by The Star’s parent company regarding the materials continues to be litigated in federal court.

Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy sued the FBI in May 2023 to compel the agency to release Hale’s writings.

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Art of the Tariff Deal: Dozens of Foreign Powers Negotiate for Free Trade Instead of Retaliation

Just the News
Donald Trump

Many politicians and policymakers predicted that Monday would be a “Black Monday.” While the equities market closed lower, the drops were at a lower pace than last week. In connecting the tariffs to the market’s volatility, part of the evenness of Monday’s trading came on the heels of news that numerous American trading partners agreed to negotiate with President Donald Trump and offered free trade deals to ratchet down his “reciprocal tariffs.”

Last Wednesday, which Trump dubbed “Liberation Day,” the president announced large-scale tariffs on nearly every country, declaring that the measures would help to end American trade deficits with foreign powers and bolster domestic production of goods. Thursday and Friday witnessed precipitous declines in the stock market, though the administration made clear it would hold the course.

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Parents of Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Linked Anti-White Bias to Nashville Public School Years: Police Transcript

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Reports surfaced on Monday claiming that Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man during the March 27, 2023, attack where she killed six, harbored hatred toward white people, following news that the FBI conditionally released her writings to an independent journalist, barring publication of the actual pages.

This release came months after The Tennessee Star obtained Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case files, which revealed that Hale’s parents attributed her feelings on race to her years in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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Maine Sues Trump Admin over Funding Cuts After Refusing to Ban Men from Women’s Sports

Daily Caller News Foundation
Softball

The state of Maine filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for revoking funding after the state refused to comply with the Trump administration’s directive banning men from competing in women’s sports.

The lawsuit claims the USDA’s revocation of funding is “blatantly unlawful” and violates the Administrative Procedure Act for “freezing federal funds allocated to Maine to feed schoolchildren.” Funding from the USDA was cut on April 2 after Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills got into a public spat with President Donald Trump during which the governor declined to comply with Trump’s ban on men in women’s sports.

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Church Fights State for Abortion-Free Health Insurance as Trump Turns Tables on Abortion Funding

Just the News
Cedar Park Church

A federal appeals court with a long reputation as the most liberal in America pulled the rug out from a Seattle-area church that wanted to exclude abortion from its health plan on religious grounds, first reinstating its lawsuit against Washington’s no-exceptions abortion insurance mandate, then tossing it nearly four years later after full legal discovery.

Cedar Park Assembly of God wants its rug back.

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New Reports Unearth Buried Intel on Origins of COVID

Daily Caller News Foundation
Wuhan Institute of Virology

Intelligence undermining the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic began naturally at a wet market has been buried for years despite a 2023 law requiring declassification, according to two new reports.

The U.S. government has for years concealed evidence that complicates the story of the pandemic’s origin favored by some prominent members of the scientific community — that it began with an animal the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market — according to two reports revealed for the first time in recent days.

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Supreme Court Halts Order Forcing Trump Admin To Reinstate Fired Federal Workers

Daily Caller News Foundation
Empty office

The Supreme Court halted a lower court order on Tuesday that would have forced the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired federal workers.

The Trump administration asked the justices in March to block an order issued by Clinton-appointed U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup directing the reinstatement of over 16,000 probationary employees.

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IRS Agrees to Share Immigrants’ Data with ICE

Admin

Axios   The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to share the personal information of undocumented taxpayers with immigration authorities, a new court filing shows. “DHS can legally request return information relating to individuals under criminal investigation, and the IRS must provide it,” according to the document. Why it matters: Immigrants without legal status contribute billions in tax revenue every year. The IRS has previously kept their tax returns, which include home and work addresses, private. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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China Moves to Formally End Christian Missionary Activity

Admin

Breitbart   The autocratic Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is imposing severe restrictions on Christian missionary activity in the country, arguing loyalty to the party usurps all other beliefs and credos. The regulations, which take effect May 1, prohibit foreigners from preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval, persecution.org reports. The move continues a long history of antipathy towards organized religion in the single-party state. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Keystone Oil Pipeline Shut Down After ‘Mechanical Bang’ Reported

Admin

CBS News   The Keystone Pipeline was shut down after a “bang” was reported Tuesday morning in North Dakota, according to Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. “An employee on a pump station heard what was described as a mechanical bang” at 7:44 a.m., Suess told CBS News, adding that the employee immediately shut down the pipeline and notified emergency personnel.  South Bow, a liquid pipelines business that has managed the pipeline since 2024, said control center leak detection systems detected a pressure drop in the system. The company said a shutdown and response was initiated at approximately 7:42 a.m.  READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Department of Justice, Nashville Police Left in Dark on Covenant Killer Manifesto Release to Third Party amid Lawsuit, FBI Silence

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Department of Justice and Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) both indicated to The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that they were unaware of the FBI’s apparent decision to conditionally release the 1,299 pages of writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, to independent journalist Megyn Kelly last week.

Kelly on Monday stated that the FBI provided the killer’s writings to her with permission to analyze and report their contents over the weekend, but that her team was restricted from publishing the materials in their entirety. Excerpts shared by Kelly appear to match the killer’s 2023 manifesto, which The Star legally obtained last June and published in September 2024. 

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Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Approves Settlement in Lawsuit over Non-Citizens Voting, Will Cooperate with Trump Administration

Rachel Alexander
Maricopa County Mark Stewart

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed on Thursday to settle a lawsuit filed by America First Legal (AFL) against Maricopa County over failing to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls. The lawsuit, which was also filed against other counties, asked the court to order county recorders to comply. 

The settlement will have Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap work with the Department of Homeland Security to verify the citizenship status of federal-only voters, who were given that status since they failed to provide documented proof of citizenship (DPOC) when they registered to vote. The four Republican supervisors voted in favor of the settlement, while lone Democrat Steve Gallardo voted no.

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Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen Running for Attorney General Since Legislature is Already Acting as the ‘De Facto AG’

Rachel Alexander
Warren Petersen

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) announced recently that he is running for Attorney General, challenging incumbent Democrat Kris Mayes. So far, only one other Republican has filed a Statement of Interest, Rodney Glassman, a formerly active Democrat and aide to the late Representative Raul Grijalva who ran for office multiple times, losing at least four races. Petersen sat down with The Arizona Sun Times to explain why he decided to enter the race.

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Commentary: Trump Is Taking the GOP Back to the Future

RealClearWire
Donald Trump

Donald Trump has remade the GOP in his image. Once a gadfly whose ideas were widely derided as late as 2016, Trump now dominates his party. This is odd because Trump isn’t particularly ideological. His governing style is transactional and heavily focused on settling scores with his real and imagined opponents.

Yet he has remade the GOP on several key issues. This is due in part to Trump’s appeal to his unswerving base. It is also due to the ideological roots of conservatism and the GOP in America. The party is returning to its pre–World War II views on issues such as protective tariffs, international isolationism, and immigration, with one important addition. Trump hasn’t shown the GOP a new direction so much as he has awakened slumbering ideas dormant since America confronted the realities of World War II and the Cold War.

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Attorney General Kris Mayes Sues New Trump Administration Two More Times, over DOGE Cuts to the Federal Government

Rachel Alexander
Arizona AG Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes joined other Democratic attorneys general filing two more lawsuits against the Trump administration on Friday. One of the lawsuits challenged the pausing of controversial grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The second contested the dismantling of three agencies that assist unions, promote minority-owned businesses, and give money to libraries for Drag Queen Story Hour for children. Mayes, who has developed a reputation for aggressively going after Republicans, has filed 13 previous lawsuits with other attorneys general against the Trump administration this year.

The 21 attorneys general argued in the lawsuits that the Trump administration was interfering with Congress’s authority. However, those agencies are under the executive branch, not Congress. 

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Academic Challenges Affecting College Students

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College is considered one of the most exciting periods in life, filled with personal growth, socialization, and unforgettable experiences. Yes; it opens up new horizons, but it is not without its hidden academic challenges, from mental issues to coping with a heavy workload. Sometimes, challenges may outweigh all the good that school gives, especially when you’re still a college student in the early years of your new academic journey, so it’s important to be aware of them and be prepared and know the strategies of how to overcome them.

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