The number of illegal border crossers has increased significantly since Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas implemented a range of policies he said were designed to reduce “irregular migration” and create a “legal pathway” for foreign nationals to come to the U.S.
February of this year broke a record of 256,094 total illegal border crossings nationwide, the highest for the month in U.S. history.
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Georgia’s February unemployment rate remained unchanged from the revised January rate, labor officials said Thursday.
State officials said the Peach State’s 3.1% unemployment rate is below the national rate of 3.9%. Last week, state officials said Georgia’s January unemployment rate dropped to 3.1%, the first drop in more than a year after holding at 3.2% in 2023.
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Just four of 17 members in Congress from Ohio opposed the $1.2 trillion spending bill given to taxpayers as law early Saturday.
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Republican Reps. Troy Balderson, Warren Davidson and Jim Jordan all said no in votes cast over Friday and early Saturday morning. Six House Republicans from Ohio cast a vote for the legislation.
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Mexican cartels for decades have devised creative ways to smuggle narcotics and other contraband across the southern U.S., including using produce, law enforcement officials say. This month, in one week, thousands of pounds of meth were seized hidden in shipments of peppers, tomatillos and carrots.
At the Otay Mesa, California, cargo facility this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized large quantities of methamphetamine (meth) hidden under packages of the vegetables.
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Existing home sales increased 9.5% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million, marking the largest monthly increase since February 2023, but overall sales declined 3.3% from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Total existing home sales – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 9.5% from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million in February. Year-over-year, sales slid 3.3% (down from 4.53 million in February 2023).
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Bridgetown Natural Foods is receiving $1.3 million through incenctives for its $78.3 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Tennessee.
The project in Lebanon is being awarded a FastTrack Job Training Assistance Grant that was not disclosed Wednesday and was first listed without a project name by the State Funding Board.
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Law enforcement agencies in Ohio can now be certified in the state’s new standards for professional excellence by meeting nearly three dozen standards established to entrust public confidence, accountability and integrity.
Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed an executive order for the new Law Enforcement Accreditation Program established by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board.
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The U.S. Department of Commerce and Intel Corporation reached a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to offer up to $8.5 billion in direct funding via the CHIPS and Science Act to the company in hopes of creating jobs and logic chips in four states.
Intel plans to invest over $100 billion in the United States over the next five years. It also plans to expand its operations in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon, which it estimates will create over 10,000 manufacturing jobs and nearly 20,000 construction jobs, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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After months of research and investigation into what it would look like to build a small modular nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin revealed the region may not be selected for Virginia’s first SMR after all.
“There may be other places around Virginia that may be better suited for the first one,” Youngkin said. “We’re looking at places across the commonwealth. I do firmly believe that Virginia will be the first state to have a small modular reactor in a commercial fashion.”
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State Rep. Tom Kunse wants reform within the Michigan Liquor Control Commission after an audit found more than 62,000 liquor bottles were missing.
The audit from the Office of the Auditor General marked three “material conditions” – the most severe rating – for the group composed of five unelected governor appointees that oversee liquor distribution through authorized agents using 11 state-owned warehouses.
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The federal government is goosing Pennsylvania’s solar energy footprint, sending $90 million to create the largest solar project in the state on reclaimed mine land.
The project, in Clearfield County, will be almost twice as big as the large solar project in operation, estimated to produce more than 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 70,000 homes.
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The South Carolina House of Representatives signed off on a measure to expand the Education Scholarship Trust Fund.
Lawmakers voted 69-32 in favor of H.5164 on its second reading.
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Milwaukee’s deputy director at the Election Commission in October 2022 has been found guilty of election fraud.
Wednesday’s jury decision involving Kimberly Zapata at the Milwaukee County Circuit Court could be foretelling for another involving a man in Racine. In each case, those charged requested and received ballots using fake information.
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The Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would end a franchise tax on business property in the state along with refunding as much as $1.6 billion to businesses that previously paid the tax.
Senate Bill 2103 passed with a 25-6 vote in the Senate and companion House Bill 1893 is set to be heard onWednesday in the House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it is finalizing more protective emissions standards that it called the “strongest ever” for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles that it claims will reduce air pollution and be phased in from 2027 through 2032.
In a news release, the EPA claimed the standards would result in a reduction of 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and have a net benefit of $100 billion in terms of public health benefits as well as reduced fuel costs and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
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An Ohio Kroger employee says union officials threatened his job if he didn’t sign a union membership form, and the company illegally took union dues from his paycheck.
James Carroll, who works for Kroger in Fairfield, submitted charges against the union and Kroger to the National Labor Relations Board in Cincinnati with help from the National Right to Work Foundation, according to the foundation.
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A bill aiming to crackdown on unlicensed sober living facilities passed out of the Arizona State Senate unanimously, but could face hurdles as it moves forward.
State officials say an increasingly common scam occuring in Arizona involves facilities that brand themselves as sober living facilities but do not offer people any actual help. Many Native Americans in Arizona have been targeted by the homes, and those who go into these homes sometimes end up losing contact with loved ones while there, according to lawmakers.
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A majority of Americans disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing, according to a new poll.
The Center Square Voter’s Voice poll released Wednesday asked voters, “When it comes to President Joe Biden, do you approve or disapprove of how he’s handling his job?”
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Former President Donald Trump is narrowly beating President Joe Biden in a head-to-head faceoff going into November, a new national poll shows.
The Center Square’s Voter’s Voice poll conducted with Noble Predictive Insights was released Wednesday, showing Trump beating Biden 46 percent-45 percent with likely voters. The rest are unsure.
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The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a bleak outlook for the federal government with new projections that show debt levels will reach their highest levels ever in five years.
“Debt held by the public, boosted by the large deficits, reaches its highest level ever in 2029 (measured as a percentage of GDP) and then continues to grow, reaching 166 percent of GDP in 2054 and remaining on track to increase thereafter,” according to the CBO report. “That mounting debt would slow economic growth, push up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, and pose significant risks to the fiscal and economic outlook; it could also cause lawmakers to feel more constrained in their policy choices.”
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Educating from the podium and advocating for the inclusion of all, congressmen led by North Carolina’s Dr. Greg Murphy and Ohio’s Dr. Brad Wenstrup on Tuesday introduced legislation that would halt taxpayer money from going to medical schools promoting racial bias.
Multiple speakers, both Black and white and at least one saying she’s neither Republican nor Democrat, drove home the message directly and indirectly that health care is about the patients and their outcomes. Collectively, they explained how the best care comes from the best in education, that all can access it, and the promotion of “critical race theory-based woke philosophy based on DEI” will put Americans’ lives at risk.
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Three state attorneys general want the U.S. Supreme Court to establish a legal test for the limits of presidential immunity.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, and Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill filed an amicus brief in former President Donald Trump’s immunity appeal on federal criminal charges.
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Tennessee’s Department of Economic and Community Development has handed out more than $8.8 million in incentives since it last posted FastTrack incentives for February.
Those include $3.4 million to Schneider Electric in Mount Juliet and Smyrna, $2.5 million to Shoals Technologies Group in Portland, $1.6 million to Nokian Tyres in Dayton and $1.3 million to an unnamed project.
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Connecticut’s top election official is calling for reforms in the wake of a ballot stuffing scandal in Bridgeport’s mayoral race, where some people were allegedly paid cash to fill out mail ballots.
Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas said her office had referred allegations about election “malfeasance” in the February redo of the mayoral race to the State Elections Enforcement Commission to investigate, including reports from voters who received absentee ballots despite not requesting them.
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The people behind the Recall Vos effort continue to say they didn’t collect potentially fraudulent signatures and are hinting that a conspiracy is to blame.
Recall Vos organizers on Monday tried to shift the blame for their apparent failure to get enough signatures to trigger a recall election.
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A new report shows that schools nationwide, including in South Carolina, are having trouble filling teacher positions, with salaries being a primary cause.
An analysis from MyElearningWorld.com found that new teachers nationwide earn nearly 20% less than they did about two decades ago, taking inflation into account. South Carolina’s findings align with the national findings, with Palmetto State teachers earning 22% less.
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As Republicans and Democrats stay split over Pennsylvania’s energy future, solar advocates want to pocket federal subsidies before they’re gone.
At a House Environmental Resources and Energy hearing on Monday, some legislators worried about the loss of farmland, as well as solar energy growth happening only due to hefty government incentives.
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Intel’s first required progress report shows a $1.5 billion expenditure and another $3 billion committed to what Ohio officials call the largest single private-sector investment in state history.
The report, submitted to the Ohio Department of Development, is part of $2 billion in incentives for the two planned microchip manufacturing facilities in Licking County, including taxpayer-funded grants and tax incentives.
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A company taking $715 million of taxpayer subsidies is suing the local government for revoking vital water infrastructure for its electric vehicle plant.
In October 2023, the Green Charter Township board approved the water line for Gotion, which bought 270 actors of land in Mecosta County in August 2023.
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The Florida Lottery has become a crucial part of funding for education in the Sunshine State, and according to a recent report from the Florida Auditor General, it continues to grow each year.
In late January, the AG released the financial audit of the Florida Lottery, whose mission is to maximize financial revenue for the benefit of education “in a manner consistent with the dignity of the State of Florida and the welfare of its citizens.”
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A new report shows schools nationwide, including in Georgia, have trouble filling teacher positions, with low salaries being a primary cause.
An analysis from MyElearningWorld.com found that — even accounting for inflation — new teachers nationwide earn nearly 20% less than they did about two decades ago. Georgia’s findings align with the national findings, with Peach State teachers earning 20% less.
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As the economy worsens, multiple industries continue to shed jobs.
U.S.-based companies laid off 82,307 employees in January, a 136 percent increase from the previous month, according to a report by the business and coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. The Wall Street Journal reported companies are still cutting white-collar jobs in an attempt “to do more with less.”
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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green blasted President Joe Biden for the wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., saying a “migrant crime wave” is sweeping the country.
Green’s office said “President Biden and now-impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ refusal to secure the border has helped unleash a new wave of crime across the nation.”
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AAA’s latest autonomous vehicle survey shows most U.S. drivers express either fear (66%) or uncertainty (25%) about fully-self-driving vehicles.
However, semi-autonomous technologies such as reverse automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assistance continue to drive consumer interest.
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A proposed constitutional amendment that would limit immunity for public officials was rejected for misstatements, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
The proposed amendment would repeal constitutional immunities and defenses in cases alleging civil rights violations by governmental units and public employees.
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School districts around the country are facing issues with how they handle their social media accounts, and the debate has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Denver Public Schools recently reviewed its social media policy that doesn’t allow employees to restrict comments on social media or limit who can see them.
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A Tennessee bill would make it a felony for an adult content website allows access to a minor without age verification.
The offense would become a class C felony and the entity would be liable for damages, including attorney’s costs and court fees.
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Unless Congress and policymakers understand how weaponized migration is being used against the U.S., they won’t be able to solve the problem, foreign policy analysts warn.
More than 11 million foreign nationals, including gotaways, illegally entering the U.S. from all over the world is not an accident, military and foreign policy experts have warned. It’s called migrant warfare, The Center Square first reported. The European Commission, United Nations, NATO, and foreign policy institutes have identified hybrid warfare being used in Europe, including migrant warfare, to shape national and international policies.
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Inflation in the Phoenix metropolitan area appears to be calming down, according to new Consumer Price Index data from February.
The CPI saw an uptick of 2.2% year-over-year from last February, and a 0.7% increase between December 2023 and this February. That’s lower than the nationwide year-over-year rate of 3.2%.
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Arizona Republican lawmakers are asking Attorney General Kris Mayes to retract a consumer alert on crisis pregnancy centers.
A news release from Mayes’ office on Wednesday said that the centers, which are meant to assist pregnant women as an alternative to Planned Parenthood or other abortion facilities, are masked as “legitimate healthcare clinics” but have the intent of encouraging women not to have abortions.
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The Georgia Senate has passed a measure to reform Georgia’s certificate of need laws.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 1339 by a 43-11 margin. The House overwhelmingly passed the measure last month, and the amended version returns to the House for consideration.
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Taxpayers provide it $1 billion annually, and for seven years running, AmeriCorps has failed to get a clean audit. A North Carolina congresswoman says that’s enough.
Identifying fraud risks, assessing inherent fraud risks, setting risk tolerance and consideration of existing controls were all cited in a scathing report of the Corporation for National and Community Service – aka AmeriCorps – from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says automakers should incorporate new rating programs into their partial driving automation systems to reduce traffic deaths.
The new IIHS ratings aim to encourage safeguards that can help reduce intentional misuse and prolonged attention lapses.
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Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee sued the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission to stop a rule that requires publicly traded companies to report climate-related information.
The suit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati to stop the SEC from “overstepping its authority by meddling in environmental policy,” according to a news release.
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The housing market is not immune from inflationary woes as buyer’s purchasing power has significantly diminished in four years. Home buyers in 2024 need 80% more income to purchase a home than they did in 2020, according to a new report by Zillow.
“The income needed to comfortably afford a home is up 80% since 2020, while median income has risen 23% in that time,” the report states. That equates to $47,000 more than four years ago.
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The federal government is sending more than $210 million for projects across the state, from building a park over downtown Atlanta’s Connector to removing a flyover ramp in Savannah.
The largest project is a $157.6 million Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant award to jumpstart the first phase of construction of the Stitch, a four-acre park over Interstates 75 and 85.
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers from Virginia are shedding light on mail delivery service in the commonwealth, with the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center under audit from the U.S. Postal Service inspector general.
The distribution center has been plagued with delays and disruptions, leading to veterans having to wait weeks to receive medication. The lawmakers authored a letter to the IG to highlight the issues ahead of an anticipated report and recommendation.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed three bills into law on Friday to bolster Florida’s efforts to prevent illegal immigration.
“We’re here today, one, to build off a record of success with respect to combating illegal immigration…if you go back six or seven years in the state of Florida, we were not leading against illegal immigration at all, in fact, we were one of the weaker states,” DeSantis said.
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More than 5,000 families from all 46 South Carolina counties have submitted applications for the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund.
The state is accepting applications until Friday.
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Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation are criticizing President Joe Biden’s preliminary budget proposal that would cut spending for nuclear submarine production, saying the move would cost jobs and impact the state’s economy.
The Pentagon announced on Monday that it plans to cut a Virginia class submarine built by Groton, Connecticut-based Electric Boat from its proposed fiscal 2025 defense budget.
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