U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered a new record number of illegal border crossers in November as the agency pleaded for help from Congress.
Total illegal border crossers encountered along the southwest border in November were 242,418. The majority of apprehensions, 191,113, occurred between ports of entry.
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A coalition of small businesses, U.S. senators and representatives sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for a one-year delay in a new rule requiring businesses with as few as 20 employees to report financial information about the business’ beneficial owners.
Under the rule, small businesses will be required to report personal information about their owners, board members, senior management and legal representation and could face civil or even criminal penalties for failure to do so.
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Tennessee saw an increase of 207,000 people in domestic migration over a three-year span, ranking it sixth in the country over that time according to new numbers from the U.S. Census.
Only Florida (818,762), Texas (656,220), North Carolina (310,189), South Carolina (248,055) and Arizona (218,247) saw a larger net domestic migration between April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2023.
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Georgia’s public charter school enrollment has grown over the last four years while enrollment at traditional schools has declined.
That’s according to state-level data the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools studied for a new report, “Believing in Public Education: A Demographic and State-level Analysis of Public Charter School and District Public School Enrollment Trends.”
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A new report shows Ohio’s College Credit Plus Program is covering the direct costs for colleges and universities offering courses to high school students around the state.
The report from Auditor Keith Faber also said colleges and universities that enroll more Ohio middle and high school students tend to be better off financially. It also said the program could benefit a college’s long-term financial health as traditional student enrollment declines.
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As part of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security’s investigation into the “dereliction of duty” of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, it and members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability conducted interviews with eight U.S. Border Patrol chief patrol agents and one deputy chief patrol agent.
The interviews were conducted to obtain more information about operations in their sectors as part of the committee’s ongoing investigation “into the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders, and the role of Secretary Mayorkas in facilitating and maintaining this crisis.”
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Connecticut is set to wipe clean the criminal records of more than 80,000 people with previous convictions under a long-delayed law set to go into effect in the new year.
The Clean Slate law, which was approved by the state Legislature in 2021, will automatically erase the criminal records of people seven years after the date of their conviction for a misdemeanor or 10 years after the date of their conviction for certain low-level felonies if they hadn’t been convicted of other crimes.
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A lawsuit claims a Michigan school district began treating a middle-school daughter as a boy for more than six months without their knowledge or consent.
The lawsuit, filed this week by Dan and Jennifer Mead, claims Rockford Public School District employees secretly treated their 13-year-old daughter as a boy, referring to her by a new masculine name and male pronouns and tried to conceal these actions from the parents.
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The city of Minneapolis has awarded the first funding round for climate action through the Climate Legacy Initiative.
Mayor Jacob Frey announced the CLI in July, which aims to fund the city’s climate goals over the next 10 years through increased gas and utility fees.
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A Confederate memorial was removed this week from Arlington National Cemetery and could be relocated to the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park in the Shenandoah Valley if Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gets his way.
The park is operated by the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, which is run by the Virginia Military Institute, one of the commonwealth’s 15 public universities and the oldest state-supported military college in the U.S.
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Federal, state and city health departments have issued public health alerts about increases of communicable diseases as illegal border crossers arrive in their communities.
Earlier this year, the New York City Health Commissioner instructed New York health-care providers to undergo several precautions and tests in light of “an alarming trend” of diseases spreading among illegal foreign nationals in New York City who arrived from the southern border. Dr. Ashwin Vasan expressed alarm about those arriving who hadn’t been vaccinated for polio or chickenpox and were coming from countries with high rates of infectious tuberculosis.
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When the city of East Lansing excluded someone from a farmer’s market because of his religious beliefs, they violated his right to free speech and freedom of religion.
The exclusion of Country Mill Farms owner Stephen Tennes from the farmers market because he refused to play host to same-sex wedding ceremonies at his farm, detailed in a 2017 lawsuit, will cost East Lansing $825,000 in damages and attorney fees.
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A pair of Republican lawmakers are promising to hold hearings into why so many state and University of Wisconsin workers aren’t in their offices.
A pair of audits from the Legislative Audit Bureau looked at telework and office space trends.
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Higher rents and a reduction in pandemic assistance caused a spike in homelessness in Ohio over the past year, according to a group advocating for more affordable housing around the state.
The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio pointed to U.S. Department of House and Urban Development data that showed more than 11,000 Ohioans homeless on one January night in 2023. That number was a 6.9% increase from the previous year’s count.
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A push to ban non-disclosure agreements in Connecticut is getting a boost from former Fox News anchors turned women’s rights advocates pushing for its approval.
Connecticut lawmakers are expected to revisit a proposal that would ban employers from imposing contracts that prevent employees from talking about their claims of workplace sexual harassment or assault. Democrats back in the proposal say they expect to file the bill in early 2024 when the new legislative session begins.
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Even though Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered National Guard troops to the southern border on Friday, not everyone in the region is on board.
The Tohono Oʼodham Nation, which is a Native American nation that touches parts of the southern border in the Tucson Sector, wrote in a letter that they do not want troops along their portion of the border.
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Small business owners are pessimistic about the future of the economy, according to a new poll.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the polling data Tuesday, which shows that the group’s “Small Businesses Optimism Index” decreased slightly in November to 90.1, its 23rd straight month below the historical average of small business optimism.
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The number of homeless people in the U.S. jumped 12 percent to more than 653,000 people as pandemic spending expired, the highest level on record since the counts started in 2007.
Figures released Friday provide a snapshot of the number of people in shelters, temporary housing and in unsheltered settings. The report found 653,100 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12 percent increase from 2022. That figure of 653,100 people is equivalent to about 20 of every 10,000 people in the U.S.
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Federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement- Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) continue to remove violent criminals wanted in their home countries after they’ve fled to the U.S. to avoid going to prison.
In south Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, ICE ERO-Harlingen agents removed a Salvadoran national wanted by El Salvadoran authorities for human smuggling and illicit association.
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Existing home sales are on track for a dismal year, likely dropping 18% and on course for the worst year since at least 2008’s Great Recession and possibly the worst since 1995.
And while prices may soften in 2024, single-family homes will remain out of reach for many Americans, National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said Tuesday in the real estate organization’s annual summit.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine plans to include the health of the state’s large rivers in the ongoing H2Ohio program aimed at water efforts.
Since 2019, H2Ohio has predominantly worked on water infrastructure in low-income areas, wetland creation and reducing algal blooms. Now the program will expand to research PFAS contamination, remove eroding dams, conserve forest buffers and more.
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The Pentagon came up short on its recruitment goals.
The Defense Department’s senior officials testified Wednesday about shortfalls in Army, Navy and Air Force recruiting in the fiscal year that ended in September at a hearing of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee. The Marine Corps and Space Force made their recruiting goals.
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Florida lawmakers advanced three new pieces of legislation this week designed to lessen regulatory burdens for school districts.
Senate Bill 7000, which is titled the Deregulation of Public Schools/Instructional, Administrative, and Support Personnel, is a bill sponsored by the Education PreK-12 Committee and was presented by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee on Tuesday.
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For nearly a year, Ohio lawmakers have been trying to stop the state from using driver’s license suspension as a punishment for things unrelated to driving.
The idea has support from Republicans, Democrats and countless other professional, policy and social groups. Still, despite four hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, it has yet to move to a full vote in the Senate.
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A pair of trade groups representing Colorado ranchers are suing state and federal wildlife agencies to delay reintroducing gray wolves to the Western Slope.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association, comes before the state’s deadline to reintroduce gray wolves by the end of this year.
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The state of Ohio wants local governments to buy, rehabilitate, or build residential properties to improve affordable access.
The state will give local landbanks $100 million over the next 16 months to create housing for income-eligible Ohioans. It is also establishing another $50 million in nonrefundable tax credits to landbanks and developers for rehabs and new construction when the property is sold.
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A Michigan-based energy group says recent layoffs and leadership changes don’t change plans to build a $1.6B battery factory in Van Buren Township called ONE Circle.
Michigan taxpayers bet $200 million on Our Next Energy Inc., a technology company that laid off 25% of its staff amid leadership changes.
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Wisconsin’s secretary of state wants one of the state’s Republican elections commissioners to be fired after he settled a lawsuit over Wisconsin’s 2020 Trump electors.
Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski asked the Wisconsin Senate to remove Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell.
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Although a bill that creates an electric vehicle fee in Pennsylvania cleared a House committee on Monday, it’s unlikely to pass in its current form.
Senate Bill 656, sponsored by Sen. Greg Rothman, R-New Bloomfield, would replace the alternative fuel tax with a $290 EV fee paid at the time of vehicle registration. Owners would also have the option of enrolling in a monthly payment plan.
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If signed into law, two bills in the Florida Legislature could help rural communities in the Sunshine State have better access to emergency health care.
Senate Bill 644 is sponsored by state Sen. Corey Simon, R-Quincy, and specifies eligibility requirements for rural emergency hospitals to be licensed, authorizes rural hospitals to enter into contracts required for federal reimbursement and requires individual and group health insurance policies and health maintenance contracts performed under certain circumstances in rural hospitals.
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The Ohio Chamber of Commerce believes the state should spend more than $1 million to create a special task force to combat the growing trend of organized retail theft.
Almost six months after the chamber formed a Crime Task Force, the group focused on organized retail theft as it issued its findings report and legislative recommendations.
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The U.S. Department of Defense is being urged by members of Congress to develop a national security plan to address China’s interest and investments in seabed mining.
Virginia U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, led over two dozen legislators including fellow Rep. Jen Kiggans in sounding the alarm on China’s involvement in mining critical resources, such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese and zinc from the seabed.
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Ohio plans to build two dozen fast electric vehicle charging stations after it became the first state to open a charger funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.
The announcements come as car dealers across the country told President Joe Biden electric vehicles continue to stack up on car lots, as previously reported by The Center Square.
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Proposed new legislation would revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization that is providing material support for terrorist groups.
The bipartisan bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., comes out of the House Ways and Means Committee, which unanimously approved the legislation last week.
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Texas and Florida state troopers, as well as sheriff’s deputies, continue to apprehend human smugglers in the small border community of Brackettville, in Kinney County, Texas.
A Texas DPS trooper, assisted by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, recently conducted a traffic stop in Brackettville, which led to a human smuggling bust.
The stop occurred at night in a residential neighborhood when a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and FHP trooper pulled over the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro.
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The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Friday it won’t expedite an appeal of a ruling against Tennessee’s Republican-drawn Senate maps, meaning the current maps will likely remain in place for the 2024 elections.
The maps were ruled unconstitutional by a Tennessee court November 22.
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NASA said it is working on a timeline for its next crewed mission to the moon after a Congressional watchdog reported that the space agency’s planned 2025 date was “unrealistic.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in late November that NASA’s timeline for the Artemis III mission was “unrealistic.”
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Ohio plans to give another $175 million in taxpayer money to communities around the state to clean up contaminated properties and get them ready for use again.
The new money adds to the $350 million the state handed out for 313 projects in 83 counties earlier this year. Gov. Mike DeWine says it gives sites a second chance at life.
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Attorney General Kris Mayes is warning about gift card scams amid the holiday season.
Her office announced that eight individuals were arrested on Thursday regarding an elaborate gift card cloning scheme.
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The rapidly growing debt of the U.S. federal government has hit another milestone, topping more than $100,000 per person.
While the U.S. population and the U.S. national debt are large numbers that are difficult to calculate, the rough debt estimate and rough population estimate end up at about $100,000 of federal debt per person in the U.S.
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The Ohio House of Representatives isn’t giving up on making daylight saving time permanent.
After passing a resolution 69-20 that urges Congress to stop the time change twice yearly, the House sent it to the Senate for consideration.
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The federal government has awarded $1.5 million to study the possibility of running passenger trains on a trio of corridors in Georgia.
The Federal Railroad Administration awarded $500,000 to the Georgia Department of Transportation to study a possible Atlanta-to-Savannah line. It also provided $500,000 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to evaluate a Charlotte-to-Atlanta line and $500,000 to the city of Chattanooga to study an Atlanta-to-Chattanooga-to-Nashville-to-Memphis route.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order to transition the state’s fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
Whitmer says the move will reduce air pollution, help boost demand for Michigan-made electric vehicles and lower fuel and maintenance costs.
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The Georgia House of Representatives passed revised congressional districts, capping the end of a special session that put partisan divides front and center.
The House voted 98-71 to send Senate Bill 3EX, which the state Senate passed on Tuesday, to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. The revised districts ostensibly maintain the 9-5 Republican edge in the U.S. House.
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Wisconsin now has a baby box law.
Gov. Tony Evers signed the new law which gives local governments permission to install boxes that allow parents to anonymously surrender newborn babies.
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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is pushing the federal government to reassign National Guard troops and reimburse the state government for border-related expenses.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Hobbs is requesting that the 243 National Guard troops already on federal orders in the Tucson Sector be redirected to helping with the Lukeville Port of Entry’s reopening.
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U.S. private-sector employers added 103,000 new hires in November versus 106,000 workers in October, according to Nov.’s ADP® National Employment Report, a collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
Consider what is occurring in a slice of service sector employment.
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Despite objections from teacher organizations, the NAACP, the ACLU, physicians and social workers, an Ohio House committee passed a bill to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion training at Ohio colleges and universities.
Senate Bill 83, which has passed the Senate and heads to a full House vote after an 8-7 vote Wednesday in the House Workforce and Higher Education Committee, also bans what it calls “controversial beliefs or policies,” including issues like climate change, electoral politics, foreign policy, immigration policy, marriage or abortion.”
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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs recently communicated with leadership at the United States Department of Homeland Security, but conversations with Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been more scant.
The federal government, as well as Arizona officials, have been under scrutiny after U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the closure of the Lukeville, Arizona, port of entry, which is making access to and from Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, extremely difficult.
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Less than two days from recreational marijuana use becoming legal in Ohio, lawmakers want to make some changes.
Senate Republicans added the changes to a bill that passed the House in June and would revise some of the state’s liquor laws.
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