An Ohio congressman wants to stop new Biden administration mandates on new homes he says puts home ownership out of reach for many Americans.
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, introduced the Home Affordability for Americans continuing resolution, saying green energy regulations are driving home prices up.
Read the full story
Election workers in Ohio could get a little more privacy based on a new bill working its way through the Statehouse.
Recent threats and gunfire helped push Senate Bill 173 through the Senate. The bill would prevent disclosing as public records any family information or where election workers live.
Read the full story
Florida state officials said on Monday that litigation could affect cost estimates for a proposed constitutional amendment that could enact a right to abortion statewide.
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research held a Financial Estimating Conference Monday to review the financial impact of the ballot initiative, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Read the full story
Arizona veterans organizations can now apply for grants through the state’s Department of Veterans Services.
The application for the Veterans’ Donation Fund reopened on July 1 and is intended for 501(c) groups seeking $4,999 or less in state assistance. The state also sometimes doles out more significant veteran-related grants ranging from $5,000-75,000, but that application is currently closed.
Read the full story
Atlanta officials are considering a new tax to target neglected properties that result in “blighted conditions and disinvestment” in some Atlanta neighborhoods.
Mayor Andre Dickens, working with Councilmember Byron Amos, announced legislation to create a “blight tax.” If approved, the legislation would allow the municipal court to tax neglected properties, which officials said would change the “economics of neglectful land speculation.”
Read the full story
Michigan’s process of handling election recounts and fraud allegations has changed, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signing two controversial bills into law Monday.
Senate bills 603 and 604 modify the requirements for conducting ballot recounts and prosecuting election-related crimes.
Read the full story
A raise of 10% and a retention bonus will lift Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin of the University of Wisconsin past $1 million in annual compensation.
University regents met Monday and approved the deal. Mnookin’s salary rises from $811,512 to $892,663 next year. The bonus is $150,000.
Read the full story
A congressman whose district lies along the northern border in upstate New York has filed a bill to strengthen northern border security measures.
Read the full story
A coalition of energy, biofuel and agriculture groups – including the Illinois Corn Growers Association – are taking their challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions mandate to the nation’s highest court.
The group filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the EPA’s decision to grant a waiver to California for its 2021-2025 electric vehicle mandate. Illinois lawmakers have considered adopting California’s strict EV policies.
Read the full story
Ohio plans to spend more than $120 million in taxpayer funds on water infrastructure projects around the state.
The grants, which are part of the sixth round of Ohio Broadband, Utilities, and Infrastructure for Local Development Success grants, will be awarded to 59 of the state’s 88 counties.
Read the full story
Tennessee has some of the biggest names in online sportsbooks, from FanDuel to DraftKings to ESPN BET and Caesars.
But the state’s stable of sportsbooks also includes outliers, like ZenSports, whose only license exists in Tennessee.
Read the full story
Installation of the country’s largest offshore wind farm began in earnest just two months ago off the coast of Virginia, and the Biden administration announced Friday it will be auctioninganother even bigger wind energy lease sale off the coast of the commonwealth.
Dominion Energy leased the approximately 113,000 acres that would become the site of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in 2013. After installing two pilot turbines in 2020, the utility began the installation of the rest of its 176 turbines in May.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden called on fellow Democrats on Monday to stop questioning his fitness for office and his ability to defeat former Republican President Donald Trump.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden’s White House staff has grown to historic highs, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, according to a new report.
An analysis from OpenTheBooks of the recently released White House payroll found the Biden White House staff spending has hit new highs.
Read the full story
Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office should take additional action to ensure it meets federal reporting and inventory requirements tied to federal election grants.
The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts included the finding in a new audit following a March 2022 examination.
Read the full story
Over half of U.S. states now require high school students to receive a financial literacy course before they graduate after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill passed by the California Legislature.
With the passage of California’s law requiring schools to offer a course in personal finance by the 2027-28 school year and requiring the class of 2031 to receive at least one class, a total of 26 states now require students to take a course on how to manage money, according to a nonprofit spearheading efforts to pass such laws.
Read the full story
The number of insured unemployed individuals increased by 26,000 to 1,858,000, in the week ending June 29, the highest level since November 2021.
Seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims reached 238,000, marking an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 234,000.
Read the full story
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is trying to gather a cohort of his Democratic Senate colleagues to convince President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Last week’s debate has apparently persuaded Warner that a Biden campaign is untenable, and he wants to take a group of Democratic senators to the White House on Monday to speak with the president about exiting the race, according to two Washington Post sources who wished to remain anonymous.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s Advisory Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure decided to start a committee looking into rules to make court briefs available online moving forward.
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Dwight Tarwater will chair the committee, which will include commission Chairman Gino Bulso, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz, former Solicitor General Andree Blumstein and attorney Tim Mickel.
Read the full story
More than $40 million in state and local taxpayer money is expected to be spent creating Ohio’s first Innovation Hub.
Gov. Mike DeWine recently announced the collaboration, which officials say will enhance northwest Ohio’s position as a global leader in glass science, engineering, technology and production.
Read the full story
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is going to decide on abortion.
The court said it will hear two challenges to Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law, without waiting for lower courts in the state to rule on them first.
Read the full story
The recently passed Michigan budget would guarantee tuition-free community college for all residents, and expands access to tuition-free preschool.
The tuition-free community college program is paid for by $330 million in taxpayer dollars, an increase of $30 million from last year. The new program gets rid of income caps, so any student can receive free tuition at an in-district community college.
Read the full story
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody welcomed new police officers to the state after they relocated from Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York.
“Florida is the most pro-law enforcement state in the nation because we back our blue,” Moody said. “We’ve been spreading the word about all the great incentives to join our ranks, and individuals like the new Sarasota recruits have answered the call – leaving behind places where their service was not as appreciated as it is here.”
Read the full story
Monday ended with another disappointment for those unhappy with recent changes to a state education assistance program for military families, but by Tuesday night, things had turned around.
Tuesday evening, the Senate of Virginia issued a press release stating that the House of Delegates and Senate finance chairs had finally reached an agreement on the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program after a month and a half of upheaval surrounding changes made to the program in the latest state budget.
Read the full story
A pilot program targeting the accuracy of voter rolls in Ohio is now going statewide.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently announced a new voter data integrity program that began in six counties and is now going statewide. The program uses county-specific digital dashboards to help identify voter registration discrepancies.
Read the full story
Some Republican lawmakers have expressed disappointment with the fact that a water basin management bill did not make its way to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ desk this session, which finished last month.
Senate Bill 1221 would have stopped “new groundwater pumping” in the Gila Bend, Wilcox and Hualapai basins as well as cut back on current usage of the water by 10-15% over the course of the next two decades, according to a news release. The bill passed the Senate in February, but absences from the Republican side and united votes against the bill on the Democratic slide led the bill to die in June.
Read the full story
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s ban on new exports of liquified natural gas exports to non-free trade agreement countries.
Judge James Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Energy’s partial LNG export ban after more than a dozen states sued, arguing the ban was illegal.
Read the full story
Amtrak has seen a 22% increase in its employee count while salaries and benefits have increased by more than $500 million in the past four years – to $2.69 billion in 2023.
Amtrak, known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, serves more than 500 destinations in 46 separate states covering more than 21,400 miles nationwide.
Read the full story
Arizona continues to benefit economically from more people moving to the state.
Arizona gained a net of 36,841 people, adding $3,688,080 in gross income from those newcomers from tax years 2021 to 2022, based on new Internal Revenue Service data. Data from the IRS is typically delayed and compares filings done between states.
Read the full story
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Wednesday he expects Raise the Wage Ohio to turn in petition signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the minimum wage, joining two other filings for the November ballot this week.
The Raise the Wage Ohio campaign, made up mostly of volunteers, needs 413,487 valid petition signatures for the amendment to reach the ballot.
Read the full story
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced 21 budget vetoes totaling nearly $2.3 million from the Palmetto State’s fiscal 2024-25 budget.
The Republican governor announced his vetoes during a Wednesday media briefing, calling on state lawmakers to replace earmarks with merit-based and competitive grants. The budget includes more than 500 earmarks totaling $424.7 million.
Read the full story
A constitutional amendment to prevent political redistricting is likely to appear on the Ohio ballot in November.
The Citizens Not Politicians campaign delivered 731,306 signatures collected from all 88 Ohio counties to the Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office for a constitutional amendment to establish an independent redistricting commission.
Read the full story
Nearly $40 million in federal taxpayer dollars are bound for transportation projects in Maricopa County and southern Arizona.
The funding is part of the application-based grants, and it will go toward helping the city of Douglas help nearly 8 miles of roadways as well as bolster the Valley Metro by extending it 4.35 miles in the east valley cities of Mesa and Tempe.
Read the full story
New migration data from the Internal Revenue Service shows Florida added 245,334 residents in 2022, the most among states.
The total inflow, not adjusted against those leaving the state, was 466,210 in 2022 as 277,527 tax filers with a combined adjusted gross income of $26.6 billion decamped to Florida.
Read the full story
Border Patrol agents continue to release violent criminals into the U.S. who are later arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers thousands of miles away. While numerous examples exist, in three recent cases, Border Patrol agents in Arizona released violent criminals who were later arrested nearly 3,000 miles away in New England.
On June 12, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations-Boston agents arrested an Ecuadorian illegally living in Northampton, Massachusetts, who was wanted by Ecuadorian authorities.
Read the full story
A federal judge on Friday afternoon halted part of a new state law barring charitable bail from taking effect while a legal challenge proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert issued a temporary restraining order for 14 days following a Friday hearing. The ACLU of Georgia and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center filed the lawsuit asking a judge to declare Section 4 of Georgia Senate Bill 63 unconstitutional.
Read the full story
Getting immunizations in Ohio is closer to getting a little easier.
Pharmacy technicians and registered pharmacy technicians could soon be able to administer immunizations around the state, servicing children as young as 5 years old.
Read the full story
The Michigan Senate is expected to soon vote on legislation meant individual voting protections in state elections.
A four-bill package would create a state fund to reimburse voter discrimination lawsuit costs, set up an election and voting database and provide help to disabled or non-English speaking voters, among other changes.
Read the full story
A new audit raises questions as to whether Wisconsin’s attorney general will be able to meet a new state requirement to get sexual assault kits tested within six months.
The Legislative Audit Bureau released its new report on the state’s crime recently, saying there are fewer requests for sexual assault DNA kits at the crime labs, but it is taking the labs longer to process each kit.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden Monday night said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the president has “absolute immunity” when acting in his core constitutional duties is “a dangerous precedent” that “undermines the rule of law of this nation.”
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision ruled that the “president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity.”
Read the full story
Tennessee saw the fifth-largest population increase from other states between 2021 and 2022, according to new data released by the Internal Revenue Service.
Tennessee saw a net increase of nearly 60,600 during that calendar year, a population increase of 0.87% during the year, with a net increase of nearly $4.7 billion in adjusted gross income on individual tax returns.
Read the full story
Burnouts, doughnuts and stunt driving activities becoming increasingly popular on Ohio roadways could soon carry stiffer penalties.
Also, under legislation recently passed by the Ohio House and Senate, blocking roads or interrupting the regular flow of traffic for street racing would be illegal.
Read the full story
A federal grand jury has indicted the Newton County Board of Commissioners chairman and a commissioner-elect on federal charges of conspiring to launder money obtained from wire fraud and honest services wire fraud.
A federal grand jury indicted Marcello Banes, 48, of Covington, the board’s chair, and Stephanie Lindsey, 52, of Covington, a real estate broker and attorney who was elected to the county commission earlier this month, on conspiracy to launder money obtained from wire fraud and honest services wire fraud and money laundering. The grand jury also indicted Lindsey for federal income tax fraud and Banes for making materially false statements to FBI special agents.
Read the full story
Three people crossing the border from Mexico into the United States died as a result of the high summer temperatures.
United States Customs and Border Protection announced on Friday that three Mexican migrants were found dead after a search and rescue mission near Ajo, Arizona, by federal border authorities on Wednesday morning. The border law enforcement agency explained that human smugglers routinely take advantage of those seeking to come to the U.S.
Read the full story
A federal judge is weighing whether to grant a preliminary injunction to halt a Georgia law targeting organized online retail crimes set to take effect on Monday.
Earlier this month, NetChoice filed a lawsuit over Senate Bill 472, the “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act.” Proponents of the measure, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed on May 6, say it protects businesses against organized online retail crimes.
Read the full story
A new Arizona State University study suggests that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the United States military are ineffective.
The study done by the university’s Center for American Institutions argued that there is a emphasis on training new soldiers about social issues like “unconscious bias” and “intersectionality” in a way the center says runs contrary to typical American ideals. The study examined DEI plan’s in different sector of the military, including DEI office staffing and education at academies like West Point.
Read the full story
Pending home sales fell 2.1 percent in May, according to the National Association of Realtors.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said home prices could dip in the coming months.
Read the full story
Tennessee could receive nearly $31.7 million to fund construction projects in the new defense appropriation that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
The biggest outlays for the Volunteer State would be for Arnold Air Force Base near Tullahoma. The base is the home of the Arnold Engineering Complex, which has 58 wind tunnels and other test facilities. The base would receive $21.4 million for a new testing bay and $5.5 million for a new cooling system.
Read the full story
While waiting for Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature, Jewish leaders in the Ohio Legislature are praising passes of a bill that gives Ohio colleges and universities tools to promote student safety and inclusive environments.
Read the full story
The federal government reported $236 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2023, with the vast majority coming from overpayments, according to a new watchdog report.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report found 74% of improper payments – payments that shouldn’t have been made or were made in the wrong amount – were overpayments. Overpayments accounted for $175.1 billion of the total amount of improper payments in 2023. Overpayments are payments “in excess of what is due, and for which the excess amount, in theory, should or could be recovered,” according to the report.
Read the full story