Michigan has reimbursed $119,000 worth of food stamps reported stolen from March through August 2023.
The food stamp program is a federal program operated by state health departments serving as a social safety net. Criminals steal food stamps via credit card skimmers, compromised logins and stolen identities sold on the dark web.
Read the full story
Local governments in Ohio could soon expand concealed carry laws and allow citizens to carry guns in courtrooms.
House Bill 272, which recently had its fourth hearing before the House Government Oversight Committee but has yet to be voted on, would allow local governments to create an exception to carry a deadline weapon into a building that contains a courtroom when court is not in session.
Read the full story
Florida lawmakers might take a look at enhancing regulatory powers over the state’s massive condominium industry.
The Florida Senate Committee on Regulated Industries held a panel Tuesday to discuss condominium governance and regulation.
Read the full story
Despite test scores that show nearly 60% of students in Wisconsin schools cannot read or do math at grade level, more than 90% of school districts in the state meet the state’s expectations.
The Department of Public Instruction recently released its school and school district report cards.
Read the full story
Connecticut’s revenues are down about $460 million, according to a new report, which says the state’s financial outlook remains positive despite a drop in tax collections.
The consensus revenue forecast, released by the Office of Policy and Management and Office of Fiscal Analysis on Monday, shows the state is likely to close out the fiscal year more than $630 million above initial budget projections. That’s still a surplus but well below the $1.1 billion projections when the budget was approved in June.
Read the full story
Legislation offering an exit clause to renters subjected to domestic abuse is headed to the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, despite concerns that the proposal could cause unintended harm to landlords.
Under the bill, renters can break a lease on a property shared with an abuser after providing written notice to the landlord detailing their experiences and concerns. Police reports, medical notes, arrest records, protection from abuse orders, and documentation from the state’s Victim Advocate Office also suffice as notice.
Read the full story
Noting a trend of growing administrative spending and teacher pay lagging those increases, Republican lawmakers want to require school districts to revert more of their allotted state funding directly to educators.
In a Monday announcement, several GOP lawmakers touted the “Teacher Pay Fund” plan they say would deliver K-12 public school teachers an average pay hike of 7% without increasing taxes.
Read the full story
The influx of migrants across the country’s southern border could cost taxpayers $451 billion, a report released Monday by the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee says.
The fourth report released by the committee says that the tab includes housing, education, property damage done by migrants, law enforcement and health care costs.
Read the full story
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee spent more than $117,000 of taxpayer funds over a six-day economic development trip earlier this year, The Tennessean reported.
The group went to Paris and Bologna, Italy while promoting the Paris Air Show with a group that included six state employees, two of their wives and two members of the governor’s security detail, the newspaper reported.
Read the full story
Contractors and larger employers in Ohio could soon be required to verify the immigration status of employers based on a proposed new law.
Reps. Scott Wiggam, R-Wayne County, and D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, recently introduced legislation that would make contractors and subcontractors verify the immigration status of employees to work on public works construction projects.
Read the full story
Big Three automaker Stellantis seeks 6,400 buyouts – nearly half its 12,700 total non-bargaining unit – as it accelerates into an electric future.
Citing “challenging market conditions”, Stellantis’ Media Relations Director Jodi Tinson said the offer is open to non-bargaining unit U.S. employees with at least five years of corporate service.
Read the full story
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will give $7.45 million in business expansion funding expected to create 430 jobs.
The funding comes from DEED’s Job Creation Fund and Minnesota Investment Fund. The Job Creation Fund provides financial incentives to new and expanding businesses that meet certain job creation and capital investment targets. Eligible companies may receive up to $2 million for creating or retaining high-paying jobs and for constructing or renovating facilities or making other property improvements.
Read the full story
A PAC founded by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares supported some winning prosecutorial candidates in the most recent elections, and plans to keep building momentum throughout 2024.
The mission of the Protecting Americans Action Fund is to help conservative, “enforce-the-law” prosecutors defeat liberal, “social justice” prosecutors – often backed by billionaire and Democratic financier George Soros – in elections to state offices across the country.
Read the full story
As pro-Palestinian protestors descended on Austin and other cities over the weekend, following a “day-of-rage” protests last month, a new poll reveals that a majority of Muslim-Americans surveyed – 57.5% – think the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas “was justified in attacking Israel as part of their struggle for a Palestinian state.”
Hamas, the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement), was designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. “It is the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories’ two major political parties,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center.
Read the full story
Michigan House Republicans introduced House Concurrent Resolution 9 aiming for lawmakers to adjourn in late December.
The resolution notes, according to session schedule, that House lawmakers are to meet until Dec. 21 and the Senate is scheduled to meet until at least December 14.
Read the full story
The top Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly says he is encouraged by the University of Wisconsin’s plan to focus on in-demand degrees, but it’s not enough to move him off his block of the university’s pay raises.
Read the full story
The Florida Auditor General examined significant findings and financial trends in district school board audit reports and found issues needing correction, such as weaknesses in financial oversight and information technology security.
The report covered audits for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and found several weaknesses in internal controls, for example, audits found instances of noncompliance with laws, rules or regulations. These were found in 43 of the 67 audit reports.
Read the full story
An Ohio lawmaker already has plans for an expected boost to state revenues following voter approval of recreational marijuana.
State Rep. Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison, plans a Tuesday news conference to outline her proposed legislation that would use $80 million of marijuana tax money over the next two years as a permanent funding source for training the state’s law enforcement officers.
Read the full story
More than 775,000 people illegally crossed the border into Arizona in fiscal 2023, according to official U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and preliminary gotaway data.
This includes 576,912 apprehensions officially reported by CBP and at least 198,110 gotaways reported by Border Patrol agents alone, according to the preliminary data The Center Square obtained from a Border Patrol agent.
Read the full story
The federal government has selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the location for its new FBI headquarters concluding a search process that began more than 10 years ago.
Congress authorized the General Services Administration to start looking for a new site for the FBI headquarters in 2012 after a decade of complaints about the security, technological capabilities, “deteriorating infrastructure” and other issues with the current facility, located in Washington, D.C. The GSA narrowed its search to Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia, in 2014, and state lawmakers and officials from both states have actively pursued the selection of their state throughout.
Read the full story
Tennessee collected $8.2 million in taxes on $445.2 million of gross wagers in October, an increase in both categories from a year before.
In October 2022, $7 million was collected on $405 million of gross wagers.
Read the full story
The Pentagon wants to build a bigger nuclear gravity bomb to provide the military with “more flexibility” in the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced plans to pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13. The move will require Congressional authorization and appropriation.
Read the full story
A large majority of voters say that public schools should focus on the basics – math, reading, writing, science and social studies – to improve the quality of public education in the country.
That’s according to the latest The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice poll conducted in late October in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights. The poll of 2,605 likely voters includes 1,035 Republicans, 1,074 Democrats, and 496 true Independents, and is among the most comprehensive in the country.
Read the full story
The U.S. Census Bureau is under fire for embracing progressive ideology around gender and sexuality and pushing for taxpayer dollars to fund it.
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and JD Vance, R-Ohio, sent a letter to the U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos calling on him to rescind its plan to incorporate a gender identity and sexuality questions to the American Community Survey, which goes to more than 3.5 million Americans each year.
Read the full story
Mountain states rank among the “most free” in North America, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.
The Canadian think tank employs 10 variables for its Economic Freedom of North America 2023 reports and scores states based on categories such as government spending, taxes, labor market freedom, legal system and property rights, sound money, and freedom to trade internationally.
Read the full story
America’s population gains won’t continue forever.
The U.S. population is projected to reach a high of nearly 370 million in 2080 before falling back to 366 million in 2100, according to the latest projections from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s Department of Economic & Community Development asked for $78 million for its FastTrack business incentive program next budget year.
The Fasttrack program received $92 million in 2022, $432 million in 2023 and $110 million in 2024.
Read the full story
As Michigan aims for 100% clean energy by 2040, a new plan aims to ensure that child slaves aren’t mining the rare earth minerals and assembling the solar panels.
Michigan House Republicans proposed a package aiming to stop taxpayer money from funding projects using child or forced labor for solar panels and electric vehicle battery parts.
Read the full story
The Florida Legislature wrapped up its special session after several new measures were passed, including sanctions on Iran, protections for the state’s Jewish community and relief funds for those affected by Hurricane Idalia.
Senate Resolution 8C, House Resolution 9C and HR 11C all would express support for the State of Israel and its right to exist as a sovereign nation with the right to defend itself against attacks from terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The resolutions passed unanimously.
Read the full story
Nixing the college degree requirement for Pennsylvania State Police troopers has returned dividends, drawing a surge in applications that’s pushed the agency to open a second hiring round.
After a two-month enrollment period earlier this year, the PSP saw a 258% increase in candidates taking the written exam, the agency announced in a press release.
Read the full story
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed Ed Curry to the Water Policy Council on Thursday following recent departures from the group.
Curry is a farmer and president of Curry Seed and Chile Company in southern Arizona, which has helped pave the way for chile farming in the United States.
Read the full story
One of Wisconsin’s congressmen is warning about a potential Chinese strategy to corner the market on electric cars.
Congressman Mike Gallagher and other members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party this week sent a letter to the U.S. ambassador warning China may flood the U.S. market with electric vehicles.
Read the full story
Changes are expected to come to Ohio’s newly passed legalization of recreational marijuana.
Lawmakers have 30 days to make amendments to the law that easily passed Tuesday night as an initiated statute rather than a constitutional amendment.
Read the full story
A new poll shows a large disparity between how voters think of their local public school system and the nation’s school system as a whole, signaling frustration with larger education issues as opposed to more area-specific ones.
Respondents’ approval of their local schools held constant in the most recent The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, which was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights.
Read the full story
A record high number of kindergartners started last school year with an exemption from one of the vaccines U.S. health authorities require.
The overall percentage of children with an exemption increased from 2.6% during the 2021-22 school year to 3% during the 2022-23 school year, the highest exemption rate ever reported in the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday.
Read the full story
Thousands of miles from the southern border, Americans find themselves victims of violent crimes committed by repeat offenders illegally entering the U.S.
While numerous examples exist, in five examples identified by The Center Square, all of the alleged perpetrators illegally entered the U.S. “on an unknown date at an unknown location,” according to U.S. Customs & Immigration Enforcement.
Read the full story
Seeking more sportsmen hunting, a tax holiday for shoppers looking to buy firearms and ammunition is being proposed in Georgia.
State Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, has proposed a “Second Amendment Tax Holiday Act.” It would eliminate sales tax on firearms, ammunition and related accessories for 11 days, starting on the Friday a week before whitetail deer season begins.
Read the full story
The New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus are quickly approaching, making events like the Republican presidential debates more crucial, especially fastidious Granite State voters.
The New Hampshire chapter of Americans for Prosperity hosted a debate watch party in Manchester on Wednesday night. Organizers noted a different vibe with participants than the two prior debates, attributing it to voters “dialing in” on candidates.
Read the full story
Today’s decrepit shopping malls may become tomorrow’s mixed-use communities.
Making the conversion happen, though, could be driven by state grants, tax abatements and credits.
Read the full story
Few of the election reforms Wisconsin Republicans plan to pass will likely get the governor’s signature.
The State Assembly late Thursday approved nearly a dozen or so pieces of legislation that deal with how people vote and how elections are run in the state.
Read the full story
Ohio Democratic lawmakers quickly went to work introducing legislation that would repeal state laws related to abortion care.
Republicans, which own significant majorities in both the House and Senate, vowed to keep fighting against abortion despite voters overwhelmingly enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
Read the full story
Right-to-Life and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on federal constitutional grounds challenging the enactment of Proposal 3, an abortion rights amendment voters enshrined into the Michigan Constitution.
The American Freedom Law Center and Great Lakes Justice Center sued in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on behalf of 16 plaintiffs challenging the abortion rights law voters passed Nov. 8, 2022.
Read the full story
A federal judge on Thursday extended her initial temporary restraining order by another two weeks, blocking the Biden administration from destroying Texas’ concertina wire barrier along the Rio Grande River.
U.S. District Judge Alia Moses in Del Rio, Texas, extended her original Oct. 30th Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) beyond the initial Nov. 13 deadline. The extension is for another 14 days “to allow the court more time to fully consider the parties’ arguments and evidence.”
Read the full story
A Virginia-based nonprofit group called Do Not Harm filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, attempting to block a mandate that every government regulatory board has at least one member who is a racial minority.
The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nashville after a Tennessee resident and Do Not Harm member has not been placed on the Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners because he was not a racial minority.
Read the full story
The Atlanta City Council approved a plan to spend more than $40 million on public safety equipment, including new apparatus for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.
A spokesman for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed to The Center Square that the spending plan includes $19 million for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department and $21 million for the Atlanta Police Department.
Read the full story
The federal government has finally selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the location for its new FBI headquarters, concluding a search process that began more than 10 years ago.
Congress authorized the General Services Administration to start looking for a new site for the FBI headquarters in 2012 after a decade of complaints about the security, technological capabilities, “deteriorating infrastructure,” and other issues with the current facility in Washington, D.C. The GSA narrowed its search to Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia, in 2014, and state lawmakers and officials from both states have actively pursued the selection of their state throughout.
Read the full story
Lawmakers from both parties in Congress are vocalizing opposition to a proposed Veterans Affairs cut to reimbursement rates for ambulance services set to take effect in February.
The move is so the department can avoid overpaying for emergency medical transportation services, but critics warn it could lead to less access to that transportation to VA hospitals if the payment model is shifted.
Read the full story
As more electric vehicles hit the highways, states are worried about fuel tax collections headed in the opposite direction.
States, including Florida, are considering or have been already enacted, annual registration fees to ensure owners of electrics pay a fair share of the cost of maintaining the roads, highways and bridges, said Doug Shinkle, who oversees the transportation program for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Read the full story
The plan to spend taxpayer dollars on the Milwaukee Brewers’ ballpark may still be short of votes at the Wisconsin Capitol.
A number of Republican senators on Wednesday criticized the latest version of the plan.
Read the full story
Wisconsin voters will get two questions about election integrity next fall.
The State Senate approved proposed constitutional amendments that would clarify that only U.S. citizens 18 years old and older can vote in the state, and would ban the use of so-called outside private money in Wisconsin elections.
Read the full story