Youngkin Travels to Europe for ‘International Trade Mission’ Ahead of May Special Session for Virginia Budget

Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Wednesday he will embark on a week-long “international trade mission” to Europe as lawmakers continue work on the biennial Virginia budget ahead of the May special legislative session.

The governor’s office confirmed Youngkin’s “third international trade mission” will include stops in Germany, Denmark, Finland and Swizterland between April 28 to May 3. He plans to meet with business leaders, public officials and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

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South Carolina Governor Signs Bill to Help Preserve Working Agricultural Lands

South Carolina Farmland

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a measure that aims to help landowners use voluntary conservation easements to preserve working agricultural lands.

H. 3951, the Working Agricultural Lands Preservation Act, creates the Working Farmland Protection Fund within the South Carolina Conservation Bank. The measure ostensibly complements the agricultural projects the bank funds by establishing a matching grant payment for qualified projects.

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‘Stop Cop City’ Protesters Confronted by Police over Emory University Campus Encampment for Palestine

Emory University Protest

The Stop Cop City movement reported on Thursday that Georgia State Police confronted its protesters as they attempted to create a pro-Palestine encampment on the Emory University campus.

A post to the social media platform X by Stop Cop City activists claims “an encampment in the Emory quad” was established at 7:30 a.m. “to demand total divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City,” the activists’ preferred term for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

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Arizona U.S. House Candidate Abe Hamadeh Declares A.G. Kris Mayes ‘Illegitimate’ After Indictment of Trump Allies

Abe Hamadeh and Kris Mayes

Arizona U.S. House candidate Abe Hamadeh declared Attorney General Kris Mayes “illegitimate” in a Thursday appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room after she handed down indictments against Arizona Republicans and allies of former President Donald Trump for their role in the 2020 election contest.

Hamadeh previously ran against Mayes in 2022 and continues to contest the results of the election. Mayes won by just 280 votes and Hamadeh contends there are about 9,000 uncounted ballots that would likely break in his favor.

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DeSantis Signs Two Bills Designed to Bolster Florida Homes Against Hurricanes

Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two new bills Wednesday intended to strengthen Florida homes against hurricanes and other severe weather events.

DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7028, which will add another $200 million in funding for the My Safe Florida Home Program which allows homes to be assessed after major storm events and assists in improving resilience in structures.

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Governor Brian Kemp Signs Anti-Human Trafficking Legislation

Brian Kemp Signing Legislation

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed multiple anti-human trafficking bills into law on Wednesday to hold both “traffickers and buyers” accountable.

“For years Georgia was considered a hot spot for human trafficking,” said Governor Kemp in a press release on Wednesday, “but thanks to the GRACE Commission, under the leadership of First Lady Marty Kemp, we have established Georgia as a national leader in this fight by passing legislation that cracks down on both traffickers and buyers while also, and even more importantly, empowering survivors.”

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Arizona Rancher Accused of Murdering Illegal Immigrant Unlikely to Accept Plea Deal Following Mistrial

George Alan Kelly

The Arizona rancher who was accused of murdering a Mexican national who illegally immigrated to the United States is unlikely to accept any plea deals offered by prosecutors after his case ended in a mistrial, according to Wednesday remarks by his attorney.

Kathy Lowthorp, one of the attorneys who represented rancher George Alan Key after prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder for allegedly killing a Mexican national who trespassed onto his property, said in a Wednesday interview with NewsNation’s Cuomo that her client would be unlikely to accept a plea deal if prosecutors move for a retrial.

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Activists Push Georgia Nikki Haley Supporters to Vote for Joe Biden in November

Nikki Haley Supporters

A super PAC that previously supported former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in the Republican primary cycle is now reportedly targeting her Republican supporters in Georgia on behalf of President Joe Biden.

The super PAC previously known as Primary Pivot formerly urged Democratic and unaffiliated voters to cast ballots for Haley in Republican primary contests, but rebranded after Haley dropped out of the race.

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Virginia County Jail Buys Devices to Fight Inmates’ Opioid Withdrawals with Electricity

Inmates

The Chesterfield County Jail is reportedly set become the first in the country to use a detox device to help inmates recover from opioid withdrawal symptoms by sending electrical impulses to the user’s brain.

According to its manufacturer, the Masimo Bridge device is “a small electrical nerve stimulator device that contains a battery-powered chip and wires that are applied around a patient’s ear in a short, non-surgical, in-office procedure, providing five days of continuous relief” from withdrawal symptoms by sending electrical impulses to parts of the brain associated with opioid withdrawal.

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Empty Podium to Represent Fani Willis as Georgia Prosecutor Declines Televised Primary Debate

Christian Wise Smith

An empty podium will represent Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after her campaign declined to participate in a debate with her primary challenger, Christian Wise Smith, it was reported Monday.

The Atlanta Press Club will live stream more than nine hours for its Loudermilk-Young Debate Series on April 28, with the event originally scheduled to culminate with a debate between Willis and Wise Smith.

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Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney Drops Gubernatorial Bid, Runs for Lt. Governor as Virginia Democrats Rallying Around Aaron Rouse

Levar Stoney Aaron Rouse

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Tuesday officially ended his gubernatorial campaign, instead declaring he will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.

Stoney will no longer challenge Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) to become Virginia’s next Democratic candidate for governor, and switched races on the same day State Senator Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach) announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor.

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South Carolina Officials Plotting Next Steps for $1.8 Billion Balance

South Carolina Politics

South Carolina state officials are determining how to proceed with a $1.8 billion balance discovered in a state account and Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has given leaders a July 1 deadline to chart a course forward.

On Oct. 31, 2023, South Carolina Comptroller General Brian Gaines sent a letter to South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis, directing Loftis to research the account’s origins. It marked the start of a months-long Senate investigation that exposed what a Senate Finance Committee Constitutional Subcommittee report dubbed “financial irregularities” in the state treasurer’s office.

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Taiwanese TSMC Workers Reportedly Aim to Have Children in Arizona so Kids Become U.S. Citizens

A Tuesday report which detailed alleged culture clashes between local workers and those from Taiwan at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) facilities in Arizona reveals some workers from Taiwan, who relocated to Arizona to build the plants, will seek to start or expand families so their children reap the benefits of U.S. citizenship.

The Rest of World report described TSMC’s ventures in Arizona as a “debacle,” with American engineers subjected to intense scrutiny, public humiliation and restricted communications while being trained by TSMC in Taiwan.

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Candidate Running Against Rep. David Schweikert Drops Out After Four People Say They Never Signed Her Petition, Progressives Implicated

David Schweikert

Michelle Martin, a Libertarian candidate running against Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ-01), has dropped out of the race after at least four voters said someone illegally signed her petition with their signatures. Martin’s paperwork revealed that a registered Democrat named Jeremy Garrett was one of the petition signature gatherers, along with four other registered Democrats. Someone named Jeremy Garrett works as an Electoral Campaign Manager at the progressive group Our Voice Our Vote (OVOV). 

Schweikert told The Arizona Sun Times that this is clearly fraud and needs to be prosecuted. He said it has been referred to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

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Hamadeh Warns Masters ‘Abandoned America First’ as Businessman Calls Him ‘Anchor Baby’ in Contentious Arizona Primary

Abe Hamadeh

Arizona U.S. House candidate Abe Hamadeh released a new advertisement declaring his Republican primary opponent, Blake Masters, “abandoned America First” and “surrendered to the swamp” after Masters released his own ad accusing Hamadeh of being an “anchor baby.”

Hamadeh posted the video to the social media platform X, where the candidate emphasized his endorsements from former President Donald Trump and Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake.

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Virginia Drivers Must Obtain Car Insurance by July 1 as 2022 Law Goes Live

Driving a BMW in the country

Drivers in Virginia have until June 1 to obtain insurance for their motor vehicles due to a law passed in 2022 that removes the option to avoid insurance premiums with an annual fee to the commonwealth.

Governor Glenn Youngkin signed in 2022 legislation to end Virginia’s Uninsured Motor Vehicle (UMV) fee, which previously allowed citizens to annually pay $500 to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to register a vehicle without insurance.

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis Receives ‘Woman of Influence’ Award from Cobb County Democrats

Fulton County D.A> Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis received the Woman of Influence Award from the Cobb County Democratic Committee in a Friday gala aimed at attracting political donations.

Willis was confirmed as an attendee by the Cobb County Democratic Committee’s acting chair Essence Johnson, according to Fox 5 Atlanta, which reported Willis “was honored with the Woman of Influence Award.”

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California Judge Who Disbarred Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman Funneled Money to Super PAC Fighting Election Integrity

Judge Yvette Roland

California disciplinary court judge Yvette Roland, who disbarred Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman last month, contributed to a Democratic PAC last year which funneled all of the contributions to a Super PAC that seeks to stop “undermining the most basic tenet of our democracy, the right to vote.” Despite the fact that the charges against Eastman were all related to his efforts investigating and stopping election corruption in the 2020 election, Roland did not recuse herself. 

While serving on the bench, Roland donated $250 twice on March 30, 2023 to Newsom for California Governor 2022 (NCG). Just 18 days later, NCG then contributed everything it had raised, about $23 million, to Campaign for Democracy Group (CDG), an independent expenditure Super PAC. CDG is primarily supporting Newsom. Its website states, “Across the country, extremist Republicans are systematically attacking the very foundations of a free society — bullying and criminalizing the most vulnerable, denying women equality and reproductive healthcare, attacking communities of color, dehumanizing immigrants seeking the American Dream, banning books and restricting speech, and undermining the most basic tenet of our democracy, the right to vote.”

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Auditor Puts Ohio Community College on Notice over Bloated Staff, Underused Buildings

Lakeland Community College

A Cleveland area community college is overstaffed and struggling with debt related to underused buildings all while enrollment continues to fall.

Those issues became more serious following a recent review of the Lakeland Community College’s operations by State Auditor Keith Faber, who raised concerns about whether the school can remain open.

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Arizona Mexican Mafia Members Indicted for Stealing Pandemic Unemployment Money

Arizona A.G. Kris Mayes

Thirty alleged members of the Arizona Mexican Mafia were indicted on Friday for their role in an alleged conspiracy to steal pandemic unemployment money.

The Arizona Attorney General’s office confirmed Friday that a state grand jury “returned a 50-count indictment against members and associates of the Arizona Mexican Mafia,” with a total of 30 individual defendants.

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Youngkin to ‘Work with Legislators’ on Skill Games Concerns After Senate Tosses Governor’s Amended Bill

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed he will “work with legislators” to achieve compromise legislation addressing controversial skill games machines.

The Virginia Senate tossed Youngkin’s version of the bill, with just six senators voting in favor and 34 voting against. Youngkin’s amended bill sought to place strict restrictions on legislation that originally would have allowed skill games in convenience stores throughout the commonwealth.

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Fulton County Sheriff Candidates Point to More Guards, Better Housing Needed to Stop Wave of Prison Inmate Deaths

Fulton County Sheriff Candidates

Candidates running for Fulton County Sheriff told voters at an ACLU of Georgia “Know Your Sheriff” town hall event on Tuesday they plan to improve prison conditions through a combination of additional staff, increased scrutiny of incoming inmates, and upgraded housing. Suggestions come in the wake of a slew of deaths in the county’s prison system.

As part of the event, candidates completed a questionnaire to inform voters about their position on issues. One question asked, “Since 2022, over 20 people have died in the custody of the Fulton County Sheriff’s department. What plans do you have to improve the safety of the Fulton County Jail?”

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Arizona U.S. Rep Gosar Calls Out Democrats’ Unanimous Votes on House Oversight Committee Opposing Census Citizenship Question

Paul Gosar

In his “This Week with Gosar” newsletter Monday, U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) said that during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing, every Democrat voted against H.R. 7109, the Equal Representation Act, which would add a citizenship question to the decennial census. An amended version of the legislation passed the committee vote (22-20) and awaits further action on the House floor.

Gosar, who serves on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, stated that the new question on the decennial census would ask, “Are you a citizen? YES or NO.”

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Georgia U.S. Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasts DHS Secretary Mayorkas: Probably the Best Business Partner Cartels Could Ever Have

MTG hearing

U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that he was “probably the best business partner” cartels “could ever have” in a hearing on Tuesday.

“Mr. Secretary…you’ve allowed the cartels to make billions and billions. As a matter of fact, you’re probably the best business partner they could ever have,” she said, and added, “They make all this money in human trafficking and drug trafficking at our border. You’ve allowed approximately 300 Americans to be murdered every single day from fentanyl that comes across our border….”

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Kari Lake’s Attorneys Send Letter to Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer Regarding Settling His Defamation Lawsuit

Kari Lake and Stephen Richer

Kari Lake agreed earlier this month to settle the defamation lawsuit against her filed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, citing the enormous cost it would take to go through a full trial. Her attorneys sent a letter on Monday to Richer’s attorneys regarding Richer’s proposed meet and confer terms, rejecting all three proposals from him, at times sarcastically. 

Lake is running for the U.S. Senate and still fighting two election lawsuits, one over her loss in the gubernatorial race and another challenging the use of voting machine tabulators in elections. Richer filed a defamation lawsuit against her for stating that he intentionally sabotaged the 2022 election. Approximately 300,000 ballots in the 2022 election lacked a chain of custody, a class 2 misdemeanor, but the county has strenuously fought litigation efforts to allow Lake to inspect the ballot affidavit envelopes and other requests from her and voter integrity groups related to the election anomalies.

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Push Begins to Guarantee Free Speech on Ohio College Campuses

An Ohio lawmaker believes the state’s current political climate creates a negative environment for some speech on college campuses and wants to make sure staff and students are protected.

Rep. Adam Holmes, R-Nashport, said legislation prohibiting colleges and universities from requiring support of specific ideas or political movements is becoming increasingly necessary.

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Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale Announces Removal of Inappropriate Books from Media Centers

Chris Ragsdale

Cobb County School District (CCSD) Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the removal of four books containing “lewd, “vulgar,” and “sexually explicit” content from school media centers in a Board of Education meeting Thursday night.

“Tonight, I am announcing that four additional books are being removed after having gone through our very thorough district process: ‘It Ends with Us,’ ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ ‘Lucky,’ and ‘Thirteen Reasons Why.’ The review found all four of these books to contain lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit and graphic content inappropriate for a public school,” Superintendent Ragsdale said during the meeting.

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Virginia AG ‘Demands’ Biden Address ‘Missing Migrant Children Crisis’

Jason Miyares Migrant Children Crisis

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares wants the Biden administration to act on “the missing migrant children crisis,” claiming the administration ignores the problem.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Miyares raised concerns over the “welfare and safety” of unaccompanied minors that he argues are not being “prioritized” by the Biden administration.

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Ohio Secretary of State’s Office Launches Initiative to Prepare Election Officials for the November Election

Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced a new statewide initiative his office will facilitate to ensure election officials are “trained and prepared” for the November general election.

The Ready for November initiative will “offer a series of collaborative training opportunities between Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections and the Secretary of State’s elections, public integrity and communications staff,” according to LaRose’s office.

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Georgia House Republicans ‘Take Postmaster General DeJoy to Task’ for State’s ‘Mail Service Delivery Breakdowns’ in Joint Letter

Louis Dejoy

Georgia House Republicans criticized Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of the United States Postal Service (USPS) for “mail service delivery breakdowns” in the Peach State, demanding answers in a joint letter on Monday.

A press release on Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s  (R-GA-11)website says that in the letter, Georgia lawmakers “take Postmaster General DeJoy to task and describe the many frustrations constituents are facing with the delays in delivery and receipt of their mail…” and want “answers to several questions regarding the mail service delivery breakdowns.”

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Connecticut Committee Advances Bill Proposing Increased Threshold for Felony Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Connecticut House Bill 2570, which proposes increasing the threshold for felony unemployment insurance fraud from $500 to $2000, advanced from the Joint Judiciary Committee on Apr. 5 by a vote of 24-13. The Joint Labor and Public Employees Committee approved the bill with a vote of 8-4 on Mar. 7. The bill is now pending consideration before the full Connecticut House.

Under current law, a fraudulent payment, benefit, or contribution is a class A misdemeanor if it amounts to $500 or less or a class D felony if it amounts to more than $500. The bill increases these thresholds to $2,000 or less for a class A misdemeanor and more than $2,000 for a class D felony.

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Arizona Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate Ruben Gallego Branded ‘Deadbeat Dad’ in New NRSC Commercial

Ruben Gallego Ad

The influential National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) labeled Arizona U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) a “deadbeat dad” in a commercial released less than one month after a court ordered some of his divorce records unsealed.

Ruben Gallego was branded a “deadbead dad” by the NRSC over his 2017 divorce from Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. The couple reportedly split just days before Christmas in 2016, with reports indicating it was Ruben Gallego who initiated the separation. Kate Gallego was nine months pregnant at the time.

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