Category: The Midwest

Biden Admin Collaborates with Left-Wing Donors Bankrolling Censorship in AI ‘Safety’ Initiative

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President Joe Biden’s administration is enlisting left-leaning philanthropies that have supported efforts to suppress content online as part of an initiative to advance the administration’s priorities in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Ten largely liberal organizations, featuring George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Network and Democracy Fund, are allocating $200 million collectively to help promote the administration’s AI agenda, according to the White House fact sheet detailing the project. However, these same organizations have funded groups who have worked to censor and demonetize conservative content online.

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Iowa Voters Using Israel Litmus Test for 2024 Republican Presidential Candidates

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Evangelical voters in Iowa have bumped support for Israel to one of their top priorities when considering a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, according to The Associated Press.

In the wake of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel, many presidential candidates expressed their support of Israel’s right to defend itself but others cautioned against the U.S. getting too involved and launching another long war in a foreign country. The issue has come front and center in the key primary state, and many evangelical leaders are pushing their congregations to get “behind” Israel’s goal to wipe out Hamas from the Gaza Strip, according to the AP.

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PUCO Rules New York Energy Company Cannot Do Business in Ohio

The Center Square

A New York-based green energy company plans to appeal a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ruling that ended its ability to do business in the state.

A PUCO investigation said RPA Energy, also know as Green Choice Energy, forged Ohio customer signatures and altered recorded sales calls. The commission ruled Wednesday the company can no longer do business in the state and faces a $1.44 million fine for 159 violations.

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Poll: Ohioans Show Strong Support for Abortion Rights and Recreational Marijuana

The Center Square

Less than three weeks before Election Day a new poll shows Ohio voters favor constitutional amendments on enshrining abortion rights and legalizing recreational marijuana.

The Baldwin Wallace University poll of 850 registered voters, with 750 identified as likely voters, showed 58% favor Issue 1, which says every individual has a right to make and carry out their reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility, treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.

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Lawmakers: Ohio Fentanyl Bust Shows Need for New Law

The Center Square

Ohio lawmakers pushing to increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking point to a recent drug seizure as proof new laws are needed.

House Bill 230, which has had three committee meetings since being introduced earlier this month, would increase trafficking charges for cocaine, fentanyl-related compounds, heroin and methamphetamine. It would also raise the charges for human trafficking to a first-degree felony and expand the definition of human trafficking.

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Ohio Business Group Energized by Planned Hydrogen Hub

The Center Square

A nearly $1 billion federal investment of taxpayer dollars in the Appalachian region has business leaders in Ohio excited about the potential for clean energy.

The Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, part of a larger $7 billion announcement late last week from the Biden administration, plans Ohio nodes in Ashtabula, Canton and Hopedale, all linked to nodes in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

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Trump Rallies in Iowa as Democrat-Appointed Federal Judge Slaps Gag Order on Biden’s No. 1 Political Enemy

M.D. Kittle

Former President Donald Trump was back in the first caucus state Monday afternoon, still dominating in the polls and still spoiling for a fight.

“Crooked Joe Biden and his radical left Democrats … have weaponized law enforcement to arrest their leading political opponent, me,” Trump told hundreds of supporters at a rally in suburban Des Moines just 91 days before Iowa Republicans hold the first-in-the-nation 2024 presidential caucuses.

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Ohio House Passes Bill Focused on Providing Property Tax Relief

Kaitlin Housler

The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill this week focused on providing property tax relief to Ohioans.

If enacted, the Ohio Homeowners Relief Act would modify the procedures used by the tax commissioner to conduct property tax sales assessment ratio studies. Specifically, the bill would require the commissioner to work alongside local elected officials and weigh the past three years of a county’s property values in order to determine property taxes instead of just one.

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Renews Calls for Passage of the Railway Safety Act

Kaitlin Housler

Senator JD Vance (R-OH) renewed calls for the passage of his Railway Safety Act on Thursday after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine on February 3.

“Two hundred and fifty days have passed since the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Yet Congress has still not passed commonsense railway safety legislation to prevent something like this from happening again,” Vance said in a statement. “Enough is enough – it’s time for the Senate to pass the Railway Safety Act.”

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Ohio Bill Would Require Porn Companies to Get Age Verification

The Center Square

Disregarding age restrictions for pornography and creating sexual “deepfakes” may soon trigger criminal charges in Ohio.

A proposal offered in the state legislature makes distributing sexually explicit material without verifying a customer’s age a third-degree felony. Likewise, minors caught lying about their identity to access porn would face a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

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Poll Shows Trump Beating Biden in Michigan

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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in the key battleground state of Michigan by 7 points, according to a poll reported by The Detroit News on Wednesday.

In the state that Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020, he beat the president 42% to 35%, with 20% saying they’d vote for someone else and 3% opting not to pick a candidate, according to a Marketing Resource Group (MRG) survey. When the Democratic candidate was changed to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, she beat Trump 46% to 40% — a 13-point swing from the matchup with Biden.

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Former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Says Giving Up First Caucus Status Is a ‘Dark Day’ All Around

M.D. Kittle

After signing the 1938 Munich Agreement that gave Nazi Germany the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia in exchange for Adolph Hitler’s promise that he had “no more territorial demands to make in Europe,” British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said the deal had secured “peace in our time.”

Dave Nagle says Chamberlain’s spirit of appeasement lives on in the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party.

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Ohio Ford Workers Brace for Layoffs as Strike Continues

The Center Square

More than 300 striking auto workers at Ford’s Brook Park plant are preparing today for layoffs as the United Auto Workers strike against the nation’s Big Three automakers continues.

The UAW Local 1250 on its website told laid-off workers to register for strike assistance pay and Ohio unemployment benefits. About 370 total workers are expected to be impacted by the lay-off.

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Thousands March in Ohio Against Radical Abortion Ballot Measure

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Thousands of pro-life activists marched in downtown Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, calling for protections for the unborn and urging their fellow Ohioans to vote against an upcoming pro-abortion ballot measure.

Ohio Issue 1, the Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative, would ban the state from interfering with “reproductive decisions,” including abortion — effectively enshrining the “right” to abortion into Ohio’s constitution.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Support Ethanol Mandates, Oppose EV Regulations

M.D. Kittle

All presidential candidates who have bothered to campaign in Iowa support increased ethanol mandates and oppose electric vehicle mandates, according to a biofuels advocacy organization.

Biofuels Vision 2024 said the Republican candidates actively campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination in the Hawkeye State support year-round E15 (gasoline with 15 percent ethanol added) and opposed EV mandates pushed by the Biden administration.

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Ohio State Troopers Out in Force Looking for Distracted Drivers

The Center Square

Drivers should see more Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers throughout the state this weekend with an eye on cellphone usage as strict enforcement of the state’s distracted driving law began this week.

As the warning period ends and law enforcement can begin stopping drivers for cellphone use and issuing fines of at least $150, Gov. Mike DeWine calls the new state law a lifesaver.

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Ramaswamy Campaign Disputes Grinnell Police Account of Crash Amid Protests at an Iowa Campaign Stop

M.D. Kittle

The campaign for GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing back against police accounts about an incident Thursday afternoon involving protesters and a car that reportedly struck a Ramaswamy campaign vehicle.

As the 38-year-old entrepreneur arrived for a campaign event at a cafe in Grinnell, IA, a group of “peaceful protesters,” according to the campaign, was picketing.

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Ramaswamy Rallies at ‘Vektoberfest’ in Suburban Des Moines Following Heated Exchange with Liberal Protesters in Grinnell

M.D. Kittle

After last week’s disorderly, hostile debate, some fun and games on the presidential campaign trail may have been just what the doctor ordered.

Multi-millionaire businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy rolled out Vektoberfest Thursday evening in suburban Des Moines, bringing Iowans “family-friendly fun” mixed with a serious campaign speech dredging the depths of America’s soul-sucking void.

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Ohio May Soon Block EV Mandates

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Ohio could soon enact state legislation that would preempt electric vehicle (EV) mandates in the state.

Ohio HB 201 would prohibit any state agency, county or township from restricting the sale or use of a motor vehicle based on the type of energy used to power a vehicle, as well as prevent any state agency from adopting California’s stringent vehicle emissions standards, according to its text. The bill has progressed out of the committee process and now awaits a vote on the state House floor.

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