Welcome to my Keeping it Real Newsletter!

 

 

FDA bureaucracy effectively blocking an autism-treating drug

Drug review processes at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are not serving the American public.

Exhibit 1 illustrating this are the special FDA programs Congress has developed over the past two decades: fast-track designation, the priority review voucher program and emergency use authorization.

Earlier this year, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary went further, announcing that the FDA’s default stance on drug approval would now be a single Phase 3 or “pivotal” trial, rather than two. Click here to read more.

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Supreme Court backs CA parents’ right to be told about gender transitions

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on March 2 backed parents’ right to be told if their child changes their name, or pronouns they’re using in school, blocking California rules aimed at preventing teachers from outing transgender students to their parents.

“Under long-established precedent, parents − not the State − have primary authority with respect to `the upbringing and education of children,’” the majority said in an unsigned opinion. “The right protected by these precedents includes the right not to be shut out of participation in decisions regarding their children’s mental health.”

The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the decision to grant the parents’ emergency request. Click here to read more.

 

Self-Driving Waymo EV Blocked First Responders at Austin Mass Shooting Scene

A driverless Waymo robotaxi obstructed emergency vehicles attempting to reach the site of the mass shooting in downtown Austin that left two people dead and 14 others injured early Sunday morning.

The KXAN reports that an autonomous Waymo vehicle caused a delay for emergency responders racing to the scene of a deadly mass shooting at a popular Austin bar in the early morning hours of Sunday. The incident has renewed concerns about the deployment of self-driving vehicles in urban environments, particularly during emergency situations. Click here to read more.

 

Georgia lawmakers pitch statewide grand jury to investigate election violations

Senate Resolution 875 says the grand juries could investigate election violations from anywhere in the state. The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia would appoint a Superior Court judge to oversee the grand jury. The attorney general would appoint a legal adviser, according to the bill.

Georgia voters would decide in November if the resolution becomes part of the state constitution.

“We have had this, I guess just a series of issues involving voting, different accusations, different prosecutions of different folks, even the apparently the federal government is involved at this point in some of these,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, during a Friday meeting of the Senate Special Committee on Investigations and a sponsor of the resolution. Click here to read more.

 

Illegal immigrant accused of killing woman in Fairfax County had previous charges dropped

AIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — An illegal immigrant who has been arrested more than 30 times is now charged with murdering a woman at a Fairfax County bus stop. This is one of many examples where Fairfax County’s prosecutor released a violent repeat offender back into the community.

When Fairfax County police arrived at a Hybla Valley bus stop, they found Stephanie Minter stabbed to death.

Minter’s family described her as “a happy, jolly individual, filled with love and adoration for her loved ones. A beam of light in dark places.” Click here to read more.

 

 

Jocelyn Benson won’t say if voter rolls are free from noncitizen registrants

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson insists Michigan has done “more than any other state” to secure the state’s voter rolls, despite a federal investigation into repeated documented instances of noncitizen voting.

Confronted following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s final State of the State address on Wednesday, The Midwesterner asked Benson, “Can you assure Michiganders that there are no longer any noncitizens on the voter rolls?”

The Democrat frontrunner for governor dodged and told The Midwesterner she’s “actually done a lot, frankly, more than any other state, to ensure we’re driving down or increasing the security of our voter rolls.”

“So are there any other noncitizens on the voter rolls?” she was asked.

She dodged that, too. Click here to read more.

 

Massive EV Subsidies Not Paying Off

The future was supposed to have arrived this year in a cluster of counties just east of Atlanta in the form of a state-of-the-art factory that would churn out 400,000 electric vehicles a year. But when JoEllen Artz looks about her lifetime neighborhood, all she sees are holes.

“Those shovel holes they made in the ground? That’s it,” she said of the planned site of a Rivian manufacturing plant. “It’s awful, awful.”

The problem is not a lack of funds. On the promise of thousands of jobs, elected officials in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta have pledged some $8 billion to the project, including a $6.5 billion loan the Biden administration green-lit in its final hours.

Those loans are just two of the huge public bets, or investments, that state capitals and Washington, D.C., have made on EVs. While no one has calculated exactly how many federal and state dollars both Republican and Democratic elected officials have sent to that green sector, experts RealClearInvestigations consulted fixed the total north of $100 billion. Click here to read more.

 

Sen. Ashley Moody’s child sextortion bill moves to Senate floor

WASHINGTON — A bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida aimed at cracking down on online sextortion is moving to the Senate floor after passing out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The legislation, known as the James T. Woods Act, would explicitly criminalize intentional threats to distribute child sexual abuse material and criminalize tactics frequently used by online predators to coerce minors. Supporters say the bill closes a gap in federal law that has forced prosecutors to rely on broader extortion statutes that do not specifically address sextortion. Click here to read more.

 

Time to rein in old MEGA gravy train

It was great to see legislators refuse to pass any new business subsidies in 2025. But the state is still going to pay $533.1 million more to select companies this year based on deals made two decades ago. That’s not right, and that’s not how policy is supposed to work.

Michigan operated a selective business tax credit program via the Michigan Economic Growth Authority and made deals with companies from 1995 to 2011. Deals lasted for up to twenty years, and companies received refundable tax credits based on the number of people employed in facilities covered by the agreement. With refundable credits, companies can get cash payments from the state when they receive credits worth more than what they owe in taxes. Click here to read more.

 

Austin 6th Street shooting: 3 dead; image shows apparent gunman as terror ties probed

AUSTIN, Texas - Three people, including the gunman, were killed, and 14 others were wounded in a mass shooting outside a bar in Austin's bustling Sixth Street entertainment district early Sunday morning that authorities said may have ties to terrorism.

At a press conference early Sunday, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said police received a call around 1:40 a.m. for reports of a “male shooting” at Buford’s, a beer garden in the city’s busy entertainment district.

When police arrived at the scene, they confronted a man with a gun and then “returned fire, killing the suspect,” Davis said.

According to the Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security later identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal who lived in Pflugerville, a suburb north of Austin. Click here to read more.

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Expert estimates Jocelyn Benson’s husband, Ryan Friedrichs, to make $70 MILLION off Saline data center project

Ryan Friedrichs could recognize a $70 million commission in his current role as vice president of billionaire Stephen Ross’ Related Digital Companies, which is endeavoring to build the $7 billion Stargate data center in Saline Township.

Friedrichs is married to Jocelyn Benson, who in her current position as Michigan Secretary of State is overseeing her own 2026 gubernatorial election.

Related Digital is developing the $7 billion “Stargate” project for Oracle and Open AI on 575 acres. The data center project is one of many proposals across the state that has been met with opposition by residents and communities. Click here to read more.

 

ICE agents rescue child from drowning in Plymouth hotel pool

PLYMOUTH, Minn. - A 4-year-old boy was saved by two off-duty ICE agents in Plymouth who performed CPR on him before paramedics brought him to a hospital.

Big picture view:

The Department of Homeland Security said two ICE agents “sprung into action” to rescue a 4-year-old boy who almost drowned in a hotel pool in Plymouth.

The agents then “performed CPR for several minutes before paramedics arrived.”

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that its deputies responded to a possible drowning at the Ramada Inn in Plymouth around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20. The boy was taken to the hospital before deputies arrived. Click here to read more.

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Mortgage Rates Fall Below 6% For First Time Since 2022

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage this week was 5.98 percent, the first time the average rate has dropped into the five percent range in nearly three years, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

“This rate, combined with the improving availability of homes for sale, is meaningful and will drive more potential buyers into the market for spring homebuying season,” Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates peaked at 7.79 percent in October of 2023. When Trump took office in January, rates were around seven percent. Since May, rates have been steadily declining.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump frequently said that his administration would bring down mortgage rates to make homebuying more affordable.

“We’re going to bring it down very fast, we’re going to bring energy down. We will drive down the rates so you will be able to pay 2 percent again and we will be able to finance or refinance your homes drastically,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona. Click here to read more.

 

New bill would block scholarship money for students

A new federal program will allow individuals to get an annual tax credit for donating funds for education, but Illinois students can access the money only if the state opts in.

Some lawmakers have proposed legislation that would prevent students from getting that much-needed help.

Senate Bill 3986 would prohibit Illinois from opting into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which provides privately-donated funds for tutoring, fees for dual enrollment, educational therapies for students with disabilities and other academic needs.

While the bill would deny money for Illinois students, the federal tax credit to donors would not be affected. Donors could still benefit from the tax credit by simply donating to students in other states. Click here to read more

 

World Economic Forum CEO resigns after DOJ files show meetings, emails with Epstein

World Economic Forum CEO and President Borge Brende said he was resigning Thursday, after an investigation was conducted into his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister who became WEF president in 2017, announced his decision in a statement following the Justice Department’s release of Epstein files that showed he had three business dinners with the disgraced financier and had also communicated with him via email and text, Reuters reported.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to step down as President and CEO of the World Economic Forum. My time here, spanning 8-1/2 years, has been profoundly rewarding,” Brende said in a statement, without mentioning Epstein. Click here to read more.

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