Ann Arbor fields 40 complaints on gas leaf blowers

The city of Ann Arbor has fielded about 40 complaints to its hotline reporting gas-powered leaf blowers since 2024, according to records obtained by Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The city banned gas-powered leaf blowers in the summer of 2024 from from Jun. 1 to Sept. 30. It allowed them from Oct. 1 to May 30 through 2027.

The city received 12 complaints in 2024, 16 in 2025, and 12 in 2026.

Starting Jan. 1, 2028, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers will be prohibited at all times in the Tree City.

The stated purpose of the ordinance is “to protect the peace, health, safety, and welfare of persons in the City of Ann Arbor and to promote the city’s sustainability goals by reducing noise, pollution, and other negative effects from leaf blowers.” Click here to read more.

 

Newly released Fauci texts reveal private concerns during early COVID vaccine rollout

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Newly released text messages from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government-issued phone are offering a glimpse into private discussions among top health officials about COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy during the early weeks of the vaccine rollout.

Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky released a cluster of messages dating to late January 2021, just weeks after the first COVID vaccines became available to the public.

The messages show Fauci communicating with then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about vaccination during pregnancy, when data involving pregnant women remained limited.

Fauci initially indicated he was not concerned about pregnant women receiving the vaccine but later raised a theoretical concern about vaccination during the first trimester. Click here to read more.

 

Universities’ double failure on antisemitism and free speech

Universities don’t have to choose between protecting Jewish students and championing freedom of speech. In fact, federal law requires them to do both. Yet when my alma mater, Brown University, resolved a federal civil rights investigation during the Biden administration in July 2024, the line between protected speech and unprotected conduct was unnecessarily blurred.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights had been investigating Brown’s handling of alleged antisemitism on campus after the October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023. Brown maintained it had complied with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Had OCR found Brown in violation, it could have pulled federal funding from the university. The voluntary resolution agreement let Brown end the investigation while claiming to uphold its commitments to academic freedom. Click here to read more.

 

High taxes vs. low taxes: Which states are winning the population war?

At a time when Illinoisans call high taxes a top concern, competing states are providing relief.

The Tax Foundation ranked Illinois 38th-worst in the country when looking at taxes including those on sales, property and business.

Despite its high tax burden, Illinois maintains a constitutionally protected flat income tax, which provides taxpayers stability and predictability. Illinois’ flat tax kept the state’s ranking from sinking lower in its ranking, the Tax Foundation said.

However, of the 15 states with a flat income tax, Illinois was not among the seven that reduced their rates from 2025 to 2026.

That leaves Illinois with one of the highest flat income tax rates in the nation at 4.95%. Six of the seven flat-tax states that did not cut rates already have lower rates than Illinois’. Georgia’s 4.99% is scheduled to decrease every year until it reaches 3.99% and next year will drop below Illinois’ rate. Click here to read more.

 

Socialism Is So Hot Right Now. But One Candidate Seems Too Toxic For Even Them

The left is all in on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates in deep-blue strongholds, but the movement’s biggest names are silent in a genuine battleground state.

Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong sits on the verge of a historic nomination, and one election away from becoming the first Democratic socialist governor in American history, in the state President Donald Trump carried in 2024. Still, despite being one of the most talked about gubernatorial candidates of the 2026 cycle, the most prominent elected members on her side want nothing to do with her. Their indifference or calculated move could reveal the limits of the socialist boom in the U.S.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory sent far-left organizers into overdrive, ushering in similar surges in other liberal cities and districts. Click here to read more.

 

 

New report shows Democratic-led states have substantially higher gas prices

States governed by a Democratic Party trifecta — in which members of that party control the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature — have gas prices that are on average 55 cents per gallon higher than those of states with a Republican Party trifecta, according to a new report published by the Institute for Energy Research.

Michigan has the second-highest gas taxes in the nation after California, according to Alex Stevens, manager of policy and communications at the institute.

The explanation lies in Michigan’s combination of the excise tax, fees, and surcharges required on gasoline and diesel sales, Stevens told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a phone interview. Click here to read more.

 

In corporate welfare, Michigan bets big, loses bigger

Voters get a raw deal when legislators take taxpayer money and give it to select businesses. Corporate subsidies are ineffective at creating jobs, unfair to taxpayers and other businesses, and expensive to the state budget. Every state legislator has a record on the subject, and voters should pay close attention.

Lawmakers tend to like giving special favors to select businesses because it generates good headlines. The companies get money for their new buildings and locations, and writing checks from the treasury to those businesses shows that the candidate is doing something about jobs.

Yet the favors do not deliver on their promise. Economists have used sophisticated methods to tease out the effects of selective business favors. Sometimes they find positive effects, but most of the time they find negative effects. Click here to read more.

Are you in Michigan and need work on your A/C Unit? Click here to learn more about how Bigfoot can help you.

 

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Ted Cruz demands Fauci face jail time, labels him America’s ‘most damaging bureaucrat’

SPOKANE, Wash. — Hazy skies are already settling in over western Washington - with more to come later this week - as Gov. Bob Ferguson has declared a statewide emergency that includes an outdoor burn ban

Wildfires from Canada and central Washington are already pushing smoke into western Washington and Seattle. And now, with several fires burning in Spokane and a shift in winds, it means more wildfire smoke coming our way.

The wildfires in Spokane have burned 700 structures, many of those being homes. Officials warn that number is expected to grow. Click here to read more.

 

Meet The Assistant AG Leading Trump’s Crackdown On Fraud

What started as a single video from an independent YouTuber has snowballed into a full-fledged administration effort to root out fraud — and leading the charge is Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.

Trump appointed McDonald to the newly created post, and he was sworn in April 1. He reports to Vice President JD Vance, who also heads the White House’s new Anti-Fraud Task Force. Since then, “protecting taxpayer dollars” has become a rallying cry for the administration, with McDonald crisscrossing the country to roll out initiatives and partnerships aimed at the cause. Click here to read more.

 

Trump signs executive order establishing Military Spouse Commission opening direct line with military families

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office Monday, establishing the Military Spouse Commission to advise the president on policies affecting military spouses and families.

What we know:

The commission will provide annual recommendations to improve military families’ quality of life while strengthening military readiness offering advice on childcare, employment, housing and healthcare for military families.

The commission is designed to give the White House a direct line to the challenges facing military spouses, including childcare, employment, housing, healthcare, education and the demands of multiple deployments.

What they’re saying:

“America cannot have the strongest military in the world without the love and devotion of our remarkable military spouses, who make the extraordinary sacrifices for our country,” said Trump. Click here to read more.

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Federal judge: Grosse Pointe schools can’t enforce no-trespass order against parent who criticized pride flags

A federal judge has ordered Grosse Pointe Public Schools to stop enforcing a no-trespass order issued against a parent who criticized the display of rainbow pride flags inside his child’s middle school, ruling the parent is likely to succeed on his First Amendment retaliation claim.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. White on Friday granted a preliminary injunction sought by Gary Shane Pruitt, ordering the district to immediately stop enforcing the no-trespass order, remove Pruitt’s photograph from display inside Parcells Middle School and refrain from taking additional retaliatory action against him over his protected speech while the lawsuit proceeds. Click here to read more.

 

Trump-aligned parents rally behind kids’ online safety rules

Parents’ rights groups aligned with the MAGA movement and other socially conservative groups are imploring congressional leaders to enact strict rules that aim to prevent online dangers for kids.

They join a chorus of more progressive parent and survivor groups urging lawmakers ahead of an upcoming Senate Commerce online kids’ safety markup to enact robust and clear “duty of care” requirements that would legally compel technology companies to prevent harm to children.

In a July 30 letter to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), shared first with POLITICO, the groups demanded specific standards that would require technology companies to “truly stand with, not against parents.” Click here to read more.

Mortgage rates hit 11-month high as oil prices rise

he national median family income for 2026 is $106,800, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the median price of an existing home sold in June 2026 was $440,600, according to the National Association of Realtors. Based on a 20% down payment and a 6.60% mortgage rate, the monthly principal and interest payment of $2,251 amounts to about 25% of the typical family’s monthly income.

Meanwhile, home prices are still rising — the National Association of Realtors reports the median home price was up 1.3% over the past year, and the median of $429,300 was an all-time high for the month of May. However, values have begun to dip in many formerly hot markets. The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index released in late May showed national home prices grew just 0.7% in the past year. That was the weakest showing since 2011, when prices fell 3.9%. Click here to read more.

 

DOJ Uncovers $350 Million In Alleged Fraud

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division has uncovered roughly $350 million in alleged fraud across the Southeastern U.S., the Daily Caller has learned.

The charges span seven states in 17 different cases and involve SNAP benefits, Small Business Administration loans, housing benefits and tax fraud, officials told the Caller. The DOJ is expected to announce the cases Thursday alongside state partners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, which helped uncover the fraud. Click here to read more.

 

Confused Biden admitted he discovered classified materials ‘downstairs’ in bumbling chat with ghostwriter: ‘So many pauses and ums’

Joe Biden appeared confused, struggled to remember facts and lost his train of thought during a series of meandering conversations with his ghostwriter roughly four years before he was elected president.

The former commander-in-chief also repeatedly made reference to retaining classified information in the discussions with his biographer Mark Zwonitzer, according to newly-released audio tapes.

The heavily-redacted recordings of Biden working on his 2017 memoir with Zwonitzer were released Monday to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Oversight Project nonprofit after a two-year-long court battle.

“We now know what has been long assumed: the autopen scandal extends far back beyond just when Joe Biden ‘ran’ for president from his basement,” Oversight Project President Mike Howell said in a statement. Click here to read more.