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MIDLAND, Mich - Michigan’s record $23.4 billion education budget will widen the per-pupil funding gap between poor and wealthier districts while costing taxpayers more to pay down pension debt.
For the first time in over a decade, the school aid budget for fiscal year 2025 neglects to include an increase to the per-pupil foundation allowance. This is the state’s minimum funding guarantee for each student enrolled in conventional districts and charter schools. It’s the primary source of revenue for the districts’ operating expenses.
Since the adoption of Proposal A in 1994, the foundation allowance has helped reduce funding disparities between poor and wealthy districts. Proposal A ensures the value of local property has no impact on this base funding amount. The foundation allowance gap has narrowed significantly thanks to the gradual increase to this portion of school funding each year. Click here to read more.
LOS ANGELES, CALIF - Americans love to celebrate the Fourth of July by firing up the grill, but this year’s barbeque grocery bill could be higher than ever.
The average cookout for 10 people is expected to cost $71.22 this year, up 5% from 2023 and almost 30% from five years ago, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
At $7.12 per person, this year’s feast is the most expensive since AFBF began the survey in 2013.
Economists for the group said inflationary pressures and ongoing supply challenges like low cattle inventory are two of the main drivers pushing prices higher.
The analysis looked at the cost of ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, potato chips, pork and beans, fresh strawberries, homemade potato salad, fresh-squeezed lemonade, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.
Nearly everything on the table is more expensive than a year ago. Two pounds of ground beef will cost an average of $12.77, up more than 11% from last year. Pork chops are also up 8% nationally. Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON D.C. - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) are sounding the alarm over poor vetting procedures for President Joe Biden’s mass resettlement of Afghans, some deemed a “national security concern,” across the United States.
Grassley, in letters to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, asked the agencies to make public the number of Afghans — brought to the U.S. by the Biden administration in 2021 — who were not properly vetted and who may pose a national security threat. Click here to read more.
ST. LOUIS, MO - Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the state of New York, alleging that the state is engaged in election interference through its prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
The suit alleges three specific violations against New York, including interference with the presidential election in other states, interference with voters’ First Amendment rights in other states, and violation of a federal case that prohibits courts from sowing voter confusion or changing election rules. Bailey is calling on the Supreme Court to step in and rule that New York’s restrictions on Trump’s ability to campaign interfered with the election.
The suit specifically alleges that “New York’s actions impose a sovereign harm to the ability of Missouri’s 10 electors to exercise their federal authority,” with Bailey telling The Daily Wire that it is “intended to protect Missourians’ sovereign interest in participating in a national presidential election on equal footing with other states.” Click here to read more.
NEW YORK — The accused drunken driver who killed NYPD Officer Emilia Rennhack and three others at a Long Island nail salon should “rot in hell,” the officer’s mother-in-law told the Daily News.
“He was drunk midafternoon, 64 years old, drunk and I hope he rots in hell,” said Holly Rennhack, whose NYPD detective son was married to Rennhack. “He took four people’s lives away. He’s destroyed four families, and there’s many people injured. He’s just ruined so many lives.”
Rennhack, who was off-duty, was getting her nails done for an upcoming wedding when Steven Schwally plowed his 2020 Chevy Traverse through the front window of the salon about 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Suffolk County police said.
Two other women, Yan Xu, 41, and Meizi Zhang, 50, both from Flushing, Queens, and a man, Jiancai Chen, 37, of Bayside, Queens, died in the crash. Nine more people, including a 12-year-old girl, also suffered injuries. Click here to read more.
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