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LANSING, Mich - This year’s Michigan budget contains $1 billion in pork projects that are constitutionally suspect and do not promote the general welfare in the state. Politicians earmark state tax dollars for district-specific purposes, usually very late in the budgeting process and in opaque language designed to mask the nature of the spending.
Securing money for favored groups gives a political benefit to the lawmaker, and politically connected recipients are happy to get the money. But there is another party in this deal: the Michigan taxpayer. When a representative gives favors to specific individuals or groups, all taxpayers in the state end up paying. The benefits rarely extend beyond the immediate districts of the legislators. Meanwhile, more important spending priorities, such as road maintenance, are put on the back burner. Click here to read more. Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The influential advertising coalition known as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) announced their dissolution on Thursday after facing multiple lawsuits from social media companies accusing the group of censoring conservatives, Business Insider reported.
The World Federation of Advertisers, who established GARM, told its employees that they would be “discontinuing” the advertising group, saying the decision was “not made lightly,” according to Business Insider. The decision came after tech platforms X and Rumble both filed separate lawsuits against GARM for allegedly colluding with advertising agencies to withhold monetization from conservative outlets and other “disfavored platforms” on Tuesday. Click here to read more.
NORFOLK, VA - Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has issued an executive order to require all votes for the upcoming November election be cast with a paper ballot.
Executive Order 35, signed on Wednesday, codifies the election security procedures put into place during Youngkin’s administration. The order outlines several election integrity requirements, including a “documented chain of custody” wherein ballots will be tracked through “every step of the process,” and that no voting machines will be used — just paper ballot-counting machines that are not connected to the internet.
EO 35 also instructs the state’s Department of Elections to remove “non-citizens who may have purposefully or accidentally registered to vote.” Click here to read more.
PARIS, France - U.S. track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who broke her own world record and won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles event at the Olympics in Paris on Thursday, has often credited her success to God.
After having dominated the competition in the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this year and qualifying for the Paris games, McLaughlin-Levrone shared both her amazement in and gratitude to God.
“Honestly, praise God! I was not expecting that, but he can do anything,” she shared at the time. “Anything is possible in Christ. So yeah, I’m just amazed, baffled, and in shock.” Click here to read more.
DENVER, COL - An 18-year-old woman from Colorado sent eerie text messages to her best friend before she was allegedly killed by a man she met on Snapchat.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed they received a call around 3 a.m. to conduct a death investigation.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found Annabelle Margaret Floren-Wyant dead.
The investigation started when Floren-Wyant’s friend called 911 stating he couldn’t get ahold of her. The friend told deputies she had visited a home to meet with 26-year-old Jorge Meza Alarcon Jr., to “collect money” from one of her subscribers, KKTV reported.
While at the home, Floren-Wyant texted her friend that Alarcon was “weird” and requested that he check on her periodically via text message or phone call.
When the friend couldn’t reach Floren-Wyant, he called 911.
When deputies arrived, she was found inside the suspect’s bedroom with blood coming from her ear. Click here to read more.
