Forget about Google. Freespoke is a search engine that gives you fair and balanced results and doesn’t track your data. Click here to download it now for free. It’s where I get a lot of my news.

 

 

DETROIT, Mich - The city of Detroit owes more than it has available to pay its bills – $1,600 per taxpayer, according to a national watchdog group. The news comes more than a decade after the city entered federal bankruptcy court.

A report published in late February by Truth in Accounting, reports that the nation’s 75 of the nation’s largest cities had $300.7 billion in debt. Public officials in 53 cities “have not included the full cost of government in their budget calculations,” said the Illinois-based nonprofit focused on public information about governmental finances.

Detroit had $4.8 billion in bills but only $4.4 billion available at the end of the 2024 fiscal year, leaving a shortfall of $381.8 million, or $1,600 per taxpayer, the report said. Click here to read more.

 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) continues to fund more than a billion dollars in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, even after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to eliminate them.

While other agencies have moved to eliminate the “illegal and immoral programs” targeted in Trump’s day-one executive order, NIH is still funding over $1.3 billion in active grants that include DEI components — from race-based hiring schemes to “anti-racist” training initiatives and diversity-first faculty pipelines. At least $441 million of those grants explicitly cite DEI in their project descriptions, according to NIH data compiled by watchdog group Do No Harm.

“The NIH spends billions and billions of dollars, and those are taxpayer dollars,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, the group’s medical director, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “So we really need to be sensitive to what those dollars are being used for, and we need to be good stewards of those dollars.” Click here to read more.

 

FRUITPORT, Mich - Under the guise of a school climate survey, Fruitport Community Schools in Muskegon County is asking students if they are transgender and other information related to sexuality and ethnicity.

Under the guise of a school climate survey, Fruitport Community Schools in Muskegon County is asking students if they are transgender and other information related to sexuality and ethnicity.

A question about gender identity is the first question under demographics, followed by a question about sexuality. The survey went out to middle schoolers.

Libs of TikTok shared images of the survey and called out the district in a post on X early Tuesday: “Why is Fruitport schools asking middle schoolers if they’re transgender and what their s*xuality is?? These schools need to start losing their funding. This insanity must stop.”

Fruitport Community Schools has a link to the School Climate Survey on its website, but when you click on the various surveys, it states the school is no longer accepting responses. Click here to read more.

 

LITHUANIA - Four US Army soldiers have died in Lithuania after they disappeared on a training site while on maneuvers just miles from the border, NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.

The four soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, were last seen alive on Tuesday riding an armored vehicle during tactical training exercises at a military site near the city of Pabrade, in eastern Lithuania.

The base is about six miles from the border with Belarus — a staunch Russian ally, and comes at a time of ratcheting tensions in the region.

Lithuania’s military has not confirmed the exact details of what happened, but local media reports that the four may have drowned after their M88A2 Hercules armored vehicle became trapped in swampy terrain. Click here to read more.

 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida House has approved a bill that lowers the minimum age for long gun purchases from 21 to 18 while maintaining federal restrictions on handgun sales from licensed dealers.

What it does: HB 759 lowers the minimum age to purchase long guns in Florida from 21 to 18, both from licensed dealers and in private transactions, while maintaining the federal age restriction on handgun purchases from licensed dealers.

• The bill applies to purchases from Federal Firearms Licensees and private transactions.

• It maintains the federal prohibition on Federal Firearms Licensees selling handguns to individuals under 21 but allows individuals 18 and older to purchase handguns in private transactions.

The sponsors: Republican Rep. Michelle Salzman is carrying the bill. The similar Senate version, SB 920, is carried by Republican Sen. Jay Collins.

What they’re saying: When asked by Florida’s Voice for an update on whether Senate President Ben Albritton will support the legislation, the Senate referred to his previous comments on March 19. At that time, Albritton said he was “thinking this through” and emphasized that he “doesn’t take any of this lightly.”

• He grew emotional as he spoke about the 2018 Parkland school shooting, particularly remembering Luke Hoyer, a victim at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Albritton shared that he and his wife had gotten to know Hoyer’s family. Click here to read more.

 

 

LANSING, Mich - Michigan taxpayers have dumped billions of dollars into the automotive industry for nearly 30 years but the state has lost 287,300 manufacturing jobs over that time.

Michigan’s manufacturing workforce dropped from 881,900 jobs in December 1999 to 594,600 jobs as of January 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

The Michiganders who lost manufacturing jobs over those 25 years could fill the University of Michigan’s Big House (107,601) twice over, with a Ford Field (65,000) to spare, according to John Mozena, who has worked at two of the Big Three automakers as well as at auto suppliers.

“The auto industry is highly cyclical and subject to giant macroeconomic factors that play a role in how balance sheets look at the end of any given year,” Mozena told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a phone interview. Now, he’s the president of the Center for Economic Accountability, a nonprofit organization that promotes the reform of economic development programs. Click here to read more.

 

WASHINGTON D.C. - There’s been a rash of headlines as if measles were a horribly fatal disease that’s sweeping the nation, putting millions of children at serious risk (and, by the way, it’s the fault of MAHA architect Robert F. Kennedy Jr., many articles will imply).

The reality is far less dramatic.

As of March 25 updates, the CDC and states reports counting 381 people with measles across 18 states this year. Almost all of the cases are in Texas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on March 21. There are also several dozen cases in New Mexico—few to none sprinkled about in 48 other states.

Two deaths of children are reported in the Texas-New Mexico measles cluster. So far they come with scant confirmatory details. Some reports state that at least one of the deaths was not actually due to measles. And while nobody wants their child to get a case of measles— it’s rarely fatal.

Furthermore, although the CDC touts measles are “extremely contagious,” the agency fails to add that it’s not “extremely contagious” at all—among today’s current well-vaccinated population. Click here to read more.

 

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. - Authorities say a Colorado woman was arrested after the death of her 76-year-old mother, who had dementia, was attributed to a dog attack.

Deputies with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office responded Feb. 3 to a home in Colorado City on a report of an unconscious woman. When they arrived, they found 76-year-old LaVonne Hoff dead at the scene and several dogs running loose in the home. Deputies also found two dozen more dogs and seven birds in cages.

Autopsy results later attributed LaVonne Hoff’s death to a dog attack, deputies said. The 76-year-old reportedly had dementia and required 24-hour care.

Detectives learned the victim’s daughter, 47-year-old Jessica Hoff, had allegedly left her mother at home alone with her dogs that day while she ran errands in Pueblo. That was when the dogs who were loose in the home attacked the victim. Click here to read more.

 

NEW YORK - New York's Attorney General has issued a consumer alert urging customers of 23andMe, a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company, to delete their genetic data and destroy DNA samples.

AG Letitia James' warning comes in light of 23andMe's recent bankruptcy filing and plans to sell its assets, raising concerns about the security and privacy of sensitive consumer information.

The backstory:

23andMe, known for its saliva-based DNA testing kits, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced intentions to sell "substantially all of its assets" through a court-approved reorganization plan. Click here to read more.

 

The Trump administration will freeze approximately $20 million in funding for Planned Parenthood, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal, the administration will put on hold about $120 million in grant funding for “family planning” as it reviews whether recipients are in violation of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives by federal contractors. The cuts reportedly include around $20 million for Planned Parenthood facilities in about 12 states.

However, the Trump administration says the funding pause on the abortion giant is not final. A White House official told The Daily Signal no final decision has been made. Click here to read more.