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GAYLORD, MI – A 420-acre swath of state forestland will be cleared for a solar farm near Gaylord under a lease agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, confirmed a top state official.

Officials with the DNR recently assessed 1,200 acres of public trust land in Otsego County near a major power transmission line to decide whether it was suitable for solar arrays. Agency leaders ultimately decided to lease 35% of that land to accompany other adjacent solar projects already in the works.

A public notice advertising competitive bidding for solar proposals on 420 acres of state land in Otsego County’s Hayes Township is expected to be published in coming days in both the Gaylord newspaper and on the DNR website, confirmed Scott Whitcomb, DNR director of public lands office.

He said the DNR will schedule a public hearing if requested by local governments and enough members of the public. Click here to read more.

 

President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to restrict offshore oil and gas drilling in his final days in office, a move that would placate the environmentalist lobby and potentially obstruct President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to unleash the U.S. energy sector, according to Bloomberg News.

Biden’s reportedly forthcoming order would permanently ban new lease sales for oil and gas drilling in certain regions of the outer continental shelf, according to Bloomberg News, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the situation. Some elected Democrats and many well-funded green groups have pushed Biden to implement permanent environmental policies in the waning days of his presidency to fluster Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda.

While the scope of the order is currently unclear, there have been internal discussions about targeting certain areas off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Bloomberg News. It is also unclear when the administration will announce the policy, though it could be within a matter of days. Click here to read more.

 

U.S. Navy veteran Harry Chandler, a medic who helped rescue injured service-members from the water during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, died earlier this week at the age of 103. There are just 15 survivors of that devastating attack who now remain living.

Chandler, according to his grandson-in-law Ron Mahaffee, passed away in Florida at a senior living center, The Associated Press reported. It was also noted that while he had suffered from congestive heart failure, the cause of death was primarily attributed to his age.

“Pearl Harbor survivor Harry Chandler who passed away on Monday at the age of 103. Chandler was serving as a hospital corpsman 3rd class when the Japanese attacked on 7 Dec 1941. He boarded a boat and helped pull oil-covered sailors from the water,” the U.S. Naval Institute shared photos of Chandler on Wednesday. Click here to read more.

 

NEW YORK CITY — Financial giant Morgan Stanley is the latest bank to depart the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a company spokesperson told The National News Desk (TNND) on Thursday.

The UN-backed initiative represents a group of financial institutions dedicated to “financing ambitious climate action.” NZBA writes via its website it aims to push the economy toward net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.

In a statement Thursday, Morgan Stanley explained its decision to leave the group would not alter its commitment to improving the climate.

“Morgan Stanley’s commitment to net-zero remains unchanged,” a spokesperson told TNND. “We aim to contribute to real-economy decarbonization by providing our clients with the advice and capital required to transform business models and reduce carbon intensity.” Click here to read more.

 

WINNIE, Texas - A Texas pastor says it’s a true miracle that he’s alive after he and a friend were caught in a tornado while out fishing.

Brian Johnson, his dog Sam and a friend were out fishing Saturday in Winnie, some 60 miles east of Houston. The bass were biting because a storm was on its way.

What Johnson and his friend didn’t realize was that they were about to get caught in the middle of an EF-3 tornado.

When the twister hit, Johnson’s boat flipped into the water. He had to hang on because his pants were stuck on something, and his legs were trapped underneath.

“I’m holding onto the boat… ‘cause the wind is just ripping,” Johnson told KTRK. “And I’m like, ‘It’s gonna pick me up out of this water any second.’” Click here to read more.

 

NEW YORK, NY - In another horrifying attack in the New York City subway system, a 23-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shoving a commuter onto the tracks just as a train arrived at the 18th Street subway station in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan.

Kamel Hawkins, 23, was taken into custody Tuesday after allegedly pushing the 45-year-old man at roughly 1:30 p.m. on the southbound No. 1 train platform, the NYPD reported.

Violet Paley, aboard the 1 train when it stopped, told CNN: “All of a sudden there was an abrupt stop and because of everything I’ve been seeing on the news, the first thing that came to my mind was that someone probably got pushed in front of the subway, which is such a dark thought.”

She added that after roughly 10 minutes, a conductor told passengers they had to evacuate the train because there was a man under the subway. She noted, “They pulled him out, and he was laying there, and I saw his hands and fingers move. I was in so much shock that he was alive. It was unbelievable.” Click here to read more.

 

NAPA, CALIF - The Auberge du Soleil, a five-star hillside hotel and spa with a panoramic view overlooking the vineyards of Napa Valley, appears to be first-rate in all ways but one. While the glamorous resort, an hour’s drive from San Francisco, fills rooms that routinely go for $2,000 a night with A-list celebrities and tech titans, financial records suggest it did not provide much of a return to at least two of its investors – Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul. That changed when it received millions in congressionally authorized COVID-19 relief in 2020 and 2021.

The Auberge du Soleil investment, held for decades by Paul Pelosi, has rarely turned a significant profit, according to Nancy’s financial disclosure forms. In some years, he has recorded a loss or a profit of between $50,000 to $100,000. But the year of the bailout money stands apart. In 2021, Pelosi’s ethics forms show that her family’s income from the resort surged to a range of $1 million to $5 million.

The French Riviera-themed resort may not be most people’s idea of a struggling business in need of a government bailout, yet the Auberge du Soleil – which shuttered briefly at the outset of the pandemic before swiftly rebounding – received about $9 million from a series of special taxpayer-funded emergency relief programs. Click here to read more.

 

NEW YORK, NY - Americans defaulted on their credit card loans at levels not seen since 2010, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Credit card lenders wrote off $46 billion in seriously delinquent loan balances in the first nine months of 2024, according to a Financial Times report citing industry figures from BankRegData. That is an increase of 50% from the same period in 2023 and the highest level in 14 years.

“High-income households are fine, but the bottom third of US consumers are tapped out,” Mark Zandi, the head of Moody’s Analytics, told Financial Times. “Their savings rate right now is zero.”

Americans’ credit card debt climbed to $1.17 trillion during the third quarter of 2024, according to a November report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Credit card delinquencies remained high in the third quarter, with 3.5% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency, according to the New York Fed. Click here to read more.

 

OLYMPIA, WASH - A collection of state trucking advocacy groups is calling on Gov. Jay Inslee and incoming Gov. Bob Ferguson to put the brakes on implementing new regulations that they warn could severely disrupt operations in Washington and elsewhere.

Washington state is tied to California’s Advanced Clean Trucks program, which directs the trucking industry to transition to zero emissions for medium and heavy-duty trucks. Depending on the class of truck and the year, electric vehicles must make up a certain percentage of sales. For Class 4-8 trucks, for example, half of all sales must be EVs by 2030.

However, in a Dec. 17 letter to Inslee, Ferguson, and several other state governors, the trucking advocates warn that while they’ve sought to reduce carbon emission from both fuels and vehicles, “the damage that our industry will incur by implementing ACT on its current rushed timeline will curtail these critical efforts as clean diesel truck availability will become limited, keeping older, heavier polluting trucks on the road. It will also lead to the inevitable loss in jobs and businesses.” Click here to read more.

 

LAPORTE COUNTY, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) - A school bus driver in Indiana is facing charges following a months-long investigation, officials said.

According to the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office, 38-year-old Kayla Pier is charged with operating while intoxicated and neglect of a dependent.

On Sept. 20, Pier was driving a bus with 32 middle and elementary school students when the students reported her driving behaviors and mannerisms.

Administrators removed Pier from the bus and she reportedly resigned from the school corporation later that day.

The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation in late October after the school corporation received Pier’s toxicology report. An arrest warrant was issued for Pier after the investigation last week. Click here to read more.

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As we welcome 2025, I want to take a moment to thank you for being an essential part of the Keeping It Real community. Your support, encouragement, and belief in independent journalism mean the world to me.

This past year, we’ve tackled important stories, challenged narratives, and delved into issues that truly matter. None of it would have been possible without your engagement and trust. Whether you’ve shared our stories, provided feedback, or supported this work as a paid subscriber, you’ve played a critical role in keeping independent journalism alive and thriving.

Looking ahead to 2025, I’m more determined than ever to continue working hard to bring you the hard-hitting investigative reporting and real conversations that you’ve come to expect. I’ll be diving deeper into the issues that impact our lives and our communities, giving a voice to those who are often overlooked.

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Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy New Year filled with health, happiness, and success!

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Dave Bondy
Keeping It Real

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