WASHINGTON D.C. - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that HHS under former President Joe Biden’s administration had been a “collaborator in child trafficking,” sex, and slavery.
During a Trump administration cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Kennedy thanked President Donald Trump for his “extraordinary leadership over the past 100 days” of his administration. Kennedy highlighted how HHS and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had announced that petroleum-based synthetic food dyes would be phased out of the United States’ food supply.
“Thank you for your extraordinary leadership over the past 100 days. We are already making America again,” Kennedy said. “We announced last week the ban on the nine petroleum-based synthetic dyes — food dyes, within two years. Within two months, we’re going to ban the worst two of them. I am working with Secretary Rollins on dietary guidelines, the dietary guidelines that the Trump — that President Biden’s administration gave us, 453 pages, they are basically unreadable.” Click here to read more.
PRATTVILLE, Ala. - An undercover law enforcement operation to target child sex predators resulted in eight arrests, including a middle school teacher, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Prattville Police Department.
The sting operation, undertaken by Prattville and Millbrook police, along with help from federal law enforcement partners, was conducted between March 28-30.
During the operation, undercover officers posed as children under age 16 and chatted with possible child sex predators via electronic devices. Multiple suspects agreed to travel to Prattville where they thought they were going to exchange money for sexual acts with the minors, police said. Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - One of the Supreme Court’s last argued cases of the 2024-25 term may turn out to be one of its most significant. On Wednesday, the court heard arguments over whether states may insist that charter schools, which they all define as public schools, be nonsectarian.
Nearly every state offers charter schools to provide an alternative model for free public education. Like traditional public schools, charter schools may not charge tuition but are funded directly by the state and are regulated in many of the same ways.
Under the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, a private organization may contract with the Statewide Charter School Board to establish and operate a charter school under a charter approved by the state. Oklahoma requires that, like traditional public schools, charter schools must be nonsectarian.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa created a nonprofit to seek a charter school contract. The school they wanted to operate, however, would be explicitly religious. Click here to read more.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF - On Tuesday, the Committee on House Administration held a hearing to look into "Why the Wait? Unpacking California’s Untimely Election Counting Process." California is our nation's most populous state, yet they don't fare well when it comes to counting their votes in a timely manner. In fact, as Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) highlighted during his opening statement, it wasn't until December 4 that the Associated Press called all the races in the state. "The longer it takes to provide the results of an election, the more voters can lose trust and become frustrated with the process," Steil warned, leading to the day's hearing.
As Steil mentioned, 155 million Americans cast their ballots for a variety of races in the 2024 election across the country, with over 16 million votes coming from California.
The reasons for the delay look to be of California's own making, with a universal mail-in ballot system, which Steil lamented "is prone to delays in voting, tabulation and, ultimately, calling of races." Mail-in voting there has been available since 1982, though "state lawmakers have continued to expand the bounds of mail-in voting ever since," Steil explained, so that universal vote by mail is in place for every election administered by the state, with every registered voter receiving a mail-in ballot," he stressed. "In other words--every registered voter in California gets a mail-in ballot," Steil explained. "This not only opens the door for potential fraud, but also causes delays on the counting side." Click here to read more.
SEATTLE — The Title IX Special Investigations Team—a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice—has begun an investigation into the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), alleging the office may be directing school districts to ignore parental rights laws and mandating that schools allow transgender students to participate in female sports and use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
This follows reports that OSPI's policies may conflict with federal laws, including Title IX, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).
FERPA and PPRA are federal privacy laws. FERPA gives parents the right to access their children’s education records, the right to request record corrections or amendments, and the right to control (with important exceptions) disclosure of personally identifiable information in education records. Click here to read more.
