LANSING, Mich - Payments caused by fraud in Michigan’s food stamp program jumped by 387% from fiscal year 2023 to 2024, according to documents obtained by a records request. The increase comes at a time when Michigan officials still haven’t switched to safer, more secure cards with embedded microchips.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services approved 592 of 651 requests in fiscal year 2023 to replace stolen benefits, for a total of $181,778.

About 800,000 Michigan households with low incomes purchase food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Money from the program is loaded onto state-issued Bridge cards, which recipients can use at approved vendors such as grocery stores. If a criminal rather than the intended recipient uses those funds, the state health and human services department will replace the lost benefits. Click here to read more.

 

WASHINGTON D.C. - On Thursday, the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee announced that it received bombshell evidence that suggested Pfizer executives pushed to delay full testing for their company’s COVID vaccine until after the 2020 election.

British drugmaker GSK informed the panel that Philip Dormitzer, a former Pfizer executive who became a senior scientist at GSK, told colleagues at GSK that “in late 2020, the three most senior people in Pfizer R&D were involved in a decision to deliberately slow down clinical testing so that it would not be complete prior to the results of the presidential election that year.”

The Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), said that it had sought information from GSK after The Wall Street Journal reported in March that U.S. prosecutors were looking into a tip from the company that came in “soon” after President Donald Trump won a second term in 2024. Click here to read more.

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NEW YORK, NY - For years now, children across our country have been systematically duped by predators into exposing themselves sexually online. The next step is often blackmail. This is what drove 16-year-old Carter Bremseth to take his life one night in 2021, after volunteering as an altar server at his church.

His mother, Jaime—a licensed mental health counselor—went searching for answers when she discovered the horrible truth. Her kind and caring son had become a victim of sextortion.

Jaime had been proactive in protecting her son online, even educating him about the threat of online predators. Nevertheless, within six months of creating a Snapchat account, he was victimized to death.

Stories like Carter’s should be unthinkable. Instead, they are becoming routine routine.

Given the easy access to children that social media and smartphones provide, there appears to be no way to put a stop to it. Unless, that is, tech companies are held accountable, and parents are better empowered to protect their kids online. Click here to read more. Click here to read more.

 

SAN ANTONIO – Police say a Texas mother allegedly bought ammunition, magazines and tactical gear for her son.

Now, Ashley Pardo is facing criminal charges after authorities arrested the 33-year-old on Monday.

Pardo is charged with aiding in the commission of terrorism.

Authorities say Pardo’s middle school-aged son had expressed a desire to carry out “acts of mass violence” at his school.

Officials allege that Pardo bought the items knowing they would be used for a crime.

Police say the student arrived at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio on Monday outfitted with a mask, camouflage jacket and tactical pants, but he soon left.

The school was swept for potential threats and the student was later found off the campus.

The child faces a terrorism charge. Click here to read more.

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is dead at the University of Michigan, or is it?

“Last week, @RealChrisRufo said incoming U of Florida President Santa Ono crushed DEI as President of the U of Michigan,” conservative activist Karlyn Borysenko posted to X on Wednesday. “So, how did I record a ‘gender & sexuality’ librarian from Michigan two days ago talking about pushing DEI on campus, organizing with students explicitly?”

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is dead at the University of Michigan, or is it?

“Last week, @RealChrisRufo said incoming U of Florida President Santa Ono crushed DEI as President of the U of Michigan,” conservative activist Karlyn Borysenko posted to X on Wednesday. “So, how did I record a ‘gender & sexuality’ librarian from Michigan two days ago talking about pushing DEI on campus, organizing with students explicitly?”

The post cited both an op-ed from former UM President Santa Ono highlighted by Rufo and a video of a May 12 video call on “Libraries in Higher Education: How Can We Meet This Moment?” featuring UM Gender & Sexuality Studies librarian Meredith Kahn. Click here to read more.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating claims that Pfizer delayed its COVID-19 vaccine success announcement until after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. According to a March 2025 Wall Street Journal report, the allegations stem from British drugmaker GSK, based on statements attributed to Philip Dormitzer, GSK’s former vaccine development head and ex-Pfizer employee.

On May 15, 2025, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and Judiciary GOP highlighted new allegations via X posts. They claimed Pfizer executives intentionally withheld clinical trial data to sway the 2020 election. Posts from.

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Dormitzer refuted the allegations, stating to Reuters that he and Pfizer colleagues pushed for the earliest possible authorization. Former President Trump has made similar claims about a delay, but no evidence supports these accusations.

The investigation is ongoing, with no confirmed evidence of misconduct by Pfizer. GSK declined to comment, and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office has not publicly addressed the probe.

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LANSING, Mich - Michigan House lawmakers want state taxpayers to fund about 800 pork projects.

Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, released a list of “legislatively directed spending items” — also known as pork projects — the amount requested, which organizations would benefit, and which legislator requested the spending.

If the 2026 budget were to contain all those requests, pork spending would be more than twice the size of the total for fiscal year 2024, which set a record. One difference, though, is that legislators’ requests would be immediately available to the public. Another is that no earmarks would go to any local government whose officials declared their jurisdiction to be a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, Hall told legislators.

April 18 was the deadline for legislators to request the set-asides. Typically, a legislator will request that an organization, such as a nonprofit or local township, receive a specified amount of taxpayer dollars.

The 2023-24 state budget set aside $1,842,961,700 for district-specific pork projects. Click here to read more.

 

SACRAMENTO, CALIF - Recently, a rather bizarre topic came up here in California. There was a bill introduced in the California Legislature not to have a felony designation for men who solicit minors 16 and 17 years old for sex. In other words, the interest is in favor of the solicitor, the person who is trying to buy sex from a young person 16 or 17.

Why anybody in the world would consider that’s not a terrible thing and it’s not a felonious act I don’t know. But I do know I live in California and anything’s explicable.

In fact, the people in the Legislature made it a civil rights issue: This is unfair to gay men that they shouldn’t be able to experiment, search for, solicit young boys—I think 16 and 17 is a young boy—for sex. And maybe they might be mistaken. They didn’t know how old. So, why should we punish them as we do heterosexuals who solicit young girls for sex? Click here to read more.

 

WASHINGTON — Mississippi's school system has emerged as the fastest improving in the nation, with students excelling in reading and math, despite the state being the poorest in the country and spending less per pupil than most other states.

According to the Urban Institute, when student demographics are considered, Mississippi ranks first in fourth-grade math and reading, and fourth in eighth-grade reading. Even without factoring in demographics like income, Mississippi's Black students rank third nationally, and its low-income students outperform those in every other state.

The state's success is largely attributed to the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, passed in 2013. This law introduced reading coaches to struggling schools, ensured regular reading assessments for young children, and involved parents if their child was falling behind. A key component of the act is the requirement for third graders to pass a reading test to advance to the next grade, unless they qualify for an exemption. This policy has motivated schools and families to intervene earlier, providing additional support for students held back and training teachers in effective reading methods. Click here to read more.

 

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. - One woman’s Google search led to the startling discovery that she was wrongly indicted on charges of dealing fentanyl in 2023. She faced the prospect of spending 35 years in prison thanks to what her attorney calls sloppy police work.

Gabriela Olds, a mother of four, was in the midst of job hunting last year in Texas when she searched for her name on Google to see what prospective employers may see about her online. She expected to see her LinkedIn profile and maybe other social media pages.

What she never expected to find was a 2023 press conference by Colorado’s Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason, who prominently displayed her old driver’s license photo among other criminal suspects. He was announcing the indictment of a Mexican cartel drug ring accused of selling fentanyl. Click here to read more.

 

Michigan’s largest gas companies have ramped up spending to nearly $1.8 billion a year for infrastructure upgrades, and a recent study suggests it’s going to double customer rates in the coming years.

“What’s most important is that Michiganders need to start thinking now about the future of gas and what can be done now to protect ratepayers from being saddled with these costs,” Amy Bandyk, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan.

“The scale of these annual investments is striking: the utilities now spend more on gas infrastructure each year than Detroit’s entire annual capital budget ($650 million) and nearly 15 times more than what has been spent to date addressing the Flint water crisis ($116 million as of 2024),” according to the report. Click here to read more.