Michigan can’t even give away billions of dollars.

A cash offer of $1.1 billion wasn’t enough to lure a company to a Genesee County location near Flint.

When auto companies chose to spend about $11 billion building plants in the American South in 2021, Michigan, stung by headlines blaming the state for losing this business, gathered a taxpayer-funded honeypot. But years later, that also has failed to attract a buyer.

Michigan gave $259 million in site prep for the Genesee County spot. It offered $6 billion to Western Digital Technologies, according to an August 2024 letter of intent signed by Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin Messer and Dan Steere, Western Digital's senior vice president of corporate development and strategy.

In return, the company would invest $63 billion between 2024 and 2045 and create 9,400 jobs.

Michigan offered:

• $1.175 billion in a cash grant

• $750 million in cash grants

• $416 million in a sales and use tax exemption

Click here to read more.

 

CNN anchor Erin Burnett blasted for describing NYC shooter as 'possibly white'

Authorities have charged at least five suspects in a violent attack that took place in downtown Cincinnati, according to police.

FOX 19 reported that the beating took place on Friday night between Elm and Fourth Streets, with videos going viral on social media.

Video circulating around social media shows two people attacking a man wearing a white T-shirt, who is eventually shoved to the ground. The man wearing a white T-shirt was kicked several times while he was on the ground, but eventually gets up.

A woman was also seen lying unconscious in the street after being punched. Several people can be seen helping her get up, and she eventually regained consciousness. Click here to read more.

 

Middle School Cheerleaders Made a TikTok Video Portraying a School Shooting. They Were Charged With a Crime.

One afternoon in mid-September, a group of middle school girls in rural East Tennessee decided to film a TikTok video while waiting to begin cheerleading practice.

In the 45-second video posted later that day, one girl enters the classroom holding a cellphone. “Put your hands up,” she says, while a classmate flickers the lights on and off. As the camera pans across the classroom, several girls dramatically fall back on a desk or the floor and lie motionless, pretending they were killed.

When another student enters and surveys the bodies on the ground in poorly feigned shock, few manage to suppress their giggles. Throughout the video, which ProPublica obtained, a line of text reads: “To be continued……”

Penny Jackson’s 11-year-old granddaughter was one of the South Greene Middle School cheerleaders who played dead. She said the co-captains told her what to do and she did it, unaware of how it would be used. The next day, she was horrified when the police came to school to question her and her teammates. Click here to read more.

 

Here’s why a school district is telling teachers not to post Amazon Wish Lists

HOHENWALD, Tenn. - A school district in Tennessee is asking teachers not to share personal Amazon Wish Lists.

Lewis County School District asked teachers to refrain from posting their wish lists when using the district’s name, school names or logos.

Director of Schools Tracy McAbee shared the district’s reasoning for the decision in a Facebook post.

McAbee said that when donations are made using the name or brand of a Tennessee public school, “there must be a documented process to verify that items were received, properly inventoried, and used in accordance with public purpose.”

“Currently, there is no consistent way to verify that donations made through individual wish lists were delivered or how those resources were used. This creates the potential for audit findings and concerns about mismanagement, even when the intent is good,” she said. Click here to read more. Click here to read more.

 

Congress wants largest teachers union to pick kids over politics

The National Education Association was given a federal charter to be a professional advocate for teachers and public education, but it has morphed into a hyper-partisan advocacy group.

Spending tens of millions of dollars on campaigns, lobbying and ideology-driven resolutions that have little to do with students has real consequences. It hurts teachers. It politicizes the classroom. It undermines trust in public education. And it’s happening under the recognition of a federal charter, a rare privilege possessed by fewer than 100 national-interest groups, such as the American Legion.

Congress is considering fixing that. The Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today Act, would hold the NEA to the same standards of neutrality, transparency and public service expected of any nationally chartered nonprofit. The STUDENT Act is intended to refocus the NEA on education.

NEA is more focused on power than education

In 2024, the NEA spent $23 million on political campaigns and another $3 million lobbying Congress. That same year, just 9% of the NEA’s spending was on representing its members, while the rest went to political causes and other union leadership priorities. Click here to read more.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Authorities say Bradford James Gille, the 42‑year‑old suspect in the mass stabbing at a Traverse City Walmart, was actively sought by police in Emmet County less than 24 hours before the rampage.

According to UpNorthLive, Emmet County deputies received a court order from probate court on Friday afternoon directing them to place Gille into protective custody for mental health evaluation. Officers had encountered him on Thursday evening during loitering complaints in Petoskey but found no legal grounds to detain him. Despite “diligent efforts,” deputies were unable to locate him before the attack unfolded the next day in Grand Traverse County.

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On Saturday, Gille allegedly entered the Walmart and stabbed 11 people with a folding knife. The victims ranged in age from 29 to 84. No fatalities have been reported. Most were treated at Munson Medical Center and released or remain in fair condition, with a few in serious condition — but all are expected to survive.

Bystanders, including a Marine veteran armed with a concealed handgun, helped subdue Gille in the parking lot before law enforcement arrived.

Court appearance and charges

Monday in 86th District Court, Gille was formally arraigned on 11 counts of assault with intent to murder and a rarely used terrorism charge under Michigan law, which prosecutors say reflects the attack’s goal to intimidate the broader community. Bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety, with conditions barring him from Walmart locations, weapons, alcohol, or drugs.

Assistant Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg described Gille as “a threat to public safety” given his criminal record — including past assaults, drug possession, and a 2016 cemetery desecration case in which he was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity — along with documented mental illness and prolonged homelessness.

During the hearing, Gille frequently appeared confused and at one point interrupted proceedings, saying:

“You’re selling cigarettes with fiberglass and chemicals in ’em just to kill off this population. You can’t really accuse me of anything if you’re doing that.”

The judge muted Gille’s microphone after warning him not to make statements that could be used against him.

Court-appointed counsel entered a not‑guilty plea on his behalf. Gille told the court he has no fixed address, minimal family connections, no significant income or assets, and will rely on Social Security for support.

Background and next steps

According to the Detroit Free Press, records show Gille has a long history of mental health struggles, including diagnoses of bipolar disorder with psychotic features and schizophrenia. He has been hospitalized involuntarily multiple times and appeared in news archives as far back as 2007 when family members raised concerns about his condition.

In 2016, court documents indicate Gille was charged with desecrating graves in Greenwood Cemetery, removing dirt from a burial vault he believed contained someone buried alive. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.

At Monday’s arraignment, Grand Traverse County Magistrate Tammi Rodgers set a probable cause hearing for August 6, followed by a preliminary exam on August 12 at 11 a.m.

Impact and response

The attack has shaken the local community of around 16,000 people along Lake Michigan. Local officials praised the intervention by bystanders and first responders, noting that footage and accounts show Gille appeared to act randomly, moving swiftly through the store before striking victims without warning.

Law enforcement continues to seek digital or video evidence of the incident and encourages anyone with relevant material to come forward.

Timeline

• Thursday, July 24: Gille contacted by Petoskey police for loitering; appeared calm; no detention.

• Friday, July 25: Probate court issues protective custody order; deputies and Petoskey officers search but do not locate him.

• Saturday, July 26: Gille allegedly attacks shoppers at Traverse City Walmart, injuring 11; subdued by bystanders and arrested minutes later.

• Monday, July 28: Arraigned on terrorism and attempted murder charges; bond set; hearings scheduled.

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‘Obama Phone’ Scam: Florida CEO Headed to Prison, Must Pay $128 Million Fine After Defrauding Government.

TAMPA, FLA - The owner of a Florida telecommunications company will spend the next five years in prison and his firm must pay a hefty fine regarding an “Obama phone” scam.

Q Link Wireless LLC and its owner, identified as CEO Issa Asad, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and steal federal funds from the Lifeline program that began in the 1980s, Fox News reported Sunday.

The program offers subsidized cellphone services to lower-income people. In 2012, a video emerged of a protester outside a Mitt Romney event who claimed her neighbors received an “Obama phone,” Breitbart News reported at the time.

When asked why she supported Obama, the woman said, “Everybody in Cleveland low minority got Obama Phone. Keep Obama in President, you know? He gave us a phone, he’s going to do more.”

The clip shows the woman standing with other protesters on the side of a roadway while holding signs. Click here to read more.

 

Trump’s Justice Dept. shuts down dark web child abuse sites that had 120,000 members and millions of files

When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger.

Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind.

Spearman went by the nickname "Boss" and was labeled by the Justice Department as "one of the most significant" purveyors of child sex abuse material in the world. His arrest in 2022, his guilty plea a year later and his eventual life sentence were part of an unprecedented takedown of a prodigious child abuse network. Click here to read more.

 

Parents claim funeral home gave them dead son’s brain in a box, lawsuit says

ATLANTA, GA - A couple in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against two funeral homes after their son’s brain was allegedly given to them in a box by accident.

According to the suit, the pair’s son, Timothy Garlington, died on Nov. 15, 2023, while living in Georgia.

The family hired the funeral homes, Philadelphia’s Nix & Nix Funeral Home and Marietta’s Southern Cremations & Funerals, to ship their son’s body to Pennsylvania and handle his affairs.

About a week after his death, the couple went to Nix & Nix Funeral Home to pick up his personal items, which included an unmarked red box inside a larger cardboard box. Click here to read more.

 

Michigan AG Dana Nessel sues Trump to keep taxpayer-funded benefits flowing to illegal immigrants

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing President Donald Trump’s administration for the 25^th time, this time to stop the government from verifying immigration status for taxpayer-funded benefits.

Nessel on Monday joined 20 other attorneys general who filed a lawsuit in the U.S DIstrict Court of Rhode Island over a policy from the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, and Justice that restricts states from using federal funds for illegal immigrants. Click here to read more.

 

Lawsuit Against School District Which Secretly Transitioned Tween Girls Added to SCOTUS Docket

The America First Policy Institute asked the Supreme Court to hear the case of two families whose daughters were exposed to transgender ideology behind their backs.

In 2021, Erin Lee’s 12-year-old daughter was invited by her art teacher to come to art club after school in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado. Little did Lee know, it was a Gay Straight Awareness club where a guest speaker told her daughter if she’s “not 100% comfortable in her female body, she’s transgender.”

The 12-year-old girl, who was new to the middle school, then adopted a transgender identity and was affirmed by the art club. The guest speaker, Kimberly Chambers, director of SPLASH Youth, an LGBTQ group open to kids as young as 5 years old, told students parents aren’t safe and encouraged them to lie to their parents to attend the club. Chambers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee said she called 40 lawyers to take her case, and they all declined because the art club didn’t use a formal gender transition plan, until she found America First Policy Institute. Click here to read more.