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Michigan to add 24% marijuana tax to fix the roads

Buying legal marijuana in Michigan will likely cost about 24% more starting next year, thanks to a tax hike meant to fill potholes.

Michigan’s political leaders have agreed not to shut down the state government over a budget impasse, but not all lawmakers are on board with upcoming tax hikes.

The statement claims that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, and House Speaker Matt Hall have agreed to pass a budget with road funding before Oct. 1.

The leaders agreed to pass the School Aid budget and state budget, including long-term road funding, before the end of the fiscal year.

Michigan Republicans and Democrats agreed to enact a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana. That tax will add to the already 10% excise tax for recreational marijuana and a 6% sales tax. Click here to read more.

 

Salvage crew finds $1 million treasure on 300-year-old shipwreck

VERO BEACH, Fla. - Over $1 million worth of silver and gold coins have been recovered from the remains of a Spanish fleet that sank off the Florida coast 310 years ago.

M/V Just Right Capt. Levin Shavers and his crew found over 1,000 silver coins, known as reales, and five gold coins, known as escudos, as well as other gold artifacts in the remains of the 1715 Treasure Fleet shipwreck during the summer salvage season.

“The best way I can describe it is if you lose something you really, really like and you’ve almost come to terms with it just never being found again, and then, all of a sudden, it shows up. It’s just such an awesome feeling,” Shavers said. Click here to read more.

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Elon Musk shares Erika Kirk’s call to ‘go to church’

Elon Musk, a man who once quipped that he’s OK with going to Hell because more people will be there, is now encouraging his followers to attend church.

Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and CEO of the social media platform X, reposted a message from Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk on Sunday, in which she encouraged people to “Go to church.” Musk, who has taken a prominent role in American politics and public discourse since the first assassination attempt on Trump’s life, has identified himself as a “cultural Christian” in the past but has stopped short of fully embracing Christianity.

In a 2024 interviewwith Jordan Peterson, Musk explained, “While I’m not a particularly religious person, I do believe that the teachings of Jesus are good and wise and that there’s tremendous wisdom in turning the other cheek.” He also described himself as a “big believer in the principles of Christianity,” which he praised as “very good.”. Click here to read more.

 

Trump Uses Reagan-Era Policy to Ban Taxpayer-Funded Gender-Transition Surgeries

resident Donald Trump’s State Department will soon expand the scope of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for abortions.

“The department will soon take additional steps to close loopholes that allowed taxpayer funding for promotion of abortion in previous iterations of the Mexico City Policy and expand the scope of the policy to ensure every penny of U.S. foreign assistance prioritizes American values, not the woke agenda,” a senior State Department official told The Daily Signal.

The expanded policy will prohibit U.S. funding for gender ideology, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. For example, the State Department is ending a $2 million grant to fund gender-affirming operations in Guatemala.

The new provision restricts a broader range of nongovernmental organization programming, such as those for HIV/AIDS, President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), maternal and child health, nutrition, and infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. Click here to read more.

 

Catholic Families Pledge to Hit the Brakes on Smartphones

For many parents, the dangers and downsides of giving their children smartphones — the time wasted scrolling online, potential exposure to inappropriate content, and the anxiety and depression that can come from social-media addiction — are obvious.

What is far less obvious to many parents, in a society saturated with smartphone use among adults and children alike, is how to say “No” when their son or daughter asks for one.

One Catholic-founded Texas-based group is attempting to offer a solution: banding school parents together under a pledge to keep smartphones and social media out of their kids’ hands, based both on a Catholic vision of the human person as well as scientific evidence about the development of the young brain.

It’s hardly a wonder why parents who decide not to give their children personal, internet-connected devices feel like outliers.

A 2025 study by Common Sense Media (CSM) found that 1 in 4 children in the U.S. are given a smartphone by age 8. A different study surveyed 1,500 kids and found that two-thirds were given their first smartphone when they were 10 or younger. Click here to read more.

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GOODRICH, Mich. — A Michigan church is confirming that the man accused of opening fire at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township Sunday had a recent encounter just days before the deadly attack.

In an email to members, The River Church in Goodrich shared that Thomas Jacob Sanford, the suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting and fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Twp., visited its church on September 21 — a week before the attack. Church leaders say Sanford came with his family and spoke with staff about wanting to have his son baptized.

According to the church’s statement, Sanford became agitated during that conversation, though he showed no signs of physical violence and left without incident. “While he became agitated during that interaction, he did not show any indication of physical violence, and he and his family left without incident,” the statement read.

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Church leaders say Sanford had also rented space at the River Church back in 2015, when his family used the building for a fundraiser related to his son’s medical condition. They emphasized that the event was a simple facility rental, not part of church ministry.

Following the Grand Blanc tragedy, law enforcement conducted a full inspection of the Goodrich location and cleared it as safe. Officers also swept surrounding areas “in an abundance of caution.”

The church said it released this information “in the spirit of transparency” and to assure members that every safety step is being taken.

In its message, The River Church also expressed deep sorrow for the victims and their families, quoting Psalm 34:18 — “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

The email concluded by thanking security and medical teams who serve across the church’s nine campuses, noting that some members of its security staff are armed while serving. Leaders said a full review of safety procedures is now underway.

Background on the Grand Blanc Church Shooting

Authorities say 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford drove a pickup truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday, opened fire on worshippers, and then set the building on fire.

Four people were killed and eight were injured, including children and elderly victims. Investigators later discovered explosive devices inside the suspect’s vehicle. The FBI continues to lead the investigation, calling it a targeted act of violence.

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Michigan faces $415M bill for botched benefit errors

Michigan will repay around $415 million to the federal government because the state’s largest agency struggles to disburse benefits accurately, Rep. Jason Woolford, R-Howell, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a phone interview.

Woolford, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, pressed Elizabeth Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in a hearing on Sept 12.

Woolford pointed to systemic problems with how the department administers safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps); Medicaid; Medicare Savings Program, Women Infants and Children, and the Family Independence Program. In fiscal 2024 alone, Michigan spent more than $35 Billion on health and human services, or more than half its budget. Click here to read more.

 

Elon Musk Leads Mass Netflix Membership Cancellations After Company’s Children’s Cartoon Creator Smears Charlie Kirk as a ‘Nazi’

Billionaire Elon Musk has added his name to the mushrooming number of consumers cancelling their Netflix membership after the streaming giant’s children’s cartoon show creator Hamish Steele smeared slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk as a “Nazi.”

Steele, an animator credited with creating the Netflix cartoon series Dead End: Paranormal Park, took to BlueSky after Kirk was assassinated and defamed the conservative firebrand in a vile tirade.

“Why the fuck are you even commenting on this, dickhead?” Steele said on the social media platform on September 11. “You sympathy for any of the families being slaughtered by your weapons. but a random nazi gets shot and its a public statement. You’re such a fucking evil shit.”

Netflix canceled Dead End: Paranormal Park in 2023 after two seasons. Click here to read more.

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Supreme Court urged to restore Fourth Amendment protections for digital data

The Supreme Court begins a new term next week. In the coming months, the justices will consider cases touching nearly every corner of American life. Among the cases the Court is being asked to take up is one presenting an important question about digital privacy: can the government demand access to your location data from companies like Google without a warrant based on probable cause?

That question is at the heart of Chatrie v. United States. The case arises from a “geofence warrant” which let law enforcement sweep up information about everyone near the scene of a robbery—including many innocent bystanders. Pacific Legal Foundation filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of an amicus brief urging the Court to hear the case and restore crucial Fourth Amendment protections for the digital age.

To investigate the robbery, law enforcement obtained a geofence warrant covering a 150-meter radius around the bank during a one-hour window. To comply, Google had to query its entire “Sensorvault,” a database storing the location histories of between 500 and 600 million users. Click here to read more.

 

Cartel Member Tells CNN Trump Has Made His Criminal Activity ‘More Difficult’

A leader of the Sinaloa Cartel told CNN that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on criminal activity at the southern border has made their lives “more difficult” in footage released on Tuesday.

CNN senior national correspondent David Culver sat inside a vehicle with a member of the cartel, who wore a mask and sunglasses to cover his face, during his six-month coverage of the Mexican cartels and how they recruit young Americans. The cartel member told Culver that Trump’s aggressive crackdown on the cartels has made his job “tougher” and “more difficult.”

“Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making your job tougher?” Culver asked.

“Oh yeah. Yeah,” the cartel member said.

“Yes? But it’s becoming more difficult you think?” Culver asked. Click here to read more.

 

Feds predict major blackout risk from switch to renewables

America’s power grids are increasingly at risk, hobbled by power plant closings, unreliable and insufficient replacements, and increased demand for new power. “If these shadows remain unaltered by the future,” as Charles Dickens put it, then by 2030 the nation’s risk of blackouts will be 100 times worse.

That is the distressing finding from a recent Resource Adequacy Report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), “Evaluating the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid.”

According to the report, what is endangering reliable energy across America is “the accelerated retirement of existing generation capacity and the insufficient pace of firm, dispatchable generation additions (partly due to a recent focus on intermittent rather than dispatchable sources of energy).” This “status quo” is unsustainable, the report finds, given the expected load growth by 2030, driven especially by “manufacturing, re-industrialization, and data centers driving artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.” Click here to read more.