Ann Arbor spent $4.5 million of its ARPA funds on solar panels

Ann Arbor spent $4.5 million of the $24 million it received through the American Rescue Plan Act on solar power infrastructure. It was the city’s largest allocation of the funds and listed in the category “Replacement of Lost Public Sector Revenue.”

The city used funds in ways consistent with federal guidelines, Mariah Walton, Ann Arbor’s deputy city administrator, wrote to Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email. Federal rules “allowed local governments to use funds for general services if they experienced revenue shortfalls,” Walton added.

The U.S. Department of Treasury let local governments treat up to $10 million of their federal relief money as if it were general revenue that would have been collected if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Rescue Plan Act was a $1.9 trillion spending package enacted in 2021 under the Biden administration. Click here to read more.

 

ICE nabs illegal alien child sex offender from Cuba in Michigan over Thanksgiving weekend

As Michiganders celebrated the Thanksgiving weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continued work around the clock to give them something to be thankful for.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday highlighted the arrests of numerous rapists, pedophiles, and murderers over the holiday weekend, including at least one child sex abuser in Michigan.

“While Americans enjoyed a long holiday weekend with their families and friends, ICE law enforcement was hard at work arresting rapists, child sex abusers and murderers,” an unidentified DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

“Every American should be grateful to our law enforcement officers for putting their lives on the line each and every day to remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” the statement read. “Despite what the media and sanctuary politicians claim, 70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens convicted or charged with a crime in the U.S.” Click here to read more.

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Out of Sight: Following the Money Trail of Missing Child Border Crossers

On the campaign trail, Vice President JD Vance repeatedly chastised the Biden administration for allegedly losing track of some 320,000 minors who had crossed the border unaccompanied. “Our government, under the policies of Kamala Harris, has lost thousands of innocent children to sex trafficking, to drug trafficking, to human trafficking,” Vance said.

One year later, the fate of most of those children remains unknown. While the Trump administration has all but stopped the crush of migrants that occurred during Biden’s term, neither the government nor the nonprofits that were largely responsible for resettling this vulnerable population of unaccompanied minors have been able to tell RealClearInvestigations where they are living. Click here to read more.

 

Somali Scandal Could Sink Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s Political Career

A scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from a federally funded nutrition program may starve Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) chances of a political future, the Hill reported Saturday.

The controversy, involving Minnesota’s influential Somali community, focuses on millions stolen from the program and has led to more than 50 convictions. Federal prosecutors accused dozens of people of stealing funds from a government program that was to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic.

The New York Times put the story on the radar of legacy media outlets on November 29, with a report that federal prosecutors said as much as $1 billion in taxpayer money may have been stolen in separate fraudulent schemes. Click here to read more.

 

Another train stabbing in Charlotte -- and the suspect’s been deported twice already

An illegal migrant -- who was deported by the U.S. twice in recent years -- was arrested in connection with a stabbing on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS on Saturday identified the suspect as 33-year-old Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia.

Online records from the Mecklenburg County Jail show the suspect is facing the following charges:

• Attempted first-degree murder

• Assault with deadly weapon serious injury

• Break/enter motor vehicle

• Carrying concealed weapon

• Intoxicated and disruptive

Click here to read more.

 

 

$2B a Year In Food Stamp Trafficking Fraud in U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Foundation for Government Accountability just released a report that says $2 billion a year is lost in food stamp trafficking fraud nationwide.

Trafficking is defined as exchanging cash for food stamp benefits at a discount.

In 2013, authorities in Michigan disrupted a ring of food stamp trafficking that total millions of dollars in transactions in a single year. It involved “runners” who got Bridge cards and sold the benefits at a discount to various Detroit businesses.

In Michigan, Bridge cards must not be used to purchase lottery tickets, alcohol, or tobacco, or for gambling, or illegal activities. There are designated fast food restaurants around Michigan that take Bridge cards. Click here to read more.

 

USDA to Halt Federal Funding to States Not Sharing SNAP Data

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S Department of Agriculture would halt federal funding to states that refuse to share their data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to root out fraud.

During a cabinet meeting of the Trump administration, Rollins highlighted the accomplishments of the USDA and spoke about the fraud the agency had discovered within SNAP. Rollins also shared that in February, states were asked to “turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out” fraud, and that only 29 states had shared their data. Click here to read more.

 

Conservative professor slams 0 grade for Oklahoma student’s biblical essay as punitive: ‘very inappropriate’

A conservative professor in the University of Wisconsin system weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding Samantha Fulnecky, a University of Oklahoma student who received a zero out of 25 on an essay assignment after invoking the Bible.

“To give a zero on an assignment like this, especially the way that the assignment was worded, I think really, unless there’s something I’m missing ... I feel like it has to be punitive,” said UW-River Falls professor Trevor Tomesh.

Tomesh, who made it clear that he speaks for himself, and not on behalf of his university or the University of Wisconsin system, said that in his classroom, to give a student a zero requires outright cheating on behalf of the student, or simply not turning in the assignment. Click here to read more.

 

Lawmaker Seeks to Prevent Colleges From Discriminating Against Homeschoolers

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., has introduced a bill to ensure homeschoolers aren’t discriminated against in college admissions.

“No student should ever face discrimination or disadvantage during the college admissions process simply because they were homeschooled,” Harris said. “Yet, many universities still treat homeschoolers as second-class applicants by requiring excessive documentation and additional testing.”

The Higher Education Act currently defines an “institution of higher education” as one that admits students with a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. However, the law refers to homeschoolers as “Students Who Are Not High School Graduates.” Click here to read more.

 

Private companies have raised millions to block the sun. What could go wrong?

For as little as $1, you can dim the sun — just a tiny bit — to save the world from climate change.

At least, that’s the promise sold by a California start-up called Make Sunsets. Your dollar will pay for founder Luke Iseman to drive a Winnebago RV into the hills half an hour outside Saratoga, California, to release a balloon loaded with sulfur dioxide, an air pollutant normally spewed by volcanic eruptions. He and his 1,000 paying customers hope the balloon will burst in the stratosphere, releasing particles that will block sunlight and cool the planet.

Iseman’s sun-blocking activities — which aren’t officially approved by any government on Earth, but aren’t illegal under California law — are an example of a controversial tactic called “solar geoengineering.” It has been the subject of many science fiction stories and conspirach theories and at least one U.S spy report warning that it could spark real-world wars. Click here to read more.