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NYC Schools Are Losing Students and Burning Cash. Mamdani Could Make the Situation Worse.
New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is inheriting a public school system that has made some progress in student learning but is completely dysfunctional in terms of financial stability and operations. And his campaign promises are likely to worsen the system’s flaws.
New York City’s public schools once educated more than a million students, but the system’s enrollment has been steadily declining. Since 2020, it has lost 10 percent of its K-12 students. Even with the expansion of pre-K and 3-K programs for young children, the schools are serving 115,000 fewer students than they did seven years ago. Click here to read more.
Dearborn’s Support Of Terrorist Organizations Keeps Popping Up
In 1997, the United States government designated both Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Nearly 30 years later, the consistent support of those organizations by people within the city of Dearborn has been a constant source of controversy.
Amer Zahr is a Muslim comedian who serves on the board of education for Dearborn’s public school district. He made news recently when he said he was detained by Israel police while in Nazareth performing a show.
Pro-Israel websites have been tracking a series of controversial comments Zahr has made in the last few years, specifically that he supports Hamas and Hezbollah.
“We say very proudly, that we stand with every resistance against Israel and every resistance against the occupation, whether … it’s called Hamas, whether it’s called Hezbollah, we stand with everybody who stands against Israel …” Zahr said in one video. Click here to read more.
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Waste watch: Illinois’ porky budget gives $7M to move pigs
Despite state Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, claiming “there is no pork” in the 2026 Illinois budget, there is at least one piece: $7 million to move the University of Illinois’ pigs.
The $7 million grant is to move the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign’s swine research center to a new location. Administrators want the pigs to vacate so they can redevelop the land.
The Swine Research Center is around 10 acres and hosts “a surgery suite, storage facility, a small feed manufacturing facility, animal housing, and animal support space.” Its research primarily focuses on “nutrition, metabolism, reproduction, and behavior.” The relocation appears to refer to the Imported Swine Research Labratory, which focuses on “biomedical sciences that use pigs as a model for human health and medicine.” Click here to read more.
Trump administration to resume wage garnishments for student loan defaulters in January
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Trump administration has announced plans to send approximately 1,000 notices to borrowers the week of Jan. 7, signaling the resumption of wage garnishments for those who have not made a student loan payment in nine months or more. This marks a significant shift, as no federal student loans have been referred to collections since the onset of the pandemic.
Emmett Pepper, a bankruptcy attorney in Charleston, explained the process:
“Unlike other wage garnishments people may be familiar with, if somebody, just a regular company sues you, they have to go through the court system, they have to wait for time to lapse for appeals and all that stuff. They don’t have to do this.”
Pepper emphasized that money will start being deducted from paychecks, but everyone will receive a notice prior to the garnishment. Click here to read more.
Innocent Man Sues for Over $60,000 After Police Blew Up His Business. A Court Says He’s Entitled to Nothing.
The Takings Clause of the 5th Amendment “was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens,” the Supreme Court said in Arnstrong vs United States, “which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.” That was just over 65 years ago.
It is, unfortunately, not living up to that promise.
For the latest example, we can look to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which ruled last month that an innocent man whose business was destroyed by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers in pursuit of a fugitive is not entitled to compensation for damages under the Takings Clause. This is despite the law’s pledge that the government provide “just compensation” when it usurps private property for a public use. Click here to read more.
