Dave Bondy
Politics • Culture • News
News they don't want you to see
Monday March 16, 2026
March 16, 2026

Thank you for being here. You will be getting this email M to F at 7 a.m. of the stories the media doesn’t want you to see. Help me to keep my work going by becoming a paid subscriber. I can’t continue this work without some paid subscribers.

 

 

 
 

Michigan cities fight residents over free speech

A First Amendment watchdog group says 20 local governments in the state of Michigan violated the Constitution through public comment rules that limit critical comments.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit that advocates free speech rights, pointed to multiple cases of municipalities ruling out critical commentary. In some cases around the state, cities have taken action against critics. The city of Taylor fought a resident who wanted to read critical emails out loud, and the mayor of Jackson prevented a man from criticizing a city council member during public commentary.

In municipalities all across the state, restrictions are baked into public commentary rules.

Some of the attempts to limit speech take the form of requests, such as the city of Grand Rapids’ guidelines against criticism and profanity. Click here to read more.

 

How Sports Journalism Lurched Leftward

The U.S. attorney tasked in 2020 by Attorney General William Barr with vetting evidence related to the Biden family and Ukrainian corruption knew nothing about the recently revealed “Round River” FBI operation launched to neutralize all negative information and allegations of Biden family corruption.

That secret operation not only left the Pittsburgh-based U.S. attorney unaware of potentially relevant information, it also buried scores of derogatory allegations about the Biden family in the FBI’s prohibited access files, preventing them from being accessed by any other FBI officials.

Early this week, news broke that FBI agents had recently discovered “the opening memo and files” for an investigation branded Round River, which targeted individuals who shared or distributed allegations against the Biden family, and was also run out of the Pittsburgh office. Click here to read more.

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Chicago Teachers Union demands ‘no work, no school’ May 1 shutdown

The Chicago Teachers Union is demanding a day of “no work” and “no school” on May 1. It’s launching “what amounts to a one-day strike,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The union’s House of Delegates passed a resolution March 11 pushing the mayor and the Chicago Public Schools board to go along with a scheme to take kids and teachers out of school for a paid day off and excused absence.

Activities CTU has listed for the day include “mass resistance training,” “marches and rallies,” “Peace Concerts” and voter registration drives.

With chronic absenteeism already high — and reading and math proficiency embarrassingly low — scrapping classes for a day of political activism isn’t in the educational best interest of students. Click here to read more.

 

Michigan synagogue attacker’s brother was Hezbollah terrorist: IDF

The man behind Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in Michigan is the brother of a recently killed Hezbollah commander, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

On Sunday, the IDF announced the connection between Ayman Mohamad Ghazali and his brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, in a post on X. According to the post, Ibrahim Ghazali was responsible for managing weapons operations within a special branch of the Badr Unit.

Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in Lebanon, along with three other relatives, on March 5 — a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him. Click here to read more.

 

Fire damages four electric school buses in Vermont

WILLISTON, Vt. - Firefighters extinguished a late-night fire involving four electric school buses Wednesday, which had damages totaling at over $2 million in losses, says the Williston Fire Department.

Fire crews were dispatched to the scene, at Allen Brook School on Talcott Road after hearing about several buses on fire there. Firefighters say they arrived within three minutes of dispatch, which was at about 10:20 p.m.

There, they found four electric school buses ‘actively burning’, and immediately began suppression efforts. Fire officials note that the buses and their charging stations sustained signifigant damage, with a loss reportedly totaling at over $2 million.

The fire itself was quickly extinguished within five minutes of the department’s arrival. No injuries were reported. Click here to read more.

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I’m with my daughter at a school event which is way Morse important.

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Who Is Lady Budgetdown? The Mystery Account Raising Eyebrows and Uncovering School Finances
The anonymous figure behind a growing school transparency website says the project is run by one person, has faced threats of legal action and is expanding its reach across Michigan.

MICHIGAN — Who is Lady Budgetdown?

It’s a question that has circulated among Michigan educators, school administrators, taxpayers and social media users as a mysterious online watchdog continues digging into school district finances, superintendent salaries, bond proposals and public spending.

Now, the person behind the increasingly visible project is revealing new details about its origins, operations and future — while refusing to disclose their identity.

In an exclusive written interview, Lady Budgetdown confirmed the operation is run by a single individual, not a larger organization or political group.

 

“It started with just me, and it currently is only me,” Lady Budgetdown said.

The anonymous researcher said the project receives technical assistance with website development but independently oversees the research, reviews public records, creates content and determines what information gets published.

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October 22, 2026
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Thursday October 22, 2026

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Michigan school funding tops inflation since before the pandemic

Funding for public schools in Michigan has grown faster than inflation since before the pandemic.

Yet some school teachers, like Amanda Walker of Bay City Schools, have said that schools are being defunded. Walker is vice president of her district’s chapter of the Michigan Education Association.

“I do think there’s been a concerted effort to dismantle public education by defunding, by diverting funds to private schools, by tearing down teachers and accusing them of all sorts of nonsense. People see it, and they feel it, and they don’t like it,” Walker told an MEA news publication recently.

It can feel that way at school districts such as Bay City, where the student count dropped 16% between 2018-19 and 2025-26, according to MiSchoolData.org. Fewer students means less in per-pupil funding. Click here to read more.


 

Data centers become midterm minefield as candidates scramble to answer voter backlash

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his support for building new data centers across the country, but candidates in both parties are trying to show voters they are listening to growing concerns about the technology. With the midterms two weeks away, the issue could help decide who voters ultimately choose.

The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting. Click here to read more.

Stay in contact with family with push to talk nationwide waterproof walkie talkies. Click here to learn more and get an extra 10% off.

 

Click here to learn more and get an extra 10% off.

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Cops Release Woman Who Plowed Through Soccer Field: No Charges, No Explanation

The debate is playing out in city halls nationwide. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city council voted down a proposal Tuesday that would have halted new data center development for a year, following a heated meeting. “We demand a healthy environment, clean air, clean water, which we have a human right to. We also demand representation that chooses us, the people, over the profits of a billionaire’s experiment,” said KeShaun Pearson, who attended the meeting.

In Hermantown, Minnesota, a rural community of about 10,000 people in the northeastern part of the state, the city council moved closer to approving a new Google data center. Some residents said officials haven’t pushed hard enough. Click here to read more.

 

Consumers Energy’s rate hike request comes days after $139M increase approved

Consumers Energy is looking for a rate hike on natural gas prices less than a week after the public service commission approved a $139 million increase.

The utility provider filed its notice of intent with regulators on Monday, which is required before it can submit its rate request.

The previous rate hike came out to about a 4.3% bump in monthly payments for natural gas.

Big picture view:

Consumers Energy has not said how much more it is asking for it its latest failing, but did say the new rate would last 12 months, ending Oct. 31, 2028.

Utility companies cannot set rates themselves. Instead, they submit a request to increase rates for either natural gas or electricity with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

After making the request, both parties and any other stakeholders weigh in on the case.

The Michigan Attorney General frequently intervenes in these cases. Click here to read more.

 

Trump and Vance announce $25M whistleblower program to encourage public to report alleged fraud

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the U.S. government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.

The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.

During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to a 1% commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover. Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.

“I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. “It’ll be a binding arbitration.”

Trump said journalists could participate in the program. Click here to read more.

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October 20, 2026
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Michigan Audit Raises Questions About Medical Procedures Performed on Children in State Care
State auditors also identified problems with adoption approvals, oversight of children under state guardianship and security of confidential records.

LANSING, Mich. — Children under Michigan's guardianship underwent medical procedures without required consent or documentation, while thousands of others were not being consistently tracked by the state agency responsible for them, according to a new audit.

The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released a 40-page report Oct. 15 identifying significant deficiencies within the Michigan Children's Institute, which operates under the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The institute serves as the legal guardian for children whose parental rights have been terminated.

Auditors concluded that the institute's selected guardianship activities were not sufficient, identifying problems with

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