Given the destruction illegal immigration has been causing our country over the last several decades, it is fair to ask how we got here. How have a significant portion of citizens come to embrace policies that result in lawlessness, violence, and financial distress throughout the nation?
Read MoreMonth: April 2022
Feds Offering 80 Percent Less in Oil and Natural Gas Lease Sales, Increasing Royalty Rate
The U.S. Department of Interior announced it is making only 20% of eligible acreage for oil and natural gas production available for leasing on federal lands to comply with a federal court order.
In his first week in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters to be halted by the Interior Department. The agency was also tasked to review existing permits for fossil fuel development.
Read MoreFlorida Senate Passes Bill Dissolving Disney’s Special Self-Governing Power
The Florida Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that strips away Disney’s special self-governing status after the company publicly opposed a parental rights bill that was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis late last month.
Disney released a scathing statement after the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill was officially signed into law.
Read MoreBiden Administration Will Fight to Keep Mask Mandate for Planes, Trains and Airports
The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed a federal judge’s ruling overturning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate on planes, trains and in airports.
In her ruling to overturn the mandate, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle called the CDC mandate “unlawful,” saying the Biden administration did not follow proper procedures and went beyond its authority in making the rule.
Read MoreMore Than 300,000 Votes Unverified in Georgia’s Fulton County in 2020, New Complaint Alleges
A new complaint to the Georgia State Election Board alleges that more than 300,000 ballots were unreliably recorded on unverified early voting poll closing tapes in Fulton County, Georgia in the 2020 election.
“Fulton County’s Advance Voting poll closing tapes are a fraudulent, un-certified, unsigned, and un-checked false representation of over 311,000 ballots that no court could legally accept,” the complaint alleges.
Read MoreNew Figures Show Biden Administration Thumbing Nose at Courts over Remain in Mexico Policy
The Biden administration has been repeatedly ordered by courts to continue enforcing the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy for illegal migrants, but its own records show it has willfully thumbed its nose at those rulings as it waits for a final crack at the Supreme Court.
Read MoreMusic Spotlight: Gavin Lee
Out today, Gavin Lee’s latest single, “All You Gotta Do is Dance” is a throwback to signature 90s country tunes that brought folks to their feet on the dance floor to step into the most popular line dances.
Read MoreOhio Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Nan Whaley Supports Vaccine Mandate for Children
Ohio Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Nan Whaley signaled her support for a vaccine mandate for children in an interview with The Ohio Capital Journal.
Whaley, who covered her positions on multiple issues in the interview, compared a coronavirus vaccine mandate to those of established requirements for other diseases.
Read MoreProbable Cause Found in Blystone Financial-Reporting Probe; Election Commission Books Expedited Hearing One Day Before Election
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) found probable cause to further investigate and decide two complaints filed against Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone’s campaign and booked a full-panel hearing for May 2, one day before the primary election.
Thursday, a Probable Cause panel comprised of commissioners D. Michael Crites (R), Charleta B. Tavares (D) and Ernest C. Knight (I) voted unanimously on an expedited investigation into cases that allege the Canal Winchester farmer and restauranteur improperly reported campaign contributions and expenditures and spent campaign funds for personal use.
Read MoreOhio Doctor Accused of 14 Murders Found Not Guilty
An accused Ohio serial killer and doctor was found not guilty Wednesday by a jury of his peers, after more than one week of deliberations in the high-profile case.
Dr. William Husel was criminally charged with 14 murders between 2015 and 2018 – and suspected of up to 25 – when prosecutors alleged that he gave dying patients at Mount Carmel West Hospital enough fentanyl to kill them.
Read MoreCommentary: Obama/Biden Team Empowered Terrorist Networks in Syria
Hours after the Feb. 3 U.S. military raid in northern Syria that left the leader of ISIS and multiple family members dead, President Biden delivered a triumphant White House address.
The late-night Special Forces operation in Syria’s Idlib province, Biden proclaimed, was a “testament to America’s reach and capability to take out terrorist threats no matter where they hide around the world.”
Read MoreNew Initiative Seeks to Counter ‘Woke’ Corporate Policies
The Boardroom Initiative, a new joint project from the Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF), Free Enterprise Project, and Second Vote, aims to counter “woke” policies in corporate America.
The group will be led by former president and CEO of McDonald’s Ed Rensi and hopes to focus corporations on their business goals, rather than political policies.
Read MoreExclusive: U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Gibbons Launches ‘Women for Gibbons’ Coalition
U.S. Senate candidate Mike Gibbons, who is running in a crowded GOP primary field, launched a new “Women for Gibbons” coalition.
According to information provided exclusively to The Ohio Star, the group is led by Caitlin Shea, the candidate’s daughter, and co-chaired by Lisa and Lucy Stickan.
Read MoreOhio Gov. DeWine, 16 Other Governors Oppose Federal Charter School Intervention
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined 17 other governors in a letter calling on the Biden administration to remove a proposed rule that could limit charter school creation.
The administration’s rule would require new charter schools to demonstrate sufficient demand for the proposed school. The governors believe that means a relevant school district would have to be “over-enrolled” for a charter school to be able to apply for federal funding.
Read MoreDonald Trump, Jr. Headlines Medina County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner with Gubernatorial Hopeful Jim Renacci
Donald Trump, Jr. was on the campaign trail in Ohio with gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci who looks on as the 45th President’s eldest son speaks to supporters at a private reception at the Republican Party of Medina County Lincoln Day Dinner held at the Galaxy Banquet Center Wednesday evening.
Read MoreMassachusetts Parents Sue School District Alleging Officials Violated Parental Rights by Secretly Encouraging Gender Transition
Parents in Ludlow, Massachusetts, filed a federal lawsuit that alleges school officials secretly promoted their children’s gender transition and violated their parental rights by choosing not to inform them about issues related to their children’s health and well-being.
The parents, Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, and Jonathan Feliciano and Sandra Salmeron, claim in their lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Springfield Division, the Ludlow School Committee and district officials “have exceeded the bounds of legitimate pedagogical concerns and usurped the role” of parents “to direct the education and upbringing of their children, make medical and mental health decisions for their children, and to promote and preserve family privacy and integrity.”
Read MoreMusic Spotlight: Michael Rix
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The first time I recall seeing Michael Rix was when he played banjo in the Bank of America marketing campaign commercial for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary Country Music. Even though the banjo originated in Africa, seeing a black, banjo-playing country musician in the 21st century is/was not very common.
Read MoreBruce LeVell Commentary: ‘Woke’ Corporations Need to Wake Up and Get on the Right Side of History
It’s time for America’s “woke” corporations to wake up. Their pandering to and support of the Marxist, anti-American organization known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) is hurting the country and costing the lives of some of our finest citizens.
Before I continue, let’s get one thing straight: Black lives do matter. I say that as a Black man myself, but the concept isn’t really in dispute among ordinary, right-thinking Americans of any race or ethnicity. The BLMGNF does everything it can to cultivate the opposite impression because it profits off grievance politics – but its narrative couldn’t be further from the truth.
Read MoreCommentary: Energy Myths Are Triggering a New Dark Age in Europe
Europe has an energy crisis. Factories are halting operations in the face of soaring energy prices; families are paying 50% more for heating (or opting to freeze in their homes), and Europe as a whole continues to destabilize its political position by making itself dependent on Russia for natural gas.
Europe shows what happens when you adopt policies based on false ideas—myths about energy that all but guarantee high prices, power blackouts, and a crashing economy.
Read MoreStates Launch ‘Border Strike Force’ to Challenge Biden on Lack of Enforcement
President Joe Biden has faced heavy criticism over the surge in illegal immigration since he took office, and now a coalition of states has formed to challenge the president on the issue.
So far, 26 governors have signed on to the creation of the “Border Strike Force,” a coalition of state leaders working together to fight Mexican cartels and to slow the massive spike in illegal immigration since early last year.
Read MoreBlocking Evidence: Clinton Campaign Tries to Keep Memos from Durham’s Upcoming Trial
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and its former top officials are intervening in Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation, seeking to block the release of memos about its Russia research on Donald Trump on grounds that it is covered by attorney-client privilege.
Read MoreBiden Admin to Reverse Trump-Era ‘Conscience’ Exemption for Healthcare Workers
The Biden Administration’s Department Health and Human Services (HHS) has confirmed that it plans to eliminate a policy implemented during the Trump Administration that allows healthcare workers to cite religious or moral beliefs when seeking exemptions from performing certain acts in the line of duty.
Read MoreA Lead Prosecutor in Michigan Gov. Whitmer ‘Kidnapping’ Trial Withdraws from Case
Following a stunning defeat in federal court earlier this month, one of the lead prosecutors handling the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 has withdrawn from the case.
Andrew Birge, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, announced in a filing yesterday that Jonathan Roth “withdraws his appearance as an attorney for the United States,” Roth and assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler represented the government during the three-week trial, which resulted in the acquittal of two men and a mistrial for two others.
Read MoreADF Says College’s Settlement with Professor a ‘Victory for Free Speech’
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is celebrating a court victory for one its clients, a professor who was punished by his employer for refusing to use the preferred gender pronouns of a student.
“Dr. Meriwether’s victory is a free speech victory for professors all across the country,” Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom at ADF told The Ohio Star Wednesday. “The court rightly decided that his First Amendment rights were likely violated and vindicated these rights for all professors. No one should be forced to say something they believe is untrue and we are grateful the court has recognized that.”
Read MoreOhio Unemployment Rate Dips, Remains Above National Average
Ohio added more than twice as many private-sector jobs in March than it did in February, and the state’s unemployment rate fell slightly, according to recently released figures by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Overall, the state’s unemployment rate for March of 4.1% was down slightly from February’s 4.2% but higher than the national average of 3.6%. Also, Ohio’s labor participation rate rose to 61.7% from 61.6%, below the national average of 62.4%.
Read MoreAlways Right with Bob Frantz Questions JD Vance on Prior Trump Criticisms after Endorsement
Tuesday morning on Always Right with Bob Frantz, weekday mornings on AM 1420 The Answer, host Frantz welcomed JD Vance to address tough questions about why he changed his mind about Trump and accepted his endorsement.
Read MoreCommentary: The White House’s Swift Surrender on Federal Mask Order Underscores the Tricky Politics of Mask Mandates
The Biden administration announced Monday it will no longer enforce a federal mask mandate on public transportation, including airplanes. The decision was announced after Federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the directive was unlawful, noting that the CDC had not sought public comment prior to its order—issued 14 months ago—and did not adequately explain its reasoning.
Following the court’s decision, four major airlines immediately announced they would drop mask requirements on all domestic flights.
Read MoreNearly Two-Thirds of Voters Believe Biden Is Compromised by Ties to China, Poll
Nearly two-third of U.S. voters think President Biden has been compromised by his and his families’ ties to China, according to new survey.
The survey from the Trafalgar Group, in conjunction with Convention of State Action, found over 50% of those polled said it is “very likely” that Biden is “conflicted/compromised when dealing with China due to the Biden family’s personal business dealings in China.”
Read MoreBorder Patrol Arrests Highest Number of Migrants in over 20 Years
U.S. Border Patrol agents in March arrested the highest number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in a month in over 20 years.
Border agents arrested 209,906 people in March, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics released Monday. The figure is the highest number of monthly arrests at the southern border since March 2000, when Border Patrol apprehended 220,063 migrants.
Read MoreNumbers of Black Americans Murdered Increased in Wake of Defund the Police Movement: Report
Support for calls across the nation to to defund police departments nationwide and pandemic-related factors has led to an increase in the number of murders of black Americans, according to an analysis by the Manhattan Institute.
The overall murder rate increased 30% from 2020 to 2021, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Read MoreCommentary: ‘Genocide’ Is Not a Throwaway Term of Abuse
Soaring inflation is leaving Americans battered and bruised—and not just inflation in prices. Inflation in rhetoric is also doing a number on the people of our republic.
We’ve seen it unfold with depressing regularity. Donald Trump was a “fascist dictator,” we were told. The Capitol riot was a “coup” and an “insurrection.” Climate change poses an “existential threat” to all life on earth. And, just this past week, after failing to get the legislative redistricting map he wanted from the state Supreme Court, Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers declared: “At a time when our democracy is under near-constant attack, the judiciary has abandoned our democracy in our most dire hour.”
Read MoreWashington Post Publishes Straight-Up Propaganda Piece Outing ‘Libs of TikTok’
Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz exposed the identity behind the “Libs Of TikTok” Twitter account in an article that widely characterized exposure of questionable school policy and problematic teacher-student interactions as “anti-LGBT.”
Rather than grapple with the issues the account brought to light — some of which resulted in discipline of teachers — Lorenz drew on interviews from left-wing activists at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the left-wing organization Media Matters, who predictably supported the narrative that exposing controversial classroom instruction to the public at large essentially amounts to bigotry for the transgender and gay community.
Read MoreCommentary: European Military Contractor Must Be Punished for Cheating
Members of the military know they must be able to trust everyone in their squad. This trust is earned. That’s why troops drill together, eat together, and live together. It builds confidence and trust.
Of course, they must also be able to trust their equipment. The Army still remembers when its bazookas were useless against Soviet-made tanks during the Korean war. Today’s American warriors don’t want to repeat the same mistakes by using inferior equipment. And when it comes to weapon systems, there is no reason to trust certain contractors — including the European aerospace giant Airbus.
Read MoreOhio Elections Commission Books Blystone Campaign ‘Probable Cause’ Hearing Thursday
The Ohio Elections Commission executive director informed attorney Curt C. Hartman that the commission’s Probable Cause Panel scheduled a hearing Thursday to address two complaints his client, Butler County resident Mary Capella, filed April 7 against GOP gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone.
“After further consideration, I have determined that the matters at issue in these cases will be expedited for consideration pursuant to Ohio Revised Code §3517.154(A)(2)(b) and placed before a Probable Cause Panel of the Commission,” wrote Philip C. Richter, who also works as the commission’s staff attorney.
Read MoreTexas Mask Mandate Repeal Case Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge’s Ruling
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Robert Henneke, the executive director and general counsel of The Texas Public Policy Foundation, about Florida federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s Oct. 18, 2022 ruling that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for air travelers and public transportation passengers.
Read MoreTexas Mask Mandate Repeal Case Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge’s Ruling
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Robert Henneke, the executive director and general counsel of The Texas Public Policy Foundation, about Florida federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s Oct. 18, 2022 ruling that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for air travelers and public transportation passengers.
Read MoreOhio Bill Would Raise Homestead Property Tax Exemption
Ohio senior citizens could save more on their property taxes and that savings could grow if inflation increases under a bill proposed in the Ohio House.
House Bill 207 would raise the state’s homestead exemption by more than $6,000 for elderly or disabled homeowners, tie the exemption to any increase in inflation and increase the income threshold for the exemption, all moves necessary to keep seniors in their homes, according to Rep. Daniel Troy, D-Willowick.
Read MoreTexas Mask Mandate Lawsuit Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge Striking Mandate in Separate Suit, but Says: ‘Our Case Will Continue’
The executive director and general counsel of the Texas Public Policy Foundation told The Star News Network he welcomed Monday’s ruling in Florida by federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for public transportation and air travel.
“The arguments that are pending in our ongoing lawsuit in Texas are the same arguments that prevailed in the case in Florida with a judge in Florida agreeing that the Centers for Disease Control did not have the statutory authority that it claimed to impose a face-covering requirement for all Americans engaging in transportation,” said Robert Henneke, who represents both the foundation and Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne in an independent lawsuit challenging both the CDC’s mask mandate and the Transportation Safety Administration’s derivative mandate that relies on the CDC’s now-overturned authority.
Read MoreSolomon: ‘History Has Evolved,’ Now We Know Hunter’s Laptop ‘Worse’ Than We Thought
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed veteran Washington journalist John Solomon, who is now the founder and editor-in-chief of “Just the News” about his coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop.
Read MoreCommentary: Twitter Is Not a Business, It’s a Political Operation
Here’s your first clue Twitter is not really a business with a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value – when Elon Musk made a public offer to buy the company for $54.20 a share (roughly $40 billion) the company’s management not only turned down the offer, but began to work on a poison pill defense aimed solely at Mr. Musk, who is already Twitter’s largest shareholder.
According to reporting by the New York Times, some investors and Wall Street analysts said that Mr. Musk’s offer of $54.20 a share was too low, and that he would need to go to at least $60 a share to appeal to shareholders. That would be 25 percent higher than the share price when Mr. Musk announced this month that he had acquired a 9 percent stake in Twitter.
Read MoreThe Ohio Star Podcast for April 17, 2022: Dettelbach Nominated, Ohio Elections Commission Sued, and Beverly Hills Guns Evicted
Neil W. McCabe, host of The Ohio Star Podcast and the national political editor of The Star News Network, a constellation of 11 state-focused news sites, including The Ohio Star, had three guests in this episode.
Neil’s first guest was Star reporter Peter D’Abrosca, discussing his coverage of President Joseph R. Biden’s nomination of former federal prosecutor Steven M. Dettelbach to be the next director of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Read MoreSurge in Homeschooling Families Continues after Schools Reopen
The number of families homeschooling in the United States has remained significantly above pre-pandemic levels even though government schools have reopened.
The number of homeschooling students increased by 63% during the 2020-2021 school year in 18 states that shared data, AP reported. That percentage then dropped by only 17% in the next academic year.
Read MoreNew York City ‘Blue Ribbon’ Principal Accused of Fraud to Bolster Graduation Rate Removed from Post but Given $1.8 Million ‘Desk Job’
A Queens, New York City, high school principal who had been removed from his post after accusations he padded his school’s graduation rate, has received a “sweetheart” settlement deal that allows him to have a “desk job” with the city’s Department of Education and ultimately pocket more than $1.8 million, the New York Post reported Saturday.
Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, former principal at Maspeth High School, which was conferred the federal “Blue Ribbon” award in 2018, demanded his teachers pass students and allow them to graduate regardless of their academic performance, the Post revealed in reports over the past several years.
Read MoreCommentary: Ohio Professor Wins Settlement in ‘Preferred Pronoun’ Case
In a refreshing religious liberty result from the world of academia, free speech won and preferred pronouns lost.
A professor at Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth, Ohio, will be able to honor his conscience as a Christian who believes God created human beings as male and female and that a person’s sex cannot change, and will not be required by the school to compromise that belief when addressing students.
Read MoreCommentary: Louisiana’s Bold Move to Overhaul High School Career and Technical Education
America’s high schools have problems. Nearly twenty years ago, Bill Gates observed that the existing model is obsolete — that, even when high schools “work,” the results are too often mediocre. In 2016, The Education Trust found that 47 percent of high schoolers graduated prepared for neither college nor a career. In 2018, Gallup reported that two-thirds of high schoolers described themselves as wholly or partially disengaged. And, just last month, the National Center for Education Statistics concluded that high schools are plagued by grade inflation: Over the past decade, grades have risen to a record high even as math and science performance by 12th graders has edged down.
Read MoreAlways Right with Host Bob Frantz: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on the Continuation of Moving Goal Posts
Monday morning on Always Right with Bob Frantz, weekday mornings on AM 1420 The Answer, host Frantz welcomed Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to the show to discuss the strategy of Democrats to ‘sue until their blue’ and violate the Ohio constitution.
Read MoreBiden White House Report Says Energy Taxes Are ‘Needed’ for Green Transition
The White House said Americans should pay higher taxes to ensure a rapid green transition away from fossil fuels in a report on President Joe Biden’s economic record.
The federal government can encourage such a shift through carbon taxes or a cap and trade system forcing an emissions limit on companies, said the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report released last week. The White House added that consumers would continue purchasing “artificially inexpensive, carbon-intensive goods” without proper government policies in place.
Read MoreMitch McConnell Moves to Protect Republican Moderates, Unseat Dems in 2022 Through Senate Leadership Fund SuperPAC
A super PAC attached to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is reserving $141 million worth of advertisements to bolster conservative candidates in the midterms, Politico reported Monday.
“This is such a strong year that we need to invest as broadly and deeply as we can,” Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), told Politico. “In the Senate, majority control is everything. It determines what happens on the floor and what doesn’t happen. It will have an impact on future Supreme Court nominations. I mean, there’s so much at stake.”
Read MoreUniversity Hosts ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ for 2-Year-Olds
Oklahoma State University hosted “Drag Queen Story Hour” geared towards small children as young as two years old, just days after hosting its annual Dragonfly Drag Show.
As part of the school’s Pride 2022 campaign, two local drag queens read books “highlighting inclusion and acceptance” to the children and led “come-and-go craft” activities.
Read MoreFour Largest Airlines Drop COVID Mask Requirement Hours After Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down CDC Mandate
Four major U.S. airlines are ditching COVID-19 mask requirements after a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate for air passengers and others mass travelers.
Several airlines, including United Airlines, Delta, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines announced that they were dropping the mask requirements for passengers and employees.
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