Ohio, Michigan Charter Schools Sue Biden Administration

A group of Ohio and Michigan charter schools sued the Biden administration today, claiming a new rule that requires charter schools to prove public schools are over-enrolled is illegal.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, includes the Michigan Charter School Association and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit charter school authorizer that supervises 13 charter schools in Ohio.

Read More

Ohio Governor DeWine Declares August 9 ‘Dolly Parton Day’

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a proclamation declaring August 9 as honorary “Dolly Parton Day” to commemorate the success of Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio mails kids one book each month until their fifth birthday, 60 books. All kids in Ohio are eligible, and this program is available at no cost to families.

Read More

Biden Admin Scraps Another Trump-Era Policy

The Biden administration has ended a program used to expel migrants to Mexico as they await immigration proceedings, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement Monday.

The Trump-era policy, which is also known as “Remain in Mexico,” was long fought in the courts after the Texas attorney general sued the Biden administration for ending the program.

Read More

Commentary: A History Lesson for President Joe Biden

A nation emerging from a significant pandemic and an economic downturn awaited President Joe Biden in early 2021. President Warren G. Harding inherited a similar situation after winning the 1920 election in a landslide. But Harding overcame it by getting government out of the way. The economy recovered quickly—whereas Biden enacted bad progressive policies that have resulted in a double-dip recession with 40-year high inflation.

Read More

Top 10 Tough Votes Democrats Had to Take During Vote-a-Rama for Massive Spending Bill

During a “vote-a-rama” on their $739 billion reconciliation spending bill that has hundreds of billions for climate and health care programs, Democratic senators had to take a series of uncomfortable votes on hot-button issues — particularly tough for those representing swing states.

The bill, which also includes federal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, passed on a party line vote 51-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

Read More

Fed Study: Ending Pandemic Unemployment Aid Connected to ‘Substantial Rise’ in Employment

States that ended pandemic unemployment aid saw “a substantial rise” in employment, according to a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The study, which used data from 46 states and Washington, D.C., found that “in the three months following a state’s [emergency unemployment benefits] termination, employment increased by about 37 people for every 100-person reduction in EUB recipients.”

Read More

Report: Labor Productivity Dropped Most Since 1948

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new economic data Tuesday showing the sharpest quarterly decline in labor productivity since 1948.

BLS reported a 4.6% decrease in labor productivity in the second quarter of this year as the economy shrank and labor costs rose. This data follows a decrease in productivity the first quarter of 2022 as well.

Read More

Ohio GOP Congressional Delegation Wants Garland and Wray to Explain Mar-a-Lago Search

Republican members of Ohio’s congressional delegation reacted with mistrust that the federal government had sufficient cause to conduct its surprise search of former President Donald Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, FL earlier this week.

The former president himself has characterized the move as “prosecutorial misconduct” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to unfairly target President Joe Biden’s most high-profile adversary. Sources with knowledge of the event told the press that agents intended to gather evidence regarding whether Trump brought classified documents from the White House to his Palm Beach residence.

Read More