The Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) revealed on Wednesday that they will add the ability to track absentee ballots in primary and general elections in 2022. The VRF is breaking ground by “providing transparency and accountability to voter rolls by allowing the public to see them,” according to a press release from the organization.
Gina Swoboda, VRF’s executive director, said this comes as part of efforts to make “elections more transparent, piece-by-piece,” the press release said.
Read More
The fact that our nation’s unemployment rate is approaching the low rate of 3.5% that was reached just prior to the pandemic should be a cause for celebration. But for a variety of reasons, the official unemployment number is misleading.
The employment situation is not as rosy as it may seem. There is a wide disparity among the states that can be explained by how much economic freedom they allow, including how severely each state shut down its economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read More
American energy providers are planning to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy, even as such projects lead to skyrocketing costs for consumers.
Energy companies are projected to spend $140 billion in both 2022 and 2023, upgrading grid infrastructure, building renewable energy projects and preparing for electric-vehicle-fueled demand, the Edison Electric Institute told The Wall Street Journal, marking the largest yearly totals since the industry group began tracking the figure more than two decades ago.
Read More
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Friday to strip Walt Disney World’s special status that granted the amusement park broad powers to self-govern.
The old agreement, which took place in 1967, has permitted the venue to work as a quasi-governmental agency and maintain the same authority as a county government.
Read More
Apple confirmed Wednesday that it will conduct a racial equity audit of its policies, The Washington Post reported, after the tech giant lobbied against legislation intended to combat the use of forced labor in the supply chains.
Apple investors initially approved a shareholder proposal mandating the company undertake a “racial equity focused” audit of its policies on March 4, The Washington Post reported. Apple initially opposed the proposal but said Wednesday it will accept the audit.
Read More
A majority of Americans now blame President Joe Biden for surging inflation after he attributed the crisis to Russia’s Ukraine invasion and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, which was commissioned by Americans for Prosperity.
The poll, which was conducted between April 12-18, found that 61% of Americans blame Biden for the widespread price increases, while 75% of respondents reported that inflation impacted their purchasing decisions over the last 12 months.
Read More
The Department of Homeland Security is extending the requirement for all “noncitizen non-LPRs” (those who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents) arriving at legal points of entry, including ferry terminals, to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, according to a rule issued by the agency on Thursday.
Read More
The Biden administration is reportedly considering clamping down on a widely-used herbicide that farmers and industry groups have argued is key for maintaining low prices.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering tighter restrictions on the use of atrazine, a key herbicide often applied to corn, soybeans and sorghum, according to a March letter from the Triazine Network obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Triazine Network is a coalition of more than 20 industry groups including members of the National Corn Growers Association, the National Grain Sorghum Producers Association and the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association.
Read More
The new intelligence chief of the U.S. Capitol Police is off to a rough start.
Ravi Satkalmi, a former high-ranking NYPD official, took over the Capitol Police’s expanding intelligence unit this month. But his agency suffered a major humiliation Wednesday night after it forced the evacuation of the Capitol and surrounding buildings after spotting “an aircraft that poses a probable threat.” Staff scrambled to exit the buildings in a panic, and news outlets interrupted coverage with “breaking news” bulletins about the suspicious aircraft.
Read More
Truth Social has completed a migration to a massive cloud computing infrastructure run by the video giant Rumble, clearing the way for the social platform started by former President Donald Trump to onboard millions of users quickly, officials told Just the News.
The partnership between two of the nation’s emerging free speech platforms — completed this week — means Truth Social will be ending its beta testing and controlled account creation and moving quickly to erase a backlog of consumers who have been waiting a few weeks to join the platform.
Read More
Emery University, Georgia’s largest private college, has decided to drop the honorofic names of two of its alumni, citing racism.
“Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves will rename campus spaces and professorships honoring Robert Yerkes, a psychologist who vigorously supported eugenics, and L.Q.C. Lamar, who was a staunch defender of slavery,” a statement from the school said. “The Yerkes National Primate Research Center will be known as the Emory National Primate Research Center, effective June 1. Professorships in the Emory School of Law named after Lamar will become the Emory School of Law Distinguished Professors.”
Read More