Day: July 5, 2022

Georgia Senate Committee to Examine Oversight of Local Developmental Authorities

Georgia Star News Staff

A Georgia Senate committee is set to explore potential legislative solutions that could give the state more oversight of local development authorities.

Senate Resolution 809 created the five-member Senate Development Authorities and Downtown Development Authorities Study Committee.

In an announcement, Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, said the committee will explore ways “we can maximize the benefit brought to our communities by local development authorities, while also ensuring proper safeguards are in place to protect taxpayers from abuse.”

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Abrams Nonprofit Says ‘True Freedom’ Exists for Few Americans

Peter D'Abrosca

A non-profit founded by gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams Monday bemoaned what it says is a lack of freedom for many Americans. 

“Since our nation’s independence, true freedom has only ever existed for a small subset of people,” Fair Fight said on Twitter. “Today, when our basic rights are once again under attack, we’re celebrating those who continue the fight for freedom for every American—no matter their gender, race, or zip code.”

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Commentary: The National Academies Have Abandoned the Sciences

Admin

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently held an event titled: “Structural Racism and Rigorous Models of Social Inequity.” The two-day conference seemed less of a workshop, as was advertised, and more of a struggle session against enemies of “equity.” The main takeaway from this event was that we must implement critical race theory (CRT) into every facet of science. This conclusion was not drawn from inference. Throughout the conference, multiple speakers advocated explicitly for the use of critical race theory. By doing so, however, one must ask: Have the National Academies abandoned the sciences altogether?

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Eco Activists Sue to Stop U.S. Oil and Gas Lease Sales

Admin

Environmental groups sued the Interior Department Tuesday to challenge the first oil and gas lease sale on public lands during the Biden administration.

A coalition of environmental groups led by Dakota Resource Council filed a lawsuit in in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the sales violate the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires that the Interior Department prevent “unnecessary or undue degradation” of public lands.

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Study: Teen Cannabis Use Increases, Mental Health Declines in States with Fewer Legal Restrictions

The Center Square

States that have legalized marijuana have seen increasingly strong THC products and a rise in mental health issues among teenagers, a newly released nationwide study reports.

The Drug Free America Foundation authored the study, given first to The Center Square, which reports on “an association between adolescent cannabis use, the use of high potency cannabis products, and increased risk of psychosis.”

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Federal Park Police ‘In Crisis’ After Being Understaffed and Underfunded

Admin

The union representing the U.S. Park Police (USPP) warned the Biden administration that staffing shortages will compromise the safety of visitors at national parks in a letter to the Department of the Interior.

The USPP is facing a “crisis of alarming proportions” in recruiting and retaining officers, Chairman of the Federal Parks Fraternal Order of Police Kenneth Spencer said in the letter sent to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

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Dem Governor Urges Biden to Use Military Bases for Abortions

Admin

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday urged the Biden administration to consider opening up military bases for abortions to women living in states that heavily restrict the procedure, ABC News reported.

Since military bases are considered federal lands, Hochul argued in a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden that federal law would allow them to override state bans, according to ABC. Her suggestion heeds widespread outcries from  Democratic politicians about loss of women’s rights following the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 overturning Roe V. Wade.

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Rocky Road for Ben and Jerry’s as Company Ends Boycott in Israel

Admin

Ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s ended a boycott of the West Bank after a local franchise took over the brand, its parent company Unilever announced Tuesday.

“Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont no longer has any authority over Avi. They can’t stop him from selling Ben & Jerry’s ice cream,” Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represented Zinger, told The Times of Israel.

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Ivy League Study: Boosters, COVID-19 ‘Rebounds’ Fuel Skepticism of Federal Narratives

Admin

As the nation’s most powerful and twice-boosted infectious disease doctor battles a COVID-19 “rebound” two weeks after testing positive, new research from the public health schools at Harvard and Yale suggests the boosted fared worse against the first Omicron subvariant than the non-boosted.

The FDA is so alarmed by the “waning effectiveness” of boosters, whose formulation is still based on the ancestral Wuhan strain, that it asked manufacturers Thursday to add a “spike protein component” from the fourth and fifth Omicron subvariants to this fall’s boosters.

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