Group Disputes Truck Driver Shortage Claim in Georgia

While Georgia state lawmakers are looking for solutions to what they say is a commercial truck driver shortage, an industry trade group says the concern is with turnover, not shortages.

The head of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association tells The Center Square that “the biggest problem that occurs in trucking is driver turnover,” saying 400,000 new commercial driver’s licenses are issued annually.

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City Sued for $500,000 ‘Reproductive Justice Fund’ That Allegedly ‘Aids and Abets’ Illegal Abortions

Pro-life advocates sued the city of San Antonio Tuesday over its “Reproductive Justice Fund,” which they allege violates Texas law by using taxpayer dollars to aid women getting abortions out of state, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The city council approved a $500,000 fund in September as a part of its 2024 budget to assist reproductive health organizations and one member of the city council expressed hopes that it would help women get abortions “where they are legal,” according to KENS 5, a CBS News affiliate. The lawsuit filed by Texas Right to Life (TRL), as well as the Texas Leadership Coalition and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, argues that pro-abortion groups will use the fund to pay for a woman to go outside the state to get an abortion in violation of Texas law, according to court documents.

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SCOTUS Backs Biden Admin ‘Ghost Guns’ Rule for Second Time

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a federal judge’s order suspending the Biden administration’s “ghost guns” rule, which regulates gun parts kits as traditional firearms.

After blocking U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision to vacate the rule nationwide in August, the Supreme Court vacated O’Connor’s more recent Sept. 14 injunction suspending enforcement of the regulation against two manufacturing companies, Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed. The justice’s decision leaves in place the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “Frame or Receiver” rule, which expands the definition of firearm to encompass parts kits that are “readily convertible to functional weapons” or “functional ‘frames’ or ‘receivers’ of weapons.

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Election Integrity Issues for November Elections Begin with Absentee Ballots

As state and local elections are set to conclude on Election Day next month, election integrity issues have already begun with absentee ballots. 

Counties across the country have already run into problems with absentee ballots for local November elections, as Republicans such as former President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate for Arizona, Kari Lake, have repeatedly criticized issues with absentee ballots. 

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Commentary: Zero Palestinian Refugees in America

For three years now, America’s sovereignty and safety have already been vaporized enough by Biden.

But the leftists, predictably, want even more. Now, they pine for a mass importation of Palestinian refugees into America. Fire alarm-pulling Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York declared that “the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine.”

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Georgia Flush with Nearly $11 Billion in Cash Reserves, $5.4 Billion in Rainy Day Fund: State Report

Georgia has accrued nearly $11 billion in cash reserves, invested the maximum legal amount into its rainy day fund, and tucked more than $2 billion into its lottery reserve fund, according to a government report published Monday.

The State Accounting Office published its report for the budget year ending in June 2023 this week, revealing the state has just over $10.7 billion cash on hand. Georgia also boasts almost $5.4 billion in its rainy day fund, which is at its constitutional limit, and $2.1 billion in its lottery reserve fund.

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U.S. Venture Capital Firms Participated in Chinese Government ‘Technology Transfer’ Contests

Five U.S.-based venture capital firms have participated in Chinese government-backed entrepreneurial contests that effectively aid Beijing’s “technology transfer” strategy, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Chinese-language contest records.

U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firms GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital and Walden International are variously identified as “participating institutions” and/or “angel investors” in Chinese government-backed “start-up” contests supporting the Thousand Talents Plan, according to the contest’s brochures and promotional videos. Executives from these five VC firms have served as Thousand Talents Plan start-up contest judges, steering committee members and mentors for contestants going back to the first 2012 contest, according to a DCNF review of contest records.

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Biden Admin Unveils New Chip Controls Focused on China

President Joe Biden’s administration finalized semiconductor sanctions on Tuesday to prevent China from accessing the advanced technology.

The new export controls close loopholes in current limitations and decrease the export of equipment necessary to make advanced semiconductor chips, according to the rules announced by the Department of Commerce. The restrictions will expand upon the administration’s ambition to block China’s military from using artificial intelligence (AI) in harmful ways, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, according to Axios.

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Ukraine Used Long-Range Missiles Secretly Shipped from U.S.: Report

Ukraine reportedly used long-range missiles secretly shipped over from the U.S. to attack a Russian airfield on Tuesday, according to Politico and visual evidence of the strikes.

Reports in September suggested the Biden administration was coming close to sending Ukraine the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), long-range missiles formerly considered a bridge too far in giving Kyiv the capability to strike Russian territory and risk major escalation. Now it appears that the missiles arrived in recent weeks as revealed in the strike on a Russian airfield in Berdyansk, in the Russian-occupied eastern part of the country, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the deliveries.

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U.S. House Committee Report Says ‘Human Tragedies on Mayorkas’ Hands’

The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security has released additional findings from its ongoing oversight investigation into the consequences of border policies implemented by President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In its third interim report, it addresses the impact of these policies on American citizens, communities, and law enforcement officers, citing numerous reports and investigations laid out in 82 pages with nearly 500 footnotes.

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Commentary: DOJ Gag Order on Trump’s Political Speech Threatens All Candidates for Public Office

“A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENED TO DEMOCRACY TODAY – GAG ORDER!”

That was former President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Oct. 16 following a gag order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chukan forbidding him from criticizing Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Justice Department’s criminal case against Trump over allegations he somehow committed election fraud by challenging the results of the 2020 election.

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