DOJ Sues Owner, Operator of Vessel That Hit Francis Scott Key Bridge for $100 Million

Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the owner and operator of the vessel that hit Francis Scott Key Bridge on Wednesday for $100 million in May.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which resulted in the tragic deaths of six people and disrupted our country’s transportation and defense infrastructure,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement. 

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TikTok Bans Pro-Life Students for Life Same Day It Begged Court to Overturn Its Pending U.S. Ban

Students for Life of America said TikTok banned the pro-life group Monday night, hours after the Chinese-owned platform begged a federal appeals court to overturn a law that forces ByteDance to sell the company or face a U.S. ban.

“Couldn’t find this account,” is all SFLA’s TikTok page says as of 10:30 p.m. Monday. The last archive Just the News could find is Aug. 22, which said the page had 94,000 followers.

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Suspected Trump Assassin Flagged by U.S. During Return from Ukraine, but Homeland Refused Probe

Ryan Routh, the suspected Donald Trump assassin, was interviewed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials when he returned from Ukraine last year and flagged for further investigation based on spontaneous comments he made to agents, but the Homeland Security Department declined to act, Just the News has confirmed.

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Alleged Shooter Hid for Nearly 12 Hours Before Secret Service Saw Him at Golf Course: Prosecutors

The alleged shooter found at former President Donald Trump’s golf course by Secret Service agents on Sunday had waited in a sniper’s nest for nearly 12 hours, according to federal prosecutors.

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Second Assassination Attempt Since July Raises Questions About How Shooter Got Within 500 Yards of Trump

Secret Service agents disrupted the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life in two months, but difficult questions remain on how a would-be assassin with an AK-47 rifle got within 500 yards of the former president while he was golfing and why anti-Trump vitriol in America rages on.

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California Considering Plan to Subsidize Phone Bills for Illegal Immigrants

Person on Phone

The California government is considering a plan to subsidize home and cell phone bills for illegal immigrants.

The proposal would eliminate requiring social security numbers for the California LifeLine program, which provides phone bill discounts for low-income residents. 

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Trump Whisked to Safety as Secret Service Stops Shooter in Another Assassination Attempt

Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed following an apparent assassination attempt Sunday afternoon in which gunshots were fired in his vicinity while he was playing golf at the Trump International Golf Course, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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NYC Education Bureaucrats Allegedly Took Own Kids on Disney Trip Meant for Homeless Kids

Six New York City Department of Education employees used “forged permission slips” to take their children and grandchildren to Disney World and on other city-funded trips intended for homeless students, investigators allege.

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Portion of World Electricity Generated by Fossil Fuels Has Fallen Two Percentage Points in 30 Years

Fossil Fuels

Reports in the legacy media regularly claim that we are rapidly eliminating fossil fuels, and the energy transition is steamrolling its way to success. Data, however, appears to show a different picture.

According to the Energy Policy Research Foundation, fossil fuels remain critical to keeping the lights on. In 2023, coal, natural gas and oil-fired power plants produced 18 terawatt hours of electricity, which was 60% of the total. This was a decline of 62% in 1993.

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RNC Sues North Carolina Election Officials for Allowing Digital Student IDs to Be Used as Voter ID

Michael Whatley

The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Thursday sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) for a fourth time in a month, citing its recent decision that digital student identification cards are adequate for voting in November.

The NCSBE voted on Aug. 20 to allow the use of digital student ID cards generated by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a sufficient form of identification, reversing its previous rule that only physical and plastic photo ID cards could be used. But the lawsuit argues that the new rule circumvents state election law.

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Pope Francis Slams Both Trump and Harris but Tells Americans to Vote for ‘Lesser of Two Evils’

Pope Francis on Friday slammed both major U.S. presidential candidates as “against life,” because of Vice President Kamala Harris’s stance on abortion, and former President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration, but told Americans to choose the “lesser of two evils.”

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Teacher Allowed Alleged Apalachee High School Killer Colt Gray to Leave Classroom with Belongings Ahead of Attack: GBI

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) on Thursday revealed alleged Apalachee High School attacker Colt Gray, who is accused of killing four and injuring nine at the school on September 4, was allowed to leave his classroom by a teacher after he asked to speak with someone at the front office.

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Melania Trump Wants Answers on Husband’s Shooting: ‘More to This Story’

Melania Trump and Donald Trump

Former first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday questioned the actions of law enforcement in connection with the July 13 assassination attempt on her husband.

“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience. Now the silence around it is heavy,” she said in a video posted to X. “I can’t help but wonder, why did law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?”

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U.S. Toolmaker Stanley Black and Decker Under Fire for DEI Hiring and LGBTQ Lobbying, Faces Boycott

U.S. toolmaker Stanley Black and Decker is under fire for embracing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies that conservatives describe as “woke,” which could lead to a boycott of the company’s products.

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New England Christian Schools Ask Appeals Courts for Justice Against State Discrimination

Bangor Christian Schools

Christian schools in New England are fighting for their right to participate in state-run programs without compromising their beliefs, including that sex trumps gender identity, sexuality is reserved for heterosexual marriage and Christianity is the only path to salvation.

Public interest law firms announced appeals of lower court decisions in favor of Maine and Vermont in the 1st and 2nd U.S. Circuit courts of appeal on behalf of Crosspoint Church, which runs Bangor Christian School, and Mid Vermont Christian School and a family whose children attend there.

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‘Persons with Childbearing Potential’: American, European Medical Groups Erase Women in New Guidance

Pregnant Woman

Doctors already struggling to consistently use their patients’ preferred gender pronouns and account for sex-based differences in treatment for those who present as the opposite sex are facing potentially greater confusion courtesy of American and European medical groups.

The American Medical Association’s Manual of Style Committee is accepting feedback through month’s end on draft guidance on “reporting gender, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and age” in medical and scientific publication, following its similar guidance for “inclusive language” on race and ethnicity three years ago.

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RFK Jr.’s Quest to Remove Name from Ballot Hits Snags, Sees Some Victories as Lawsuits Continue

Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is working to get his name removed from presidential ballots across various states, which has resulted in lawsuits in swing states where his requests were initially denied. While those lawsuits started as losses for him, upon appeal, Kennedy has seen success in removing his name from some of the ballots.

Following his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsement of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Kennedy has tried to get his name removed from presidential ballots in swing states. However, in some of those states, Democrats have attempted to prevent him from doing so, even after they had initially tried to keep him from being placed on the ballot.

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Federal Judge Blocks New Biden-Harris Student Loan Forgiveness Plan from Implementation

College Graduation

A federal judge in Georgia on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s proposal to forgive federal student loans for nearly 30 million borrowers after a group of seven state sued.

According to the ruling from U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall, the seven states that sued the Biden administration have established a valid case that’s likely to prove the Department of Education lacks the constitutional authority to implement the student loan cancellation proposal.

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Secretary of State Blinken Signals He Wouldn’t Stay on If Harris Wins

Anthony Blinken and Kamala Harris

Secretary of State Tony Blinken signaled on Wednesday that he wouldn’t stay in his role if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 presidential election. 

“As to my own future, all I’m looking at right now is the balance of this administration and January. And I can tell you from having spent some time over the last week on … break with my kids, I will relish having a lot more time with them,” he said at a news conference.

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Ballot Drop Box Battles: States, Municipalities Seek to Ban Them as November Election Nears

Drop Box Sign

Two months out from Election Day and less than two weeks before early voting begins, states and municipalities are fighting over whether to implement ballot drop boxes, amid election integrity and practical concerns.

Ballot drop boxes, a method of voting that became more widespread during the 2020 presidential election as COVID-19 lockdowns continued, are facing a pushback in several municipalities and states ahead of the November election.

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RFK Jr. Reverses Course, Tells Supporters in Every State to Vote for Trump

RFK Jr and Donald Trump

Robert Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate, reversed course and told his supporters in every state to vote for former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

He previously said his supporters could still vote for him on the ballot in uncompetitive states, despite his endorsement of Trump.

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Former 2016 Trump Campaign Adviser Charged for Work with Sanctioned Russian TV Outlet Since 2022

The U.S. government charged Dimitri Simes, former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and a Russian-born U.S. citizen, and his wife for allegedly violating “sanctions that were put in place in response to Russia’s illegal aggression in Ukraine,” according to the indictment.

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Activist Group Launches Amendment Campaign in Eight States to Block Non-Citizen Voting

The eight states with these constitutional amendments on the ballot in November are Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.

The nonprofit Americans for Citizen Voting (ACV) launched a campaign on Wednesday to pass constitutional amendments in eight states this November to prevent non-citizens from voting in those states’ elections.

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Fani Willis Shows Up with Nathan Wade During Daughter’s Arrest Months After Pair Said They Split

Kinaya Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s leading the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, showed up with her supposed ex-boyfriend, former prosecutor Nathan Wade, at the scene of her daughter’s arrest last week, according to bodycam footage published Wednesday.

Willis and Wade separately testified that the affair ended in the summer last year.

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Watchdog Sues Arizona Counties for Allegedly Not Removing Non-Citizens from Voter Rolls

As of July 1, there are 42,301 voters without proof of citizenship on Arizona’s voter rolls, which increased from 35,273 as of April 1.

America First Legal (AFL) filed an amended lawsuit against all 15 of Arizona’s counties for allegedly failing to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls.

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Early and Mail-In Voting Begins Two Months Before Election Day amid Lawsuits, Integrity Concerns

Absentee voting for the presidential election will begin this week, two months before Election Day, as early in-person voting starts nationwide later this month amid lawsuits over election administration and election integrity concerns.

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Professor Paid $2.4 Million to Settle First Amendment Retaliation Suit Goes After HR Chief’s New Contract

Matthew Garrett

A month after Matthew Garrett secured a $2.4 million settlement from the Kern Community College District over termination proceedings for the “dishonesty” of disagreeing with colleagues on diversity issues and “unprofessional conduct” of questioning the data used to create a “racial climate task force,” the former Bakersfield College tenured history professor isn’t done yet. 

He has started a campaign to pressure the KCCD Board of Trustees to rescind a contract extension and pay boost for the human resources official who oversaw his proceedings, citing newly obtained sworn testimony of the colleague who he says sicced students on Garrett with racially charged complaints that were “ultimately found to be baseless” – and used class time to do it.

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Government’s Entrenched ‘Disinformation’ Policing Infrastructure Will Take a Decade to Dismantle, Free Speech Expert Says

As the 2024 election fast approaches, a former State Department official turned free speech advocate told Just the News that the entrenched censorship regime created to police disinformation and misinformation along ideological lines will take considerable work to reverse. 

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TikTok May Be Held Liable for Girl’s Death, Upending Three Decades of Tech Immunity

Montana TikTok Ruling

The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet” may not be as powerful as believed by the bipartisan chorus demanding reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

TikTok’s biggest immediate problem now may be its own users, their parents, and state attorneys general, rather than the state and federal lawmakers seeking to ban the Chinese-owned company and force ByteDance to sell it to an American entity, following a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Aug. 27 that denies TikTok legal immunity for an algorithm choice.

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Big Tech Liable for Breaking Promises to Users that Led to Suicide, Death Threats: Appeals Court

Smart Phone Filled with Apps

Days before the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent Big Tech lawyers scrambling by upending three decades of judicial precedents on Section 230 immunity from liability, its West Coast counterpart warned platforms their immunity had limits, too.

While far smaller in scope than the 3rd Circuit’s ruling that TikTok could be held liable for a little girl’s death by algorithmically recommending the video she fatally copied, likely to provoke Supreme Court intervention, the 9th Circuit ruling Aug. 22 against third-party Snapchat app developer Yolo also suggests judges are growing skeptical of maximalist views of the 1996 law.

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U.S. Surgeon General Warns Parents’ Stress Levels Are an ‘Urgent Public Health Issue’

Stressed Parent

United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Wednesday issued a public health advisory that emphasized the importance of mental health in parents.

Murthy claimed in a post by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that parents over the past decade have consistently been more likely to report high stress levels than in the past.

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Pro-Vaccine Doctors Skeptical of New COVID-19 Boosters: ‘I’d Really Like to See the Data’

Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing new COVID-19 boosters, claiming that people who don’t stay “up to date” with shots – regardless of how many they’ve already taken – “are more likely to get very sick” while those who take them annually are “much less likely to get very ill, be hospitalized, or even die” from COVID.

The Democratic nominee for president is so committed to staying up to date on jabs that Vice President Kamala Harris made COVID boosting a requirement to work on her campaign, “unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law.” They can also ask the human resources department for a “reasonable accommodation … prior to reporting to an office location.”

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Pushback on VP Kamala Harris’ Tax Proposal Plan Grows as Costs Are Counted

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris’s tax proposal plan is getting significant pushback from Congress members and others as the costs of tax hikes on the American people across the political spectrum are being examined.

Upon a closer look at Harris’s tax proposals, an economist, a New York Times reporter, a small business owner advocate, and members of Congress all voiced their concerns over what the plan entails. Most of them note how the economy will be negatively impacted by her plan and the real-world implications for everyday Americans.

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Cell Phone Bans, Restrictions Are on the Rise in School Districts as Mental Health Concerns Arise

Kid on Cell Phone

Mental health has been widely discussed in the public sphere over the past few years, specifically how technology may play a role in it particularly for young people.

Recently, districts in different states have been implementing restrictions and bans on cell phones in schools in order to tackle the mental health crisis rising among teenagers and young adults. 

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