Author: The Center Square

U.S. Is Top Exporter of Liquified Natural Gas in First Half of 2023

The Center Square

The U.S. exported more natural gas in the first six months of 2023 than in any other previous six-month period, the U.S. Energy Information Agency reported. 

U.S. companies averaged 12.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in the first six months of this year, an 11% increase from their average over the same period last year. This is after in May of this year, the U.S.’s “net natural gas exports as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and by pipeline averaged a monthly record high of 13.6 Bcf/d.” 

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Georgia Lieutenant Governor Promises ‘Red Tape Rollback’ in Upcoming Legislative Session

The Center Square

Lt. Governor Burt Jones promised lawmakers would work to cut Georgia regulations during next year’s legislative session.

“One of our main initiatives this upcoming session is going to be — we’re calling it the ‘red tape rollback,'” Jones, a Republican, said to applause during Americans for Prosperity-GA’s inaugural Pathway to Prosperity Summit.

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Continetti Says Georgia Could Be ‘Most Important State’ in 2024

The Center Square

Georgia is likely “the most important state in American politics” heading into the 2024 election, a leading intellectual historian said.

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2018 and decidedly defeated her in a rematch in November to win a second term. He won despite drawing former President Donald Trump’s ire for his response to the 2020 election.

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Lawmakers Blast Chinese Communist Party’s Influence on American Classrooms

The Center Square

House lawmakers held a hearing to investigate the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged efforts to influence American classrooms.

The Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee held the hearing, led by Chair Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla. The lawmakers brought scrutiny against Confucius Classrooms, a program with ties to the CCP, which promote teaching things like the Chinese language and culture, among other things, in hundreds of classrooms around the country.

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Government Estimates Unemployment Fraud During Pandemic Cost Up to $135 Billion

The Center Square

The U.S. government estimated unemployment fraud during the pandemic cost taxpayers up to $135 billion or about 11% to 15% of the total amount of unemployment insurance benefits paid during the pandemic.

That’s according to the latest report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which the U.S. Department of Labor disputes. 

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Georgia’s Infant Mortality Rate Remains Among the Nation’s Worst

The Center Square

Georgia’s infant mortality rate may be improving, but it remains among the worst.

“The infant mortality rate in Georgia is not good,” Seema Csukas, vice president & chief medical officer at CareSource Georgia, told The Center Square. “We’re typically in the bottom quartile of states in terms of the infant mortality rate. We’ve made a little progress over the past decade, but not really. We’ve gotten a little better, then gotten a little worse — so not that much change.

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Lithium Mine Reopening on Strength of $239.7 Million in Federal Grants

The Center Square

A Kings Mountain lithium mine shuttered since 1988, estimated capable of supporting the production of 1.2 million electric vehicles annually for 30 years, will reopen.

Charlotte-based Albemarle, the world’s largest producer of lithium, received a $90 million grant from the Department of Defense this week to expand domestic production of the raw mineral used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. The grant follows a $149.7 million grant Albemarle received from the Biden administration last year for a North Carolina processing facility.

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Texas State House Members Call for Phelan Resignation after Senate Acquits Paxton

The Center Square

After the Senate voted to acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton of all charges levied against him by the House General Investigating Committee on Saturday, several members of the House who voted against impeaching Paxton called on House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to resign.

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Nearly Four in 10 Georgians Out of the Workforce

The Center Square

While state officials continue to tout the state’s low unemployment, numbers show nearly 39% percent of Georgia’s working-age population isn’t participating in the workforce.

On Thursday, state officials said Georgia’s August unemployment rate was 3.3%, a slight increase from July’s revised 3.2% rate. The state’s rate is lower than the 3.8% national unemployment rate.

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American Income Falls as Inflation Increases, U.S. Census Bureau Says

The Center Square

Americans are bringing home less money as inflation squeezes family budgets, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday that real median household income fell in 2022 compared with 2021. Real median household income fell by 2.3% from $76,330 in 2021 to $74,580 in 2022.

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Producer Prices Spike in August

The Center Square

Newly released federal inflation data shows that producer prices spiked in August, undoing a steady downward inflationary trend.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Producer Price Index Thursday, a key marker of inflation, which showed producer prices rose 0.7% in August alone. Much of that increase came because of an rise in the cost of gasoline.

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Pipeline Problems Could Cut Off Nation’s 100-Year Gas Supply

The Center Square

 A recent analysis determined the United States sits on a century’s worth of gas supply, but industry experts warn there aren’t enough pipelines to access it.

The report from the Potential Gas Committee, part of the Colorado School of Mines, found that the country had technically recoverable gas resources of 3,353 trillion cubic feet, a 0.5% decrease from its 2020 estimate.

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New Mexico Governor Responds to Judge Blocking Controversial Gun Control Order

The Center Square

A federal judge blocked parts of a controversial gun measure from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham Wednesday, but she is not backing down.

U.S. District Judge David Urias temporarily blocked the law, arguing that the executive order runs contrary to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gun rights and violates people’s abilities to defend themselves.

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Border Patrol Email: Plan to Mass Release Illegal Border Crossers from Crowded Facilities

The Center Square

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Tuesday published an internal Border Patrol email her office obtained that provides guidelines to release foreign nationals being held at Customs and Border Patrol processing centers because they are at near full capacity, at full capacity or are already over capacity.

President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “have become so brazen that they are now implementing mass-release quotas for immigrants surging into our country,” Moody said. “As a federal judge already recognized, these releases are unlawful, yet the Biden administration is ordering Border Patrol to release even more immigrants into the interior.” Moody is referring to a lawsuit Florida brought against the administration and won.

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Next Steps Unclear for Atlanta Public Safety Training Center

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An Atlanta city council member says she supports a referendum on the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center during this November’s election.

In June, the Atlanta City Council voted to allocate $30 million in uncommitted funds for the training center, which has sparked violent protests.

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Republicans Blast National Archives’ Taxpayer-Funded Equity Policies, Trainings

The Center Square

The federal archive agency that helped spark former President Donald Trump’s first federal indictment has come under fire from Republicans after reporting showed the agency has embraced far-left diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Republicans blasted the National Archives and Records Administration after The Center Square reported that the agency’s latest 2022 DEI plan pledges to double down on equity training for employees.

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U.S. Preschool Enrollment Hits Lowest Level Since 2005

The Center Square

Fewer parents sent children to preschool in 2021 in a decline that corresponded with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The percentage of 3-to-6-year-olds enrolled in preschool in the United States dropped by 9.3 percentage points from 2019 to 2021, from 51.1% to 41.8%, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

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Potential UAW Strike Looms in Michigan

The Center Square

Up to 146,000 United Auto Workers could strike starting this week if the Big Three auto companies don’t reach a new union contract agreement by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. 

UAW Union President Shawn Fain has repeated his mantra “record profits mean record contracts.” He says Big Three executives at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have received hefty pay raises while inflation has eaten away at UAW workers’ paychecks.

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Commentary: Is Former Vice President Mike Pence’s View on Conservatism Correct?

The Center Square

Former Vice President Mike Pence in a speech before the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College and in an article in The Wall Street Journal warned Republicans and conservatives about the danger of populism. The former Vice President argues, in echoing Ronald Reagan’s 1964 address, that it is “a time for choosing” for Republicans whether to continue to follow the “siren song” of populism or return to true conservatism. It is clear that Pence is not only drawing a line in the sand and forcing a debate over conservatism, but also distancing himself from former President Donald Trump and those who support his policies. Nevertheless, Pence fails to understand that the conservative populism he is denouncing is actually rooted within the American conservative tradition.

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IRS Set to Use AI to Target Tax Cheats, Say They Will Limit to ‘High Income Earners’ and ‘Large Corporations’

The Center Square

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new enforcement initiatives Friday to crack down on 1,600 millionaires and 75 large companies it said owe hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes.  

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency will use Inflation Reduction Act funding to focus on high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations and promoters. He said the IRS won’t increase audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 a year.

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Over 215,000 Apprehended by Border Patrol Agents at Southern Border in August Alone

The Center Square

At least 215,908 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture after illegally entering the southwest border in August, according to preliminary Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square.

This includes at least 187,553 apprehensions and 28,355 gotaways. “Gotaways” is the official U.S. Customs and Border Protection term that refers to the number of people known and reported to illegally enter the U.S. between ports of entry who intentionally try to evade capture and don’t return to Mexico. In August, the most gotaways were reported in the Tucson and Rio Grande Valle sectors. Notably, with most Yuma agents pulled out of the field to deal with an influx of people arriving at open areas of the border wall, gotaway numbers reported by agents last month were extremely low, which is out of the ordinary.

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Federal Judge Orders Texas to Move Back – Not Remove – Marine Barriers

The Center Square

A federal judge ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott installing marine barriers in the Rio Grande River is illegal. After the ruling, Abbott said Texas was appealing.

Two lawsuits were filed over the marine barriers: one by the federal government and one by a Texas-based kayaking company seeking to end Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star. The ruling issued on Wednesday relates to the federal case only.

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366 Illegal Foreign Nationals Targeted for Removal Arrested in ICE Operation

The Center Square

A national operation led to 366 criminal illegal foreign nationals being arrested and targeted for removal by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents. The operation targeted criminals who were determined “to be a threat to national security, public safety or border security.”

The operation took place from August 4 to August 25 during which agents prioritized finding and arresting fugitive criminal aliens, including those who’d been previously removed from the U.S. and illegally reentered. Arrests occurred nationwide.

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As Georgia Lawmakers Grapple with Truck Driver Shortage, New Training Center Breaks Ground

The Center Square

Georgia Piedmont Technical College broke ground on a 24,000-square-foot Regional Transportation Training Center in Stonecrest.

The facility should open to students in the fall of 2024. With this addition, officials said the school has room to double its commercial truck driving program enrollment.

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Little Support Among Voters for Transgender Medical Procedures on Children

The Center Square

Few voters think children should undergo transgender interventions even with parental permission.

That’s according to The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll of 2,500 registered voters across the U.S., conducted by Noble Predictive Insights. The poll found that 58% of those surveyed are against medical interventions such as gender-changing surgery or puberty blockers for children younger than 18 years old.

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States with Weaker Marijuana Laws See More Impaired Driving, Report Finds

The Center Square

A new report found that states with less restrictive marijuana policies have higher incidents of residents driving while high.

The Drug Free America Foundation released a new report showing that states that have legalized or weakened restrictions around high-THC marijuana, either for medical or recreational use, saw 32% more marijuana-impaired driving than states that have not adopted the same policies.

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Group Wants Gov. Kemp to Reject THC Changes for Georgia Independent Pharmacies

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A former White House drug policy advisor wants Georgia’s governor to reject a rule change to allow some independent pharmacies to sell low THC oils.

In June, the Georgia Board of Pharmacy voted in favor of the rule change to allow more than 100 independent pharmacies to sell THC oils.

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U.S. Labor Department Proposing Rule to Boost Overtime Pay Eligibility for Salaried Workers

The Center Square

The U.S. Department of Labor issued notice Wednesday of a proposal to increase the threshold for required overtime payments to salaried workers whose weekly or annual wages are considered low income.

If enacted, the proposed rule would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried employees earning less than $1,059 per week, or about $55,000 per year. It also calls for an “escalator” that automatically updates the salary threshold every three years to reflect current earnings data. The Labor Department estimates the rule could apply to about 3.6 million workers nationwide.

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Fox News Announces New Moderators for GOP Second Debate

The Center Square

The moderators for the second Republican presidential primary debate have been set, but the candidate leading in the polls has yet to show any interest in attending. 

Fox News announced Wednesday that Stuart Varney, Dana Perino and UNIVISION’s Ilia Calderón will co-moderate the debate from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Varney, one of Fox Business News’s original anchors, is the host of “Varney & Co.” Perino co-anchors “America’s Newsroom” and serves as co-host of “The Five.” She is also a former White House press secretary under George W. Bush. Calderón is co-anchor of UNIVISION’s weekday evening newscast “NOTICIERO UNIVISION” and its newsmagazine “AQUÍ Y AHORA.” She co-moderated the final debate between Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in March 2020.

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Governments Across America Spend Millions to Put Homeless in Hotels

The Center Square

In states like California, Colorado, Washington and Arizona, cities this summer are spending millions buying hotels and converting them to shelters for the homeless.

In Los Angeles, there is a ballot initiative in 2024 to require hotels to use vacant rooms to house homeless people besides paying customers. The American Hotel & Lodging Association has objected to the proposal.

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Researchers Warn About Synthetic Opioids More Powerful than Fentanyl

The Center Square

Synthetic opioids estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl are creeping into the illicit drug market in the U.S., according to new research. 

“Synthetic opioids, such as the fentanyl analog and nitazene drug class, are among the fastest growing types of opioids being detected in patients in the emergency department with illicit opioid overdose,” researchers warned in a paper published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.

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Food Prices Expected to Continue Rising Through 2024

The Center Square

Recently released federal pricing analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that food prices will continue to rise through 2024.

The USDA pointed to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index released earlier this month, which showed consumer prices overall rose 3.2 percent in the previous twelve months. Food prices, though rose more quickly at 4.9 percent during the same time.

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Commission Chair: Georgia CON Laws ‘Intended to Stifle Competition’

The Center Square

When officials in Lee County tried to build “a small acute care hospital” with 60 beds and four operating rooms, it began a multi-year process that cost millions of dollars and didn’t end with the construction of a facility.

“When we started our quest to build a hospital, we knew that it was going to be an uphill battle,” Billy Mathis, the Lee County Commission chairman, told lawmakers during a Senate Study Committee on Certificate of Need Reform hearing on Monday. “For the first couple of years, after you are granted a certificate of need, you fight litigation. The code in Georgia encourages litigation, basically. So, you get your certificate of need, and then all sorts of folks sue you — to put it very plainly.”

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IRS Lost Millions of Taxpayer Records That Could be Used for Identity Theft

The Center Square

The Internal Revenue Service lost millions of taxpayer records and federal employees don’t know where they have gone.

Lawmakers want answers and accountability for the IRS over those documents, which could be used by nefarious actors to steal Americans’ identity.

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Multiple Analyses: The California ‘Single-Use Plastic Bag’ Ban Is a Flop

The Center Square

According to a new analysis from the Los Angeles Times, California’s ban on thin plastic bags is a failure, as thicker, “recyclable” replacement bags are largely unable to be recycled in California, and the majority of consumers still opt not to bring their own bags to reuse for shopping.

Additional analyses have also found increases in purchases of plastic trash bags chip away at the plastics savings from single-use plastic bag bans, the pounds of plastic bags per-capita placed in landfills has increased since the ban, and many of the alternatives to single-use plastic bags typically end up being worse for the environment. Nonetheless, a major decrease in grocery bag litter suggests at least a partial success.

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Georgia State Senators Spar on Special Session over Trump Indictment

The Center Square

While one Georgia state senator wants a special session to potentially act on the district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump, another says it’s impossible.

Last week, State Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, sent a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, calling for a special session “for all purposes, to include, without limitation, the review and response to the actions of [Fulton County District Attorney] Fani Willis.”

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Florida Congressman Files Article of Impeachment Against U.S. Defense Secretary

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U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Florida, made good on his promise earlier this year to file articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. On Friday, he filed one article of impeachment against Austin alleging high crimes and misdemeanors.

Mills appears to be the first to file an article of impeachment against a Defense secretary in U.S. history.

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Poll: Nine in 10 Americans Worried About Fentanyl Overdose Deaths

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Fentanyl

Nearly 90% of U.S. voters are concerned about fentanyl trafficking as drug overdose deaths continue to mount in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 election, according to a new poll. 

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, found that 57% of those surveyed are very concerned about fentanyl overdose deaths. An additional 32% are somewhat worried, or 89% overall indicating some level of concern.

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Small Businesses Feel the Pain of Inflation-Driven Interest Rates

The Center Square

Small business owners are feeling the pain of inflation-driven interest rate hikes, another difficulty for those owners to overcome as they continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic-era shutdowns.

A rash of federal spending and an increase in the money supply in recent years have fueled inflationary pressures. Prices soared during the beginning of the Biden administration, making it hard for Americans to make ends meet.

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Georgia Officials Able to Hire HEROs for Atlanta Area Highway Patrols

The Center Square

The Georgia Department of Transportation has found a few HEROs to help patrol metro Atlanta’s highways.

In May, GDOT officials said the agency lacked the personnel to maintain 24-hour Highway Emergency Response Operator patrols, a common sight along metro Atlanta’s busy interstates. At the time, the agency said HERO units would continue to patrol when traffic volumes are the highest — during daytime and evening hours seven days a week — and when roughly 91% of mishaps happen.

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Georgia Groups Turn Attention to Tax Overhaul

The Center Square

As the state looks to evaluate and possibly overhaul its tax system, one state public policy group says officials should improve the tax credit system’s transparency.

“The state has taken a vital step toward creating a fairer tax system by convening this panel and by implementing specific legislative provisions like the one in 2021’s SB 6 that provided for the analyses of tax benefits,” Georgia Budget and Policy Institute President and CEO Staci Fox said in a statement. “While these measures are commendable, past evaluations of tax credits have run into resource and information limitations that hindered meaningful findings and the identification of actionable next steps.

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Atlanta Signs Off on $4 Million Plan to Use Shipping Containers for Homeless Housing

The Center Square

The Atlanta City Council signed off on spending $4 million to develop “quick-delivery housing” for the city’s homeless population.

Last month, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued an executive order directing the city’s chief financial officer to fund a new “Rapid Housing” initiative. The city plans to repurpose shipping containers that the Georgia Emergency Management Agency used as temporary hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic and are now being decommissioned.

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Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Concerned About Situation at Border

The Center Square

The vast majority of Americans are concerned about the situation at the U.S. border, according to new polling.

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights, asked 2,500 registered voters, including 1,000 registered Democrats, 1,000 registered Republicans, and 500 independents: “How concerned are you about the situation at the border?”

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Georgia Committee to Discuss Artificial Intelligence

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A Georgia Senate joint committee will soon meet to discuss artificial intelligence.

“AI may be one of the greatest disruptors in history providing significant advancements and monumental risk,” State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell (pictured above), chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, said in a statement. “We must address this head on to protect our citizens, businesses, and state.”

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Expert: Public Transit Unlikely to Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels

The Center Square

Public transit ridership has fallen since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic leading one expert to question if rates will ever return to pre-pandemic levels. 

A recent report by the American Public Transportation Association shows that total transit ridership in the United States stalled for the second time since the first quarter of 2021. Ridership grew for six of the seven quarters from the first quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022. But there was a slight dip in the first quarter of 2023.

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