The Center Square
The Franklin News Foundation supports timely, balanced, and accurate statehouse and statewide news coverage to legacy media and their audiences as a public benefit.
-
Newsom budget promises “no new taxes” but $15.2B in cuts against $80B deficit
(The Center Square) - California Governor Gavin Newsom promised “no new taxes” in his 2024-2025 budget as he announced the state’s shortfall is $7 billion worse than was expected in January, and proposed $15.2 billion in budget cuts against an up to $80 billion deficit. Newsom’s cuts include reducing water storage and reducing the state’s prison population by 4,600 inmates “The need to right-size in relationship those expenditures to revenue is self-evident as it relates to some of the projected shortfalls we announced in January,” said Newsom in his budget proposal press conference. In Januar...
The Center Square
-
Ethics panel unconstitutional, appeals court says
(The Center Square) – A now-defunct New York state ethics panel that targeted former-Gov. Andrew Cuomo over a controversial book deal is unconstitutional, a state appeals court has ruled. The unanimous ruling by New York's Appellate Division’s Third Department upholds a September decision by state Supreme Court Judge Thomas Marcelle. He determined the state Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government was created without a required constitutional amendment, and lacks oversight of how the governor and other top officials appoint panel members. “The Legislature, though well-intentioned in its...
The Center Square
-
Business owners blast Spokane City Council plan to relocate House of Charity
(The Center Square) – Local downtown business owners are protesting a proposal by the Spokane City Council to relocate the House of Charities homeless shelter less than a mile away to a former hotel building. Though supporters believe it will improve the homelessness situation in the neighborhood, the businesses say it's merely a continuation of existing, and failed, city policy regarding homelessness. At the council’s Monday meeting, city staff portrayed the move as a way to get the homeless into better temporary housing, as House of Charities isn’t open during much of the day, and decentrali...
The Center Square
-
DEA doubtful of cartel order to stop fentanyl production
(The Center Square) – DEA officials remain skeptical of reports that Mexican cartel leaders have ordered their producers to stop making fentanyl. In early 2023, the leaders of the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels reportedly ordered subordinates to stop the production of fentanyl. In October 2023, Los Chapitos, the group led by the four sons of imprisoned boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, hung banners in prominent locations in Sinaloa, Sonora, and Baja California ordering the fentanyl ban. DEA officials made it clear in the latest National Drug Threat Assessment that they are doubtful. "The ban is pro...
The Center Square
-
Citizenship qualification sought for apportionment, Electoral College
(The Center Square) – Requiring that the count for apportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Electoral College, include only U.S. citizens has passed the House and been sent to the Senate. The measure proposed by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C.., passed the chamber 206-202 with no Democrats for it and no Republicans against it. On Thursday it was read for the first time in the Senate, where Democrats have a majority and similar legislation has been introduced and parked to go nowhere. In 2020 and years before, the decennial census count included all persons. Prompting the pro...
The Center Square
-
Louisiana's Murrill asks U.S. Supreme Court for a stay in redistricting case
(The Center Square) – The state of Louisiana is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a stay in a congressional redistricting case because officials say they don't have enough time to draw new maps. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed the request with the court on Friday to request allowing the state to use the most recent map drawn by lawmakers, also at the behest of a federal court. According to the filing, the state must finalize any map by Wednesday in order to keep filing deadlines for candidates and print ballots or else risk "election chaos." "The least-disruptive path forward...
The Center Square
-
Taxpayers foot $300,000 water fund for Oakland County
(The Center Square) – Some Oakland County residents can apply for up to a $2,000 grant to avoid water shutoffs and fix leaks. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved about $300,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to support residents facing temporary financial challenges and prevent tax certifications that could result in foreclosure. Benefits are provided on a first-come, first-served basis with an initial household cap of $2,000. Hardship Assistance Program benefits can include plumbing repairs to address water loss, three months of water and sewer services bills, and he...
The Center Square
-
Op-Ed: Campaign to nullify Electoral College staggers ahead, despite problems
For more than 230 years the American president has been elected by the states, and 2024 will be no different. In mid-December, 538 presidential electors will gather in their respective state capitols and vote according to the will of their state’s voters. But if something known as the National Popular Vote interstate compact (NPV) continues to advance in state legislatures, 2024 may be the last time presidential electors represent the people of their state. Conceived shortly after the 2000 presidential election by three law professors, NPV is an attempt to circumvent the Constitution and nulli...
The Center Square
-
Senate proposal strips Hamas-sympathizing students of federal aid
(The Center Square) – Legislation to “cut off federal aid for grown adults who are breaking our laws, spewing antisemitism, and openly embracing terrorists” has been proposed by a North Carolina senator and eight other Republicans. The No HAMAS Act – as the acronym is played in No Higher education Assistance for Mobs of Antisemitic and terrorist Sympathizing Students – would revoke federal student financial assistance for students who are convicted of trespassing, rioting, or damaging property while protesting at a higher education institution. Students convicted would lose their eligibility f...
The Center Square
-
Op-Ed: Biden signs suicidal ‘No Coal’ pact, while rest of world builds 1,000 new plants
The Biden administration has just signed an economic suicide pact that would require the United States and six other Western democracies to shut down its coal power plants by 2035, while China, India and the rest of the world currently have more than 1,000 new coal power plants in the planning or construction phase. The no-coal pact allows all nations but the Suicidal Seven to continue using as much affordable coal power as they like. Climate activists often point to China as a climate role model, noting that China manufactures more wind and solar power equipment than any other nation. China, ...
The Center Square
- More