Commercial Foreclosures Increase 97 Percent from Last Year to Near Decade-High

Commercial Shopping Space for Lease

Commercial real estate foreclosures increased 97 percent in January 2024 compared to last year, reaching a high that has not been seen in nearly a decade, according to new data.

With 635 commercial foreclosures in January 2024, foreclosures increased 17 percent from December 2023 and 97 percent from January 2023, according to a report last week from property data analyst ATTOM.

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Maine’s Public Schools Purchased Taxpayer-Subsidized Electric Buses but Say They are Defective

School Bus Driver

Maine’s Department of Education is reportedly urging school districts to stop using taxpayer-subsidized electric school buses that were purchased within the last year.

The districts reported problems with the new buses, which were supplied by Canada-based Lion Electric Co., last fall, according to CentralMaine.com. The windshields on the buses would leak whenever it rained, as the glass didn’t appear to be securely in place.

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EPA Finalizes Air Pollution Standards That Critics Say Will Cost Jobs, Hurt the Economy

Factory Smoke Stacks

The EPA finalized air pollution standards that create more stringent limits for soot exposure, as it is called. This despite a 42% decrease in the national average over the last 22 years, according to the agency’s own data.

“It’s going to hurt economies. It’s going to hurt manufacturing. It’s a real problem,” Daren Bakst, senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), told Just The News.

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Trump Pivots to Fall Rematch with Biden After Crushing Haley in Her Home State: Nikki Who?

Fresh from humiliating Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina, Donald Trump is pivoting from primary candidate to a keenly familiar role: presumptive Republican presidential nominee itching for a rematch with Joe Biden.

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Top Contenders for Trump’s Running Mate Audition on CPAC Main Stage

Kristi Noem

Most of the top contenders for former President Trump’s 2024 running mate are auditioning for the position and trying to distinguish themselves with keynote speeches at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. 

Trump confirmed this week that his shortlist for the GOP vice presidential nomination includes Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

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Biden Planned to Join Son’s China-Backed Firm After Vice Presidency, Former Partner Tells Congress

Joe Biden

In his opening statement to House impeachment investigators, former Hunter Biden business partner, Jason Galanis, said Joe Biden planned to join the board of his son’s firm which was being backed by a Chinese businessman and state-owned enterprises.

Galanis delivered his opening statement on Friday morning to congressional investigators from inside a federal prison in Alabama where he is serving a prison sentence for engaging in an illegal scheme to enrich Burnham Asset Management.

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Vice Media ‘Eliminating Several Hundred Positions’, Will Stop Publishing on Website

Empty Office

Vice Media on Thursday announced that it would stop publishing content on its website and lay off hundreds of its employees as a cost-cutting measure.

“We create and produce outstanding original content true to the Vice brand,” CEO Bruce Dixon said in a statement obtained by the Washington Post. “However, it is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously.”

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Trump Defeats Haley in South Carolina, Steamrolling Toward Nomination and Fall Rematch with Biden

Former President Donald Trump humiliated Nikki Haley in her home state Saturday night, scoring a convincing win in the South Carolina GOP primary that opens the door for him to focus full time on a fall rematch with Joe Biden.

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At CPAC, Trump Decries Democrat Border Policies: ‘Want to Destroy Our Country or They’re Stupid’

Former President Donald Trump used his speech Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Convention to assail Democrat border policies amid growing dissatisfaction with illegal immigration, suggesting the policies were part of an effort to destroy America.

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Google News Moved Further Left in 2023, Compared to Previous Year: News Media Watchdog Finds

Google Search

An analysis by the news media watchdog group AllSides Technology finds roughly 63% of stories last year on the Google News were from “left and left-leaning news sources.” 

In the new analysis released Thursday, 937 stories were reviewed from Oct. 30 to Nov. 14, 2023. 

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Rep. Mark Green Tells CPAC That ‘Every American Should Be Scared to Death’ as Chinese Nationalists at Border Hits High

Republican lawmakers and a former immigration official are sounding a new alarm about the national security threats facing the U.S. at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Alabama’s Largest Hospital Pauses IVF Treatments After Ruling Classifying Frozen Embryos as Children

UAB Hospital

Alabama’s largest hospital paused in vitro fertilization treatments to help women get pregnant following concerns about potential prosecution of patients and health care providers after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos are children. 

“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through I.V.F., but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for I.V.F. treatments,” the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

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Arizona Prosecutor Refuses to Extradite Murder Suspect to New York over Bragg’s Crime Response

An Arizona county prosecutor is refusing to allow the man accused of murdering a New York mom and getting away while wearing her leggings to be extradited to New York City to face charges over concerns about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s response to violent crime. 

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COVID Vaccine ‘Adverse Events of Special Interest’ More Common than Expected: CDC-Funded Study

COVID Vaccine

Rep. Debbie Dingell developed a severe nerve condition from a mandatory swine flu vaccine, which initially made her “scared to death” to get a COVID-19 vaccine, she told a congressional hearing last week. 

The Michigan Democrat might want to reconsider her now-unquestioning enthusiasm for COVID vaccines, including those made through traditional methods, in light of a massive international study of “adverse events of special interest” funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and set to be published in the peer-reviewed Elsevier journal Vaccine.

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NY AG James Will Move to Seize Trump’s Assets If He Does Not Pay $355 Million Fraud Fine

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday indicated that she would ask the court to seize former President Donald Trump’s assets, including his real estate properties, if he does not pay the roughly $355 million a judge fined him in her civil fraud case.

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WikiLeaks Founder Assange Begins Major Legal Fight Against Extradition to U.S.

Julian Assange Trial

Julian Assange’s attorneys on Tuesday began a major legal challenge in the United Kingdom to stop the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition to the United States on espionage charges. 

Assange, who has been in a maximum security prison in London for the past five years, was unable to attend the first day of a two-day High Court hearing due to his health, his attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said, according to The Associated Press. 

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New Study Finds That CO2 is Increasing the Rate by Which the Globe is Greening, Even Under Drought

Coal Plant

A new study finds that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are driving increased plant growth that’s greening the Earth, even in areas experiencing drought.

The peer-reviewed study, which was published in the scientific journal Global Ecology and Conservation, finds that the phenomenon known as “global greening” is an indisputable fact. The rate of global greening has increased slightly, and drought has only slowed, but not stopped, the process.

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New Data Centers Set to Stress U.S. Electric Grid Further

Electric Substation

For the past couple of years, assessments of the national electric grid’s ability to deliver power during peak demand periods, such as heat waves and cold snaps, have shown increasing risk for blackouts.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the nation’s grid watchdog, finds the main cause is retirements of coal plants without enough natural gas plants coming online.

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School District Allows LGBTQ Lesson Opt-Outs After Legal Threat by Muslim Parents

Christian, Jewish and Muslim families in suburban D.C. are waiting for a federal appeals court to determine whether their school district can continue requiring their children to read LGBTQ “storybooks” without parental knowledge or consent.

Eleven hundred miles away in a similarly blue jurisdiction led by the United States’ first known Somali-American mayor, Muslim immigrant families who escaped a war-torn country didn’t have to go to court to have their parental rights honored.

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Top Election Lawsuits to Watch Ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election

People Voting

There are multiple ongoing or just-filed election lawsuits this year that could have wide-ranging impact on the 2024 elections, as plaintiffs from both sides of the political aisle challenge election laws or applications of them.

In 2020, there were as many as 400 lawsuits brought by both Republicans and Democrats regarding election procedures and laws as election administration was quickly changed during the COVID-19 lockdowns leading up to the presidential election. This year, new election lawsuits are focusing on candidate eligibility, different changes in law, and alleged violation of election laws. All of these lawsuits may greatly impact how the 2024 presidential election will be conducted.

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Department of Homeland Security Admitted in Emails It Fails to Track Illegal Immigrants Released into U.S. Interior

Illegal Immigrants

Newly uncovered emails between Department of Homeland Security officials and journalists show the agency tasked with protecting U.S. border and domestic security admitted it is not tracking illegal immigrants after they were released from federal custody into the interior of the country.

In the emails obtained by the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust in a Freedom of Information Act request, one DHS official told a Washington Post reporter off the record he could not say how many immigrants are settling in Northern states via border state busing programs because the agency does not track those released from their custody.

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New York Judge Sets March 25 Trial Date for Trump ‘Hush Money’ Case, Denies Motion to Dismiss

Donald Trump Courtroom

Former President Donald Trump is set to go to trial on March 25 in New York on charges related to his alleged role in a hush money scandal before the 2016 election after a judge on Thursday denied his motions to dismiss. 

Judge Juan M. Merchan denied Trump’s motions to dismiss and said jury selection in the trial will begin March 25, per The New York Times.

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DHS Secretary Mayorkas Personally Denied RFK Jr.’s Secret Service Request, Documents Show

Mayorkas RFK JR

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas personally denied Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request for a Secret Service detail to protect him as a presidential candidate, records show. 

Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog, released the records regarding Kennedy’s request Tuesday after obtaining the documents through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

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Impeachment Evidence Counters Biden’s Claims, Shows He Met with Many of Son’s Major Foreign Clients

From emails and photos to sworn testimony and FBI documents, the House impeachment inquiry has meticulously established that Joe Biden met in person with many of his son’s large foreign clients, including Russian, Chinese and Ukrainian business executives.

That evidence mounts as lawmakers try to debunk the president’s claims he had nothing to do with his family’s business. 

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Tony Bobulinski’s Closed-Door Interview May Answer Key Questions Central to Impeachment Inquiry

A former Hunter Biden business partner involved in early contacts with a Chinese energy conglomerate that paid the first son millions is set to appear in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday.

Tony Bobulinski, who worked with the younger Biden to form an investment company with CEFC China Energy, is a key witness in the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry because he had a front row seat to the Biden family’s plans for its partnership with the Chinese company.

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Special Counsel’s Report Gives Impeachment Inquiry New Leads in Biden-Ukraine Saga

On the heels of the long-awaited report by Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur on the possession and potential mishandling of classified documents by President Joe Biden, several of the memos cited in the report that were found in Biden’s possession are eliciting questions from Congress about why Biden retained those documents related specifically to countries where his son was conducting his foreign business dealings. The House Oversight Committee has demanded that the Department of Justice provide them access to the classified documents uncovered by the special counsel’s investigation.

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Trump Endorses Tim Sheehy for Montana GOP Senate over Matt Rosendale

Trump Montana

Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the GOP Montana Senate primary, endorsing former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy over Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale.

“I LOVE MONTANA! Tim Sheehy is an American Hero and highly successful Businessman from the Great State of Montana,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is strongly supported by our incredible Chairman of the NRSC, Steve Daines, and many other patriotic Senators and Republicans who have endorsed our Campaign to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

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Biden Classified Memos Report Re-Ignites Debates About Dual Justice, ‘Diminished’ President

Biden Speaking

Special Counsel Robert Hur’s final report on Joe Biden’s willful retention and dissemination of highly classified information is rocking Washington, re-igniting concerns of a dual system of justice while putting the full weight of the government behind the notion that America is currently being served by a president with “diminished faculties.”

Hur’s 388-page report released Thursday may have spared Biden the spectacle of a criminal prosecution similar to that his Justice Department imposed on Donald Trump, but it delivered a devastating blow to the 46th president’s re-election hopes by going out of its way to explain criminal charges weren’t levied in part because jurors might see Biden as a dottering, forgetful old man incapable of criminal intent.

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Trump Cruises Toward Nomination as He Wins Nevada, Virgin Islands GOP Caucuses

Trump Nevada

Former President Donald Trump cruised to an easy victory in the Nevada GOP Caucus on Thursday evening, claiming an overwhelming portion of the vote in a contest that included no major challengers.

The Associated Press called the contest shortly after polls closed, with Trump claiming 97.6% of the vote. Pastor Ryan Binkley also appeared on the ballot and claimed 2.4% support as of press time.

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California County Sued over Non-Citizen Voting Records as States Diverge on Letting Foreigners Vote

A California county has been sued by an election integrity watchdog over not making non-citizen voting records available while states are divided on whether non-citizens should be permitted to vote in U.S. elections.

Some states are allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections while others are prohibiting it. Alameda County in California is being sued for not producing voter registration and voting records of non-citizens.

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Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Removal of Trump from Colorado Ballot Under Insurrection Clause

Trump Supreme Court

Supreme Court justices on Thursday appeared skeptical during oral arguments of Colorado plaintiffs’ assertions that former President Donald Trump should be kept off of the state’s ballot for president.

The justices focused on the consequences of allowing Colorado to remove former President Donald Trump during oral arguments on Thursday, pressing the Colorado plaintiffs’ attorney on the issues that could occur across the country. 

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CDC Overrules Mask Advisers and Its Own Research Finding ‘No Difference’ Between N95, Surgical

Grocery Shopping Masks

Nearly a year ago, the respected research collaborative Cochrane drastically reinterpreted its own “systematic review” of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on masking in response to media pressure, deeming them “inconclusive” after the review team found that masks make “little to no difference” against COVID-19 or influenza.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is following Cochrane’s lead by publicly pressuring its advisers to revise their recommendations on masking in healthcare settings, which are based on its own systematic review that now undermines CDC preferences.

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Biden Used Private Email and Fake Names for Official Business, Shared White House Comms with Family

As early as 2010, Joe Biden routinely used a private email account with a fake name to conduct official government business as vice president, and at times copied his sons and brother on exchanges that included some of the highest ranking officials inside the White House, according to documents released under a historic lawsuit against the National Archives.

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Classified Ukraine Documents Discovered in Biden’s Possession from Time of Hunter’s Burisma Work

According to the appendices listing the documents recovered in the Justice Department investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, the president retained talking points and a telephone call transcript with the Ukrainian prime minister from a key period in Hunter Biden’s Burisma Holdings employment.

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Special Prosecutor Gives Scathing Assessment of Biden’s Mental Acuity

Though the special counsel investigating Joe Biden’s possession of classified documents ultimately did not recommend charges after finding he “willfully” kept and shared some of the memos, the prosecutor gave a scathing assessment of the President’s mental acuity months before the presidential election.

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Special Counsel Robert Hur Says Biden ‘Willfully’ Kept, Shared Classified Memos but Won’t Be Charged Because of His Poor Memory

Special counsel Robert Hur concluded in a stinging report released Thursday that President Joe Biden willfully kept classified documents from his time as vice president, shared them with an author and knew he had them as far back as 2017, but he recommended against prosecution.

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