NC Policy Watch: “Each of these colleges had the opportunity to restore the student and faculty voices they censored — but leaders deliberately chose not to do so,” said Greg Lukianoff, FIRE president and CEO, in a statement from the group. “We don’t back down. If college leadership is willing to muzzle, censor, and punish…
“Beto responds to oligarch’s lawsuit”
Off the Kuff: “Democrat Beto O’Rourke is blasting a pipeline company executive and top donor to Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign for filing a defamation lawsuit against him as he tries to unseat the two-term Republican governor. O’Rourke’s attorney filed a legal response to the suit in San Saba County on Monday saying it lacked any…
“Texas once again temporarily blocked from investigating gender-affirming care as child abuse”
TX Tribune: “A Texas appeals court on Monday reinstated a temporary injunction blocking Texas from investigating parents for child abuse if they allow their transgender children to receive gender-affirming care. The Texas 3rd Court of Appeals issued the order as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal on behalf of the…
“Editorial: Sen. Cruz is ringmaster in circus he pledged wouldn’t happen”
WRAL: ““This will not be a political circus. This will not be the kind of character smear that sadly, our Democratic colleagues have gotten very good at.”– U.S. Sen Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at the opening of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson It hardly took 24 hours…
“Book bans and the threat of censorship rev up political activism in the suburbs”
NPR: “On a school night in late January, Stephana Ferrell, a 39-year-old mother of two elementary school children in Orange County, Fla., logged onto a virtual meeting with more than 200 other parents around the country who, like her, have been alarmed to see books pulled off the shelves of their children’s schools. Ferrell, a family…
“Report: Alabama among states with most workers earning less than $15 an hour”
AL Political Reporter: “A recent study found that more than 40 percent of Alabama workers make below $15 an hour, while an even greater percentage of Black and Hispanic Alabamians make less than $15 an hour. The state is among the seven states with the largest concentration of low-wage workers. The report by Oxfam America, a Massachusetts-based charitable…
“Matt Gaetz Will Seek Re-Election”
Political Wire: “Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced Saturday that he will be running for reelection this year, the Northwest Florida Daily News reports. Said Gaetz: “It’s choose your fighter time. I’m your Florida man. I’m ready to take the fight to Washington and I hope you’ll fight with me.””
A Look at How TX Voting Restrictions Impacted Primary
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: “Texas’ new election law resulted in confusion and hundreds of votes uncounted as officials scrambled to prepare for the changes. The March 1 Democratic and Republican primaries were the first Texas elections with a wide-reaching voting law in effect. The bill — Senate Bill 1 — and earlier versions made national headlines…
“[AL Senate Candidate] Durant paid thousands in campaign funds to his own company, to buy his own book”
AL Political Reporter: “A closer look into U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant’s required financial reporting shows he is an extremely wealthy individual, with a multimillion-dollar estate in Colorado, who has benefited from recent federal bailout funds, used his company’s services to further his campaign and purchased copies of books he has written using campaign contributions….
Conviction in $10 MM Public School Fraud in AL
AL Political Reporter: “Managing Raleigh’s Torchlight Academy was a lucrative family venture for Don McQueen. The school paid McQueen nearly $3 million in management fees between 2016 and 2020, financial audits submitted by the school show. The Raleigh businessman ran the K-8 charter school with a reported 600 students (state officials could only confirm 489…