Floridians will likely know who their next U.S. senator will be by the beginning of January, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday. read more
An election judge in Hubbard County is accused of accepting 11 unregistered votes. The election judge, a 64-year-old Nevis man, is charged with one count of accepting the vote of an unregistered voter and one count of neglect of duty on Election Day, according to the criminal complaint. read more
After the close of business Friday night, the Pentagon released the findings of its fiscal 2024 annual audit. And for the seventh consecutive year, it has failed, though claiming incremental improvements. "This result was not a surprise, and I know that on the surface it doesn't sound like we're making progress. However, that is not the case," Michael McCord, the Department of Defense Under Secretary of Defense and Chief Financial Officer, told reporters today. "I believe the department has turned a corner in its understanding of the challenges, and more importantly, in addressing those challenges, momentum is on our side." The annual audit is conducted by the DoD's Office of Inspector General along with an independent public accounting firm that examined $4.1 trillion in assets and $4.3 trillion in liabilities. read more
With Republicans sweeping to a red trifecta in last week's elections, stunningly capturing the White House and majorities in the House and Senate, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is cutting a different tone, compared to his pre-election hype where he posited a Democrat win in the Senate and then potentially getting rid of the filibuster, among other radical proposals. Ending the filibuster rule " which requires 60 votes to pass bills " would have made it easier for Democrats to supercharge their agenda and essentially railroad any Republican opposition. Schumer and the Democrats tried to kill the filibuster in 2022 when they had 50 votes " the vice president could have broken the tie " but Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused to toe the Democratic party line. They eventually became Independents.
The Chicago City Council on Thursday unanimously rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposed $300 million property tax hike, forcing the mayor and his budget team to go back to the drawing board to balance the city budget for 2025. Aldermen scheduled a special meeting for Thursday to vote on Johnson's tax hike plan, and voted unanimously to reject it without debate. "It's a devastating loss for Mayor Johnson," Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said after Thursday's vote. "I've been here going on 17 years. I've never seen this kind of vote take place, and I think in many of our lifetimes, we've never seen this. So it sends a message that that massive property tax increase he was looking for is not going to happen." "We needed to send a message today that weren't going to balance this budget on property taxes, working families," said Ald. Bill Conway (34th).
Voice to text messed of hundreds of dollars of food (for lunch).