State News

A non-citizen allegedly cast a ballot in Michigan and is facing criminal charges, according to the Michigan secretary of state's office. The non-citizen allegedly registered to vote and cast a ballot at an Ann Arbor early voting site on Sunday, per a joint statement from the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office and the Michigan secretary of state's office. The alleged non-citizen voter faces charges of Unauthorized Elector Attempting To Vote and Perjury – Making a False Affidavit for Purpose of Securing Voter Registration.

 U.S. citizens residing in Wisconsin who do not already have an approved photo ID or the necessary identification documents to obtain one can still apply for a temporary identification card for voting purposes, free of charge. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation requests all Wisconsinites applying for the temporary free ID used for voting – this is not a Wisconsin Voter ID, which does not exist – bring proof of name and date of birth, proof of identity, proof of state residency and proof of U.S. citizenship.

A new report from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee claims that Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of Minnesota’s $140 billion public pension fund is driving up energy bills for consumers in Minnesota and other states. Titled “How Governor Tim Walz’s State Public Pension Fund Colludes with the Climate Cartel to Raise Energy Costs for American Consumers,” the report accuses Walz of using the Minnesota State Board of Investment (MSBI) to push overly ambitious climate goals that are being felt in consumers’ wallets.

Microsoft plans to spend $1 billion to build three data centers in Central Ohio, and the state is kicking in tax breaks for the project. Eventually, according to Microsoft, the entire project could create hundreds of full-time jobs at the campuses in Heath, Hebron and New Albany. The Heath and Hebron facilities still need local approval.

There were nearly 565,000 illegal border crossers reported in Arizona in fiscal 2024, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Arizona’s 378 miles of shared border with Mexico is staffed by CBP and Border Patrol agents in the CBP sectors of Tucson and Yuma. Tucson Sector’s 262-mile shared border with Mexico extends from the Yuma County line to the Arizona-New Mexico state line. Yuma Sector’s nearly 182,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain extends from Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line.

The progressive group Save our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) filed an ethics complaint with the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct against Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, alleging some remarks he made during a speech crossed into politics. Bolick and another conservative Arizona Supreme Court Justice, Kathryn King, are up for reelection this election and progressives are heavily targeting them for defeat due to their vote upholding Arizona’s strict old abortion law, which has since been repealed. SOSAZ cited an article in Politico which quoted Bolick’s remarks to the Sun City West Republican Club in early October. He said their ruling on abortion was only “a convenient excuse to try to get people on the left riled up and replace us with judges who will rubber stamp their ideological agenda.” He said he would continue “fighting for conservative principles,” and brought up his work for the Goldwater Institute and the Reagan Justice Department, and mentioned that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a mentor and his child’s godfather.

Vote by mail numbers in Florida have exceeded numbers from the 2016 election when former President Donald Trump won his first term in office. Florida county elections officials have mailed 3.52 million ballots to those who requested them, up from 2016, when there were 3.35 million ballots sent to voters, a 5.07 percent increase.

A school district outside Cleveland, Ohio, will have staff read Joe Feldman's controversial book “Grading for Equity."

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday docketed the appeal filed Sunday by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares after a federal appeals court declined to overrule a lower court's decision to force Virginia to add approximately 1,600 noncitizens back to its voter rolls. According to the Supreme Court's online portal, the case was docketed on Monday after Virginia submitted its appeal for the high court to reverse a lower court's decision on Sunday.

The political action committee associated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has reportedly ignored the Kari Lake campaign for U.S. Senate, with not one dollar going to the contentious Arizona race, even as high profile senators voiced their early support for the Trump-aligned Republican. McConnell's lack of interest in Lake's race was reported first by Axios on Monday, when it reported, "McConnell PAC snubs Lake," and revealed the influential Senate Leadership Fund "has not reserved a single dollar to help" Lake during "the final weeks of the campaign."

Local law enforcement in a Florida county announced the arrest of over 100 people who committed looting and similar crimes in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with at least 41 of these suspects being illegal aliens. As reported by Fox News, police officers on patrol for looters in Pinellas County have made the arrests over the course of the last three weeks. A total of 45 suspects were arrested on 68 different charges, ranging from robbery and burglary to grand theft, vandalism, and trespassing.

There is a new warning about texts to voters in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Elections Commission said some voters are getting texts telling them that their voter registration or voter information is wrong.

Before a ban on gender reassignment procedures on minors, Ohio was ranked among the top states in the nation for total procedures as well as the number of procedures performed per residents, according to newly released data from a nonprofit. Earlier this year, the Ohio legislature enacted House Bill 68, which banned the prescription of hormone blockers and hormone replacement therapy, along with gender reassignment surgeries on youth such as mastectomies. The law was first vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine – which was overridden – and then later upheld in court following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares on Friday vowed to appeal after a federal judge ordered Virginia to restore about 1,500 noncitizens to the commonwealth's voter rolls. U.S. District Judge Patricia Trolliver Giles, an appointee of President Joe Biden, announced her decision after the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to force Virginia to restore the noncitizen voters, alleging the commonwealth violated the National Voter Registration Act by removing them so close to an election.

Public officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on Friday announced the discovery of a batch containing approximately 2,500 voter registration applications that includes as many as 1,500 forms submitted with false information or without the consent of the applicant. Ray D'Agostino, the Vice-Chairman of the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners and Chairman of Lancaster County Board of Elections, said election workers discovered discrepancies including identical handwriting, signatures that do not match those on file with the county, duplicate registrations, false addresses, or fake driver's license and social security numbers.