December 31, 2023 - The Pennsylvania Daily Star

Honduran Nationals Accused of Running Fentanyl Trafficking Rings in Major U.S. Cities

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Honduran nationals are running fentanyl trafficking rings in cities across the western part of the U.S., according to Willamette Week.

Law enforcement agencies have been investigating a cartel using “Honduran nationals to distribute bulk amounts of fentanyl…in the western United States,” according to Willamette Week, citing a criminal complaint filed Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court in Portland. The trafficking operations have been identified in Portland, Seattle, Oakland, Denver and Salt Lake City.

U.S. Public Pensions Invest over $68 Billion in China

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

American public pension funds have invested tens of billions into Chinese companies over the last three years, according to a new study.

As reported by Axios, the study from the trade advocacy group Future Union shows that a total of $68 billion has been invested in various private Chinese entities in the last three years as of June 30th. There has been at least one public pension fund with investments in China in 42 different states.

Commentary: DEI Resistance Is Advancing

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

While it certainly hasn’t been done away with, the anti-quality, anti-fairness, and anti-American “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” hustle is taking some hits. This ugly form of tribalism pits men, whites, and the rich (oppressors) against women, blacks, and the poor (the oppressed.) With a language all their own, DEI-ists have wormed into just about every facet of American life. The government, its schools, the military, and corporations have all embraced the sect.

Agriculture Industry Concerned over the Closing of Rail Lines to Mexico

December 31, 2023 The Center Square

With the ongoing migrant border crisis affecting rail traffic, agriculture officials are worried about future rail line closings.

Grains are once again moving into Mexico after a multi-day closure of two important rail lines, but officials say it could take months to recover.

Commentary: Conservative Methodist Exit Nears End Point

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The window that opened in 2019 to allow United Methodist churches to depart their embattled denomination closes in a week or so, at the end of the year, and at this late hour, approximately one-fourth of the member churches that constitute Protestantism’s second-largest denomination have climbed through that window.

In the largest U.S. church schism since Civil War times, nearly 7,700 churches of the roughly 30,000 in the United Methodist Church (UMC) have voted to take their property and go elsewhere.

California’s Free Medi-Cal to Cover Illegal Immigrants amid Healthcare Shortage

December 31, 2023 The Center Square

Beginning January 1, illegal immigrants will be able to qualify for and use Medi-Cal, California’s taxpayer-funded free and low-cost healthcare plan for low-income residents. Experts warn that the state is already facing a healthcare shortage as a new $25 healthcare minimum wage threatens to reduce staffing levels — and doctors who accept Medi-Cal’s low reimbursement rate — even further.

By expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to illegal immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 under SB 184, an omnibus spending bill, California will add an estimated 700,000 users to the Medi-Cal system at a cost of $2.7 billion per year.

Market Share for Green Bonds Slumped for Another Year Following Backlash

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Bonds that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors for their investors made up just 2% of all bond issuance in the U.S., the lowest point in terms of market share since 2020 after also declining in 2022, according to Bloomberg.

ESG bond issuance as a percentage of the market reached an all-time high in 2021 and is not expected by analysts to reach that same high in 2024 as interest rates make the bond market pricier and backlash to the ESG label inhibits sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. ESG has come under fire by conservatives who see it as a left-wing initiative infecting the financial world, most recently leading Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to send subpoenas to financial firms Vanguard, Arjuna Capital, BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors over alleged ESG collusion, arguing it violates antitrust law.

American Medical Association Restricts Two Scholarships on the Basis of Race

December 31, 2023 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation is offering students at least two scholarships on the basis of race, according to its website.

One of the scholarships is for black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and native Alaskan medical students, and the other is for black students only, according to its website. Similar scholarships have come under fire from conservative legal organizations, and one legal scholar said that scholarships selective on the basis of race may violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Bidenomics: Unemployment Insurance Claims Leap as over 1.8 Million Americans Receive Benefits

December 31, 2023 Just the News

State unemployment insurance claims rose last week by 12,000 while the number of people who are receiving benefits reached 1.875 million for the week ending Dec. 16, according to seasonally adjusted data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

Seasonally adjusted initial claims hit 218,000 for the week ending Dec. 23 after rising by 12,000, according to the latest data.

Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie Warns States Barring Trump: The House of Representatives Decides Whether to Certify Their Electors

December 31, 2023 Just the News

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., warned states acting to bar former President Donald Trump from the ballot that the House of Representatives will decide whether to certify states’ electors.