by Matthew Holloway | Dec 14, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening that he has chosen Arizona’s Kari Lake to lead Voice of America (VOA) as its Director. Lake will replace Biden appointee Michael Abramowitz, formerly of the Washington Post. A career broadcaster since 1991, Lake was tapped by Trump citing her decades as a prominent news anchor.
Reporting from the Associated Press (AP) described Lake as “Telegenic, engaging and adept at communicating,” and emphasized her policy position as “an immigration hard-liner.”
In a statement, Trump wrote: “I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media. Kari was a beloved News Anchor in Arizona, which supported me by record margins, for over 20 years. Congratulations Kari!”
As noted by Fox News, Voice of America is a major international broadcast network which provides news and cultural programming in forty languages via internet, mobile, social media, radio, and television as part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. The agency also runs Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Middle East Broadcasting Networks which broadcast pro-American media throughout the world. The head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who Trump has yet to appoint, leads the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, which will need to first remove the recently appointed Abramowitz and appoint Lake. The bipartisan board consists of six members who serve alongside the sitting Secretary of State. They are appointed by the President from four lists submitted to him by the Chairs and ranking members of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Responding to Trump’s announcement, Lake posted to X, “I am honored that President Trump has asked me to lead the Voice of America. @VOANews is a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth. With an audience of 326 million people, Voice of America delivers information in 48 languages. Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide. Thank you for putting your trust in me, President Trump. I look forward to leading the Voice of America, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Trump’s past relationship with VOA has been somewhat fraught as reported by the AP, with the President criticizing the outlet heavily in 2020 saying that the “things they say are disgusting toward our country.” He further accused VOA of using American tax dollars “to speak for authoritarian regimes,” after it covered the relaxation of COVID lockdowns in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
When the Biden administration took power in 2021, Trump’s appointments to the VOA were summarily removed and replaced with personnel friendly to the Democrat-led government.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 12, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) released its Arizona Public Opinion Pulse (AZPOP) results on Thursday, offering the closest to a full exit-poll that has been generated in the state so far after the election. Conducted in the last pre-Thanksgiving week of November, the survey spoke to 988 registered voters in Arizona and among other things asked voters specifically, “WHY they voted the way they did.”
The pollsters asked voters to express their reasoning for voting for President-elect Donald Trump versus Vice President Kamala Harris and for Congressman and Senator-elect Ruben Gallego instead of Kari Lake in particular.
Of all concerns that dominated the presidential election, the outlet found, as many polls prior to the election did, that the economy predominated being the most important issue in voters’ decision with 27% of respondents. This was followed by immigration, “Threats to Democracy”, and the “candidate’s background or policy record.”
The pollster’s noted:
“Trump’s GOP has made immigration a signature issue for the party, and Democrats – the party in power – own both the positive and negative aspects of the economy. Translation: The two top issues were great for Republicans.“
Republicans and Independents both were motivated first by the economy and then by immigration, while Democrats were motivated by the perceived “threats to Democracy,” followed by the economy and abortion.
David Byler, NPI Chief of Research explained, “Republican and Democratic candidates ran like they were living in different universes. Democrats cared about abortion and threats to democracy much more than immigration. Republicans saw immigration and the economy as crises caused by the Biden Administration.”
“We saw this same pattern in the pre-election polling. But the election proved that the GOP argument – about the economy, immigration, and dissatisfaction with how Biden governed – won the day.”
The pollster also observed that a potentially fatal flaw in Harris’ campaign was her deep integration within the deliberately named Biden-Harris Administration, which precluded her making a clean-break from an extremely unpopular presidency among Arizona voters.
“As Biden’s VP, most voters (56%) view Harris as an extension of the Biden administration rather than a new politician forging a different path (33%). Arizonans disapproved of Biden’s job performance for most of his tenure as President – which suggests he may have been a liability for the Harris campaign.”
Mike Noble, NPI Founder & CEO noted, “Hindsight is 20/20, but this might be one of the biggest mistakes of the 2024 Democratic process for replacing Biden. They chose someone who was part of the Biden Administration, knowing that he had a poor approval rating. Harris could be tied to Biden in a way that almost nobody could.”
Turning to the Senate race, the results took on a different character entirely. Rather than addressing particular issues or positions as they did in the presidential race, the pollsters’ questioning yielded more emotionally driven responses related to Kari Lake’s favorability, thus not offering a similar distinction in the Senate race. The outlet wrote, “This AZPOP asked voters who had an unfavorable view of Lake (53%) WHY they disliked her, and allowed them to select multiple reasons.”
Based on the narrow breadth of the question and its scope being limited to those who voted against Lake, Noble Predictive Insights found a majority of Gallego supporters either did so because she “denied her 2022 loss in the governor race,” because the respondent “did not like her personally,” or because she “imitated Trump without offering new ideas.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 11, 2024 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona’s charter schools are about to receive a fresh infusion of taxpayer dollars in a federal grant from the United States Department of Education. The grant is expected to fund the establishment of two dozen new charter schools and bolster another 23 already in operation.
As reported by The Center Square, the state of Arizona has received approximately 24% of the $143 million awarded across the nation by the Expanding Opportunities Through Quality Charter Schools Program, a total of about $34.8 million. The outlet noted that although the funding originates from fiscal 2024 it will be distributed in annual disbursements through 2029.
In a press release from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “I am extremely pleased that we have received this federal grant that will create 24 new high-quality charter schools and help another 23 existing schools with models and practices that result in academic growth. I want to commend the department staff who competed for this funding. Their work has resulted in the state receiving the largest recipient of this grant, per capita, in the country.”
Horne added, “Arizona is the leader in the country on school choice and charters are a major component of that. These dollars will serve a vital purpose in making sure that an estimated 10,000 students in traditionally underserved areas will have a chance to select a high-quality charter school. Every student in every part of our state, urban or rural, rich or poor, deserves this opportunity and I am very pleased to be a part of this effort.”
Speaking with AZ Capitol Times, Horne explained Arizona’s long-term history of fostering charter schools saying, “The charter schools in Arizona go back to the 1990s.” Then, he noted that as a state legislator, he championed charter schools and their purpose. “Even a good district school may not necessarily meet the needs of all the students,” Horne told the outlet. “And so the parents should have the ability to find a school that does meet those needs.”
In the release, ADE stated that it has already begun work on the upcoming project “which aims to increase the number of high-quality charter schools focusing on educationally disadvantaged students.” It added that such students are identified by their economic disadvantage, disability status, as non-English speakers, and as “other demographic groups.”
The statement outlined the grant’s purpose stating:
“The grant also seeks to close achievement gaps in academic scores, provide technical assistance to educators to improve teaching and learning and encourage dual or concurrent enrollment in college level courses. The expectation is that students will experience at least one year of academic growth on state tests for math, reading and language arts with a long-term measurement of cumulative three-year growth.”
At present, approximately 560 charter schools are in operation throughout Arizona serving about 231,000 students. The Center Square report cited the Arizona Charter Schools Association. Under Arizona law, all charter schools are open enrollment and as a result enjoy wide adoption. The outlet reported that the California Department of Education, Colorado League of Charter Schools, New York State Education Department, Utah Association of Public Charter Schools, and Rhode Island Department of Education also received 2024 grant funding as well.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 10, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Congressman Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) introduced a resolution Friday to award U.S. Marine Corps. Veteran Daniel Penny with the Congressional Gold Medal for his “courageous actions taken in response to the threat to his community.” The resolution was introduced three days before his acquittal on charges related to the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely on a New York City subway in 2023.
Penny, 26, was charged with second degree manslaughter and negligent homicide after he restrained the erratically behaving Neely, a schizophrenic homeless man with 42 prior arrests and an active warrant, in a chokehold until police could arrive. Neely had threatened other passengers on the train telling them, “someone’s going to die today.” As Penny fought to restrain the man with the help of other subway riders, he held the hold for about six minutes.
Neely later died at an area hospital. Authorities would later find that he had the synthetic drug K2 in his system at the time of his death, according to Fox News.
Prosecutors, fearing a hung jury amidst a deadlock, withdrew the manslaughter charges Friday and upon the juror’s return Monday, they found Penny innocent of the remaining lesser charge.
Speaking with the outlet, Crane, himself a retired Navy SEAL Sniper, told reporters, “Daniel Penny’s actions exemplify what it means to stand against the grain to do right in a world that rewards moral cowardice.”
“Our system of ‘justice’ is fiercely corrupt, allowing degenerates to steamroll our laws and our sense of security, while punishing the righteous. Mr. Penny bravely stood in the gap to defy this corrupt system and protect his fellow Americans. I’m immensely proud to introduce this resolution to award him with the Congressional Gold Medal to recognize his heroism.”
In the text of his resolution Crane wrote, “Throughout President Biden’s term as President, local governments across various cities and States failed to adequately protect residents and their property from violent criminals.”
He described Penny’s actions on the subway saying he, “protected women and children of the city of New York, New York, from violence on May 1, 2023.”
Crane added, “Daniel Penny, with others, acted to save New York City subway riders from threatening behavior by restraining a criminal – who had 42 prior arrests and an active warrant – until the police came. The courageous actions taken in response to the threat to his community by Daniel Penny, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, went beyond the civilian call of duty.”
“It is the sense of the Congress that Daniel Penny, with integrity and honor that is characterizstic of who he is and of his honorable service in the United States Marine Corps, stepped in to protect women and children from an individual who was threatening to kill innocent bystanders, and he is a hero.”
Following the not-guilty verdict on Monday, Crane called the decision a “massive vibe shift and a huge win for our nation.” He also criticized left-wing responses to the verdict writing, “The left has a completely backwards view of justice.”
Crane also reposted a Thursday comment on X comparing Penny’s case to the pardon of Hunter Biden writing, “A spoiled elite with a decade of crimes gets off scot-free while a selfless Marine who acted with courage gets put through the wringer. A radical realignment of our “justice” system is long overdue.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 10, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizonans, treated with the spectacle of satellite launches from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara just over 500 miles away, may soon be able to enjoy the view from launches much closer to home in Yuma.
The Arizona city is reportedly working to bring another spaceport to Arizona, buoyed by interest from commercial launch companies seeking a new launch site, according to interim City Administrator Jay Simonton.
As reported by AZ Family, Simonton said “These smaller companies are needing to test their equipment. The market is dominated by the big guys so in Cape Canaveral, (Florida), and California, they can’t get time or space to launch.” He told the outlet that the spaceport would be geared toward providing services to these smaller firms who are effectively squeezed out from larger facilities on the coastlines of Florida, California and Texas.
“We’re talking about very small rockets to launch small commercial satellites for research,” he added.
“Yuma is an ideal location. We are really close to the Sea of Cortez and then we have the Pacific Ocean. It’s a perfect location to launch solar polar orbits. If this comes into fruition, all the launches would launch over the Sea of Cortez and over the Pacific Ocean,” said Simonton.
Yuma is also home to a robust aeronautical infrastructure and controlled airspace as the site of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, and the adjacent Barry M. Goldwater Range, managed jointly by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army.
The Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp, received a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration for a land feasibility study to prove Yuma County’s ability to house a spaceport in early 2020.
According to the outlet Yuma estimates that the new spaceport, attracting firms from one of the fast growing industries in the world, would create more than 2,000 jobs and drive approximately $2 billion in growth.
“You bring in those high-tech operations, that brings in high-tech jobs and higher paying jobs,” Simonton said.
As it stands: Yuma is working to obtain an operating license from the Federal Aviation Administration and is seeking outside investors and grants to launch the spaceport’s development. The city was also selected as a finalist for a National Science Foundation Engines Program alongside 71 other teams including the Arizona cities Nogales, Sierra Vista, San Luis, and Somerton. As leader of the Southwest Regional Aerospace Innovation Alliance it could receive up to $160 million over 10 years toward building the spaceport.
Simonton also noted there is support from the project on the state level and cited support from Democrat Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly. “We’ve had discussions with our senator, Sen. (Mark) Kelly. He’s a former astronaut. He is very interested in this project and very supportive of that. He would love something like this to come to Arizona,” he told AZ Family.
In a post to X, Interorbital Systems announced that the firm has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Yuma “to conduct NEPTUNE orbital rocket launches from the new Arizona spaceport.”
Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls told KYMA that the development is a major step for a potential new industry in Yuma. “It changes the way one the world perceives us, but two the industries that to want to locate here, so those that are building rockets and those that are building that industry are going to want to be close to where the launches happen.”
Nicholls also stressed that the city would need to work closely with Mexico to make launches work saying, “We’ve got to communicate with them, let them know what we’re doing, make sure they’re comfortable with that because as I showed the council those rockets will be heading south over Mexico, over the Gulf of California and over the Pacific Ocean.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
