by Corinne Murdock | Jun 27, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona has received another round of federal funding to establish universal high-speed internet: a total of $993 million.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced $42.45 billion in infrastructure funding to establish high-speed internet to all households in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five territories. The Biden administration dubbed the initiative the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
Arizona ranked 20th in terms of receiving the most funding. Texas far surpassed other states in its award for funding: over $3.3 billion. The state with the second-highest award was California at over $1.8 billion. The remaining top-20 recipients for federal funding received anywhere from $1 to $1.7 billion.
In a press release, the White House noted that the federal funding represented the initiation of an “Administration-Wide Investing in America Tour.” The press release wasn’t without bugs: the first link in the announcement was faulty as of press time.
Users attempting to follow the Biden administration’s link were met with an “Access Denied” error message on the Biden administration’s independent website for its Internet for All initiative. The page was intended to offer information about the BEAD program as well as total federal investment in high-speed internet throughout all 50 states and the territories.
The White House press release also claimed that over 8.5 million households and small businesses exist in areas without high-speed internet. The Biden administration compared the BEAD program to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s initiative to bring electricity to all homes through the Rural Electrification Act.
The Biden administration promised that the $42.45 billion investment would assure total internet coverage by 2030.
The tens of billions only account for part of total spending on expanding mass internet accessibility issued just earlier this month.
The Biden administration awarded $714 million through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), of which Arizona’s Colorado River Indian Tribes received $25 million to benefit just under 2,000 people, 41 businesses, three farms, and four educational facilities in La Paz County. Additionally, the administration gave nearly $3.5 million to provide fiber cable internet to 24 people and one farm in Coconino County. The administration also awarded $930 million through the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In order to encourage usage of the infrastructure, the Biden administration arranged a deal with internet providers to ensure discounted internet. Regular households receive a discounted rate of up to $30 per month, while tribal households receive a discount of up to $75 per month through the $14.2 billion Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Affordable Connectivity Program.
There are nine other federal programs dedicated to establishing high-speed internet everywhere in addition to the FCC program: the Broadband Infrastructure Program ($288 million), Capital Projects Fund ($10 billion), Connecting Minority Communities Program ($268 million), Digital Equity Act Programs ($2.75 billion spread across three grant programs), Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program ($1 billion), ReConnect Loan and Grant Program ($1.9 billion), State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program ($300 million), and Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program ($3 billion).
Altogether, these nine programs total over $33.7 billion. Biden was authorized to use up to $65 billion for broadband through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in November 2021. There’s also $25 billion allocated for internet through the American Rescue Plan.
Nearly all of the nine programs have an equity focus, prioritizing certain communities over others.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 27, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The city of Phoenix received $10 million in federal funding to establish an equitable “Cultural Corridor” near Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The city announced the funding over the weekend, which originated from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The $10 million came from $1.5 billion in a discretionary fund through the RAISE program opened up in December.
With these recent RAISE funds, the city of Phoenix will develop vacant lots west of the airport. In a press release, the city identified neighborhood stability, identity creation, and economic expansion as their primary goals.
Although the $10 million came this month, final drafting for the Cultural Corridor was published in April 2020. According to these draft plans, the corridor will serve as a multicultural heritage trail navigable via public transit.
Seven individuals were proposed as those to be featured on the trail: Father Albert Braun, Cesar Chavez, Sister Mary Luca Junk, Silvestre Herrera, Wing Ong, Calvin & Georgie Goode, and John Lewis. Each individual will receive their own themed “zone” within the Cultural Corridor: the Goode-Luca-Ong Community Champion Zone, the Silvestre Herrera Heroism Zone, the Cesar Chavez Labor & Civil Rights Zone, the Father Albert Braun O.F.M. & Medallion of Honor Zone, and the Anne Ott Education Zone.
Additionally, seven landmarks were selected: Historic Sacred Heart Church, Santa Rita Center, Ann Ott School, Silvestre Herrera School, Tanner Church and other churches in the area, Austin Market, and neighborhood parks.
The draft plan also identified 65 properties that were either currently listed as or eligible to be enlisted as historic at the national or local level.
The final draft for the corridor also identified seven areas as historic neighborhoods: the Eastlake Park Neighborhood, El Campito Barrio, Golden Gate Barrio, Cuatro Milpas Barrio, Ann Ott Neighborhood, Green Valley Neighborhood, and Rio Salado San Juan Bautista Neighborhood.
This is the latest round of federal funding for the project. The city received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant for its implementation phase from 2017 to 2019.
Mayor Kate Gallego said in the weekend press release that the grant would issue warranted recognition to communities surrounding the airport.
“This grant will enable us to honor the legacies, histories, and identities of existing communities while also improving safety and mobility in the region,” said Gallego.
The Cultural Corridor arose from the airport’s Land Reuse Strategy that first began in early 2016. Developments on the vacant land include a workforce training center, mixed-use residential properties, commercial lots abutting mixed-use office spaces, and a public park adjacent to a commercial recreation facility. The Cultural Corridor would run from the light rail terminal near East Washington and South 7th streets, down South 16th Street, along East Buckeye Road, along East Pima Street, and southbound past the I-17 until it hits the Rio Salado River.
Several private developments will be established near the light rail terminal where the Cultural Corridor begins: apartments, mixed-use residential, condominiums, commercial spaces, and a hotel.
RAISE grants aren’t the only source of DOT funding for infrastructure. In March, Tucson received another $900,000 from the DOT’s Reconnecting Communities Program to build another biking and pedestrian bridge, covering about 56 percent of the total project cost of $1.6 million. They were approved while 10 other Arizona cities, counties, and one nonprofit were denied funding. The DOT revealed that it prioritized projects engaged in equity and environmental justice work.
The debut of the Biden administration’s RAISE grants saw one award in Arizona: over $10.6 million to the city of Yuma to convert a historic building into a multimodal public transit center. Project costs totaled over $17.7 million.
RAISE is a continuation of its predecessors dating back to 2009, former President Obama’s first year in office: formerly Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) and initially Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER). Through 2022, all three programs have issued over $12.1 billion in grants for 934 projects, 18 of which were Arizona-based projects. RAISE alone has issued over $3.2 billion in grants to 255 projects since launching in 2021.
Last year, the RAISE program gave over $75 million to four projects in Arizona: $261,000 to Navajo County for a regional multimodal planning study of 16 miles of pedestrian and bicycle pathway (total project cost: $290,000); $25 million to Phoenix to build a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the Rio Salado River (total project cost: $34.5 million); $25 million to Tucson to rebuild a bridge less than a mile in length, expand a street from four to six lanes, and build a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge (total project cost: $95.4 million); and nearly $25 million to the Colorado Indian River Tribes to reconstruct 10 miles of road.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jun 26, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s reliably pro-life status is getting whiplash this week thanks to its Democrat Governor’s efforts to legislate by an executive order.
Last week, as the nation prepared for the anniversary of the landmark opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs worked to remake the state’s pro-life reputation and to reclaim her standing within the Arizona Democrat Party as a devoted champion of its platform.
First, Governor Hobbs held a Thursday press conference to announce her support for future passage of the Arizona Right to Contraception Act. The governor tweeted, “Reproductive freedoms are under threat. That’s why I was proud to join Rep. Athena Salman to announce my support for the Arizona Right to Contraception Act, which will ensure all Arizonans have the right to access birth control. I will never back down in the fight to protect our freedoms.”
Representative Salman was thrilled with the governor’s endorsement of her legislation, writing, “Thank you Governor Hobbs for your leadership in protecting our reproductive rights and freedom. Birth control is a human right with overwhelming public support. The Arizona Right to Contraception Act will enshrine this right into law for every family in our state.”
This bill is likely to languish in the Republican-led Legislature next session – as was indicated by the Speaker Pro Tempore for the Arizona House of Representatives, Travis Grantham, who tweeted, “Dead on Arrival.”
Hobbs saved her most noteworthy action for the end of the week, though, signing an executive order that would “centralize all abortion-related prosecutions under the Attorney General to ensure differences in application of the law by county attorneys do not restrict access to legal abortions.”
Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes cheered on this move by the governor, tweeting, “Together, Governor Hobbs and I will continue to do what the voters of Arizona elected us to do – fight like hell to protect the rights of Arizonans to make their own private medical decisions without interference.”
The governor’s order also “directed state agencies to not assist in any investigations relating to providing, assisting, seeking or obtaining reproductive health care that would be legal in Arizona; and established the Governor’s Advisory Council on Protecting Reproductive Freedom to make recommendations that expand access to reproductive healthcare in Arizona.” She also highlighted that “Arizona will decline extradition requests from other states seeking to prosecute individuals who provide, assist, seek or receive abortion services legal in Arizona.”
Republicans were quick to assail Hobbs’ order and highlight the potentially tenuous nature of this action. Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma told AZ Free News that “We are thoroughly reviewing the executive order to determine its legality. At a minimum, this order shows disrespect and contempt for the judiciary. Arizona’s abortion laws are still in litigation in light of the Supreme Court’s historic Dobbs ruling. The Governor cannot unilaterally divert statutory authority to prosecute criminal cases from Arizona’s 15 county attorneys to the Attorney General.”
Senate President Warren Petersen also weighed in on the governor’s order, telling AZ Free News: “Instead of focusing on pressing issues everyday Arizonans are struggling with, like inflation and the economy, Hobbs is setting a dangerous precedent by pulling a PR stunt to appeal to special interest groups and attempting to usurp law enforcement. In the end, this is another do-nothing executive order meant to pander to her liberal base and create unnecessary division on polarizing topics.”
Senator Jake Hoffman told AZ Free News that “This partisan PR stunt by Katie Hobbs is a gross, unconstitutional overreach intended to do nothing more than pander to her far-Left extremist base, and distract from her pathetic track record of failure, chaos, and instability. From getting rolled on the budget to historically high turnover of her senior staff, Hobbs continues to demonstrate how politically and intellectually weak she is with these halfcocked schemes that will never hold up in court.”
Freshman Republican Representative Cory McGarr tweeted, “The sitting governor does not have the authority to make law! Lawless tyrants and authoritarians abuse their power and abuse the people by stripping away their representation through the legislature. This can not stand.”
Former Arizona Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, who is still engaged in litigation over his historic, razor-thin defeat to Mayes last November, also condemned the governor’s order, saying, “Lawless government. The legislature makes laws, not the executive branch unilaterally.”
In a press release, Cathi Herrod, President of the Center for Arizona Policy, pointed out that state law likely does not bestow the power that the governor took upon herself in this executive order. Herrod stated, “Arizona law, A.R.S. 41-101, Section 8 states that the governor ‘may require the attorney general to aid a county attorney in the discharge of his duties.’ Aid does not mean supplant or replace. In her zeal for abortion, Gov. Hobbs has exceeded her authority as governor. The law does not allow her to strip county attorneys of their clear enforcement authority as granted in various Arizona laws. On the anniversary of Dobbs, the better approach would be for Gov. Hobbs to fulfill her pledge to serve all Arizonans, starting with coming together to find ways to serve the needs of pregnant women.”
These actions from Hobbs may signal an abrupt end to Arizona’s standing as one of the most pro-life states in the nation, leaving behind a strong body of work from the state’s past two governors and attorneys general. After the Dobbs decision last year, then-Governor Doug Ducey posted, “I am proud that Arizona has been ranked the most pro-life state in the country. Here, we will continue to cherish life and protect it in every way possible.”
Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was a staunch defender of life during his two terms in office. Most notably, Brnovich took his defense of SB 1457, which prohibited discriminatory abortions based on genetic abnormalities, to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the high court granted the Attorney General’s request to allow this law to go into effect in June 2022, Brnovich stated, “I am pleased with today’s ruling and proud to defend Arizona’s law that protects the unborn.”
Earlier this year, Republican leaders at the Arizona Legislature celebrated their “successful intervention(s) in cases to defend state laws and fight against federal overreach.” One of those cases was the SB 1457 (or Isaacson) litigation, where “a federal court granted Speaker Toma’s and President Petersen’s motion to intervene to defend a law that prohibits abortions based solely on a child’s genetic abnormality after Arizona Attorney General Mayes stated she would not defend the law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 25, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) warned schools that not teaching the English language to migrant students violates state law.
In a press release issued Monday, ADE Superintendent Tom Horne further warned that schools neglecting to teach the English language to migrant students, classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), were at risk of losing funding. A 50-50 dual language immersion model used in some schools, commonly referred to as “dual language” classes, prompted the ADE declaration.
The Arizona Legislative Council (ALC) clarified in a memo to State Sen. Sonny Borrelli (R-LD-30) that ELL students must learn class subjects in the English language.
“If the 50-50 dual language immersion model allows students to be taught subject matter in a language other than English as part of structured English immersion, the model likely violates Proposition 203,” wrote the ALC.
If not, schools stand to lose ELL funds. Any elected school officials or administrators responsible for the violation are also liable to a lawsuit, and could face removal from office and a bar from running again for five years.
State law established by the voter-led Proposition 203, passed in 2000, requires ELL students to be taught English, be placed in English language classrooms, and be educated through a sheltered English immersion environment for at most a year. State law clarifies that no subject matter may be taught in any language other than English within the immersion environment.
The 50-50 dual language immersion model, however, teaches students in languages other than English half the time during the immersion period. As ALC noted, this structure wouldn’t satisfy the statutory requirement for structured English immersion.
“That definition prohibits any subject matter from being taught ‘in any language other than English,’ and the model clearly allows for some subject matter to be taught in a language other than English,” stated the ALC.
Horne said that during his first stint as superintendent 20 years ago, English proficiency increased from four percent to 29 percent within one year. According to Horne, Prop 203 wasn’t enforced throughout the first few years of its existence.
“When I started my first term as state Superintendent of Schools in 2003, the initiative was unenforced, and bilingual education was a method of teaching in Arizona schools. As a result, a pathetic 4% of students became proficient in English in one year. At that rate, almost none would ever become proficient, and they would fail in the economy,” stated Horne. “We implemented structured English immersion, combined with intensive classes, on how to teach English immersion. The rate of proficiency in English within one year went up to 29%. At that rate within three or four years, almost everyone would become proficient in English.”
Horne claimed that “ideologically motivated” professors favoring bilingual education stood opposed to real-world data, and resisted his attempt to impose Prop 203 initially.
“When we taught these classes, a number of teachers arrived hostile, because of ideology,” said Horne. “But by the end, our structured English immersion teachers were getting standing ovations and very high evaluations.”
Horne clarified that this restriction on dual language only applies to students prior to their attaining proficiency in English. After that, students may engage in dual language programs.
“The data shows that structured English immersion is the best way to achieve this, and the law requires it,” said Horne.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 25, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Arizona State University (ASU) has shut down a prominent free speech center and fired several faculty members following the protest of the faculty who opposed its existence.
The university decided to shut down the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development within the Barrett Honors College following a controversial event featuring conservative speakers hosted earlier this year.
The contested speakers were nationally-acclaimed conservative pundits Charlie Kirk, founder and president of activist group Turning Point USA; Dennis Prager, radio talk show host and founder of PragerU; and Robert Kiyosaki, author of a bestseller personal finance book and PragerU presenter. As AZ Free News reported in February, a group of 39 left-leaning ASU Barrett Honors College faculty led a campaign to prevent the event from happening, which included recruiting students to protest the event.
The two faculty members to lose their jobs following the controversial event were the executive director of the Lewis Center, Ann Atkinson, and the events operator for the Gammage Theater where the event was held, Lin Blake.
AZ Free News spoke with both Atkinson and Blake about their ordeal. Earlier this week, Atkinson came forward in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece criticizing ASU for caving to leftist restrictions on free speech.
“I wasn’t trying to do anything but my job: to do it well, and to keep people safe.”
For ASU’s Gammage Theater, Blake handled the arrangements for events such as calendaring, contracting, and client meetings. Throughout her career, Blake said she always offered the same respect and professionalism to clients, regardless of who or what was behind an event.
“Over the years I have booked and managed many types of events. Every one of them received the same level of professionalism,” said Blake.
Yet, it was Blake’s commitment to equal treatment in a venue designed for free expression that ultimately cost her the job — even though her superiors signed off on the event.
“Basically, I was sacrificed because Gammage executive staff had to do something to satisfy or appease the staff of Barrett Honors College. I was a scapegoat, and was let go at the beginning of April,” said Blake.
Blake recounted that her superior initially praised her for handling the controversial event. A bulk of essential personnel — security officers, backstage crew, and front of house — all called out, and police availability was limited severely due to ongoing staffing shortages and the Super Bowl occurring that same week. It was up to Blake to fill the gaps to provide a safe and successful event. By all accounts, she said she did — even her boss reportedly told her so, using a favorite phrase of his to describe her: “rockstar.”
By the next Monday, however, sentiments shifted. Blake said she walked into work facing a line of questioning. She was reportedly asked by her superior, ASU Gammage executive director Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, why she booked a “white supremacist,” an accusation leveled against the event speakers by opposing faculty. Blake was then required to get pre-approval from both Jennings-Roggensack and management prior to booking any future events.
Blake said the pre-approval amounted to a micromanaging that ultimately served to filter out who could and couldn’t host an event at Gammage.
According to Blake, Jennings-Roggensack had a habit of telling staff that they were aligned in beliefs, that they all had voted for President Joe Biden and Gov. Katie Hobbs — even if they hadn’t.
At a faculty and leadership meeting following the upbraiding from Jennings-Roggensack, Blake said she was singled out to explain Gammage’s core values.
After that, Blake described her remaining months at ASU as a “slow decline.” She was let go in April for “not being a good fit.”
Blake says she’s applied and interviewed for three other ASU positions. Each time, HR has sent her letters that they’re no longer hiring for the position — even though the positions remained posted as available.
“[This is] what happens to those who don’t conform to the prevailing orthodoxy on campus.”
Atkinson retained her position several months longer than Blake did. It was at the end of May that Atkinson learned from Barrett Honors College Dean Tara Williams that her position would end, and that the Lewis Center would be no more.
In an official statement shared widely by the press following Atkinson’s Wall Street Journal piece, an ASU spokesman claimed that the primary donor behind the Lewis Center, the T.W. Lewis Foundation, would no longer be funding the program. ASU also praised the controversial event as a success.
“Ms. Atkinson’s current job at the university will no longer exist after June 30 because the donor who created and funded the Lewis Center decided to terminate his donation. ASU is working to determine how we can support the most impactful elements of the center without that external funding,” stated the spokesman. “Arizona State University remains committed to, in practice, not just rhetoric, all things that support free speech and all of its components. The event in question was held and was a success.”
It appears that demonization by the vast majority of Barrett Honors College faculty over the Lewis Center event was the breaking point for T.W. Lewis Foundation’s founder, T.W. Lewis. He told The Arizona Republic that ASU’s environment is hostile to conservative thinkers.
“The long story short is that conservative viewpoints are not welcome at ASU. Or, at most public universities in America,” said Lewis.
The T.W. Lewis Foundation funds a number of other major conservative organizations and enterprises, such as GreatHearts Academies, Museum of the Bible, The American Conservative, Alliance Defending Freedom, Conservative Partnership Institute, Young America’s Foundation, Foundation for Economic Education, and the Heritage Foundation. They also fund the organizations from which the controversial speakers hailed: Turning Point USA and PragerU.
However, the foundation wasn’t the only funding source possible as ASU implied. Atkinson offered a diversified group of donors to offset the lost funding; she reported that Williams wasn’t interested. Atkinson also collected 18 pages of testimonials from students, families, and past guest speakers. That wasn’t enough to persuade, either.
“What ASU did not say is that the Barrett dean expressed no interest in continuing the Lewis Center,” said Atkinson.
AZ Free News reached out to Williams about the alternative funding. She didn’t respond by press time.
Atkinson believes that, ultimately, ASU policies have allowed this stifling of free speech to take place. Come fall, there will be one less place for free thought on campus.
“I want the right to free speech to our universities to apply to all people. What happened appears to be within the policies of the university,” said Atkinson. “The students lose. I’m devastated for the students. For so many of them, the 7,000 students in Barrett, this has been their home. Now it’s gone.”
As for next steps, Atkinson said she is taking everything one day at a time.
“I’m hoping to show the world what happens to those who don’t conform to the prevailing orthodoxy on campus.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Jun 24, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Gov. Katie Hobbs exercised her executive authority to take the enforcement of abortion law into her own hands.
On Friday — almost one year to the day that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade via Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — Hobbs issued an executive order rescinding county attorneys’ authority to prosecute in abortion-related cases, instead granting sole authority to Attorney General Kris Mayes. In a statement, Hobbs characterized abortion as a “fundamental right.”
“I signed an Executive Order protecting Arizonans’ reproductive freedom,” said Hobbs. “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans.”
In addition to strengthening control over abortion prosecutions, Hobbs’ executive order directed state agencies to not assist in investigations relating to those who provide, assist, seek, or obtain abortions; banned compliance with other states’ extradition requests for those who provided, assisted, sought, or received an abortion where illegal; and established an advisory council to formulate strategy on expanding abortion access.
The executive order declared that abortion restrictions and bans were inimical to equity for those who get the most abortions: non-white, disabled, and poor individuals. The order also declared abortion as a form of freedom.
“[L]imitations on access to reproductive healthcare disproportionately impact people of color, people who live in rural and tribal communities, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities,” stated the order.
READ THE EXECUTIVE ORDER HERE
In addition to abortions, the Governor’s Advisory Council on Protecting Reproductive Freedom will be charged with expanding access and implementing equitable solutions concerning sexual and reproductive health care resources. Hobbs will appoint the council chair and members. The executive order noted that the council would “reflect the diversity” of Arizona to include indigenous, rural, and LGBTQ+ members.
Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider which also offers sexual and reproductive health care items, expanded their resources over the past year to include gender transition drugs like puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.
Pro-life groups challenged Hobbs’ statutory authority behind the executive order immediately.
In a press release, Center for Arizona Policy claimed that state law only allows for the attorney general to aid county attorneys in their duties — not replace them.
“Arizona law, A.R.S. 41-101, Section 8 states that the governor ‘may require the attorney general to aid a county attorney in the discharge of his duties.’ Aid does not mean supplant or replace. In her zeal for abortion, Gov. Hobs has exceeded her authority as governor,” stated Herrod. “The law does not allow her to strip county attorneys of their clear enforcement authority as granted in various Arizona laws.”
Hobbs preceded the executive order with an announcement of support for the Arizona Right to Contraception Act on Thursday.
Arizona law currently bans abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
