Law & Crime reports: Gaetz and Greene sued the cities of Riverside and Anaheim over a political rally that was scheduled to occur in July 2021. While the court allowed the lawsuit against the municipalities to move forward, U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera strongly rejected attempts to sue organizations like the NAACP, LULAC, the League of Women Voters and various …

Michigan Live reports: Books with sexually explicit or LGBTQ content would largely be protected from being pulled off public library shelves under new legislation proposed by Michigan Democrats. The two bills introduced Nov. 7 would require public libraries to adopt uniform policies outlining unacceptable reasons for residents to request a book be removed from the shelves. School and university libraries …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s transition team has rejected a push to install a prominent Project 2025 author in a senior role at the Department of Health and Human Services over concerns that his strident anti-abortion views would prove too controversial. Anti-abortion groups had been lobbying Trump’s HHS secretary nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to select Roger Severino, a longtime anti-abortion …

Politico Europe reports: Elon Musk is beefing with British politicians again — and they’re not impressed. The X owner and Donald Trump ally brushed off a call from the House of Commons’ science and technology committee to answer questions on his role in riots that swept the U.K. this summer. Committee chair Chi Onwurah told POLITICO this week that she …

Courthouse News reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the implementation of Proposition R, a ballot measure passed by Dallas voters that decriminalizes marijuana possession within the city limits. Also known as the Dallas Freedom Act, the measure passed Nov. 5 with close to 67% of the vote. It amends the Dallas City Charter …

NBC News reports: About 167,000 pounds of both fresh and frozen ground beef products have been recalled over possible E. coli contamination, according to the the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). After the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health noticed a link between a group of reported illnesses and ground beef from Wolverine Packing Co., …

Charleston’s CBS affiliate reports: A pastor and youth minister at various churches in West Virginia and his wife have been arrested in a child sexual abuse investigation, troopers said. John Waitman Radcliff II, 57, and Kathy Jean Radcliff, 52, face nearly 200 total charges in a sexual assault investigation dating back several decades in multiple counties, according to a news …

“So he resigned from the 118th Congress, and when he gave his speech on the House floor announcing that resignation, he said I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress. “So you have to ask: Does he bow, take that back, and try to be a congressman or does he …

Axios reports: Matt Gaetz’s former congressional colleagues, in both parties, raised a collective cheer Thursday as the onetime Florida congressman withdrew his nomination for attorney general. But the question members were left still asking: Will Gaetz return to be sworn in for his term in the 119th Congress? “This is the only decent thing Matt Gaetz has ever done,” said …

Politico reports: As uncertainty mounts about whether the new Republican-controlled Senate will sign off on some of President-Elect Donald Trump’s more controversial Cabinet picks, a top conservative grassroots group is dialing up the pressure. Turning Point Action, the group spearheaded by prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk, plans to hold rallies in states where they believe GOP senators may need extra …

“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will …

CNN reports: The woman who says she had sex when she was a minor with then-Rep. Matt Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017, sources familiar with her testimony tell CNN. The woman, who was 17 years old at the time, testified that the second sexual encounter, which has …

Via press release from the CDC: In 2023, over 2.4 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were diagnosed and reported. This includes over 209,000 cases of syphilis, over 600,000 cases of gonorrhea, and over 1.6 million cases of chlamydia. Importantly, the combined count includes 3,882 cases of congenital syphilis, including 279 congenital syphilis stillbirths and neonatal/infant deaths. As in …

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing …

CNN reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, has a long history of scathing critiques against Trump, labeling him a “threat to democracy,” a “bully,” and, as recently as July, a “terrible president.” But Kennedy’s harshest attacks date back to Trump’s rise in 2016, when on his radio show “Ring of …

Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports: The Illinois Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of actor Jussie Smollett. The former “Empire” actor took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court in September in a last-ditch effort to have his 2021 conviction overturned. “Specifically, we address whether a dismissal of a case by nolle prosequi allows the State to bring a second prosecution …

Axios reports: Some House Republicans are prepared to block Trump from using a recess appointment on attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz. In the case of recess appointments, the House can use a procedural trick to block a president from bypassing the Senate. Several House Republicans would vote against any motion to go into recess, Axios has learned. For Trump’s plan …

Fox News reports: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to establish a subcommittee that will work with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to eliminate government waste, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair the Delivering …

CNN reports: A lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Department of Education, knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s — allegations she denies. The suit alleges McMahon, her husband, the WWE and TKO Group Holdings, the league’s parent company, knowingly allowed employee …

USA Today reports: The only person Eliza Cooney told what happened was her mom. This summer, she went public with her story. About how Kennedy, a man closer to her father’s age really, groped her when she worked as a live-in nanny for his family. She was 23 years old. One night, there was a meeting in the family kitchen …