Republicans

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports: Minnesota state Sen. Justin Eichorn allegedly arranged to meet someone he thought was a teenage girl for prostitution and instead was arrested by police in Bloomington, authorities announced Tuesday. After Eichorn’s arrest, the Senate Republican Caucus said in a statement, “We are shocked by these reports, and this alleged conduct demands an immediate resignation. Justin …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Senate on Tuesday advanced bills that would require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments and allow districts to provide students with time to pray during school hours. Senators gave final approval to Senate Bill 11, the school prayer bill, on a 23-7 vote. It now heads to the Texas House for consideration. …

Minneapolis’s Fox affiliate reports: A Minnesota Senator from Grand Rapids was arrested, accused of soliciting a minor for prostitution. Sen. Justin Eichorn, 40, was arrested on March 17 in Bloomington. The Bloomington Police Department says they communicated with a man who thought he was talking to a 16-year-old girl. On March 17, a detective arranged to meet with him near …

CNBC reports: Texas is continuing to stake a claim as a rival to Wall Street as a key financial hub in the United States, with Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday saying his state has a “stronger brand than New York.” “Capital markets are realizing that the place to be is Texas,” Abbott said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” The Texas Stock …

The Tennessee Lookout reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to take up Senate Bill 936 Tuesday, a measure declaring it is state policy that only biological males and females exist in Tennessee, despite the presence of multiple transgender residents at legislative meetings. Sponsored by Republican Sen. Paul Rose of Covington, the bill contains a broad amendment requiring local governments …

Florida Politics reports: U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds continues to weigh in on Florida’s insurance market as he runs for Governor, now suggesting that foreign companies and “climate change” analyses are partially to blame for high costs for homeowners. “A lot of these reinsurance companies, a lot of them who are out of Europe, they’ve been trying to price in climate …

The Bulwark reports: As progressives start in earnest on their midterm elections playbook, it appears that Elon Musk, not Donald Trump, will be the primary target. VoteVets, a progressive political action committee, is launching a new ad campaign zeroing in on several vulnerable Republican members of Congress with a six-figure ad buy in their home districts. The ads all feature …

Politico reports: Scandal-ridden former Rep. Matt Gaetz is gone from Congress, but the wounds he inflicted on the House Ethics Committee that investigated him remain fresh. After the longest delay in recent history, the panel finally recruited enough members to perform its grim mandate of governing fellow lawmakers’ conduct in the 119th Congress. And they’ll have their work cut out …

Florida Politics reports: Municipal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are one step closer to elimination after the Senate Community Affairs committee moved Sen. Clay Yarborough’s legislation (SB 420) forward along party lines. The Jacksonville Republican’s bill would block local governments from passing DEI initiatives and make ones already in law illegal. It would also create a cause of action for …

The Associated Press reports: Kentucky’s Republican lawmakers have passed a measure to protect conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youths as part of a bill that also would outlaw the use of Medicaid funds to pay for gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentucky residents. Conversion therapy is the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional …

Via press release from House Republicans: The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced a target list of 26 Democrat-held seats representing prime pick-up opportunities for Republicans to grow the House majority. “House Republicans are in the majority and on offense,” said NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson. “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of …

The Hill reports: Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (Texas) said he would be pushing to impeach the federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to halt deportations of Venezuelan gang members over the weekend. “I’ll be filing Articles of Impeachment against activist judge James Boasberg this week,” Gill wrote in a post on X. On Saturday, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies …

Florida Politics reports: On Monday afternoon, the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee will hold a hearing to discuss Senate Bill 1438, introduced by Sen. Erin Grall [photo]. This bill requires app stores and operating systems to obtain parental consent before minors can download apps on their devices. Utah became the first state to pass such legislation in February. The Utah …

“We’ve asked for information regarding the 26 confidential human sources! To me, this is huge. Twenty-six confidential human sources there on January 6th, 2021. Seventeen entered restricted space. Four went inside the Capitol. They weren’t authorized to do that. Two of the four who went inside the Capitol were actually asked to be there that day by our FBI at …

Mint reports: A controversial bill introduced in the Minnesota Senate seeks to modify the state’s definition of mental illness by including a new condition labeled Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The bill, if enacted, would amend Minnesota Statutes 2024 to formally recognize TDS as a mental health disorder. The proposed legislation, introduced during Minnesota’s Ninety-Fourth Legislative Session, aims to redefine mental …

Chapel Hill’s NPR affiliate reports: The State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture earlier this month stating it will no longer receive funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. The nonprofit Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina is one of seven food banks that receives funding through …

The Hill reports: The Senate voted mostly along party lines Friday afternoon to pass the House Republican-drafted bill to fund government through September, avoiding a government shutdown only hours before funding was due to lapse. President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law. The final vote was 54-46. Two members of the Democratic caucus voted for the bill, …

Columbia, South Carolina’s CW affiliate reports: U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is facing a lawsuit after her speech on the U.S. House floor last month from one of the four men she labeled as “predators.” The Bland Richter Law Firm is representing Brian Musgrave, one of the four men Mace accused of drug and sex crimes in a lawsuit alleging defamation …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s Senators are putting their muscle behind a Gov. Ron DeSantis priority regarding the future of NASA. U.S. Sens. Ashley Moody and Rick Scott are introducing the Consolidating Aerospace Programs Efficiently (CAPE) at Canaveral Act to move the headquarters of the space agency on the Space Coast. “Establishing NASA’s headquarters within the Space Coast will bridge the …

The New York Times reports: State senators in North Dakota voted down a measure on Thursday calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its decision that established a national right to same-sex marriage, an issue that has divided the Republicans who control that legislative chamber. State Representative Bill Tveit, a Republican who sponsored the North Dakota resolution, cited the …