REAL ID renews America’s age-old dread of the DMV
A stricter identity verification requirement for U.S. residents is slated to take force next week after 20 years of delay. And for many, the law will require a visit to one of the nation’s most notorious, time-honored places of dread: the Department of Motor Vehicles. These facilities can vary slightly both in name and in acronym: Texans, for example, have a Department of Public Safety or DPS; Floridians dub theirs the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles or HSMV. (Add to the mix the DDS, the BMV and the MVD, it’s a veritable alphabet soup.) Despite the different names, each of these state-run facilities serves the same purpose: to license drivers and issue identification cards to residents living in the state. They share the same wait times and inspire the same feelings of burden and loathing. But for individuals in some states, things are about to get a lot worse, fast. ‘DRACONIAN’ AND DANGEROUS: FORMER TRUMP NAT SEC ADVISOR SOUNDS ALARM ON BIDEN-ERA DOJ’S PLANS FOR GOOGLE On May 7, all U.S. residents will be required to show a “REAL ID-compliant” form of identification to board any flights, including international and domestic travel, or to enter any federal buildings in compliance with a long-stalled federal law passed by Congress in 2005. A REAL ID is a state-issued driver’s license or state-issued identification card that meets certain federal standards, and it requires individuals to provide additional documentation, such as several documents proving current state residency – a utility agreement and lease, for example – as well as a certified birth certificate, among other things. REAL IDs are now issued by all state DMVs (or BMVs or HSMVs) in anticipation of the fast-approaching enforcement date. REAL ID-compliant ID cards and licenses are marked with a star or other symbol in the right-hand corner, and some states, including Texas and Florida, have been issuing them for years. But because DMVs are operated at a state and not federal level, compliance with the tighter verification standards has until recently been optional. That’s prompted a patchwork of compliance across the U.S. and a recent, frenzied panic from residents in states whose DMVs have not met the REAL ID standards. NEED REAL ID IN A HURRY? HERE ARE SOME OPTIONS OUTSIDE THE DMV In the final days before the new law takes effect, some U.S. residents are learning for the first time, to their horror, that their IDs are not up to snuff. That’s prompted a surge of last-minute appointments in some states as drivers frantically look to obtain these new IDs. In others, appointments are nearly impossible to come by. New Jersey, for example, currently has no appointments available at any of its DMV facilities in the state. That could be a major problem for travelers in the Garden State, whose REAL ID compliance is the lowest in the country at 17% last month, according to data compiled by CBS News. Other nearby states are reporting similar compliance rates, with Pennsylvania at 26% compliance and New York with 43%, which is less than half of all residents living in the state. For individuals in these states, the REAL ID compliance standards amount to what could be a travel nightmare, especially ahead of the summer holiday season when airports brace for a sharp uptick in traffic. As of January 2024, just 56% of state-issued drivers’ licenses and identification cards were compliant with the new REAL ID requirements, according to DHS estimates. It’s unclear how much that percentage has changed in the last year. “DHS anticipates that a significant number of individuals seeking to use their DL/ID for a REAL ID official purposes on and after May 7, 2025, may not have a compliant DL/ID,” the agency said in a memo last September. In January, DHS issued a slightly more optimistic projection in the Federal Register, anticipating that by May 7, up to 66% of U.S. ID holders would have the new legally required ID. But in the final days before the law takes force, it’s hard to ascertain exactly where things stand. Horror stories persist in some states of drivers struggling to obtain the new ID, and in others, state lawmakers are hoping to be granted a delay. In Kentucky, a group of state lawmakers led by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, urged DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to delay the REAL ID enforcement date, citing “growing concerns” from state residents who have been unable to access driver’s licensing services due to “limited appointment availability and long lines for walk-ins.” “This simple request is to protect Kentuckians from bureaucratic burdens,” Higdon said in the letter. “Rural residents, seniors, and families still have hurdles in front of them, and in a lot of cases, may not be aware of their options. Only about 40 percent of our residents have a REAL ID, but I would also like more time to help Kentuckians understand that they may not need a REAL ID. Kentucky has made a good faith effort, but we just aren’t there yet.” TSA has warned that individuals who don’t have the right ID before that date could be subject to significantly longer wait times or other disruptions to travel. This could impact travel plans for millions of Americans ahead of what is expected to be a busy summer traveling season. Others could be barred from accessing certain federal buildings. And the problem persists in other states as well: CBS News found in its April survey that at least 17 states have compliance rates of 50% or less, with 30 states at less than 70% compliance.
Billions spent, warfighters wait: Inside the Pentagon’s broken buying system and the plan to fix it
The Pentagon’s procurement system has kept American forces stocked with some of the most iconic military hardware in history – from the battle-hardened Humvee to the cutting-edge Apache helicopter. But according to the Army’s top technology officer, it’s also trapped in a cycle of outdated thinking and bloated paperwork that could hinder the U.S. in the next great-power conflict. “We still have just over 100,000 Humvees,” Alex Miller, the Army’s Chief Technology Officer, told Fox News Digital, speaking about the legacy vehicle first introduced in the 1980s. “Even though during the global War on Terror, we saw the threat change.” Miller pointed to roadside bombs, or IEDs, which devastated troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a turning point. “There were lots of reports that if a Humvee rolled over an IED, it just was not a good situation for soldiers,” he said. Still, the Army continued buying Humvees, even as it rushed to field more survivable vehicles like MRAPs and Strykers. That, Miller said, highlights the larger issue: not a single acquisition failure, but a systemwide problem in how the military does business. HEGSETH ORDERS SWEEPING ARMY OVERHAUL AND CONSOLIDATION AIMED AT COUNTERING CHINA AND GOLDEN DOME CAPABILITIES “We’re playing by the same post-Cold War rules that told us if you have a requirement, you’re going to keep on buying it,” Miller said. “Because the requirements process and the acquisition process and the fielding process sort of never changed, we find ourselves in this conundrum where we still have just over 100,000 Humvees.” Despite introducing newer vehicles like the JLTV – designed to replace the Humvee with better armor and mobility – Miller says the rapid pace of technological change and emerging threats have left even those newer systems at risk of becoming obsolete. “Even though we continue to buy them and have them in the budget,” he said, “that might not be the right answer either.” Miller laid out the Army’s plans to solve a decades-long issue at the Pentagon, bringing new weapons systems from the proposal stage to the battlefront before technology renders them outdated – just as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a new memo directing an overhaul of the Army’s acquisitions process. “To build a leaner, more lethal force, the Army must transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant, and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems,” Hegseth wrote. NEW ARMY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP, HEGSETH FOR CREATING ‘A LANE FOR CHANGE’ AS HE ZEROES IN ON CUTTING WASTE Miller warned that some of the Army’s marquee weapons platforms may not be suited for the battlefields of the future. “Ukraine has not asked for a single Apache,” he noted. “Our Apaches are a great platform. It’s amazing. But … looking at more unmanned systems is probably the way to go.” He also raised questions about the utility of legacy artillery platforms like the Paladin howitzer. Although artillery is dominating the war in Ukraine, the Army is stockpiling more Paladins largely to meet a “minimum sustainment rate” — not because commanders are asking for them. That kind of bureaucratic inertia, Miller suggested, is exactly what needs to be upended. In an effort to modernize more rapidly, the Army is now slashing red tape and rewriting regulations. Under a new initiative called “Transforming in Contact,” Army leaders have sent requirement writers into the field to live and train alongside soldiers, gathering real-time feedback instead of drafting 300-page documents back in Washington. “Rather than trying to define what types of things they need, how about we just listen to them for a change?” Miller said. “We started that last year … and that has been wildly successful.” Units heading to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana next week will be equipped with some of the most advanced gear in the Army, including autonomous infantry vehicles built with Silicon Valley partners, advanced battery tech and hundreds of drones. “All because our leadership just said, go do the right thing, rather than trying to check boxes,” Miller said. Now, according to Miller, the requirements documentation for things like next-generation unmanned aerial vehicles has been whittled down from between 200 and 300 pages to 10. In other cases, modernization isn’t always necessary, according to Abigail Blanco, defense expert and professor at the University of Tampa. Up until a few years ago when it was finally retired, one of the primary reconnaissance systems in the War on Terror was the RQ-4 Global Hawk. The RQ-4 had an impressive payload capacity of 3,000 pounds and advanced reconnaissance capabilities – at an enormous cost. Each one was originally slated to cost $20 million but wound up costing $220 million per unit. “If you look at reports from the Air Force, they repeatedly stated that instead of the [RQ-4], they preferred the U-2 spy plane, which, to be clear, is a relic in military terms. It’s from the Cold War period. And so it’s not always clear that the modernization piece is desirable.” Some lawmakers and defense officials initially resisted the Army’s push to streamline systems. “The OSD comptroller pushed back really hard. Some parts of the Hill pushed back really hard,” Miller said. “But we ran a really aggressive ground game.… We’re not asking for more money. We’re asking to spend taxpayer dollars better.” The problem, according to Blanco, is Congress has long continued to budget for equipment way beyond its point of usefulness. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “If you are an elected representative and your district manufactures Humvees or tanks, you have a really strong vested interest in ensuring that that technology continues to be produced, regardless whether or not it’s operationally necessary.” In the end, Miller said, acquisition reform isn’t about cutting corners – it’s about keeping pace with an adversary who doesn’t care about red tape. “The environment, the threat, and the reality change so fast,” he said. “We have permission to just be ruthless about working with commercial entities …
Doug Burgum unveils major deregulatory shift to boost Gulf oil and gas production
EXCLUSIVE: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Friday will update a Biden-era federal rule regarding energy development as a major cost-saving measure to private firms, one day after taking a visit to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Gulf Coast. A source familiar with the workings of the rule said it essentially will “massively deregulate” a rule passed between the two Trump administrations and should further bolster Gulf Coast oil and gas production by providing lower startup costs for energy firms. The rule outlines criteria that producers and grantholders must provide as financial assurance, with a 2024 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimate that $6.9 billion in new supplemental assurance would be required to protect against oil lessees’ default. The Interior Department said that $6.9 billion added up to the $665 million in estimated additional insurance premiums for energy companies, which stifled how much they could spend to expand their operations and pursue what President Donald Trump has called “American energy dominance.” BURGUM SAYS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT COMPLETELY EMBRACING DOGE EFFORT Burgum told Fox News Digital that the rule revision will “enable our nation’s energy producers to redirect their capital toward future leasing, exploration, and production all while financially protecting the American taxpayer. “Cutting red tape will level the playing field and allow American companies to make investments that strengthen domestic energy security and benefit Gulf of America states and their communities,” he said. DAKOTAS PRIMED FOR NEWFOUND POLITICAL PROMINENCE AS SENATE, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LEADERS PICKED FROM HEARTLAND CROP BOEM will continue to require lessees on the outer continental shelf to provide financial assurances, while the Trump administration writ large works toward more balanced regulations, the department said in an exclusive statement. During Burgum’s visit to the Gulf, he met with energy workers at the LNG facility and discussed how the department under his leadership wants to better support the industry. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Gulf of America currently produces approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude oil daily and 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Buttigieg ‘got nothing done,’ Duffy declares: ‘Pete appears unburdened by no longer being a cabinet secretary’
Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy suggested that the department has accomplished more during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term than President Joe Biden and former Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg accomplished in four years. Duffy made the assertion when sharing a post by Buttigieg, who became Transportation secretary not long after Biden took office in 2021. “100 days into this presidency, Americans are paying the price – higher prices, crashing retirement accounts, and broken promises. But the American people are turning, thanks to your voices. Keep it up. It’s up to us to demand something better,” Buttigieg wrote in the post, which also included a video of him speaking. DUFFY BLASTS BUTTIGIEG, ACCUSING BIDEN-ERA OFFICIAL OF ‘MISMANAGEMENT’: ‘MAYOR PETE FAILED FOR FOUR YEARS…’ When retweeting Buttigieg’s post, Duffy declared, “We’ve achieved more in 100 days than Buttigieg and Biden achieved in 4 years. Pete appears unburdened by no longer being a cabinet secretary. Not one word on transportation or infrastructure because he got nothing done. @POTUS and I will continue the work of ripping out the Green New Scam and DEI for the American people!” Earlier this year, Trump blasted Buttigieg. PETE BUTTIGIEG BLASTS TRUMP AFTER PRESIDENT EXCORIATES HIM DURING PRESS BRIEFING “He’s a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground. And he’s a disaster now,” Trump said, asserting that Buttigieg just has “a good line of bulls—.” Buttigieg previously served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He announced in March that he will not be running for governor or U.S. Senate in Michigan in 2026. BUTTIGIEG SAYS DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRONE TO ‘FINGER-WAGGING,’ NEEDS TO DO ‘BETTER JOB’ REACHING OUT TO VOTERS “I care deeply about who Michigan will elect as Governor and send to the U.S. Senate next year, but I have decided against competing in either race,” he noted in a post on X.
Traveling between Greater Noida West and Ghaziabad? New Railway Over Bridge eases traffic in area, connects with these regions
Traveling between Greater Noida West and Ghaziabad has now become smoother. The construction of the Railway Over Bridge (ROB) in the Chapparauli area will ease heavy traffic between the two districts in Uttar Pradesh.
Bangladesh pays over Rs 83000000000 to Adani Power, expecting total dues recovery by…
Bangladesh pays over USD 1.2 billion to Adani Power, restoring full power supply and aiming to clear the remaining USD 900 million dues.
India foils Pakistan’s attempt to hack army schools, welfare sites
In a continued wave of cyber offensives, Pakistan-sponsored hacker groups such as “Cyber Group HOAX1337” and “National Cyber Crew” made unsuccessful attempts to breach some websites yesterday. These hacking efforts were promptly identified and neutralised by cybersecurity agencies.
Blue state lawmaker demands ‘accountability’ after illegal immigrant’s planned early release exposed
California state Sen. Tony Strickland believes policy reforms are warranted after federal authorities intervened in the planned early release of an illegal immigrant convicted in a 2021 DUI manslaughter that killed two Orange County teenagers in his district in Seal Beach. The Republican told Fox News Digital that changes are needed to programs like the in-prison credit system that may have allowed Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano to be released back into the community in July if the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not quickly get involved. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said last week that California will “coordinate” with ICE to “transfer him before release,” as he is slated to only spend three and half years of his 10-year sentence behind bars at the state level. GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND TRUMP ADMIN FOR MASSIVE NIGHTCLUB RAID TARGETING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS “We need to reform these programs. We need to reform some of this. Again, I think the most essential role of government is public safety, and we need to bring accountability back into our system here in California. If you make a mistake, you can commit a crime. You should do the time. And again, we are not more safe by these programs, we’re less safe,” Strickland told Fox News Digital in an interview. The senator said the plan for early release was “a slap in the face of the parents and everybody who loved those children who ended up passing away.” Ortega-Anguiano, 43, was driving drunk and high, and speeding at nearly 100mph on the 405 freeway in Orange County in November 2021, when he crashed into a car being driven by a young couple, 19-year-olds Anya Varfolomeev and Nicholay Osokin, killing them both as they burned alive. In spring 2022, he was convicted of two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CONVICTED OF KILLING TEENS IN HIGH-SPEED CRASH TO BE RELEASED EARLY: ‘IT’S DISGUSTING’ Fox News reported that the victim’s families were informed on Easter Sunday about an early release. However, following the report, the DOJ said they would be prosecuting Ortega-Anguiano on federal charges to keep him behind bars longer. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “For safety and security reasons CDCR cannot provide information on an incarcerated person’s release date or location in advance of their release. Incarcerated persons may earn credits for participating in rehabilitative programming, which may move their parole dates to an earlier date,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated last week. ICE told Fox News Digital that Ortega-Anguiano had entered the country illegally twice before and had a prior criminal background before the two teens were killed in the fatal crash. GOP DA TRADES BARBS WITH NEWSOM AFTER BEING BLAMED FOR BAD ‘PLEA DEAL’ FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FELON “I was moved by the story and the fact this should never happen,” Strickland said. However, he said Democrats in Sacramento are mum about early release concerns. “I haven’t heard anything. The supermajority is tone-deaf, and the governor, Newsom, is so busy about running for president, he’s not doing his job as governor of California. He’s so interested in what’s going on in the Trump administration,” the senator said. Strickland said Golden State residents are becoming more aware of problems in Sacramento – and the Orange County lawmaker said that awareness is cause for optimism. “The good news is people are now waking up to the lack of leadership and they’re waiting to hear leaders to come forward to help turn the state around. I do believe California will be golden again, but it takes leadership and people like myself and others in the legislature to point this out,” Strickland said.
‘Mississippi’s moment’: Gov Tate Reeves touts economic growth from eliminating income tax
EXCLUSIVE: Mississippi will be the 10th state to eliminate the state income tax, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is celebrating the anticipated economic boom as “Mississippi’s moment.” “We are more competitive than we’ve ever been before. Lowering the tax on work, and ultimately, eliminating the tax on work, is going to make us even more competitive,” Reeves told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. Reeves signed a bill into law in March to roll back Mississippi’s state income tax from 4% to 3% by 2030, and eventually to zero. The Republican governor said eliminating the state income tax would “help level the playing field” and make Mississippi more competitive with neighboring states, such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee, who already have no income tax. “We have already seen the fruits of that with over $32 billion in new capital investment in Mississippi over the last four years. We had the lowest unemployment rate in our state’s history last year. We had more people working last year than at any time in our state’s history. We had, in 2024, the second-fastest growing economy in all of America last year. We had the fourth fastest-growing per capita income in all of America in 2024,” Reeves said. DEEP RED STATE MAKES MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT INCOME TAX: ‘WE PLANT OUR FLAG’ While President Donald Trump‘s administration has floated tax hikes for millionaires to accomplish his ambitious budget agenda, which includes an extension of his 2017 tax cuts and no taxes on tips or Social Security, the Trump loyalist made his position on tax hikes clear in an interview with Fox News Digital. ‘MISSISSIPPI MUSK’: STATE AUDITOR’S MOGE REPORT FINDS $400M IN GOVERNMENT WASTE “I oppose raising taxes on anybody,” Reeves said when asked if he would support a small tax hike on millionaires. Reeves explained that his plan to eliminate Mississippi’s income tax was devised to “reduce taxes on hardworking Mississippians” and “hardworking Americans.” “We believe that the government ought to take less, so that individuals can keep more. And that’s what we’ve tried to do in our state. We need more workers in our state. We need more income in our state, and I believe if you want more of something, you ought to tax it less,” he added. ‘HARD NO’: MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL HAS HOUSE REPUBLICANS DIVIDED While Reeves was unwilling to bend to Trump’s potential tax hike, the Mississippi governor dismissed concerns over Trump’s tariff policies. “There’s no doubt that there are a lot of opinions about the Trump administration’s approach to tariffs, but let me just tell you what our experience has been. Mississippi has had tremendous success in the last four to five years in growing our economy,” Reeves said. He touted more than $75 billion in potential capital investments, claiming Mississippi’s “deal flow is larger today than at any time in our state’s history.” Reeves said states like Mississippi are going to be “huge winners” under Trump’s leadership as he seeks to return manufacturing to the United States. “We never gave up on manufacturing. We have been, for years, investing in training and retraining our workforce for a manufacturing boom, and I think we’re fixing to see that here in the United States of America,” Reeves said. As for the future of Mississippi’s economy, Reeves said “it’s going to continue to boom.” Mississippi has also been leading state-level Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts, which the state auditor Shad White has jokingly called “MOGE.” White released a compilation of audits last month that amounted to over $400 million in waste during his tenure. “During the time between 2012 and 2020, when I was lieutenant governor, we actually saw a reduction of total state employees from 33,000 down to almost 24,000, almost a 30 percent decline in the total number of employees, and yet, we’re still providing the same level of government service. If that can be done in state government in Mississippi, it can be in every government, from the local level, to the state level, to Washington, D.C.,” Reeves said. The Mississippi Republican added that Washington has a “spending problem,” and applauded Elon Musk’s efforts to cut government waste during Trump’s first 100 days in office. “I would think every American would be for reducing the types of irrational spending that the Biden administration did in its final year,” Reeves said.
Trump says he’ll revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status
President Donald Trump declared Friday that “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” saying “It’s what they deserve!” The announcement from Trump comes after Fox News reported last week that his administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, sources said at the time. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard University on Friday morning for comment. TRUMP BRANDS HARVARD ‘ANTISEMITIC’ AND A ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’ DURING FUNDING BATTLE Trump said in mid-April that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding. “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.” “Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges,” he continued. “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds,” Trump also said. Harvard has become a target of Trump’s broader crackdown on universities, much of which is in response to last year’s anti-Israel unrest that erupted on campuses across the country. HARVARD PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR FOR FAILURE TO ADDRESS ANTISEMITISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AFTER NEW REPORTS RELEASED On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation Lead Member Penny Pritzker outlining the institution’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and to foster an “environment that produces intellectual creativity.” The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership, as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid admitting students who are “hostile” to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism. Harvard refused to comply with the demands, with Garber saying that “no government… should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” The Trump administration then froze $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard, and is reportedly looking to slash another billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its “unlawful” freezing of funds. Fox News’ Andrea Margolis, Alexis McAdams and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.