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Georgia Gov. Kemp announces $1K year-end bonus for teachers, state employees: ‘Wholly appropriate’

Georgia Gov. Kemp announces K year-end bonus for teachers, state employees: ‘Wholly appropriate’

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said Monday that the state government will be giving a $1,000 retention pay year-end bonus to more than 300,000 state employees, teachers and school support staff. Around 112,000 eligible, full-time state and university employees will receive their $1,000 by the end of the year while school districts will determine when the roughly 196,000 teachers and school support staff across the state will receive the bonus. Elected officials and judges will not be receiving the year-end payment. “Given how hard these men and women have worked to serve Georgians during the pandemic, to help keep our community safe, and to help make the state government more streamlined and efficient, this seems wholly appropriate to me,” Kemp said at the Georgia State Capitol on Monday. GOV. KEMP RIPS BIDEN FOR HONORING SLAIN ‘COP CITY’ ACTIVIST WHO ALLEGEDLY SHOT GEORGIA OFFICER: ‘DISGRACEFUL’ The Kemp administration said it is still reviewing whether it will propose permanent pay raises in the upcoming budget, although the governor and top Republican state lawmakers are beginning to suggest that they expect permanent pay increases. Lawmakers delivered $7,000 in pay raises for state and university employees, and teachers during Kemp’s time as the state’s top executive. The nearly $330 million in overall bonuses will come out of the current year’s budget and lawmakers will approve the money in a budget amendment when they return to the legislature in January. The bonus is slated to appear in employees’ last paycheck in December. “It’s going to be a good Christmas and New Year here in Georgia,” Kemp said. “And there’s more good news coming in the weeks and months ahead. So, stay tuned.” The bonus, which is expected to be an incentive for teachers and employees to hold their current jobs, comes after Georgia Department of Education data from earlier this year showed statewide teacher retention has dropped for the last two years. “We have heard from our agency heads about the need to retain those with valuable skills and knowledge,” Kemp said. “This one-time end-of-year retention payment will help us do just that.” GEORGIA GOV. KEMP APPOINTS LAUREN CURRY AS FIRST WOMAN CHIEF OF STAFF The governor also said he would propose a permanent $104 million yearly allocation for school security, which would provide $45,000 to every public school in the state and allow for ongoing spending. Kemp said schools could use the money for any security purpose believed to be necessary, but that it is meant to underwrite a school security officer for each school. “This $45,000 number was really a number where if the schools want to hire a school resource officer, this funding should be able to take care of that,” he said. “That’s what it was designed for, really, so we could have a school resource officer in every school, if that’s what the locals want.” Kemp and state lawmakers have previously delivered multiple rounds of one-time school security payments totaling $184 million. GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who supports Kemp’s plan, has also proposed paying teachers and school employees an additional $10,000 a year to become certified to carry a firearm on campus to further strengthen school security. The state’s amended 2024 fiscal year budget will include both the pay supplement and security funding. “We are remaining competitive and rewarding our teachers and state employees for their diligent and devoted work in service to the people of our state,” Kemp wrote Monday afternoon on X, formerly Twitter. “Let’s keep working to keep Georgia the best place to live, work and raise a family.” Kemp can propose new spending since state tax collections are on track to run another multibillion-dollar surplus despite signs that tax revenue is in a slight decline. Georgia has already created $11 billion in unallocated surplus on top of its legally designated $5.4 billion rainy day account that the governor and lawmakers can spend as they see fit. Georgia’s fiscal year 2023 budget included $2,000 raises for state employees, public university employees, technical college employees, public school teachers, state-funded public librarians and teachers in state-funded preschool programs. K-12 school cafeteria workers, bus drivers and nurses received 5% salary increases. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

China shaken by the nation’s deadliest quake in a decade

China shaken by the nation’s deadliest quake in a decade

A powerful earthquake killed at least 118 people in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China, provincial officials said on Tuesday, in the nation’s deadliest quake in 10 years. The magnitude 6.2 quake struck in Gansu’s Jishishan county, about 5km (3 miles) from the provincial boundary with Qinghai. The epicentre was about 1,300km (800 miles) southwest of Beijing, the Chinese capital. There were nine aftershocks by 10am local time, about 10 hours after the initial quake, the strongest one registering a magnitude of 4.1, a Gansu official said. Nearly 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were deployed or on standby as part of the rescue effort. Emergency authorities in Gansu province also issued an appeal for 300 additional workers to comb through collapsed buildings and for other search and rescue operations. In Qinghai, officials reported 20 people missing in a landslide, according to Chinese state-owned media. The earthquake left more than 500 people injured, severely damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines, reports said. It struck just before midnight on Monday near the boundary between the two provinces at a relatively shallow depth of 10km (6 miles), the China Earthquake Networks Center said. China said the quake had a magnitude of 6.2, while the United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude was 5.9, and the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said it was a magnitude 6.1 earthquake. The death toll is the highest since an April 2013 earthquake killed 196 people in southwest China’s Sichuan province. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake in 2008 was the country’s deadliest in recent years, which killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. Adblock test (Why?)

Five people feared dead in suspected ADF attack in Uganda

Five people feared dead in suspected ADF attack in Uganda

The ADF has carried out multiple attacks in Uganda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last decade. At least five people were killed, including a local leader, after suspected rebels from an armed group allied to ISIL (ISIS) attacked an area in western Uganda late on Monday, the area legislator told Reuters on Tuesday. On Monday, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Kyabandara parish in Kamwenge district in Western Uganda at about 10pm (19:00 GMT), the lawmaker, Cuthbert Abigaba, said. The attackers then killed a local councillor whom they found in a small roadside restaurant she operated alongside four of her clients who had just sat down for a meal, Abigaba said. “After the killing, they burnt the restaurant and also proceeded and looted items from nearby shops before fleeing,” he said. The deputy spokesperson for Uganda’s military, Deo Akiiki, confirmed the attack and said they would give details later. The ADF was formed as an anti-Kampala rebel group in the mid-1990s and initially battled the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in the Rwenzori mountains. After its formation, the group was eventually routed by the Ugandan army, with remnants fleeing into eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where they have since orchestrated deadly attacks with thousands of casualties in the last decade across both countries. The ADF in 2019 pledged allegiance to ISIL, which has previously claimed responsibility for some of the ADF’s attacks. Uganda launched a ground and air campaign against the ADF in the DR Congo in 2021. Museveni has said the operation has succeeded in killing a large number of rebels, including some commanders. The group has continued to carry out attacks including on a school in Western Uganda in June in which dozens died and another that killed two foreign tourists and their Ugandan tour guide. Adblock test (Why?)

RNC bashes Biden for ‘unaffordable’ holiday costs in festive new attack ad

RNC bashes Biden for ‘unaffordable’ holiday costs in festive new attack ad

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican Party is seizing on the rising cost of holiday celebrations, bashing President Biden’s economic policy as the reason for the fiscally tight season.  A new digital ad being rolled out by the Republican National Committee (RNC), previewed exclusively by Fox News Digital, features news clips talking about the rising cost of celebrating Christmas. It chalks it up to the rising cost of living under the Biden administration.  “This holiday season, Bidenomics has made everything from Christmas trees to gifts unaffordable for middle-class families,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News Digital. DEMAND FOR CHRISTMAS TREES IN AMERICA REMAINS HIGH DESPITE INFLATION “While Americans struggle to stay afloat, we’re reminding them who the real Grinch is this Christmas: Joe Biden,” she said.  The average cost of a Christmas tree has gone up 10% from last year, according to the American Christmas Tree Association. The average cost of one runs between $80 and $100, the group said. Meanwhile, a November 2023 survey from Wallethub, cited in the video, found that more than 30% of Americans would forgo buying gifts this year due to inflation.  CHRISTMAS STOCKING STUFFER IDEAS: 5 COOL GIFTS TO GRAB TODAY ON AMAZON The RNC’s video also points out that a quarter of respondents said they still have holiday debt from last year’s season.  “Food costs are up 20% on a two-year basis… 42% expect to pay more for holiday gifts due to inflation,” the montage of voiceovers in the video says. “You’re buying less apparel, less items for your home, fewer toys… More than one in three Americans are talking about forgoing gifts altogether because of inflation.”  MILITARY CHRISTMAS WISH: DEPLOYED US ARMY UNIT CALLS FOR RESCUE OF PUPPIES AND CAT FROM FREEZING WEATHER PNC Bank’s annual calculation of the cost of the “12 Days of Christmas,” a holiday tradition, has shown that the price tag on those famous items has risen as well.  Based on data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one would spend $46,729.86 to bring each line of the famous Christmas carol to life – a 2.7% increase from last year. That’s less than the 10.5% price hike that PNC Bank calculated between 2021 and 2022.

Vulnerable Dem senator promotes TikTok account after saying he had ‘serious concerns’ about CCP ties

Vulnerable Dem senator promotes TikTok account after saying he had ‘serious concerns’ about CCP ties

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, made a personal TikTok account just months after sharing “serious” national security and privacy concerns about the Chinese-owned platform. The electorally vulnerable Democrat launched his TikTok account on Saturday, but in March, he suggested that the platform could potentially jeopardize the privacy of Ohioans. “We must protect Ohioans’ personal information from the Chinese Communist Party,” Brown told WTOL 11 when asked about his stance on the platform. “I have serious concerns with this company’s ties to the Chinese government and will continue to work with members of both parties to look at how we can best protect Ohioans’ privacy and our national security.” Despite acknowledging the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a potential privacy threat to its users, the senator encouraged Twitter (the platform now named X) users to “follow along with me” on his new social media page. HARRIS DODGES MULTIPLE QUESTIONS ON TIKTOK REGULATION, BRINGS UP RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE “This is Sherrod Brown. I’m now on TikTok. I look forward to getting to know all of you,” Brown said in a clip posted to then-Twitter before talking about standing up to “special interest groups.” EXCLUSIVE: JEWISH EMPLOYEES AT TIKTOK SHARE DETAILS OF HOSTILE, ANTISEMITIC WORK ENVIRONMENT The three-term U.S. senator already posted several videos to his TikTok page since its launch, including one campaign-related clip of Brown filing a petition for reelection. When asked whether he still has “serious concerns” about the platform, Brown’s team made no mention of the TikTok account. “Sherrod has a strong record holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable and will continue working with both parties to protect Ohioans’ privacy and our national security,” Rachel Petri, campaign manager of Friends of Sherrod Brown, told Fox News Digital. Brown is running for a fourth term in a state won by former President Trump in both 2016 and 2020 in one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable races of the 2024 cycle as they seek to hold or expand their slim Senate majority. Members of Congress have supported a ban on TikTok amid growing concerns over its ties to the CCP, with some states enforcing bans on the use of the app on government devices. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In March, the House Energy and Commerce Committee grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over the platform’s ties to the CCP and allegations that the data of American users is compromised by China and being used to spy on American account holders.

‘Chaotic, uncontrolled, open, free-for-all’: Voters describe crisis at southern border

‘Chaotic, uncontrolled, open, free-for-all’: Voters describe crisis at southern border

Voters are increasingly worried about border security, and candidates on the campaign trail are listening to these concerns. A common question that voters raised at many campaign stops throughout Iowa was: “How do you plan on closing the southern border?” Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have pledged that securing the border would be the No. 1 priority if elected to the White House. At a town hall on Sunday in Altoona, Iowa, Haley fed her stump speech to Iowans, revealing how she feels about the current U.S.-Mexico border. FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITIES SUPPORT MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN BORDER SECURITY AS ISSUE INCREASES IN IMPORTANCE “I truly have run out of things to say about the border. This is a dereliction of duty. It’s horrific to see what’s happening on the southern border and the northern border,” said Haley. “Securing the border is job No. 1, priority No. 1.” The same day, one hour east of Haley, DeSantis gave a similar message on his border stance to a room full of voters in Oskaloosa, Iowa. “We’re pretty busy on day one because there’s a lot that we need to do. One, we’re going to declare the border to be a national emergency,” said DeSantis. Voters continue to mention the border as a top priority. A new Fox News poll shows that 8 in 10 voters are calling immigration/border security either an emergency or a major problem. Donna Cox of Cleveland says securing the border is the top issue she cares about when deciding who to vote for in the GOP primary. EX-ICE CHIEF THOMAS HOMAN EYES ‘HISTORIC’ DEPORTATION IF TRUMP’S REELECTED: ‘NO ONE’S OFF THE TABLE’ “My No. 1 priority in this next election is border security. It’s not just Latin America that’s coming across. It’s the Middle East. It’s China. I think that we’re a ticking time bomb,” said Cox. When asked about the current situation at the southern border, she described it as “chaotic, uncontrolled, open, free-for-all, dangerous.” “David” of Oskaloosa agreed. He called on the government to stop the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. “The worst it’s ever been, the border is wide open. It’s a train wreck,” he said. Iowa voters have just under one month to weigh their options for Republican candidates ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucus. The latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll showed DeSantis at 19% and Haley at 16% in Iowa. Both are trailing far behind front-runner former President Trump, who sits comfortably at 51% in the poll. During a press conference in Corydon, Iowa, DeSantis said that the effects of the southern border crisis are felt in every state. “Even in a rural community far away from the southern border, you’re seeing the effects of that, not just in terms of the narcotics and the drugs but also in terms of some of the problems that flow from that,” said DeSantis. During a sheriff’s ride-along with Fox News, the Sunshine State governor talked about these effects. Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Garrett Abel led the ride-along and drove by one of many drug houses in Iowa that he has busted, sparking conversations about drug abuse in the country. “For young people with drugs now, if there’s fentanyl laced [in] these drugs, I mean, it can be all she wrote,” said DeSantis during the ride-along. “They can get poisoned to death just on one use of drugs. The stakes are a lot higher than they were in the past.” TOP CONSERVATIVES JOINING DESANTIS ON IOWA CAMPAIGN TRAIL AHEAD OF CAUCUSES: ‘WILL GET THE JOB DONE’ John Heckelsmiller from Ottumwa, Iowa, said he sees the ramifications of the southern border first-hand in Iowa. “We’ve got influx of migrants in Ottumwa, and it’s evident everywhere you go that there’s people coming into this country that maybe shouldn’t be here because they didn’t enter legally,” said Heckelsmiller. When asked by reporters for a specific timeline for building a border wall as president, DeSantis stated his plan to do so but didn’t provide specifics. “My job is to get it done and I will get it done, and it has not gotten done, and we will do it, and we’ll start on day one and we won’t stop until it’s done,” he said. Cox says that while she supports DeSantis, it’s important to her that whoever ends up in the White House addresses border security. “Day one, anybody who takes this office has to attack the border,” said Cox.

House, Senate lawmakers demand Supreme Court block White House eco actions: ‘Set the record straight’

House, Senate lawmakers demand Supreme Court block White House eco actions: ‘Set the record straight’

FIRST ON FOX: A group of dozens of House and Senate Republicans filed a legal brief Monday to urge the Supreme Court to take up two cases related to President Biden’s authority to lock up public lands from resource development and other uses.  In the brief first obtained by Fox News Digital, the lawmakers — led by Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., and joined by House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and 26 other lawmakers including three senators — argued that the president’s use of the 1906 Antiquities Act is an example of federal overreach and violates the U.S. Constitution. The lawmakers specifically asked the high court to hear both American Forest Resource Council v. United States of America and Murphy Company v. Biden, two cases challenging the expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwest Oregon. Plaintiffs have argued that the monument expansion was both illegal and caused significant economic damage, particularly to the timber industry. “We urge the Supreme Court to hear these cases and send a clear message that the President cannot simply bypass Congress and rewrite our nation’s land laws with the stroke of a pen,” Bentz said in a statement. “This is about upholding the Constitution, protecting our rural communities, and ensuring responsible management of our public lands.” BIDEN ADMIN CREATES PATHWAY WITH ECO GROUPS TO SHUTTER ENERGY SOURCE SERVING MILLIONS OF AMERICANS The Antiquities Act, designed as a federal conservation tool, grants the president broad authority to establish national monuments on existing federal lands. Since taking office in 2021, Biden has established five such monuments in Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Mississippi and Arizona, which have faced opposition from industry, lawmakers and garnered legal challenges. Invoking the Antiquities Act and establishing a national monument effectively blocks the designated lands from normal uses. Under separate legislation passed in the 1970s, Congress established the so-called “multiple-use” and sustained yield mandate, requiring the Bureau of Land Management to open the lands it manages to various uses including energy development like drilling, grazing, recreation and mining. DEM, GOP SENATORS TEAM UP TO FORTIFY DOMESTIC GREEN ENERGY, DEFENSE SUPPLIES DOMINATED BY CHINA “For far too long the executive branch has abused the Antiquities Act to cut off millions of acres of public lands, an action that greatly impacts rural communities across the country and ignores Congress’ directive on how those lands must be responsibly managed,” Westerman said Tuesday. “The president does not have the constitutional authority to lock away our federal land and waters, especially without any local input,” he said. “I urge the Supreme Court to take up these two critical cases and set the record straight on the executive branch’s authority when it comes to regulating our federal lands and waters.” The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument – which involves the two cases that Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to consider – was designated in 2000 by former President Clinton then expanded in early 2017 by former President Obama. Environmentalists for years have defended the designation and expansion, saying it protects wildlife and plant species in the area. But while the two cases are focused on that monument, they have much wider ramifications for future use of the Antiquities Act and national monuments created by Biden over the last two years, according to plaintiffs. BIDEN ADMIN SEEKS TO LOCK UP CRITICAL MINERALS WITH ECO PROTECTIONS AMID GREEN ENERGY PUSH Biden’s designation of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument in Arizona, for example, have faced opposition that included legal challenges from state governments as well as mining, livestock and agriculture groups. “Whether you’re living in southwest Oregon near the illegal expansion of the monument, in Utah where numerous presidential proclamations have placed massive areas off-limits in recent years, or in Washington, D.C., where concerns about the protection of our democracy and constitutional processes are top of mind, this case and its outcome are critical to the future management of our federal lands,” American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) President Travis Joseph said last month. In 2019, after the AFRC sued the federal government over the designation of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a lower court ruled in favor of the group and said the executive branch lacked authority to override the will of Congress which, in separate legislation, defined sustained-yield timber harvest as the dominant use of public land in Oregon. Then in July, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision. Months earlier, in April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals came to a similar conclusion in Murphy Company v. Biden, the second case that Republicans asked the Supreme Court to review. “This lawsuit attempted to rob Oregonians and all Americans of a biological treasure that deserves permanent protection,” Kristen Boyles, an attorney with eco group Earthjustice, said after the appellate court ruling on July 18. “Appeals courts in D.C. and Seattle have now upheld monument expansion, rejecting every single one of the timber industry’s arguments.”