Free Republic

Imagine a world where gas stations are replaced by charging stations. Does that sound weird or cool? Well, that’s the future 12 U.S. states are hurtling towards by phasing out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles. California pioneered this ambitious plan to fight air pollution by encouraging residents to buy electric cars. A domino effect has begun following California’s lead, with 11 states lining up to follow suit. In August 2022, California decided to ban the sales of gas-powered cars by 2035. It’s a big step in fighting climate change since ICEs constitute a significant cause of air pollution. However,...

Staying in the middle class takes a lot of work, according to a new analysis. A look at the numbers from the website GOBankingRates.com found that it took a nearly 42 percent increase in income to remain in the middle class from 2012, the midpoint of the Obama administration, to 2022, the middle of the Biden administration. The site published a state-by-state listing of what it takes to be in the middle class, defining the term as people with an income no less than two-thirds of the median income and no more than double that figure. Although the national minimum...

DENVER (KDVR) — Each year, U.S. News and World Report releases a report ranking each state on several factors. In the most recent report, Colorado made a top 10 list — for most dangerous states. On Thursday, U.S. News and World Report released the “10 Most Dangerous States in America” list. Each of the 50 states was judged on violent crimes and property crime rates. Colorado was recognized as the third most dangerous state, largely in part because of its property crime rate. The report pulled violent and property crime numbers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer....

Attorneys general in 25 states have banded together to file a legal challenge to another "unlawful" Environmental Protection Agency policy that is part of President Joe Biden's crusade to "end" fossil fuels and force an energy "transition." At issue this time: the EPA's final rule establishing "New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units" as well as "Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units" and the "Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule." Stemming from a 2009 Obama-era EPA "conclusion" that greenhouse gas (GHG)...

If Joe Biden is successful in passing his massive capital gains tax rate hike, Americans in 11 states will next year be paying over 50 percent of some of the profits when they sell off their assets to the government. The president's 2025 budget proposal includes increasing the top marginal rate on long-term capital gains dividends to 44.6 percent mark, which is the highest ever since the tax was implemented a century ago. The current rate sits below 25 percent - so the increase represents a significant hike.

EXCLUSIVE: Internal DHS data reveals the 45+ U.S. cities that hundreds of thousands of migrants have flown into via the Biden administration's controversial "CHNV" mass parole program.The data was obtained by @HomelandGOP via a subpoena to DHS, and was provided to @FoxNews .The DHS data shows that during an 8 month stretch from January through August 2023, roughly 200,000 migrants flew into the U.S. via the program, with 80% of them, (161,562) arriving in the state of Florida in four cities: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, & Tampa. The top 15 cities migrants flew into, & the numbers during this 8...

The salary to be considered 'rich' has risen in every state in the last five years - as rampaging inflation means everyday spending eats up a bigger chunk of wages. In fact, new data has revealed how the earnings needed to be among the wealthiest has soared by over 40 percent in some states. The definition of rich has changed the most in Washington state, according to data from GOBankingRates, where Americans must now earn $544,518 to be among the wealthiest, up from $378,374. The personal finance site defined 'rich' as those within the top 5 percent of earners in...

New Jersey residents will pay the most in lifetime taxes, and people in West Virginia will pay the least, according to a Self Financial study. Earlier this week WalletHub released a study that shows which states’ residents have the highest and lowest tax burden, measured as the proportion of total personal income that residents pay toward state and local taxes. Another study released this week, from credit-building platform Self Financial, analyzed the lifetime cost of tax in the U.S. The study looks at how much tax the average person is estimated to pay in each state throughout their lifetime. According...

Tens of thousands of Americans have been made redundant at large companies this year. according to Warn Tracker, a website that tracks upcoming layoffs based on WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988) notices. The WARN Act mandates that employers conducting large-scale layoffs or closures notify employees as well as state government officials of job losses at least 60 days in advance. WARN notices must be served by companies that have 100 or more full-time employees or 100 or more employees who, in aggregate, work at least 4,000 hours per week, excluding overtime.

When you think of a fast food chain, the usual suspects come to mind: McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, KFC, Burger King. In recent years, the restaurant industry has changed to referring to fast food places as quick-service restaurants (QSR), and the new-ish hybrid of fast food and casual-dining restaurants (like Applebee's) is called fast casual. Where the definitions blur is with regional fast food chains, meaning a QSR that usually started out in a particular state as a mom-and-pop shop and gained a devoted following thus enabling them to grow. Sometimes it's a few stores that don't cross state lines. Other times,...

A mystery outbreak of pneumonia has hit several parts of China, and now Ohio is the first American location to report an outbreak of the illness, with an ‘extremely high’ number of children being hospitalized. The strain of pneumonia, now dubbed ‘white lung syndrome,’ has spawned 142 pediatric cases in Warren County since August. Warren County Health Department told Daily Mail, that not only is the number of cases above average, but it also meets the Ohio Department of Health’s definition of an outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that nationally, cases are not out of the...

People across at least 10 states have now been infected by BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 that authorities have been closely tracking. According to data tallied from the global virus database GISAID, labs have reported finding BA.2.86 in samples from Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Estimates suggest BA.2.86 still remains a small fraction of new COVID-19 cases nationwide. Too few sequences of the virus have been reported to show up on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's biweekly variant estimates, which still show that a long...

The sheer volume of firearms in the United States is a point of contention for almost every American. Some believe we have too few, while others believe we have too many. Nonetheless, firearms are a large part of American culture. We value our liberties, the natural right to self-defense, the inherent check on state power an armed populace offers, and the heritage which we pass down from generation to generation. Whether an individual defines freedom as a life without firearms or a life without government interference, we can all agree that some states do not support gun ownership. Whether it's...

NeighborhoodScout does an annual report on the most dangerous cities US per capita. Let’s see what cities are on the list for 2023.Data from the NeighborhoodScout, image from the Visual CapitalistPlease consider NeighborhoodScout’s Most Dangerous Cities – 2023Our research reveals the 100 most dangerous cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Violent crimes include rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. The data used for this research are the number of violent crimes reported to have occurred in each city, and the population of each city. Based on the latest...

CNBC recently released a remarkable ranking of “America’s 10 worst states to live and work in for 2023.”Unsurprisingly, considering the source, the list consists exclusively of red states. The rankings were purportedly based on crime rates, environmental quality, health care, quality and availability of childcare, and inclusiveness in state laws such as reproductive rights, protections against discrimination, and voting rights. Oh, got it. Guess we know how they weighted these factors. Access to unfettered abortion (“reproductive rights”), worship of the LGBTQ community (“Protection against discrimination”), and the “right” to vote sans identification, via mail, and early and often, obviously superseded...

A new study claims red states like Florida and Texas are the worst in the nation to "live and work" despite these states leading the nation in net migration. CNBC's annual "Top States for Business" report broke down its rankings based on each state's commitment to "Life, Health and Inclusion." While Texas and Florida led the nation as best for business, the outlet slapped the red states for inadequate policies supporting abortion, child care, the LGBTQ community, and voting rights. Texas ranked as worst in the nation to "live and work", along with Oklahoma, South Carolina, Arkansas and Florida. The...

Using 2021 data, U.S. News and World Reports’ feature on the “Best States” has ranked U.S. states on several metrics, including economics, education and health care. The listing also measures natural environment, which is based on a state’s air/water quality and pollution levels. Pollution was determined based on air and water emissions from industry and utilities, and overall measures to long-term human health effects, using information from the Environmental Protection Agency. States with the worst pollution 50. Louisiana 49. Nevada 48. Indiana 47. Delaware 46. Utah 45. Ohio 44. Oregon 43. Tennessee 42. Illinois 41. Alabama 40. Texas

Unfunded state debt for things like retired public employees health care coverage continues to balloon to an unsustainable level, according to a new report. The American Legislative Exchange Council released its report Thursday on “Other Post-Employment Benefit (OPEB) Liabilities,” which total about $959 billion. The Center Square recently reported on the huge debt levels for state pensions, which have grown to more than $8 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Thursday’s ALEC report details the other state employment obligations that are not included in pensions that public employees can receive after they retire. This can include things like life insurance, health insurance...

A free download 22 page PDF report at the link. For subscribers, a Wall St Journal article. Along with "The Science", age and metabolic adjusted Covid death rate, all cause excess deaths, and mortality average the study included unemployment rate, GDP, economic average and in person school. An interesting read, but the graphic from the WSH tells a lot of the story.

Even in the face of rising mortgage rates and stagnating construction numbers, the housing market is still scorching hot. Because of this, it may be difficult to believe that more than 16 million homes across the U.S. are sitting vacant. But this doesn’t mean millions of abandoned and dilapidated homes are withering away in the suburbs. Vacant homes can be unoccupied for many reasons beyond being uninhabitable. For example, a house can be vacant because it’s still on the market to be sold or rented or it’s a vacation home not currently in use. Regardless of why homes are vacant,...