Free Republic

Murders have dropped by up to 20% in some major US cities — including the Big Apple — so far this year, according to a new report. New York City has seen a 15% dip in killings in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, the Wall Street Journal said. The five boroughs had 88 murders in that time period, a significant dip over the 104 in 2023, the outlet said.

Several large public universities are getting multimillion dollar budget cuts.. The bursting of the higher education bubble has finally struck its first blow, and it is a serious one. Several major public universities have announced multimillion dollar budget cuts in January, citing enrollment declines among other factors. Pennsylvania State University expects to cut $94 million from its budget starting in July 2025. The University of Connecticut (UConn) announced significant budget cuts in response to its projected $70 million deficit. And the University of New Hampshire (UNH) will slash expenses by $14 million. These cuts were a long time coming—higher education...

In a clear sign that they’re not truly worried about the COVID-19 threat, many Democrats are using it as another club to hit President Trump — facts be damned. At Tuesday’s debate, Mike Bloomberg smugly asserted, “There’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing.” Trump, he claimed, has “defunded Centers for Disease Control, CDC, so we don’t have the organization we need.” Joe Biden chimed in: “He cut the funding for the entire effort.” It’s a lie that can only sow fear: The CDC budget is higher than when Trump took office. Same for the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential contenders are describing the federal infectious-disease bureaucracy as rudderless and ill-prepared for the coronavirus threat because of budget cuts and ham-handed leadership by President Donald Trump. That’s a distorted picture. For starters, Trump hasn’t succeeded in cutting the budget. He’s proposed cuts but Congress ignored him and increased financing instead. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aren’t suffering from budget cuts that never took effect. MIKE BLOOMBERG: “There’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing. And he’s defunded — he’s defunded Centers for...

Years of budget cuts to public health led to the elimination of more than 55,000 positions within local health departments from 2008 through 2017, according to a report released Wednesday. The Trust for America's Health estimates public health efforts are about $4.5 billion underfunded. That's led state and local health departments woefully unprepared to address public health emergencies such as infectious disease outbreaks, extreme weather events, and the opioid crisis. "One could argue that there has always been underfunding but it is more meaningful at a period of time when cuts haven't been restored and risks have increased," said John...

State transportation officials may be forced to suspend construction on some partially completed highway projects if the Legislature follows through with a proposal to cut its off-the-top funding from income tax revenues to $320 million, says Mike Patterson, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The transportation department was scheduled to receive $571 million in off-the-top funding from income tax revenues next fiscal year, but a joint legislative committee passed a revenue measure Thursday evening that calls for reducing that amount to $320 million. Patterson said such a drastic cut would force his department to suspend several construction projects...

Federal funding for Maryland’s Purple Line is in jeopardy, as are Metro’s hopes for a significant increase in money from the government under President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget released Thursday. Trump’s proposed spending plan, which slashes the federal transportation budget by 13 percent, also curbs long-distance Amtrak service out of Washington and cuts millions in federal grants that the region’s governments have relied on for new rapid bus lines, road work, bus stop improvements and bike paths. The cuts came as a shock to many, considering Trump’s campaign pledge to pump $1 trillion into the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. “I find...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is criticizing President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to international programs, saying “turning our backs on diplomacy won’t make our country safer.” The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee made the comments in a speech at Georgetown University on Friday. She also took a veiled swipe at the Trump administration — and drew applause from the crowd — when she remarked, “here I go again, talking about research, evidence and facts.” …

As night follows day, defenders of big government trotted out "Sesame Street's" Big Bird as the poster child of President Trump's terrible spending cuts. The Daily Beast story on Trump's budget proposal to cut taxpayer funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting features an ax-wielding man about to chop Big Bird's head off. Politico has a story titled "Can Big Bird Survive Trump?" In a "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" segment mocking Trump's budget, Donald Trump fires Big Bird. These folks would do well to find a new mascot. Big Bird is big business, and doesn't need taxpayer money to survive. First,...

Budget and personnel cuts reflect environmental progress and essential regulatory reforms The Trump White House wants significant reductions at the Environmental Protection Agency: two dozen or more programs, including a dozen dealing with President Obama’s climate initiatives; a 20% downsizing in EPA’s 15,000-person workforce; and a one-fourth reduction in its $8.1 billion budget.

The Trump administration is seeking to slash the budget of one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post. The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs, including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas. NOAA is part of the Commerce Department, which would be hit by an overall 18 percent budget reduction from...

The Trump administration plans to propose a one-forth to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, a plan that would end up laying off 20 percent of the agency’s staffers, according to reports. Trump officials will propose a $6.1 billion for the EPA next year, a $2 billion cut from current levels, according to reports in E&E News and Politico , citing sources. The agency’s staffing levels would fall to 12,000 workers, from 15,000 currently, according to the reports. An EPA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill. The proposed spending levels at the EPA...

The Trump administration is seeking major cuts to federal spending upon taking office, with plans to eliminate agencies and programs to reduce the budget by over $10 trillion. The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated, according to a new report on the administration’s spending priorities published by the Hill. Both arts agencies have budgets of roughly $147 million. The NEA awards millions of dollars worth of grants for art projects each year, which have included plays about assassinating Christopher Columbus, food stamps, and gun-control activist lesbians, climate change poetry, and “Doggie...

Think bigger Today, Democrats are quaking in their jackboots. It’s bad enough that their messiah is about to leave D.C., but they’re also facing a new government that’s openly hostile toward most of their goals. On top of that, we’re getting word that the nascent Trump administration has “dramatic” plans to trim the federal fat. This news will, as will most news concerning Trump, have lefties curled up in a ball in the corner, shaking their fists as the sky.

That's a shame. That newspaper had such a long history and they sold out their reputation to the highest bidder.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday ordered deep cuts to government agencies and a massive raid on state savings to make up for a more than $1 billion budget shortfall due to depressed crude prices and a drop in oil drilling. The state had more than $2 billion in various reserve accounts just one year ago, but oil prices - a key contributor to the state's wealth - have taken a nosedive in the past year. The Legislature's record-high $14.4 billion budget for the two years that began July 1 was built on oil prices and economic assumptions that...

The US Army is sick; sick in body, mind and spirit. No matter how many times Pentagon perfumed princes and feather merchants bedazzle us with light shows, veterans know the truth. We always know. We know that the Army is suffering from a number of ailments, that unless stemmed will destroy the institution that has been around since the Massachusetts boys went live in 1775. The first problem lies with the people at the helm of the US Army Titanic. From Secretary of the Army John McHugh down to the joint chiefs to corps and division and brigade and battalion...

Budget cuts to the IRS are hampering the agency’s efforts to uncover tax cheats, an agency watchdog said Wednesday, and more trims are on the way under legislation approved by a GOP-controlled House panel. IRS budget cuts are hurting tax collections because there are fewer agents chasing delinquent taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS budget has been cut by $1.2 billion since 2010. The House Appropriations Committee approved IRS cuts of $900 million more on Wednesday on a party-line vote. Republicans controlling Congress have targeted the much-maligned agency, particularly...

After a month of negotiating the state’s two-year budget, the Texas Legislature’s new proposal cuts Planned Parenthood from its Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program. The decision by the Lone Star State would axe funding for over a dozen Planned Parenthood facilities that don’t provide abortions on-site. Planned Parenthood received $1.2 million in taxpayer dollars under the program last year. A finalized budget will be decided on before June 1. Alex Garcia-Ditta, writing for Texas Observer, gives background on the new budget proposal: In January, key budget writers state Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) and state Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown)...

The IRS is considering its own temporary shutdown due to recent budget cuts enacted by Congress, its chief said Thursday. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said furloughs — forced unpaid days off for employees as part of an IRS closure — is one idea reluctantly being tossed about to save money, though they are hoping they will not have to go there. Story Continued Below . . “There is no way we can say right now that that won’t happen,” Koskinen told reporters at a press conference on the upcoming tax season. “Again, I would stress that would be the last...