Free Republic

February 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a multi-part report released over the last two weeks, Fox News’ Steve Hilton, host of The Next Revolution, ties together stunning evidence of the U.S. government’s and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s potential roles in the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hilton’s investigation centers on U.S. government funding of a kind of virus manipulation research, known as gain-of-function, conducted in a Chinese lab believed to be the source of COVID-19. Fauci, the pro-abortion head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the Trump and Biden administrations who was criticized for his draconian, erratic COVID-19 advice,...

Construction for a maglev train line that would take passengers from Washington to Baltimore in 15 minutes could alter a D.C. neighborhood and affect nearby properties for years, District officials said Monday. A maglev station in the Mount Vernon Square area has the potential to change the character of the neighborhood and bring “substantial construction and long-term operational implications on nearby properties,” Andrew Trueblood, director of the D.C. Office of Planning, said in a statement that urged residents and city leaders to engage in the federal review of the multibillion-dollar project. The 40-mile “superconducting magnetic levitation train system,” commonly called...

On Thursday, President Joe Biden officially reversed the Mexico City Policy, which prevents U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding non-governmental organizations that perform abortions overseas or advocate for abortion overseas. While polls suggest 77 percent of Americans approve of the Mexico City Policy, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top COVID-19 expert, defended Biden’s decision to rescind it as positive for women’s “health.” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and a COVID-19 advisor to both former President Donald Trump and Biden, has become notorious for giving conflicting guidance on COVID-19. Fauci has praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s...

Fox News’ Steve Hilton shared an investigation that breaks down the origins of the coronavirus, and not only links it back to U.S. commissioned research, but also to Dr. Anthony Fauci.The host of the “The Next Revolution” told his viewers that the evidence uncovered “points to the most likely cause of the pandemic and it’s worse than anything that we have heard so far.”Highlighting a study 10 years ago in the Netherlands involving ferrets, which have respiratory systems that operate similar to humans, Hilton said researchers “were trying to see if the virus that starts out without the ability to...

Michigan drivers and taxpayers have been complaining about road and highway conditions for years. But the solutions policymakers have recently proposed ranged from the politically impossible, like raising the gas tax 45 cents per gallon, to financially-risky short-term fixes like borrowing billions in bonds to pay for teacher pension contributions so that money could be shifted to funding for roads. But it seems like Michigan lawmakers may be warming up to a long-term, sustainable, users-pay solution to achieving better roads: tolling. Lansing's interest in tolling has gone back decades but this year the state Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration...

The surface transportation construction industry has long had to rely on Washington for its prosperity. We spend most years holding our breath and hoping we will receive more Federal funding to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and highway systems. Currently in the United States, 7 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, and 19 percent of major highway pavements have deteriorated. Yet, our existing financing structure has few tools to address the looming reconstruction challenges facing existing infrastructure. In 2020, Congress passed a one-year extension of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. While the one-year extension of the FAST Act...

Public transit services and Connecticut’s transportation building program have been forced to compete for limited resources for nearly a decade. But if Connecticut is to revitalize its economy in an inclusive fashion, experts say, legislators and governors must embrace both priorities in equal measure. Without a comprehensive, time-efficient system of buses and trains — and interconnecting bicycle and walking paths — too many workers can’t get to the jobs, classes and other training they need to make the economy grow. And if a construction industry that has languished since the last recession isn’t allowed to rebuild Connecticut’s aging infrastructure, many...

The caller, identified as “Bob from West Hartford,” hit a nerve when he dialed into Gov. Ned Lamont’s Jan. 9 appearance on WTIC-1080 AM with morning hosts Ray Dunaway and Joe D’Ambrosio. “Hi Governor Lamont. In the most recent [state] budget you diverted $170 million out of gas taxes in the Special Transportation Fund,” Bob said. “That’s a myth that gets perpetrated day-in and day-out,” Lamont responded. “There is no diversion taking place, so you can put that one to rest.” Not so fast, governor. Although Lamont and fellow Democrats insist the diversion charge is a “myth,” the truth is...

Congressional leaders passed a new stimulus package meant to alleviate the financial pain of the coronavirus, but it won’t cure all that ails PennDOT’s pocketbook. PennDOT press secretary Alexis Campbell said Monday afternoon it wasn’t clear if the relief plan will cover the $600 million funding gap plaguing PennDOT. Early media reports indicate that $10 billion of financial relief could be distributed to the 50 states’ highway systems, though it’s unclear how much would come Pennsylvania’s way. State Sen. Pat Browne, a Lehigh County Republican and longtime chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that transportation-specific wording included in the...

Statements & Releases Statement from the President Budget & Spending Issued on: December 27, 2020 As President of the United States it is my responsibility to protect the people of our country from the economic devastation and hardship that was caused by the China Virus.I understand that many small businesses have been forced to close as a result of harsh actions by Democrat-run states. Many people are back to work, but my job is not done until everyone is back to work.Fortunately, as a result of my work with Congress in passing the CARES Act earlier this year, we avoided...

Harris County Commissioners approved a restructuring of how county toll road revenue can be used, which is concerning some people in northwest Harris County about how road projects will be funded. The measure approved creates a corporation to oversee duties performed by the Harris County Toll Road Authority. According to HCTRA, this measure would also change the grip the state has on where toll revenue can be spent by the county. A memo from Peter Key, HCTRA’s interim executive director, said HCTRA currently can only provide the issuance of revenue bonds for tolled infrastructure, and not non-toll transportation infrastructure challenges....

With the Texas House Committee on Transportation currently studying the funding of highways in Texas, advocates of toll roads and other funding methods are making their voices heard. As part of the interim charge by Speaker Dennis Bonnen, the committee was tasked with investigating whether “the current mix of use fee-based funding for the state highway system, including registration fees, tolls, and fuel taxes, and [determining] if current funding generated is sufficient to maintain cost demands” — making recommendations for additional methods for funding road infrastructure projects. Ordinarily, the committee would hold meetings and receive testimony from relevant state agencies...

WASHINGTON — The architects of a newly unveiled 10-year, $600 billion climate plan to revitalize Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley region are moving forward with a difficult task of building political willpower in Washington while gaining the trust of rural communities tied to the coal and natural gas industries, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto told a group of sustainable development advocates Tuesday. That coalition-building — a communications strategy to be forged over the next six weeks among academic institutions in Pittsburgh and seven other cities — is a critical step toward executing the plan Mr. Peduto described as both idealistic...

“Toll free in ’73.” That was the campaign slogan over five decades ago that promised tolls on Illinois interstates would be a temporary revenue sources. Today, the tolls are higher and the tollway authority is more permanent than ever. Lawmakers promised tolls would help fund 186 miles of interstate construction and would be removed when the roads were paid off. After that, highway maintenance would be funded by the gas tax. In 1968, the General Assembly made the Illinois Toll Highway Authority permanent. What started at just 10 cents at the exits and 25 cents at the plazas has grown...

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Western Springs and Hinsdale appeared to have found agreement on the style of the new pedestrian bridge over Interstate 294. This week, the Western Springs Village Board received more detailed numbers on the village's cost of maintenance for the bridge, which would be next to 47th Street. Western Springs was told a couple of months ago that its costs would amount up to $250,000 in 25 years to repaint the entire bridge with a painted finish, plus $60,000 for picket-style fencing. But Illinois Tollway official Nicole Nutter told the Western Springs Village Board on Monday that...

What the L? Gov. Cuomo rocked the regional transportation world this week when he cheered a report suggesting that the existing cross-Hudson tunnels between New Jersey and New York don’t need a full shutdown to rebuild them, potentially throwing yet another wrench into the plan to build a new pair of tunnels to boost interstate rail capacity, a $13-billion piece of the Gateway Project. It’s the latest baffling twist in the decade-plus-long saga. On Sunday, the governor suggested that a report done for the Port Authority by consultants London Bridge Associates showed that the existing century-old tunnels could be fixed...

It’s a done deal. Tolls on the states three major toll highways are going up in September, after Gov. Phil Murphy gave a final approval of the increases and the multi-billion dollar construction plans they fund. Murphy signed the meeting minutes on May 27 and sent confirmation letters to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and South Jersey Transportation Authority, said Jerrel Harvey, a spokesman for the governor. The approvals came on the same day boards of both agencies met, held lengthy public hearings and approved the toll increases. Governors have the option to approve authority board minutes, or not to...

The Department of Health and Human Services is threatening to withhold U.S. funding from hospitals that fail to comply with federal requirements on reporting data about Covid-19 and influenza patients, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced Tuesday. Verma said on a conference call with reporters that hospitals will be given 14 weeks to comply with the requirements before enforcement is implemented. She said federal officials will work with hospitals over that time to help bring them into compliance. “Because this requirement is in the Medicare conditions of participation, noncompliance could result in termination from both Medicare...

The Tides Network is a powerful instrument leveraged by billionaires working to change America, while shielding their philanthropic dollars from public scrutiny. Here’s how it works...In any case, what’s clear is that there is now a sophisticated and complex structure underneath what many assume to be an organic and spontaneous social movement, one with deep pockets and ambitious goals. “After over fourteen years of learning and over 700 million dollars invested ... "the collapse we have been expecting is surely underway,” reads the NoVo Foundation’s website.

The U.S. Senate moved on Tuesday to avert a pre-election government shutdown by voting to advance a stopgap funding measure that would keep the government open through Dec. 11. Tuesday's 82-6 cloture vote ended debate on the issue. According to Reuters, the Senate is expected to hold a final vote passing its spending measure, which will continue funding most government programs at current levels, on Wednesday before the government runs out of money at midnight. President Trump is expected to sign the bill, which will give lawmakers time to reach an agreement on nearly $1.4 trillion in spending, according to...