This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A federal appeals court has shut down an attempt by city officials in Medford, Oregon, to require a private business operator to build – and pay for – a special road and bridge for the town.
The ruling in the fight between Medford officials and KOGAP Enterprises came from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and ordered the lower court to hold a hearing and enter a judgment in favor of KOGAP.
"The government cannot use the permit process to pressure private businesses or individuals to subsidize public infrastructure," explained a lawyer for Pacific Legal Foundation, which worked on behalf of KOGAP, Brian Hodges.
"The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that it is unconstitutional to single out property owners to shoulder massive costs for the public. We are thrilled that the court applied that precedent today in defense of Oregonians' property rights."
KOGAP is family owned, and has spent 20 years converting an old sawmill location into Stewart Meadows Village, a mixed use development covering some 100 acres.
For that project, it has built miles of streets, recreation trails and multiple bridges already.
But then the city demanded, in order to approve a minor revision in its previously approved development, the family must build a public road and bridge, and pay the $700,000 costs, even though its benefits would be for "future developments."
Explained the foundation, "The city's latest demand that KOGAP fund a massive building project to benefit future developers was a road too far."
The city's own lawyers had warned officials they were imposing an "unlawful exaction," an unconstitutional demand of private citizens and businesses.
But officials moved forward with the demand anyway, the PLF said.
Now the 9th Circuit has killed the demand for nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
"[T]he record does not contain a basis upon which the district court could have held that the City demonstrated rough proportionality between the project's expected impacts and the exaction imposed. … We reverse the district court's orders granting summary judgment to the city and direct entry of summary judgment for KOGAP on remand," the ruling said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
PALM BEACH, Florida – The U.S. military on Sunday announced that American Armed Forces in the Eastern Pacific Ocean killed three suspected narco-terrorists Saturday, allegedly carrying narcotics "on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization."
"On Nov. 15, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," the U.S. Southern Command said on X, along with explosive video of its operation.
It did not specify the name of the designated terrorist organization.
"Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics," said Southern Command.
"Three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific and was struck in international waters."
This latest strike was announced the same day the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, packing more than 4,000 sailors along with F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets and long-range Tomahawk missiles, arrived in the Caribbean.
Adm. Alvin Holsey, Southcom's commander, indicated: "The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group's deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland."
At least 83 suspected narco-terrorists have been killed since early September, as the U.S. hit 21 alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.
President Donald Trump is among those who have branded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro an "illegitimate leader," accusing him of leading an international drug-smuggling operation.
On Friday, Trump said he has "sort of made up" his mind concerning the next steps on Venezuela.
"I sort of made up my mind," the president told reporters. "I can't tell you what it would be."
Asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday about Trump's potential military action in Venezuela, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said: "We have a lot of training in that part of the world. We're reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever the president and [secretary of] war needed."
When pressed on whether or not any orders have actually been issued, Driscoll said: "We don't talk about those kinds of things, but we would be ready, if asked."
As WorldNetDaily reported last week, in what was called an unprecedented step, the United Kingdom said it would no longer share intelligence with the U.S. about suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, as it does not wish to be complicit in the military strikes, believing them to be illegal.
CNN noted Britain's decision "marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence sharing partner and underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the U.S. military's campaign around Latin America."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., released a bloody photo of himself on Saturday, revealing he had received 20 stitches from a fall earlier in the week near his Pennsylvania home.
"20 stitches later and a full recovery, I'm back home with @giselefetterman and the kids," Fetterman said on X.
"I'm overwhelmed + profoundly grateful for all the well-wishes. Truly.
"Grateful for @UPMC for the incredible medical care that put me back together."
"THANK YOU SO MUCH. See you back in DC."
A spokesperson for Fetterman previously indicated that Fetterman on Thursday morning "sustained a fall near his home in Braddock."
"Out of an abundance of caution, he was transported to a hospital in Pittsburgh," the spokesperson said.
"Upon evaluation, it was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground and hitting his face with minor injuries.
"Senator Fetterman had this to say: 'If you thought my face looked bad before, wait until you see it now!'
"He is doing well and receiving routine observation at the hospital. He has opted to stay so doctors can fine-tune his medication regimen.
"Senator Fetterman is grateful for the EMTs, doctors, and nurses who are providing his care."
In 2024, both Fetterman and his wife were injured when the senator crashed their car into the back of a Chevy Impala in Maryland.
A police report noted Fetterman was "at fault," as he was traveling "at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit" at the time of the collision.
Feterman suffered a stroke in May 2022, after which the Democrat said he had difficulty fully processing language.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday part of the reason beef prices have been soaring in America is due to the invasion of illegal aliens during the Biden administration, claiming many migrants brought diseased cattle with them.
Appearing on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel, Bessent was reacting to a statement by Omaha Steaks CEO Nate Rempe, who predicted: "By third quarter of '26, families are going to see $10-a-pound ground beef in the grocery store."
Bessent said: "The beef market is a very specialized market. It goes in long cycles, and this is the perfect storm again, something we inherited.
"And there's also, because of the mass immigration, a disease that we'd been rid of in North America, made its way up through South America as these migrants they had brought some of their cattle with them."
"So part go the problem is we've had to shut the border to Mexican beef because of this disease called the screwworm. So we're not gonna let that get into our supply chain."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, "New World screwworm is a species of parasitic fly that can cause myiasis and feeds on live tissue. It primarily affects livestock, but it can also infest people."
When asked how long before Americans would feel an impact of reining in the overall cost of living, Bessent replied: "I think we're going to see a substantial acceleration in the economy in the first [and] second quarter [of 2026]."
"I think Americans are gonna feel it in the first quarter, second quarter. I think 2026, thanks to President Trump's signature plans, is gonna be a great year for working Americans, for the markets. I call it parallel prosperity. Main Street and Wall Street can both do great but I think Main Street's gonna have a great year in 2026."
Meanwhile, tariffs are being removed from several household items not generally produced in the United States, including coffee, cocoa and bananas, and Bessent said he expects prices on those items to drop.
"This is a complete trade policy," he explained. "Now we are going to see it affect the prices."
Bessent also made a bold prediction about the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming ruling about President Trump's tariffs.
"This is one of President Trump's signature policies, and traditionally the Supreme Court does not interfere with a president's signature policy," he explained.
"I would push this back on the Supreme Court. I don't think this ruling is gonna go against us, but if it does, what's their plan for refunds?" Bessent added.
"I don't think the Supreme Court wants to wade into a mess like that."
The Treasury secretary was also asked about a Wall Street Journal report suggesting China was already reneging on its agreement to provide the U.S. military with rare-earth magnets.
"We haven't even finished the agreement," Bessent said.
"I am confident they will honor their agreement, and if they don't we have lots of levers."
Asked if one of those levers were to remove China from U.S. financial markets, Bessent responded: "All options are on the table but I believe we will have to go into this believing [Chinese] President Xi will keep his agreements."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
An Oregon school district has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle with two educators who were punished, then fired, for speaking out against the injurious transgender agenda the district was adopting.
The trans ideology as promoted by Joe Biden and his administration for years includes giving chemicals to children to delay puberty, then doing mutilating body surgeries on the child.
Grants Pass, Ore., educators Katie Medart and Rachel Sager had launched a grassroots movement called "I Resolve" to speak out on a school gender identity education policy, and to offer alternatives that would allow teachers to continue teaching without submitting their religious beliefs to the social agenda.
And one that would respect the rights of parents to know what their children were being given in school.
They posted a video on their own website promoting their beliefs and efforts.
Subsequently, Grants Pass School District 7 officials suspended them, then fired them.
"Educators are free to express opinions on fundamental issues of public concern—like gender identity education policy—that implicate the freedoms of teachers, parents, and students," said Mathew Hoffman, of the ADF, which represented the teachers along with the Pacific Justice Institute.
"The Grants Pass School District is taking the right step by acknowledging that teachers don't give up their First Amendment rights when they set foot on school property. Public schools can't retaliate against speech simply because they disagree with what's said."
Sager and Medart have worked in the education field for many years, including at North Middle School in Grants Pass. Sager served as assistant principal, and Medart taught science there, the legal teams explained.
Their legal action charging the school violated their free speech, religious freedom and equal protection rights was settled with the district agreeing to pay $650,000 in damages and attorneys' fees.
And the school is issuing a public statement acknowledging that the teachers' wrongful termination fell short of its standards and responsibilities, providing positive letters of recommendation for both, and revising the district's policies and practices to comply with the First Amendment.
The case had been headed for trial, which the district avoided by reaching the settlement, after the usually far-left 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the teachers' favor by partly vacating a lower court's decision for the school, and ordering a trial to be held.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A collective of religious organizations has issued a statement declaring transgenderism "holy" and confirming that God makes mistakes, but they are such that man can fix them.
"During a time when our country is placing their lives under increasingly serious threat, there is a disgraceful misconception that all people of faith do not affirm the full spectrum of gender — a great many of us do," said the statement issued over the signatures of officials from the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ (UCC), the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Union for Reform Judaism, an association of Quakers and others.
A report at the Christian Post said the statement declaring transgenderism "holy" was "in direct rebuke of a vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to bar transgender procedures in Catholic healthcare facilities."
But the rebuke actually was directed toward God, in support of an ideology that He makes mistakes in the gender assignments of individuals but human physicians can offer corrections for those mistakes.
The pages-long statement was self-described as a "landmark" comment "proclaiming that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people are worthy of love, support, and protection."
Signers included Unitarian Universalist Sofía Betancourt; Barry Crossno of the Friends General Conference; Cecilia Eggleston of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches; Yvette A. Flunder of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries; Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism; Jihyun Oh of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Teresa Hord Owens of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Karen Georgia Thompson of the United Church of Christ (UCC); Rabbi Deborah Waxman of Reconstructing Judaism; and the Episcopal Church.
The paper asserts, "Let it be known instead that our beloveds are created in the image of God – Holy and whole."
The demands are directed "to the American public, political leaders, and moral teachers."
"As such, we raise our voices in solidarity to unequivocally proclaim the holiness of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, as well as the recognition of the entire spectrum of gender identity and expression," it states.
Further, it describes as important efforts of "religious leaders" to speak out.
"When people of faith and conscience stay silent in the face of oppression, we are all made less whole. When people of faith and conscience speak out against that which violates the sacred in its own name, we have the power to stay the hand of sin. Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people are vulnerable today. Our faiths, our theologies, and our practices of prophetic witness call on us to say with one voice to transgender people among us: 'You are holy. You are sacred. We love you. We support you, and we will protect you.'"
The Christian Post explained the leftist ideologists complained, "Too many entrusted with positions of power are demonizing transgender people, blaming them for acts of violence, and criminalizing their very right to occupy space in our common life. The fear that many transgender children, their families, and their loved ones experience is unacceptable. The drive to limit the ways that transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people authentically live their lives – by limiting the medical care they receive, ignoring and sometimes provoking acts of violence against them, preventing them from traveling freely, or keeping them from participating in public activities — is a betrayal of our deeply held values as people of faith."
Few efforts are around today that "limit" the ways people live. However, there are a multitude of efforts to prevent the delivery of various chemicals to children, and the accompanying body-mutilating surgeries the transgender agenda includes.
Further, there are efforts to prevent forcing American taxpayers from funding such extremist agendas.
The statement claimed, "Our scriptures vary, but they share a common conviction. As we make justice our aim we must give voice to those who are silenced. Our shared values, held across many faiths, teach us that we are all children of God and that we must cultivate a discipline of hope, especially in difficult times."
The Christian Post warned, "The statement went on to suggest that opposing transgenderism is sinful, reiterating the belief that transgender, nonbinary and intersex individuals are intrinsically holy, which is the only attribute of God magnified to the third degree of repetition in the Bible."
Betancourt's biography boasts that she teaches "womanism and Earth justice," and follows a statement from U.S. Catholic bishops that Catholic hospitals won't participate in transgender activism, based on years of deliberation, Vatican guidance, and a 2023 doctrinal note, "Moral Limits to the Technological Manipulation of the Human Body."
"Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex, or take part in the development of such procedures," the bishops said in the 2023 doctrinal note.
Of course, being male or female is embedded in the human body down to the DNA level and cannot be changed.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, is proposing a plan that would "END the mass replacement of American workers" by dumping the federal H-1B visa program, which corporations long have used to replace U.S. workers with foreigners who work for far lower salaries.
Greene made the announcement online, "I am introducing a bill to END the mass replacement of American workers by aggressively phasing out the H-1B program. Big Tech, AI giants, hospitals, and industries across the board have abused the H-1B system to cut out our own people."
She continued, "Americans are the most talented people in the world, and I have full faith in the American people. I serve Americans only, and I will ALWAYS put Americans first. My bill ELIMINATES the corrupt H-1B program and puts AMERICANS FIRST again in tech, healthcare, engineering, manufacturing, and every industry that keeps this country running!! If we want the next generation to have the American dream, we must stop replacing them and start investing in them."
A report at the Hill said Greene's plan would allow up to 10,000 H-1B visas to be awarded annually for certain positions, like physicians, but even that could be phased out.
Greene explained the visa program was set up to "fill a specialty occupational need at a given time. People should not be allowed to come and live here forever. We thank them for their expertise, but we also wish them well so they may return to their own country."
Greene charged the H-1B program is replete with "fraud and abuse."
President Donald Trump largely has agreed with such an assessment, but of late has leaned toward reforms of the system, rather than elimination.
He has taken dramatic action to address the problems, including imposing a $100,000 fee on those applying for the visas.
The Georgian said, "It's time to put American citizens first instead of foreigners first, and this has gone on and been an abuse for far too long," Greene said. "Americans deserve a future. They deserve a chance."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Illegal alien truck drivers, including those who sometimes cannot read or speak English or recognize road signs, must have roadway rights, according to a panel of judges who ruled on the Trump administration's effort to crack down on dangerous – and deadly – big rig operators.
A report published at Fox News said the ruling means the Department of Transportation's limits on aliens getting commercial vehicle licenses cannot be enforced at this point.
The restrictions were created quickly after an illegal alien truck driver in Florida was accused of causing a tractor-trailer crash that killed three people.
Multiple other similar situations have developed since then, also costing lives.
Several of the truck drivers have tried to make U-turns through interstate medians, a maneuver that already is illegal, and have cause huge crash pileups.
The Florida case, near Fort Pierce, involved Harjinder Singh, of India.
He was in the United States illegally, and now has pleaded not guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide for his accident.
The ruling claimed the federal government didn't follow procedures to create the rule.
Singh had gotten his license from California, and failed his exams multiple times.
A later audit of the state records prompted the revocation of some 17,000 such licenses.
According to the report, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, representing some 150,000 truckers, thanked the Trump administration for working to "restore commonsense safety standards."
It said in a statement, "OOIDA applauds the Administration for seeing through the myth of a truck driver shortage and continuing efforts to restore commonsense safety standards on our nation's highways. Pausing visas for commercial truck drivers will help ensure only qualified individuals get licensed. Additionally, there is unlikely to be any negative effect on the supply chain, as the trucking industry continues to face overcapacity."
Already, federal officials have withheld $40 million from California because of its refusal to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Colorado's years-long campaign to discriminate against and suppress Christians has added another chapter.
And it's in court again, in the state's deliberate discrimination against Christian preschools.
In this case, now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Catholic Archdiocese in Denver, a group of Catholic preschools, and a Catholic family are asking for a ruling that stops the state from excluding them from a state program generally available to all others, except them.
It is the state's "universal" preschool program that was set up by Democrats in the legislature and Democrat homosexual Gov. Jared Polis to exclude schools of faith from benefits that otherwise are generally available.
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently upheld the state's exclusion, punishing faith-based schools and the families they serve for operating according to their religious beliefs," according to Becket, which is representing the Catholics in the case.
"The court even praised Colorado's discriminatory regime as a 'model' and an 'example' for other states to follow. With Becket's help, Catholic parents and preschools are asking the Supreme Court to ensure that Colorado makes good on its promise of universal preschool."
Colorado's long history of anti-Christian activism dates back more than a decade already. Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop has been in the courts for that long for refusing to submit his Christian faith to the progressive LGBT agenda in which state officials believe.
That's despite the state losing at the U.S. Supreme Court in the fight.
Same thing happened with the state's demand a web designer give up her Christian faith in order to operate her business. It lost again at the Supreme Court, and taxpayers there were billed millions for state officials to waste in their legal fight.
Right now the Supreme Court is considering whether the allow the state to censor pro-Christian comments by counselors, who are urged to deliver pro-LGBT ideologies to young clients. And the state recently attempted to impose its transgender beliefs on a Christian children's camp.
"Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs," said Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket. "That sort of religious discrimination flies in the face of our nation's traditions and decades of Supreme Court rulings. We're asking the Court to step in and make sure 'universal' preschool really is universal."
Becket explained, "Families who send their kids to Catholic preschools in the Archdiocese of Denver expect them to receive a high-quality education and to be part of a faith-centered Catholic community. That's exactly what these preschools offer, supporting parents with the religious and educational upbringing of their children by providing excellent intellectual, moral, and spiritual formation."
However, when the state launched its universal preschool program, offering families 15 hours of free preschool per week at the private or public schools of their choice, the Democrats built in discrimination based on religious belief.
The Catholic schools were targeted because they ask families who enroll children to be supportive of their Catholic faith.
"Our preschools exist to help parents who want an education rooted in the Catholic faith for their children," said archdiocese spokesman Scott Elmer.
"All we ask is for the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that's available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado."
Plaintiffs Dan and Lisa Sheley now are forced to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket each year for benefits provided to other families by the state at no cost.
Becket warned, "The state's discriminatory rules have had their predictable effect: Since UPK began, enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors, including one that predominantly served low-income and minority families."
Becket even pointed out the ill intent from the state: "Colorado admits that it looks the other way when nonreligious schools have admissions policies that violate state law."
Further the 10th Circuit decision "defies the Supreme Court's recent decisions in Carson, Espinoza, and Trinity Lutheran, which held that states cannot exclude religious schools from public benefits because of their religious exercise."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
When a Georgia state prosecutor, Fani Willis, was ordered off of the organized crime case she had assembled against President Donald Trump and others, a judge set a deadline of Friday morning to appoint a replacement or the case would be dismissed entirely.
No prosecutor wanted it. Many refused it.
So Peter Skandalakis, chief of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, appointed himself to meet that deadline.
He still could now review the evidence and recommend a dismissal anyway.
The case has involved scandal after scandal after scandal for Georgia. Willis hired her paramour to help develop the case, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax money on him. The two apparently took exotic vacations together, and Willis claimed she paid him back her share … in cash.
Eventually the courts ordered the paramour, Nathan Wade, off the case, and an appeals ruling later said Willis herself, and her office, were contaminated by the apparent conflicts of interest and had to be gone.
A report at the Washington Examiner said the "sweeping racketeering" case has been suspended by uncertainty for weeks now.
The report said Skandalakis confirmed no one else would accept the assignment of working on Willis' failure.
Steve Sadow, representing Trump, repeated his suggestion that the case be dropped entirely.
"This politically charged prosecution has to come to an end," he said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump."
The case claims Trump and others tried to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election.
"The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case," Skandalakis said in a Fulton County Superior Court filing.
Four defendants pleaded guilty: bail bondsman Scott Hall, who admitted to misdemeanor conspiracy charges; former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts; Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements; and attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiring to file false documents, the Examiner reported.
Other defendants include Giuliani, Meadows, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Ray Smith, Austin Cheeley, Scott "Matt" Shafer, Shawn Still, Caroline Wooten Kutti, Harrison Floyd, Kurt Hilbert, Mike Roman, David Lee, and Robert Cheeley, all of whom have pleaded not guilty.
"Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment. Out of respect for their privacy and professional discretion, I will not identify those prosecutors or disclose their reasons for declining."
He said the move will let him decide the "best course of action" for the future of the case.
Willis named Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and a long list of political aides, lawyers, and Republican electors as co-defendants.