Posts by Newspaper Staff

The U.S. Justice Department sued Fulton County, Ga. Clerk of Court Che Alexander on Friday, claiming her office failed to produce records from the 2020 general election.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court said the Justice Department subpoenaed the records on Oct. 6 and sent a demand letter to the clerk’s office on Oct. 30.
The department also sued Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada for failing to produce records.
The Fulton County clerk’s office said in an Nov. 14 response, “the record sought are under seal and may not be produced absent a Court Order,” according to the Justice Department’s suit.
The clerk’s office has not responded to a Nov. 21, 2025, demand letter from the Justice Department, the suit said.
The State Election Board began requesting Fulton County’s election records in 2024. In a July 2025 resolution, the board asked the U.S. Attorney’s office for help.
The Justice Department is asking the court to rule that Fulton County has violated the Civil Rights Act and require the county to produce the records within five days.
“At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement. “If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”
The Fulton County Clerk’s Office had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Despite Canadian officials arguing that the “Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world,” some Canadian groups and First Nation tribal police chiefs disagree.
This week, First Nation representatives traveled to Texas for the first time in U.S.-Canadian history to find ways to implement stronger border security measures at the U.S.-Canada border, including joining an Operation Lone Start Task Force, The Center Square exclusively reported.
Part of the problem is getting law enforcement, elected officials and the general public to understand the reality that Mexican cartels and transnational criminal organizations are operating in Canada; another stems from Trudeau administration visa policies, they argue.
When it comes to public perception, “If you tell Canadians we have a cartel problem, they’ll laugh at you. They don’t believe it. If you tell them we have a gang problem, they will absolutely agree with you 100%. They don’t think that gangs and cartels are the same thing. They don’t see the Hells Angels as equal to the Sinaloa Cartel because” the biker gang is visible, wearing vests out on the streets and cartel operatives aren’t, Jamie Tronnes, executive director of the Center of North American Prosperity and Security, told The Center Square in an exclusive interview.
The center is a US-based project of the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, the largest think tank in Canada. Tronnes previously served as a special assistant to the cabinet minister responsible for immigration and has a background in counterterrorism. She joined First Nation police chiefs to meet with Texas law enforcement and officials this week.
Another Canadian group, Future Borders Coalition, argues, “Canada has become a critical hub for transnational organized crime, with networks operating through its ports, banks, and border communities.” The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Mexican cartels control the fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine business in Canada, partnering with local gangs like the Hells Angels and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked actors, who launder profits through casinos, real estate, and shell companies in Vancouver and Toronto, Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and others said at a coalition event prior to First Nation police chiefs and Tronnes coming to Texas.
“The ’Ndrangheta (Italian Mafia) maintains powerful laundering and import operations in Ontario and Quebec, while MS-13 and similar Central American gangs facilitate human smuggling and enforcement. Financial networks tied to Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern groups support laundering and logistics for these criminal alliances,” the coalition reports.
“Together, they form interconnected, technology-driven enterprises that exploit global shipping, cryptocurrency, and AI-enabled communications to traffic whatever yields profit – narcotics, weapons, tobacco, or people. Taking advantage of Canada’s lenient disclosure laws, fragmented jurisdictions, and weak cross-border coordination, these groups have embedded themselves within legitimate sectors, turning Canada into both a transit corridor and safe haven for organized crime,” the coalition reports.
Some First Nation reservations impacted by transnational crime straddle the U.S.-Canada border. One is the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation, located in Ontario, Quebec, and in two upstate New York counties, where human smuggling and transnational crime is occurring, The Center Square reported. Another is the Tsawwassen First Nation (TWA) Reservation, located in a coastal region south of Vancouver in British Columbia stretching to Point Roberts in Washington state, which operates a ferry along a major smuggling corridor.
Some First Nation reservations like the TWA are suffering from CCP organized crime, Tronnes said. Coastal residents observe smugglers crossing their back yards, going through the reserve; along Canada’s western border, “a lot of fentanyl is being sent out to Asia but it’s also being made in Canada,” Tronnes said.
Transnational criminal activity went largely unchecked under the Trudeau government, during which “border security, national security and national defense were not primary concerns,” Tronnes told The Center Square. “It’s not to say they weren’t concerns, but they weren’t top of mind concerns. The Trudeau government preferred to focus on things like climate change, international human rights issues, a feminist foreign policy type of situation where they were looking more at virtue signaling rather than securing the country.”
Under the Trudeau administration, the greatest number of illegal border crossers, including Canadians, and the greatest number of known, suspected terrorists (KSTs) were reported at the U.S.-Canada border in U.S. history, The Center Square first reported. They include an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman who tried to poison President Donald Trump, The Center Square reported.
“Had it been a priority for the government to really crack down and provide resources for national security,” federal, provincial and First Nation law enforcement would be better equipped, funded and staffed, Tronnes said. “They would have better ways to understand what’s really happening at the border.”
In February, President Donald Trump for the first time in U.S. history declared a national emergency at the northern border and ordered U.S. military intervention. Months later, his administration acknowledged the majority of fentanyl and KSTs were coming from Canada, The Center Square reported.
Under a new government and in response to pressure from Trump, Canada proposed a $1.3 billion border plan. However, more is needed, the groups argue, including modernizing border technology and an analytics infrastructure, reforming disclosure and privacy rules to enable intelligence sharing, and recognizing and fully funding First Nation police, designating them as essential services and essential to border security.
“National security doesn’t exist without First Nation policing at the border,” Dwayne Zacharie, First Nations Chiefs of Police president, told The Center Square.

More than 9,500 commercial truckers have been taken off of U.S. roads for failing English-language proficiency checks, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
“We’ve now knocked 9,500 truck drivers out of service for failing to speak our national language – ENGLISH!” Duffy said in an X post. “This administration will always put you and your family’s safety first.”
The total includes combined enforcement actions taken nationwide since May, after Duffy signed new guidance to strengthen English language enforcement for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. It requires those who fail to comply with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) longstanding English-language proficiency (ELP) requirements to be placed out-of-service.
“America First means safety first,” Duffy said when signing it. “Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs. This common-sense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist.
He implemented the policy after President Donald Trump signed executive orders declaring English as the official language of the United States and directing him to do so. The order also reversed an Obama-era rule that instructed inspectors to issue citations, not remove CMV drivers from service, who failed FMCSA English requirements.
“My Administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English,” Trump’s order states. “This is common sense.”
In August, Duffy warned Democratic-led states to enforce the English language proficiency requirements or lose federal funding. By September, he took emergency enforcement action against California for “gross negligence” after an FMCSA nationwide audit identified “a catastrophic pattern of states issuing licenses illegally to foreign drivers,” The Center Square reported.
It uncovered systemic non-compliance in several states, identifying California as the worst. Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington licensing patterns were also “not consistent with federal regulations,” FMCSA found.
By December, Duffy had removed nearly 3,000 training providers for commercial driver’s licenses from the FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry. Those removed were cited for “falsifying or manipulating training data; neglecting to meet required curriculum standards, facility conditions or instructor qualifications; and failing to maintain accurate, complete documentation or refusing to provide records during federal audits or investigations,” The Center Square reported.
The actions were taken as state and local law enforcement agencies also implemented enforcement measures.
Earlier in the year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed Texas Department of Public Safety to crack down on commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). In four months, they took enforcement action against nearly 450 CMV drivers, The Center Square reported. Texas DPS also suspended issuing CDLs in several categories to comply with the federal rule.
In Oklahoma, more than 120 were arrested in an operation conducted on I-40 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Their criminal histories included convictions for DUI, illegal re-entry, money laundering, human smuggling, assault, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and possession of a controlled substance, The Center Square reported.
Those arrested were from Tajikistan, India, Montenegro, El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Belarus, Haiti, Ukraine, Türkiye, Meri Tamia, Cuba, Guatemala, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Columbia and Mexico, Oklahoma HP said. They were issued CDLs from California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio and New York, Oklahoma HP said. In another operation, another 70 foreign nationals from 15 countries were arrested who couldn’t speak English, The Center Square reported.
Also on I-40, in one day, Texas DPS and ICE arrested more than 30 illegal foreign nationals in the panhandle, The Center Square reported.
In Indiana, state police and ICE arrested 223 in one operation on Indiana highways near the Illinois state line, The Center Square reported.
In New York, Border Patrol agents working with ICE are arresting illegal CMV drivers, the majority of whom have out of state issued licenses, The Center Square reported.
The “alarming trend of illegal aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States operating commercial vehicles … raises significant safety concerns,” Acting Buffalo Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent James D’Amato said. “Drivers who are not fluent or with little to no ability to speak or read English pose a serious risk on our roadways, especially when operating large vehicles that require a high level of skill and understanding of traffic laws. The ongoing major accidents nationwide involving such drivers highlight the critical need for enforcement and vigilance to protect public safety.”

Democratic attorneys general applauded a federal judge’s ruling this week that the Trump administration can’t halt development of all wind energy projects.
Proponents have long considered wind energy to be a clean, renewable energy source that produces electricity without burning fossil fuels. But opponents warn against turbines’ impact on wildlife and land. They also question wind power’s reliability and affordability.
On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order halting all federal approvals for development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects. Approvals were stopped pending an indefinite federal review of wind leasing and permitting.
Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the 17 states and District of Columbia, who sued Trump to resume wind energy development. The ruling said Trump’s executive order was “arbitrary and capricious” and contrary to law.
Attorneys general praised Saris’ ruling and warned what the end of wind energy would have done to their states.
“Trump’s illegal wind order would have driven up energy costs on Arizonans already struggling with high utility bills,” said Attorney General Kris Mayes of Arizona.
Mayes noted in a news release that wind energy projects on state trust lands provide critical revenue for public schools.
“The Trump administration’s illegal freeze of these programs would have harmed Arizona and threatened our state’s economy and environment,” Mayes said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office noted wind energy is reliable and affordable and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. The office noted the energy source, which supplies more than 10% of the nation’s electricity, creates billions of dollars in economic activity and tax revenues.
“Today, we celebrate another victory against the Trump Administration. A court has agreed with California and our sister states nationwide: The Trump Administration’s attempt to thwart states’ efforts to make energy more clean, reliable and affordable for our residents is unlawful and cannot stand,” Bonta said Monday in a news release.
Meanwhile, Wayne Winegarden, a senior business fellow at the Pasadena-based Pacific Research Institute, said he isn’t questioning the ruling against Trump’s executive order and understands states found themselves in a predicament with the executive order. “Often Trump does things without doing them the proper way.”
But the economist told The Center Square, “The more important point, the longer lasting point, is we’re over-investing in wind and under-appreciating its consequences.” He noted there are questions over wind power’s reliability and its burden on the energy grid. He noted it increases costs and that there’s uncertainty about how much power it actually generates.
“We want affordable, reliable, lower-emission energy infrastructure,” Winegarden said.
Wind power also threatens the environment, Winegarden said. “Offshore wind tribunes harm whales.”
And on land, wind tribunes create noise, he said.
“What do we do with these huge blades once they wear out?” Winegarden said. “That’s an environmental and costly issue that needs to be managed.”
Blades consist of high-tech composite materials that critics say are hard to recycle.
Other critics have noted turbines have killed birds and bats. They warn about the loss of large tracts for wind farms.
But if the land used for wind or solar power can be used for other purposes, the impact is minimal, according to the Our Worlds in Data website.
Proponents of wind power say modern turbines are safer for wildfire and setbacks can mitigate noise.
The Center Square reached out to the California Wind Energy Association for comment, but did not get a response.
In addition to California, Arizona and the District of Columbia, jurisdictions suing the Trump administration include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.