Hard Wire

A nonprofit dedicated to religious liberty is threatening the federal government with a legal battle after a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma was offered the choice of either extinguishing a sacred candle in its chapel or being stripped of its federal funding. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the law firm Yetter Coleman LLP fired …

Investors remained on edge Thursday despite Federal Reserve officials’ previous assurances that the banking system is “sound and resilient,” as stock prices for PacWest plummeted by more than 45% in a single day. The Southern California-based financial company is among several medium-sized banks that have seen their stock prices sharply decline in the wake of …

The jury has spoken: four of the far-right Proud Boys have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6 Capitol attack. Enrique Tarrio, the longtime Proud Boys chairman, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl have all been found guilty of trying to forcibly prevent the peaceful transition of power …

Florida lawmakers have passed a bill that will shield the travel records of Governor Ron DeSantis and other state leaders from public disclosure. The bill, which passed in the Florida House along a party-line vote of 84-31 after clearing the Senate last month, will exempt the travel history of the state’s governor and their immediate …

A Montana judge has denied a request for the court to intervene and restore state Rep. Zooey Zephyr’s access to the House floor. The Democrat, who is the first openly transgender woman elected to Montana’s legislature, was banned last week by state House Republicans from the chamber for the rest of this year’s legislative session. …

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has passed a bill into law banning all gender reassignment procedures for minors in the state, including irreversible gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies. The law is quickly becoming the norm in the United States, with 16 states now having enacted similar laws. The law, Senate Bill 613, makes it a …

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is keeping a watchful eye on a mysterious high-altitude balloon that has crossed over Hawaii and is now on its way to Mexico. On April 28, the DoD and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and tracked the unmanned balloon, which was floating at an altitude of 36,000 feet. …

Leonard Leo, the former executive vice president and current co-chair of the Federalist Society, has come under fire for his dual roles of activist and leader of the prestigious legal organization. A new report has exposed Leo’s involvement in securing a record-breaking $1.6 billion gift for his own dark money network, an arrangement which has …

On Monday, another major financial institution bit the dust as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized control of First Republic Bank and sold all of its $103.9 billion in deposits and “substantially all” of the $229.1 billion in assets to JPMorgan Chase. The collapse of First Republic Bank, one of the largest U.S. banks …

Democrats are mounting a major push to protect the so-called “blue wall” states that were crucial to former President Trump’s 2016 victory, banking on key victories in the Midwest to help secure their hold on power in Washington. The effort comes as President Biden looks to clinch a second term and several senators from the …