Yearly Archives: 2021

(The Center Square) – Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey is resigning as CEO, effective immediately, according to a statement he released Monday.

He said Parag Agrawal, chief technology officer, will assume the role of CEO.

"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders," Dorsey said. "My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart and soul. It's his time to lead."

Twitter became profitable under Dorsey's leadership but was widely criticized for censoring content it deemed misleading or objectionable, including suspending the accounts of some conservative voices, including former President Donald Trump's.

(The Center Square) – Federal grant records show the U.S. Department of Education has awarded millions of taxpayer dollars to fund critical race theory training for future educators at several colleges across the country.

In 2016 under the Obama administration, the federal government awarded its first five-year grant of $1,116,895 to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) for “training” college students in critical race theory.

The program is called, “The Research Institute for Scholars of Equity," or RISE. RISE promises to produce “a cadre of scholars who value and advance equity.” As part of the program, these students receive a $5,000 stipend, money for food and housing, and a travel allowance. According to promotional materials and grant documents, RISE students are trained to use critical race theory as a means of evaluating teacher quality, among other things.

NCCU partnered with the University of North Carolina, Wilmington on the project, which provided one-year fellowships to about 60 students.

While some of the students will likely go on to be teachers, the program also puts an emphasis on training students with "research careers that will inform policy and practice in education" on a broader scale, helping propel critical race theory conversations nationwide.

"This is an example of federal funding for CRT at the post secondary level that also has an impact on K-12 schools based on the goals and activities of the fellowship," said Jonathan Butcher, an education expert at the Heritage Foundation. "This directly exposes the claims that CRT is not used in K-12 schools as false."

Butcher went on to add that "the grant clearly has goals for teacher training that include instruction in CRT."

The program is part of a collaborative effort with other higher education institutions around the country. Various schools have been involved over the years, including Penn State, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Duke University, University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina, University of New Mexico, and the New School for Social Research. Though RISE remained based out of NCUU, the program allowed certain “students and faculty mentors from collaborating institutions” to receive training in critical race theory, according to the federal grant.

"Given the prevalence of CRT in K-12 curriculum elsewhere in the country, lawmakers and the media should identify examples of this racially discriminatory teaching and reject the application of such racial obsessions in classroom work," Butcher said.

The principal investigator for the RISE program, NCCU faculty member Wynetta Lee, was approved under the Biden administration for another five-year grant of $1,533,384 in July of this year, putting her over $2.6 million in taxpayer dollars for the program. For this second grant, RISE 2.0, Pennsylvania State University has partnered with Lee.

Lee did not respond to questions about RISE, its students, and the role of critical race theory in her program.

The more recent 2021 grant document does not include the term “critical race theory” in the “Research Institute for Scholars of Equity (RISE) 2.0” grant, though in all other respects it appears to be a continuation of the same work. The slight change in the 2021 grant omits mention of the exact phrase "critical race theory" but is almost identical in all other respects.

From the 2016 grant:

“One core feature of the fellowship is the eight-week summer research institute in which fellows will be introduced to critical race theory (as well as mixed-methods research techniques) as a means of studying issues such as teacher quality, education policy, and race and social justice in education,” the 2016 grant reads. “In addition to coursework, fellows will conduct several short research projects and begin conducting research related to the RISE theme as part of research interest groups (RIGs) under the supervision of their faculty mentors. Fellows will continue to conduct research through their RIGs during the academic year.”

The 2021 grant has the same wording but omits "critical race theory."

From the 2021 grant:

“One core feature of the fellowship is the 8-week summer research institute in which fellows will be introduced to mixed-methods research techniques as a means of studying issues such as teacher quality, education policy, and race and social justice in education,” the grant reads.

Lee did not respond to a question asking whether she removed the term because of recent controversy surrounding it.

Despite the latest grant’s omission of the term “critical race theory,” the group’s website makes clear that is still its focus.

North Carolina Central University touts the RISE program on its website, boasting that it is training young leaders in CRT to send them out to mold education policy for the nation, or as the school puts it, “to grant them a seat at the policy table.”

From NCCU’s website:

“RISE employs Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Bell, 1970; Delgado & Stefanic; 2001), a conceptual, analytical and interpretative framework compatible with developing cultural competence among interdisciplinary teams of future researchers. CRT is a lens for examining policies that impair social equity and advances understanding of the broader context of American schooling and the diverse experiences of students, families and teachers. CRT offers methodological tools that can disrupt discourses that impact communities of color: the counter-narrative (Milner & Howard, 2013) and cultural wealth analysis (Yosso, 2005). RISE mobilizes its recruitment efforts to include Underrepresented Minorities (URMs) to swell the number of URMs who are well-trained individuals such that they can pursue careers that grant them a place at the table in the policy arena.”

The two federal grants operate under the U.S. Department of Education’s Pathways to the Education Sciences Research Training program, which is tasked with helping “talented education researchers who bring fresh ideas, approaches, and perspectives to addressing the issues and challenges faced by the nation's diverse students and schools.”

A flyer on the University of New Mexico’s website advertises the summer of 2020 program, calling it a “Paid Virtual RISE Summer Research Experience in Critical Race Theory & Education for Undergraduate Students.”

Penn State touted its partnership on the 2021, 2.0 version of the RISE program which includes teaching on "critical theoretical frameworks." The program is “designed to improve the schooling experiences and academic attainment of pre-kindergarten through university-level African American and Latino/a students.”

The grant comes amid a national debate over the merits of critical race theory and its role in the K-12 education system. A proposal to ban federal funding of critical race theory has taken center stage in Congress, where senators duked it out over an amendment that would do just that as part of Biden’s reconciliation spending.

Whether that bill gets across the finish line with the controversial CRT measure intact remains to be seen.

(The Center Square) – The parents of one of the two men shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during three nights of rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year vowed to continue their fight for justice for their slain son.

A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty Friday of all five charges in the case including first degree intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber.

"There was no justice today for Anthony, or for Mr. Rittenhouse's other victims, Joseph Rosenbaum and Gaige Grosskreutz," Karen Bloom and John Huber said in the statement.

"Today's verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son," they said. "It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street."

The shootings occurred August 25, 2020, during Kenosha’s final night of violence in the wake of a police shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black. A Kenosha police officer shot and wounded Blake on Aug. 23, 2020. Police were trying to arrest Blake that day for violating an order of protection. He was at his ex-girlfriend’s home. She had accused Blake of sexual assault not long before.

Rioting broke out in Kenosha in the nights after the police shooting.

Rittenhouse took the stand last week and said he fired only because he feared for his life. Video from the scene showed Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse through a parking lot and throwing a plastic bag at him. Shortly after the Rosenbaum shooting, video showed Rittenhouse running and tripping. Huber lunged at Rittenhouse and swung a skateboard at his head. Grosskreutz admitted on the stand that he pointed his handgun at Rittenhouse before Rittenhouse shot and injured Grosskreutz.

"Neither Mr. Rittenhouse nor the Kenosha police who authorized his bloody campaign will escape justice," the parents said. "Anthony will have his day in court."

Bloom and John Huber did not attend the trial because they said they "could not bear to sit in a courtroom and repeatedly watch videos of our sons murder..."

Kenosha police have denied they authorized armed civilians in Kenosha to help during the riots.

"We are so proud of Anthony, and we love him so much," the parents said. "He is a hero who sacrificed his own life to protect other innocent civilians. We ask that you remember Anthony and keep him in your prayers."

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s largest business group says almost every employer in the state expects to see some workers quit if they are forced to get the coronavirus vaccine.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce said a new survey of employers shows that nearly 90% of businesses expect to lose workers if President Joe Biden’s private sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate is put into effect.

“If enacted, most employers would not be able to comply with the rigorous requirements and, to make matters worse, workers would end up walking off the job,” WMC’s Kurt Bauer said. “For Wisconsin businesses, not only is this mandate unlawful, it is unworkable.”

Bauer said WMC asked 100 businesses across the state about the president’s proposed mandate, and 88 of them said it would cost them workers.

Drexel Building Supply in New Berlin is one of the 100.

Drexel President Joel Fleischmann said workers would find a way to avoid having to get a shot that they don’t want.

“A significant number of Drexel Building Supply team members will either quit and go to an employer with fewer than 100 employees or will simply retire,” Fleischmann said.

Bauer said businesses in Wisconsin worry about more than just losing workers.

WMC’s survey states that 88% of businesses said there would be disruptions to their operations and 84% said a lack of testing supplies for the required weekly tests would make it nearly impossible to test all non-vaccinated employees.

“Wisconsin’s workforce shortage continues to be compounded by President Biden’s policies,” Bauer added.

States, businesses and other groups filed 34 lawsuits against the Biden administration's mandate that private sector businesses with 100 or more employees require workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face weekly testing. The policy also would impose nearly $14,000 in fines per employee if businesses are caught letting their workers skirt the directive.

Ruling on one of the lawsuits, a federal appeals court last week ordered the Biden administration to halt its implementation until further notice, citing "grave" constitutional concerns.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday it is temporarily suspending enforcement of the private sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate as the cases work their way through the court system.

(The Center Square) – A federal appeals court late Friday ordered the Biden administration to stop implementation of its private sector vaccine mandate until multiple legal challenges work their way through the court system.

The ruling, from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, comes in response specifically to a case from a Louisiana businessman, but dozens of lawsuits been filed by coalitions of states, business groups and individuals challenging President Joe Biden's orders requiring American workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, agree to regular testing or lose their jobs.

"The Fifth Circuit's decision to put a stop to the Biden Administration's illegal vaccine mandate is a huge win for liberty and cements the reality that this mandate is an overreach by the federal government that would cause irreversible damage to American businesses and workers," Sarah Harbison, general counsel at the Louisiana-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy, said in a statement.

The Pelican Institute and Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center are representing businessman Brandon Trosclair, who owns 15 grocery stores in Louisiana and Mississippi, employing nearly 500 people.

Under Biden's direction, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week released details of the vaccine mandate, which seeks to require private employers with 100 or more workers to provide proof they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing. The mandate, which could affect an estimated 74 million American workers, includes a Jan. 4 deadline for vaccination.

The policy also would impose nearly $14,000 in fines per employee if businesses are caught letting their workers skirt the mandate.

"Today’s ruling marks a tremendous success because the court recognizes how this mandate would impair our liberty and infringe on our constitutional rights," Trosclair said in a statement provided by Liberty Justice Center. "I am proud to be in this fight on behalf of not just my employees, but all Americans. It's wrong for the federal government to order me to interfere in the private medical decisions of my team members or to impose insurmountable costs on my businesses."

The Fifth Circuit last Saturday issued a temporary stay on the private sector vaccine mandate, citing "grave" constitutional concerns. In it's Friday's ruling, a three judge panel of the court added to its concerns.

“The Mandate threatens to substantially burden the liberty interests of reluctant individual recipients put to a choice between their job(s) and their jab(s)," the panel wrote.

The court also said "occupational safety administrations do not make health policy” and it ordered that the private sector mandate "remains stayed pending adequate judicial review of the petitioners’ underlying motions for a permanent injunction. In addition, it is further ordered that OSHA take no steps to implement or enforce the Mandate until further court order.”

Other lawsuits also are pending.

An 11-state coalition consisting of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming filed a lawsuit last week in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against OSHA.

A similar lawsuit was filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by the attorneys general of Tennessee, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Georgia, Florida, and Alabama have also filed a lawsuit in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arguing the new rules exceed the Department of Labor’s “statutory authority, fails to comply with the standards for issuing an [Emergency Temporary Standard], and conflicts with the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

Other lawsuits also are pending against the Biden administration's vaccine mandates on health care workers and members of the U.S. military.