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U.S. House committees are investigating “ideological bias” of National Public Radio (NPR), a nonprofit news organization established by Congress and partially funded by taxpayers.

NPR has come under fire after its former editor Uri Berliner said it had "lost America's trust" and criticized NPR’s Chief Executive Officer, Katherine Maher, for her focus on combating “misinformation” and reportedly criticizing the First Amendment.

Maher, who is connected to several global economic organizations, including the World Bank and World Economic Forum, has donated solely to Democratic political candidates, The Center Square first reported.

The House investigation is being spearheaded by House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith, R-VA. An oversight hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to examine NPR’s alleged “viewpoint discrimination.”

“NPR is entrusted with Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. Serious allegations from a then-senior editor who spent decades at NPR reveal NPR engages in viewpoint discrimination and ideological bias that caters to a narrow, leftwing audience,” Rodgers and Griffith said in a joint statement. Citing a list of allegations, they said they “are deeply troubling and merit congressional investigation.”

NPR is funded by taxpayer money and donations from the general public and large philanthropic organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation has funded advocacy efforts for years related to “green energy,” “global warming” and now “climate change,” most recently dedicating $1 billion “to advance people-centered climate action.” This includes funding several news outlets’ climate desks, including NPR’s, as stated on its funds’ various websites.

The foundation’s efforts were instrumental in pressuring President Joe Biden’s directive to halt new permits for liquified natural gas exports, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Biden administration did so at a time when US LNG exports, led by Texas, have provided a lifeline to European allies that were previously depended on Russian oil, The Center Square exclusively reported. Natural gas has proven to be one of the cleanest energy sources and most reliable, with 2023 being a record year for domestic natural gas consumption, made possible by Texas production, The Center Square reported.

The Rockefeller Foundation was one of NPR’s founding donors helping its “Climate Desk” to launch in 2022 “to do stories that shape the national conversation on climate change,” it said. NPR claims, “climate related weather disasters are upending the way people live from China to California, from Pakistan to Florida. These extreme events have caused a global food crisis, the rise of new diseases and the displacement of millions of people.”

Initial climate reporters were funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Rockefeller Foundation, NPR said. From Oct. 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024, the Rockefeller Foundation donated $500,000 to NPR for its “climate change news.”

“Charities controlled by members of the Rockefeller family and billionaire donors were key funders of a successful campaign to pressure President Biden to pause new approvals of liquefied natural gas exports from the U.S.”, the Journal reported. The funds it refers to include the Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF) founded by John D. Rockefeller’s great-grandchildren, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, founded by his five sons.

John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in 1870, building his wealth in kerosene and gasoline to become the first billionaire in America and the wealthiest person in the country. By 1880, Standard Oil controlled 90% of the oil produced in the U.S., CNN Business reported. “Rockefeller's estimated $1.4 billion net worth in 1937 was equivalent to 1.5% of U.S. GDP. According to this metric he was (and still is) the richest individual in American business and economic history,” according to Harvard Business School.

In 2018, the RFF created the Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas, explaining its efforts to prioritize opposing coal and help “groups that are fighting the development of oil, gas, plastics, and petrochemicals infrastructure.”

Its goal is to curtail U.S. oil and gas production and prevent development “of massive new domestic infrastructure” as “an urgent and necessary part of solving the climate crisis.” It stated core purpose “is to limit ongoing oil and gas production; prevent the lock-in of GHG-emissions for new and expanded oil, gas, and petrochemical infrastructure; and weaken the industry’s financial standing and political influence.”

The RFF, through the FCOG, finances numerous groups “to enact aggressive policies at the state and national levels to reduce carbon emissions; disrupt the life cycle of fossil fuels from drilling and mining to transportation and exporting,” among other actions.

Dozens of NPR articles share a common theme in highlighting natural gas plant pollution, its harm to the environment and its effect on climate change. Regularly cited sources also appear to work for advocacy groups funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, including the Environmental Integrity Project. Many articles claim industrial air pollution from oil and natural gas companies is already, or will in the future, primarily negatively impact low-income, black neighborhoods.

The Gulf Coast environment primarily in the oil and gas producing states of Texas and Louisiana would suffer, especially if more LNG export facilities are built, NPR-affiliated authors wrote. In one report, it warns, “Soon more natural vistas here could be lost,” referring to Cameron Parish, Louisiana, a major oil and natural gas hub. It also solely interviewed opponents of LNG plants in the parish, reporting that after the U.S. became the top LNG exporter, “as the industry has grown, so has opposition.”

In other articles, NPR posits that tax credits helped fund union workers’ six-figure salaries and water pollution allegedly created by oil and gas companies created racial inequities.

NPR also claims Biden’s LNG permit ban “doesn’t affect more than a dozen plants that are already operating, or that are under construction or have received permits. Nor will it halt the export of gas.”

It also reported LNG exports “drove up utility bills for citizens,” a claim refuted by federal data, The Center Square first reported.

NPR also claimed, “oil field flaring emits five times more methane than expected,” when data from the World Bank, EIA, EPA and other agencies found that natural gas companies in the Permian Basin produce some of the cleanest natural gas in the world, The Center Square first reported. As natural gas production and LNG exports exponentially increased, Texas producers also led the United States in emissions reductions, the data shows.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who help steer U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam and China, died Wednesday. He was 100.

His consulting firm, Kissinger Associates Inc., announced the death.

Kissinger, born as Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Germany in 1923, left Nazi Germany for America in 1938. He served in the 84th Army Division from 1943 to 1946 after becoming a U.S. citizen. He was awarded the Bronze Star. He later served in the Counter Intelligence Corps in occupied Germany.

President Richard Nixon appointed Kissinger National Security Adviser in 1969. He went on to serve as Secretary of State under Nixon. When Nixon resigned in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal, Kissinger stayed on and served under President Gerald Ford.

"Kissinger played central roles in the opening to China, negotiating the end of the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, and helping to bring America's role in the Vietnam War to a close. He worked to set the former Rhodesia on the path to representative government and negotiated key arms control agreements with the Soviet Union," according to Kissinger Associates Inc.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese diplomat, "for jointly having negotiated a cease fire in Vietnam in 1973," according to the Noble Foundation. Le Duc Tho declined the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Kissinger’s tenure as Secretary comprised many controversial issues, including his role in influencing U.S. policies towards countries such as Chile and Angola," according to his official State Department biography.

Kissinger also was known for his "shuttle diplomacy" missions, in which he traveled between Middle East capitals to try to bring peace.

Kissinger also had many critics. HuffPost's obituary of Kissinger had the headline: "Henry Kissinger, America's Most Notorious War Criminal, Dies At 100". HuffPost cited as perhaps Kissinger's most notorious crime a secret four-year bombing campaign in Cambodia against the neutral nation during the time of the Vietnam War.

Kissinger is survived by his wife, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children by his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.

He will be interred at a private family service.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests considering donations to: Animal Medical Center, Development Office, 510 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065 or Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036.

President Joe Biden pledged in a speech late Wednesday to ban “assault weapons,” but critics were quick to push back.

Biden made the statement during his remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference.

“I know I make some of you uncomfortable, but that little state above me, in Delaware, is one of the — has the highest rate — one of the highest rates of gun ownership,” Biden said. "But guess what? We’re going to ban assault weapons again come hell or high water.”

Biden also called out “high-capacity magazines.” Those comments sparked pushback from critics who pointed to their Second Amendment protections.

“The loss of life is a tragedy whenever it occurs,” U.SS. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told The Center Square in response to Biden’s comments. “At the same time, the Second Amendment is not subject to interpretation by bureaucrats in Washington and cannot be taken away by Congress. Rather than confiscating firearms from law-abiding Americans, our priorities should be to protect and equip our police and crack down on violent crime."

Biden has taken a series of executive actions pushing the boundaries of his Constitutional authority, such as the eviction moratorium and COVID mandates, leading to legal challenges and rulings pushing back on Biden’s agenda.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently bolstered gun rights. Last summer, the high court struck down a New York gun law that required residents to prove they had “proper cause” to receive a permit to carry a firearm outside the home.

As The Center Square previously reported, the court ruled 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion. Roberts wrote that the court “recognized that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right of an ordinary, law-abiding citizen to possess a handgun in the home for self-defense.”

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in January introduced the “Assault Weapons Ban,” which would “ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and other high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.”

“It’s time we stand up to the gun lobby and remove these weapons of war from our streets, or at the very least keep them out of the hands of young people,” Feinstein said in a statement.

A companion bill has support from more than 200 Democrats but has not passed either Chamber this Congress.

“President Biden didn’t have the votes in Congress to get this ineffective and patently unconstitutional measure passed even when Democrats controlled the House,” Amy Swearer, Heritage senior legal fellow, told The Center Square. “He certainly doesn’t have the votes now, when the most recent polls show support for this type of law is lower now than it was in previous years. Unless the president plans on stripping Americans’ Second Amendment rights via executive fiat (a real ‘come hell, high water, or constitutional crisis’ scenario), then it’s difficult to see this as anything more than the President once again blowing smoke on behalf of Gun Control, Inc.”

(The Center Square) – The Republicans running for governor in Wisconsin are promising more cops, more prisons, and say they'll fire prosecutors who don’t get tough on crime after a violent weekend in Milwaukee that saw more than two dozen people shot.

Milwaukee Police say Friday night’s shootings near the Deer District wounded 21 people. Another of those shootings saw 17 people shot. A string of shootings on Sunday saw another five people shot, including two people who died.

Monday saw the Republicans running for governor promising to get tougher on crime if elected.

“The simple points are to put 1,000 more cops on the street. Bail and sentencing reform to stop these bad D.A.’s and these bad judges. Fire [Milwaukee County] District Attorney John Chisholm on day one. And use the Wisconsin State Patrol to surge where violent crime is surging,” frontrunner Rebecca Kleefisch told News Talk 1130 WISN’s Jay Weber Monday morning.

Kleefisch said under Democratic leadership the Deer District has become the “fear district.”

Republican Tim Michels is also promising to fire Milwaukee County’s district attorney. But he is also promising to fire other prosecutors across the state who don’t get tougher on crime.

“I will review all the D.A.s, and the ones who have an awful pattern of catch-and-release, dropping charges quickly, and letting guys out on the street, I will remove them from office,” Michels told Weber.

Michels also said he wants to build more prisons in the state, starting with a replacement for the maximum security prison in Green Bay.

Candidate Kevin Nicholson took to Twitter on Sunday to blast Chisholm and the leadership in Milwaukee.

“Twenty one shot on Friday; 3 murdered last night. Out of control car thefts. Record-breaking homicides,” Nicholson Tweeted. “We’re sick of it. Time to turn the page. We need new leaders who are serious about getting this back on track.”

Crime and public safety have been issues in the race for governor since day one. Republicans have blamed Gov. Tony Evers for the spike in violent crime during his time in office, including record years for both shootings and homicides in Milwaukee for the past two years.

The governor on Saturday offered thoughts and prayers, but didn’t offer any plans after Milwaukee’s violent weekend.

“Kathy and I are heartbroken by last night’s horrific acts of gun violence in Milwaukee. We are thinking of all the people who were injured and are praying for their full recovery, and we are thinking of the many people affected by this senseless tragedy,” the governor Tweeted.