Florida Lottery Transferred $2.45 Billion to K-12 Education in 2023

Teacher in Class

The Florida Lottery has become a crucial part of funding for education in the Sunshine State, and according to a recent report from the Florida Auditor General, it continues to grow each year.

In late January, the AG released the financial audit of the Florida Lottery, whose mission is to maximize financial revenue for the benefit of education “in a manner consistent with the dignity of the State of Florida and the welfare of its citizens.”

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Home Prices in America’s Top 10 Biggest Cities Rose in 2023

Home for Sale

Home prices for the 10 largest cities in the U.S. rose by 7.0% year-over-year in December, up from 6.3% in the previous month, according to Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index report.

The top 20 cities had a slightly less pronounced increase, with prices rising 6.1% year-over-year as of December, up from 5.4% in November, according to the index. The increase in costs is coupled with a rise in the average for a 30-year mortgage rate, which ticked up to 6.90% the week of Feb. 22 after declining slightly from the recent peak of 7.80% that was seen in October, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

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Google News Moved Further Left in 2023, Compared to Previous Year: News Media Watchdog Finds

Google Search

An analysis by the news media watchdog group AllSides Technology finds roughly 63% of stories last year on the Google News were from “left and left-leaning news sources.” 

In the new analysis released Thursday, 937 stories were reviewed from Oct. 30 to Nov. 14, 2023. 

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Ford Lost Billions on EVs in 2023

Ford EVs

Ford lost billions of dollars on its electric vehicle (EV) product lines last year, according to corporate documents.

The company lost $4.7 billion on EVs in 2023, a greater loss than the $4.5 billion the company expected it would lose in 2023 at mid-year, according to a summary of the company’s annual earnings. The company pointed to “an extremely competitive pricing environment” as a key reason for the losses.

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Inflationary Woes: More Chain Stores Closed in 2023, Continuing into 2024

Macy's Store

More chain stores closed in 2023 as a result of high inflationary costs, with the trend continuing in 2024 led by the iconic department store, Macy’s.

In 2023, retail stores, pharmaceutical and fast-food chains continued a trend of previous years: declaring bankruptcy and closing their doors or shutting down some locations to cut costs, citing inflation, higher costs, and profit losses.

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Biden Admin Allowed More than 3 Million Migrants into U.S. in 2023

Illegal Immigrants

There were 3.3 million people who came to the U.S. illegally, were released into the country via parole or overstayed their permission to remain in the country in fiscal year 2023, according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The number includes 1.1 million who were released by federal authorities after entering illegally, 900,000 who were released at ports of entry, 860,000 who are known to have evaded arrest and 430,000 who overstayed their temporary residency in the country, according to the report. Federal authorities at the southern border recorded more than 2.4 million encounters in fiscal year 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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Home Sales in 2023 Were the Lowest in 28 Years as Affordability Crisis Plagued Americans

Home Owners

Sales for existing homes, which make up a majority of the housing market, slumped to the lowest level since 1995 as rising prices and sky-rocketing mortgage rates increased unaffordability, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Existing home sales sank 1.0% in December compared to the previous month, falling 6.2% annually, with 4.09 million homes being sold for the year, according to a report from the NAR. The slump in sales follows a year of rising prices due to inflation, constrained supply and sky-high mortgage rates, which at one point neared 8%, suppressing demand and Americans’ ability to buy in the housing market.

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Commentary: Seven Ridiculous Examples of Government Waste in 2023

Congress Spending

Almost nobody doubts that the federal government wastes a lot of money. Every day we hear stories of fraud, mismanagement, and misplaced priorities that cost taxpayers millions, and sometimes billions, of dollars.

But just how much money is wasted? In his annual Festivus report—named after the fictional Seinfeld holiday—Senator Rand Paul tallies up some of the most egregious examples of government waste from the year. The report for 2023 came out on December 22, and as usual, the stories spanned the range from hilarious to deeply disconcerting. In all, Paul identified $900 billion in government waste from 2023.

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Federal Diversity Trainings Cost Taxpayers in 2023 Millions of Dollars

The Biden administration spent millions on diversity trainings for federal agencies, including some for the armed forces, in 2023.

Taxpayers were on the hook for the more than $16.3 million the federal government spent on diversity trainings taking place in 2023, according to a government spending database. Past government diversity trainings have instructed federal workers that asking an Asian colleague for help with a math problem could be racist, that men can become pregnant and that “social pain” can be the same as physical pain.

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Nation’s Capital Devastated by Crime Spike in 2023

DC Skyline

The District of Columbia experienced a 39% increase in violent crime in 2023, according to data published by its Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

The District has long experienced issues with crime and property theft, despite having the most police officers per capitaof any jurisdiction in the country, due to the significant presence of federal law enforcement to protect the seat of the government of the United States. In 2023, overall crime increased by 26% over 2022, with 34,414 instances of violent and property crime reported to police, with property crime alone rising by 24%.

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Federal Employees’ Political Donations Largely Went to Biden, Other Dems in 2023

Government Workers

Over 60% of political donations to prominent political committees made by employees of the federal government’s 15 cabinet-level departments flowed to President Joe Biden and other Democrats in 2023, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

The DCNF filtered donations in calendar year 2023 by individuals who listed their employer as one of 15 cabinet agencies, and who donated to the Biden campaign, the Biden Victory Fund, the Trump campaign, Save America PAC, and the respective congressional and senatorial fundraising committees for each party.

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Police Officers Shot on the Job in 2023 Hit New High, Report Says

A new report shows the number of police officers shot on the job hit a new high in 2023.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, a national police group with nearly 400,000 members, released the report, which showed 378 officers were shot in the line of duty in 2023, up 14% from the previous year, when 330 were shot.

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San Francisco Facing Deadliest Year Ever for Overdoses

The far-left city of San Francisco is set to have its deadliest year on record in terms of drug overdoses, further emphasizing the coastal city’s struggles with rising crime, homelessness, and drug abuse.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the California city recorded 692 accidental overdose deaths from January to October of 2023, as reported by the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner last month. By the end of the year, that total is expected to top 800, surpassing the previous record of 720 deaths in 2020.

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Report: New York City Saw 254 Percent Increase in First-Time Shelter Seekers in 2023

The city of New York homeless population increased by 73% in fiscal year 2023, according to a report put out by the city comptroller that sheds more light on the asylum seeker crisis.

The number of homeless within the city jumped from 46,675 in FY 2022 to 80,724 in FY 2023, according to the report. The city’s fiscal years begin July 1.

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2023 Could See Highest Number of People on Food Stamps Since 2016

The 2023 fiscal year is on track to average the highest number of individuals on food stamps in the U.S. since 2016.

There were 42,329,101 on food assistance on average each month on through the first nine months of the fiscal year, as of June 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The fiscal year is completed at the end of September.

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U.S. Is Top Exporter of Liquified Natural Gas in First Half of 2023

The U.S. exported more natural gas in the first six months of 2023 than in any other previous six-month period, the U.S. Energy Information Agency reported. 

U.S. companies averaged 12.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in the first six months of this year, an 11% increase from their average over the same period last year. This is after in May of this year, the U.S.’s “net natural gas exports as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and by pipeline averaged a monthly record high of 13.6 Bcf/d.” 

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Agriculture Economists See Several Concerns for Farmers in 2023

Farmers aren’t likely to enjoy a calm year this year, according to agricultural economists from Purdue University. After a year of dealing with historic inflation rates, farmers must now be prepared for an economic downturn that could spark a recession. However, there’s even more uncertainty across the horizon, said Roman Keeney, an associate professor of economics at Purdue’s College of Agriculture.

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Interim Meetings This Week in Preparation for Florida’s 2023 Legislative Session

Florida Senate and House committees are having interim meetings this week to kick off the new legislative session for 2023, and several new committees will be meeting for the first time – and chaired by freshman Republicans.

Originally, the interim meetings were set to take place from Dec. 12-16, but were postponed and instead replaced with a special session. Lawmakers took the opportunity during that special session to address the growing issue of property insurance costs in Florida, as well as recovery after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole ripped through the Sunshine State in September 2022.

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More than Half of States Poised to Raise Minimum Wage in 2023 as $15 an Hour Gains Traction

Four states will have a $15-an-hour minimum wage by New Year’s Day, while 27 states are poised to raise the minimum wage in 2023.

Some states are enacting the wage change after Jan. 1, so by the end of 2023 there will be six states that are set to have minimum wages at or above $15 an hour. They are California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Washington, according to a report last week from the National Employment Law Project.

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More Female Governors Will Take Office in 2023 than Ever Before

Following the 2022 midterm elections, the United States will have more female governors in office across the country than ever before, with 12 women being elected on Tuesday

As reported by CNN, the previous record total was 9 female governors in the aftermath of the 2004 election. Eight incumbent female governors were re-elected in the states of Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota. Republicans were re-elected in Alabama, Iowa, and South Dakota, while Democrats won second terms in Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, and New York.

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Vast Majority of Economists Predict a Global Recession by 2023

Nearly three quarters of economists believe a global recession is at least somewhat likely to occur by the end of 2023, according to a survey released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Roughly 70% of economists surveyed by the international lobbying group predict that the wave of interest rate hikes and tighter monetary policy that has swept the U.S. and E.U. in an attempt to combat inflation is unlikely to abate, echoing predictions from major financial analyst, Goldman Sachs. Fully 80% of respondents believed that real wages would decline in high-income countries with nearly 90% anticipating real wages declining in low-income countries.

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