Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. Department of Justice said July 7 the Biden administration’s oil and gas leasing restrictions in northern Alaska’s Arctic region violated federal law and asked the court to dismiss lawsuits by the state and its industrial development and export authority challenging the regulations.
The lawsuits were filed in 2025 over the Biden administration’s 2024 restrictions on oil and gas lease auctions in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska argued that the administration essentially sabotaged bidding with its restrictions on surface use and occupancy, which made “any development economically and practically impossible.”
“The Biden era Alaska oil and gas leasing program violated the law and improperly limited Alaska’s energy potential with unreasonable regulation,” U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a July 7 press release.
“This settlement supports the Trump administration’s commitment to secure American energy independence and our national security for generations to come,” he added.
Congress set aside 1.5 million acres along the Alaska coast in 1980 for potential oil and gas development, and in 2017 instructed a federal agency to develop the resources on the land. Alaska’s lawsuit claims the Biden administration negated Congress’s directive.
“These resources not only help our energy independence as a nation but also grows the Alaska economy and puts more money in the Alaska Permanent Fund for future generations,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a January 2025 statement.
The settlement says the 2024 leasing program violated the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by abdicating the government’s duty to conduct a second lease sale, closing 75 percent of the 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain to exploration and leasing, imposing unreasonable surface use restrictions on the remaining 25 percent, and unreasonably restricting surface disturbance.
“This settlement sets the record straight that the Biden administration’s 2024 restrictions on oil and gas production in Alaska were overly restrictive and contrary to Congress’s clear command to establish a competitive oil and gas leasing program in Alaska’s Coastal Plain,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement.
Alaska’s governor’s office and the industrial development and export authority didn’t immediately return requests for comment about the settlement.
The Justice Department also settled a decades-old lawsuit with Alaska on July 7 over a botched federal expansion project at the Don Young Port of Alaska in Anchorage, agreeing to pay the state $180 million.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the White House in Washington on July 16, 2020. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The funds will go toward rebuilding the Don Young Port, according to Dunleavy.
The port serves about 90 percent of Alaska’s population with food, fuel, building materials, and other goods.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/09/2026 - 20:55New Hampshire's Executive Council narrowly rejected a proposal Wednesday that would have authorized a $100 million Bitcoin-backed bond, ending what supporters hoped would make the state a pioneer in digital asset finance, according to Bitcoin Magazine.
The measure failed in a 3-2 vote after reaching its final approval stage, despite receiving a favorable rating review from Moody's and backing from Governor Kelly Ayotte and the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority. Had it moved forward, officials said it would have been the first municipal bond in the world secured by Bitcoin.
The report notes that supporters argued the transaction would not put taxpayers at risk. Instead, it would have connected private investors with a private borrower using Bitcoin as collateral, while allowing the state to collect fees that could fund small business, housing, child care, and economic development initiatives if the deal proved successful.
Skeptics, however, questioned whether New Hampshire should attach its name to a financing structure built around a volatile digital asset. Councilor Karen Liot Hill said she was not opposed to cryptocurrency itself but believed the state should be cautious about endorsing a transaction tied to Bitcoin's price swings.
Business Finance Authority Executive Director James Key-Wallace rejected the idea that Bitcoin remains an "emerging" asset class, arguing it has already established itself in global finance. He also suggested the proposal could have opened the door to similar transactions in the future.
Ayotte, who signed legislation making New Hampshire the first state to authorize a strategic Bitcoin reserve and giving the state treasurer authority to invest in Bitcoin, said pursuing innovative financial structures is worthwhile so long as taxpayers remain protected.
The vote came after Liot Hill unsuccessfully attempted to delay consideration of the proposal. She was joined by Janet Stevens and David Wheeler in opposing the measure, while Joseph Kenney and John Stephen voted in favor.
The decision arrives as Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency industry are facing heightened scrutiny. Bitcoin has pulled back from recent highs, while renewed attention has focused on Michael Saylor and Strategy, whose aggressive Bitcoin dividend strategy has drawn increasing debate as the cryptocurrency's price weakens.
That backdrop has put high-profile Bitcoin-related proposals under a brighter spotlight, even as adoption efforts continue at the state and institutional levels.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/09/2026 - 20:30Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,
A new report has revealed that a pair of Southern California school leaders separately stole nearly $20 million from their schools in order to fund lavish personal lifestyles.
According to The New York Post, the report was co-authored by the State Financial Officers Foundation, a watchdog made up of state treasurers and auditors, and OpenTheBooks, a nonprofit focused on transparency in government spending.
The cases of the two Southern California educators were among the most expensive examples of K-12 education fraud documented nationwide.
"It's for the kids."
Said every educrat, ever.https://t.co/1XWVRTcWZS
Jorge Armando Contreras, the former fiscal services director for the Magnolia Elementary School District in Orange County, was charged with altering school checks over several years to funnel $16.7 million into his personal accounts.
Contreras was spending the money on everything from a luxury home and a BMW to designer clothes and pricey tequila and federal investigators found stacks of cash stuffed into a mini-fridge and luxury designer bags at his home.
He was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison in 2024 and order to pay $16.7 million in restitution to the Magnolia School District in Orange County.
Another case highlighted in the report revealed that Janis Bucknor, the head of the Community Preparatory Academy charter school in Los Angeles, stole more than $3 million in taxpayer funds to cover travel, restaurants, shopping and private school tuition for her children.
Bucknor also pleaded guilty to spending more than $220,600 on Disney cruise line vacations, theme park admissions, and other Disney-related expenses.
According to prosecutors, Bucknor admitted in 2020 to stealing the funds, and was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, State Financial Officers Foundation CEO OJ Oleka said:
All fraud is harmful, but defrauding education dollars meant to help kids learn and succeed is especially hideous. The findings in this report should alarm every family, teacher, and civic leader.
The California cases were part of nearly 90 cases identified by a coalition of auditors over the past six years involving embezzlement, phony invoices, inflated enrollment, bid-rigging and kickbacks, among other crimes.
The report follows the Trump administration’s promise to crack down on government waste, with Vice President JD Vance leading a nationwide “War on Fraud” that has raised new questions about oversight of federal education spending.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/09/2026 - 20:05