Salem News Channel

Wildfires Across Georgia & Florida Destroy Nearly 50 Homes, Force Evacuations

Wildfires are intensifying across the southeastern U.S. They've destroyed nearly 50 homes in southeastern Georgia. The fires also have forced evacuations and school closures. Some of the biggest blazes are along Georgia’s coast and around Jacksonville, Florida. A long drought, low humidity, and strong winds are fueling the fires. Georgia’s two largest wildfires have burned over 31 square miles. In Brantley County, 800 evacuations have taken place, and five shelters have opened. In Florida, firefighters are battling 131 wildfires that have burned 34 square miles. The National Weather Service warns that low humidity and winds will keep the fire danger elevated.

Heavy Rain, Snowmelt Damage Northeastern Michigan Homes

Large chunks of ice rammed into homes along Michigan’s Black Lake in the northeastern Lower Peninsula as constant spring rainfall and winter melt left many homes flooded and threatened to overflow stressed dam systems. Photos and video posted to social media Wednesday showed ice sitting inside living rooms after busting through windows and doors. Homes, garages and sheds could also be seen surrounded by several feet of muddy, brown river and lake water. Spring rains and winter snowmelt have swelled rivers and lakes, forcing torrents of water through Cheboygan County communities on its way to Lake Huron. “Black Lake, Black River, Cheboygan River, Burt Lake, Mullett Lake, the Sturgeon River — and nearly every waterway in the county — have overflowed beyond their banks, swallowing docks, roads, yards, and in far too many cases, homes,” the Cheboygan County sheriff’s office told residents last week on its Facebook page. “What should be familiar shorelines are now unrecognizable expanses of water.” Homes along Black Lake's west side were evacuated over the weekend, according to the sheriff's office. “These are ice sheets. They’re massive,” said Christopher Narsesian, who took photos and video of the damage. “They’re mini glaciers, if you will. They just run down everything in their path. Nothing can stop that kind of weight.” State and county officials are working to keep debris and ice from clogging the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex to allow water to flow on to Lake Huron. Ice chunks were also moving through nearby Mullett Lake. Both lakes feed into the Cheboygan River, with water flowing through the Cheboygan Dam. “We've managed a little bit of ice issues on Mullett Lake,” said Patrick Ertel, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Incident Management Team. Last week, crews added pumps, and power was restored to an old hydroelectric station to increase water flow through the dam. Cranes also were used to remove gates that hold back water. A large chunk of ice snapped the safety cable at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex on April 9, forcing the natural resources department to close access points upstream and downstream of the dam. “We can't have large chunks of ice flowing down blocking up the gates,” Ertel said. “Two marine vessels are kind of breaking up the chunks … on the Cheboygan River. The more water we can safely pass at the Cheboygan Dam, the faster we can bring relief to Mullet Lake. It's going as fast as it can. It is purely driven by gravity.” The smaller Alverno Dam is between Black Lake and the Cheboygan River. “Ice from Black Lake is not going to make it down to the Cheboygan River. It will be held up,” Ertel said. Department staff and contractors also have been using long-handled metal rakes to remove logs, branches and other floating debris from the dam's gates. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency in Cheboygan and more than 30 other Michigan counties due to flooding and other severe weather this month. Narsesian lives near Cheboygan and grew up along Black Lake. Slabs of ice, which he described as a “several-mile-wide sheet,” continue to float in the lake. He said the ice is “smashing into homes and taking them out, just leveling them.” He said some ice was pushed as high as rooftops. “We’ve never seen it that high,” Narsesian said. “Typically, the ice would just come over the break walls in front of houses, like a couple of feet. People’s homes don’t typically flood. The ice just melts.” Water is receding, but Narsesian said levels are still high and the ice still is out there. “As long as the wind doesn’t pick up and move that around again, we should be OK,” he said. “If that ice does come back, it’s going to do more damage.” It’s the aftermath that concerns him most for the community where it’s “all friends and family” and “everybody knows everyone,” Narsesian said. “Most people don’t have any help — coverage,” he added. “ Flood insurance was never necessary. No one’s ever seen this here. It’s a lot.”

Virginia Has Taken a Dark Turn

Southern Poverty Law Center Paid White Supremacists For Charlottesville Hoax

In this explosive episode, Carl Jackson delves into the shocking indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that claims to fight hate but allegedly paid millions to white supremacists and extremist groups. The indictment reveals a decade-long scheme where the SPLC used donor funds to fuel the very hate it purported to oppose. Carl breaks down the details, including the SPLC's payments to the KKK and other extremist groups, and discusses the implications of this scandal. He also touches on the broader themes of hypocrisy and the manipulation of public opinion. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carljacksonradio X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/carljacksonshow Parler: https://parler.com/carljacksonshow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecarljacksonshow http://www.TheCarlJacksonShow.com Visit our Store https://CarlJacksonStore.com

Dems Want Power — And They’ll Do Anything To Get It

Democrats have made it crystal clear: this isn’t about fair maps, voter will, or democracy. It’s about raw power, and they will lie, rewrite history, and declare all-out political war to keep it.

SPLC: Fighting Hate—Or Funding It?

The Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for secretly paying more than $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to at least eight individuals tied to hardcore white-supremacist outfits. While the SPLC raked in donor dollars by posing as an anti-extremism watchdog, it was literally bankrolling the very extremists it claimed to oppose.

Faith & Freedom 250 - Episode 29: Faith, Freedom & Education: A Lesson From America’s Founders

Faith & Freedom 250 - Episode 29: Faith, Freedom & Education: A Lesson From America’s Founders Courtesy of The Herzog Foundation.

Earth Day: The Planet Is Still Doing Great; It’s The Climate Cult That’s Broken

With Jason Isaac, American Energy Institute ||| @4AmericanEnergy

Extending the Iran Ceasefire

The Democrats Might Win This Year

The Democrats Will Use the Economy to Win

Dr. Oz announces 50-state audit of Medicaid program oversight

The Trump administration will require all 50 states to explain their plans to revalidate some of their Medicaid providers in a national escalation of anti-fraud efforts that have so far largely focused on specific states, Dr. Mehmet Oz said Tuesday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator said during a Politico health care summit that his agency plans to ask states to “own” the problem of health care fraud this week with requests for states to share their strategies within 30 days. “It's an example of what we'd like them to do to prove that they're serious about this,” Oz said onstage Tuesday. “And if you don't take it seriously, it indicates to us that we might have to take the audits that we're doing to the different states more aggressively,” he said, without elaborating. Tuesday's announcement is part of a federal campaign to tackle waste, fraud and abuse in federal Medicaid and Medicare programs that so far has mostly targeted Democratic states — and at least once has erred in its accusations. Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that CMS made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York. The acknowledgment deepened doubts in the administration's methods and raised a common criticism that has been made about the second Trump administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later. In addition to New York, CMS has approached at least four other states with investigations into potential health care fraud and halted some $243 million in Medicaid payments to one of them, Minnesota, over fraud concerns. It also is blocking for six months any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or certain other supplies around the country to address the potential for fraud. In addition, federal officials made several arrests earlier this month related to alleged hospice fraud schemes in the Los Angeles area. Last month, Trump signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. It's unclear whether Tuesday's move is part of that effort, though Oz has been working closely with Vance on other investigations related to the task force. Asked for details on the new audit, a spokesperson for CMS said the agency was researching the AP's inquiry. Oz justified Tuesday's move by saying federal health programs in some states have enrolled large numbers of providers who aren't providing real care to patients, but instead profiting from fraud. He said the requests for states to verify the legitimacy of Medicaid providers will be focused on “high risk areas,” but didn’t explain what those entail. Asked during the Politico interview whether there was a risk that Trump administration initiatives could eliminate, slow down or harm essential health care programs, Oz said he expects the opposite. He said Medicaid and Medicare are the “crown jewels” of our nation. “I believe this audit and others like it will save the programs we care most about,” he said.

U.S. Warns It Will Run Out Of Money To Pay Airport Security Workers In Coming Weeks

U.S. airports could face a new wave of long security lines as early as May after the nation's homeland security chief said on Tuesday that he will run out of money to pay for 50,000 workers due to a partial government shutdown. President Donald Trump in late March directed DHS to use emergency funds to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone without paychecks for about six weeks, causing disruptions at U.S. airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday that the money would run out by early May. "That money is dried up if I continue down this path the first week of May, because my payroll at DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks," Mullin said. He said after the next paycheck, "There is no more emergency fund, so the president can't do another executive order for us to use money, because there's no more money there." TSA workers also went unpaid for six weeks last autumn during an earlier partial government shutdown. Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu told Reuters on Tuesday Congress has to move fast to get DHS funded. "You cannot ask these (TSA officers) to go through this a third time," said Sununu, who heads the group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others. In March, the weeks-long standoff in Congress caused security lines at some airports to exceed four hours, the longest in the TSA's nearly 25-year history. More than ?500 TSA ?officers have quit since mid-February. Senate Republicans will move forward this week on ?a budget blueprint that would boost funding for DHS agencies for ?the next three years, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said as Congress aims to end a partial shutdown of DHS. Democrats have pushed for a series ?of new constraints on ICE and Border Patrol, which operate under the direction of DHS, before authorizing additional ?funds. They have argued that ICE and Border Patrol should be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the ?United States, ?including a requirement that agents obtain judicial warrants before they enter private homes.

US warns it will run out of money to pay TSA in coming weeks

Trump says he is extending ceasefire with Iran

President Donald Trump says he is extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request while awaiting a “unified proposal” from Tehran, even as the U.S. military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports. Tuesday's move comes as the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Pakistan for a second round of truce talks with Iran, which has balked at further discussions. But Trump warned that the U.S. military will continue its blockade of Iranian ports. Since the war began, fighting has killed thousands across Iran, Lebanon, Israel and Gulf states.