Midwest
GOP lawmakers hit with 'gut punch' as red state's Dem governor ekes out win in transgender bill battle
Kansas Republicans failed Monday evening to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would have banned transgender surgical procedures for children.
Just a few hours after the Senate voted 27-13 to override the veto, the GOP-supermajority in the state House came up two votes shy to solidify its reversal. Two Republicans dissented in the final tally, which was 82-43.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” state Sen. Mike Thompson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning. “We’ve tried now three times to get a bill to protect these kids, so that they they are not guided into making a decision that changes their lives permanently.”
“The House has been a reliable partner in this up until now, so I don’t know what was going through the minds of those two representatives who caved in yesterday, but it was another gut punch for us, unfortunately,” he said.
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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly recently vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender surgical procedures for children. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
Kelly, who vetoed the bill earlier this month, said in a statement Monday that she was “glad that bipartisan members of the legislature have stood firm in saying that divisive bills like House Substitute for Senate Bill 233 have no place in Kansas.”
“The legislature’s decision to sustain my veto is a win for parental rights, Kansas families, and families looking to call our state home,” she said.
The ban would have prevented state employees from encouraging “social transitioning,” such as the use of pronouns or choice of dress that matches a person’s preferred identity.
Substitute Bill for Senate Bill 233 sought to outlaw transgender treatment for minors and allow for causes of action against healthcare providers who provided such treatment. The bill would also have restricted the use of state funds for transgender treatment.
KANSAS GOVERNOR VETOES BILL BANNING TRANSGENDER TREATMENT TO MINORS, ABORTION RESTRICTIONS
Trans youth protesting. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“We’re on the right side of history on this,” Kansas Senate Health Committee Chair Beverly Gossage told her colleagues during Monday’s vote.
Republican state Rep. John Eplee said the “language put in the bill” that prevents is an effort to prohibit “state entities, state employees, from promoting the use of different pronouns and, if you will, the search for gender change.”
State Republican Sen. Mark Steffen said the bill aims to stomp out “woke” health care providers who carry out such procedures on “confused” children.
“No more than we would ever tell somebody with anorexia that they’re fat would we tell a boy that they’re a girl or girl that they’re a boy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democrats decried the Senate’s vote to override. State Sen. Mary Ware, a Democrat, said the bill “tramples” on “the rights of some Kansas citizens to live peaceably, lawfully and free to make their own decisions about their own bodies.”
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Kansas Republicans voted to override the governor’s veto. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)
When the governor vetoed the bill, she said in a statement the “divisive” legislation “targets a small group of Kansans by placing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for their children.”
“I do not believe that is a conservative value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value,” she said.
The bill comes as more than a dozen states in the U.S. have enacted similar bans on surgical procedures and hormonal prescriptions for transgender youth. Idaho, North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama have passed laws making it a felony to perform sex changes on children.
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Elon Musk poised to return to political spotlight
Former Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley and former Biden White House official Meghan Hays discuss Elon Musk’s suggestion that he will resume funding GOP politicians ahead of the midterms on ‘America Reports.’
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Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk gave a strong response to a perceived threat on his life by a Somali TikToker after she said on a livestream, “He [is] about to die.”
In a viral livestream posted by a since-deleted account, a Somali TikToker who went by the name “Dowza.z” said in reference to Musk, “I wouldn’t worry too much about him, he about to die.”
Though the streamer switched back and forth from speaking in Somali and English, her statement on Musk was said in English. She was discussing Musk’s recent criticisms of Somali-run businesses engaged in rampant fraud in Minnesota.
The comment prompted immediate backlash from conservatives who took the statement as a threat to Musk’s life.
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Elon Musk looks on in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Musk himself appeared to take the statement as a threat, responding to the video in an X post in which he wrote, “Then it is war.”
Popular conservative account Libs of TikTok also commented on the clip, saying the FBI “should definitely look into this.”
X account DogeDesigner wrote, “Protect Elon Musk at all costs.”
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty wrote, “When fraud is exposed – it’s always the fraudsters who yell and complain the loudest. Their THEFT will come to an end.”
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee posted on his personal X account, “Deport her immediately,” adding, “She shouldn’t be here.”
The Trump administration and lawmakers have launched probes into Minnesota’s “Feeding Our Future” $250 million fraud scheme that allegedly targeted a children’s nutrition program the Department of Agriculture funded and that Minnesota oversaw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEDS LAUNCH ‘MASSIVE’ INVESTIGATION AFTER VIRAL VIDEO ALLEGES MINNESOTA DAYCARE FRAUD
Agents with the Department of Homeland Security in a Minneapolis store. The agency on Tuesday said it had launched an operation to identify, arrest and remove criminals who are suspected of fraud. (Department of Homeland Security)
At least 77 people have been charged in that scheme, which took advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to waive certain Federal Child Nutrition Program requirements.
Likewise, another fraud scheme in the state stems from the Housing Stability Services Program, which offered Medicaid coverage for housing stabilization services in an attempt to help those with disabilities, mental illnesses and substance-use disorders receive housing.
The bulk of those charged are part of Minnesota’s Somali population, prompting Trump to announce in November that he was ending the Temporary Protected Status for Somali migrants in Minnesota that offers protection against deportation.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that it was spearheading a major operation to arrest and remove those involved in the fraud.
GOP LAWMAKER DEMANDS MINNESOTA FRAUD BE TREATED AS ‘ORGANIZED CRIME’ SCHEME
Elon Musk walks along the Colonnade after arriving with President Donald Trump on Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
Musk has been highly vocal about the fraud being uncovered in Minnesota, repeatedly calling attention to it on his official X account, which has over 230 million followers.
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In a post on Saturday, Musk said the fraud scheme going on in Minnesota is “one of many” and that while leading the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump, his team “found hundreds of fraud schemes.”
“There was massive fraud in every government program, especially Federal funds sent as block grants to the states,” said Musk.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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A situation believed to involve a barricaded suspect in Ypsilanti has resulted in evacuations for some neighbors and shelter-in-place orders for others as authorities attempt to bring an end to the standoff.
Police were seen inside the home Monday morning, but the suspect involved has not left the building.
Neighbors told CBS Detroit the circumstances began with a wellness check around noon Sunday. Since then, multiple law enforcement vehicles, including a SWAT team, have been in the area.
The street is closed to traffic in the meantime.
CBS News Detroit has a crew on scene. Additional details will be provided on air and online when they are available.
Milwaukee’s real estate market likely ended 2025 in much the same place as 2024, real estate analysts say.
A report from the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors released in December estimated that total home sales in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties will remain flat from 2024.
In Milwaukee County, home sales were down 9.2% in November 2025 compared to November 2024, according to the report.
Still, year-to-date home prices in the four-county Milwaukee metropolitan area rose 7.7% to an average of just over $431,000, the report says.
Here are a few of the oldest homes recently sold in Milwaukee, according to Milwaukee Metropolitan Multiple Listing Services data:
1913 Milwaukee bungalow sells for $365,000
A 113-year-old bungalow on South Wentworth Avenue in Milwaukee sold for $365,000 on Dec. 22.
The 1,500-square-foot home has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to the listing from Tom Horigan with Realty Experts, and it sits on a 0.11-acre lot.
The home features hardwood floors, a built-in buffet and leaded glass windows but updated home and garage roofs, according to the listing. It also has an enclosed front porch.
19th-century Bay View home sells for $295,000
A 1,250-square-foot Milwaukee home built in 1890 sold for $295,000 on Dec. 22.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is located on East Euclid Avenue in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, according to the listing from Alexis Ruzell with Coldwell Banker Realty. It sits on a 3,050-square-foot lot.
The home features wood flooring and a second-story bedroom leading to an elevated porch, according to the listing.
Another century-old bungalow sells for $475,000
A bungalow on North 39th Street in Milwaukee’s Roosevelt Grove neighborhood sold for $475,000 on Dec. 23.
The home was built in 1922 on a 0.96-acre lot with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to the listing from Kendrick Taylor with Keller Williams Realty. It spans 2,250 square feet.
The home features a modern kitchen with quartz countertops and a dry bar in the living room, according to the listing. It also includes a finished lower level.
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