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Iowa senator seeks to increase government transparency and end Biden administration's 'secret spending'

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Iowa senator seeks to increase government transparency and end Biden administration's 'secret spending'

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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, will introduce a bill on Tuesday that seeks to bar government agencies from concealing details about reported transactions by mislabeling them as “other transaction agreements.” 

The legislation, titled the Stop Secret Spending Act of 2024, seeks to prevent bureaucratic agencies from using the term “OTA” in reporting their spending to the Government Accountability Office. 

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OTA’s are defined as “legally binding agreements other than standard contracts and grants that allow for flexible arrangements,” according to the GAO. 

According to the latest data, the current U.S. national debt stands at roughly $34.4 trillion and is increasing by about $1 trillion every 100-day period.

The legislation would insert the phrase “other transaction agreement” into the list of terms considered “federal awards,” thus requiring various disclosures about the transaction, such as the entities involved and the amounts.

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Ernst’s new measure geared toward increasing government spending transparency comes during 2024’s Sunshine Week, which celebrates and recognizes the importance of openness in government and the dangers of excessive confidentiality. National Freedom of Information Day falls on March 16. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ernst described it as “disappointing” to need to address this issue during Sunshine Week. 

“Once again, Biden is hiding billions by not disclosing the details about the dollars his deputies are doling out using loosely defined deals referred to as ‘other transaction agreements,’ or OTAs,” she said. 

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Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill on March 6, 2024. (Reuters/Bonnie Cash)

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These agreements amount to “sweetheart deals,” the Iowa senator said. 

In fiscal years 2020-2022, the GAO found that more than $40 billion was reported by agencies under the term’s umbrella. The office further noted that about $10 billion was seemingly related to the COVID-19 pandemic but that the expenditures weren’t reported to the GAO as such. It also detailed that agencies appeared to use different strategies in reporting transactions as OTAs. Per the GAO, “Policymakers and the public will continue to lack complete spending information and transparency of OTAs” until they are considered federal rewards and held to that reporting standard.

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The Treasury Department (AP Photo/Jon Elswick/File)

Ernst slammed the Treasury Department in her statement to Fox News Digital for suggesting that OTA spending should not be reported to USASpending.gov because it isn’t currently defined as a federal award. 

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She cited the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, noting that it states “federal financial assistance and expenditures” totaling more than $25,000 should be reported.

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Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks during a press conference, May 2, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Seems pretty clear to me,” Ernst said. 

Because of this, she said she plans to give the department her monthly “Squeal Award.” The purpose of the recognition is to identify and call out “wasteful” expenses. 

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President Biden’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget, which was released Monday, includes borrowing $16.3 trillion. According to the White House, the amount would be partially offset by taxes raised on corporations and the nation’s highest earners. The Biden administration has said his budget proposal would actually lower the national deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years.

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Cleveland, OH

Max McEnelly Lands High-Profile Matchup With Bo Nickal at RAF

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Max McEnelly Lands High-Profile Matchup With Bo Nickal at RAF


University of Minnesota star wrestler Max McEnelly won the 2026 NCAA national championship at 184 pounds, and he’s now set to face superstar Bo Nickal at Real American Freestyle (RAF) 12 on August 22nd in Cleveland, Ohio.

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McEnelly is preparing for his redshirt junior season with the Gophers, and Nickal is 9-1 as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, following a storied collegiate wrestling career at Penn State. Their freestyle wrestling match will be contested at 215 pounds.

RAF is an American freestyle wrestling promotion that was founded by Chad Bronstein, Terri Francis, and Hulk Hogan in 2025. The August 22nd show at Rocket Arena will be the one-year anniversary of the promotion. The fights will be broadcast on FOX Nation.

Nickal most recently competed at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, where he defeated Kyle Daukas via first-round finish. He’s now 6-1 in his UFC career. His match against McEnelly will be his second under RAF. He defeated Jacob Cardenas via decision at the promotion’s first show last summer.

Nickal is 6-foot-1, and he wrestled at 197 pounds at Penn State. He competes at the 185-pound middweight division in the UFC, so he might have a slight size advantage over McEnelly, who’s 5-foot-10. The event will be a high-profile opportunity, as McEnelly continues to establish himself as one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the country.

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Illinois

Ex-Illinois teacher awaiting deportation linked to Tren de Aragua mass shooting in Chicago: DHS

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Ex-Illinois teacher awaiting deportation linked to Tren de Aragua mass shooting in Chicago: DHS


A former Illinois teacher living in the United States illegally, who was allegedly involved in a 2024 Tren de Aragua mass shooting that killed three people at a Chicago house party, was arrested by federal authorities, officials said Monday.

Giovanna Mercedes Moreno Occhipinti, 32, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela with dual citizenship in Italy, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on May 13, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

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Occhipinti entered the U.S. in October 2021 under the Visa Waiver Program and was supposed to leave by Jan. 2, 2022. She overstayed her visa, DHS said.

On the night of the Dec. 2, 2024, shooting, she allegedly drove the two gunmen—Ricardo Granadillo Padilla and Edward Martinez Cermeno—to the scene of the crime, where five people were injured in addition to the three fatalities, authorities said.

“Although Chicago police arrested this illegal alien shortly after the shooting, sanctuary politicians released her from jail without notifying ICE,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS is doing the job that sanctuary politicians in Illinois refuse to do: putting the American people first and removing these dangerous criminals from our communities.”

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Martinez Cermeno was released from ICE custody in January 2025 after a federal judge determined that federal prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof to keep him incarcerated while awaiting trial.

Giovanna Mercedes Moreno Occhipinti | DHS

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Immediately after the shooting, authorities found multiple weapons in Occhipinti’s vehicle, DHS said. Authorities believe she helped Granadillo Padilla and Martinez Cermeno evade law enforcement after the attack.

The Chicago Police Department arrested Occhipinti on Dec. 5, 2024, on charges of unlawful use of weapons and other weapons offenses. However, she was released without ICE ever being notified under Chicago’s sanctuary policies, which protect illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office decided not to prosecute the suspects, DHS said, and Granadillo Padilla and Martinez Cermeno were eventually deported.

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“Giovanna Mercedes Moreno Occhipinti’s actions were calculated and deliberate, leading to the loss of three lives,” said HSI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Matthew Scarpino. “I’m proud of our agents for pursuing this case to the end, ensuring that everyone who helped facilitate this mass homicide is brought to justice.”

Fox News was told by DHS that Occhipinti was a teacher at an unspecified school in the Chicago suburb of Elgin. Illinois officials have refused to cooperate with federal authorities and will not tell DHS the name of the school, Fox News has learned.

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Occhipinti is being held at the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, Kentucky.

Read more at FoxNews.com

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Indiana

Madam Walker Legacy Fest brings back Indiana Avenue’s Black history

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Madam Walker Legacy Fest brings back Indiana Avenue’s Black history


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As dozens of people and music filled Indiana Avenue, Sampson Levingston gestured to the scene around him as evidence of a return to the area’s history as a hub of Black life and music.

“This is what Indiana Avenue is supposed to be. Black people having a good time on a Saturday in the summer,” Levingston said. “That’s our history. That’s our story.”

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The fifth annual Legacy Fest, organized by the Madam Walker Legacy Center, honored that story on June 19 and 20. A block party with food trucks, vendors selling one-of-a-kind jeweled hats and patchwork denim, jewelry, and live musical performances capped off the Juneteenth weekend. The day before, Grammy-winning producer Teddy Riley performed in the Walker Theatre.

The block circles the Walker Building, a triangular African Art Deco theater topped with a red sign easily spotted in Indianapolis’ skyline. The 1927 building is the last building still operating in its original state on a street once filled with Black-owned businesses but now dominated by fences and parking lots.

After being forced by a former downtown Indianapolis theater to pay a “Black tax,” Walker promised to build a theater without discrimination. The building was home to Walker Manufacturing Company and a 1500-seat theater, the only theater without race-based discrimination in the city at the time. The theater still regularly puts on shows and holds the Madam Walker Legacy Center non-profit responsible for and supported by the Legacy Fest.

“There’s a lot of BS going on in the world and the country. You can get sad about it and pout,” Levingston said. “Madam Walker addressed the issue.”

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Levingston runs Walk & Talk, historic walking tours allowing participants to literally step into Indianapolis’ Black history. On June 20 he led a group away from the music and crowd of Legacy fest and around the block, stopping at historic centers of the community such as Lockefield Gardens and the former Second Christian Church. On the tour, Levingston spoke about the impact of redlining and zoning restrictions on reducing the neighborhood’s density and businesses. In the Green Book, a travel guide listing businesses safe for Black Americans, most Indianapolis stores listed are on Indiana Avenue. Now the block is mostly residential. A closed convivence store is vacant and the Second Christian Church is a single-family home.

“Imagine if they won’t let people borrow for decades and decades how much wealth that drips out of a community,” Levingston said. “That’s why when you walk around you just see parking lots.”

Julia A. Royston, a Legacy Fest block party vendor, has been publishing books for 18 years. Many of the books she publishes are centered on increasing representation and putting out voices other than traditional publishing houses.

“No matter what season of the world we’re in, there’s still an opportunity for us to tell our story our way,” Royston said.

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Lucy Tobier is the politics reporting intern for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at lucy.tobier@indystar.com or on X at @TobierLucy



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