The Lion

The Lion is an initiative of @HerzogEducation, and it carries perspectives and insights covering a wide range of issues facing American families and culture.

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Incredible day at the @WhiteHouse! 🇺🇸 @ChrisStigall & The Lion team joined media from across the country to hear directly from @PressSec Karoline Leavitt & top officials. This administration is delivering on promises made, promises kept — proud to bring these conversations to our audience! #MediaRow

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Trump, House GOP leadership lose fight to block War Powers Resolution https://t.co/6jQiVnvKZP

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Federal tax credits of up to $1,700 each can start in 2027 for North Carolina families whose children are participating in the signature education initiative of second-term Republican President Donald Trump.

The Educational Choice for Children Act, known also as House Bill 87, late Wednesday afternoon got a 30-19 veto override from the Senate. On May 20, the House of Representatives sent it to the upper chamber 73-46 with all 71 Republicans and former Democrats now independent Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed of Mecklenburg County in support.

“Families across the state want to have a choice in where to send their children to school,” said 13th-term Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, the president pro tempore of the chamber. “In North Carolina, we have great public schools that are supplemented by public charter, private and home schools. Participating in President Trump’s landmark school choice program gives parents another opportunity to obtain an education that best fits their child’s needs.”

North Carolina becomes the 31st state to formally opt in, the fifth of which has a divided government. This means the two legislative chambers and the governor’s office are not the same party. Twenty-three are Republican trifectas and three – Virginia, New York and Colorado – are Democratic.

Read full story: https://t.co/dKSYjF4ZBu

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Christian ‘hate map’ survivors aren’t buying embattled group’s ‘poor victim’ plea as federal charges mount https://t.co/yJ1jccQxDf

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Read full story: https://t.co/IEpkXVtq1K

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After accusations of racism and unfairness from students, Harvard University has approved a grade cap aimed at curbing grade inflation and better distinguishing the highest academic performers.

The measure, approved May 19 and taking effect in fall 2027, caps the number of A grades awarded in each course at 20% of students, plus up to four additional A’s. Harvard Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh proposed the measure after publishing a study of academic grading and student workload at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university.

Claybaugh said she is committed to making Harvard the rigorous institution it should be, telling The Lion that goal motivated her push for change.

“Our current grading practices were an impediment to that goal,” she said in an email. “Faculty who dared to offer tougher courses risked lower course evaluations and enrollments, while students who dared to take them risked lower GPAs. I realized we had to change the incentive system, and that meant changing the culture of grading.”

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Read full story: https://t.co/ulEj1exTmk

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The Taliban has just opened the spigot on five new oil wells in Afghanistan after the U.S. military withdrew from the country during the Biden administration.

The new wells were opened in the Zamrad Sai area of the Amu Darya oil basin in the Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said in a press release. The entire project has been handled solely by Afghan engineers, Ahmad Jan, adviser to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, said in the release.

This is only the beginning of Taliban-led oil production. So far, the Taliban has only opened five of the proposed 12 wells in the region, according to the press release.

“[The new oil will have] no meaningful effect on the global market, even if production expands substantially,” J.D. Foster, a former senior fellow in the economics of fiscal policy at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s essentially a rounding error compared to the renewed flows from Venezuela and eventually through the Strait of Hormuz.”

[EdNews Virginia @EdNewsVA]

"The U.S. Senate held a committee hearing Wednesday on the debate over transgender treatments for minors," @ReadTheLion's Elaine Kutas reports.

https://t.co/4F60LLQUMh

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Senate hearing exposes dangers of gender transition procedures for minors https://t.co/G0Hbpc5DEB

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Kansas City welcomes Argentina ahead of first World Cup match
https://t.co/agZ7G80glz

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Chinese tech giant announces new chip design breakthrough https://t.co/7zM7G681eu

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Republican bills on women’s rights, spaces stalled
https://t.co/rXWZrD9h1s

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Maduro’s grip over Venezuela has ended, but cleaning up his regime’s mess is another story https://t.co/rT5VT5klWr

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday to testify about his 2027 “America First” State Department budget request.

While most department budgets increase significantly, this is the second consecutive year the State Department continues to make significant cuts, no longer operating as “the world’s ATM.”

“Our foreign policy is one that is solely focused on the interests of the United States of America,” Rubio told the committee. Rubio’s request for a $35.6 billion budget is a 30% decrease from the $51.1 billion enacted in fiscal year 2026.

Read full story: https://t.co/uBEyhfOiJa

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Tuesday that parasitic larvae capable of ravaging several agricultural industries have been detected closer to the U.S. border since the administration began combatting its migration.

New World screwworms (NWS) are fly larvae that feast on the live flesh of mammals, primarily cattle. Rollins said NWS was recently detected about 25 miles from the southern border.

“While the circumstances that allowed the New World screwworm to reach us were years in the making, the response to protect American agriculture began very sincerely and very intentionally in Jan. 20, 2025, and continues today,” Rollins said. “We will not rest until New World screwworm has been eliminated once and for all.”

The USDA posted Wednesday that a case “may have been detected in South Texas.”

Read full story: https://t.co/lEVzsaz0kz

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Senator charges Missouri school board president posted coded death threat against Trump https://t.co/J3ZfQzFV5u

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas inadvertently announced his intent to run for higher office in 2028.

Pete Mundo, host of Mundo in the Morning, gave Lucas the floor in the radio broadcast interview on May 28 to express his thoughts on Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to phase out Missouri’s income tax, which voters will decide on in August.

“I think the advice I’m giving is vote ‘no’ on every Missouri question and vote ‘yes’ on all the city questions,” said Lucas, who will complete his second and final term next year because of term limits.

“Vote no for the Missouri state questions – they are all complete and utter disasters.”

Read full story: https://t.co/C0Xbb3zMIr

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

‘No longer the most powerful voice in the room’: Study finds teacher unions losing influence, especially in red states https://t.co/eLZUWlXBmn

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Trump issues Executive Order to boost advanced AI ‘Innovation And Security’ https://t.co/yVH9EySpXI

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Mullin defends $118B Homeland Security budget request
https://t.co/IHXJC2pWAh

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Pratt on track for LA mayor showdown with Bass https://t.co/rpalbVkUDE