Taxpayer-funded nonprofits: Government grants to nonprofits more than doubled to a 2022 peak. See which groups steer the money into six-figure executive pay.
Illinois vaccine defiance: The state won't adopt the new federal childhood schedule, and says families who do could face more costs and doctor visits.
Meta's secrecy win: Louisiana regulators won't force Meta to show the math behind the jobs and power demand tied to its data center expansion.
Colorado gun rush: Background checks nearly tripled from a year earlier as buyers rushed to purchase firearms before a new training law took effect Aug. 1.
New limits on birthright citizenship: Trump signed two executive orders redefining who qualifies, his latest move after the Supreme Court struck down his first.
Taxpayer grants to nonprofits more than doubled since 2016
Photo: Karola G / Pexels / Edited in Canva
What we found: The Center Square's analysis of nonprofit tax filings found government grants to nonprofits climbed from $149.5 billion in 2016 to a peak of $319 billion in 2022, even as the number of nonprofits receiving that money fell by about 10,000 from its 2020 high of more than 110,000. More than 11,000 of those nonprofits, about 10%, have at least one executive earning $300,000 or more, and at least a fifth of all nonprofits receiving government grants spend 25% of that money on executive salaries. The investigation also found a North Carolina nonprofit that promotes gender treatments as options and lists providers who serve minors, even as the state says its grant covers adult services only, and an Illinois nonprofit that has paid more than $2 million to businesses owned by its founder.
The stakes: Taxpayers are footing a fast-growing bill for nonprofit programs with little independent oversight of how the money is spent. David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, called it "phony philanthropy": tax money, not private donations, that politicians take credit for without giving taxpayers a say in how it's spent.
The backstory: The increase tracks with a surge in COVID-19 pandemic relief spending, and it has drawn fresh scrutiny amid Trump administration-era allegations, spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency, that some nonprofit funding is wasted or diverted to benefit politically connected executives.
Where it stands: Williams argues every nonprofit that takes tax money should have to pass a full annual audit, with receipts showing where the money went, before it can receive more. He says current oversight falls short.
3 States
Illinois: Illinois says it will keep following the American Academy of Pediatrics' vaccine schedule despite President Trump's Aug. 10 executive order rolling back federal childhood vaccine recommendations, including splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella shot into three separate doses. State health officials warn that change means more doctor visits, plus added cost and time, for families who follow the new federal schedule instead.
Louisiana: Louisiana utility regulators blocked an order that would have forced Meta to hand over records backing up its jobs and power-demand projections for its Richland Parish data center expansion, which Meta says will exceed $50 billion. Ratepayer advocates challenging whether Louisiana customers should help pay for the buildout will now make their case in December without the underlying numbers, after Meta argued the records were trade secrets.
Colorado: Background checks for gun sales in Colorado hit nearly 60,000 in July, almost triple last year's total, as buyers rushed to purchase semiautomatic firearms with detachable magazines before a new state law requiring safety training took effect Aug. 1. Eileen McCarron, co-founder of Colorado Ceasefire, says the law won't stop those firearms from crossing state lines, highlighting a limit on what any single state's restrictions can accomplish.
2 Issues
Immigration: President Trump signed two executive orders last week that redefine who qualifies for birthright citizenship, excluding children born through birth-tourism arrangements, children of diplomats and foreign-government employees, and children of people classified as "alien enemies," while giving the secretaries of State and Homeland Security new authority to enforce it. It's his latest attempt to limit birthright citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his first executive order on the subject, in the case Trump v. Barbara, this past June.
Public safety: A federal appeals court effectively ended Biden-era mass parole programs this week, ruling that the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and other groups suing over the Trump administration's expedited deportations don't have legal standing to challenge them in court. The decision clears the way for the government to deport migrants from Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador, and Guatemala who entered the country through parole programs federal judges had already ruled illegal.
1 Number
$7.25 million
That's how much New York is spending on legal representation for roughly 1,400 unaccompanied migrant children facing federal deportation proceedings, after the Trump administration ended its contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which had coordinated legal aid for migrant children nationwide.
Seattle mayor faces new scrutiny over police shakeup
Washington In Focus Daily covers the fallout from the Bite of Seattle shooting and Police Chief Shon Barnes' ouster, plus new scrutiny of Seattle's diversion program.
Amy Klobuchar, Democratic candidate for Minnesota governor
Klobuchar won Tuesday's Democratic primary and will face Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth in November, in the race to succeed Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped out in January after reports of fraud in the state's federal benefit programs. Both nominees have made cracking down on that fraud central to their campaigns: Klobuchar has pledged "top-to-bottom" inspections of federal programs and a database to blacklist people found guilty of fraud, while Demuth wants a state Office of the Inspector General and a single agency to oversee spending. Demuth beat Trump-endorsed former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for the GOP nomination. Klobuchar holds a wide fundraising lead, more than $7 million raised since January to Demuth's $400,000.
Which state was ranked the best in the country for doing business?
CNBC releases its annual "America's Top States for Business" rankings, grading states on factors like cost of doing business, workforce quality, and infrastructure.
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