Category Archives: National

CCDBG: Proven Program Worth Protecting

By Jessica Garvin

Opinion: As a mother, my children will always be my top priority. Like parents across this country, I want them to grow up safe, healthy, and have all the tools to succeed. But years as both a parent and a business owner solidified one thing for me: good intentions alone don’t get families across the finish line. Raising children takes more than love, it takes real, practical support that helps parents work, provide, and plan for the future.

For more than three decades, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) has helped families meet that need. Signed into law by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1990, CCDBG has helped make safe, reliable child care more affordable, giving parents peace of mind as they work to earn a living and provide for their loved ones.

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Securing Critical Water Resources

By David Arnett

In a Tuesday afternoon, the Secretaries of State and Agriculture celebrated a new commitment between the United States and Mexico that strengthens implementation of the 1944 Water Treaty, providing greater certainty for farmers, ranchers, and producers in South Texas who rely on consistent water deliveries from the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande meanders between Texas and Mexico
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Operation Blunt Force

By David Arnett

Coordinated with 27 law enforcement agencies across the nation

Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced today that his Organized Crime Task Force, working alongside 27 law enforcement partners nationwide, arrested 20 individual scumbags linked to a very evil yet sophisticated criminal enterprise. The Hao Chen Organization was responsible for approximately one million pounds of marijuana worth $1.5 billion in street value.

The investigation targeted an organization led by Hao Tong Chen that ran fraudulent medical marijuana licensing schemes in Oklahoma from approximately 2021 to 2025. Law enforcement executed more than 50 search warrants and recovered 12 firearms during the course of the investigation.

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We Can’t Gamble with Medicare Advantage

By Monica Collison

In rural Oklahoma, we aren’t always involved in abstract policy debates, even the ones that directly impact us. Decisions made in Washington show up fast, and they show up close to home. When access to health care weakens, that harms patients, families, caregivers, and entire communities.

That reality should be front and center for lawmakers as we approach the midterm elections. Seniors are one of the largest, most reliable voting groups in the country. For many of them, Medicare Advantage is more than just another talking point for candidates to hit on the campaign trail. It’s the coverage and care they depend on every day.

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Mexican Cartel Spawn in Custody

By David Arnett

The United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday evening it took into custody 37 fugitives from Mexico facing a range of federal criminal charges around the country, including charges relating to narcoterrorism, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, firearms trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, and various drug trafficking offenses, including conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine.

Among the fugitives taken into U.S. custody are prolific human smugglers, violent arms traffickers, and alleged members of dangerous drug cartels, including those designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), and Cártel del Noreste (CDN, formerly Los Zetas), as well as additional drug trafficking organizations, such as the Gulf Cartel, La Linea, and the former Beltrán-Leyva Organization.  

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