Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) slammed the Trump administration for pausing child care payments to his state amid increased federal scrutiny of alleged fraud within its social services programs. "This is Trump's long game," Walz wrote Tuesday in a post on the social platform X. "We've spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It's a serious issue — but this has been his plan all along...

We're prepping for the new year by celebrating the 100th edition of the Good, the Bad, and the Elegy newsletter. Thank you to the readers who have been with us since the beginning, and to all those who have joined us along the way. After four years of covering rural media representation, we believe this analysis is more important than ever, and speaks directly to the mission, and origin story, of the Daily Yonder and Center for Rural Strategies. Examining the ways rural communities are portrayed, from idyllic utopias to ravaged hellscapes (and the more complicated, nuanced, and accurate representations in between) help us understand how our society thinks and feels about the diverse communities that 60 million Americans call home...

Sydney has welcomed the New Year with a message of peace following the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as huge crowds gathered to watch the city's annual fireworks display. The words peace and unity were projected onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as thousands of heavily armed police officers patrolled the streets - a rare and stark sight in Australia - as part of heightened security measures. New South Wales (NSW) Police said more than 2,500 officers were on duty across the city, and some officers were authorised to carry high-grade weapons...

Too many Republicans in Washington have lost their tax-rate-cutting convictions, but not so in most GOP-run states. As the clock turns to 2026, the residents of nine states will pay lower tax rates on their income. Happy New Year indeed. The tax cuts are the result of bills passed in 2025 or earlier, and some are the result of staged cuts in rates if the state's tax revenues allow. Rather than grant taxpayers a temporary tax rebate, the political leaders in these states have been smart and cut rates that are more than a one-time cash fillip...

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the federal government reported Wednesday. Applications for jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending Dec. 27 fell by 16,000 to 199,000 from the previous week's 215,000, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 208,000 new applications, according to the Associated Press...

Pope Leo XIV warned about the danger that gambling poses to many families during a Dec. 29 audience with members of the National Association of Italian Municipalities. At the beginning of his address, delivered in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Holy Father explained that "the incarnation of the Son of God brings us face to face with a child, whose gentle fragility is in stark contrast to the crushing power of King Herod." In this context, he emphasized that "the massacre of the innocents ordered by him not only represents a loss of a future for society but is also a manifestation of an inhuman power that does not know the beauty of love because it disregards the dignity of human life."...

The mayor of San Francisco signed an ordinance that creates a "Reparations Fund" that could one day grant each of the city's eligible Black residents up to $5 million in reparations for alleged historic discrimination and displacement. The ordinance, which was passed by the Board of Supervisors earlier this month, was signed by Democrat Mayor Daniel Lurie two days before Christmas. It establishes the legal framework for the fund but does not allocate funds or guarantee payments. The fund can be financed with private donations, foundations and other non-city sources...

Note after note after note after note... The post How many notes are in the Lynyrd Skynyrd ‘Free Bird’ guitar solo? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

New Jersey natives. The post What does Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band name mean? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.