An increasing number of Catholics and Protestant support less strict abortion laws, a recent poll found. 

A Gallup poll out Friday found that 45 percent of Catholic respondents are satisfied with current abortion laws or want stricter laws, while 38 percent want less strict laws. In 2022, just 22 percent of Catholic respondents wanted less strict abortion laws. 

Meanwhile, half of Protestant respondents, 50 percent, said they are satisfied or want stricter laws, while 37 percent want less strict laws. That’s up from 25 percent of Protestant respondents who said they wanted less strict abortion laws in 2022.  

It is the first time Gallup has recorded a ‘plurality’ of Catholics and Protestants preferring less strict abortion laws, the organization noted. 

Among those without a religious affiliation, 69 percent are dissatisfied and want less strict laws, while 18 percent are satisfied and 5 percent want more strict laws.

‘Last year, the percentages of Catholics and Protestants who were dissatisfied and wanted stricter laws, or less strict laws, were roughly equal. And the largest percentage of Catholics, 28 percent, were satisfied with abortion laws,’ poll authors wrote.

The news of a growing number of Catholics wanting less abortion restriction comes despite The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently sending the House of Representatives and the Senate a letter calling for the end of taxpayer funding for abortion services sharing that the organization continues to support pro-life efforts. 

‘Ultimately, abortion is an uncompassionate response to a difficult pregnancy, one that pits a mother in crisis against her pre-born child.’ wrote Diocese of Arlington’s Bishop Michael Burbidge, head of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities. ‘Women and their pre-born children both deserve better – they deserve all of us to stand with them, and to provide solutions that empower them both to have a positive future.’

The polling results come after the overturning of Roe V. Wade in June 2022.

Gallup’s poll found that a record-high, 69 percent, of U.S. adults were dissatisfied with abortion laws, with many preferring less strict laws. The poll found that 46% prefer less strict abortion, marking a 16-percentage-point jump since Jan. 2022, with 15 percent wanting more strict policies, the Gallup poll found.

In addition, 26 percent of Americans are satisfied with current abortion policies, which is slightly higher than last year’s record low of 24 percent, according to the poll.

‘Between 2001 and 2021, the percentage of Americans dissatisfied with U.S. abortion policies ranged from 43% (in 2002 and 2008) to 58% (in 2020).’ Gallup polls stated. ‘During this time, those who expressed dissatisfaction were significantly more likely to do so because they typically didn’t think the laws were strict enough rather than too strict.’

Dissatisfaction with abortion laws increased in 2022, which Gallup attributed to two events in late 2021– the U.S. Supreme Court allowing a restrictive Texas abortion law to stand and when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case challenging the constitutionality of abortion.

Gallup polling and exit polls also suggest that abortion access played a, ‘significant role in the election and was at least partially responsible for Republicans’ net loss of one Senate seat and failure to gain as many House seats as they had hoped.’

The Kentucky Senate passed a measure Friday to ban TikTok from state government-issued devices, reflecting bipartisan concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app.

The bill easily cleared the Senate on a 31-0 vote to advance to the House. The action reflects a growing push among American lawmakers to block the social media platform from government devices, based on cybersecurity concerns.

In Kentucky, the measure is a ‘prudent’ step in responding to those security concerns, said Republican state Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor.

‘We need to protect the data that exists on state government devices,’ Mills said. ‘And one very practical way of doing this is to remove a known data mining app from all the state of Kentucky’s digital devices and computers, as this bill does.’

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently took executive action to prohibit the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. The bill would place the ban into state law.

TikTok has become a globally popular domain, known as a platform of choice for catchy videos. But there’s long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

There were more than 156,000 migrant encounters in January, the Biden administration announced Friday — claiming that the numbers show that the new border measures are ‘working,’ despite the numbers being higher than last January.

The 156,274 encounters are slightly higher than the 154,874 encountered in January last year, and significantly higher than the 78,414 encountered in Jan 2021.

However, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) noted that the new numbers are a sharp drop from the record 251,978 encounters in December — which marked a new record at the besieged southern border. It is the first month in 10 months where encounters were below 200,000 encounters.

Officials also said that the number of migrants encountered by Border Patrol entering illegally between ports of entry (128,410) was the lowest number seen since Feb. 2021. There were 21,661 processed by CBP at ports of entry, with 9,902 having scheduled an appointment on the new CBP One application the administration has promoted. 70% of those encountered overall were single adults.

While the numbers are historically high for January, which is typically a quiet month for the border, the Biden administration has been tying the significant drop since December as proof that border measures it introduced last month are working. The cornerstone of those measures is the expansion of a humanitarian parole program for Venezuelans introduced last year to include Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians. The program allows 30,000 nationals in each month if they did not cross illegally, had a sponsor already in the U.S. and met other conditions.  

That was accompanied by an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities. The administration is also expected to introduce a rule that would make migrant ineligible for asylum if they had passed through another country without claiming asylum.

At his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Biden said the measures are working and said there had been a 97% drop in encounters of those nationalities. On Friday, CBP again attributed the drop since December to those measures.

‘The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working, with the lowest level of Border Patrol encounters between Ports of Entry since February of 2021,’ CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. ‘Those trends have continued into February, with average encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans plummeting.’

However, those border measures face pushback from the left, who say the expansion of Title 42 is unjust and harms migrants’ right to claim asylum. Meanwhile, on the right, 20 GOP states have sued the administration over the parole program, saying it breaches congressional limits on the use of parole — which is to be used on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.’

Conservative critics dismissed the new numbers. RJ Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said the plan is ‘one big shell game.’

‘They finally realized the crisis was beginning to become a political liability, so what was their solution? Unlawful parole abuse and processing at ports of entry through an app. This is the end result — lower numbers. It’s all a sham and it’s illegal,’ he told Fox News Digital.

Other critics have also expressed skepticism that the measures will have anything more than a short-term effect. Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News Digital that cartels will likely replace migrants from those countries with other nationalities, as he said that had after the Venezuela program was introduced last year.

‘So now all the cartels have to do is just go advertise services in other countries and replace the Nicaraguans, Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans with a different population. And they always adapt. They’re very good at adapting. If you do not enforce Title 42 across the board with every single country, we’re never going to get out of this rut. The cartels will just adapt to our policies,’ he said.

Biden himself has said the measures by themselves will not solve the ongoing surge at the southern border, and has pushed Congress to pass a sweeping immigration bill unveiled on his first day in office.

Biden used his State of the Union to not only tout the recent measures, but also to call on Congress to pass parts of that bill — includes more funding to the border as well as a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

‘America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers,’ he said.

Republicans, who have blamed the Biden administration’s policies for the ongoing crisis and called for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have largely balked at the idea of an amnesty for illegal immigrants. On Tuesday they were similarly unreceptive to Biden’s plea.

‘Secure the border,’ some lawmakers yelled at the president.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was released from George Washington University Hospital Friday after being hospitalized Wednesday.

Fetterman was taken to the hospital after feeling lightheaded while attending a Democratic retreat in Washington, D.C. 

Joe Calvello, a spokesperson for Fetterman, said Friday that tests ruled out a stroke and seizures.

‘A few minutes ago, Senator John Fetterman was discharged from the George Washington University Hospital. In addition to the CT, CTA and MRI tests ruling out a stroke, his EEG test results came back normal, with no evidence of seizures. John is looking forward to spending some time with his family and returning to the Senate on Monday,’ Calvello said.

The former Democratic lieutenant governor defeated Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in November 2022 by five points, flipping a Senate seat for Democrats. 

Republican Pat Toomey previously held the seat but decided to retire in 2022.

Just two days before the state’s Democratic primary May 15, 2022, Fetterman suffered a severe stroke but won the primary in a dominating fashion.

His stroke led to months of questions about the status of his health. As a result of his stroke, Fetterman often struggles to complete sentences and jumbles words, raising more concerns regarding his ability to hold a position in public office.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Biden administration proposed sweeping rules Friday to boost energy efficiency standards for clothes washers and refrigerators in an action it claimed would save consumers money and ‘significantly reduce pollution.’

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the two regulations, which would be implemented in 2027 if approved, are projected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 233 million metric tons over the next 30 years. The agency also estimated that the energy-efficiency standards taking certain appliance models off the market would save $3.5 billion on an annual basis.

‘With today’s proposals, we’re building on a decades-long effort with our industry partners to ensure tomorrow’s appliances work more efficiently and save Americans money,’ Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

‘Over the last forty years, at the direction of Congress, DOE has worked to promote innovation, improve consumers’ options, and raise efficiency standards for household appliances without sacrificing the reliability and performance that Americans have come to expect,’ she continued.

According to the announcement, the washers and refrigerators affected by the regulations currently represent 5% of annual residential energy use and 8% of residential electricity use nationwide.

The new standards proposed for the two household appliances are the latest in a series of energy efficiency actions the Biden administration has pursued since taking office two years ago. In 2022 alone, the administration took more than 110 actions on appliances.

On his first day in office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring the Department of Energy to make ‘major revisions’ to current appliance regulation standards and standards set by the Trump administration. A month later, the agency listed more than a dozen energy efficiency rules, impacting appliances like water heaters, cooking products and lamps, that it would review.

Experts, though, have argued the appliance regulations are unnecessary and that consumers are already able to freely purchase more efficient appliances.

‘This is overregulation on steroids,’ Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘These are appliances that have already been subjected to multiple rounds of successively tighter standards.’ 

‘There is just not much there there anymore,’ he said. ‘There’s a great risk of doing more harm than good in the form of appliances — refrigerators or washers that cost more upfront than you’re ever likely to save in the form of less energy and water use.’

Lieberman added that such appliance regulations were part of the Biden administration’s ‘war on energy use.’

‘By using climate as a kind of finger on the scale in favor of tougher standards, I think that’s all the more reason to be suspicious that this is going to be a bad deal from a consumer standpoint,’ he continued.

‘Anybody who wants to buy ultra-efficient appliances is free to do so with or without these regulations. The regulations just make that the only game in town and usually at a higher cost that may or may not be earned back over the life of the appliance.’

A local prosecutor, pharmacist and former state legislator announced on Friday he will run for North Carolina attorney general next year.

Republican Tom Murry of Wake County said he’ll seek to succeed Democratic AG Josh Stein, who announced last month he’s running for governor.

Murry served in the state House in the 2010s following a stint on the Morrisville town council. He later worked for the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Murry is currently a licensed pharmacist and North Carolina Army National Guard member, and recently has been an assistant district attorney for a five-county region north of Raleigh.

‘My pledge to the people of North Carolina is simple, I will stand beside local law enforcement, district attorneys and victim’s advocates to defend not defund the rule of law for all North Carolinians,’ Murry said in a news release while criticizing Stein’s AG tenure..

Murry’s release pointed to a list of endorsements that included current and former legislators and some ex-judges, as well as to his efforts while in the legislature pushing for voter photo identification and regulatory reforms.

Murry also said he would create a ‘rapid response statewide drug task force’ if elected to go after criminals who bring fentanyl to the state.

Freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said Friday that the Washington Post’s profile of her contained several mischaracterizations and factual errors, and said its suggestion that she only embraced her Hispanic heritage in order to run for office shows how far the mainstream press will go to attack conservatives.

‘As I’ve said before, and as the Washington Post has clearly showcased, anyone who is a conservative minority is a threat to Leftist control,’ Luna told Fox News Digital. ‘They can try to discredit me, but unfortunately for them the facts completely blow their story out of the water.’

The Post story, based on interviews with relatives and former friends, calls into question aspects of Luna’s biography and falsely reported that she once registered as a Democrat, she said. Luna added that the Post’s story bears a striking resemblance to claims that the New York Times began reporting on earlier this year, but never published.

The Washington Post article states: ‘Luna’s sharp turn to the right, her account of an isolated and impoverished childhood, and her embrace of her Hispanic heritage have come as a surprise to some friends and family who knew her before her ascent to the U.S. House this year.’

The Post reported that Luna ‘registered to vote as a Democrat in Washington state’ in 2017, though there is no place on the state’s voter registration form that asks for party identification. The Post corrected that claim in the story after Fox News Digital requested comment, and noted in the updated story that the claim was ‘based on an erroneous voter registration database.’

Otherwise, the Post defended its story. 

‘We have corrected one piece of factual information that was based on a database error. This deeply reported story about Rep. Luna’s biography includes ample perspectives from people who have known her throughout her life,’ Washington Post’s vice president of communications Shani George said.

In another instance, the Post story appears to question details about Luna’s childhood. The story reported that Luna has claimed her biological father was in and out of jail, which led to a chaotic upbringing, but also stressed that the paper could find no evidence that Luna’s father, George Mayerhofer, was ever incarcerated.

However, Luna’s office easily provided Fox News Digital with Lexis-Nexis reports that show Mayerhofer did spend time behind bars.

A court filing for a drug felony charged against Mayerhofer shows he was arrested and went through court proceedings in custody, and was brought back into custody for violating probation agreements. The court records show his case was dismissed.

‘Rep. Luna’s dad was literally in and out of jail, was homeless at one point, and on food stamps. As a child, Rep. Luna was uprooted from different homes repeatedly and went through six different schools in high school,’ Luna’s communications director Edie Heipel told Fox.

The Post went into detail about Luna’s family history, including reporting that her paternal grandfather fought in World War II for the German army before he immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s, and raised questions about Luna changing her surname before her time in politics.

‘Absolutely no conservative outlet would stand a chance if they dared say someone wasn’t ‘Hispanic enough,’ yet this is the main narrative WAPO is trying to spin,’ Heipel said of the Post story’s emphasis on race.

‘Because Anna is a conservative, somehow WAPO believes that the fact both sides of her family descend from Mexican immigrants isn’t valid,’ Heipel added. ‘This article has very racist undertones and the Washington Post knowingly left out facts from multiple sources that refuted their lie and narrative.’

Much of the Post’s story involved Luna’s time at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri, where she was stationed for several years as an airfield management specialist. Luna has spoken about a break-in at her apartment, which she shared with another servicemember, Brittany Brooks, and the trauma it caused.

Luna has said that her landlord broke in around 4 a.m. at one point, a detail that Brooks told the Post she could not recall. The Post reported that Brooks ‘is the only person named in the police report’ made about the alleged burglary in July 2010. However, a police report obtained by Fox News includes mention of both Brooks and Luna (then going by her birth surname, Mayerhofer).

Brooks described Luna as ‘liberal’ at the time and said she supported then-President Barack Obama, the Post reported. Friends of Luna who were also stationed at Whiteman AFB at the time told Fox News Digital that politics wasn’t a major topic of discussion for the group, and did not see in Luna a ‘sharp turn to the right.’

‘The way she was back then is the same way she is now,’ said Lamar Carson, who worked with Luna at Whiteman from the time she was stationed there in 2009 to when he left in 2011.

‘We never got in a lot of political conversations. As I told the Washington Post, we support and defend the Constitution of the United States, that’s our job back then and even now. It wasn’t something we got into,’ Carson added.

Though the Post interviewed Carson, it did not name him in the story.

Martina Michelle, another companion of Luna and Carson’s while they were at Whiteman AFB, told Fox that politics wasn’t a major topic of discussion. But Michelle did recall Brooks, and said that her experience displayed that ‘she was not the most trustworthy or honest person, and she’s continued to fabricate things.’

‘She has had this weird, I don’t know — obsession or vendetta against Anna, because she’s always bringing her up on Facebook, or Instagram, trying to cause issues,’ Michelle said. Brooks did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Michelle said the Post’s story, which she described as ‘crap,’ seemed to be preparing a false narrative.

Emails shared with Fox show that the New York Times asked Luna’s office strikingly similar questions to the Post’s story, going over similar details about her family history and her time at Whiteman AFB.

The Times has not published the story, and did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Luna’s office, Washington Post reported, declined to answer questions about the story. The Post reported that it had received an email from Heipel ‘calling the questions ‘bizarre’ and stating ‘our office will not be responding to you any further.”

Heipel’s full response, according to an email of the exchange shared with Fox, called attention to the fact that the New York Times had asked similar questions. ‘These bizarre questions seem nearly identical to the same bizarre questions the New York Times sent us last week — which we already answered. Our office will not be responding to you any further, but we do ask you to cite your sources in whatever you publish,’ Heipel wrote.

To Luna’s office, the Times’ declining to run the story is further evidence of the weakness of the claims.

‘We find it interesting that the Post decided to source its claims from distant relatives who have also made very anti-gay and conspiracy comments on their social media and do not associate with Rep. Luna or her family,’ Heipel said.

Gov. Tony Evers’ executive budget will include a host of proposals designed to reduce reckless driving in Wisconsin, including mandating ignition interlock devices for all drunken driving offenses, the governor’s office announced Friday.

The governor’s 2023-25 spending plan will mandate that judges order the use of an ignition interlock device for all drunken or intoxicated driving offenses. Thirty other states, as well as the District of Columbia, already require all operating while intoxicated offenders to use the devices.

Other provisions would increase the penalty for not wearing a seatbelt from $10 to $25; create 35 more state trooper positions and 10 more motor carrier inspector positions; and provide $60 million for roundabouts, pedestrian islands and other road features designed to slow traffic.

Evers’ budget also would provide $6.5 million to cover driver education costs for low-income students and provide driver’s licenses for people who entered the country illegally.

Evers is set to release the full executive budget to the Republican-controlled Legislature on Wednesday. The Legislature’s finance committee will spend the next four months revising the document before shipping it to the full Senate and Assembly for approval. From there, the budget will go back to Evers, who can rewrite it to his liking using his partial veto powers.

Evers’ first two budgets would have given driver’s licenses those in the country illegally, but Republicans removed the provisions from both plans, and Evers could not restore them through his partial veto.

Messages left for spokespeople for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu weren’t returned.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., gave kudos to her scalding cup of coffee after she was unexpectedly attacked in the elevator of her Washington D.C. apartment.

‘My morning coffee really saved the day yesterday, but not exactly how I expected it to.’ Rep. Craig said in a statement Friday. ‘On a serious note, I will also say that I was very, very lucky that I was not more injured – and I’ll have more to say about that soon.’

Craig, who rents an apartment in D.C. when she is not home in Prior Lake, Minnesota, was confronted by the assailant at around 7.15am on Thursday. The man, who police identified as 26-year-old Kendrick Hamlin, was reportedly ‘acting erratic’ in the lobby of the building, ‘as if he was under the influence’ of ‘an unknown substance,’ police say.

‘I feel very fortunate to have escaped following the attack and be home in Minnesota today recovering,’ Craig said. 

The congresswoman told police she said ‘good morning’ to him before he followed her into an elevator. Hamlin then punched Craig in the chin and grabbed her by the neck, the congresswoman managed to subdue him by throwing her morning cup of Joe at him, before he fled the scene.

‘I wanted to let everyone know that the outpouring of support from friends, constituents and colleagues has been overwhelming. From myself, Cheryl and our entire family, thank you.’ Craig wrote.

Other than sustaining several bruises, the Democrat congresswoman escaped unharmed. Police noted that the attack did not appear to be politically motivated.

‘I remain deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers for their quick response and subsequent arrest of a suspect last night,’ Craig said.

Hamlin was charged with simple assault following the incident. 

Craig has represented Minnesota in the House since 2019.

Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.