A bill that would ban physicians from providing gender-affirming surgery to minors is advancing in West Virginia.

West Virginia lawmakers in the House Health and Human Resources Committee greenlit the legislation after little discussion Thursday, sending it to the House Judiciary Committee.

The only lawmakers who spoke at length on the bill were two of the three Democrats on the 25-member committee, who both spoke against it. The rest of the committee is dominated by Republicans, like the rest of the state legislature. No GOP lawmakers explained their votes in support.

Gender-affirming health care for youths, including surgery and hormone therapy, has been a target for Republicans in recent years.

Republicans in other states who have moved to limit access to the treatments for minors have often characterized the treatments as medically unproven and potentially dangerous in the long term, as another political battle against liberal ideologies. They also say teenagers shouldn’t undergo irreversible surgeries.

The same day as West Virginia voted to advance its proposed ban, the Republican-controlled House in Mississippi passed a ban on gender-affirming surgery for minors.

Many doctors, mental health specialists and medical groups have argued that treatments for young transgender people are safe and beneficial, though rigorous long-term research is lacking. Federal health officials have described the gender-affirming care as crucial to the health and well-being of transgender children and adolescents.

Advocates for young transgender people say decisions about health care should be left to children, their parents and their doctors.

West Virginia Democratic Del. Mike Pushkin said during Thursday’s meeting that he doesn’t know why the bill is necessary.

‘To me, it’s just an insult to a community that’s already so marginalized in the state,’ he said. ‘Personally, I didn’t come up here to kick people, I didn’t come up here to keep people down. I was elected because I want to help people. This doesn’t help anybody … If you have such an overwhelming majority, do something helpful.’

Democratic Del. Danielle Walker, the only Black woman and openly queer member of the state legislature, noted that LGBTQ children are disproportionately impacted by issues like bullying and suicide.

‘Does this bill do anything to keep students safe or reduce harassment?’ she asked. A legislative attorney answered no.

Before the vote, Walker said she knew nothing she said would be likely to change GOP lawmakers’ minds.

‘That’s why that rainbow flag sits on my desk,’ she said. ‘Not to piss any of you off, and if it does, good, if it makes you uncomfortable. Children should know and adults should know in the people’s house they have a safe place.’

Andrew Schneider, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Fairness West Virginia, described the bill as a ‘solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.’

‘Transgender kids aren’t shopping for doctors, they’re just trying to survive,’ Schneider said. ‘While lawmakers waste taxpayer time and money on bills attacking kids, they’re ignoring the real harms to LGBTQ youth.’

‘We want to be clear: The West Virginia Legislature should worry about transgender youth,’ he continued. ‘No child should be left to suffer alone, and our lawmakers continue to ignore this crisis. This bill won’t protect any transgender child from the real harms of this world.’

Pro-lifers are set to rally in the nation’s capital Friday for the 50th annual March for Life, which will mark the first time the event took place since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

The first March for Life took place in Washington, D.C., in 1973 after the Supreme Court handed down Roe to protect abortion access nationwide up until fetal viability. The Supreme Court overturned Roe last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which allowed states to regulate abortion as they please.

Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, has worked in the pro-life movement since 1971, including leadership roles at National Right to Life, Family Research Council, and the Reagan White House. He said the overturn of Roe is only the start for the pro-life movement.

‘The reversal of Roe is not the end of our fight but a new beginning,’ Donovan told Fox News Digital. ‘Where once we dreamed of passing laws and public policies to save the lives of the unborn, now we have dozens of states across the country, as well as opportunities at the federal level, where the steps we take will mean life or death for millions of babies as well as support or neglect for their mothers.’

Pro-life activists have since called on states to ban abortion across the country. Complete bans on abortion have been enacted in 13 states. One state enacted a six-week ban and four states enacted bans around 15 to 18 weeks. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro Life America, said it is crucial to set the tone in a post-Roe country that unborn lives are worth protecting at all stages and circumstances.

‘This is the first March for Life in the new Dobbs era after the people’s right to protect unborn babies and mothers in the law has been restored,’ Dannenfelser told Fox News Digital. ‘Our ongoing job is to be as ambitious for life as possible and to hold the debate that Roe curtailed, both in state legislatures and in Congress, centered on the humanity of the unborn child.’

‘Looking toward 2024, we expect GOP leaders to advocate a minimum federal standard, such as protecting unborn children from the time their heartbeat can be detected or at a point when they can feel pain,’ she added.

Celebrity speakers at the 50th March for Life include Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy and ‘The Chosen’ lead actor Jonathan Roumie. Politicians set to speak include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Mississippi Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch; Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Democratic Connecticut state Rep. Trenee McGee. Religious leaders set to speak include Catholic Diocese of Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge and Evangelical the Rev. Franklin Graham.

Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said the pro-life movement must increase its focus in the post-Roe world to protect the unborn and assist pregnant women in need.

‘This year’s march will reflect upon the Dobbs decision as a critical and celebratory milestone but will also be a time to look forward to the next steps, such as the need to continue marching annually in Washington, D.C., as well as expanding marches in the states, to advance legal protections for the unborn,’ Mancini told Fox News Digital. ‘Those next steps also include supporting the pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes, which are the hands and feet of the pro-life movement, providing support and resources to women in need who want to choose life.’

It’s not even officially a race yet, but the burgeoning Republican primary battle for Indiana’s open Senate seat is showing signs of becoming very heated quite quickly.

Rep. Jim Banks, a 43-year-old former state senator and a veteran of the Afghanistan war who is in his fourth term representing a district in northeast Indiana, on Tuesday formally launched his candidacy for the Senate in a 2024 run to succeed GOP Sen. Mike Braun, who last month announced that he’s bidding for governor of the Hoosier State rather than seek re-election.

Potentially joining Banks in the coming weeks is former two-term Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, a 73-year-old former top official in then-President George W. Bush’s administration who until stepping down at the end of last year served the past decade as president of Purdue University.

With attacks and counter-attacks already underway even before Daniels has made a decision on running, and former President Donald Trump’s political allies taking part in the political fireworks, the GOP Senate primary in reliably red Indiana could turn into a new skirmish in the ongoing Republican civil war.

Banks, who became the first candidate to declare, is highlighting his conservative credentials, telling Fox News Digital as he announced his candidacy that ‘Indiana deserves a conservative senator’ and showcasing that he’s ‘been a leading conservative voice in the House.’

The congressman spoke with Trump last week, ahead of his campaign launch, and touted in his interview with Fox News that ‘I’m a big fan of President Trump and what he’s done for our country, what he’s done for the Republican Party. He remains very popular in the state of Indiana, and of course, I would love to have President Trump’s endorsement because it’s a significant show of support from someone who fought hard to put America first and who I fought alongside with when he was president.’

Sources in the former president’s orbit say Trump’s keeping an eye on the Indiana race and that some on his team see the primary battle as a barometer of the continued strength of the Trump brand in the GOP. And some in Trump world are already unloading on Daniels.

‘The establishment is trying to recruit weak RINO Mitch Daniels to run for US Senate in Indiana,’ Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted on Friday. ‘He would be Mitt Romney 2.0.’

That brought a rebuttal by longtime Daniels adviser and friend Mark Lubbers, who told Fox News on Thursday that last week’s tweet by Trump’s eldest son ‘was an ambush. We didn’t have any interest in picking a fight with the Trump folks. This could have been an enlightening election that could have happened in a civic spirited way. We didn’t pick this fight, but we’re not candy a- -es.’

A source close to Banks told Fox News, pointing to Trump’s continued popularity in Indiana, argued that ‘I truly don’t think Daniels allies are doing the former governor any favors with the Republican electorate by criticizing Trump. It really makes me wonder if they’re really serious about running for the Senate in the first place.’

And the source noted that ‘the differences between Jim Banks and Mitch Daniels are a lot more substantive than their feelings about Donald Trump, from China police to wokeness in corporate America.’

Daniels’ allies bristle at such critiques of the former governor, who long was known as a conservative. 

‘For those guys to try to portray Mitch Daniels as not conservative is absurd,’ Lubbers emphasized.

A GOP strategist who’s a veteran of numerous Senate campaigns, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, characterized the pending showdown as ‘a classic battle between one candidate – in Jim Banks – who identifies with the Republican conservative base, and a potential candidate -in Mitch Daniels – who has been out of the game for quite some time. We’ll see who captures the hearts and minds of Republican primary voters.’

But Lubbers says the conventional wisdom that a primary between Banks and Daniels would be a ‘establishment Republican versus Trump Republican’ fistfight is ‘a false division.’

‘What this is about is the difference between people who want to fight the progressive left and those of us who want to beat the progressive left,’ Lubbers argued. ‘In order to do that we need optimistic and positive conservatism that builds majorities and wins elections and makes policy. Not just foaming at the mouth and counting teams and all that stuff that I think the Trump wing of the party engages in. The applause of the few can’t be the goal. The goal must be winning elections and making a government built on majorities. The country is ready to move to a more conservative place. The impediment to that is the Trump wing of the party.’

Trump world disagrees, and charges Daniels time has passed.

‘Mitch Daniels and his team seem to think this is the year 2003 and not 2023,’ a source in the former president’s wider orbit told Fox News. ‘The problem with Mitch Daniels is that he’s out of step with the entire party, not just the Trump wing.’

Daniels is also taking incoming fire from the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative political organization that spends freely in GOP primaries. The group’s running an ad in Indiana that charges that Daniels is ‘not the right guy for Indiana anymore.’ 

Ahead of his campaign launch this week, Banks called and spoke with Daniels about his announcement.

‘They had a completely cordial conversation,’ a Banks source told Fox News. ‘But Mitch Daniels didn’t really factor into Banks decision at all.’

Daniels is headed to the nation’s capital in the coming days, to meet with some past advisers and a handful of current senators.

‘He wants to understand what life is like in the Senate today,’ Lubbers said. ‘I think he wants to make sure he can make a difference in a productive way, and I think that’s what’s at the heart of going to talk to some folks’ in Washington.

Indiana, once a general election swing state, has become solidly red over the past two decades. And the winner of the GOP primary will likely be considered the clear front-runner in the 2024 general election.

Among the other Republicans mulling a Senate bid is Rep. Victoria Spartz, who represents a district in the central part of the state that includes parts of Indianapolis and its suburbs.

It appears that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, wants no part in the potential clash. The NRSC, to date, has shown no indication that it plans to get involved in Indiana’s Senate primary.

A delivery driver witnessed Rep. Greg Steube, R- Fla., plunge 25 feet off a ladder at his home and called 911 for help, according to audio of the call obtained by Fox 13 Tampa Bay.

In the nearly 13-minute emergency call, driver Darrell Woodie reported Steube was awake, but ‘bruised up’ with multiple injuries on his body, including to his arm and back. 

Steube was reportedly cutting tree limbs on his Sarasota property after a branch hit his ladder, knocking him 25 feet to the ground. Woodie, who is also a field representative for Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., told the dispatcher he saw the fall.

The congressman is expected to recover, but his team said he spent Wednesday night in the ICU with ‘several serious injuries’ that were not life-threatening. He was moved out of the ICU Thursday afternoon.

‘We give all glory to God for his healing. We will have more to say as details become clear about the timeline for his recovery,’ an update on Steube’s Twitter account read.

Woodie said he went to Steube’s house to congratulate him on his recent election victory, but instead saw the fall. He told the dispatcher he didn’t think anyone else was home because only the congressman’s dogs came to the door.

At different times during the call, Steube can be heard in the background asking what happened. Woodie told the dispatcher Stuebe seemed ‘dazed.’

He stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until first responders arrived.

The congressman, who was reportedly in a face-down position on the ground, was able to help Woodie find his phone and unlock a gate for first responders. Emergency crews arrived within 10 minutes.

On Wednesday, Steube’s team tweeted he was ‘making progress’ and ‘in good spirits.’

‘We are thankful to the individual who witnessed the fall and immediately called 911, as well as Sarasota County’s Emergency Services for their quick response and transportation,’ the tweet read.

The 44-year-old representative serves Florida’s 17th congressional district, which contains the outer suburbs of Sarasota and Fort Myers through the Everglades.

Steube was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and just began his third term on Capitol Hill. He previously served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, as well as two years in the Florida Senate until 2018.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, founded The Representation Project nonprofit to fight ‘sexism through films education, research and activism.’ Siebel Newsom writes and directs ‘gender identity’ films produced through her for-profit operation, Girls Club Entertainment, that are then licensed by the nonprofit to public schools.

The films, which include ‘Miss Representation,’ ‘The Mask You Live In,’ ‘The Great American Lie’ and ‘Fair Play,’ are licensed to taxpayer-funded schools across every state and sometimes contain sexually explicit imagery and push students to feel ‘shame and sorrow’ about American society split by privilege and oppression. They are paired with curricula that include discussion on Gov. Newsom’s comments within the films, urging them to gather their friends and vote for aligned politicians that support a ‘care economy’ that ’embraces universal human values.’ 

‘The Representation Project’s films and school curricula deserve scrutiny because taxpayers fund schools that license them,’ said Open The Books founder Adam Andrzejewski, whose watchdog group discovered the materials and shared them with Fox News Digital.

‘Newsom’s films and curricula are saturated with images lifted directly from pornographic websites, their URLs visible onscreen,’ Andrzejewski added. ‘Minors are exposed to social commentaries about privilege and oppression, and one commentator says Americans need to ‘express shame and sorrow about who we are and what we’ve done’ as a society.’ 

‘When paired with calls to organize and spread the films more widely, it’s clear that Siebel Newsom seeks to activate students politically and in accordance with some radical ideologies about gender, identity, race and privilege,’ Andrzejewski said.

Siebel Newsom’s films promote far-left notions of gender and sexuality and, at points, contain sexually explicit images. The content has led to objections from at least one parent. 

In 2019, a California resident filed a complaint after his 12-year-old daughter’s class at Creekside Middle School showed ‘The Mask You Live In,’ which ‘follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.’ It included sexually explicit images and violence against women in a portion of the movie dealing with Internet pornography.

‘Some of the images, when slowed down, were not blurred, and even when they are blurred, it is obvious what is going on,’ the father told The Sacramento Bee. ‘It is absolutely profane and disgusting.’

The school later found that the teacher had accidentally played the film’s full version for the class, not the edited version meant for younger children.

Additionally, Siebel Newsom’s films and the Representation Project’s lesson plans heavily push gender identity. In the curriculum that comes with ‘The Mask You Live In,’ a ‘genderbread person’ is introduced, which shows middle and high school students how biological sex, ‘gender expression,’ ‘sexual attraction’ and ‘gender identity’ exist on a spectrum and can be mixed and matched.

GAVIN NEWSOM TAKES HITS FROM TWITTER AFTER HERALDING CALIFORNIA AS THE ‘TRUE FREEDOM STATE’ 

Kindergartners do not receive the ‘genderbread person’ material, but similar ‘gender identity’ lessons are offered, which include gender introductions beyond ‘boy’ and ‘girl.’

In the curriculum for ‘The Great American Lie,’ which ‘examines the roots of systemic inequalities through a unique gender lens,’ students are asked to do a ‘privilege walk’ that includes revealing personal information to compare themselves to peers inside and outside the classroom. The ‘privileges’ include being ‘a cisgender man,’ ‘white,’ ‘born in the United States,’ ‘straight’ and speaking English as a first language.

‘The Great American Lie’ film features prominent journalists and lawyers speaking about oppression. Charles Blow, a New York Times op-ed writer and MSNBC political analyst, appears to tell viewers their ‘privilege’ is built on his oppression. 

‘We need to stop being blind to history, stop being blind to systems, understand that there are privileges and there are oppressions in society, and, in fact, they act like a see-saw. Your privilege is actually built on my oppression,’ Blow says in the film. 

Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer who is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based group working to end mass incarceration, also makes a cameo and wants viewers to feel ‘shame and sorrow.’ 

‘We actually have to engage in truth telling. We’re going to have to express some shame and sorrow about who we are and what we’ve done. We’re going to have to find the will to reconcile ourselves to a different future,’ Stevenson says.

Several of The Representation Project’s lesson plans also focus on pushing students into political and social activism. Two of Siebel Newsom’s films, ‘Miss Representation’ and ‘The Great American Lie,’ feature her husband.

‘As Gavin Newsom’s national profile grows, he continues appearing in two of his wife’s films, first as the lieutenant governor of California and later as governor,’ Andrzejewski told Fox News Digital. ‘While corporations with state contracts donate both to his campaigns and Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit, students are being directed to discuss his political philosophy and embrace politicians like him. Mind you, these films have been licensed by schools in all fifty states.’

Within the films, Siebel Newsom casts her husband as a women’s rights champion. In ‘Miss Representation,’ he speaks on his time as mayor of San Francisco, saying, ‘One of the first things I did when I came to San Francisco is I appointed a female police chief and appointed a female fire chief.’ 

Students who use the curriculum discuss Gov. Newsom’s points and are urged to gather friends and vote for politicians ‘who show empathy through their support care policies.’

The Representation Project’s curricula are used by more than 5,000 schools across 50 states, according to its impact report highlighting its work from 2011 to 2019. The nonprofit, a 501(c)3 educational group, said over 11,200 copies of the curricula had been distributed and reached more than 2.6 million students during that time.

The report also describes the nonprofit as the ‘nation’s leading gender watchdog organization’ that embarks on ‘active social media campaigns that hold corporations, content creators, political leaders and others accountable.’

The Representation Project charges licensing fees ranging from $49 to $599, which have garnered nearly $1.5 million in revenue for the group since 2012, tax records show. However, it’s unclear how much of the payments came from the schools, as they also license materials to individuals and corporations. 

The Representation Project holds the licenses for ‘The Mask You Live In,’ ‘The Great American Lie,’ and ‘Fair Play,’ while Siebel Newsom’s for-profit that produces the films, Girls Club Entertainment, holds the license for ‘Miss Representation.’ The Representation Project pays Girls Club Entertainment for that movie’s distribution and public performance rights. 

The Representation Project, meanwhile, previously received scrutiny after The Sacramento Bee reported that several of its publicly disclosed donors were also trying to influence Gov. Newsom. 

The nonprofit also recently operated while out of compliance in California. While it’s unclear exactly when the nonprofit slipped into delinquency, a rejected filing in the state charitable database from nearly one year ago was the last to appear as of Jan. 11.

Delinquent nonprofits cannot operate or solicit funds as they remain out of good standing. Still, The Representation Project moved forward after its rejected annual filing and throughout 2022, including holding lavish fundraising events, Fox News Digital reported last week. 

However, on Jan. 12, the day Fox News Digital published its report, The Representation Project scrambled to file paperwork to the attorney general’s office, which was immediately processed and pushed them back into good standing, filings show. Typically, the process can take days or even months. 

The Representation Project did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. 

A political action committee known as Ready for Ron said Thursday it plans to spend more than $3 million in the coming months to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis’ already prominent national profile and organize a grassroots campaign should the Florida Republican launch a bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

But DeSantis, who in November was overwhelmingly re-elected and is focused on Florida’s legislative session as his second term gets underway, has nothing to do with this PAC. And his political team is pointing to a memo from last summer that said contributions to the non-affiliated PAC ‘do not benefit Governor DeSantis or his re-election.’

A source close to the governor’s political operation told Fox News ‘this doesn’t help Ron DeSantis. It’s a grift — plain and simple.’

The memo from DeSantis’ team highlighted that the committee ‘is apparently engaging in an aggressive media campaign to promote itself, running political ads and actively soliciting contributions from supporters of Governor DeSantis.’

‘In reality, the PAC is actively taking financial resources away from Governor DeSantis and his re-election efforts. While possibly well-intentioned, these types of organizations tend to cannibalize support that would normally be offered to the candidate directly,’ DeSantis 2022 re-election campaign legal counsel Benjamin Gibson argued in the memo.

Ready for Ron formed in May and includes veteran Republican consultant Ed Rollins as its chief strategist. On Thursday, it filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission disclosing that it intends to spend $3.3 million over the next six months on a national TV ad campaign and on phone, mail and digital promotions.

The governor, a former congressman, saw his popularity soar among conservatives across the country the past three years, courtesy of his forceful pushback against coronavirus pandemic restrictions and his aggressive actions as a conservative culture warrior going after media and corporations.

DeSantis for over a year routinely dismissed talk of a 2024 White House race as he focused on his gubernatorial re-election. But he’s dropped some hints the past two months of a possible presidential bid, starting with his re-election victory speech in November.

The governor, who has rivaled and even eclipsed former President Donald Trump in some 2024 polling, has already pushed legislation in the opening days of his second term that is popular with conservatives in Florida and nationwide. And, as Fox News first reported, he’s got a memoir, ‘The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,’ publishing next month. Writing a book is a rite of passage for many potential and actual presidential candidates.

‘I don’t think he’s going to pay attention to federal politics until after the legislative session is over. But other potential candidates are organizing now. There’s a window of time here where things have to get done,’ Dan Backer, a lawyer and counsel to Ready for Ron, told Fox News.

‘We’re putting out our messaging that [President} Biden is the problem and Ron is the best solution out there,’ Backer said. He added that his group is ‘building a large grassroots infrastructure to help nominate and elect him. We’re putting out the message and building the grassroots that he’ll need when we are successful at convincing him to run.’

But Backer, asked about the 2022 memo, said that the committee ‘didn’t spend a single penny trying to re-elect him as governor because we weren’t interested in doing that and he didn’t need the help. The polls were clear. Everything we’re doing is focused on building this infrastructure for him to run for president.’

Political committees, such as Ready for Ron, are prohibited under longstanding federal rules from either coordinating or contributing directly to a candidate or his or her campaign. The group is one of two non-affiliated committees urging DeSantis to run for president, along with a super PAC named Ron to the Rescue.

The Pentagon announced Thursday that it is sending an additional $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including 90 Stryker combat vehicles for the first time and another 59 Bradley fighting vehicles. 

The latest package will also replenish the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, and Avenger air defense systems, which the Pentagon says will ‘counter a range of short and medium range threats and bolster Ukraine’s layered air defense.’ 

Missing from the latest package are M1 Abrams tanks, which Kyiv has been asking for in recent months. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared frustrated over a ‘lack of specific weaponry’ at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland on Wednesday. 

‘There are times where we shouldn’t hesitate or we shouldn’t compare when someone says, ‘I will give tanks if someone else will also share his tanks,” Zelenskyy said through a translator. 

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week that the British will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, upping the pressure on the U.S. to send Abrams tanks and Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks. 

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and other lawmakers across the political spectrum have voiced support for sending U.S. tanks to Ukraine. 

‘Now, it is the case that Germany’s tanks are a little bit better suited for Ukraine’s army and their supply and logistics systems,’ Cotton told Dana Perino on ‘America’s Newsroom’ on Thursday. 

‘But I’m confident, given the weapons systems we’ve already provided to Ukraine, that we could also support U.S. Abrams-made tanks going into Ukraine as well.’ 

The latest package of aid to Ukraine comes the day before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to meet in Germany with defense ministers from allied nations. 

The U.S. has sent more than $26.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. 

Thursday’s package also includes 350 Humvees, 53 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, three million rounds of small arms ammunition, and 2,000 anti-armor rockets. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a state law on Thursday that prevents local officials from implementing restrictions on gun and ammunition sales. 

Florida passed a law in 1987 that preempts cities and counties from creating restrictions on guns that go beyond state law, then added civil penalties and fines for local officials who violate that law in 2011. 

Several local governments challenged the penalty provision of the law after 17 people were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Former Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who left office earlier this month, joined multiple municipalities in suing the state. 

The penalty provision calls for a fine of up to $5,000 against any local official for ‘knowing and willful’ violations of the statute. 

In a 4-1 ruling, the Florida Supreme Court ruled against those local officials, with the majority writing that ‘local governments have no lawful discretion or authority to enact ordinances that violate state preemption.’

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called the ruling a ‘big win’ on Thursday. 

‘Our attorneys fought hard to make sure local governments can’t trample on your 2nd Amendment rights,’ she tweeted. 

Conservative TV and radio host Larry Elder on Thursday took aim at a new proposal by San Francisco’s reparations committee to pay each Black longtime residents $5 million – while warning that the movement in support of reparations is growing as young people are being ‘indoctrinated’ into its supporting narrative.

‘I think the movement is growing,’ Elder told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘Young woke people are being indoctrinated into believing that systemic racism, structural racism, historical racism is why black people are underachieving.’

Elder, who previously ran for governor of California, was reacting after the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which advises the city on developing a plan for reparations for Black residents, released its draft report last month to address reparations for what it considers 300 years of repression and discrimination for which Black Americans deserve compensation. It cites government policies, Jim Crow laws and redlining for causing the wealth gap between white and black communities.

‘While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement,’ the draft states.

SAN FRANCISCO REPARATIONS PROPOSAL MAKES WAVES: ‘AMERICA MUST ADMIT ITS SIN’.

The draft plan includes a long list of financial recommendations for Black San Francisco residents, including a one-time, lump sum payment of $5 million to each eligible individual.

While there has been significant outrage over the proposal, Elder was not surprised by the plan originating in San Francisco.

‘My first reaction is ‘what would you expect from that city?’’ he quipped

Elder defined reparations as a ‘fraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who were never slaves.’ He also highlighted the connection between Democrats and both slavery and oppressive systems like Jim Crow.

‘They were also the party of Jim Crow. All of the Southern governors and senators were the ones supporting Jim Crow…A greater percentage of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act in the House and the Senate than the Democrats. Democrats founded the KKK, I don’t say the Democratic Party, but Democrats founded the KKK. So Democrats are the ones who ought to be apologizing for slavery, for Jim Crow not anybody else.’

Elder argued that the money would do nothing to solve the underlying issues facing Black Americans, such as the breakdown of the family, and would only serve to exacerbate racial disharmony.

‘So the money won’t do anything other than anger people who are on the hook for paying them with nothing to do with the conditions I just mentioned and will create a great deal of racial strife and tension in America and will create a desire for other people who feel they’ve been warned for money as well.’

He noted that women could have a case for reparations due to their exclusion from the right to vote until the 20th century.

‘You could argue that women were shafted out of a lot of social benefits and financial benefits by not having the right to vote until early in the 20th century. So virtually every group can make a case why that group is entitled to something. When do we stop? How do we stop? Where do we stop?’

He noted that reparations were once a fringe idea that has caught on dramatically in recent years, along with other ideas to rectify past wrongs: ‘Whoever said compound interest is the greatest force in the universe, never encountered white guilt,’ he quipped.

As for how people can be helped to succeed in life, Elder’s advice was simple:

‘For the most part, if you work hard, invest in yourself, avoid the criminal justice system, don’t have a kid before you’re 20, get married first — you will not be poor. And that’s what we ought to be telling people instead of ‘you’re owed something even though you’re not the one who picked cotton, you’re not the one who suffered because of Jim Crow, you certainly we’re not the ones who were slaves. 

‘The mentality is you are entitled to something. You are owed something. And that’s probably the most damaging thing of all.’

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar and William La Jeunesse contributed to this report.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., filed for re-election on Thursday afternoon, just over two months after winning her last election.

Ocasio-Cortez will run for re-election in the heavily Democratic 14th Congressional District in New York, which she has won by wide margins previously, according to newly filed documents with the Federal Election Commission.

In November, she cruised to victory and beat Republican Tina Forte by a margin of 70.6% to 27.5%.

Ocasio-Cortez became a Congresswoman in 2018 following her upset defeat of Democratic incumbent Joseph Crowley in the district’s Democratic primary. She went on to win the district’s general election in 2018.

While the progressive lawmaker supports progressive policies such as Medicare for all, she hasn’t been afraid of bucking President Biden to accomplish those goals.

In October 2022, Ocasio-Cortez criticized Biden during an episode of ‘Pod Save America’ for not including illegal immigrants in his pardon for people federally convicted of simple marijuana possession.

‘I can at least say with Latino voters, we’ve never tried as a party. The Democratic Party has not tried in terms of Latino electorates. And, I mean, where’s our Dream Act, where is our immigration reform. And even recently with President Biden’s marijuana executive order, I very much applaud that he went there, but he exempted people who were convicted if they were convicted while they were undocumented,’ Ocasio-Cortez said on the podcast.