The population of butterflies in the U.S. is declining at a concerning rate, according to new research published in the journal Science.
The overall number of the vital pollinators has decreased by more than a fifth this century, the scientists said, raising concerns about long-term impacts.
The most significant population declines occurred in the southwestern region, which includes Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
While butterflies have been the focus of extensive study, most analyses have either been limited in geographic scope or drawn from a single monitoring program. In a significant effort to address this gap, researchers analyzed data from over 12.6 million individual butterflies collected from more than 76,000 surveys across 35 monitoring programs.
Their findings indicate a troubling trend: between 2000 and 2020, total butterfly abundance across the contiguous United States dropped by 22% among the 554 species recorded.
The decline was widespread, with 13 times as many species experiencing decreases in population as those that saw increases.
This pervasive trend across all regions underscores the urgent need for protective measures to prevent further losses of butterfly populations.
Scientists said factors including habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change have led to the decline.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer.
Where did this all come from, though?
How we came to move the clock forward in the spring, and then push it back in the fall, is a tale that spans over more than a century one that's driven by two world wars, mass confusion at times and a human desire to bask in the sun for a long as possible.
There's been plenty of debate over the practice, but about 70 countries about 40% of those across the globe currently use what Americans call daylight saving time.
While springing the clocks forward "kind of jolts our system," the extra daylight gets people outdoors, exercising and having fun, says Anne Buckle, web editor at timeanddate.com, which features information on time, time zones and astronomy.
"The really, really awesome advantage is the bright evenings, right?" she says. "It is actually having hours of daylight after you come home from work to spend time with your family or activities. And that is wonderful."
Here are some things to know so you'll be conversant about the practice of humans changing time:
How did this all get started?
In the 1890s, George Vernon Hudson, an astronomer and entomologist in New Zealand, proposed a time shift in the spring and fall to increase the daylight. And in the early 1900s, British homebuilder William Willett, troubled that people weren't up enjoying the morning sunlight, made a similar push. But neither proposal gained enough traction to be implemented.
Germany began using daylight saving time during World War I with the thought that it would save energy. Other countries, including the United States, soon followed suit. During World War II, the U.S. once again instituted what was dubbed "war time" nationwide, this time year-round.
In the United States today, every state except Hawaii and Arizona observes daylight saving time. Around the world, Europe, much of Canada and part of Australia also implement it, while Russia and Asia don't currently.
Inconsistency and mass confusion
After World War II, a patchwork of timekeeping emerged across the United States, with some areas keeping daylight saving time and others ditching it.
"You might have one town has daylight saving time, the neighboring town might have daylight saving time but start it and end it on different dates and the third neighboring town might not have it at all," says David Prerau, author of the book "Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time."
At one point, if riders on a 35-mile (56-kilometer) bus ride from Steubenville, Ohio, to Moundsville, West Virginia, wanted their watches to be accurate, they'd need to change them seven times as they dipped in and out of daylight saving time, Prerau says.
So in 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which say states can either implement daylight saving time or not, but it has to be statewide. The act also mandates the day that daylight saving time starts and ends across the country.
Confusion over the time change isn't just something from the past. In the nation of Lebanon last spring, chaos ensued when the government announced a last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some institutions made the change and others refused as citizens tried to piece together their schedules. Within days, the decision was reversed.
"It really turned into a huge mess where nobody knew what time it was," Buckle says.
What would it be like if we didn't change the clocks?
Changing the clocks twice a year leads to a lot of grumbling, and pushes to either use standard time all year, or stick to daylight saving time all year often crop up.
During the 1970s energy crisis, the U.S. started doing daylight saving time all year long, and Americans didn't like it. With the sun not rising in the winter in some areas till around 9 a.m. or even later, people were waking up in the dark, going to work in the dark and sending their children to school in the dark, Prerau says.
"It became very unpopular very quickly," Prerau says.
And, he notes, using standard time all year would mean losing that extra hour of daylight for eight months in the evenings in the United States.
A nod to the early adopters
In 1908, the Canadian city of Thunder Bay then the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur changed from the central time zone to the eastern time zone for the summer and fall after a citizen named John Hewitson argued that would afford an extra hour of daylight to enjoy the outdoors, says Michael deJong, curator/archivist at the Thunder Bay Museum.
The next year, though, Port Arthur stayed on Eastern time, while Fort William changed back to central time in the fall, which, predictably, "led to all sorts of confusion," deJong says.
Today, the city of Thunder Bay is on Eastern time, and observes daylight saving time, giving the area, "just delightfully warm, long days to enjoy" in the summer, says Paul Pepe, tourism manager for Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.
The city, located on Lake Superior, is far enough north that the sun sets at around 10 p.m. in the summer, Pepe says, and that helps make up for their cold dark winters. Residents, he says, tend to go on vacations in the winter and stay home in the summer: "I think for a lot of folks here, the long days, the warm summer temperatures, it's a vacation in your backyard."
Women across the world will call for equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice and decision-making jobs during demonstrations marking International Women's Day on Saturday.
Officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977, International Women's Day is commemorated in different ways and to varying degrees in places around the world. Protests are often political and at times violent rooted in women's efforts to improve their rights as workers.
Demonstrations are planned from Tokyo to Mexico City, and this year's global theme is "Accelerate Action," coming at a moment where many activists worry that the current political environment may result in a backsliding on many of the rights they've long fought for. One in four countries reported a backlash against women's rights last year, according to U.N. data.
Here is what to know about the March 8 global event:
What is International Women's Day?
International Women's Day is a global celebration and a call to action marked by demonstrations, mostly of women, around the world, ranging from combative protests to charity runs. Some celebrate the economic, social and political achievements of women, while others urge governments to guarantee equal pay, access to health care, justice for victims of gender-based violence and education for girls.
It is an official holiday in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Russia and Cuba, the only one in the Americas.
As in other aspects of life, social media plays an important role during International Women's Day, particularly by amplifying attention to demonstrations held in countries with repressive governments toward women and dissent in general.
When did it start and why does it fall on March 8?
While the idea behind a women's day originated in the U.S. with the American Socialist Party in 1909, it was a German feminist who pushed for a global commemoration during an international conference of socialist women held in 1910 in Copenhagen. The following year, events across Europe marked the day, and during World War I, women used it to protest the armed conflict, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.
International Women's Day is observed on March 8 after a massive protest in Russia on Feb. 23, 1917, that led to the country's eventual withdrawal from the war. At the time, Russia had not adopted the Gregorian calendar and still used the Julian calendar.
"On Feb. 23 in Russia, which was March 8 in Western Europe, women went out on the streets and protested for bread and peace," said Kristen Ghodsee, professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "The authorities weren't able to stop them, and then, once the men saw that the women were out on the streets, all of the workers started coming and joining the women."
The U.N. began commemorating the holiday in 1975, which was International Women's Year, and its General Assembly officially recognized the day two years later.
How is it celebrated across the world?
Women in Eastern Europe have long received flowers on March 8 and sometimes even gotten the day off from work. But chocolates and candy can come across as belittling gestures, showing a lack of understanding of the struggles driving women to protest, particularly in regions where protests have been combative.
In Turkey, women in 2023 braved an official ban on an International Women's Day march in Istanbul and protested for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detain dozens of people.
In Mexico, which hosts one of the region's biggest marches, celebrations this year are marked by sharp contrasts. While the country celebrates its first female president, many also mourn victims of stark violence against women including femicide. In Mexico and Latin America, soaring rates of violence against women and persistent machismo often leave tension simmering on March 8 as protesters demand justice.
Globally, a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a family member or partner, according to U.N. figures, and women being exposed to conflict has significantly jumped over the past decade.
What does the future hold for March 8?
Ghodsee said commemorating International Women's Day is now more important than ever, as women have lost gains made in the last century, chief among them the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a nationwide right to abortion, which ended constitutional protections that had been in place nearly 50 years.
The U.S. decision on abortion has reverberated across Europe's political landscape, forcing the issue back into public debate in some countries at a time when far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence.
Officers had been sent to the Holiday Inn Express on Baldwin Road at 10:45 p.m. Friday, March 7, after a report of a possible domestic violence.
“Officers arrived on the scene and heard two gunshots while in the hallway approaching the room,” Auburn Hills police posted on Facebook. “Officers immediately entered the room and found a 34-year-old white female deceased, a 33-year-old white male deceased, and a 3-year-old white female unharmed.”
Early investigation leads police to believe the man, a Vassar resident, shot the woman, a Saginaw resident, and then shot himself, officials said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the (girl) was taken to an area hospital and later released to a family member,” police said.
If anyone witnessed the pair or has information about them or what happened, they are asked to call police at 248-370-9460.
Police described the situation as “an isolated incident between the two deceased individuals; no one else was injured or involved in the altercation.”
Police said they would not immediately release their named.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office crime lab assisted, and the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct autopsies.
Longtime Macomb County resident John Bingham Jr. said police officers have always been near and dear to him.
Bingham served as a Detroit reserve police officer for 10 years, mostly out of the 5th Precinct, and as a police constable in Clinton Township for eight years. He remembers his early years from 1970-1980 in Detroit with great fondness.
“At the time I was an insurance claims investigator and I normally worked as a Detroit Police Reserve Officer on weekends,” said Bingham. “You really learned a lot about making split second decisions that your life depended on.”
Bingham, who recently moved from Sterling Heights to a long term care facility in Troy because he has stage 4 liver cancer, donated a 32-caliber Ward & Sons pistol, made in England in 1895 and a 1930s claw handcuff to the Sterling Heights Police Department.
The items are displayed in a handmade case that can be hung on the wall.
“The revolver is the same type of pocket pistol the Scotland Yard detectives would have carried in their back pocket at that time,” said Bingham. “The claw handcuff was used for detectives to march a prisoner from the jail to the court and if the prisoner got too rambunctious and tried to escape, a twist of the ratchet could break his wrist or at least cause a great deal of pain.”
When Bingham found out he needed to move to a long term care facility, he began selling off his collection of classic weapons. But the two items he presented to the Sterling Heights Police Department on March 1 are special — the pistol was a gift from his father and the handcuff was used by his great uncle who was a detective.
“As a resident, I just wanted to do something to show my appreciation for the police,” Bingham said. “I’m stuck here so I wanted to do this.”
The presentation was facilitated by the Sterling Heights and Royal Oak Lions clubs. Bingham has been a Lions Club member for 25 years, starting in Metamora and moving to Pontiac, then Sterling Heights, and finally Royal Oak.
Bingham said he was attracted to the Lions Club because of his brother, who lost an eye when he was 8-years-old due to a medical condition.
Sterling Heights Police Sgt. Micheal Zawojski and Detective Maureen Merpi, along with police comfort dog Toby, received the special items March 1 at Regency at Troy care center with members of both the Royal Oak and Sterling Heights Lions clubs in attendance.
“The donation of the antique firearm and handcuffs by Mr. Bingham is greatly appreciated,” said Zawojski. “It’s not every day we receive pieces of history like this, and it’s amazing to see how law enforcement tools have evolved over time.
“John’s dedication to both policing and the community is truly appreciated, and we’re proud to showcase these artifacts at the department.”
John Bingham Jr. with Sterling Heights Police Sgt. Micheal Zawojsky, Officer Larry Reynolds, and Detective Maureen Merpi with comfort dog Toby.
(PHOTO Dawn DeClark)
The Southfield Parks & Recreation Department will host Winter Fest on Sunday, March 9 from 24:30 p.m. at the Southfield Sports Arena, 26000 Evergreen Road.
The family event will feature ice skating, a rock climbing wall, horse-drawn carriage rides and marshmallow roasting. Oakland County Parks Naturalists will also be on site with nature crafts. The Southfield Police Department and Southfield Public Library will also be participating with community resources and giveaways.
Admission is $4/Southfield resident and $5/non-resident. Pre-registration is suggested. For more information, call the Parks & Recreation Information Desk at (248) 796-4620.
OMAHA, Neb. — Looking forward to more evening sunlight thanks to daylight saving time this weekend?
Many in the golf industry like the time change, too, and they are pushing to make that annual switch permanent.
The move is intended to encourage more evening golf and to stave off efforts to establish permanent standard time, which would leave less time for an evening on the links. And it is those late afternoon players who tend to buy food and drinks in the clubhouse.
“We would lose 100 tee times a day if daylight saving time goes away,” said Connor Farrell, general manager of Stone Creek Golf Course in Omaha, Nebraska. “Switching to permanent standard time would cost us $500,000 a year.”
Golf played a big role in daylight savings time
Golf has deep roots in the history of daylight saving time, which begins for most states at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks “spring forward” by one hour. Some credit goes to William Willett, a British builder and avid golfer who in 1905 published a pamphlet advocating for moving clocks ahead in April and returning them back to their regular settings in September. The U.S. adopted a version of that during World War I and again in World War II.
Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that set up the biannual time change, and lobbying efforts by the golf industry are largely credited for Congress expanding daylight saving time by a month in the mid-1980s.
Lawmakers try to make standard time permanent
But for as long as it has been around, the constant clock adjusting has drawn the ire of Americans weary of losing an hour of sleep in the spring only to be faced with the early onset of darkness in the fall. That exhaustion has led to hundreds of bills introduced in nearly every state over the years to halt the practice.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in the last six years, 20 states have passed measures calling for a switch to year-round daylight saving time, many at the cajoling of golf industry lobbyists. But while states could switch to permanent standard time — as Arizona and Hawaii have done — Congress would need to change the law to allow permanent daylight saving time.
That hindrance — along with arguments that permanent standard time would improve sleep quality and foster safer morning commutes — has seen more states consider opting out of daylight saving time. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills this year to make standard time permanent.
Nebraska is among several states considering competing bills to make either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. That drew Joe Kohout, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Golf Alliance, to testify in favor of year-round daylight saving time.
Late afternoon golf leagues account for up to 40% of the annual revenue of some Nebraska courses, Kohout said, while a majority of golf instructors reported that nearly 50% of their lessons are taught after 4 p.m.
Under permanent standard time, “Nebraska’s golf courses will lose revenue, be forced to raise prices, and in some cases could be driven out of business,” he said.
The Utah Golf Association is also fighting a bill to make standard time permanent.
“The argument that changing clocks twice a year is an inconvenience does not outweigh the year-round benefits of having more usable daylight hours in the evenings,” it posted on social media.
In Indiana, golf course owner Linda Rogers succeeded in lobbying the Legislature to institute daylight saving time in 2006. Now a state senator, Rogers is fighting an effort to return to permanent standard time.
“Daylight savings time allows someone that, you know, worked until 5 o’clock to come out and still play at least nine holes,” she said. “And it’s not just golf. There are so many outdoor activities that people want to be outside for and enjoy later in the summertime.”
Golf course owners like the status quo
The National Golf Course Owners Association, which has about 4,000 members, recently polled stakeholders on the matter. The vast majority favored either permanent daylight saving time or the status quo of changing the clocks, said CEO Jay Karen. Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time.
“If standard time was to be made permanent, thousands of courses would be harmed by that,” Karen said.
Even so, Karen’s group is not advocating for a change to permanent daylight saving because it could hurt hundreds of courses that cater to early morning golfers, he said. Those include courses in retirement communities, vacation resorts where late tee times interfere with dinner plans and Sun Belt courses where extreme late-day heat sees golfers favoring early tee times.
“We feel like status quo is no harm, no foul,” Karen said.
Republican Iowa state Rep. John Wills introduced a bill this year to make the change to permanent daylight savings. But he has been under pressure to amend the bill to permanent standard time.
Wills was considering it until he heard arguments on how that change could affect golf.
’“I think I might push back in the future and say, you know, the golf industry needs this,” he said.
A golfer shields away the sun after hitting a drive at the Columbus Park golf course in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on Aug. 17, 2023. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
A history of aerobiology would normally be a book that would have little interest beyond the science community. But in “Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breath,” Carl Zimmer transforms the topic into something that reads like a combination of detective and horror stories.
Zimmer creates a highly relevant and gripping history of the study of the air that spans from Louis Pasteur holding a glass globe on a glacier to scientists racing to fight COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The book shows what a vital role the science of airborne life has played in the fight against COVID, influenza and other diseases. Zimmer also introduces readers to figures little known to the mass public who have played a role in the field’s evolution.
They include William Firth Wells, a pioneer in aerobiology whose work was crucial in understanding how airborne diseases spread, especially during the pandemic.
Zimmer’s book also shows how the work of Wells and other scientists was distorted into something that was used as the basis of biological weapons.
Using the outbreak among a Washington state choir, Zimmer chillingly describes how COVID-19 spread through the air and the frustrating rifts among health officials during the pandemic about addressing to the public that the virus was airborne.
As Zimmer puts it, the pandemic “made the ocean of gases surrounding us visible.” His book is a key guide for understanding that ocean.
While deployed in Kosovo in May 2024, U.S. Army Reserve physical therapy assistant Elvia Azuara saw many stray cats running around one of the bases — including a sweet little black and white female kitty, known mostly as Fent.
Azuara noticed her one day during lunch and she fed fries to Fent. Soon, this became a regular bonding activity for them. “I guess she knew my routine,” Azuara said in an interview with Stacker. “Whenever I was there, she would just pop up out of nowhere and she would wait for her fries.”
But four months later, in October, Azuara got word that her deployment was ending — and she was devastated to leave the kitty, especially as winter approached. And that’s where Paws of War’s “War Torn Pups & Cats” program stepped in.
Drazen Zigic // Shutterstock
Ollie profiled the work of the U.S. nonprofit, which reunites military personnel with the animals they bonded with while serving overseas. Founded by Robert Misseri in 2014, Paws of War has helped rescue over 5,000 dogs and cats for nearly 1,000 veterans. The organization filled an increasing need for officers in the Air Force, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and Army Reserves who served overseas, bonded with a dog or a cat, and didn’t want to leave them behind in an uncertain situation.
The organization serves a dual purpose by reuniting service members grappling with the aftermath of war with animals needing care. And for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, their furry companions not only bring joy but also help them heal.
“We have troops all over the world and the sacrifices that those people make is pretty great,” said Paws of War volunteer Gary Baumann, who volunteers with the “War Torn Pups & Cats” program. “We feel like asking them to leave these animals behind is a sacrifice they shouldn’t have to make,” he told Stacker.
Jaromir Chalabala // Shutterstock
High costs but high rewards
Azuara heard about the program from service members who had previously been deployed at the base. After she bonded with Fent, she submitted her application to bring the kitty home to the U.S.
“I was a little skeptical at the beginning, to be honest, because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know why would they do it for free,’” she said, “but I don’t lose anything by just checking it out.”
The “War Torn Pups & Cats” program costs nothing for service members—donors primarily fund it. In 2023, Paws of War raised over $4 million from contributions and grants.
After a soldier like Azuara applies, Paws of War volunteers and staff members all around the world team up to work on the logistics, exploring how possible it is to bring the pet to the United States. Dogs and cats need to see a qualified veterinarian for documentation and rabies vaccines before traveling internationally, but sometimes that vet is located hours away. The care can also vary in cost, depending on local currency and pricing.
“Recently we had a dog in Africa and we’ve done a few from bases there,” Baumann said. “It literally takes a donkey cart, a boat, couple cars and then, usually a motorcycle, something that can go through a little bit of brush to get these the dogs or cats to the city where we can get them to a vet and start processing them.”
The most expensive part of the process is transporting animals to the U.S. It often involves flying them in a plane as cargo, which can cost around $4,000 or more. The pet also must enter the country at a government-authorized airport.
For instance, cats from other countries can enter the U.S. through several airports, but the CDC only allows dogs from high-risk rabies countries to enter through six, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Los Angeles International Airport.
For the “War Torn” program, the expense is worth it for the organization, its soldiers, and the animals. Dogs and cats are believed to be capable of more complex emotions than most people realize and their reunions with the officers they bonded with may mean just as much to them as it does to the human.
For Azuara, the bond was as strong as ever. Three weeks after she put in her application, the program contacted her in November 2024 with good news: Fent was ready to travel to the U.S. and live with her.
The cat flew from Kosovo and entered the U.S. through JFK airport, eventually making it to Azuara’s home in Austin, Texas. Their reunion at the airport meant a lot to Azuara, who worried the kitty might forget her or not get along with her two dogs. But Fent — who Azuara renamed Frenzy — adjusted to her new home right away. Frenzy doesn’t get to eat fries anymore, but enjoys her proper cat food.
Now, Azuara is training to join the Travis County EMS. Having Frenzy, a major part of her overseas experience, in Texas has helped her readjust to the U.S.
“She’s definitely one of my huge grounding tools, when I was over there,” Azuara said. “When the situations were really stressful, she was something that would brighten up my day. And when I came back it’s really hard to transition and acclimate back into civilian life, but having her, it was kind of like having a little piece of where I was and a little reminder that, hey, it’s going to be okay.”
Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Elisa Huang. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
This story originally appeared on Ollie and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
The cost of child care now exceeds the price of college tuition in 38 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.
The left-leaning think tank, based in Washington, D.C., used 2023 federal and nonprofit data to compare the monthly cost of infant child care to that of tuition at public colleges.
The tally increased five states since the pandemic began. EPI’s last analysis relied on 2020 data, which showed child care costs outstripped college costs in 33 states and Washington, D.C., said EPI spokesperson Nick Kauzlarich.
The organization released a state-by-state guide on Wednesday showing the escalating cost of child care. Average costs range from $521 per month in Mississippi to as much as $1,893 per month in Washington, D.C., for households with one 4-year-old child, EPI found.
The analysis also found child care costs have exceeded rent prices in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
EPI leaders said child care is unaffordable for working families across the country, but especially for low-wage workers, including those who provide child care.
“This isn’t inevitable — it is a policy choice,” Katherine deCourcy, EPI research assistant, said in a news release. “Federal and state policymakers can and should act to make child care more affordable, and ensure that child care workers can afford the same quality of care for their own children.”
The organization highlighted New Mexico as a case study on the growing challenge facing families.
There, the average annual cost of infant care exceeds $14,000 — or nearly $1,200 a month, the group said. Care for a four-year-old costs nearly $10,000 per year — or over $800 a month.
While experts often consider housing as a family’s single largest expense, EPI found New Mexico’s annual infant care costs outpace rent by over 10%. Child care is out of reach for about 90% of New Mexico residents, according to the federal government’s definition of affordability, which is no more than 7% of a family’s income.
Advocates often call for universal preschool programs as a way to provide quality, free child care. EPI noted a 2022 constitutional amendment approved by New Mexico voters guaranteeing a right to early childhood education. That created an annual fund of about $150 million to help subsidize early childhood programs.
“New Mexico’s investments mark an important step toward affordable child care, but investments like this are needed across the country,” EPI argued in a Wednesday blog post.
Child care worker Marci Then helps her daughter, Mila, 4, put away toys to get ready for circle time at the Little Learners Academy in Smithfield, R.I. A new study highlights the high cost of child care. (TNS)
When you start a small business, there’s one thing you need more than anything else: money. However, getting money to fund a business has been challenging for women, particularly women of color.
While women continue to make strides in raising more venture capital, they still only garnered just 2% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the U.S.
To source money for their new businesses, women need to look at multiple funding avenues. As NEXT points out, one opportunity is small business grants for women, which can get overlooked by traditional loans and lines of credit.
insta_photos // Shutterstock
What are business grants for women?
Business grants provide money to set up or grow your business, and you don’t have to pay it back. Free money — sounds good, right?
Grant opportunities are different from business loans because you don’t need to repay them — no lenders or dealing with payback schedules.
The downside is that it can be harder to qualify for a business grant than for a small business loan. You have to be prepared to put some work into the grant application.
However, if you’re a woman starting a new business, it can be much easier to qualify for dedicated grants for women.
Federal government grants for women
The federal government offers several grant programs for small business owners. Most of them are for all small business owners, not just for women, but they are still worth checking out.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a huge database of government grants spanning over 20 federal agencies. While it’s not exclusive to small businesses or women-owned businesses, you can search for federal grants that are suitable for your business using keywords and filters.
To apply for any grants, you need to have a Unique Entity Identity Identifier (UEI) — a unique 12-character business identification number (previously, you had to provide a DUNs number). You also need to register your business with the federal government and create an account at the Grants.gov site.
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs
Typically, the Small Business Administration (SBA) does not provide grants for starting or expanding a business. However, they offer a few grants to businesses involved in medical or scientific research via the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) programs.
The Empower to Grow program
This is more of a training program than a straight grant award. However, this program is unique because it’s designed to help small business owners get on the fast track to lucrative government contracting opportunities. Even better: The federal government’s goal is to award at least 5% of all its contracting dollars to women-owned businesses annually.
State government and local grants
Small business grants can be tough to come by on a federal level. There are often more funding opportunities on a state or local government level—specifically designed for women entrepreneurs.
Small business development centers (SBDC) offer free business consulting, training and help in getting funding for your business. Sponsored by the SBA, these centers help entrepreneurs find assistance and counseling in their area.
Women’s Business Centers (WBC)
Run by the SBA, there are 168 women’s business centers nationally to help you learn how to manage your business and find more funds. Resources are often free or low-cost. Some WBCs lend money to women entrepreneurs, while others help owners find qualifying grants and loans.
Private business grants for women
These are business grants for women that private organizations and companies fund. Some of the best private grants for women starting a business are:
The Amber Grant for Women
Named in honor of Amber Wigdahl, who passed away at a young age before realizing her business dreams, the Amber Grant provides three amazing grants every month.
$10,000 grant to a woman entrepreneur. (Amber Grant)
$10,000 grant to businesses in the “idea” phase. (Startup Grant)
$10,000 grant to a set monthly business-specific category. (Business-Specific Grant)
NEXT
Business categories for Business-Specific Grants
For the Business-Specific Grant, there are 12 business categories you could be eligible for. If your business falls under these specific business categories, you automatically become eligible (once per year). Each year, one of these 12 winning business categories is given an additional grant of $25,000.
All businesses selected for one of the three monthly $10,000 grants are automatically eligible for three year-end Amber Grants ($25,000).
IFundWomen is a funding platform for women entrepreneurs that provides access to capital via crowdfunding and business grants. They offer a variety of grants, including business partnerships and crowdfunded grants. You can check for active grants and eligibility requirements.
Their universal grant application database is unique and delivers grant opportunities directly to you. When you submit your application, you get added to their database. Then, when IFundWomen brokers a grant, they match the grant criteria to their database.
If you match the program criteria, they notify you and invite you to apply. No more spending time on your application to find out you didn’t read the fine print and are ineligible.
Tory Burch Foundation
American fashion label Tory Burch has a philanthropic arm called The Tory Burch Foundation that gives out grants to women entrepreneurs. There are two grant pathways: their fellowship program and a woman of color grant program.
Fellowship program: Fellows participate in a year-long program complete with virtual education programming, options to attend in-person events and a trip to New York for a five-day workshop. Recipients also receive a $5,000 grant for business education.
The Tory Burch Foundation also partners with the Bank of America capital program to help provide more access to capital through affordable loans.
Cartier Women’s Initiative
The Cartier Women’s Initiative offers a women’s fellowship program with grants ranging from $100,000 or $30,000 to 30 regional laureates and finalists each year. It also provides executive coaching, peer-learning sessions, collective workshops, networking opportunities and other educational resources to help develop and support business needs.
Additionally, the Cartier Women’s Initiative awards several thematic grants:
Science and technology pioneer award. The award amounts are the same as the regional awards—$100,000-$30,000.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion award. This award is not disclosed and is also open to men.
Women Founders Network (WFN)
The Women Founders Network (WFN) is a nonprofit organization that provides education on entrepreneurship and investing to women and girls. Their Fast Pitch competition offers mentoring, coaching and sponsorships as part of the overall program. Aside from the $55,000+ in cash grants available for distribution, there is a cash investment potential from investors who attend the event, so it pays to sharpen your pitch skills.
digitalundivided BREAKTHROUGH program
digitalundivided is a nonprofit focused on economic growth for Black and Latinx communities through women entrepreneurs. In partnering with JPMorgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways, they launched the BREAKTHROUGH program. Upon completing the program, each company accepted to the program will receive a $5,000 grant to invest in their business.
This program is regionally based, accepting cohorts in different cities. Check their website and social pages for information about what city they’re coming to next.
The BGV Pitch program
Got a business idea? Black Girl Ventures holds a hybrid pitch program where they coach entrepreneurs, host a pitch competition and connect founders to their network of professionals for additional support. They have several different pitch programs where applicants can win grants and stipends.
The Mama Ladder
The Mama Ladder’s High Five grant program has helped mom business owners grow since 2018. They’ve granted over $70,000 to women business owners and aim to give $1 million in grants by 2033.
EmpowerHer fund
This grant is for women-led organizations that benefit women and girls in New York City. Every quarter, they grant a business $1,000.
Microgrants for woman-owned businesses
Galaxy Grants
Hidden Star, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping minority and women entrepreneurs nationwide offers the Galaxy Grant. Entrants have the chance to win a grant of $2,450.
Kitty Fund Mompreneur business grant
Created in honor of Mother’s Day and Founder’s First CEO Kim Folsom’s mother, the Kitty Fund makes microinvestments in mothers running employer-based small businesses. Totaling $25,000, this program grants ‘mompreneurs’ in the form of $1,000 microgrants.
HerRise MicroGrants
HerRise microgrants are worth $1,000 each and are open to women of color entrepreneurs. Winners are selected monthly.
The Enthuse Foundation
The Enthuse Foundation provides a variety of financial awards to help entrepreneurs with crucial business needs. They offer 10 microgrants worth $2,500 each.
Giving Joy Grants
Giving Joy grants are one-time microgrants (up to $500) for entrepreneurs. Women 18 or older from any country in the world are eligible to apply.
Additional grants and resources
While these grants are not exclusive to women, they may be useful to small business owners.
The Halstead Grant
The Halstead Grant is only for those in the jewelry industry—both women and men.
Designed to help jewelry entrepreneurs kick-start their careers, the winner gets $7,500 in grant money plus $1,000 for Halstead jewelry supplies. It’s available for early-stage businesses that have been open for three to five years.
National Association for the Self-Employed Growth Grants
The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) awards Growth Grants to members of their organization. It’s open to both women and men small business owners. Awardees will receive $4,000, which can be used for marketing, advertising, hiring employees, expanding facilities and other specific business needs.
FedEx Small Business Grant Contest
Global shipping company FedEx has a small business grant program. It awards ten U.S.-based businesses with grants of up to $50,000 and up to $4,000 in FedEx Office print and business services. One business receives the grand prize of $50,000, and several second prize recipients get $20,000 for a prize pool totaling over $300,000.
How can I get business grants for women?
You can take steps to boost your chances of success when you apply for business grants for women.
Read the application requirements carefully. Make sure you choose a grant that really fits your business, so you don’t waste time applying for a grant you are unlikely to receive.
Don’t skip any documents that the application asks you for, and don’t be late for the application deadline.
Prepare a clear business plan. Describe what your business does and exactly how the grant will help. Be as detailed as you can.
Bring in outside experts, like an accountant or a business advisor. It looks good to have an expert on your team.
Check that your business has all the necessary licenses. Make sure you have valid business insurance. It shows that you are responsible and reliable.
This story was produced by NEXT and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
Getting money to fund a business has been challenging for women, particularly women of color. (Getty Images)
It was just about 25 years ago (March 7, in fact), that Disturbed released its first album, “The Sickness.” And the rest was a kind of hard rock history.
“The Sickness” was a breakthrough success thanks to Top 10 rock hits such as “Stupify” and “Down With the Sickness” which, along with touring that included a slot on OZZFest in 2000, drove the album to five-times platinum sales. It also launched a career of more than 17 million records sold worldwide and 27 Top 10 Mainstream Rock chart tracks — a dozen of which hit No. 1, including remakes of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.”
Disturbed is celebrating “The Sickness'” 25th with a tour this year, playing all 12 tracks, including a cover of Tears For Fears’ “Shout,” in its entirety, then visiting a selection of favorites from the rest of the Chicago-formed quartet’s catalog during the rest of the show. The band is also releasing anniversary edition of the album on March 7, with 11 demos and rarities live recordings from 2000 and 2001.
And it’s not all past tense for Disturbed, either; the just before the tour began the group released a new single, “I Will Not Break,” the first taste of its follow-up to 2022’s “Divisive.”
* Frontman David Draiman says via phone that “none of us” in the band expected Disturbed to last as long or be as successful as it’s been. “We used to say, ‘I hope we get to the point where we can fill the Riviera Theaters of the world, maybe 2,000 seats. Now we’re playing arenas and packing them with 10, 15, 20,000 at a time. It’s very surreal. It never looses its luster. And it’s still amazing to experience the gradual ascent that we’ve been able to have over the course of our career. I think all of us are better at doing what we do now. We’re all better musicians at this point, all better at our individual crafts.”
* Draiman, 51, adds that “The Sickness” can be “a little cringey, parts of it, when you listen to it now. We were so raw and so green.” But guitarist Dan Donegan, 56, feels “The Sickness” clicked with audiences because it offered an original sound within the hard rock and heavy metal world at the time. “It’s all those years of playing in local bands with different musicians and trying to find the right pieces of the puzzle and finally finding the right group of guys, and writing and trying to get our own identity. We weren’t reinventing the wheel, but we weren’t trying to emulate a certain band, either. We took all of our influences and improvised and wrote the songs. We weren’t chasing anything. We weren’t writing for radio. We were just writing the music we wanted to write, and it started becoming something that was unique.”
* Draiman unwittingly gave Disturbed a sonic calling card with the animalistic scat he performed at the beginning of “Down With the Sickness.” “We were working up the music for it,” Donegan recalls, “and it had a little bit of this tribal beat and David’s listening to what we’re doing. There’s a little pause in the music after the initial drum beat and guitar and out of nowhere he goes, “wa-ka-ka-ka!” And we’re all taken aback, like ‘What the hell?’ It was just an instinct, just a reaction to this tribal beat and the riff. I remember at the time thinking it was like a Steven Tyler meets Jonathan Davis of Korn, this whole Korn twist to it. We thought it was just a scat and he’d go in and turn it into words, but it just stuck and we got used to it, and then everyone loved it.”
* Playing “The Sickness” in its entirety is also giving Disturbed a chance to dig back into some of the album’s less-celebrated tracks, playing “Conflict” for the first time since 2003, for example, or “Numb” for the first time since 2005. “We’ve played them all, but some obviously not for a long time so we really looked forward to that,” Donegan notes. “When I was rehearsing at my home and re-learning some of the one we haven’t played in years, some of the deeper tracks, it was really fun. It brought me back in time to when we were writing and recording them.”
* Draiman calls the defiant “I Will Not Break” “definitely a song I think is very needed right now. Definitely I needed it.” More, meanwhile, is coming; in fact, Disturbed plans to release a series of songs it’s working on for the next album during the rest of the year before releasing the full package most likely during 2026. “We have so many strong songs in this collection of material, so many singles contenders, we’re just gonna push ’em out bit by bit,” the frontman explains. “This body of work was so inspiring it made us want to change our strategy. We have some incredible surprises, too — not all meat and potatoes, stereotypical Disturbed, either, definitely a lot of different, left turns for us. We’ll see when those actually get to see the light of day. We can’t wait for all of it to be out.”
Disturbed, Three Days Grace and Sevendust perform at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 10 at Little Caesars Arena, 2645 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.
Disturbed performs Monday, March 10 at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena (Photo by Travis Shinn)
A Delta Air Lines landing at Wayne County Detroit Metropolitan Airport was more problematic than anticipated after the pilot was forced to abort an attempt to land.
The plane did have a safe landing on the second attempt.
According to a statement from the airline, Delta flight 1648 arrived at Metro Airport Thursday evening from Denver.
A spokeswoman did not include the number of passengers on the flight in the statement.
The statement said the pilot was instructed by air traffic control to execute a “go-around procedure.”
It did not, however, explain what a go-around procedure is and why it was necessary.
A request for a more detailed explanation for the abrupt procedure was made, but one has not yet been provided.
It appears the plane looped around, made another approach and was able to land without interference.
CLARKSTON – The host Wolves stormed back in the second half and slipped by their rivals from Lake Orion as Clarkston defeated the Dragons 59-56 in overtime to claim a D1 district title Friday night.
Trailing 32-19 at halftime, Clarkston came out in a press to start the second half, and it paid dividends. The increased defensive pressure from the Wolves started turning over Lake Orion, and Clarkston went on a 16-3 run that lasted most of the period, cutting the lead to just two points at 39-37. The Dragons managed to break the press at the end of the period for a couple of buckets, but the Wolves were back in the game after trailing most of the first half by double digits.
“The second half, I think the whole team really locked in, came together, and played as a team, for sure, and we got the job done,” senior captain Marley Mazur said. “We got in foul trouble in the first half. That kind of put us in a hole there, but I thought we dealt with it pretty well in the second half.”
Clarkston finally took the lead, 46-45, with 5:23 to play in the fourth quarter after the Wolves’ press created another turnover that led to a bucket by Elia Morgner. It was the first time the Wolves had led since 6-5 early in the first quarter.
Once Morgner gave Clarkston the lead, the game became a tight, see-saw affair the rest of the way, including when it reached overtime.
Once in the overtime, the Wolves were able to get to the free-throw line and make 6 of 8 free throws, including 4-for-4 by Elliana Robak, to seal the game as Lake Orion managed just three points in the overtime on a long jumper by Kara Veeder.
Lake Orion’s Isabel Wotlinski (24) moves around Clarkston’s Ellery Hernandez during the D1 district title game played Friday at Clarkston. Wotlinski had a game-high 22 points but the Dragons lost to the Wolves 59-56 in overtime. (KEN SWART – For MediaNews Group)
Lake Orion had taken an early lead, reeling off a 17-1 run to end the first quarter that helped build a 20-7 lead. It would eventually expand to 17 points at 29-12 midway through the second quarter. The combination of Isabel Wotlinski, Charlotte Peplowski, and Veeder carried the Dragons most of the night, but in the first half, the three could not seem to miss. Wotlinski finished with a game-high 22 points, Peoplowski had 17 points, and Veeder 11 points.
“We played a great first half, tough third quarter, tough fourth quarter. They (Clarkston) made a couple more plays than we did. Overall, I’m proud of my kids. They battled,” Lake Orion head coach Bob Brydges said.
Clarkston got a bit more balanced scoring with 16 points each by Robak and Brooklyn Covert, plus 10 points from Morgner, and eight points from Ellery Hernandez, who also keyed the press in the third quarter along with Covert.
That extra scoring depth would prove important in a game with 50 total fouls. Both teams had multiple starters in foul trouble all night and three players would foul out – two for Lake Orion and one for Clarkston.
“It was a lot on the defensive end, too. Everybody stepped up on the defensive end,” Clarkston head coach Aaron Goodnough said. “We started covering the girls that we knew were going to hurt us,” he added.
Clarkston (17-7) claims its second straight district title and moves on to face Utica Eisenhower in the regional semifinals on Monday at Lapeer High School.
“We’ve got two practices. We planned practices for the weekend,” Goodnough said. “We like our chances. We planned to at least get this far and beyond. Now that we’ve had yet another close game – we’ve been in a lot of them. We’re tested. So we get into those positions, and we don’t panic.”
Lake Orion finishes the season 13-11.
“I had nine brand-new kids. So it’s a tough situation. We’ll be better next year for it, so that now these kids have got some experience and understanding of how hard it is to win something like this. I expect to be here next year, playing them (Clarkston) again,” Brydges said. “I’m feeling pretty good about where we’re at. It was a real nice run we’ve made this last couple of weeks,” he added.
Clarkston's Brooklyn Covert (12) shoots for two of her team-high 16 points as Lake Orion's Charlotte Peplowski defends. Clarkston defeated Lake Orion 59-56 in overtime to win the D1 district championship game played Friday on its home court, advancing the Wolves to Monday's regional semifinal against Utica Eisenhower. (KEN SWART - For MediaNews Group)
The 33rd Annual Michigan Golf Show is back bigger and better than ever!
The largest consumer golf show in the country returns to the Suburban Collection Showplace March 7th- 9th bringing once a year unbelievable discounts on all things golf, name brand apparel, equipment, golf trips, and more. Highlights include contests, hands on activities, and the best deals of the year featuring exhibitors from coast to coast.
Ticket are $12 per person, children 12 & under get in free. Veterans can get in for free on Sunday. For special discounts & more information on tickets & hours visit
Theres a special bond between a teenager and their first car. For Kaitlyn Scripter, that would be the blue Hyundai Tucson she affectionately named "Gerdy."
Im really connected to my car. She has a name, her name's Gerdy, Scripter said. "All my friends know my car. I've done a lot in it."
But last week as Scripter was babysitting a neighbor, Gerdy went missing. With distinct stickers and writing, neighbors and friends reported seeing it driving around town.
Three people in school came up and were like 'hey, I saw your car driving around on 13 Mile and Crooks,' Scripter said.
Four days later, Royal Oak police found the car left behind at the scene of another stolen car on a residential street near 12 Mile and Rochester roads. The car stolen from that home was later found near 12 Mile and Main Street.
Police were also able to obtain surveillance video of the suspect walking away from the car. They've since connected the suspect to four stolen vehicles since late January.
At first, it was just three stolen cars in five days, which is a lot for us," said Lt. Rich Millard of the Royal Oak Police Department. "Then you had the surveillance video and could see it was a younger person.
Days later, police found another stolen car near 13 Mile and Crooks roads. Officers staked out the car and waited until the suspect returned to the car where he was then arrested.
That's when they learned the suspect was a local 14-year-old boy. He was using nothing but a screwdriver and a USB cord to steal the vehicles and drive them around. The relatively simple hack for Kia and Hyundai vehicles has been going viral online in recent years, with simple video instructions on how to do it.
"I could guess he (suspect) probably got it off the internet," Millard said.
I've heard from a couple of my friends it's all over Tik Tok," said Scripter. "How you can steal Hyundais and Kias.
While Gerdy is back safe and sound, the ignition was ripped out. So now for the time being, Scripter is using USB cords to start her car and drive it.
"Yeah these are my keys right now, Scripter said in reference to multiple tangled up USB cords in her car. "You can just put it in there. You have to turn it pretty hard, but it starts my whole car and you can just drive it.
Although Scripter has to fix her ignition, shes thankful Gerdy is back in one piece and shocked theres no other damage or items missing, despite a weekend joyride from a 14-year-old boy.
I was pretty surprised. Definitely thought being a young kid, there would be stuff gone," said Scripter. "The 5 dollars that were on the ground, that they would take it or anything else of value in the car, but they didn't take anything at all.
The 14-year-old has been charged with multiple felonies and is currently in custody at Oakland County Children's Village.
Local churches and organizations have been preparing for Fish Fry Fridays for weeks, and the funds raised from these meals typically go to help area nonprofits, schools and other groups.
St. Andrew's Society of Detroit kicked off their annual fish fry event at the Kilgour Scottish Centre in Troy and saw record amounts of people.
We open at 4:30 (p.m.) and weve had a line out the door the whole time," St. Andrew's Society of Detroit President Chris Mackenzie said. "We ran out of fish very early.
For the local Christian and Catholic communities, its the start of Lent. However, its also a time for anyone in the community to enjoy spending time with family and friends at the dozens of locations in our area offering fish dinners.
All the money raised from the fish dinners at the Kilgour Scottish Centre goes to local charities. All the staff filling bellies are unpaid volunteers. They say they wouldnt have it any other way.
Over at St. Anne Catholic Grade School and Church in Warren, parent and teacher volunteers run a well-oiled machine, offering both your typical sit-down dinners and drive-thru dinners as well.
Tonight has been very busy. We have not stopped since we got here. Four oclock (in the afternoon) we start getting everything ready and orders came in at 4:30 (p.m.), and it has been steady," St. Anne Catholic Grade School and Church parent volunteer Brandy Rokicki said.
With students helping and the St. Anne Mens Club spearheading the event, the church and school sold over 1,000 dinners on Friday alone, with the funds going right back to the school.
"It goes back to the Mens Club, which helps fund projects for the school, making the school the best as it can possibly be for our kids," Rokicki said.
Fish Fry Fridays will continue until Good Friday, which is right before Easter.
A South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriends parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by that method, which he saw as preferable to the electric chair or lethal injection.
Three volunteer prison employees used rifles to carry out the execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, who was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.
Sigmon killed David and Gladys Larke in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.
Sigmon's lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would cook him alive, and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would send a rush of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.
The details of South Carolina's lethal injection method are kept secret in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.
On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest.
The armed prison employees stood 15 feet from where he sat in the states death chamber the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the states unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.
The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.
The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.
A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.
Witnesses included three family members of the Larkes. Also present were Sigmons attorney and spiritual advisor, a representative from the prosecuting solicitor's office, a sheriff's investigator and three members of the news media.
Sigmon's lawyer read a closing statement that he said was one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.
Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Sigmons last meal was four pieces of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea.
The firing squad is an execution method with a long and violent history in the U.S. and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in Americas Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.
In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as All life is precious and Execute justice not people gathered outside the prison before Sigmon's execution.
Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings and also that he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness.
But McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.
Gerald Bo King, chief of the capital habeas unit in the federal public defenders office, said Sigmon used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolinas death row.
It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle, King said in a statement. But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.
In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials suspended executions for 13 years, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.
The state Supreme Court cleared the way to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be put to death, on Sept. 20, after McMaster denied him clemency. Richard Moore was executed on Nov. 1 and Marion Bowman Jr. on Jan. 31.
Going forward the court will allow an execution every five weeks.
South Carolina now has 28 inmates on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade.
Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.
Ghalib endorsed Trumps presidential campaign in September. The two met in person in September during one of Trumps campaign visits to Michigan.
Previous coverage: Hamtramck residents react to Mayor Amer Ghalib endorsing Donald Trump in September 2024 Hamtramck residents react to Mayor Amer Ghalib endorsing Donald Trump
Ghalib, an immigrant from Yemen, became the citys first Muslim mayor when he was elected in 2021. While in office, the city made headlines banning pride flags from being flown on city property, which is something that didn't sit well with some liberal voters in the city.
The city of Hamtramck is known for its large immigrant population. Hamtramck is reportedly the first Muslim-majority city in the United States and also made headlines as the first city with an all-Muslim city council.
Ghalib has been a vocal critic of Israel over its war in Gaza, and the Hamtramck City Council had passed a resolution to divest from Israel and to not support companies associated with the country.
Previous coverage: Amer Ghalib talks with Carolyn Clifford about his endorsement of Trump in September 2024 Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib explains his endorsement of Donald Trump
Ghalib also joined a group of fellow Democrats who signed a letter in February 2024 vowing to vote uncommitted during the primary. After expressing frustration with the Biden and Harris administration, Ghalib said he believed Trump could help reach a ceasefire.
Trump released a statement about Ghalibs nomination:
I am pleased to announce that Amer Ghalib will be the next United States Ambassador to Kuwait. As the Mayor of the City of Hamtramck, Michigan, Amer worked hard to help us secure a Historic Victory in Michigan. Amer earned his M.D. from the Ross University School of Medicine, and continues to serve his community as a proud healthcare professional. I know he will make our Country proud in this new role. Congratulations Amer!
Login
