House Rejects Bill To Renew Warrantless Spy Powers

Headline USA Editor
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House Rejects Bill To Renew Warrantless Spy Powers

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a bill to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which gives the federal government the power to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans, and now the spying tool is expected to lapse as its last extension will expire on Friday night.

The bill to renew Section 702 required a two-thirds majority but couldn’t even gain a simple majority as it failed in a vote of 198-218, with just seven Democrats voting in favor of the extension. Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill.

“19 Republicans withheld our votes in order to preserve Constitutionally guaranteed rights,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X. “By refusing to honor the Fourth Amendment, you’re jeopardizing the continuation of FISA. Include a WARRANT requirement for US citizens if you want Republicans to pass this bill.

Section 702, first enacted in 2008, authorizes warrantless surveillance targeting non-Americans overseas but also results in the collection of a vast amount of Americans’ communications. Those communications are retained in government databases and can be searched by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies without a warrant.

Efforts to extend Section 702 were also blocked in the Senate as Democrats said they won’t allow it to go through unless President Trump rescinds his decision to appoint Bill Pulte, who serves as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as the acting director of national intelligence.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) slammed Democrats for allowing the spy power to expire, saying they were “willing to JEOPARDIZE the safety and the security of the American people to make a cheap political point.”

President Trump has been calling for Congress to pass the Section 702 extension, even though his 2016 campaign was targeted under FISA. Earlier this year, the president said he was willing to give up his “rights and privileges” to extend the spying power, an acknowledgment that it violates civil liberties.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

 

Murder Convict Karmelo Anthony Says He’s Broke after Raising $625K

Luis Cornelio
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Murder Convict Karmelo Anthony Says He’s Broke after Raising $625K

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Karmelo Anthony, the Texas man convicted of the murder of 17-year-old track star Austin Metcalf, is pleading with taxpayers to pay for his appeal attorney despite pocketing more than half a million in a controversial online fundraiser.

In a court filing submitted after his conviction and 35-year prison sentence, 19-year-old Anthony said he was too poor to afford a new set of attorneys for the appeals process.

Public defenders are typically available for criminal defendants as they challenge their convictions, but financial hardship must be proved.

In the document, Anthony called himself a “penniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal,” according to WFAA ABC 8 News.

It is not immediately clear what issues Anthony intends to raise on appeal.

Texas law permits individuals to appeal their convictions within 30 days after their sentences are announced, according to the outlet.

The “penniless” description is at odds with the $625,000 he and his family collected through a GiveSendGo campaign.

Anthony raised the six-figure sum after his family and supporters portrayed his prosecution as an example of racial injustice. Anthony, the now-convicted aggressor, is black, while Metcalf, who died in his twin brother’s arms, was white.

GiveSendGo shut down the fundraiser after the trial concluded in a guilty conviction. The platform said in a statement that the funds were distributed to the Anthony family.

“This fundraiser was created to support pre-trial needs, and those funds were disbursed over the past year for lawful purposes including legal defense and family relocation,” the platform said in a post shared on social media and its official website.

“With that stated purpose now complete, the fundraiser has been closed and the funds will be paid out,” it added.

Anthony received his sentence after a jury found him guilty of murdering Metcalf during an altercation at a track meet in April 2025. At the time, both men were 17.

As revealed during trial testimony, Metcalf repeatedly asked Anthony to leave a tent designated for students from Memorial High School.

Anthony, a student at rival Centennial High School, responded by stabbing Metcalf in the chest.  Metcalf dropped to the ground and died in his twin brother Hunter’s arms.

Collin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Ventura told jurors that Anthony’s knife pierced through Metcalf’s chest and reached his heart. The wound was not survivable.

JD Vance Bodyguard Reportedly Arrested for Drug Deal w/ Undercover Cop

Ken Silva
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JD Vance Bodyguard Reportedly Arrested for Drug Deal w/ Undercover Cop

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree reported Thursday that two Secret Service agents have been placed on administrative leave for potentially criminal wrongdoing—one for a drug deal with an undercover cop, and another for participating in a fraternity hazing ritual that left someone hospitalized.

The agent arrested for the alleged drug deal serves on Vice President JD Vance’s security detail, according to Crabtree, who said she’s withholding the person’s name “until more details emerge about the alleged drug-related arrest.”

The agent involved in the hazing incident is an alumnus of a historically black fraternity at Miami’s Florida International University. His name is Marquez Pinder, according to Crabtree.

“Pinder allegedly oversaw or directed the paddling of pledges, which was allegedly so severe in one incident that a pledge’s kidneys were harmed and he was rushed to the hospital. The victim is now expected to make a full recovery,” Crabtree reported, citing anonymous sources.

“The alumni and other senior fraternity members performing the paddling in the hazing incident are referred to as NUPEs, which stands for ‘Negro Under Pressure Excelling,’ an acronym that Kappa Alpha Psi, a prominent historically black fraternity, has popularized, which refers to how diamonds are formed under pressure”

The two incidents are just the latest in a series of scandals plaguing the Secret Service.

In May, a Secret Service officer was reportedly arrested for public masturbation at a DoubleTree hotel near the Miami airport.

In April, a married Secret Service agent was revealed to have been having an affair with an OnlyFans star and making pornographic videos with her.

Around the same time, ABC News revealed that a Secret Service trainee was arrested for spying on his roommate, also an agent-in-training, with a hidden camera.

Before that, a Secret Service agent protecting former First Lady Jill Biden shot himself in the buttocks last month at the Philadelphia International Airport.

And earlier in the month, Crabtree reported that agent Myosoty Perez, who is a lesbian, has been suspended and is under investigation for marrying a foreign national—possibly an illegal immigrant—without declaring it. Perez was one of the agents responsible for nearly getting President Donald Trump killed at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In January, journalist James O’Keefe published a shocking report about how a Secret Service agent assigned to Vance’s security detail leaked details about his travels to one of O’Keefe’s undercover reporters.

Also in January, a Secret Service recruit shot and killed a 16-year-old in Tamarac, Florida. The 16-year-old victim was identified as Orlando Wedderburn. A woman was also grazed. The Secret Service recruit, for his part, is claiming self-defense.

According to Crabtree, Secret Service Director Sean Curran is receiving internal criticism for not doing enough to eliminate the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which were implemented starting in the Obama era.

Meanwhile, the agency is looking to hire 4,000 new employees by 2028.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Trump to Nominate US Attorney Jay Clayton as Nat’l Intelligence Boss

Headline USA Editor
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Trump to Nominate US Attorney Jay Clayton as Nat’l Intelligence Boss

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump said Thursday that he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence.

Trump announced the nomination on social media amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The job oversees the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies.

The situation has led to a standoff in Congress after Democrats said they would refuse to renew foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

Later on Thursday, Trump said he still plans to put Pulte in the role “for a little while.” Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump called Clayton an “incredible talent” and said, “nobody has better credentials.”

As the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees the most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

He took over from interim U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon, who resigned in February after refusing to carry out orders from the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. The case was eventually dropped after prosecutors from Washington submitted a request to a judge.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Trump Cancels Impending Strikes on Iran, Final Deal Pending

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Trump Cancels Impending Strikes on Iran, Final Deal Pending

(, The Center Square) Strikes planned against Iran for Thursday evening have been canceled by President Donald Trump, citing a deal with the Islamic Republic close to being finalized.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” the president posted on Truth Social.

He claims a deal is nearing final approval.

“Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others. The Naval blockade will remain in full force and effect until this transaction is finalized – time and place of the signing to be announced shortly,” Trump concluded.

The latest developments come after two nights of U.S. bombings on Iran, following an Iranian drone attack on a U.S. Army Apache helicopter Monday evening over the Strait of Hormuz. Both crew members were safely rescued and uninjured.

Earlier Thursday, Trump warned that Iran would be once again hit “hit hard,” threatening to take control of Kharg Island, a central port to the country’s oil exports.

On Wednesday, the president expressed frustration with the Iranian regime, saying it had been “tapping” the U.S. along with negotiations, saying it was too late.

“Iran is all talk and no action. The bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price,” Trump wrote.

The U.S. and Iran entered talks after a ceasefire went into effect on April 8. It was initially set for two weeks, but has since been drawn out to over two months. The U.S. and Israel began strikes against Iran Feb. 28.

ActBlue CEO Pleads the 5th Over 20 Times During Congressional Hearing

Ken Silva
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ActBlue CEO Pleads the 5th Over 20 Times During Congressional Hearing

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue’s CEO, Regina Wallace-Jones, exercised her 5th Amendment right to remain silent more than 20 times during a contentious congressional hearing Wednesday.

The Committee on House Administration comes as lawmakers investigate corruption allegations surrounding ActBlue, including the possible ‘knowing and willful’ acceptance of foreign donations.

Wallace-Jones published an op-ed in the Washington Post the morning before the hearing, explaining her decision to plead the 5th.

“Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not an admission, or even an insinuation, of guilt. It is not a retreat,” she said. “It is the only reasonable response to a proceeding that from the beginning has been about harassing a political opponent’s fundraising platform, not genuine oversight. Now it has become something far more dangerous.”

Wallace-Jones’s decision didn’t save her from the scathing remarks made by committee members, including Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wisc.

“Ms. Wallace-Jones is here today because there is significant concern that ActBlue may have allowed foreign donations on their platform, lied to Congress, and withheld responsive documents from a Congressional subpoena,” Steil said. “All three of those actions are illegal.”

Steil’s committee is continuing to probe the matter. The committee sent letters on June 2 five members of ActBlue’s Board of Directors, seeking interviews from them and asking for documents. The committee demanded answers by Tuesday.

Steil first opened an investigation into ActBlue after Wallace-Jones took over in 2023. By 2025, ActBlue’s own attorneys reportedly urged her to seek personal counsel after concerns she appeared to have misrepresented the group’s safeguards to lawmakers regarding foreign donations.

Along with allegations of receiving illegal donations, a Wall Street Journal report from May detailed the spending and raised fresh questions about Wallace-Jones’s leadership and potential legal exposure.

For example, onths after President Donald Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, ActBlue spent roughly $700,000 on a retreat at the InterContinental San Francisco. The event included hundreds of hotel rooms, while Wallace-Jones stayed in a two-story presidential suite under heavy security.

Security costs have surged to at least $2.8 million since 2023, compared to less than $16,000 between 2020 and 2022, according to The Journal.

Travel expenses also spiked, with ActBlue plowing through $4.9 million in travel costs since 2023, including $2.7 million in 2025 alone. That’s up from less than $400,000 in 2022.

New policies allow executives and board members to book first-class flights and receive largely uncapped accommodations.

Operating costs followed the same trajectory. ActBlue spent $87 million during the 2024 presidential cycle, up from the $42 million spent in 2020. ActBlue has already spent $72 million ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Dems and RINOs Threaten FISA Lapse if Trump Doesn’t Pull Pulte

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Dems and RINOs Threaten FISA Lapse if Trump Doesn’t Pull Pulte

(Headline USA) A rare lapse in a law that gives the U.S. government vast spying powers appears likely after the House failed on Thursday to temporarily extend the program, in a protest of President Donald Trump’s refusal to name a permanent head of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, who by all accounts is fiercely loyal to the president. Democrats say they won’t support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless the Republican president withdraws Pulte’s appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The House vote collapsed in bipartisan fashion, with some Republicans and nearly Democrats rejecting the temporary measure. The Senate may try its own vote later Thursday, but hopes are dimming to prevent what could be an unprecedented lapse in the surveillance tool. The law expires on Friday at midnight.

The impasse could soon result in limitations on the U.S. government’s vast spying powers.

“We can’t let them extort us,” Trump, who supports FISA despite the law being abused to spy on him, said of Democrats.

Trump has stuck with Pulte as the acting head, rebuffing demands from lawmakers for another nominee. Trump asked Congress for a short-term extension of the law to “provide time for the selection and confirmation” of a permanent director. He said he wants Pulte to begin downsizing intelligence agencies.

GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail

Congressional RINOs have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement. But he said he needs more time to do so.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republican leaders have “made our views known” to the White House.

Trump has said that he is interviewing five candidates for his pick to lead the agency permanently, after the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard.

Johnson said the president has made it very clear that Pulte will serve a “very short term — a sort of renovation role” to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

FISA will lapse at midnight Friday

Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant. Americans communicating with these foreign targets are often caught in this dragnet.

While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long claimed desire to limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew the authority. But he called Pulte’s appointment to replace Gabbard “a live hand grenade” disrupting the process.

Warner said the only way he’ll support a short-term extension of the surveillance law is if the principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, is the acting leader during the duration of that extension.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the administration that the spy tool is likely to lapse.

The administration should prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection,” they wrote in a letter.

Trump doesn’t back down on Pulte

After bipartisan pushback to Pulte’s temporary appointment, Trump said last week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.

On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as acting director — he’d also start earlier than expected, on June 19.

One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump’s ambassador to Canadaand a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Extreme Storms and Heat Rocks the Midwest, East Coast

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Extreme Storms and Heat Rocks the Midwest, East Coast

(Headline USA) Damaging storms swept through the Midwest, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and causing more than a thousand flight delays or cancellations at Chicago airports with more potentially severe weather expected Thursday.

The National Weather Service said it received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes Wednesday across northern Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Illinois. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

Weather service meteorologist Frank Pereira said the frontal system that produced the storms, including high winds and hail, was moving eastward Thursday. There was also a slight risk of severe thunderstorms in parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, where expected high heat and humidity spurred heat advisories by the weather service for Thursday and Friday.

The storms are being fueled by cool air from Canada clashing with warm, humid air from the South.

“Going forward, we’re expecting another area of severe weather to develop across portions of the central Plains, Midwest, particularly from Iowa, northern Missouri, northeastward through the Great Lakes,” Pereira said. “Again, it’s all tied into a pretty well-defined frontal system.”

Potentially dangerous heat and high humidity also was forecast Thursday and Friday for a swath of the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, where daily high record temperatures could be broken in numerous places, the weather service said. Temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit were expected, but with the humidity it could feel like 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more, the service said.

Philadelphia declared a heat health emergency for Thursday and Friday, activating cooling centers, home visits by field teams, outreach to people experiencing homelessness and other services. New York City officials were also urging residents to take precautions, including drinking plenty of water and finding a cool place to stay if they do not have air conditioning.

Wednesday storms moved into the Chicago area in the afternoon, downing trees and damaging some buildings.

The two major Chicago airports, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport, temporarily put all flights on hold in the evening due to thunderstorms. A similar ground stop was issued at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York due to thunderstorms.

By Wednesday evening, more than 1,000 flights going into and out of Chicago had been delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Air traffic appeared to return to normal Thursday morning, with only 24 flight cancellations and 34 delays nationwide, FlightAware reported.

Strong winds blew part of the roof off an apartment building in the Chicago area, forcing residents to leave, according to NBC 5 Chicago. Elsewhere, barns collapsed in Wisconsin, buildings were crushed in rural northern Missouri and some large trees and power lines were downed in other areas across the Midwest, photos and video online showed.

Around 390,000 customers had no electricity in the Midwest on Thursday. There were nearly 226,000 outages in Illinois, including around 150,000 in Cook County, while 85,000 homes and businesses were without power in Michigan, according to poweroutage.us.

Commonwealth Edison Company, which provides electric service across northern Illinois, said the storms had downed poles and wires.

“We know this is challenging and will restore service as safely and quickly as conditions allow,” the company said in a post on X.

The storms soaked Rate Field in Chicago before Wednesday night’s game between the White Sox and the Atlanta Braves.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

US Wasn’t Sure If Iran Intentionally Downed Helicopter Before Trump Ordered Strikes

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US Wasn’t Sure If Iran Intentionally Downed Helicopter Before Trump Ordered Strikes

Axios reported on Wednesday that the US still had not determined whether Iran intentionally downed a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz before the US began bombing Iran on Tuesday night.

For its part, Iran never took credit for downing the Apache, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister denied that Tehran was behind the incident, though he acknowledged something could have happened unintentionally. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also hinted that the helicopter’s downing could have been unintentional.

“Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” Araghchi wrote on X. “To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave. We prefer language of diplomacy but speak other languages too.”

Trump’s account of the incident also didn’t make much sense, as he claimed an Iranian drone ended up inside the cockpit between the two pilots, who were later rescued, but didn’t explode.

The Axios report, authored by Barak Ravid, said that while the downing of the Apache was the “trigger” of the US strikes, Trump had been growing frustrated by Iran not agreeing to his demands for a deal, suggesting he was looking for a pretext to bomb the country.

According to the US military, the two crew members of the US Apache helicopter, which was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz as part of the US enforcement of the blockade on Iranian ports, were rescued by an unmanned drone boat.

Trump on Wednesday expressed frustration with Iran, saying the country has “taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price,” and he ordered another round of strikes, as the region appears to have plunged back into full-scale war.

Over 10,000 Applicants Vie for 15 Affordable Apartments in Seattle

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Over 10,000 Applicants Vie for 15 Affordable Apartments in Seattle

(, The Center Square) More than 10,000 applicants are vying for 15 rent-reduced apartments under a new Seattle affordable housing program funded by a city tax on workers who make more than $1 million a year.

Amazon, Microsoft and other companies fought the tax, but voters approved it in a 2025 referendum.

The program was expected to create only several hundred apartments a year, as the so-called social housing developer constructed new buildings.

But the first allotment of apartments is even smaller because the social housing developer decided to buy an existing luxury apartment building and won’t require tenants to leave.

“We believe we currently have 15 vacancies to fill,” said Lilly Ann Fowler, a spokesperson for the social housing developer, in an email. ”Applicants will be notified this week.”

Fowler said the first 15 apartments will be reserved for people earning 30% of the area’s median income, which is around $34,500 for a single person.

Critics say buying existing apartment buildings won’t create new affordable housing for the poor on a larger scale.

“With only a small number of new units becoming available, it will do little to address the needs of hundreds of people seeking affordable housing,” said Shannon Affholter, the Co-Chair at the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington.

The Social Housing Developer announced last month that it purchased a 150-unit building by the Pike Place Market for around $60 million.

The building, the Elera at the Market, features some luxury units that rent for more than $3,000 a month.

Seattle Social Housing Developer interim CEO Tiffani McCoy told the independent authorities board in April that buying the then-unnamed building would help the housing organization provide housing sooner, as new construction would take several years.

Under the Social Housing model, which originated in Vienna, Austria, tenants of all income levels live in the same building, with the idea that richer tenants subsidize poorer tenants.

But even richer tenants will be getting a break under the Social Housing Developments plan.

It announced last month, when it purchased the Elara at the Market, that all rents will be frozen for two years and that hidden fees around utility charges will also be eliminated.

Affholter said the plan is helping the wrong people.

“Freezing rents for all existing tenants may also provide benefits to some households that do not face significant financial hardship, while doing little to expand access to those who are struggling most,” he said.

The authority received a tax payment of more than $115 million this year. The city started collecting the tax at the beginning of this year for the tax year 2025.

Any employer in the city that pays an employee more than $1 million a year must pay the city of Seattle five percent of the amount above that threshold under the social housing tax.

“It’s very exciting, but just remember, it takes a long time for new construction to come online, so we’re hoping by the end of 2028, early 2029, but at least we are going to be starting pre-development this year on some sites,” McCoy said in April.

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