How ‘Non-Profit’ Status Allows R&D Groups to Hire Unlimited Foreign Workers

Jose Nino
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How ‘Non-Profit’ Status Allows R&D Groups to Hire Unlimited Foreign Workers

(José Niño, Headline USA) Qualified non-profit organizations are allowed to bypass restrictions on hiring foreign workers. Research suggests that scientific groups are exploiting this loophole at the expense of the American labor force.

Activist and U.S. Senate candidate Virgil Bierschwale has spotlighted one such non-profit, Battelle Memorial Institute, for allegedly engaging in this practice. According to Biershwale, Battelle is channeling taxpayer resources away from domestic labor and into the hands of imported specialists by leveraging the federal visa system.

Battelle, based in Columbus, is among the nation’s largest non-profit research operations. It manages a constellation of high-security energy and biomedical labs across the United States, from Tennessee’s Oak Ridge to the CDC’s biological repository in Maryland.

Bierschwale observed that Battelle enjoys numerous privileges owing to its non-profit status. He noted, “Despite running massive publicly funded operations, Battelle pays zero federal taxes. Its CEO, Lou Von Thaer, earned $2.45 million last year. Other top execs make $1.1–$1.8 million per year.”

By leveraging its non-profit status, Battelle is able to bypass annual H-1B visa caps that restrict for-profit employers, opening a pipeline for foreign talent to staff labs funded almost entirely by public money.

Recent data shows Battelle filed 79 labor condition applications for H-1B positions in 2025 alone, offering median salaries of around $112,000. Battelle didn’t respond to this publication’s media inquiry about the matter.

Bierschwale’s focus on Battelle also placed the spotlight on prominent politicians, such as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who projects a tough stance on illegal immigration.

The activist observed that “Ohio is now the Midwest’s H-1B capital, not because of Big Tech, but because of Battelle and its federal contract empire.”

He added that “Jim Jordan promotes Battelle. He pushes R&D expansion, praises their lab control, and plays ‘America First’ on TV—while backing the single largest H-1B pass-through nonprofit in the U.S.”

The candidate for Texas’ U.S. senate seat detailed how this alleged scam works:
• Battelle job postings openly advertise “visa sponsorship available”
• Over 90% of their revenue comes from federal contracts
• They’re exempt from federal income tax
• Their labs span the entire country
• They cut out American researchers and import cheaper visa labor
• In return, they fund friendly politicians and quietly keep the machine running

As Headline USA previously reported, Jordan has a penchant for taking hard public stances against illegal immigration. But when it comes to legal immigration, Jordan is willing to play ball with the political establishment to expand legal immigration.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Report: 33% of American Adults Had Mental Illness or Substance Use Disorder in 2024

Headline USA Editor
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Report: 33% of American Adults Had Mental Illness or Substance Use Disorder in 2024

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square)  New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that while some progress has been made in reducing mental illness and substance abuse, 86.6 million Americans aged 18 and older had either a mental illness or substance use disorder in 2024.

SAMHSA’s 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released Monday, surveyed 70,000 Americans aged 12 and older and compared the responses to 2021 data.

For the most part, mental illness rates trended in either neutral or positive directions last year. Around 23% of American adults, or 61.5 million people, reported having a mental illness in 2024, no change from 2021.

While suicide attempts among American adults also showed no change – 2.2 million attempted suicide – suicide attempts among adolescents aged 12 to 17 declined from 3.6% in 2021 to 2.7% in 2024. And while nearly 1 in 5 adolescents showed symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder in 2024, the percentage of those who experienced a major depressive episode dropped from 20.8% in 2021 to 15.4%.

Substance misuse data from 2024 revealed fewer positive results. Nearly three out of five American adults, or 58.3%, reported drinking alcohol, using nicotine products, or taking illicit drugs.

Of that number, 46.6% drank alcohol, with nearly 58 million alcohol drinkers ages 12 and older reporting binge drinking in the past month. However, alcohol use disorder rates fell from 19.6% in 2021 to 9.7% in 2024 among that group.

About 26.3% of adult substance users used a product containing nicotine – including smoking and vaping – and 16.7% used illicit drugs.

When adding 12 to 17-year-olds to the number of substance misusers, data show that both illicit drug use and rates of drug use disorder increased from 2021 to 2024.

Although cocaine and prescription opioid misuse slightly declined in 2024, 25.5% of Americans aged 12 and older used an illicit drug in 2024, up from 22.2% in 2021. The same group saw drug use disorder rates rise to 9.8% last year, up from 8.7% in 2021.

These increases are largely tied to increased marijuana use, SAMHSA says. Use of marijuana among Americans 12 years and older jumped from 19% four years ago to 22.3% last year, roughly 64 million people. Unsurprisingly, marijuana use disorder also jumped between that period from 6% to 7.1%, afflicting 20.6 million people in 2024.

SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Art Kleinschmidt said Monday that the report is “incredibly valuable to researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and others, allowing for greater understanding of the nation’s behavioral health, and to help inform actions in support of President [Donald] Trump’s vision to Make America Healthy Again.”

Headline Rewind: Our Biggest Scoops from the Week July 21-27

Jose Nino
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(José Niño, Headline USA) Watch Headline USA’s video breakdown of our best stories from last week, and find the time stamps and links below:

0:20: Thomas Crooks Had High-Ranking Military Officials in His Family

Thomas Crooks Had High-Ranking Military Officials in His Family, Including an Obama Nominee

1:27: EXCLUSIVE: Medical Examiner Collected Trump Shooter’s Bile and Hair

EXCLUSIVE: Medical Examiner Collected Trump Shooter’s Bile and Hair, but Omitted Results from Toxicology Report

2:27: Alleged Would-be Trump Assassin’s Son Sentenced for Sex-Abuse Conduct

Alleged Would-be Trump Assassin’s Son Sentenced for Sex-Abuse Conduct

3:35: Sadistic ‘764’ Pedophile’s Dad Arrested for Attempting to Silence Son’s Victim

Sadistic ‘764’ Pedophile’s Dad Arrested for Attempting to Silence Son’s Victim

 

 

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Obama Administration Scrutiny Intensifies w/ Call for New Clinton Investigation

Headline USA Editor
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Obama Administration Scrutiny Intensifies w/ Call for New Clinton Investigation

(, The Center Square) President Donald Trump’s allies are doubling down on investigations into members of the Obama administration, with two Republican lawmakers calling for a deeper investigation into former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “email controversy.”

Clinton served as SOS under the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013 before running against then-Republican presidential candidate Trump in 2016 and losing.

While in her administrative position, Clinton used a private email server for official agency communications. The legally dubious move not only put thousands of emails with sensitive or classified information at risk, but also shielded her emails from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

After a years-long FBI review, then-Director James Comey recommended that no charges be filed. But Republicans, fueled by recent revelations that Obama and Clinton may have knowingly fabricated the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, are now reiterating their concerns about the thoroughness of the Clinton investigation.

In that vein, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., released a letter Tuesday addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel.

In it, the lawmakers urged Patel to uncover and review certain materials stashed away that could shed further light on how the previous FBI “mishandled” the Clinton investigation.

“Comey’s FBI shockingly failed to review and exploit evidence in its own possession, even though they admitted in written memos the information was necessary to conduct a ‘thorough and complete investigation,” the lawmakers wrote. “We refuse to allow this dereliction of duty to continue.”

They pointed out that the omission, whether an oversight or coverup, is yet another example of the FBI’s “failure to impartially conduct its law enforcement and intelligence mission,” given the prior intelligence community’s disparate treatment of Trump.

“We know you will not similarly ignore evidence in your agency’s possession, no matter where its exploitation or conclusions might lead,” the lawmakers told Patel. “[We] look forward to receiving an update on forthcoming steps taken by the FBI to correct this historic investigative and national security failure.”

Cincinnati Police Chief Criticizes Media for Sharing Footage of Black-on-White Assaults

Jose Nino
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Cincinnati Police Chief Criticizes Media for Sharing Footage of Black-on-White Assaults

(José Niño, Headline USA) Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge told reporters on Monday that viral videos of Saturday’s brutal downtown attack show only one side of the story and complicate her department’s investigation.

Theetge condemned social media and mainstream journalism for circulating incomplete video footage of the weekend downtown assault that left multiple people injured and sparked national outrage. The first female chief in Cincinnati Police Department history argued that viral clips present only a partial picture of Saturday’s violent confrontation.

“The post we’ve seen does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred,” Theetge told reporters during a news conference. She emphasized that social media and mainstream media commentaries often misrepresent circumstances surrounding events, creating obstacles for thorough investigations and law enforcement.

The chief explained that irresponsible social media usage shows “one side of the equation quite frequently without factual context,” causing misinformation to spread rapidly and grow beyond its original scope. She argued that this forces police to manage distorted narratives as part of their investigation process rather than focusing solely on enforcement.

When pressed by reporters about specific distortions, Theetge maintained that social media posts lack proper context and factual grounding. She noted that nearby patrol officers had to maneuver through heavy traffic to reach the scene, where approximately 100 people witnessed the assault but only one person called 911.

As Headline USA previously reported, the Black-on-White assault has drawn widespread condemnation, with critics blasting both the attackers and bystanders who failed to intervene.

Five suspects have been charged in connection with the early Saturday morning incident on Fourth Street, though their identities and specific charges remain sealed, per the New York Post. The assault occurred during a busy weekend that included a Cincinnati Reds game, a Big3 basketball tournament, and the Cincinnati Music Festival, drawing over 150,000 visitors to downtown.

Theetge emphasized that anyone who physically harmed another person during the incident will face consequences regardless of which side they were on. She indicated that alcohol played a significant role in the violence and suggested that some suspects may have been served excessive amounts of alcohol at local establishments.

The police chief praised her investigative team for working immediately after the video was posted Saturday and expressed gratitude to Cincinnati Police Department officers for making the weekend successful despite this single incident. She encouraged people to continue visiting downtown while being “mindful” of alcohol consumption and avoiding the area during late night bar closures.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Trump Says Jeffrey Epstein Stole One of His Sex Slaves from Mar-a-Lago

Headline USA Editor
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Trump Says Jeffrey Epstein Stole One of His Sex Slaves from Mar-a-Lago

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, including Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers.

Trump’s comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades ago because his one-time friend “stole people that worked for me.” At the time, he did not make clear who those workers were.

The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump’s tightly controlled political coalition.

Aboard Air Force One while returning from Scotland, Trump said he was upset that Epstein was “taking people who worked for me.” The women, he said, were “taken out of the spa, hired by him — in other words, gone.”

“I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people,” Trump said. When it happened again, Trump said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.

Asked if Giuffre was one of the employees poached by Epstein, he demurred but then said “he stole her.”

The White House originally said Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was acting like a “creep.”

Giuffre, formerly Virginia Roberts, alleged that Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her, starting at 16 years old, for Epstein’s “pleasure, including lessons in Epstein’s preferences during oral sex.” Giuffre said she was trafficked to prominent figures such as Prince Andrew, attorney Alan Dershowitz, politician Bill Richardson, and others.

She settled a lawsuit with Maxwell in 2017 and Prince Andrew in 2022, while dropping her lawsuit against Dershowitz.

Giuffre reportedly committed suicide in April, but her lawyer has raised questions about what really happened.

“When I got the phone call, I was like, are you joking? Because there was no sign that that was something she was considering,” Giuffre’s attorney, Karrie Louden, told The Sun in an article published Monday. “We’ve got big question marks over it.”

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice, was recently interviewed inside a Florida courthouse by the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, though officials have not publicly disclosed what she said. Her lawyers said Tuesday that she’s willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony and if lawmakers agree to satisfy other conditions.

But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.

“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a spokesperson said.

Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to do it.

“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” the lawyers said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Horsefly Sends Congressman to the Hospital

Luis Cornelio
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Horsefly Sends Congressman to the Hospital

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The office of Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., announced Tuesday that the congressman suffered a serious injury after being kicked by a horse that had been stung by a horsefly. 

Burchett was working on his Tennessee farm over the weekend when one of his horses, spooked by a horsefly, struck him with both hooves. The hit left Burchett with a broken rib. 

Burchett’s office affirmed that despite the injury, his schedule remains unchanged. 

“He suffered a broken rib and bruising but hasn’t missed a beat,” staffers said, according to Fox News’s Chad Pergram. 

“He spoke in Maury County last night and has a full slate of district events throughout the week. There have been no changes to his schedule,” the office added. 

Burchett took the incident in stride, even joking about getting the bruise tattooed. 

“It’s a cool mark. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo,” he told Pergram. 

He also downplayed the injury in a post on X: “It’s no big deal. Pray for our Country.” 

In a follow-up message from his official congressional account, Burchett shared more details about the accident. 

“Since everyone is asking, here’s the deal: On Sunday, I was kicked by a horse. Broke a rib. He didn’t like being bit by that horse fly, and my rib was collateral damage,” Burchett wrote, before adding: “It’s going to take more than a broken rib to slow me down. I sincerely appreciate everyone’s concern and prayers for a quick recovery.” 

Experts Call for Investigation into $86 Billion in Medicare Advantage ‘Ghost Benefits’

Headline USA Editor
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Experts Call for Investigation into $86 Billion in Medicare Advantage ‘Ghost Benefits’

(Tom Joyce, The Center Square) As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified.

The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits.

Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash cards often used for groceries, utility bills and even cable TV. Critics say the cards are mostly a marketing gimmick and don’t improve health outcomes.

“Amazingly, Medicare plans aren’t required to tell regulators how much they spend on medical and prescription drug claims,” health policy expert Mark Merritt said in a statement. “This is a recipe for ghost benefits that look good on paper but can’t be accessed due to red tape and high out-of-pocket costs.”

Medicare requires insurers to project how they will spend their rebates, but not to report how they spend them. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) doesn’t verify whether the benefits are used or delivered.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) flagged the issue in its June 2025 report to Congress.

It found a “fundamental lack of transparency” around how rebate dollars are spent and questioned whether these benefits improve outcomes or just boost insurance company profits.

Medicare Advantage plans also receive $40 billion this year in risk-adjusted payments and $12.7 billion in quality bonus payments. However, oversight is limited. A Wall Street Journal report found that $50 billion from 2018 to 2021 was paid based on diagnoses submitted by the plans themselves, not by doctors.

Plans are required to spend at least 85% of revenue on care and “quality improvements,” but CMS allows the $86 billion in supplemental rebates to count toward that number – even though most of it funds non-medical perks. That includes programs that restrict care, like prior authorization and AI-based claims denial systems.

Congress recently cut $9 billion through a rescissions measure – primarily foreign aid and public broadcasting money. The Medicare Advantage program alone gets nearly 10 times that in unverified perks.

HHS Opens $100M Hepatitis Pilot Program Applications

Headline USA Editor
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HHS Opens $100M Hepatitis Pilot Program Applications

(The Center Square) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a $100 million pilot program on Monday to address Hepatitis C in homeless populations.

The Hepatitis C elimination initiative, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, will primarily be used to treat individuals with addiction and serious mental illness.

“Through this pilot program, we are launching a comprehensive, integrated care model that not only cures HCV but also tackles critical risk factors like substance use, mental health challenges, and homelessness head-on,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Health and Human Services department.

The pilot program offers between 13 and 40 awards to states, territories, tribal organizations, health facilities and public or private nonprofit entities to apply for the award, according to the SAMHSA website.

Applicants must describe demographic information for their service area, including rates of homelessness, ethnicity, sex, age and socioeconomic status.

The award is divided into tiers where the organization receives more funding depending on how many patients it expects to treat. An organization that expects to treat and cure 25-50 patients per year can receive up to $2.5 million over two years. Organizations that treat more than 100 patients per year can receive up to $7.5 million over two years.

Hepatitis C is a disease that infects the liver with the blood borne Hepatitis C virus which can cause cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. The Hepatitis C virus is typically transmitted through sharing needles, syringes or other drug injection equipment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reported more than 93,000 new cases of chronic hepatitis C in 2022. In the same year, more than 12,000 people died from complications due to Hepatitis C.

“Curing hepatitis C makes Americans healthy again while saving taxpayers billions by eliminating the need for chronic care,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

The pilot program comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order cracking down on homelessness in the United States and offering a plan to place individuals in “long-term institutional” facilities.

The order cited addiction and mental health issues as the leading cause for homelessness.

“The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats,” the order reads.

Ghislaine Maxwell Willing to Testify to Congress—If She’s Given Immunity

Headline USA Editor
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Ghislaine Maxwell Willing to Testify to Congress—If She’s Given Immunity

(Headline USA) Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is open to answering questions from Congress — but only if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony, her lawyers said Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the committee that wants to interview her responded with a terse statement saying it would not consider offering her immunity.

Maxwell’s lawyers also asked that they be provided with any questions in advance and that any interview with her be scheduled after her petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case has been resolved.

The conditions were laid out in a letter sent by Maxwell’s attorneys to Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee who last week issued a subpoena for her deposition at the Florida prison where she is serving a 20-year-prison sentence on a conviction of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.

The request to interview her is part of a frenzied, renewed interest in the Epstein saga following the Justice Department’s July statement that it would not be releasing any additional records from the investigation, an abrupt announcement that sparked widespread backlash.

Since then, the Trump administration has sought to present itself as promoting transparency, with the department urging courts to unseal grand jury transcripts from the sex-trafficking investigation and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewing Maxwell over the course of two days at a Florida courthouse last week.

In a letter Tuesday, Maxwell’s attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions.

But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.

“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a spokesperson said.

Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she dd not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been not asked to make it.

“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” he said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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