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Veteran Entertainment Journalist and Brand Builder Rejoins the Stellar Awards After Years Away [GAINESVILLE, CA] — [Aug. 11, 2026] —White House and Congressional Correspondent Mona Austin is bound for the Stellar Awards red carpet to celebrate 20 years of covering the event. The 41st Annual Stellar Awards, a production of Chicago's Central City Productions will be held in Charlotte, NC at the Spectrum Center on August 15. Before social media transformed celebrity coverage, Mona Austin was building direct connections between gospel artists and their audiences through digital journalism. Now, nearly two decades after first receiving her credentials to cover the Stellar Awards as a reporter in the Los Angeles market, the nationally known journalist is returning to gospel music's biggest night—bringing with her a legacy of gospel music history and brand building that champions faith based content. Whether conducting exclusive interviews or breaking stories about artists such as...

The New Digital Portal Slashes Bureaucratic Red Tape, Connecting Commercial Innovators, Venture Capital, and Nontraditional Startups Directly with the Office of Golden Dome for America   At the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium today, Gen. Mike Guetlein, Director of Golden Dome for America, announced the official launch of the "Golden Dome for America Ecosystem Hub" (the Hub), a groundbreaking digital platform designed to streamline collaboration between the Department of War (DoW) and the commercial technology sector.   Accessible immediately at hub.goldendome.mil , the Hub represents a fundamental shift in how the United States builds its next-generation, multi-layered homeland missile defense shield. By removing legacy organizational barriers, the Hub serves as a unified entry point for traditional defense contractors, commercial tech companies, venture capitalists, academic institutions, research laboratories, and nontraditional entrepreneurs to deliver innovativ...

For the second time this year, the SAVE America voting bill was left stalled as Senators left Washington for August recess on Saturday. For months President Donald Trump has used the "bully pulpit: to rally votes for the sweeping election security package that was designed to federally secure voting for eligible U.S. citizens only. The approve the legislation before the mid-terms it was attached to the broader spending and defense bills. The Democrats had rejected the proposal in part viewing it as a ploy to control outcomes and rig elections in favorite of Republicans. Formally known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, it has cleared the House multiple times. Despite these efforts, the Senate has not passed the bill, and procedural hurdles, including the filibuster and the absence of key Republican senators, have complicated its path. The future of the SAVE Act is uncertain.

  New polling from Swing Voter Pilot in Minnesota and Wisconsin offers a look at a group that will be critical to determining who wins in November: voters who aren't firmly locked into either party. The two studies, conducted after the Minnesota Senate Farmfest forum and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial debate, respectively, puts numbers behind the understanding that the general electorate is more idiosyncratic than its primary counterpart.  In Wisconsin , the Democratic candidates currently leading the primary conversation did not perform best with swing voters. Francesca Hong and David Crowley led Republican Tom Tiffany in head-to-head matchups, but posted the weakest results among the five Democrats tested: Hong received 57% and Crowley 62%, compared with 73% for Kelda Roys and 72% for Joel Brennan.  At the same time, Hong’s top marks come on issues that resonate most across the board – and outpace her top rival, Crowley, on almost every issue, which speaks to the in...

  President Donald Trump says the United States still has the ability to dramatically escalate its confrontation with Iran if he chooses to do so. Asked what comes next and whether massive escalation remains on the table, Trump responded: “Well, we have that certainly in that ability. If we want to do that, yeah, you'll find.” Trump also rejected Iran’s demand for compensation for damage caused by the conflict, arguing that Iran should instead pay the United States and Iranian families for deaths and injuries caused by Iranian violence. Trump cited the USS Cole, Iranian protesters and what he described as thousands of people killed or wounded in Iran. The takeaway: Despite talk of negotiations, Trump says the military option remains available.

  x The Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced today a $150 million conditional loan commitment to Niron Magnetics, Inc. (Niron) to build out the company’s rare earth-free magnet production capabilities.   Founded in 2014, Niron is a private U.S. corporation headquartered in Minnesota. The company seeks to eliminate dependence on rare earth magnets sourced from foreign jurisdictions.   N iron’s magnets are revolutionary because  they do not use rare earths, yet they provide similar, and in some cases superior, performance and physical properties compared to rare earth magnets.   Niron develops and manufactures 100% domestic, rare earth-free permanent magnets, eliminating reliance on foreign-dominated supply chains. Built on over a decade of research and development, Niron’s magnets offer a path to ending dependency on foreign-produced rare earth magnets. Niron circumvents the concentrated and vulnerable rare earth supply chain by s...