ROCHESTER, Minn. — A U.S. representative for Wisconsin is calling to “remove every single penny” of Mayo Clinic’s federal funding in response to an alleged employee’s comments about the fatal shooting of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

On Sunday Robby Starbuck, another conservative social media personality, made a post on the social media site X with three images: two screenshots of X posts by the same user, followed by a screenshot of that individual’s apparent LinkedIn profile, which appears to list Mayo Clinic as an employer.

The X account attributed to Collins has since been set to private, and Mayo Clinic no longer appears on his LinkedIn account.

One of the posts calls Kirk a “divisive, white, racist, sexist, homophobe, anti-Semite bigot,” while the other post reads “best actress in a faux Christian role” in a reply to another post that features a video of Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s widow and the new CEO of Turning Point USA, the conservative organization her husband founded.

“Their worker mocked Charlie Kirk and his widow Erika Kirk,” Starbuck wrote. “He must be fired if Mayo Clinic has actual values.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden — a Republican who represents Wisconsin’s 3rd District, which borders Southeast Minnesota — reposted Starbuck’s X post, saying, “We will be working to remove every single penny of federal funding from the Mayo Clinic unless this is resolved.”

The Post Bulletin could not independently verify if the X user whose posts appear in Starbuck’s screenshots is a current or former Mayo Clinic employee. Mayo Clinic did not respond to the Post Bulletin’s request for comment.

Van Orden made a similar pledge to withhold federal funding from the City of Eau Claire following two city council members’ social media posts about Kirk, WXOW reported.

One day after the Mayo Clinic post, Van Orden introduced a short bill that would prohibit federal funding from being dispersed to “any entity that employ individuals who condone and celebrate political violence and domestic terrorism.”

Van Orden spoke about Mayo Clinic again during a Sept. 19, appearance on the Mid-Atlantic-based John Fredericks Radio Show, as first reported by Heartland Signal.

A caller asked about Van Orden’s posts: “Isn’t that going to hurt and potentially kill a lot of people if we take away medical services from organizations that you don’t like by cutting off funding?”

In response, Van Orden asked the caller if federal dollars should be sent to “organizations that are inciting violence.”

“You cannot tell me,” Van Orden continued, “that these people who are employing folks, that are receiving billions of federal dollars — you cannot say that the stuff, the vile things that they’re saying are not specifically geared towards intimidating or coercing a civilian population or influencing a government.”

Van Orden’s district includes several Mayo Clinic Health System locations, including hospitals in La Crosse and Eau Claire.

Mayo Clinic receives a significant amount of federal funding, namely through National Institutes of Health research grants. As of Sept. 5, the health system has 434 active awards worth around $302 million. It is the second-largest NIH funding recipient in Minnesota, after the University of Minnesota.

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By ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect, its parent company Alphabet said Tuesday.

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In a letter submitted in response to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, attorneys for Alphabet said the decision to bring back banned accounts reflected the company’s commitment to free speech. It said the company values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes their reach and important role in civic discourse.

“No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate,” the letter read.

The move is the latest in a cascade of content moderation rollbacks from tech companies, who cracked down on false information during the pandemic and after the 2020 election but have since faced pressure from President Donald Trump and other conservatives who argue they unlawfully stifled right-wing voices in the process.

It comes as tech CEOs, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, have sought a closer relationship with the Republican president, including through high-dollar donations to his campaign and attending events in Washington.

YouTube in 2023 phased out its policy to remove content that falsely claims the 2020 election, or other past U.S. presidential elections, were marred by “widespread fraud, errors or glitches.”

The platform in 2024 also retired its standalone COVID-19 content restrictions, allowing various treatments for the disease to be discussed. COVID-19 misinformation now falls under YouTube’s broader medical misinformation policy.

Among the creators who have been banned from YouTube under the now-expired policies are prominent conservative influencers, including Dan Bongino, who now serves as deputy director of the FBI. For people who make money on social media, access to monetization on YouTube can be significant, earning them large sums through ad revenue.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and other congressional Republicans have pressured tech companies to reverse content moderation policies created under former President Joe Biden and accused Biden’s administration of unfairly wielding its power over the companies to chill lawful online speech.

In Tuesday’s letter, Alphabet’s lawyers said senior Biden administration officials “conducted repeated and sustained outreach” to coerce the company to remove pandemic-related YouTube videos that did not violate company policies.

“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content, and the Company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds,” the letter said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also accused the Biden administration of pressuring employees to inappropriately censor content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elon Musk, the owner of the social platform X, has accused the FBI of illegally coercing Twitter before his tenure to suppress a story about Hunter Biden.

The Supreme Court last year sided with former President Joe Biden’s administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security.

Asked for more information about the reinstatement process, a spokesperson for YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yes, really, for free. In honor of National Public Lands Day, all national parks will be free to visit on Saturday, Sept. 27.

This can save you as much as $50 entry fee at many places. However, they’re really popular, so I highly recommend you plan to arrive at dawn. It will be cooler and the crowds will still be waking up. When the park starts getting crowded, you can take a break and eat your picnic you’ve brought, or head on out.  Don’t forget to bring plenty of water!

Note that the freebies don’t include camping or special tours.  Personally, I like to head out to Joshua Tree on these free days and watch the sun come up over the drive. Don’t tell anyone, though, it will get more crowded.

Here are the nine national parks in California:

Channel Islands (boat ride is not free)
Death Valley
Joshua Tree
Lassen
Pinnacles
Redwood
Sequoia and Kings Canyon
Yosemite

The next national park holiday will be on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Related links

Fun things to do in Southern California that are always free
How to get into awesome museums for free with an EBT card
12 gorgeous botanical gardens you can visit for free
Here’s when you can visit all national parks for free in 2025
10 awesome places in the world you can see for free

 

 

 

 

By JESSICA DAMIANO

It goes without saying that seasonal gardening tasks should be performed at specific times of the year, mainly because of the weather. But many gardening practices are also best performed at certain times of the day to ensure the health of your plants.

For instance, early mornings are best for watering lawns and gardens, and there are several reasons for this.

The timing allows for water to work its way down to plant roots before the sun gets too strong. Midday watering often results in faster evaporation from the soil’s surface, which is not only wasteful but also unhelpful to plants.

Watering in the evening risks the opposite: Without sufficient sunlight for evaporation, excess moisture becomes trapped within and between plants, creating a perfect breeding ground for mold, mildew and fungal diseases.

Other tasks to tackle early in the day

Fertilizers, especially liquid formulations, are best applied in the morning, too, as they should be watered in to ensure deep distribution and avoid chemical burns. Fertilizing during morning hours helps avoid the evaporation risk of midday and helps prevent diseases that could develop overnight.

For the best flavor and aroma, harvest herbs in the morning, after the dew has dried but before the sun becomes too intense. This is the time when the plant’s oils are most concentrated. In my suburban New York garden, 10 a.m. is ideal.

The same timing is important for crispy, hydrated lettuces and other greens. Wait any longer and leaves are more likely to be wilted when overnight moisture evaporates and temperatures rise.

Morning is also best for cutting flowers. After building up moisture and recovering from the previous day’s heat, blooms are at their plumpest in the morning, just after the dew has dried.

End-of-day gardening tasks

Evening is best for garden chores that risk stressing plants. Relief from the sun, cooler temps and increased moisture will aid their recovery, whereas the blazing afternoon heat would further stress or even kill them.

So, save pruning (a form of surgery, if you think about it), deadheading, and even planting, dividing and transplanting for late afternoon or evening.

This Aug. 31, 2025, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a pair of shears snipping parsley in a backyard herb garden on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Early evening and mid-morning are ideal times to mow the lawn. Avoid the afternoon, when the heat and direct sunlight can increase the grass’ stress and slow its recovery.

Never mow wet grass, regardless of the time of day; doing so can stress the lawn, spread disease and clog the mower.

Wait until after rainfall to pull weeds, and the job will be a lot easier. But if the weeds must go and there’s no precipitation in the forecast, water the bed deeply the day before, and you’ll reap the same benefit.

Any time’s a good time to enjoy your garden

There are some garden activities that you can — and should — do throughout the day. These include admiring your handiwork, basking in the beauty you’ve co-created with nature and smelling the flowers.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.