Ten years ago today, we launched The Daily Signal with a vision of producing quality journalism about issues that matter to the American people.
In the past decade, we sure have.
Here’s a look at some of the best journalism produced by The Daily Signal over the years.
1. Coach Kennedy’s Fight to Pray
Back in 2015, we started covering the case of Coach Joe Kennedy, who lost his job at a public school after refusing to stop praying after football games.
We followed Kennedy’s fight for justice all the way up to his appearance at the Supreme Court in 2022—where he won. Our own Virginia Allen was there in person in 2023 when Kennedy, back at his old job, coached one final game and prayed on the field one last time before quitting his coaching job.
2. Small-Business Owners’ Religious Freedom Rights
From the very start, The Daily Signal has aggressively covered small-business owners who want to be true to their beliefs about traditional marriage and not be forced to participate in same-sex weddings. In September 2014, we covered the story of Robert and Cynthia Gifford, who weren’t comfortable hosting a lesbian wedding on their property and were fined $10,000 and ordered to pay damages of $3,000. (The couple went to the New York Supreme Court, but lost their case in 2016.)
We had one of our early blockbuster reports in 2015, when we reported on Aaron and Melissa Klein, bakers who had refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. That article, “State Silences Bakers Who Refused to Make Cake for Lesbian Couple, Fines Them $135K,” received over 1.1 million views.
In 2017, we told the story of Steven and Bridget Tennes, farmers who had been banned from selling at their local farmers market because they wouldn’t host same-sex weddings on their farm. Six years later, we reported that they won their case.
Starting in 2015, we told the story of Jack Phillips, the Colorado Christian baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. We covered Phillips’ ongoing legal battle, which went all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2018. Phillips won that case.
But Phillips’ legal fight wasn’t over.
In 2018, shortly after his Supreme Court win, Phillips was targeted again by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission—this time, because he wouldn’t make a cake for gender transition. Amazingly, Phillips’ legal woes continue, as does our coverage.
3. Obamacare
Big Government health care has affected many Americans’ lives since the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was passed in 2010. We spoke to Scott Womack, who sold his 16 IHOP restaurants in 2014 in part because of the Obamacare employer mandate. In 2015, we shared the story of Pamela Weldin, who lost her health insurance three times under Obamacare. (Two years later, she lost it a fourth time.)
We also reported on Marjorie Weer, a mom struggling to get her special-needs son, Monty, the care he needed under Obamacare. Monty was born with spina bifida. The 2017 report on Weer got the attention of the Trump administration. Weer visited the White House and met with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Monty, meanwhile, got his own photo with first lady Melania Trump.
4. The Border
For the past 10 years, we’ve aggressively covered the border crisis, highlighting the stories corporate media largely ignore.
In 2014, we interviewed Ronnie Osburn, a Texas rancher, who had recently “directed a group of 10 men from El Salvador, ages 19 to 23, to Border Patrol agents, who apprehended them.” Osburn’s ranch was often traversed by illegal immigrants.
In 2017, Kelsey Bolar reported on how San Diego’s border wall was working out:
And as illegal immigration has exploded in recent years, we’ve kept covering what’s going on. Rachel del Guidice interviewed Arizona rancher John Ladd in 2021. Ladd described how the regular trespassing of illegal immigrants on his ranch made him afraid for his family’s safety, saying, “We’ve had a lot of things stolen. We’ve had a lot of vehicles stolen. This barn has been broken [into]. We don’t even lock it anymore. We lock the houses.”
“But somebody is always here. Nobody can leave the ranch without somebody being here. During Trump’s administration, we could be gone for a little while. And now it’s back to the same deal. Somebody’s always got to be here,” he added.
Late last year, Virginia Allen interviewed Mark Lamb, a sheriff in Arizona, who warned about how easy it would be for a terrorist to sneak across America’s southern border.
5. Justice Brett Kavanaugh
When President Donald Trump first announced that Brett Kavanaugh was his Supreme Court nominee, few guessed what Kavanaugh was about to undergo. But while much of the corporate media focused on the flimsy accusations of Christine Blasey Ford, The Daily Signal took a different route.
We interviewed two female clerks who had previously worked for Kavanaugh, sharing their views on the nominee.
Kavanaugh, of course, was ultimately confirmed. But in 2022, he and several other conservative Supreme Court justices faced protesters at their homes after the decision overturning Roe v. Wade leaked. Doug Blair covered the scene when protesters came to Kavanaugh’s home.
6. Dangers of Transgender Medical ‘Treatment’ for Minors
Now it’s relatively well-known that transgender medical “treatment” for minors poses significant risks and can destroy a young person’s fertility.
But that wasn’t the case in 2017. Leftists were vigorously promoting the idea that the best way to help a child who experienced gender dysphoria was to put him or her on puberty blockers—or perhaps even do permanent surgeries to alter their bodies.
We made a video with Dr. Michelle Cretella, a pediatrician who had a different point of view, on how to help children suffering from gender dysphoria. Her video reached millions on Facebook.
Two years later, we shared the story of “Elaine,” the mother of a daughter who had pursued gender-transition treatment. “I am speaking out because I love my daughter. And it is because of her that I know what I have told you is true. She has been a victim of ‘gender-affirming’ medical procedures, and I was powerless to stop doctors from harming her,” she wrote.
Also in 2019, YouTube decided Cretella’s words were too controversial and took down our 2017 video. We quickly reported on the sentence YouTube wouldn’t allow a pediatrician to say: “See, if you want to cut off a leg or an arm, you’re mentally ill. But if you want to cut off healthy breasts or a penis, you’re transgender.”
In 2022, we interviewed Chloe Cole, who was placed on puberty blockers as a teen, about her journey, and why she had become a detransitioner:
7. Pandemic Threats to Our Freedoms
The COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a chance for leftist lawmakers and officials to try to control small-business owners and other Americans. Virginia Allen spoke to California small-business owners struggling under the constant lockdowns:
“It almost seems like we are a forgotten industry,” [rock-climbing gym owner Howard] Konishi said, adding that it’s frustrating when one sees another business, such as a big-box store, that is allowed to keep operating, but you are forced to shut down. “It’s almost like paying for a house … that you cannot live in, but you are still expected to pay property taxes and rent and all that stuff. It’s tough. I know it’s for the good of the community, but I am just trying to survive here.”
Rachel del Guidice interviewed a pastor who kept his church open during the pandemic:
Mary Margaret Olohan told the story of Eric Flannery, owner of The Big Board restaurant and bar in Washington, D.C., who was shut down by the city’s Department of Health in 2022 because he wouldn’t require people to show proof of vaccination to enter his establishment.
8. Men in Women’s Sports and Spaces
In 2015, we reported how high school girls in a Chicago suburb felt about having to share their locker room with a transgender student. “[W]e are supposed to accept this and feel like nothing really is happening, but the fact of the matter is that this did get pretty big, and now we have someone with male genitals in our girls’ locker room when we are changing,” said one sophomore.
Four years later, Kelsey Bolar told the story of Selina Soule, a high school girl losing to biological males participating in women’s track events.
More recently, Mary Margaret Olohan reported on high school girls in Vermont who were forced to share their locker room with a biologically male student:
9. DOJ Official Hid Arrest From Lawmakers
Earlier this year, Mary Margaret Olohan reported that Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, had been arrested in 2006. Clarke had been asked by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., during her confirmation hearing in 2021 if “[s]ince becoming a legal adult, have you ever been arrested for, or accused of, committing a violent crime against any person?” Clarke responded no, not disclosing her 2006 arrest or its subsequent expungement.
Sen. Mike Lee called for Clarke to resign. “Kristen Clarke is in charge of enforcing civil rights laws,” the Utah Republican said in a statement posted to X. “She enforces those laws aggressively against anyone who sneezes near an abortion clinic. And not at all against those who vandalize churches. She lied under oath during her confirmation proceedings, and should resign.”
The New York Post editorial board also called on Clarke to resign.
10. Politicized Pentagon
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Biden administration moved swiftly to implement its abortion-on-demand agenda throughout the federal government.
That included the Defense Department, where Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a Feb. 16, 2023, policy providing three weeks of paid leave and reimbursement of travel expenses for military personnel and dependents who are seeking an abortion. The Daily Signal was ready to expose Austin’s action.
Months later, when Sen. Tommy Tuberville accused the Pentagon of bypassing Congress to unlawfully change the policy, Rob Bluey explained to our audience why the Alabama Republican was pursuing one of the most important pro-life fights of 2023.
By objecting to the promotions of hundreds of military officers, Tuberville put the spotlight on Biden’s radical abortion agenda and the woke nominees he wanted the Senate to approve. The Daily Signal’s investigative reporting on Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson exposed his controversial views. Today, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., continues to block Jonsson’s promotion—the only military officer who remains in limbo.
