For over four decades, South Carolina has played a crucial role in determining the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Voting third in the GOP’s nominating calendar — after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary — South Carolina’s Republican contest boasts an impressive track record. Dating back to its inception in 1980, only once has the eventual GOP standard-bearer failed to carry the Palmetto State.

White House officials were adamant in a virtual briefing with governors on Monday that flying objects recently spotted over North America are not of extraterrestrial origin, according to a recording of the briefing obtained by Fox News Digital.  “There are no UFOs. This is not an invasion of the aliens,” White House Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall told governors on the half-hour call.

California’s electric grid faces years of potential blackouts and failure as state leaders continue pushing aggressive measures to transition to renewable energy sources, policy experts tell Fox News Digital.  The state’s grid, which is still mainly powered by fossil fuels, is undergoing a major shift from natural gas and coal power to renewable power like wind and solar.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to Twitter Monday evening to address the disastrous Ohio train derailment after completely avoiding any mention of the situation while speaking at a conference earlier in the day.

North Carolina House Republicans are again proposing to modify their chamber’s operating rules on veto overrides for the next two years, only now offering Democratic colleagues some broad limits on when they could be attempted. Temporary House rules approved on a party-line vote last month omitted a rule from previous years that required chamber leaders to give at least two days’ notice before holding an override vote.

A top Virginia Department of Health official has been tapped to lead agency operations for now, after Senate Democrats effectively ousted the former health commissioner, Dr. Colin Greene. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has asked VDH chief operating officer Christopher Lindsay to handle the day-to-day operations at the agency, a Youngkin spokeswoman said in a statement Monday. VIRGINIA SENATE DEMOCRATS VOTE TO REJECT 3 APPOINTEES OF GOP GOV.

New Jersey state Sen. Samuel Thompson said Monday he’s leaving the Republican Party and plans to seek reelection this year as a Democrat. Thompson, 87, said in a phone interview that he decided to leave the GOP after party leaders questioned his fitness for office because of his age. “The betrayal by so many of my friends — that was too much for me,” he said. “I am not leaving my party. My party leadership has left me.