Top 5 Most Underreported Stories of 2025

The Washington Stand published a number of important stories that were largely ignored by the mainstream media in 2025. Here are the top five.

1. The Apparent Decline in Trans-Identifying Youth

As reported by TWS’s Joshua Arnold in October, two studies were released that month showing that a decreasing number of young adults are identifying as transgender. One study showed that between 2023 and 2025, trans identification among students at colleges and elite prep schools declined by half or more. A second study conducted by San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge revealed that “the percentage of U.S. 18- to 22-year-olds identifying as transgender declined from just over 6% in 2022 to just over 3% in 2024” and that “the percentage identifying as nonbinary declined from 5% in 2023 to 2% in 2024.” As noted by Arnold, “While environmental factors like better mental health play a role, so do societal factors, including widespread backlash against the overreach of transgender ideologues and effective leaders showing young people a better way to live.”

2. Chick-fil-A Doubles Down, Keeps DEI on the Menu

In December, TWS’s Suzanne Bowdey reported on how corporate officials at the once Christian-identifying Chick-fil-A restaurant franchise announced that they were fully embracing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies after concerned customers queried the company about why a restaurant in Utah publicly celebrated the marriage of a same-sex couple on their Facebook page. The franchise’s doubling down on DEI comes as dozens of other corporations have dialed back their public support for the controversial policies amid growing consumer outrage and the rescinding of federal DEI policies by the Trump administration.

3. Massive Lobbying Dollars Aid Health Care Insurers in Protecting Their Obamacare Jackpot

In October, TWS’s Mark Tapscott reported that health care insurance lobbyists spent over $439 million “lobbying Congress, executive branch departments, and regulatory agencies,” with a “decisive majority of those donations go[ing] to Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).” As Tapscott noted, a primary reason for the flurry of lobbying activity by health insurers is that billions of dollars have been pouring into the companies’ coffers as a result of the extended Obamacare subsidies that began in 2021 during the COVID pandemic under the Biden administration, and the insurers want Congress to make these subsidies permanent to keep the money flowing. So far, Republicans in Congress have narrowly avoided extending the subsidies, which were originally intended for low-income families but were extended to high-income families under Biden. Extending the subsidies for another decade is projected to cost taxpayers $410 billion.

4. Experts Warn Betting Company with Trump Family Ties Could Pose ‘Economic National Security Risk’

In June, TWS’s S.A. McCarthy reported on a concerning nominee that the Trump administration put forward to potentially serve as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Brian Quintenz serves as a board member of Kalshi, Inc., which launched a betting platform in 2021 that allows users to bet on virtually anything at any time. But experts and lawmakers swiftly raised concerns that Quintenz would potentially serve on the commission that is supposed to regulate the betting company that he serves on the board for, creating a conflict of interest that experts estimate could financially benefit Kalshi by billions of dollars. In addition, the Trump administration put forward the nomination just a month after Donald Trump Jr. was announced as an advisor to Kalshi. Experts further warned that Kalshi’s unlimited betting platform could destabilize America’s financial and economic systems, creating a national security issue.

In September, the Trump administration withdrew Quintenz’s nomination.

5. Iowa Runner Keeley Knobloch’s Stand against Transgender Competition

In August, TWS’s Sarah Holliday reported on a sub-elite distance runner from Iowa named Keeley Knobloch, who ran for a local club called Running Wild Elite in the Quad City area. After Knobloch discovered that a biological male who identified as transgender was being allowed to compete in the women’s division of the Bix 7 road race, she withdrew from her team so that she would not have to compete directly against the male. The decision cost her a prime starting spot, a chance to improve her women’s division ranking, a chance to win the prestigious Eloise Caldwell award for top Quad City woman, a cold response from her club, and rejection from her teammates. Despite the rejection, Knobloch chose to run the race, not for medals, but for principle, her Catholic faith, and for biological truth.