I found a temporary solution... sort of...
I rolled back the update on Google App (Google Now) and disabled it and then downloaded Google Voice Search. So I'm gonna rock old school voice to text until Google figures this out.
I tried EVERYTHING mentioned here and on other forums and it appears to have ZERO connection to make, model, carrier or Android version, WiFi on or off, etc. This is a server issue on Google's end, is my guess.