Speaker Harwell Says She ‘Cannot Recall a Bill from the Finance Subcommittee’

Tennessee Star

  Tennessee State House Speaker Beth Harwell’s office contacted The Tennessee Star Tuesday morning in response to our story Monday about State Representative Jerry Sexton’s press conference. In that press conference, Rep. Sexton (R-Bean Station) called on Speaker Harwell to send back the Gax Tax bill to the House Transportation Subcommittee. “I saw the recent Tennessee Star article entitled “State Rep. Sexton Tells Speaker Harwell: ‘Hit The Restart Button’ On Gas Tax, Send It Back to Subcommittee ‘To Be Debated Fairly and Openly’” and wanted to clarify something,” Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Policy Kara Owen wrote. Ms. Owen continued: The Speaker of the House cannot recall a bill from the House Finance Subcommittee to the House Transportation Subcommittee, per our House rules. This takes a motion on the House floor by a member, and 66 votes (two thirds) for the motion to prevail.    

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Men of Valor Helps Inmates Find Hope

Tennessee Star

  Cornelius Matthews (pictured left) grew up in an abusive home where he never heard the words, “I love you.” “It was a house, not a home,” he said. He didn’t go to church and he made fun of those who believed in God. He later began using drugs and alcohol and ended up in prison for attempted second-degree murder. It was there that he turned to the God he once dismissed as imaginary and grew in his newfound Christian faith with the mentoring of Men of Valor. Matthews told his story Tuesday at a Men of Valor breakfast at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville. More than 900 people attended, including state lawmakers, city officials and pastors. The Nashville-based prison ministry seeks to address recidivism with a faith-based approach that helps men recognize how God can transform lives. Men who go through the program have a less than 10 percent chance of returning to prison, group organizers say. Men of Valor has a ministry inside prisons and also a one-year “aftercare” program to help men upon their release. To help with the transition, the group provides housing, clothing and food and assistance with getting a job. The goal…

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Commentary: Too Much Urgency Creates Bad Education Policy

  We often make mistakes when we hurry. It is inevitable. The same is true in public policy. And I have seen it first hand in public education. Cheryl Williams, the Executive Director of the Learning First Alliance, wrote: We all feel the urgency of educating our young people; it just takes time to do it right in the democratic, locally governed system we call public schools. And it takes the commitment, empathy, and collaborative support of all of us to put what is urgent into practice in a way that benefits our students and ourselves. The federal government can wave billions of dollars in front of a state and it is often incentive enough to chase the money. Meanwhile, as local school districts are having unproven ideas and theories thrust on them, we are witnessing a backlash. Educators are often angrier than taxpayers. That same federal government that can use its power to impose its authority also provides little of the monetary resources – less than 10% in most cases. In comparison to the state and local which provides the bulk of dollars used in public education. We must embrace local control, even when it means the wheels move slowly.…

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Tennessee Farm Bureau Wants In-State Tuition For Illegal Immigrant Students

Tennessee Star - Top Story

  The Tennessee Farm Bureau (TFB) is reputed to be the largest farm bureau in the country. Its mission statement is: To develop, foster, promote and protect programs for the general welfare, including economic, social, educational and political well-being of farm people of the great state of Tennessee. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), is a non-profit organization with affiliate farm bureaus in all 50 states, including Tennessee. In 2016 the AFBF reported employing eighteen registered lobbyists. Among the services the AFBF provides is training new state farm bureau presidents. In 2013, like the AFBF, the TFB issued a statement of support for the proposed comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Congressional Budget Office concluded a category of “legalization” for illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. “The Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation is proud to stand today beside our friends with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry and our fellow business families in support of S.744 the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. We believe this bipartisan immigration bill is a balanced reform bill, it includes fair and workable farm labor provisions, and it will help ensure an adequate supply of farm labor. After Congress failed to pass…

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