Health Insurers in Connecticut and Maryland Ask for Double-Digit Premium Hikes, Tennessee Braces for ‘Sticker Shock’

Tennessee Star - Obamacare

Consumers in at least two states face the prospect of double-digit increases in health insurance rates next year, as insurers attempt to price premiums amid uncertainty, including from Congress and President Donald Trump on the fate of Obamacare. Also driving rate increases is the fact that the millions of Americans enrolled on Obamacare’s exchanges are sicker…

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Al Gore Personally Pleaded With President Trump to Stay in the Paris Climate Agreement

Former Vice President Al Gore personally asked President Donald Trump not to withdraw the U.S. from a United Nations agreement aimed at limiting global warming, a source revealed. Gore called Trump Tuesday morning to discuss the Paris agreement that the Obama administration joined in 2016, the source told Axios. “Mr. Gore made the case for why…

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Marsha Blackburn Supports President Trump’s Firing of FBI Director While Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander Hedge

Tennessee Star

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) gave her complete support of President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, while both of Tennessee’s U.S. Senators, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) hedged in their official comments. Here is the reaction of these three Republican members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation to President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday. They made their comments in official press statements and on social media. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican: The FBI Director is entrusted to conduct business in an apolitical manner. What we have seen from Director Comey has been a breach of that trust and a politicization of the office. His removal from this office is warranted after his recent conduct in his position. Senator Bob Corker, Republican: While the case for removal of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey laid out by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein was thorough, his removal at this particular time will raise questions. It is essential that ongoing investigations are fulsome and free of political interference until their completion, and it is imperative that President Trump nominate a well-respected and qualified individual to lead the bureau at this critical time. Senator Lamar Alexander,…

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An Unusual End to An Unusual Session of the Tennessee House of Representatives

  The final action of the Tennessee House of Representatives 2017  session of the Tennessee General Assembly was for  Rep. Tilman Goins (R-Morristown) to roll a bill he sponsored this year,  HB16/SB38, to 2018, after a conference committee could not reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate. The bill authorizes members of the General Assembly and political campaigns to fund raise during prescribed legislative recesses in even numbered, or election, years. The move was unusual, even in a session of unusual legislative events, most notably an increase in the gas tax which has remained unchanged for nearly three decades and maneuvers that nearly “blew up” the budget. The Senate added an amendment that was not accepted by the House, and the Senate refused to recede from its amendment, thereby creating a kind of stalemate. In such situations, a conference committee is appointed, usually consisting of at least three members of each house.  In this instance, the conference committee consisted of Senators, the Senate bill’s sponsor, Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), Bo Watson (R-Hixson) and Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) and four Representatives, Tilman Goins, Glen Casada (R-Franklin), Andy Holt (R-Dresden), and Mike Stewart (D-Nashville) The conference committee’s mission is “to meet and attempt to…

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of DHS Spent Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars Sending Officials To Tolerance Seminar

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent tens of thousands of dollars to send its officials to a “tolerance seminar” put on by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a group known for opposing immigration control efforts. Documents provided by ICE to the Immigration Reform Law Institute in response to a FOIA request indicate that several dozen ICE officials…

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Memorial Service Held For Nashville Police Killed in the Line of Duty

Tennessee Star

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee–An annual memorial service was held Wednesday in downtown Nashville to honor fallen law enforcement officers and to show appreciation for the police who daily protect the public at risk to their own lives. The event was sponsored by the Andrew Jackson Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and took place at First Baptist Church. The memorial was also held to observe National Police Week, which is May 14-20. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry thanked officers for putting their lives on their line. “We can never thank you enough for what you do for all of us every day,” said Barry, who also expressed gratitude to the families of officers for their sacrifices. In his speech, Steve Anderson, chief of the Metro Nashville Police Department, spoke of Eric Mumaw, the officer to die most recently in the line of duty. Mumaw drowned Feb. 2 while trying to save a drunk and suicidal woman whose car plunged into the Cumberland River in Madison. The woman has been charged in his death. “If wealth were measured in friendships, Eric would have been wealthy beyond belief,” Anderson said. Anderson told of a young boy whom Mumaw befriended through a program that…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Thursday, May 11

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 11, Thursday John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

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