Nashville Chapter Of Achilles International Helps Disabled Athletes Meet Personal Goals

Two years ago, Austin Crymes reached a milestone. A young man with cerebral palsy, he completed a 5-mile race, even though it took him four hours and 10 minutes using a cane in each hand to help him walk. As he neared the finish line, more than 20 others ran out cheering to cross the line with him. “I was crying happy tears,” recalled his mother Shawna Crymes. “That was a really big deal.” Crymes, now 25, is a member of the Nashville chapter of Achilles International, a nonprofit that pairs able-bodied runners with athletes with disabilities. The volunteers help the athletes participate in races in Nashville and around the country – races for people with disabilities and also those open to all. The Nashville chapter started five years ago. The athletes, who range in age from middle school years to more than 70 years old, have disabilities ranging from vision impairments and blindness to spina bifida and multiple sclerosis, among others. The volunteers guide them in ways to meet their needs during training exercises and races. Some athletes use prosthetic legs, hand cycles, walkers, braces or tethers. When Crymes participated in the 5-mile race two years ago, two guides met…

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Evangelist Franklin Graham Addresses Crowd of 2,000 in Chattanooga

By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Evangelist Franklin Graham spoke Monday in Chattanooga to a crowd of 2,000  that rallied in a park along the river as part of his Decision America tour through Tennessee. The son of famed evangelist Billy Graham presented the enthusiastic audience with a biblical analysis of the U.S. cultural decline, the fruits, he argued of de-Christianization of the country. Graham proposed Godly remedies for the country. Graham will be in Clarksville May 18, Jackson May 19 and Memphis May 21.  A rock band, the Afters, gave a popular flavor to the gathering with its thundering technical effects and appeals to emotion. The raising  of hand in the air, palms open to the sky, during the musical prelude indicated nearly everyone present was a practicing Christian. “Father, I pray that you would forgive the sins of our country, that you would heal our country, that you would bring us together spiritually, morally, politically at every level. But Father, it’s not going to happen unless we repent of our sins as a nation and turn to you and to your son, Jesus Christ,” Graham said. He prayed for “this community, the political…

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Duke Divinity School Professor To Resign After Facing Backlash For Criticizing Diversity Training

A Duke Divinity School professor is resigning after facing backlash for his complaints about a training program featuring progressive teachings on race. Paul Griffiths, a professor of Catholic theology, will resign after the 2017-18 academic year because of disciplinary measures he’s up against, reports The Washington Times. After receiving an email sent to faculty encouraging attendance at the two-day anti-racism training in March, Griffiths responded by sending a mass email advising his colleagues not to attend. “I exhort you not to attend this training,” Griffiths wrote in a Feb. 6 email. “Don’t lay waste your time by doing so. It’ll be, I predict with confidence, intellectually flaccid: there’ll be bromides, cliches, and amen-corner rah-rahs in plenty. When (if) it gets beyond that, its illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies will show.” He was swiftly condemned by administrators and colleagues on the Durham, North Carolina, campus who were in favor of the training. Valerie Cooper, associate professor of religion and society and black church studies, said the school’s treatment of Griffiths does not go against academic freedom because the progressive view of diversity is not open to debate. “Duke University has a clear statement in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Cooper wrote on…

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BREAKING: Roger Ailes Has Died

  CNN is reporting that former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has died: Roger Ailes, who transformed cable news and then American politics by building Fox News into a ratings powerhouse, died Thursday. He was 77. The death was announced by his family and reported on Fox News Channel. There was no immediate information on a cause of death. “I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning,” his wife, Elizabeth, said in a statement. “Roger was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many. He was also a patriot, profoundly grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise — and to give back.” Sean Hannity, a prime time host and longtime face of the network, said on Twitter: “Today America lost one of its great patriotic warriors.” Ailes started Fox News almost from scratch in 1996. With its slogan “Fair & Balanced,” the network grew into not just the cable news ratings leader but a profound influence on the right wing of American politics. Ailes was removed as head of Fox News in 2016, as…

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Wilson County Commissioner Announces Primary Run For Rep. Susan Lynn’s House District 57

  “It’s time to go against the status quo, and I hope to be the next Representative for the 57th District,” says Wilson County Commissioner, Dan Walker, as he announced his intention to run in the Republican primary for the 2018 election. Walker is the second to announce a run in the 2018 Republican primary for the 57th House District, a seat currently held by Rep. Susan Lynn (R-Mt. Juliet), joining Jeremy Hayes, who announced his intention to run on February 28 in an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star. At the time of his announcement, Hayes cited Lynn’s support for Governor Haslam’s gas tax.  Lynn later denied support for the gas tax when Hayes challenged her to a debate, saying “I am not for the gas tax so there is nothing to debate.” On April 19, Rep. Lynn was one of 37 Republicans and 23 Democrats who voted for the gas-tax increase containing IMPROVE Act. Walker’s announcement states, “Dan is running on a small government approach, bringing with him a strong business acumen and military leadership to work for the great people of the 57th State District of Tennessee.”  A quote from Walker in the announcement states, I am…

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Donald Trump’s Intelligence Sharing with Russians Overhyped in Media, Officials Say

Some of America’s top intelligence officials are expressing frustration at the wave of media hysteria that has greeted reports that President Trump may have shared sensitive intelligence with top Russian diplomats last week, with some saying a handful of news organizations are guilty of hyping what amounts to a nonstory. Critics of the story, which has…

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Senate Democrats Want to Make It Harder for Congress to Remove Regulations

Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker wants to make it more difficult to remove government regulations through congressional review, Reuters reported Tuesday. President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have repealed 14 regulations through the Congressional Review Act (CRA) since Jan. 20, but that is too fast for Booker. The untitled bill introduced Tuesday, temporarily called…

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Former FBI Director Robert Mueller Now Running Point On The Russia Investigation

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that former FBI Director Robert Mueller would oversee the ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials during last year’s general election. Mueller is a widely respected figure in Washington D.C. who has served in the administrations of Republican and Democratic presidents. He joined the Justice…

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Sumner County Residents Say Taxpayer-Funded Industrial Park Might Displace Them From Their Homes

  by Chris Butler Sumner County Executive Anthony Holt hoped last year to use taxpayer money to buy land for a new industrial park. But the county already has such a park, in Gallatin, with lots of acreage left for future needs. A public outcry ensued, and Holt’s idea didn’t get far. But that doesn’t mean this story is over, and it doesn’t mean a fight isn’t brewing. Sumner County is about 40 miles northeast of Nashville. A group of landowners in Sumner’s rural farming areas say they had the most to lose because that park would have been built adjacent to their properties. Their property values, they went on, would have suffered. A nearby industrial park might have displaced them from their homes. The properties they own are small compared to those of their neighbors, who own large tracts of land awarded their ancestors by the U.S. government after the Revolutionary War. The smaller property owners said they believe Holt and other people of influence, especially developers, are working discretely to make the industrial park a reality. These property owners said the already existing Gallatin Industrial Park can fill whatever industrial needs the county has — and then some.…

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Commentary: Obama Holdovers Successfully Sabotaging Trump’s War Against ISIS

  by George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor This week the Obama holdovers that have been foolishly allowed to remain in the White House and our national security and foreign policy departments scored a double victory in their ongoing coup against President Trump. And in the process of undermining the President they gravely undermined his strategy to defeat the Islamic State and its campaign of terrorism against the West. The first victory was to advance their effort to poison the relationship between the United States and Russia by revealing that the President, using his clear constitutional authority, had shared intelligence with the Russians about Islamic State plans to use laptop computer bombs against airliners. During the recent presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump said on a number of occasions that one of the goals of his strategy against the Islamic State would be to engage the Russians more actively in the fight. And, in their faux outrage at the President’s decision to share intelligence with the Russians the Leftwing media and their enablers on Capitol Hill seem to have forgotten that it is the Russians who have suffered one of the most devastating Islamic State airliner bombings. Metrojet flight 9268 was just 23 minutes…

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Fmr. Asst. FBI Director: ‘Professional Team of Subversives’ Out to Get Trump

Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom said President Donald Trump’s administration is “fighting a very professional team of subversives” who “are not going to quit” and are out to bring down the president, during an interview Wednesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” Kallstrom said the administration is combatting a highly coordinated “resistance” that is “probably operating…

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Seven Republican Candidates For Governor To Speak At Rutherford County Event

  Republican candidates for Tennessee governor will speak at this year’s Reagan Day Dinner sponsored by the Rutherford County GOP. The lineup for the May 25 event will include seven “announced and expected Republican gubernatorial candidates,” according to promotional material. They include businessmen Randy Boyd and Bill Lee, Congresswoman Diane Black, State Senators Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), and Speaker of the State House of Representatives Beth Harwell (R-Nashville). Only Boyd and Lee have announced to date. Part of the mission of local chapters of the Republican Party is to inform voters about candidates running for office, said Donna Barrett, chair of the Rutherford County GOP. “What better way than to have the candidates present at functions where we can personally hear where they stand on issues?” Barrett told The Tennessee Star. On the most important state issues in 2017, the gas tax increase included in the IMPROVE Act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Haslam, the seven announced and expected Republican gubernatorial candidates hold positions that range from support to opposition to no comment so far. State Senator Mark Norris and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell voted yes…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Thursday, May 18

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 18, Thursday Ephesians 6:10-18 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

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