All-Star Christian Music Lineup to Lead Worship Service for Bill Lee’s Gubernatorial Inauguration Saturday

Bill Lee’s gubernatorial inauguration Saturday will include some leading Contemporary Christian musicians, including his old friend Michael W. Smith. The 2019 Inaugural Worship Service will feature Michael W. Smith, CeCe Winans, Steven Curtis Chapman, Nicole C. Mullen, Matthew West and others, the governor-elect’s team said on his transition website. The service will be held at Ryman Auditorium Saturday at 8:30 a.m. CST. Tickets for the worship service are required and free to the public here based on seating availability. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and be seated for the start of the worship service. Smith, who has won more than 45 Dove awards and three Grammy awards, said in a statement, “Bill and I have been friends for decades. His dedication to his Creator, his family, our community and now our state is unmatched. Starting the day of his inauguration in prayer and worship is a sincere and honest reflection of the type people Bill and Maria are. They will be outstanding servant-leaders for the great State of Tennessee.” Following the worship service, Lee will take the oath of office to become the 50th Tennessee governor at a ceremony convening on Legislative Plaza at 11 a.m. CST. The oath will…

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Don Barnett Commentary: Things That Are Taken Down After Dark

by Don Barnett   There is little argument that the Memphis City Council pulled a fast one in its decision to circumvent state law by selling two of its city parks to a nonprofit, which then immediately removed statues of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, President Jefferson Davis and the uncontroversial Capt. J. Harvey Mathes on December 20, 2017. The removal had been a point of contention for years and much of the political class applauded the novel approach to the problem. It is worth remembering, however, that removal booster Memphis Rep. Steve Cohen voted against the removal of the Forrest statue in 1984 when he was on the Memphis city council. Direct descendants of Nathan Bedford Forrest filed a lawsuit on Dec 17, 2018 against the city of Memphis over the removal of the statue from the gravesite of the Confederate general, his wife and, likely, others who were interred on the grounds earlier. It may be the first time that living descendants of a national historical figure have filed such a suit to protect their ancestor’s grave site. The chances of open discussion of the matter are looking pretty dim based on media handling of the issue so…

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Tennessee Democratic Caucus Staff Member Reportedly Stole More Money Than Originally Thought

A staffer tasked with handling financial payments for the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus reportedly stole more money than originally believed — $12,000 instead of $3,000. This, according to the Memphis-based WMC Action News 5. As The Tennessee Star reported last month, the man accused of the theft, Derrick Tibbs, worked for State Rep. Karen Camper, D-Memphis. At the time, officials alleged Tibbs had stolen at least $3,000, according to The Star. But a CPA firm did an audit and discovered Tibbs took more than $12,000 by writing checks to himself, WMC Action News 5 reported. The station reported Camper met with members of the House Democratic Caucus in Nashville to discuss the situation. “I did probably put too much trust in him than I should have. I’ll take the hit on that,” the station quoted Camper as saying. “I was deeply hurt and saddened because he worked for me.” WMC went on to say Tibbs took the money from a fundraising account throughout a three-year time span. As The Star reported, Tibbs resigned and offered to make restitution after Nashville TV station WSMV reported his alleged activities writing checks to himself. The checks reportedly need two signatures — one from a lawmaker, the…

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Letter to the Editor: PETA VP of Cruelty Investigations Responds to Cornerstone Baptist Church

Dear Tennessee Star, Re: Chris Butler’s January 14 article Dear Editor: The “contest” mentioned in Chris Butler’s January 14 article is run by a front group for Outback Steakhouse, KFC, Philip Morris, and other enterprises that subject billions of animals to miserable lives and violent, painful deaths every year. This group fears PETA’s impact in educating people about the meat industry’s cruelty and changing consumers’ buying habits, so its self-professed strategy is to “shoot the messenger.” PETA’s campaigns get people thinking and talking about the fact that the choices we make – like what we eat or how we entertain ourselves – are matters of life and death to animals. Our work has helped people realize that using animals for “entertainment” and forcing them to perform are cruel. Hollywild Animal Park – the roadside zoo that supplied exotic animals to Cornerstone Church – has a notorious history of USDA citations, including for failure to provide animals with veterinary care, minimum space, and proper food and water; having filthy and foul-smelling enclosures; and many other issues. In 2015, Hollywild was fined nearly $19,000 for violations and more than two dozen animals were killed in a fire at the decrepit facility. PETA…

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Detroit Auto Show, and Industry, Prepare for Transition

The auto industry gathered in Detroit on Sunday, on the eve of the last winter edition of North America’s premiere auto show, as carmakers grapple with a contracting market and uncertainty in the year ahead. Concerns over the health of the global economy and a US-China trade war loomed over the North American International Auto Show, as it prepared to open Monday with the first five days dedicated to the media and industry insiders. The show opens to the general public on January 19. While a number of major announcements were expected – including an anticipated strategic alliance between Ford and Volkswagen – there will be fewer automakers and new car unveilings, making it more subdued. “This is a transition year for the Detroit show,” said analyst Michelle Krebs of Autotrader. “It’s kind of emblematic of where the industry is. We’re in a transition in the industry.” After a 10-year boom, analysts expect North American auto sales to contract in 2019, as consumers face pressures and carmakers grapple with multiple uncertainties. Rising interest rates and car prices have squeezed car buyers, and fewer of them are able to afford increasingly pricey, technology-heavy cars. Kelley Blue Book predicted the average new-car…

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Commentary: At a Cost of $25 Billion Once Versus $165 Billion Annually, Trump’s ‘Wall’ Math Holds Up

by Spencer P. Morrison   Scott Adams, the creator of the popular cartoon “Dilbert,” transformed himself into a persona non grata in 2016 by exposing how Donald Trump manipulated the media by using sophisticated persuasion techniques. History proved Adams was correct and Trump won the election. As it turns out, Trump was not the bumbling blowhard of CNN’s fever dreams. He was a marketing mastermind whose words went far beyond “resonating” with ordinary Americans—they stuck. Epithets like crooked, lyin’, and low-energy were not just insults, they were silver bullets spoken by a silver tongue. Hillary, Ted, and Jeb didn’t know what hit ’em. Two years on and Trump’s word-wizardry is as potent as ever – Pocahontas‘s racial fraud is now common knowledge, and Trump’s little rocket man jab arguably set the stage for North Korea’s denuclearization summit. At this point, Trump’s language is indistinguishable from political magic. For example, Trump’s push for “the wall” has turned ardent socialists into laissez-faire economists on the issue of illegal immigration – who cares if migration hurts America’s most vulnerable? We need aliens to grow the economy! This flip-flop has made it clear to ordinary Americans: the Democratic Party cares more about illegal aliens than it does the common citizen. Another Brick in the Wall The Democratic Party shut down the government to…

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American Farmers Support Trump Despite Tariffs

by Tim Pearce   American farmers are sticking behind President Donald Trump despite a trade agenda that makes selling produce to foreign countries more difficult and less profitable, Bloomberg reported. The United States’s ongoing trade war with China is a primary concern for U.S. farmers that sell crops, especially soybeans, overseas. While Trump’s view on and use of tariffs are not popular in the agriculture community, many of his other policies are. “We send [China] a lot of soybeans,” Aron Carlson, who farms corn and soy in Indiana, told Bloomberg. “They’re basically buying every other bushel in the world and we’re the last invited to the table, and I don’t like to be last. I want to be front and center, as far as that stuff goes.” “I hope he can get the whole trade thing with China figured out. I think we need to quit picking some fights,” Carlson said. Carlson voted for Trump and is still backing the president, though his support is “softening.” In the ongoing fight over the partial government shutdown and funding for a border wall with Mexico, Carlson agrees with Trump that there are “serious problems going on with that border.” Also, farmers are willing to take short-term financial hits…

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President Trump’s 2019 Shutdown Minimizes the Impact on Citizens, Where President Obama’s Maximized the Impact in 2013

by Molly Prince   Services typically suspended during government shutdowns have continued to operate under the Trump administration, with insiders pointing to acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought (pictured above) as the reason why. Agencies impacted by government shutdowns are forced to severely cut back on operations, suspend services and often send workers home without pay. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been using creative solutions to blunt the burden, according to a senior administration official and several prominent Republicans. Vought joined the OMB in early 2018 and assumed the role of acting director Jan. 3 after Director Mick Mulvaney became President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff. “My marching orders from Russ is to make this shutdown as painless as possible,” a senior administration official, who asked to speak on background so they could speak frankly, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The response by the Trump administration has differed greatly from that of the previous administration during the 2013 shutdown. “What the marching orders in the last administration were was to weaponize the shutdown, to make it as painful as possible,” the official continued. “They did things as a policy matter, to not keep programs running,…

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Supreme Court Turns Down Challenge To Matthew Whitaker’s Appointment As Acting AG

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court rejected an unusual challenge to Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as acting Attorney General on Monday. The challenge arose in the context of a Second Amendment case from Nevada, where an independent political activist named Barry Michaels challenged a provision of the Federal Gun Control Act which prohibits convicted felons from possessing firearms. Michaels’ convictions were for non-violent crimes and he has lived in accordance with the law for 20 years. Whitaker became the named defendant in Michaels’ case when he was appointed acting AG. Shortly thereafter, Michaels and his attorneys filed a motion at the Supreme Court challenging Whitaker’s appointment. The motion argued that a federal law called the Attorney General Succession Act controls the accession of leadership at the Department of Justice. That law provides that the Deputy Attorney General should become the acting AG when a vacancy in that office arises. As such, Michaels said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is the rightful acting AG, not Whitaker. Michaels also raised a constitutional issue, arguing that the appointments clause requires Senate confirmation for all principal officers of the government, even those serving in an acting capacity. Whitaker was chief of staff to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions…

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Youngest Black Legislator In America Won on a Platform of ‘God, Guns, and Babies’

by Evie Fordham   The West Virginia House of Delegates convened Wednesday with a record-setter in its midst – freshman Del. Caleb L. Hanna, who became the nation’s youngest black legislator following his election at age 19 in November 2018. “I always knew that I was not satisfied with the leadership I was getting within my own house district,” Hanna told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “I told myself if I ever had my opportunity to take that, I would give it my shot.” At first, his small Republican campaign was designed to push Democratic incumbent Dana Lynch to be “more proactive in the legislature,” Hanna told TheDCNF. But things shifted when Hanna realized he could win the Republican primary — even if he was running his campaign from his dorm room at West Virginia State University, where he studies economics. Leading up to the general election, Hanna faced doubts about his age and experience, a shoestring budget and one instance of racist flyers he reported to law enforcement. But Hanna defeated Lynch by roughly 25 points in West Virginia’s House of Delegates District 44 in November, with results reported as 60.3 to 35.7, according to Ballotpedia. Making It…

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Mike Huckabee Calls For Prosecution Of Politically Biased FBI Agents

by Nick Givas   Former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called for the prosecution of politically biased FBI agents, on “Fox & Friends” Monday, and said the agency needs to clean house. “I think, you know, at some point, somebody’s got to take a good Dyson vacuum cleaner to go over to the FBI and just clean out the leadership. Because there’s something wrong at the top,” Huckabee said. “There needs to be, then, accountability for those who are being cleaned out and there’s still some there that shouldn’t be. The rank and file deserve better leadership than this,” he continued, adding: They’re good people in the FBI. They’re good, hard-working people of integrity that are disgusted with what’s happened to their agency that they committed themselves to. And they deserve better leadership. And I’m really hoping that there will be people truly held accountable. Not just fired, but I’m talking about truly held accountable. And some need to be prosecuted for using their positions as a political weapon.   Huckabee had been discussing stories from The New York Times and The Washington Post about the FBI’s inquiry into President Donald Trump’s supposed connection with Russia and said the agency’s actions should scare the public. “What scares…

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Volkswagen to Funnel $800 Million into Chattanooga Plant to Build Electric Vehicles as President Trump Pressures German Companies to Invest in America

Volkswagen will spend $800 million to expand its Chattanooga factory to become the German company’s North American hub for manufacturing electric vehicles, and the Scenic City may want to thank President Donald Trump. VW CEO Dr. Herbert Diess made the announcement at a presentation at the Detroit Auto Show Monday, TechCrunch said. The expansion is expected to create 1,000 jobs at the Chattanooga plant. The German company is moving away from diesel following the 2015 emissions cheating scandal. VW Group plans to spend nearly $50 billion in the next five years toward the development and production of electric vehicles and digital services, TechCrunch said. VW’s news means another feather in Tennessee’s cap for a growing automotive industry. In response to VW’s announcement, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said in a statement, “This follows General Motors’ announcement yesterday that it will produce its new Cadillac XT6 crossover in Spring Hill. The Middle Tennessee location is the product of an over $2 billion investment since 2010. It is the largest GM facility in North America at 7.1 million square feet and has brought 3,400 jobs to the area. “Volkswagen and General Motors’ decisions are further proof that Tennessee workers and our business friendly climate…

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Steve Gill Commentary: The Christian Vote, Particularly the Catholic Votes, Are Critical to Trump’s Re-Election in 2020

Three states in the midwest that Hillary Clinton was counting on to carry her to victory in 2016 narrowly ended up in the Donald Trump column — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. If those three states had been won by Clinton, their 46 Electoral votes would have given her the presidency with slightly more than the necessary 270 needed to win. The total vote margin for Donald Trump in all three of those states was only 107,000! He carried Michigan by 11,837. Wisconsin by 27,257. Pennsylvania by 68,236. The big question as 2020 looms is whether he can retain or expand those margins regardless of whom the Democrats pick as their standard-bearer. Democrats won Senate races in all three states in 2018 and knocked off Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin as well, giving them hope that they can swing them back to blue in 2020. Christian voters were a key component in Trump’s victory in those and other battleground states, like Ohio, Florida and Iowa. George Barna detailed the impact of the Christian vote in 2016 in his book The Day Christians Changed America.  Groups like Lift the Vote, a non-profit focused on energizing and mobilizing Evangelical voters in key…

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Tennessee Amusement Tax May Get Dragged Through Courts if Legislators Do Nothing

This year, Tennessee legislators may or may not do away with what is known as an amusement tax on small gyms and health clubs throughout the state. If, for whatever reason, Tennessee General Assembly members choose not to kill the tax then small gym and small health club owners may fight the matter out in court. This, according to Jeff Rose, who manages the Orangetheory Fitness in Lakeland. On the state end, a long and protracted legal battle will cost taxpayer money. As The Tennessee Star reported, large gym owners throughout the state don’t have to pay this tax. Small business owners do, and they must pass the higher costs of doing business down to their customers. The tax amounts to about 10 percent. State legislators plan to review the law this year. “Eliminating the tax will ensure the state does not face almost certain costs of litigation because if it doesn’t pass this session then our only last recourse, if we still want to pursue it, is through the courts,” Rose told The Star. Rose said he could not describe how much money his customers lose every year because of the tax because that’s “proprietary information.” But he did…

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Most, But Not All Tennessee Republican D.C. Representatives Are Die Hard About the Border Wall

Republicans Chuck Fleischmann, Scott DesJarlais, and Marsha Blackburn have all reportedly come out swinging in support of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall. U.S. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, however, seems to have taken a more passive approach. Alexander’s junior colleague, U.S. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn reportedly told The Cleveland Banner this week that, despite the shutdown, a large portion of the federal government, about 75 percent, still functions. Blackburn, according to The Banner, blamed the shutdown on Democrats, who refuse to negotiate. “It is sad they are putting partisan politics ahead of the American people,” the paper quoted Blackburn as saying. “It is unconscionable they would refuse to secure the border and protect our nation. Drugs, human sex and labor traffickers and gang members cross into this country — illegally every day. It is imperative that we secure the border and end illegal entry.” The United States, Blackburn went on to tell the paper, spends billions of dollars each year in foreign aid, money she said this country could use to secure the border — for one-tenth of that amount. Fleischmann, meanwhile, told The Banner he is withholding his pay during the shutdown, but he, like Blackburn, also…

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Commentary: Contrary to Some Conservatives’ Slavish Devotion Free Trade Dogma, Trade Deficits Do Matter

by Spencer P. Morrison   Steve Hanke recently set out to prove “why President Trump’s trade message and protectionist policies are rubbish” in a Forbes article. Instead, the Johns Hopkins University economist exposed himself as a word-mincing, logic-twisting sophist – just like every other intellectual mercenary associated with the faux-libertarian propaganda mill that is the Cato Institute. Hanke’s argument: trade deficits don’t exist, China is not screwing America, and President Trump (the village idiot) is jousting windmills. The real problem is lazy Americans who shop-til-they-drop and demand welfare “gimmies” from Uncle Sam. Faust’s Bargain Hanke begins his argument by explaining that trade deficits don’t really exist. Instead, the goods trade deficit is simply one half of the equation: In economics, identities play an important role. These identities are obtained by equating two different breakdowns of a single aggregate. Identities are interesting, and usually important, by definition. In national income accounting, the following identity can be derived. It is the key to understanding the trade deficit. (Imports – Exports ) ≡ (Investment – Savings) + (Government Spending – Taxes) Given this identity, which must hold, the trade deficit is equal to the excess of private sector investment over savings, plus the excess of government spending over tax revenue.…

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Netflix Show Attempts to Revive NC ‘Bathroom Bill’ Fight As 2020 Approaches

Netflix

A Netflix show appears to be attempting to revive the atmosphere of corporate activism, economic blackmail, and political point scoring seen during the 2016 fight over North Carolina’s House Bill 2 – also known as the ‘Bathroom Bill’. Jonas Pate, the creator of the Netflix show OBX, has threatened to take filming of 10 episodes of the show to Charleston, South Carolina because of a provision in the repeal bill for House Bill 2 (HB2). Netflix as a company has yet to comment on Pate’s position. The repeal bill (House Bill 142) has a provision placing a moratorium on municipalities passing local ordinances. The moratorium sunset date falls after the 2020 elections, which makes it difficult to revive HB2 and House Bill 142 as a political wedge issue. Pate’s choice of Charleston is likely intentional, as it is one of only two cities in South Carolina that has a public accommodations ordinance that includes, “perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality or gender identity or expression.” South Carolina as a whole received a ‘failing grade’ from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in their 2018 Municipality Equality Index.  By contrast, Netflix received a perfect score of 100 on HRC’s 2018 corporate equality index report. Pate…

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Chicago Mayoral Candidate Wants to Sue Indiana and Wisconsin to Stop Gun Violence

Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico, a Democrat, recently suggested that he would sue the states of Indiana and Wisconsin in an effort to curb gun violence in his city. During a Thursday candidate’s forum, Chico said that “we have to get these illegal guns off our streets.” “The gang-bangers that are committing crimes with guns are out of control, and what we’re finding is that more than 60 percent of the guns used in these crimes are coming from over the border. I’ve said that if we can’t get Indiana and Wisconsin to work with us, we sue them, and that includes the Cabela’s gun shop right in Indiana—right in Hammond, Indiana. We can no longer take this,” Chico elaborated. Those numbers stem from a 2017 Gun Trace Report conducted by the Chicago Police Department in collaboration with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office and the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The report found that 21 percent of firearms recovered in crimes came from Indiana, while four percent were from Wisconsin. 40 percent, however, came from within Illinois, while another five percent were from Mississippi. Additionally, the report found that two Illinois-based firearms stores produced the most guns recovered in crimes, while the…

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In Unique Midnight Ceremony, Mike DeWine Sworn in as Governor of Ohio

If his first day in office is any gauge of his coming term of office, Governor DeWine will have an unprecedented tenure. DeWine is not the first executive to be sworn in on more than one Bible. As recently as 2017, President Donald Trump was sworn in on two; a common practice. When Mike DeWine was sworn in as Governor of Ohio, he was sworn in on nine. Nine Bibles. At 12:01 A.M., Mike DeWine took his oath of office at his family home in Cedarville. Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine, his son, administered the oath with all nine Bibles. When asked why nine, a spokesperson stated that the family wanted one for each of their eight children, in addition to theirs. Immediately following the ceremony, the 72-year-old Ohioan, signed six separate Executive Orders, crossing a wide array of issues. They are: E.O. 2019-01D: Creating the Governor’s RecoveryOhio Initiative, This creates a special task force that will oversee the statewide battle against the Opioid Epidemic. Leading the group as his “Drug-Czar” is  Alisha Nelson, who has served in the capacity under DeWine when he was Attorney General, E.O. 2019-02D: Creating the Governor’s Children’s Initiative, Ohio has one of the highest childhood…

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Minnesota’s Betty McCollum Introduces Constitutional Amendment to Make Health Care a Right

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04) recently introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would make health care a right for all American citizens. The Health Care for All Amendment, H.J. Res. 17, is currently co-sponsored by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-02) and states “health care, including care to prevent and treat illness, is the right of the people and necessary to ensure the strength of the nation.” “The Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation,” the amendment states. In a press release announcing the amendment, McCollum bashed “the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans” for “actively and intentionally sabotaging our health care system,” while stating that “pharmaceutical companies are gouging consumers to extract huge profits.” “Strengthening the Affordable Care Act, expanding federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, protecting women’s reproductive rights, and working to build a system of universal health coverage are some of the steps Congress must take to ensure that the American people have the assurance and stability they deserve when it comes to receiving health care,” McCollum said. She went on to lament the treatment of health care as “a commodity driven by profit” that should not have to “be restricted or rationed according…

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Job Slashing Hedge Fund Bids to Buy Gannett and The Tennessean: Management ‘Has Not Demonstrated That It’s Capable of Effectively Running This Enterprise’

Hedge fund backed Digital First Media, which owns more than 200 newspapers and is known for its draconian cost cutting and job slashing, submitted a bid to buy Gannett for $1.3 billion on Monday. “Critics have described Alden as a “destroyer of newspapers” that is prone to “savage” layoffs and as “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism,” the New York Times reported after news of the bid broke. Gannett, a publicly traded company, owns USA Today and 100 other newspapers, including The Tennessean in Nashville, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, and the Knoxville News Sentinel. In its bid, Digital First Media delivered a withering assessment of the competence of Gannett’s current management team in this letter accompanying the bid: Gannett has lost 41% of its value since its debut as a public company two and a half years ago, significantly underperforming its peer group and indices.  During this period, Gannett suffered from a series of value-destroying decisions made by an unfocused leadership team – overpaying for a string of non-core aspirational digital deals and pursuing an ill-fated hostile for Tribune Publishing, all while Gannett’s core revenue, EBITDA, margins and Free Cash Flow continue…

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