Tag: Dan Mandis

Phil Williams Says He Asked Justin Jones to Respond to Allegations He Covered Up Knowledge of Sexual Assaults, But ‘He Chose Not to Comment’

Tom Pappert
Dan Mandis and Phil Williams, WTN

Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 failed to report the response he received from Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) to the claim the lawmaker covered up the sexual assault of two protesters by a homeless man in 2020.

Williams revealed in a Friday interview with SuperTalk 99.7 WTN that Jones declined to comment on the claim in 2020. Williams additionally confirmed that other activists planned to confront the homeless man for his alleged sex crimes instead of involving police.

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Governor Lee Says ‘We’ll See’ as Hundreds of Tennessee National Guardsmen Are Set to Be Fired over Vax Mandate

Aaron Gulbransen

Several outraged Tennessee National Guard members reached out to The Tennessee Star Wednesday morning immediately after Governor Bill Lee’s (R-TN) interview earlier in the day on Supertalk 99.7 on Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis.

A message delivered by one guardsmen on behalf of several was simple: “We are even more outraged at Governor Lee’s lack of support and action than we were before he opened his mouth full of hot air on the radio. He doesn’t seem to care about us.”

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Governor Bill Lee Joins The Dan Mandis Show to Talk About Re-Working the Basic Education Program and Holding Schools Accountable

Julie Carr

  Live from Nashville, Tennessee, Friday morning on The Dan Mandis Show – weekdays on Supertalk 99.7 WTN – weekdays 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.– host Mandis welcomed Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to discuss how he will reformulate the Basic Education Program from the ground up and hold underperforming schools accountable. Mandis: Governor Bill Lee joining us. And always appreciate having you on the radio program, sir. There’s been a lot of discussions going on Capitol Hill over the last few weeks about how we’re going to fund the schools. Now, Governor, you have said that you want the funding to follow the kids no matter where they go. During your State of the State speech, you said this: (Bill Lee clip plays) I am proposing an innovative approach that sets aside dollars for each student based on their individual needs. And these dollars will be used in whatever public school they attend. This is not just hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. This is our kids and their lives. So, Governor, a lot of folks said hallelujah. And for the last many weeks, we have been waiting, including folks in the state legislature, eagerly awaiting your proposal.…

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Grand Jury Indicts Metro Nashville Police Officer Delke on First-Degree Murder Charge in Hambrick Shooting

Jason M. Reynolds

A grand jury indicted Metro Nashville Police Department Officer Andrew Delke on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting of Daniel Hambrick. District Attorney Glenn Funk’s office announced the decision Friday, Nashville Public Radio (WPLN) said. The case will be tried in the Criminal Court of Davidson County, NewsChannel 5 said. Delke, who is out on bond, will plead not guilty. Judge Melissa Blackburn decided at the preliminary hearing two weeks ago there was probable cause to bound the case over to the grand jury. This is the first time an on-duty Nashville police officer has been indicted for a fatal shooting, WPLN said, quoting a police spokesperson. NewsChannel 5 said Delke has been decommissioned but remains on administrative assignment. Arraignment is expected in seven to 10 days. The shooting has been fraught with racial undertones. WTN radio’s Dan Mandis tried to hold a reasoned debate last August with Joy Kimbrough, the attorney representing the Hambrick family, The Tennessee Star reported at the time. The audio of Mandis’ intervew on Super Talk 99.7 is available here. Video of the shooting is available here on the Nashville Scene. Kimbrough used what Mandis called “inflammatory language” repeatedly even as he said…

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Hambrick Family Attorney Goes Off the Rails in WTN Interview on Police Shooting

Jason M. Reynolds

WTN radio’s Dan Mandis tried to hold a reasoned debate with the attorney representing the family of a man who was shot and killed by Metro Nashville Police last month. Mandis hosted attorney Joy Kimbrough on his Super Talk 99.7 program Monday. The audio is available here. Kimbrough represents the family of Daniel Hambrick. Video shows Metro Officer Andrew Delke shooting and killing Hambrick as he was running away on July 26, News Channel 5 said. The video is available here on the Nashville Scene. The surveillance video obtained from nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School shows the shooting near the intersection of 17th Avenue North and Jo Johnston Avenue on the evening of July 26, the Scene said. Criminal history Hambrick had several pending serious criminal charges at the time he was shot, Fox 17 News said. His prior convictions include felony aggravated robbery, misdemeanor assault, possession or casual exchange, felon in possession of a weapon, drugs in a drug-free school zone, resisting arrest and more. [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Daniel-Hambrick-Arrest-History.pdf” title=”Daniel Hambrick Arrest History”]   On the rap sheet, the following initials mean: PEND-pending DROS- Dismissed request of the state GLC-Guilty of Lesser Charge DIS- Dismissed GUI-Guilty CONC-Concluded Mayor David Briley last…

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Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief to Guest Host the Dan Mandis Show on WTN Today and Interview Carol Swain About Moral Leadership

Tennessee Star Staff

Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy will guest host The Dan Mandis Show from noon to 3 p.m. central time on Supertalk 99.7 WTN today, President’s Day, Monday, February 19. The first hour will address the turbulent recent events in Tennessee politics, including Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-TN) potential re-entry into the U.S. Senate race and the controversy surrounding Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. At 12:30 former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain will offer her commentary on Megan Barry’s lack of moral leadership and its impact on Nashville, the hypocrisy of the #metoo movement with regards to Barry’s extramarital affair with her Metro Nashville Police bodyguard, and the Megan Barry Must Resign rally Tuesday. In the 1 p.m. hour, conservative icon Richard Viguerie, president of ConservativeHQ.com, will discuss the status of 2018 midterm elections. In the second half of that hour, author and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley will offer his reflections on Ronald Reagan on President’s Day, discuss his most recent books, Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980 and Citizen Newt:The Making of a Reagan Conservative, and will let us in on his future book projects. The final hour of the program will focus on civic education and instruction of elementary and secondary school…

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Councilman Robert Swope Speaks Out Against ‘Sanctuary City’ Ordinance

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Councilman Robert Swope told WTN 99.7 FM talk show host Dan Mandis this week that the proposed “sanctuary city” ordinance would create a new class of citizens that would conflict with existing laws. The measure, which would restrict local cooperation with federal immigration officials, was passed on a second reading Tuesday and is up for a final vote next month. Swope has been against the measure from the start, being the only Metro Council member to vote against it on the first reading June 6. Seven other council members joined him this week in voting against it, but 25 voted for it. “If you are breaking the law, then you need to be punished, not be put into a separate class of citizens that says, OK, well, you can break the law but nobody else can,” Swope said in his interview Wednesday with Mandis. Swope spoke of the dangers involved in obstructing the sheriff’s ability to detain criminal illegal immigrants for deportation. Opposition to the ordinance is not about “rounding up” Davidson County’s estimated 33,000 illegal immigrants and “throwing them back across any single single border,” Swope said. In a recent week, 19 illegal immigrants were detained for deportation by the Metro Nashville…

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High Noon: Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol Debate the Gas Tax on WWTN Tomorrow

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

Steve Gill and Ralph Bristol will debate the merits of Gov. Haslam’s proposed gas tax increase on 99.7 FM WWTN’s Dan Mandis Show tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon. Gill, the former Nashville talk radio host who led the successful opposition to Gov. Sundquist’s proposed state income tax in 2000-2002, is opposed to Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon as well as any other kind of tax increase. Bristol, the host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM WWTN, said in testimony before the State Senate Transportation Committee on Februrary 27, “It is my humble, but considered opinion that Governor Haslam has almost presented a thoughtful, responsible plan that preserves the integrity of an admirable and enviable tax system . . . and that his plan adequately addresses a real need that has always been considered so sacred that it deserved special protection, even from economic downturns that affect the rest of the people’s purse.” “I do not support the Governor’s plan, as is, because I don’t believe it is the revenue neutral plan it advertises itself to be,” Bristol  stated in his testimony But the bottom line for Bristol, he concluded in his testimony,  is that “Governor Haslam’s…

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WWTN Town Hall Audience Virtually Unanimous in Opposition to Gas Tax Increase

Tennessee Star Staff

The studio audience at WWTN’s Gas Tax Town Hall on Thursday was virtually unanimous in its opposition to Gov. Haslam’s proposed increase in the state tax on gasoline from the current level of 21 cents per gallon to the proposed level of 28 cents per gallon. About twenty people filled the seats in the small WWTN performance room to listen to moderator Ralph Bristol, show host Dan Mandis, and eight panelists from the General Assembly, Gov. Haslam’s office, and two public interest groups discuss the merits of the proposed gas tax increase. In the first hour of the program, several audience members opposed to the proposed gas tax increase asked questions of the panel. During a break, moderator Ralph Bristol asked if anyone in the audience favored the proposed gas tax increase and wanted to ask a question. No one raised their hand. Bristol then asked if anyone in the audience was undecided. Jessica Colon, recently retired from the Army, now working as a nurse in Middle Tennessee and living in Robertson County, raised her hand. In the second hour, Bristol called on Colon, who asked a question of the panel. After the program ended, The Tennessee Star asked Colon…

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Former Lt. Gov. Ramsey A Paid Consultant to Pro-Gas Tax Coalition

Tennessee Star Staff
Ramsey at Townhall

Former Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey told The Tennessee Star on Thursday he is a paid consultant to the Tennessee Coalition on Transportation, an advocacy group that supports Gov. Haslam’s 7 cents per gallon gas tax increase and a 12 cents per gallon diesel tax increase. Ramsey’s revelation came during a break in the two hour broadcast of the WWTN Gas Tax Town Hall, moderated by Nashville Morning News host Ralph Bristol on the Dan Mandis Show. The event featured a studio audience, which was virtually unanimous in its opposition to the gas tax. Ramsey advocated strenuously on behalf of the gas tax increase. He was one of eight panelists at the event. Other members of the panel included Andy Ogles, executive director of the Tennessee chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes the gas tax, David Smith appearing on behalf of Gov. Bill Haslam, State Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), State Sen. Paul Bailey (R-Sparta), State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Lawrence County), Rep. Brian Terry (R-Murfreesboro), and Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester). “I did leave the legislature back, I made my announcement in March, and left in November, of course, at the election,” Ramsey said in his opening remarks as a member of the…

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