German automaker Audi chose to get political in its Super Bowl ad, advocating equal pay for women. It backfired. The spot featured a young girl competing against her male counterparts in a downhill soapbox car derby, with her father’s voice-over: “What do I tell my daughter? Do I tell her…
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The United States had falsified evidence about climate change in order to get politicians to sign an agreement lowering carbon emissions last year, according to an article published Saturday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration broke its own rules and submitted “misleading, unverified” data in a paper which the Paris…
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As controversy heats up over sanctuary cities across the U.S., many Mt. Juliet residents are backing the city’s promise that Mt. Juliet will never be one. Frustrated by burdens illegal immigrants place on police and public services and grieved over the loss of a couple killed by an illegal immigrant…
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Tel Aviv University Team will excavate rebel dwellings, Herod’s gardens in month-long expedition at UNESCO heritage site By Ilan Ben Zion Aerial view of Masada (Andrew Shiva/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA) For the first time in over a decade, archaeologists are commencing new excavations atop Masada, studying previously untouched areas of the legendary…
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HOUSTON — Tom Brady and Roger Goodell posed together with the Super Bowl MVP trophy to cap yet another comeback for the New England Patriots quarterback Monday at the George Brown Convention Center. “I think James White deserves it, would have been pretty nice for him,” Brady said of the…
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Metro Nashville Director of Schools Shawn Joseph says President Trump’s executive orders on immigrants and refugees are causing concern for foreign-born families and staff. In his two orders on border security and interior enforcement, President Trump called for allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration officials. However, schools…
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President Trump said Sunday that he’s considering withholding federal funds to California if state officials proceed with a proposal to create a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants. “If we have to, we’ll defund,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Bill O’Reilly broadcast Sunday on Fox News. “We give tremendous…
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HOUSTON — On the goal line, James White dragged three Atlanta Falcons into the end zone. Ten yards back, Tom Brady tore off his helmet and stepped into history. It was as breathtaking as the roar that filled NRG Stadium, as glittering as the red, white and blue confetti that…
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Activists want federal immigration enforcers out of Nashville, but a bill sponsored by state Senator Mark Green would impose penalties on Nashville or any other Tennessee locality that becomes a sanctuary city. At a rally Wednesday in Nashville, the Tennessee Immigration and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) slammed President Trump’s executive…
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The New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in the first Super Bowl to go into overtime in Houston on Sunday night. It was the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, as the Patriots fought back from a 28-3 deficit late in the third quarter to tie Super Bowl…
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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…
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The Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE) founded in 2010, is a powerful and well-funded coalition of business leaders and mayors, including former Nashville mayor Karl Dean and Nashville Chamber of Commerce president Ralph Schulz. PNAE’s formed to convince the public and policymakers that comprehensive immigration reform like the…
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Gov. Haslam dedicated about one-third of his State of the State address, delivered to the General Assembly on January 30, to his gas tax proposal. Haslam refers to his proposal using the acronym in the bill that includes the details: the IMPROVE Act (Improving Manufacturing, Public Roads and Opportunities for…
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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…
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Gov. Haslam proposed free community college for “all adults” in his State of the State address last Monday “I am proposing that Tennessee become the first state in the nation to offer all adults access to community college free of tuition and fees,” Haslam said: Just like the Tennessee Promise,…
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Andy Ogles, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP), unveiled the group’s alternative plan to finance Tennessee’s highway infrastructure improvements on Thursday, vigorously rejecting Gov. Haslam’s proposed 7 cents per gallon gas tax increase. Speaking at the WWTN Gas Tax Town Hall, Ogles accepted the premise that Tennessee’s budget over…
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After two consecutive losses on the Insure Tennessee front, Governor Haslam designed a better plan for his gas tax increase, packaging it as his IMPROVE (Improving Manufacturing Public Roads and Opportunities for a Vibrant Economy) Act. But, the good planning goes well beyond a name and includes a little help…
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For immigration activists, the fight against President Trump kicked into high gear in December before he took office. That’s when Nashville was the host city for the annual National Immigrant Integration Conference, drawing groups from across the country to the Omni Hotel. Speakers at the event made repeated calls to unite with…
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One day after he announced his proposal to increase the tax on gas by 7 cents, from 21 cents per gallon to 28 cents per gallon, Gov. Bill Haslam gave an exclusive in-studio interview to Ralph Bristol, host of Nashville’s Morning News on 99.7 FM, WWTN, on January 18. Haslam…
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Dana Hunsinger Gill has been named Faith Editor of The Tennessee Star, managing editor Christina Botteri announced on Monday. Dana is national co-chair of Lift the Vote (www.liftthevote.org) and co-founded 4LOVE Magazine, a Christ centered Christian Lifestyle publication, for which she served as Senior Editor until the publication was sold. She…
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Public education must remain a high priority in Tennessee. That should be reflected in Governor Haslam’s State of the State. We have made a strong commitment in the terms of taxpayer dollars. We have simply played catch-up the last few years, especially in regards to funding our public schools. The…
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Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon and the diesel tax by 12 cents per gallon will have an impact on the family-owned Pilot Flying J company, which “operates over 650 travel centers in 43 states and Canada,” 31 of which are located in Tennessee, and…
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Kevin Baigert, Laura Baigert, and former State Rep. Joe Carr Veteran grassroots activists Kevin and Laura Baigert are joining The Tennessee Star as political contributors and “grassroots pundits.” The Baigerts worked together at the 3M Company in Connecticut for a combined 37 years. When they retired in 2012, they were…
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Increasing the tax on gasoline from 21 cents per gallon to 28 cents per gallon, as Gov. Bill Haslam has proposed, is not the only way to pay for new highways in Tennessee. The 2015 Comptroller’s Report, for instance, lists these eight additional ways: (1) Variable Rate and Indexed Fuel…
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The pastor of a large church near Knoxville has resigned from the board of a Southern Baptist missionary agency because of the board’s support for the construction of a New Jersey mosque involved in a legal dispute. Dean Haun, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Morristown resigned in November…
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Tennessee has paid for highway construction and maintenance with a gas tax since 1924, when a 2 cent per gallon tax Gov. Austin Peay proposed and the General Assembly passed the previous year went into effect. At the time, Tennessee’s roads were so poor the Volunteer State was often referred…
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Governor Haslam introduced his “revenue neutral” IMPROVE Act (Improving Manufacturing, Public Roads and Opportunities for a Vibrant Economy) late last month. The proposed bill focuses primarily on increasing the fuel (gas and diesel) tax to fund transportation initiatives and offsetting the increases with other tax cuts. Under the governor’s proposal,…
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Professional Educators of Tennessee announced on Monday they will be sponsoring The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Bee. “It is vital that we rediscover the importance of our Constitution, and pass it along to the next generation,” J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, tells The Star. “We think a…
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The story of the Governor’s proposed gas tax increase introduced on Wednesday was being written for nearly two years in Sumner County. The most recent chapter was added with the attendance of County Executive Holt and Jimmy Johnston of Forward Sumner, the county’s hired provider of economic and community development…
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