Day: April 28, 2017

State Rep. Tillis Responds to ‘Group That is Calling Me A Liar’ for Supporting Gas Tax Increase ‘After I Had Said Publicly That I Could Not’

Tennessee Star Staff

Constituents of State Rep. Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg) have a message for him after he switched from a “no” vote on Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increasing IMPROVE Act to a “yes” vote. A red and white banner questioning his truthfulness was prominently displayed just below a large billboard by the side of a major road in Lewisburg promoting his jewelry business in town. Last week, Tillis was one of the 37 Republican members of the Tennessee House of Representatives who voted in favor of Gov. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act, which will increase the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon (28 percent) and the diesel tax by 10 cents per gallon (55 percent). The bill passed the House 60-37 and subsequently passed in the Senate. On Monday, the House approved the Senate version of the bill, and it is set to become law after Gov. Haslam signs it. Tillis attempted to explain his vote switch on Monday. “The first thing to address is why I voted for it after I had said publicly that I could not,” Tillis wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “The bill changed,” Tillis claimed. “And as far as the survey that is here on Facebook and…

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Gov. Haslam Joins Forces With Rhode Island’s Democratic Governor to Push Free College Tuition

Tennessee Star Staff

“The Republican governor of Tennessee, a national leader in the push for tuition-free education, joined Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo on Thursday to support her push to launch such an initiative in Rhode Island,” WPRI reported yesterday: Raimondo’s proposal, Rhode Island’s Promise, is notably more expansive than Haslam’s – she wants to offer two tuition-free years at all three of the state’s public colleges, including its two four-year institutions. Her staff has conferred with Haslam’s aides as they developed their proposal. “Quite honestly this is a good idea, and it’s a bipartisan issue,” she said. On Thursday, Governor Haslam pushed his free college tuition ideas to Rhode Island business leaders the same way he has done with business leaders here in the Volunteer State: On a conference call with Rhode Island business leaders Thursday morning, Haslam said he was spurred to create Tennessee Promise based on forecasts projecting a rapid rise in the share of jobs requiring a post-high-school degree. He said he feared the state’s work force would not be equipped to obtain good-paying work unless more residents furthered their educations. “Everything Gina’s saying is right,” Haslam said. “She is not making any of that up. It is critical to…

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United Methodist Church In Turmoil Over LGBT Issues

Wendy Wilson

The United Methodist Church appears once more to be on the verge of a split over LGBT issues. The mainline Protestant denomination, which has a large presence in Tennessee, has experienced internal divisions for years over homosexuality, but tensions are at a fever pitch with the elevation of the first openly gay bishop. The UMC’s top court in Newark, New Jersey, heard arguments this week in the case of lesbian Karen Oliveto, who was elected as bishop last July for an area which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and a church in Idaho. The area is in the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction. Oliveto is married to a woman who is a UMC deaconess. Oliveto’s election was contested by a church lay member from Kansas in the South Central Jurisdiction whose legal representative maintained Tuesday that homosexual practice is incompatible with the denomination’s book of discipline. However, a representative for Oliveto’s Western Jurisdiction argued that someone from another region has no standing to bring a case and that the book of discipline does not specifically prohibit same-sex marriage, according to a UMC news story about the hearing. The United Methodist Queer Clergy Caucus on April 16 sent an open letter to the UMC in…

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Nashville Church Program Seeks To Stop Teen Violence

Wendy Wilson

  A program called Gentlemen And Not Gangsters is working to prevent growing problems with teen violence in Nashville. The G.A.N.G. program is a joint effort between Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in North Nashville and Metro’s juvenile justice program. It was started by Marcus Campbell, a pastor at the church and a former gang member, WKRN News 2 reports. Five teens graduated Wednesday from the program, created for high-risk teens with gang ties. Not all teens complete the program, which requires attendance at weekly classes and evidence of changed behavior. The valedictorian this week was 17-year-old Larry Benson, a former gang member with arrests for breaking and entering. He has a son and told WKRN he is focused on taking care of his family. “I was just being a person I know I’m not and I knew I could change,” Benson said. “I’m focusing on being good.” Last month, WKRN reported on a rash of crimes committed by teens in the days leading up to spring break. They included shootings, carjackings, armed robberies and high-speed pursuits. In one case also reported by The Tennessee Star, three teens were arrested for firing shots at a North Nashville market because they said they did…

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Commentary: Tax Reduction and Reform: President Trump Goes After The Swamp

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff Nothing embodies the Washington DC swamp better than the U.S. tax code: The Congressman and Senators who write it, the lobbyists who work to manipulate its arcane rules to benefit the inside few and the Internal Revenue Service that enforces it – or not – form one of Washington’s most fearsome iron triangles. And yesterday, President Donald Trump took them all on. The one-page outline for changes to the tax code the White House issued pinpointed numerous changes proposed by the President that would affect almost every American, and American business. The last major effort to successfully reform the U.S. tax code was over 30 years ago under President Reagan. The Reagan tax cuts and tax reform kicked-off two decades of economic growth, however, since then the supply-side economics underpinning the Reagan tax plan have been substantially eroded. Today, according to the IRS’ National Taxpayer Advocate, the federal tax code is nearly four million words long. Congress has made more than 5,900 changes to the federal tax code since 2001 alone, averaging more than one change a day. What’s more, with a corporate tax rate of 35%, US businesses face the highest statutory tax rate in the…

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Tea Party Activist Ben Cunningham Championing Charter Amendment to Limit Metro Nashville’s Debt

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Tea Party activist Ben Cunningham is leading an effort for a 2018 referendum that would limit Metro Nashville’s debt level, setting up a possible clash with regional plans for a $6 billion transit project. His proposed amendment to the Metro Nashville charter, the Nashville Debt Limit Charter Amendment,  would also require Metro government to set aside money for the future payment of benefits for retired Metro employees. “The Metro Nashville Charter is the primary governing document for Metro Nashville Government. The charter may be amended by (1)the Metro Council voting to place a charter amendment on the ballot or (2) the citizens may propose an amendment by petition,” the site says. The petition itself, also found on the site, says “The undersigned residents and qualified voters of Davidson County, Tennessee, do hereby propose the following amendment to the Metropolitan Charter to be voted on by the people at the first appropriate county-wide election occurring after August 6, 2017 as selected by the Davidson County Election Commission.” “If we submit the petition after August 6, 2018, we will probably need 6,000 to 8,000 signatures to get the charter amendment on the November 2018 ballot,” Cunningham told The Tennessee Star. There’s already a…

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