Day: May 12, 2017

Woman Arrested After Stalking Congressman Kustoff For Vote To Repeal Obamacare

Wendy Wilson

A woman was arrested in West Tennessee this week for allegedly stalking U.S. Rep. David Kustoff because of his vote to repeal Obamacare. Police say Wendi Wright began harassing Kustoff and his aide, Marianne Dunavant, as they were leaving a town hall meeting Monday evening at the University of Tennessee-Martin in Weakley County, according to WMC Action News 5. As she followed them on U.S. 45, south of Martin, she made the congressman and his aide feel like they were going to be forced off the road, police say. The car that Kustoff and Dunavant were in eventually turned onto another road and into a driveway of a person they knew, according to The Jackson Sun. After both vehicles stopped, Wright got out and started screaming and hitting the windshield of Kustoff’s car. At some point, she reached inside the car and then stood in such a way as to try to block them in the driveway. Someone called 911, but Wright left before police arrived. The 35-year-old Obion County woman later posted on Facebook about the incident, which led Obion County deputies to find and arrest her. “I think the basis of all of it was a health care vote that…

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Gubernatorial Candidates Randy Boyd and Karl Dean Will Fight for Votes of Political Moderates

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Four months into his 2015 appointment as the new Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, and two years before he announced his run for governor, Randy Boyd told his hometown weekly that, “I’m probably the most hated, disrespected, untolerated political entity in existence… I’m a moderate.” Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, the first declared gubernatorial Democrat candidate also describes himself as a moderate and recognizes that he will need “moderate Republican votes” in order to win. Both candidates say education and economics are the top priorities, both say they are business-friendly and both shower admiration on Haslam’s leadership. For voters, however, even those who identify as “moderate” or “independent,” it will be difficult to distinguish between Boyd and Dean, except perhaps for choosing whether to vote in the Republican or Democrat primary. Political analysts suggest that states with open primaries like Tennessee, work to the advantage of moderate candidates. Both candidates have been married to the same partner for a long time and while Boyd made his fortune by copying a similar commercially available product, Dean married into his wealth.  His wife Delta Anne Davis, is an heir to the millions her uncle Joe C. Davis made through the coal…

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Education Bill Passed By House, But Rolled to 2018 In Senate

Laura Baigert

  While House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) relentlessly pursued his education funding bill, HB 841, through passage in the House, the Senate sponsor, Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) wasn’t as successful with SB 831, and requested of the Senate Finance Ways & Means Committee that the bill be rolled to 2018. The bill, originating in the House and rumored to be in exchange for Democratic votes in favor of the IMPROVE Act, used excess state revenues over-collected in fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17 in the amount of $250 million to be used for K-12 block grants that would be distributed by the Department of Education. After passing through the House Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee and Committee, Fitzhugh started by introducing Amendment 1 on the House floor May 9, which rewrote the bill to enact the Education Investment Act. The Act creates the K-12 block grant program via a revocable trust to be administered by the state treasurer, with a board of trustees that would also include the comptroller of the treasurer, the secretary of state, the commissioner of education and the commissioner of finance and administration. Amendment 1 passed by voice vote. Rep. Sabi “Doc” Kumar (R-Springfield) sponsor of Amendment 2,…

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Nashville Police Officer Won’t Be Charged In Shooting Of Armed Black Man

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  A white Nashville police officer who fatally shot an armed black man in February won’t face charges, District Attorney Glenn Funk announced at a press conference Thursday. The case drew accusations of racial bias but Funk said the officer acted in self-defense because the man would not comply with requests to drop his pistol. However, officials in the district attorney’s office are criticizing the police department for creating the appearance of bias for labeling the shooting justifiable before a thorough investigation could take place. Funk is also calling attention to a study purporting to show disparities in traffic stops and searches. “For Nashville to move forward, all law enforcement, including my office, must take steps to enhance fairness and confidence in the criminal justice system,” Funk said in a related report, according to WKRN News Channel 2. Officer Josh Lippert shot Jocques Scott Clemmons on Feb. 10 at the Cayce Homes public housing development. Lippert had wanted to talk to Clemmons about running a nearby stop sign, according to a Feb. 10 Metro Nashville Police Department news release. But Clemmons, appearing to clutch something in his waistband, ran away from the Lippert when the officer pulled up to his SUV…

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Commentary: GOP Health Care Plan Would Fundamentally Change Medicaid

Tennessee Star Staff

Obscured by the largely over pre-existing conditions, the Obamacare rewrite by the House of Representatives would usher in the most significant changes ever to one of America’s largest entitlement programs. The American Health Care Act faces almost-certain major changes in the Senate. But as passed by the House, it would phase out the Medicaid expansion created…

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Promise Kept: President Donald Trump Will Sign an Executive Order to Investigate Vote Fraud

Tina LaFleur
Tennessee Star

President Trump will sign an executive order Thursday creating a long-awaited commission to investigate voter fraud and elections, a senior administration official confirmed. The commission will be led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who worked on the Trump transition team and is a vocal advocate of stronger immigration laws.…

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Lipscomb University Dedicates New Engineering Building

Wendy Wilson

  Lipscomb University on Thursday dedicated a new engineering building designed to usher in a bright future for engineering students. Bright being both literal and metaphorical. “The best thing is we’re not in a basement anymore,” rising junior Azriel Achterbosch told The Tennessee Star. Before construction of the three-story Fields Engineering Center, students took classes in the basements of two other buildings on campus. They were able to move into their new digs in January even though the formal dedication wasn’t until Thursday. In her comments during the dedication ceremony, rising senior Cailey Cline spoke of “the simple joy of seeing the outside world from my lab station.” Though a small Christian liberal arts college, Lipscomb has started to gain recognition for its engineering program. School officials hope the 200-student program will double in size in the new building, which they see as a selling point for prospective students visiting campus. Founded in 1891, the school has offered entry-level engineering courses since 1938, but didn’t begin to offer engineering degree programs until 2000. The school now offers undergraduate programs in civil, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering. The new building is named for retired ExxonMobil executive Charles Fields and his…

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s Press Secretary Politicizes Response to Christian Activist With Unprofessional ‘Peace Be Unto You’ Salutation in Email

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  Sean Braisted, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s press secretary, politicized his response to Christian activist Jay Chamness when he signed an email explaining why Chamness had been denied access to a Muslim event at which the mayor spoke by signing it with the unprofessional religiously themed salutation “Peace Be Unto You.” Below is the full text of Braisted’s response to Jay Chamness: Mr. Chamness, I understand you have contacted a number of members of the Mayor’s Office staff regarding your efforts to attend an event at the Islamic Center of Tennessee on Saturday, May 6. This event was a privately held event that was open to members of the public at the discretion of the sponsors of the event. There were Christians at the event, including the Mayor, so it would seem that if you were denied entry, it was likely not based on your religious beliefs, rather your actions and apparent opposition to the community sponsoring the event. Mayor Megan Barry, along with a majority of Nashvillians, believes that Nashville is stronger because we are an inclusive city that respects people of all faiths, cultures, and ethnicities. While she respects your constitutional right to protest, that right does not…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Friday, May 12

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 12, Friday John 14:1-17 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?…

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