Month: May 2017

School Bus Seat Belt Legislation Withdrawn

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

A bill that would require seat belts on Tennessee school buses has been pulled from this year’s legislative calendar. The measure was seen as an effort to do something in the wake of a school bus crash in Chattanooga in November in which six children were killed and dozens injured. The proposed legislation was sponsored by two Chattanooga legislators, JoAnne Favors, a Democrat in the House, and Todd Gardenhire, a Republican in the Senate. Proponents of the bill said it might prevent injuries and deaths in the future, but others said the bill was an emotional and flawed response. Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) voiced concerns about young children panicking and not being able to work themselves out of their restraints. Others said the Chattanooga crash pointed more to a need to better screen bus drivers. Costs were another concern. In the Chattanooga crash, bus driver Johnthony Walker was charged with vehicular homicide. Police say Walker was speeding when the bus crashed into a tree and flipped over. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, school buses are the safest vehicles on the road, with only four to six children dying each year on school transportation vehicles, making up less than…

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Nashville City Officials Stand By Decision To Turn Away Christian Activist At Muslim Event Where Mayor Barry Spoke

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  A Nashville area man says he was turned away at a public event at a mosque on Saturday because he is a Christian, but city officials say they had a right to deny him entry because it was private property and he was there to protest. Jay Chamness tried to attend a luncheon Saturday at the Islamic Center of Tennessee in Antioch, where Nashville Mayor Megan Barry spoke. He told The Tennessee Star that he arrived wearing a Jesus t-shirt and sporting a Christian flag atop his truck. He also had a sign that on one side said “Veterans Before Refugees” and on the other side said “Truth Sounds Like Hate To Those Who Hate The Truth.” Chamness, a 51-year-old Southern Baptist, told The Star that he is politically involved and upset by Barry’s “disdain for white Christian males in Nashville.” (Note: There is at least one other person with the same name in the Nashville area, a well-known attorney. This Jay Chamness is not the attorney.) At Saturday’s event, he was first approached by several Muslim men who asked him to leave. Chamness left but returned later closer to the time when Barry was set to speak. He was then asked…

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BREAKING: President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

Tennessee Star Staff

The Associated Press is reporting that President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. In a statement, Trump says Comey’s firing “will mark a new beginning” for the FBI. The White House says the search for a new FBI director will begin immediately. Earlier on Tuesday, CNN reported that Comey “made a big mistake” in his testimony before Congress concerning Huma Abedin’s emails: FBI Director James Comey told a Senate committee last week that “hundreds and thousands” of emails containing classified information had been forwarded from top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to the home computer she shared with her husband — and one-time New York congressman — Anthony Weiner. Turns out that’s not true, according to CNN’s Evan Perez, who reported Tuesday that Comey had drastically overstated the number of emails Abedin had forwarded to Weiner and that the FBI was in the midst of trying to find a way to correct the record.

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Texas Files Lawsuit Against Potential Opponents of New Anti-Sanctuary Law

Tennessee Star Staff

Texas lodged a preemptive lawsuit Monday against local officials considered hostile to the state’s new anti-sanctuary cities law, the first salvo in an expected legal fight over the controversial measure. State Attorney General Ken Paxton said the federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is necessary to protect the…

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Tennessee Muslim Group Cheers Ruling In Sports World Allowing Hijabs

Wendy Wilson

The American Muslim Advisory Council is cheering a change made by the International Basketball Federation last week that will allow female players to wear hijabs during games. A Tennessee group based in Nashville, the AMAC praised the change in a Facebook post.   Allure magazine is also enthusiastic about the change, writing in a story last week, “The world of basketball just got a little more inclusive. The International Basketball Federation, FIBA, has just made it so that players can finally rock their hijabs without risking being excluded from participating in games.” FIBA began considering a change after Qatar’s women’s basketball team decided not to participate in the 2014 Asian Games because players were not allowed to wear hijabs. Governing members of FIBA “praised a historical moment that occurred in Iran on April 13, when a FIBA test game featuring women wearing hijabs marked the first time men witnessed a women’s sporting event in person,” according to a FIBA press release. The new rule, which goes into effect in October, says that headwear must be black or white or have the same dominant color as the uniform and must be the same for all players on the team. It also can’t…

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Multi-Million Dollar Education Bill Still in Play, Critics Claim in Return for Democrat Support of IMPROVE Act

Laura Baigert

While last week’s two-day House floor showdown over Governor Haslam’s 2017-18 budget never did take up an amendment for a $55 million education appropriation, HB 841, known as the K-12 Block Grant Act, was approved in a new form in the House Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee and Committee on Monday.  That approval advances the bill to the Calendar & Rules Committee meeting, which was later scheduled to Tuesday. In full Committee, House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) before moving for adoption spoke very briefly on his new and only amendment to the bill, which, he stated, “takes out the funding for the bill in the way it was originally funded.” The bill in its original form called for a one-time transfer of $250 million from a variety of revenue sources within the General Fund to the Education Fund, as The Tennessee Star reported previously. Fitzhugh referred to the arrangement as an Education Investment Endowment Act for which a Fund (EIEF) would be created, and said “It’s much on the same premise as the Tennessee Promise,” where the reserves from the lottery have been set up as an endowment for the Tennessee Promise.  Fitzhugh continued, We are attempting to do the same thing…

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Nashville Symphony and Chorus To Perform Piece Memorializing 9/11

Wendy Wilson

The Nashville Symphony and Chorus will perform a piece this weekend that was completed in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. American composer John Harbison began writing Requiem in 1985, but it was the events of 9/11 that compelled him to finish the project 16 years later, according to a press release from the Nashville Symphony. Harbison is known for his many symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, art songs and sacred choral music. He has served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1969. While some of his work is marked by innovation, Requiem honors tradition. A critique in The New York Times in 2003 said, “No radical deconstruction for this composer. The placement of Latin syllables honors the literal meaning of words; they want to be understood.” The work has rarely been performed since its 2003 debut. The performance at the Schermerhorn in Nashville will be recorded for future worldwide release on Naxos. Tucker Biddlecome, who will officially become director of the chorus in August, has spent the past year working with the all-volunteer ensemble to get ready for this weekend. “This is an important work, reflective of a critical time in our history, and we are honored to…

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State Rep. Byrd’s ‘Celebrate Freedom Week’ Bill Signed Into Law; Tennessee Schoolchildren to Learn More About America’s Founding

Wendy Wilson

  Tennessee students will get more lessons on the history of American’s founding, thanks to a bill passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Haslam last week. The week of Sept. 17 will be designated as Celebrate Freedom Week in K-12 public schools. The law goes into effect in 2018. Sept. 17 is already known nationally as Constitution Day, and Sept. 17-23 is Constitution Week, in recognition of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. State Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro), who sponsored the legislation in the House, told The Tennessee Star he’s not sure schools statewide are uniformly emphasizing Constitution Week and that’s one reason he wanted to introduce Celebrate Freedom Week, which already is recognized in several other states. It also will give educators already familiar with Constitution Week some extra resources, Byrd said. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald). Celebrate Freedom Week is primarily designed to give attention to the purpose and meaning of the original texts of our founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence. But other events in American history that relate to founding principles may also be discussed. It gives Byrd the chills to…

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PTO Treasurer in Giles County Indicted on Charges of Stealing Funds

Tennessee Star Staff

An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has led to the indictment of Amanda McMilin, the former treasurer of the Richland Elementary School Parent Teachers Organization (PTO) in Giles County. Investigators determined that McMilin stole at least $5,649 from the PTO by keeping cash that was collected during fundraisers. These activities included a fall festival, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and candy-gram sales; a bake sale; and concession operations. McMilin failed to deposit the cash collected for many of these fundraisers into the PTO bank account. In fact, investigators discovered that McMilin did not deposit any cash into the PTO account from July 2015 through November 2015. McMilin admitted to investigators that she took money from the PTO and used it to pay her personal expenses. She resigned her position as treasurer in January 2016 after she was confronted about the missing funds by PTO and school officials. In April 2017, Amanda McMilin was indicted by the Giles County Grand Jury on one count of theft over $2,500. “While it may be tempting to let a PTO treasurer handle all money matters, it greatly enhances the possibility of theft,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “PTO’s must ensure there is oversight. The simple act…

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Christian Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison ‘For Blaspheming the Quran’

Tennessee Star Staff

“An Indonesian court sentenced the minority Christian governor of Jakarta to two years in prison on Tuesday for blaspheming the Quran, a jarring ruling that undermines the reputation of the world’s largest Muslim nation for practicing a moderate form of Islam,” the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. In announcing its decision, the five-judge panel said Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was “convincingly proven guilty of blasphemy” and ordered his arrest. He was taken to Cipinang Prison in east Jakarta. At the court, supporters of the governor wept and hugged each other amid shouts of jubilation from members of conservative Islamic groups. Photos quickly appeared online of Ahok, who still commands immense popularity in Jakarta, the capital, being warmly greeted by prison staff. Ahok said he would appeal, but it was unclear if he would be released once that process is underway. By early evening, hundreds of angry supporters had gathered at the high-security prison, some pushing hard against a tall metal gate and others setting a tire alight. “Brothers and sisters, justice has died in this country,” said a man addressing the crowd with a megaphone.   The stunning sentence flies in the face of recent claims by some Indonesian…

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Department of Veterans Affairs Asks For Meeting With Whistleblowers To Find Out How They Face Retaliation

Tennessee Star Staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is reaching out to whistleblowers for a meeting on the challenges they’ve faced when exposing wrongdoing at their facilities, following the establishment of an office to protect whistleblowers. Whistleblowers Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez from the Phoenix VA and Sean Higgins from the Memphis VA have been contacted by the Central Whistleblower Office…

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Oil and Gas Industry Pushes Back: Google Asked to Label Anti-Fracking Websites as ‘Fake News’

Tennessee Star Staff

An oil and gas drilling advocacy group published an open letter to Google asking the search engine giant to consider “purging or demoting” websites spreading misinformation about hydraulic fracturing. Google rewrote its search engine algorithm to bury “fake news” websites in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. The industry-funded Texans for Natural Gas wants Google…

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The French Vote Is The End Of Christian Europe

Tennessee Star Staff

  by George Rasley ConservativeHQ.com Editor In 732 a relatively small army of French Christians led by Charles Martel defeated an invading Muslim army in the Battle of Tours, near Poitier, France. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Cordoba, Spain was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from what is now France, never to establish themselves north of the Pyrenees. Yesterday, the French had a similar opportunity to repulse the Muslim invasion that is destroying the 2000-year old Gaulish Christian culture that arose from the ashes of the Roman Empire, but no Frankish army showed up Emmanuel Macronat the French polling stations to repulse the invasion. Instead, Emmanuel Macron, a “Useful Infidel,” was swept into power as President of France. Unlike in the United States, Hungary and Poland, and to a lesser extent in Great Britain, where the ascendant political leaders of those countries at least recognize the threat of Islam to their cultures, Macron is a globalist and an “open promoter of multiculturalism”. As such, he does not consider Islamism a national threat because the French nation, or, as he has said, French culture, does not really exist. And so, the culture that gave us Chartres Cathedral, Mont…

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Praises Muslims and Globalism at Saturday Luncheon at Mosque

Wendy Wilson

Mayor Megan Barry praised Nashville’s Muslim community and spoke about the “gift of globalism” in her speech Saturday at the Islamic Center of Tennessee in Antioch. Barry made her comments at a luncheon to celebrate the third annual Standing up for Justice and Muslim Community Day. The event was sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council. A progressive Democrat, Barry has faced criticism from conservatives who portray her embrace of immigration as a heedless one that doesn’t seriously examine the challenges posed by linguistic, cultural and religious diversity. Barry issued a proclamation Saturday honoring Muslims in which she calls them “an increasingly important thread in the tapestry of America” and calls their presence in Middle Tennessee “historic” even though their presence did not become notable until recent years. In her speech, Barry said promoting diversity has been a critical issue for her since taking office. Nashville is home today for many newcomers from all over the world. Barry noted the 120 languages spoken by families whose children attend Metro Nashville Public Schools. “What a gift to have a multilingual community,” she said. “We need to make sure that the folks who are speaking their first language continue to speak that…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Tuesday, May 09

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 9, Tuesday Matthew 9:35-38 35 Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples,“The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

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Commentary: Agency Accountablity Act Would Reclaim Constitutional Authority Congress Ceded to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Other Regulators

Tennessee Star Staff

Congress’ power of the purse is one of its bedrock responsibilities listed in Article 1 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed this power on several occasions, including in a 1976 case when the Court declared, “The established rule is that the expenditure of public funds is proper only when authorized by Congress, not that…

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Obama’s Non-Profit On Same Dubious Path First Blazed By Clinton Foundation

Tennessee Star Staff

Barack Obama’s presidential foundation is barely two years old, but he is taking it down the same controversial – and by some accounts illegal – post-presidency path of his predecessor Bill Clinton, according to documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation’s (TheDCNF) Investigative Group. Federal law requires tax-exempt entities like the Barack Obama Foundation and…

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Two Marines Killed In 2015 Chattanooga Terrorist Attack Honored Sunday For Bravery

Wendy Wilson

Two Marines killed in the Chattanooga terrorist attack in July 2015 were posthumously honored Sunday with Navy and Marine Corps Medals. The families of Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan and Staff Sergeant David Wyatt received the medals on their behalf. The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the the highest non-combat decoration for heroism awarded to members of both branches of service. The public ceremony on Sunday took place at 2 p.m. at Ross’s Landing, reports WTVC NewsChannel 9. Sullivan, 37,  and Wyatt, 40, were among four Marines and one sailor killed when Islamic jihad terrorist Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez attacked the Naval Operational Support Center in Chattanooga after firing at a recruiting center seven miles away. Wyatt was first to call the police, and then both he and Sullivan took the lead in moving personnel to safety, a Marine Corps Forces Reserve spokesman told the Marine Corps Times. Wyatt also told his junior troops to guide children at a nearby neighborhood park to a building, where they stayed sheltered until the incident was over. After most of the Marines had been safely evacuated from the support center, it became clear that some were not accounted for, the spokesman said. “So Gunnery Sgt. Sullivan and…

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Conservatives Urge Trump To Keep His Promise, Ditch The Paris Climate Agreement

Tennessee Star Staff

Dozens of conservative and free market groups sent a letter Monday to President Donald Trump, urging him to keep his campaign promise to withdraw the U.S. from an international agreement to fight global warming signed by the Obama administration. Representatives from 40 right-leaning groups told Trump a withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement “is a…

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Jeff Hartline Commentary: Crafting A State Budget With Both Hands Tied Behind Your Back Is An Impossible Task

Tennessee Star Staff

by Jeff Hartline May 8, 2017 As is the habit of the Tennessee General Assembly, the last days of each year’s session are tortured with the approval of the State Budget, one Constitutional requirement that must be completed prior to adjournment. There probably aren’t a thousand regular citizens in the state (out of over 6,800,000) who understand the process, much less the details that lie therein. The vast percentage of those who do understand the current process reside inside the offices of the Executive Branch of the State, also known as the Governor’s office and the staffs that serve the House and Senate Finance Committees and the Fiscal Review Committee. On the surface, one would conclude that this distribution between the Executive and Legislative branches fulfills the intent of “Separation of Powers”. It doesn’t. As one can imagine, the people employed in the Governor’s office are “full-timers”, employees of the State of Tennessee, spending all their time executing the desires and demands of the Governor. Those specifically tasked to budget items give full attention to the nooks and crannies of the budget process and the budget itself. In the same way, the Legislative Committee staffs do the same thing. Because…

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Kushner Family Offers Wealthy Chinese Investors The Chance To Buy Their Way Into The US

Tennessee Star Staff

The Kushner family told a group of 100 wealthy Chinese investors Saturday that they could secure immigration visas to the U.S. with an investment of half a million dollars, several media outlets revealed. Speaking in Beijing, Nicole Kushner Meyer, sister of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, encouraged wealthy Chinese investors to invest at least $500,000…

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Kellyanne Conway: Hillary Clinton Joining ‘Resistance’ Likely to Backfire on Democrats

Tennessee Star Staff

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday she welcomes Hillary Clinton’s return to the national spotlight, predicting that the Democrat’s vow to join the “resistance” is likely to backfire on Democrats. “As for Hillary, look, people are rolling their eyes and bellyaching – most of them are Democrats, by the way – ‘Why won’t she just…

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Commentary: The House Obamacare Vote: First Step To Repeal Or Sham?

Tennessee Star Staff

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff Through the passage of the American Health Care Act, the House has now voted-out a bill that some of our friends are calling a first step in the complete repeal of Obamacare, and that other friends are calling a complete sham and a step backward for Republicans. According to a transcript posted by Breitbart’s Ian Hanchett, on Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) argued the revised American Health Care Act is “the first time that Congress Republicans have affirmatively put their stamp of approval on a program where federal money, taxpayer money, is paid to insurance companies.” Senator Paul later in the interview said, “I just don’t want to replace [Obamacare] with Obamacare-lite, or another federal program. The programs they put in place will be there forever. So, the refundable tax credit, which is a subsidy by another name, will be there forever. And this — these buying — these high-risk pools they want to create, Republicans used to hate the idea. They hated the idea when they were called risk corridors, and they were giving money to insurance companies. They were bailouts, when it was a Democrat idea. Now that…

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House Finance Chair Charles Sargent Strips Amendment For Vets, Reverting to Pork Project

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Star

  House Finance Chairman Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) on Friday stripped an amendment to the budget bill, HB 511, that would have given $3.12 million to veterans, opting instead for a pork project in Williamson County. On Thursday during House debate on the budget, Rep. Jimmy Matlock (R-Lenoir City) introduced an amendment that redirected $3.12 million from the Historical Commission for the demolition and construction of a new Carter House Visitors Center in Franklin to four Tennessee chapters of Honor Flight and Honor Air programs across the state. These non-profit organizations fly aging veterans to Washington, D.C. in order for them to pay their final respects the memorials dedicated to their sacrifice and to their fellow soldiers who died in battle.  Top priority is given to the senior veterans, World War II veterans, survivors, people who have given their all.  Many of these veterans could be disabled, handicapped, or even terminally ill. Sargent initially tried to kill the amendment by making the motion to “lay on the table,” but the motion failed by a vote of 35 ayes, 52 nays. Despite the disagreement throughout much of the day, this amendment passed with bipartisan support on Thursday with a vote of 49 ayes and 36…

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Commentary: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulations Strangle Innovations Like Google Wallet, PayPal

Tennessee Star Staff

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Be wary whenever a federal agency issues a professedly benign regulation. Even the devil can quote scripture. Under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 553(e), federal agencies are required to “give . . . interested person[s] the right to petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule.” In other words, if persons…

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Constitution Series: The First Amendment

Claudia Henneberry
Tennessee Star - Constitution Series

    This is the sixth of twenty-five weekly articles in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Series. Students in grades 8 through 12 can sign up here to participate in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Bee, which will be held on September 23. The First Amendment was passed by Congress September 25, 1789, and ratified December 15, 1791 along with the nine other amendments that comprise The Bill of Rights. It reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;  or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment combines five specific rights into one fundamental law guaranteeing freedom of expression: (1) Freedom of Religion (2) Freedom of Speech (3) Freedom of the Press (4) Right to Peaceably Assemble (5) Right to Petition “The first amendment is the most important in the American Constitution because it protects the things that make us what we are, including talking, and writing, and worshiping,” Dr. Larry Arnn, professor of politics and history and president of Hillsdale College, wrote recently. The Founding Fathers knew that these unalienable rights already belonged to the…

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BREAKING: Macron Wins France’s Presidential Election

Tennessee Star Staff

“Emmanuel Macron won France’s presidential election Sunday after his opponent Marine Le Pen conceded shortly after polls closed at 8 pm,” the Daily Caller is reporting. His opponent, right wing candidate Marine Le Pen, has conceded. “Le Pen called Macron to concede the election after the centrist candidate was projected to have won approximately 65 percent of the vote in the country’s run-off election. Reports showed a low voter turn out for an election that was considered to be a determining factor in France’s future in Europe,” the Daily Caller says.

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Leftist Macron Ahead of Le Pen in Exit Polls of Presidential Election in France, Says Belgian Broadcaster

Tennessee Star Staff

Brussels (dpa) – According to exit polls taken before the end of voting, centrist Emmanuel Macron is ahead of far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French presidential election, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reports. According to RTBF, Macron is ahead with more than 60 per cent of the vote, both on the mainland…

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Stephen Colbert’s Vulgar Quip About Donald Trump and Putin Prompts FCC Probe

Tennessee Star Staff

Regulators are reviewing a lewd joke made by “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert this week involving President Trump and his Russian counterpart, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission confirmed Thursday. The FCC has received several complaints concerning Mr. Colbert’s recent quip and will considered whether it violated any law against broadcasting “obscene” content, Chairman…

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Four Cases of Mumps Diagnosed in Shelby County

Tennessee Star Staff

  “Four cases of mumps have been identified in Shelby County since March 2017, according to the Shelby County Health Department,” WMC Action News reported on Thursday. “With outbreaks in our neighboring states, it is not unexpected to see cases here in Shelby County,” said Alisa Haushalter, DNP, RN, director of the Shelby County Health Department. “Experiencing mumps in our community serves as another reminder of the importance of everyone knowing their immunization status.” Mumps is caused by a virus and is transmitted through droplets expelled when people cough or sneeze. However, you may not become ill until approximately 2-3 weeks (12-25 days) after being exposed to the virus, and at least one in three infected with mumps may have no obvious symptoms. “A person who has mumps is contagious from two days before to five days after the onset of swelling of the cheek or neck (parotitis),” WMC reported: The most common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and swollen and tender salivary glands. Mumps can be prevented by vaccination. Two doses of vaccine against mumps are required for school attendance, and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against mumps. However, vaccinated people…

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Commentary: Finance Chair State Rep. Charles Sargent Misrepresented Copeland Cap on House Floor in Budget Debate

Laura Baigert

  During his presentation of the budget bills during the House floor session Friday State Representative and Chairman of the House Finance, Ways & Means Committee, Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) misrepresented the Copeland Cap constitutional amendment several times. Charles Sargent has served in the Tennessee House since 1997, became a member of the House Finance, Ways & Means Committee in 2003, Vice-Chairman in 2009, and Chairman in 2011, a role in which he continues to serve. The 1978 amendment to Article II, Section 24 of the Tennessee constitution, named for its sponsor former Representative David Copeland, states, “In no year shall the rate of growth of appropriations from state tax revenues exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state’s economy as determined by law.” In the specific case of Sargent presenting HB 514 to the House membership for passage as part of the budget, the operative word is “appropriations,” when referring to growth by the state, not revenues as Sargent maintains throughout the discussion on the bill. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of appropriation is “money set aside by formal action for a specific use,“ whereas the definition of revenue is “the yield of source of income (such as taxes)…

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GOP Speaker Beth Harwell, Democrats Karl Dean and Craig Fitzhugh Called ‘Gubernatorial Candidates’ in Saturday Speeches to Tennessee Education Associaton

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) were all called Gubernatorial candidates by attendees who listened to their speeches to the Tennessee Education Association at its gathering in Murfreesboro on Saturday. “Clearly a campaign speech from Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell …,” Melanie Buchanan tweeted from the event, held at the Murfreesboro Embassy Suites, on Saturday. Clearly a campaign speech from Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell…. — Melanie Buchanan (@memebuch) May 6, 2017 Joe Crabtree with Public School Advocates, posted this image of Harwell speaking at the event, who he called the “third gubernatorial candidate” to address the gathering, along with this accompanying post: Crabtree also recognized Dean as the “second gubernatorial candidate.” He called Fitzhugh “the first gubernatorial candidate.” Crabtree appears to be a force within the Tennessee Education Association. Shortly after he posted the information about the addresses delivered by what he referred to as the three gubernatorial candidates, he announced his own campaign to become a Vice President of the TEA. The Tennessee Education Association, is the state affiliate of the National Education Association. The NEA endorsed Hillary Clinton…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Sunday, May 07

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 7, Sunday John 3:19-21 19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

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