Day: June 6, 2017

JUGGERNAUT: The Tennessee Star Eclipses Single-Day Traffic Record Monday with Over 50,000 Visitors

Admin
Tennessee Star

  The Tennessee Star announced its online news site recorded over fifty thousand unique visitors in the twenty-four hour period between 12:00:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. Monday, June 5. “It was astonishing to watch,” said managing editor Christina Botteri. “Because of our rapid growth to date, we know the warning signs to look for when our servers get overheated. Early on, we thought there was a chance we were the subject of an attempted denial of service attack. But that was quickly disproven when we saw the organic – but very fast – correlating climb in our Facebook site referrals and shares.” Much of the sudden spike in traffic is thanks to a story featuring Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s vow to ignore the U.S. Constitution and uphold the Paris Climate Agreement – “even if President Trump doesn’t.” After President Trump made his now-famous ‘Pittsburgh-not-Paris’ speech Saturday, Barry, along with a cadre of Democrat mayors and governors across the country, issued statements admonishing the President’s decision. “The United States of America should be a global leader in addressing the dire impact of climate change on our civilization, and it is very disappointing that President Trump does not see that,” Mayor Barry said in…

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The Tennessee Star Poll: GOP Gubernatorial Primary Race is Wide Open, No Candidate Over 10 Percent

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – A new poll released by The Tennessee Star conducted by Triton Polling and Research of 1,007 likely Tennessee Republican primary voters shows that the party’s nomination for governor in 2018 is wide open, as no announced or likely candidate has the support of more than 10 percent of likely voters. More than 60 percent are undecided. When asked  “If the election was held today, who would you vote for governor of Tennessee,” and given seven possible candidates–State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) Congresswoman Diane Black, Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Speaker of the Tennessee House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), Williamson County businessman Bill Lee, and State Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville)–the likely Tennessee Republican primary voters surveyed in the poll responded as follows: 60.9% — Don’t Know Undecided 9.9% — Diane Black 8.1% — Randy Boyd 6.3% — Mark Green 4.3% — Beth Harwell 4.1% — Bill Lee 3.9% — Mae Beavers 2.5% — Mark Norris Since the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percent, six of the seven candidates included in the poll are in a virtual tie for the lead. Mark Norris is the only candidate not in the statistical tie,…

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Tuesday Marks the 73rd Anniversary of D-Day, the Invasion of Normady

Tina LaFleur
Tennessee Star

Nearly three-quarters of a century ago on June 6, 1944 the United States joined with Great Britain, the free French forces, and Canada to mount a bold invasion of the beachhead in Normandy, France as a last-ditch effort to gain a foothold in Europe against the conquering forces of Hitler’s Germany. The 160,000-soldier seaborne operation would mark a massive pivot in the Allies’ defense against the Nazis and the bloodthirsty Axis. The National World War II Museum has a developed a moving collection of photos, reports, and personal accounts of that day by the men who were there: For over two and a half years the Allies planned and gathered their military strength to hurl into the decisive amphibious invasion of northern France and strike a mortal blow against the empire of Nazi Germany. In anticipation, Adolf Hitler stockpiled reserves across French coastlines into the Atlantic Wall defenses, determined to drive the Allied forces back into the sea. There will be no second chance for the Allies: the fate of their cause hangs upon this decisive day. After bad weather forces a delay, an expected break in the weather for Tuesday, June 6, is reported to General Dwight D. Eisenhower…

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Mae Beavers Tells Haslam State Will Pay For Roads After Gas Tax Repeal With $2 Billion Surplus and Ending Diversion of Road Funds to Other Uses

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  Gov. Bill Haslam threw a soft ball over the middle of the plate to State Senator Mae Beavers (R- Mt. Juliet) about her campaign pledge to repeal the gas tax, and the recently announced GOP Gubernatorial candidate knocked it out of the park. Appearing in Nashville at one of the three ceremonial signings for the IMPROVE ACT passed by the Tennessee General Assembly this session that he signed in May, Haslam asked what he thought of Beavers’ campaign pledge to repeal the 6 cents per gallon gas tax increase and 10 cents per gallon diesel tax increase included in the new law. “If you want to repeal that, then how are you going to pay for road improvements? And are you going to take the tax cuts that we’ve made off the table, too?” Haslam asked. “That’s an easy question to answer,” Beavers told The Tennessee Star Monday afternoon. “If the Governor and legislative leadership had allowed for a full and fair discussion of road funding alternatives rather than cutting back room deals and strong arming the gas tax increase down taxpayers throats then Governor Haslam might be aware of the other alternatives available,” Beavers noted. “We can repeal…

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New Poll: Trump Approval Rating Sky High Among Likely GOP Primary Voters in Tennessee

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

FRANKLIN, Tennessee–A new poll released by The Tennessee Star on Tuesday conducted by Triton Polling and Research of 1,007 likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee shows that President Donald Trump’s job approval rating is sky high among Tennessee Republicans. When asked “How would you rate the job performance of President Donald Trump,” 86 percent of likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee said they approve of his job performance, while only 11 percent said they disapprove, a remarkable 75 percent margin of approval over disapproval. The vast majority of those likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee strongly approve of President Trump’s job performance: 63.9 percent Strongly Approve 22.6 percent Somewhat Approve 5.3 percent Somewhat Disapprove 6.3 percent Strongly Disapprove 1.9 percent Don’t Know/Are Unsure Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Haslam also has high job performance approval ratings among likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee, though slightly lower than President Trump’s and with less intensity of support. When asked “How would you rate the job performance of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam,” 74 percent of likely Republican primary voters in Tennessee said they approve of his job performance, while only 22 percent said they disapprove. 29.3 percent Strongly Approve 45.1 percent Somewhat Approve 15.1…

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Tennessee Department of Education Runs Into Another Glitch In Delivering Standardized Test Results

Wendy Wilson

  The Tennessee Department of Education has hit yet another snag in getting spring standardized test results to school districts. Questar, the vendor for TNReady tests, is having problems with its scanning software used to grade paper exams. The state was already having problems with delivering raw scores, partly because some districts missed the deadline to turn in completed tests. As a result, some districts are not using test scores to calculate final grades for report cards. This is the fourth year that the state has had some type of issue with standardized testing. Last year, there were so many problems with the testing itself that the state terminated its contract with Measurement, Inc. and signed a contract with Questar. “We understand the importance of having the raw scores to communicate information to educators, students, and families, and we apologize for the inconvenience our delays have caused TDOE and our district partners in getting this information on the timeline we committed to months ago,” Brad Baumgartner, chief partner officer for Questar, said in a statement. Education commissioner Candice McQueen said in an email to school superintendents on Thursday that nearly all scores for high school EOC exams were available, but that…

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Senate Committee Launches New Clinton Corruption Investigation

Tennessee Star Staff

Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has launched a new investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s effort to thwart a Bangladesh government corruption probe of Muhammad Yunus, a Clinton Foundation donor and close friend of the Clintons. The Iowa Republican’s effort is the first new official inquiry of Clinton since her unexpected…

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Commentary: Pittsburgh Not Paris Rally: You Can Do It Too

Tennessee Star Staff

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff The “Pittsburgh Not Paris” rally, organized at the last minute by the Fairfax County Republican Committee and the Republican Party of Virginia, brought several hundred supporters of President Trump to Lafayette Park near the White House. The rally was dubbed “Pittsburgh, not Paris” in a nod to one of Trump’s lines during Thursday’s announcement Pittsburgh not Paristhat the U.S. would withdraw from agreement. “We did this on 24 hours’ notice,” Matt Ames, Chairman of the Republican Party in Fairfax County, Virginia, told Donald Gilliland of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We’re a county party; we don’t have a huge infrastructure. We did it to see what would happen, and people came from out-of-town. I think it’s great.” Demonstrators held Trump campaign signs and signs reading “make America great again” and “thank you Mr. President.” Many carried flags. And one even drove down from Pittsburgh to participate. Vince Fusca, 65, of Churchill, gathered his favorite Trump signs, loaded them into his “Trumpmobile” and drove the 240 miles from Pittsburgh to Washington to be there. “All I gotta hear is ‘Pittsburgh’ – Boom! I jumped off my couch!” Fusca told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “If Pittsburgh is going to be represented by…

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Peyton Manning Plays Golf With President Trump and Sen. Bob Corker

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Football star Peyton Manning reportedly played golf with President Trump and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker on Sunday. CBS Sports, citing various sources, published a story online Monday with video and photos of the three men outside the White House, on the golf course and sitting around a table at what appears to be the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia. “Manning has long been someone who was rumored to have interest in getting into politics, primarily because of his immense popularity in the state of Tennessee,” the story said. “This latest encounter is hardly an indication that is happening, but it probably won’t stop people from speculating.” In March, rumors swirled that the University of Tennessee alumnus might run for Senate in 2020 to replace Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is said to be considering retiring. But Manning downplayed those rumors, according to the Denver Post. “I don’t know where that came from. Last week I was going to run a team, this week I going to apparently run for Senate, and next week I’ll be an astronaut,” Manning said at the time. “I have no interest in the political world, but would like to continue serving communities.” Manning, 41, retired…

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