Day: July 16, 2017

It’s Official: Beth Harwell Announces Candidacy for Governor

Tennessee Star Staff

Speaker of the Tennessee House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee in a statement released by her campaign at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. “Tennessee needs someone who possesses the experience from day one to lead our state to the next level and who has a steady hand when challenges come our way,” Harwell said in the statement. “As Governor, I will lead on jobs, cutting taxes, guaranteeing every child has a great school, and ensuring our Tennessee values are protected. Every Tennessean should have every opportunity to succeed and prosper in our state. That’s why I am running to be Tennessee’s next Governor,” she added. According to the statement: Harwell, a longtime conservative and former Tennessee Republican Party Chairman, has presided over the Tennessee House of Representatives as the legislature has enacted some of the most conservative reforms in the country. Harwell and her colleagues are the only legislature in the United States to eliminate three taxes: the death tax, gift tax, and a phase out of the Hall Income Tax. She also oversaw cuts in business taxes and taxes for elderly and veterans. In addition, the General Assembly passed, and…

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WKRN: Beth Harwell Telling Public Officials She Will Run for Governor

Tennessee Star Staff

  WKRN is reporting that Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) may be in the race for the Republican nomination for governor as early as Sunday. “Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell has been quietly calling people over the last week telling them she is definitely running for governor,” WKRN reported late Saturday: News 2 has been told by several state and local officeholders that the longtime Republican Nashville lawmaker is looking for their support in a 2018 gubernatorial bid. One of the public officials says a formal announcement could come as early as Sunday from Harwell who is the first woman ever elected as House speaker in Tennessee. The announcement has long been expected as Harwell has attended a variety of local political events all over the state in recent months. There have been rumors for some time that Harwell would announce a run for governor, but she has yet to pull the trigger on the race. Back in the spring, one of her close allies let slip that she would be announcing for governor soon, but that announcement did not come. This time, most political observers believe it is likely that Harwell will jump in the race soon, simply due to the…

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State Rep. Judd Matheny Speaks to Tennessee Alliance of Liberty Groups

Tennessee Star Staff

  State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) was one of the featured speakers at the regular quarterly meeting of the Tennessee Alliance of Liberty Groups held in Lebanon on Saturday. Matheny was originally scheduled to speak about the fight over the gas tax in the state legislature this session, and addressed that topic first in his 45 minute talk that featured a healthy exchange of questions and answers with the group, which is made up of local liberty group leaders from around the state. “I relayed to them we in the Tennessee General Assembly were not set up to ask the public for $300 million in a $2 billion surplus budget,” Matheny told The Tennessee Star. Matheny also told the audience several anecdotes about the fight against the gas tax, which ultimately was unsuccessful. “We were a tight group in opposition, but we didn’t have the numbers in the end,” Matheny said. The conversation soon turned to the race for the Sixth Congressional District Republican nomination. Last month, Matheny announced that he was in the race to win in 2018, whether or not incumbent Rep. Diane Black decides to run for governor. “As I’ve matured as a state legislator, I’ve tried…

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Commentary: Democrats’ Rage Over Phony Donald Trump Jr. Email Scam Is Pathetic

Tennessee Star Staff

by Jeffrey A. Rendall   In the earliest days of email I, probably like everyone else, received a great many unsolicited messages from people I didn’t know. These notes sounded enticing in the subject line but upon further examination of the contents turned out to be…well, fraudulent. This phenomenon is a thing of the past because I no longer open the communications much less respond to them as I did on a few occasions way back when (I never fell for the scams, by the way). According to a cross-sampling of faux emails these days I am supposedly the sole heir of some royalty overseas who died and their Donald Trump Jr.estate’s executor just needs me to wire a couple thousand bucks to them to claim my bounty. From the sound of it Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t as inclined to reject an overture from a friend who wanted to introduce him to a Russian source (in early June of 2016) who promised to provide dirt on the Hillary Clinton campaign, purportedly to help his father win the election. Everyone knows by now Trump Jr. fell for the ruse and along with then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and son-in-law Jared Kushner…

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Colleges Pay Diversity Officers More Than Professors, Staff

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

Top public universities pay administrators with jobs related to diversity initiatives an average of $175,088 per year, substantially more than other professors and faculty members, according to a Campus Reform investigation. A sheet compiling the salaries of the top diversity administrators at 43 of America’s top public universities shows that virtually all are paid at least…

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Watchdog Uncovers New Evidence of Quid Pro Quo at Hillary State Dept.

Tennessee Star Staff

Judicial Watch released 448 pages of documents Friday showing further incidences of Huma Abedin, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff in the State Department, allocating special treatment to Clinton Foundation donors while Clinton served as Secretary of State. Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct government business clouded her…

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Students File Lawsuit After School Denies Pro-Life Club Approval

Tennessee Star Staff
Fetus on Health

A religious nonprofit organization is suing Parkland School District in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, after Parkland High School deemed a pro-life student club too controversial and subsequently refused to approve its charter. The national public interest law firm Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit against the school district, high school, and three administrators Tuesday after Elizabeth Castro…

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Scott Hamann, Maine Democrat, Kicked Off Committees Over ‘Inexcusable’ Anti-Trump Rant

Tennessee Star Staff

A Maine state lawmaker who is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service over a threatening online comment about President Trump has been removed from two legislative committees as punishment, the state’s House speaker announced Friday. Democratic Rep. Scott Hamann has been kicked off the Health and Human Services Committee and the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee,…

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Bill Lee Wins Williamson County GOP Gubernatorial Straw Poll

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

THOMPSON’S STATION, Tennessee–Williamson County businessman Bill Lee won the gubernatorial straw poll conducted Saturday at the Williamson County Republican Party annual summer BBQ at Little Creek Farms with a whopping 63 percent of the 243 votes cast. State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) finished a surprising second with 26 percent of the vote. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), who has not announced her candidacy, won 7 percent. Speaker of the Tennessee House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), who has also not yet formally her candidacy, took 3 percent of the vote, and Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd took in slightly more than 1 percent of the vote. More than four hundred guests attended the sold-out event, which was a record crowd for the annual BBQ, and a great success for new Williamson County Republican Party Chairman Debbie Deaver and Vice Chairman Stephen Siao. “While straw polls are not always necessarily reflective of the electorate, tonight’s straw poll provides a good early pulse check of who influential Republicans in Williamson County and other mid-state counties are supporting in the gubernatorial race. Tonight’s attendees included influential conservative activists, prominent donors, party leaders, and over two dozen elected officials. Attendees cast their straw poll ballots with gumballs,”…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Sunday, July 16

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 16, Sunday Matthew 6:5-14 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: 9 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” 14 For if…

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