Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell managed to muster enough support to pass the motion to proceed on repealing the Affordable Care Act after much uncertainty Tuesday. The fate of the procedural measure remained unclear leading up to the vote, with several GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber expressing their frustrations with the lack of information on…
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They can weigh over 5,000 pounds. A sunfish of the lumpy variety Per-Ola Norman/Wikimedia Commons Sometimes nature gives you a gift. This one looks like a two-year-old tried to sculpt a fish out of clay but got distracted halfway through. Its common name is the sunfish, but the German version is more accurate: Schwimmender Kopf, or…
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President Trump has nominated state Sen. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Announced Friday, the nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. Overbey is a three-term state senator and chair of the state ethics committee. A senior partner and co-founder of the Robertson Overbey law firm in Knoxville, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Carson-Newman College in 1976 and a law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1979. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) released a statement via Facebook calling Overbey “one of the most valuable and respected members of the General Assembly for many years.” “He has shown true leadership on some of the most important issues that confront our legislature,” McNally said. “His commitment to representing his constituents and producing quality legislation is unwavering.” Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, also issued statements praising Overbey. In his 38 years of practicing law, Overbey has handled a variety of legal matters, including antitrust and commercial litigation. He also has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee law school. In the Tennessee General Assembly, he represents Blount and Sevier counties.
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The Louisiana Democratic Party has dropped the names Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from its annual fundraising dinner. The Jefferson-Jackson dinner will now be called the True Blue Gala, reports the Associated Press. This year’s event is set to be held Aug. 26 in New Orleans. The name change is in step with similar moves by Democratic party chapters in several other states that wanted to distance themselves from the two former presidents, both of whom owned slaves. Those states include Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Connecticut. State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, chairwoman of the Louisiana Democratic Party, said last fall that the dinner would be rebranded “to reflect the progress of the party and the changing times.” Party leaders decided on the new name after conducting surveys and having conversations with Democrats across the state. While they are considered founders of the Democratic Party, Jefferson and Jackson are increasingly criticized because they owned slaves. Jackson is also controversial because he signed the Indian Removal Act which led to the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of Natives Americans from their ancestral homes, primarily in Tennessee and Georgia. Jarrett Stepman, an editor for The Daily Signal, called the scrubbing of their names…
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In addition to excellent legal protection, professional learning, networking and career resources, along with opportunities for leadership, there is no doubt that joining a professional organization that benefits educators. Our advocacy efforts carry significant weight with legislators, and other policymakers. We choose to collaborate, not separate, which is a natural choice for a group that is member-owned and member-driven.
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President Donald Trump on Monday took to Twitter to call for reopening the criminal investigation into 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information. In doing so, the president took shots at his own attorney general and at Congressional committees investigating Russian interference into the 2016 campaign. “So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and…
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A group of 151 conservative Republican congressmen are calling for the Internal Revenue Service to be abolished, calling it an “inefficient behemoth weighing down our economy.” “At its worst, the IRS has shown a capacity for outright corruption and political targeting,” the Republican Study Committee wrote in its budget released Thursday. “Under the Obama Administration, the…
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A former University of Alabama music professor pleaded guilty Thursday to federal child pornography charges, reports AL.com. Nikos Pappas, 41, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals until his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been set. Pappas was placed on leave in September 2016 when the school first learned of the allegations. He was officially fired in May at the end of the academic year. He was charged with two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. Authorities have said hundreds of images were found on a laptop at his Tuscaloosa home and a second computer at his University of Alabama office. His laptop at his home contained more than 100 videos of child pornography from January 2014 to September 2016. Some showed sex acts with very young children, according to court records. The computer at his office contained more than 150 images and at least 25 videos of child pornography from between January and September 2016. The penalty for receiving child pornography is five to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to a press release issued by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama. The maximum penalty for possessing child pornography is 20 years in…
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Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, former presidential hopeful and former loud critic of President Donald Trump, has stepped back into the political arena to call out his fellow Republicans as hypocrites – for not publicly condemning Trump. Sigh. Why, why, why do these entrenched Republicans insist on picking public fights with their fellow GOPers? It doesn’t…
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MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Morino brought an incredulous friend to see the orange street sign he just spotted in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. The official-looking metal sign read: “WARNING: TWIN CITIES POLICE EASILY STARTLED.” It featured a graphic silhouette of a police officer, a gun in each raised hand, shooting in both directions. “There’s a side…
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The discovery of nine dead bodies and more than 30 injured people inside a sweltering tractor trailer in San Antonio shows that a tough anti-sanctuary city law is needed more than ever, top Texas officials said Sunday. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote on Facebook that sanctuary cities “entice” people to come to U.S. illegally and place…
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Tennessee same-sex couples have the same parental rights as heterosexual couples with children born through artificial insemination, a judge ruled Friday. The judge dismissed a challenge to a new state law backed by conservatives requiring using the “natural and ordinary meaning” of words in state law. But LGBT activists consider the judge’s ruling a victory because of language in the ruling about equal parental rights, reports the Associated Press. Gov. Haslam signed the “natural meaning” bill in May despite objections from LGBT advocates and Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. Four married lesbian couples expecting children through artificial insemination sued after the law went into effect. But Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle dismissed the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs didn’t prove their rights had been violated. There had been a lack of clarity over how the new law would be interpreted and how much impact it would really have. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery has maintained that the new law would have to be considered in light of another state law requiring gender-specific words to be interpreted as inclusive. Another bill considered by the state legislature this year required that the words “husband,” “wife,” “mother,” and “father” be interpreted based on the biological distinctions…
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VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 25, Tuesday Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Galatians 6:10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
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