If you sing karaoke, you’ve probably performed “American Girl.” If you play guitar, you’ve likely strummed “Learning to Fly.” And if you’ve driven a car while celebrating some personal achievement or another, you’ve almost certainly belted out “Free Fallin’” at the top of your lungs as you drummed the steering wheel, just like Tom Cruise in…
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Making waves in the physics community. A visualization of how merging black holes create ripples in spacetime NASA Three American physicists won the 2017 Nobel Prize for work that enabled the first observation of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime. Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, and Kip S. Thorne were each instrumental to LIGO, the…
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At the very beginning of the NFL players’ National Anthem “revolt” in mid-September, Anheuser-Busch–once a multi-generation family-owned American business, but now owned by an international conglomerate based in Belgium–posted a short statement voicing their concerns, considering the company’s long-standing partnership with the NFL as one of their largest advertisers. The original statement reads, in full: We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league. The updated company response, as of Tuesday afternoon, now includes the following statement, suggesting that their dissatisfaction with the NFL protests has not yet reached the stage that would cause the company to withdraw its lucrative sponsorship: We have many long-term sports partnerships, including our NFL sponsorship, and while we may not agree on everything, we still believe in the power of sport to bring people together and overcome their differences. We have no plans to end our NFL sponsorship. (emphasis added) The company’s latest statement, however, may not be the last word on the question of…
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The Nashville Business Journal is reporting that Berkshire Hathaway, the company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, is purchasing 80 percent of the Haslam-family owned Pilot Flying J over the next six years: Knoxville-based Pilot Flying J has struck a deal with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that will result in Warren Buffett’s company becoming the chain’s majority owner in a few years. According to a news release, Berkshire Hathaway is taking an initial 38.6 percent stake in the company. The Haslam family — including CEO Jimmy Haslam, the brother of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam — will continue to operate the company from its Knoxville headquarters. In 2023, Berkshire Hathaway will increase its stake to 80 percent, with the Haslam family retaining the remainder. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pilot Flying J’s 750 locations in U.S. and Canada produce more than $20 billion in annual revenue, according to the news release. Political and business insiders tell The Tennessee Star Buffett’s purchase of Pilot Flying J comes three weeks ahead of a federal fraud trial of the former president of Pilot Flying J that could implicate current CEO Jimmy Haslam, brother of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. “Buffett did the Haslam family…
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A West Tennessee man was among at least 58 killed Sunday night at a country music festival in Las Vegas, reports the Paris Post-Intelligencer. The massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and also left more than 500 injured. Sonny Melton was a resident of Big Sandy, a small town in Benton County. Melton was shielding his wife, Heather, when he was fatally shot, according to his lifelong best friend, Jeremy Butler of Camden. The Meltons married about a year ago and were building a house on Kentucky Lake, Butler said. The 29-year-old was a registered nurse at Henry County Medical Center. “The thoughts and prayers of the entire HCMC family are with Sonny and Heather’s families,” said Tom Gee, CEO at Henry County Medical Center, in a statement. Heather Gulish Melton is an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital. People from around the world are offering condolences on Sonny Melton’s Facebook page, now called Remembering Sonny Melton. Messages came pouring in Monday from across the U.S. and from Italy, Argentina, Egypt and other countries.
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U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-6), who is running for Tennessee governor, is supporting President Trump’s plan to fix the tax code, which was last updated by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Black was recently endorsed in her gubernatorial bid by Reagan adviser Art Laffer. Laffer, who lives in Nashville, will serve as Black’s economic adviser for her gubernatorial campaign. In a statement last week, Black said: This is a truly historic opportunity for our country. The current tax system – last updated 30 years ago – forces taxpayers to pay astronomical rates and fill out complicated, unnecessary forms. Americans deserve better. Our goal from the beginning was to create a simpler, fairer and flatter system, and I believe we have done just that. This framework lowers taxes so Americans can keep more of their paychecks and families can spend less time filing papers. It will allow our own families in Tennessee to plan for the future with certainty that their hard-earned money will stay in their pockets. As a unified government, we worked with President Trump and the Senate to craft a framework benefitting every income level, especially the middle class. Our reform also delivers the lowest tax rates in modern history…
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The nation mourned, the law enforcement investigated, President Donald Trump, his wife and his White House prayed – and Hillary Clinton called for gun control and attacks on the National Rifle Association. That’s the response to the horrific killings of dozens and injuring of hundreds by gunman Stephen Paddock, 64. Hillary: This is why you lost.…
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Latinos For Tennessee is partnering with the Clarksville Hispanic American Family Foundation (CHAFF) to support hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. Clarksville is home to a large share of Tennessee’s Puerto Rican population because of Fort Campbell, where many serve in the military. The groups are putting together emergency kits for men, women and children to send to Puerto Rico. A donation center has been set up at the Clarksville Entrepreneur Center at 1860 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard. Hours are 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. For information on what to donate for the emergency kits, visit Latinos For Tennessee’s Facebook page. Monetary donations can be made by clicking here. More information can also be found by visiting CHAFF’s Facebook page. The groups are also in need of a trailer for faster transport to Miami. Latinos For Tennessee is a conservative political action group that promotes faith, family, freedom and fiscal responsibility.
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Students are calling for the firing of a Boise State University political scientist who criticized feminism and the transgender rights movement. Posters reading “Fire Scott Yenor” have emerged all over campus in the wake of his Aug. 2 op-ed in the Daily Signal, titled “Transgender Activists Are Seeking to Undermine Parental Rights.” The posters, first reported…
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Now that the authorities have identified Stephen Paddock as the lone shooter in Sunday night’s horrific massacre of concert-goers in Las Vegas, the painstaking work of investigative his life begins. Perhaps most stunning is the report from the Daily Mail that Paddock’s father, a towering figure at 6 feet 4 inches tall and nearly 250lbs, was a notorious bank robber and con-man in the 1950s who was caught by the FBI, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a 20-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution at La Tuna in Texas in 1961. After serving eight years, the elder Paddock – described as suicidal and psychopathic – escaped prison and lived on the run for a decade. The Daily Mail wrote that young Stephen Paddock “was just seven years old and living in Arizona when his father Benjamin Paddock was nabbed by the FBI for a series of bank robberies.” At the time, Stephen’s mother tried desperately to shield her young son and his three siblings from the devastating news that their father was living a double life as a bank robber and con-man. When FBI agents raided young Stephen’s home in Tucson after his father’s arrest, his mother took the boy swimming nearby. ‘We’re trying to keep Steve…
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President Trump is not reopening a political debate on gun control in the immediate aftermath of the shooting massacre in Las Vegas, the White House said Monday. “There is a time and place for a political debate but now is the time to unite as a country,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. “This is…
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A golf course in Franklin has dropped “Forrest” from its name to distance itself from Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. As of Sept. 22, The Forrest Crossing Golf Course is simply The Crossing Golf Course. Opened in 1986 along the Harpeth River, the course was named for Forrest’s crossing of the Harpeth during the Civil War. The championship course was designed by Gary Roger Baird and is owned by American Golf. The corporation released a statement saying, “American Golf had been considering a name change for some time. We believe that the game of golf is a sport that can help bring people together despite their differences, and want everyone to feel welcome to play our beautiful course.” Gov. Bill Haslam recently renewed a push to have a bust of Forrest moved from the Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum. Activists called for the removal of Confederate statues and monuments after violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 12 between white supremacists and leftist counterprotesters. Some also called for the removal of monuments honoring America’s Founding Fathers. Haslam had first advocated for relocating the bust of Forrest after nine people were killed in a 2015 shooting at a historic black church…
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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry unveiled details for a soccer stadium Monday, saying it would cost $250 million but get 90 percent of its funding from private dollars and revenues generated at the stadium. Barry announced the plans along with John Ingram, the lead investor for Nashville’s Major League Soccer expansion bid. The 27,500-seat stadium would be built at the Nashville Fairgrounds. But Rick Williams, Chairman of Save Our Fairgrounds, vows to fight the proposal, as currently structured. “I was able to watch most of Mayor Barry’s speech this afternoon and the other participants in the MLS Soccer Stadium presentation to the Metropolitan Nashville City Council. My first reaction is our government is again giving away land to developers,” Williams tells The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview. The 10 Acres that Rich Rebling wants to give away to developers is worth 10 million dollars. Everything like this land give away that the Mayor’s administration has done in the past 2 years has cost Taxpayers over 100 million dollars in value. My other reaction is after this plan is finished, the amount of land left for a State Fair, Flea Market and the Nashville Fairgrounds Raceway will be over 1/2 less…
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VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing October 3, Tuesday Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
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