Early Voting Begins in State Senate Primary to Replace Mae Beavers

Early voting has begun for the state Senate primary to replace former state Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), who stepped down to focus on her campaign for Tennessee governor. Gov. Bill Haslam called for a special election in District 17 to replace Beavers. The primary is Nov. 7 and the general election is Dec. 19. State Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), Beavers’ close ally, is running unopposed in the Republican primary, while attorney Mary Alice Carfi is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. The “bathroom bill” Pody and Beavers sponsored in the most recent session of the Tennessee General Assembly is back in the news, even though it failed to make it out of committee this year. On Friday, Beavers issued a press release noting that the recent conviction of a transgender man who identifies as a woman on charges a sexually assaulting a ten year old girl in a bathroom in Casper, Wyoming points to the need for a bill such as the one she and Pody introduced. District 17, which includes Wilson, Cannon, DeKalb, Smith, Clay and Macon counties, is a strong Republican area. Pody is the favorite to win the general election in December. Visit wilsoncountyvotes.com for more information.

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Representative Frederica Wilson Strikes Back at John Kelly: ‘Lying,’ ‘Racist’

Rep. Frederica Wilson on Friday accused White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly of lying about her and using a “racist term” when he publicly admonished her for politicizing the president’s condolence call to a Special Forces’ widow. Mr. Kelly, a retired Marine general whose son was killed in action in Afghanistan, on Thursday denounced…

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Laura Ingraham Calls Bush Speech a ‘Slap in the Face’ to Populist Movement

Laura Ingraham was credited on Thursday night by both presidential aide Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former White House strategist, for helping to guide the national populist movement that rallied around Trump. Bannon and Miller made their remarks at the “Breitbart embassy,” the old Washington townhouse on Capitol Hill where many Breitbart staffers…

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Trump’s EPA Chief Charts a New Course: An Interview With Scott Pruitt

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt spoke to me earlier this week at The Heritage Foundation’s annual President’s Club meeting in Washington. We discussed his leadership of the EPA, the agency’s top priorities, and what Pruitt considers true environmentalism. An edited transcript of our interview, along with the full video, is below. Bluey: You’ve had a…

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Breast Cancer Death Rates Fell 40 Percent Since 1989

ANALYSIS/OPINION: The American Cancer Society reported earlier this month that breast cancer death rates declined almost 40 percent between 1989 and 2015 – averting an estimated 322,600 deaths. The reduction is attributed to screening and early detection by self-exams, mammography and improvements in treatments over the recent decades. And while everyone is in agreement that there…

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Georgia Issuing Driver’s Licenses to More DACA Recipients Than Feds Say Live in State

Georgia has issued driver’s licenses to more DACA recipients than the federal government says live in the state, reports InsiderAdvantage. “How many illegal aliens have benefited from former President Barack Obama’s DACA amnesty?,” asks writer D.A. King, a pro-enforcement immigration activist. “That’s a question that should get a closer review.” According to the federal government, Georgia currently has 21,600 DACA recipients, but 48,935 DACA recipients have received driver’s licenses in the state, according to the state Department of Driver Services. Georgia’s number of approved DACA recipients has stayed within a close range under 25,000 since the program began in 2012, according to the federal government. Numbers have fluctuated somewhat within given states because of various factors, including new applicants, recipients not seeking renewals, and recipients having their status revoked because of criminal activity. Some 8,700 DACA recipients in Georgia have also received official photo ID cards. People can be issued both a driver’s license and an ID card. “We think the discrepancy in the stated numbers of DACA beneficiaries from federal authorities and the database of the Georgia agency in charge of the integrity of our driving and ID credentials is worthy of an official explanation,” writes King, who is the president of the…

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Former NBA Player-Turned-Western Kentucky Coach Quits After Embarrassing Incident on the Road

Drinking and driving can come with other consequences besides possible jail time and fines. A former NBA player turned college basketball coach found that out the hard way. Ben Hansbrough, who had just been promoted to a full-time assistant coach’s role at Western Kentucky University this summer, resigned his position just two days after he was…

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State Sues Metro Nashville Public Schools Over Student Contact Info, District to Sue State Over Funding

The state of Tennessee is suing Metro Nashville Public Schools for declining to release student contact information to the state-run Achievement School District run mostly by charter school operators who want parents to be informed of school options. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery Court, claims that a state law that took effect earlier this year compels MNPS to turn over the information. The suit says the district is required to provide a “list of student names, ages, addresses, dates of attendance, and grade levels completed.” An MNPS spokeswoman told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that district officials are reviewing the lawsuit. School board chair Anna Shepherd wrote a letter to state education commissioner Candice McQueen in August saying the board’s attorney advised the board that it has discretion over releasing such information per the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Shepherd also said the new state law does not allow for the release of student contact information for marketing purposes. Shepherd said the Achievement School District’s “academic track record is concerning and there is waning demand for ASD schools in Nashville and Memphis, which presumably is why the ASD is seeking to market itself to…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Saturday, October 21

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing October 21, Saturday Mark 8:34-35 Then Jesus called the crowd to himself along with his disciples and told them, “If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me continuously, because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.”

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