Special Election Dates Announced to Fill Jim Tracy’s Tennessee State Senate Seat

Special election dates have been set to fill the state Senate seat vacated by former state Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville). Primaries have been set for Jan. 25, with the general election set for March 13, according to a writ of election issued by Gov. Bill Haslam. Joe Carr and Shane Reeves are vying for the Republican nomination for the District 14 seat. Carr is a former state representative who ran unsuccessfully in primaries to unseat U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-6). Reeves is a businessman who formerly owned the Reeves-Sain Family of Medical Services and currently owns TwelveStone Health Partners. Democrat Gayle Jordan has also joined the race. The lawyer and farmer ran unsuccessfully against Tracy in 2016. Tracy resigned from the Senate in early November to accept an appointment as state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. District 14 covers Bedford, Lincoln, Marshall and Moore counties and part of Rutherford County. Early voting for the primaries begins Jan. 5 and early voting for the general election begins Feb. 21.

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NBC Fires Today Show Host Matt Lauer for ‘Inappropriate Sexual Behavior’

Matt Lauer, the longtime host of NBC’s Today Show, has been fired for inappropriate sexual behavior on the job, the network announced Wednesday at the opening of the show’s broadcast. Matt Lauer has been terminated from NBC News. On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace…

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Ryman Hospitality Properties Plans Multi-Use Development Near Opryland

Ryman Hospitality Properties last week announced plans for a large multi-use development near Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Ryman owns Gaylord Hotels, which are operated by Marriott, as well as the historic Ryman Auditorium downtown and the Grand Ole Opry. The company also created the TV show “Nashville.” Ryman is partnering with Lincoln Property Company to develop 130 acres of commercial land across Briley Parkway from the resort at the intersection of McGavock Pike and Pennington Bend Road. The Donelson area development is set to include offices, residences and retail space. “As the owners of one of the few remaining large tracts of developable commercial land in the Metro area, we see a tremendous opportunity to bring a high-caliber project to Donelson that will be complementary to our existing assets and the surrounding community,” said Ryman CEO Colin Reed in a news release. “We believe this development has the potential to attract a regional or corporate headquarters that will bring additional direct and indirect employment to Donelson. We are also particularly excited about the planned multifamily housing so that people who work in these offices and surrounding businesses have the opportunity to live nearby.” Reed said the master…

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CNN Guest Loses Mind After Trump Calls Fake Native American Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’

President Donald Trump on Monday sparked outrage from the usual suspects, who called his “Pocahontas” taunt of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) insensitive, inappropriate or even racist. CNN commentator Angela Rye went a step further on Tuesday, arguing that it was somehow a slur against the iconic Indian princess. “Pocahontas in and of itself is not a…

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Liberals Throw Temper Tantrum Over Trump’s Watchdog Pick

Declaring President Donald Trump’s pick for acting director of a government watchdog agency an “imposter,” self-appointed leaders of “The Resistance” argued Tuesday that the president has in the executive branch, which he heads. Organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and featuring a parade of leftist speakers, the rally outside the headquarters of the Consumer Financial…

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East Tennessee Businessman Greg Fodness Announces Run For State House District 11

Owner of two small businesses in East Tennessee, Greg Fodness has announced his run as State Representative for House District 11, a seat held by fellow Cosby resident Jeremy Faison since 2011. In his press release Monday, Fodness was not at all disparaging to the incumbent, but offered that he’s running because “The 11th District is my home and I know it deserves better,” adding: I truly care for the people of this District and want them to have the best representation available to them. The Fodness press release focused on his conservative values instilled in him at an early age, as the son of a farmer and World War II veteran, the foundations of which shape his political views. “My parents made sure that I learned the value of hard work and integrity in your words and actions. They taught me that combining the ethic of working not only hard, but smart, yields its own rewards,” Fodness was quoted in the release. While a Chrysler mechanic at the age of 20 and with a passion for business, Fodness bought and sold muscle cars in his spare time to make ends meet such that he “had to learn at an…

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Another One: Former Staffer Says Democrat Rep. Conyers ‘Put His Hand Up Her Dress’ Against Her Wishes

Another one of Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers’ former staffers has come forward to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct as the embattled congressman steadfastly refuses to resign from office, The Detroit News reported on Tuesday. Deanna Maher, 77, alleged that Conyers, 88, made three unwelcome sexual advances when she worked for him as his deputy…

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Commentary: Kasich Republican Lee Busby Tries To Derail Judge Roy Moore

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff   We recently pointed out that the Republican establishment was living in a fantasy world in which, less than three weeks before the December 12 Alabama special election, a non-existent candidate would mount a write-in campaign to derail the impending election of Judge Roy Moore. And in a weird replay of the failed #NeverTrump phenomenon, a phony “centrist Republican” candidate has announced that indeed he is going to run as an “independent” write-in candidate. Our friend Sean Moran of Breitbart reports that Lee Busby, a retired Marine colonel and former aide to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, announced on Monday that he will launch a last-minute write-in campaign against Republican nominee Alabama Judge Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. Bubsy, who retired from the Marine Corps in 2013, has also been an investment banker and defense contractor – in other words a prime example of the military – industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned against. Busby also admits he attended a fundraiser for Far-Left Democratic candidate Doug Jones, though he denies ever donating to the Democrat candidate reports Sean Moran. While the White House has indicated President Trump has no plans to campaign in Alabama…

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State Rep. Art Swann of East Tennessee Hoping to Be Appointed to State Senate Seat

The Blount County Commission in East Tennessee will appoint someone this week to fill the state Senate seat vacated by former state Sen. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville), reports The Daily Times. Overbey resigned Nov. 21 to be sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The commission will meet at 12:15 p.m. Friday in Room 430 of the Blount County Courthouse. State Rep. Art Swann (R-Maryville) wants to be considered for the District 2 seat and told The Daily Times that he has secured a nomination. The businessman said he has been in contact with most of the county commissioners. “I feel good about my chances,” he said. First elected to the state House in 1984, Swann served District 20 for two terms. Years later in 2010, he was elected to serve District 8 and has been re-elected to consecutive terms. Swann said he worked closely with Overbey in the state legislature and the two supported companion bills. State Rep. Bob Ramsey (R-Maryville) told The Daily Times that he is not interested in the Senate seat and supports Swann’s nomination. Swann voted for the gas tax hike earlier this year promoted by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. He has chaired the House…

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Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Sen. Bob Corker Promote Republican Tax Reform Plan

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7) released a video Tuesday in which she discussed her efforts to bring tax relief to Tennessee families and small businesses. Blackburn is running for the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Bob Corker (R-TN), who also issued a news release Tuesday morning on efforts by Republicans in Congress to pass a tax reform plan. The House has passed the plan and the Senate is expected to vote this week. A key element in the plan is lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. The U.S. currently has the highest corporate tax rate in the world among countries with advanced economies. In her video, Blackburn said: Government never gets enough of the taxpayers’ revenue. The appetite, the insatiable appetite that government has for your money never ceases. To achieve tax relief is vital. And I think that keeping it to a focus of flatter rates for individual filers. Fairness in business taxes. And small businesses being able to use the rate that is there for corporations. That lower rate. 20% rate. That gives them more money to spend on that business to build their dream. And then also simpler, it is…

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Tennessee Muslim Advisory Council Co-Founder Endorsed Islamic Proselytizing Organization

Sabina Mohyuddin, long-time volunteer and former Youth Director at the Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN), co-founder of the Tennessee American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), and a featured panelist at a recent event held at the University of the South in Sewanee, endorsed the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a U.S. based leader in dawah (Islamic proselytizing), at a 2013 event as an organization that “help[s] American Muslims stay true to their religious values while being uniquely American.” ICNA was named in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document, An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America as one of the Brotherhood’s 29 likeminded “organizations of our friends” that shared the common goal of destroying America from within and turning it into a Muslim nation “so that … God’s religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.” ICNA is also the organization that admits public school students should be targeted for dawah conducted under the guise of “sharing knowledge of Islam as an attempt to correct the misrepresentations often found in secular reading materials.” Mohyuddin offered the ICNA endorsement during her slide presentation Understanding the American Muslim Community, which was part of a 2013 AMAC sponsored forum in Manchester,…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Wednesday, November 29

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing November, 29, Wednesday Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path Proverbs 4:25-26 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. 1 Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

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Young Man Fatally Shot on Nashville MTA Bus

An 18-year-old has been charged in the fatal shooting Monday of another 18-year-old on a Nashville Metro Transit Authority (MTA) bus in Madison. Antonio S. Jones is charged with criminal homicide in the fatal shooting of his acquaintance, Tyvonceea Hayden. The shooting happened at noon as the bus was traveling on Gallatin Pike, according to a Metro Nashville Police Department news release. Jones and Hayden, who apparently had been dating someone in Jones’ family, had both boarded the bus a short time earlier outside the Madison Library. The two young men exchanged only a few words before the shooting, witnesses said. After the bus pulled over at MTA’s Gallatin Pike/Due West Avenue stop, Jones and his girlfriend, who was carrying an infant, fled the bus in opposite directions. The girlfriend was detained by officers on Due West Avenue. A relative drove Jones to the police department’s East Precinct, where he surrendered. He was taken to the Madison Precinct, where he declined to be interviewed. According to WKRN News 2, this has been “the deadliest year for teens, surpassing even 2015 when Metro police said Nashville had a youth violence problem. Twenty-three teens aged 19 and under have been murdered this year, while…

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