Day: December 23, 2017

Chattanooga’s Refugee Resettlement Contractor Likely to Close Office Under New State Department Guidance

Chris Alto

Catholic Charities of Tennessee State Refugee Coordinator Holly Johnson has confirmed that the federal refugee resettlement contractor Bridge Refugee Services, may have to close its Chattanooga office due to new guidance from the U.S. State Department which reportedly informed voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) that any of their local offices expecting to resettle fewer than 100 refugees in 2018, “will no longer be authorized to resettle new arrivals.” Bridge’s resettlement numbers for Chattanooga were reported as likely to fall below the 100 mark for 2018. It is not known whether this will lead Bridge to concentrate all its efforts in Knoxville where their other office operates. Nine national voluntary agencies (VOLAGs) contract with the State Department to facilitate refugee resettlement through almost 300 local affiliated agencies across the U.S. which must first be authorized to receive new refugee arrivals. Refugee resettlement contractors have become dependent on federal funding to operate these local agencies even though the State Department contract states that the public money is only “intended to augment the private resources” the refugee contractor is supposed to contribute. The contractors are paid a fee for each individual refugee they resettle. Currently, the contractor keeps $1,000 of the $2125 refugee fee paid by the…

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Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuse: Wyoming Highway Patrol Steals Life-Savings from Innocent Musician

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by Anya Bidwell   Phil Parhamovich is a musician from Madison, Wisconsin. Over the years, he saved up $91,800, only to have it seized by Wyoming Highway Patrol during a routine traffic stop near Cheyenne. Civil forfeiture allows law enforcement to take and keep cash, cars and other property without ever charging someone with a crime. Phil was never accused of, or charged with, a crime. Yet, he found himself in the fight of his life to recover the money that belonged to him. Luckily, Phil reached out to the Institute for Justice (IJ), and together we got back Phil’s life savings. But the fight is far from over; Phil’s story only highlights the urgent need to end civil forfeiture.   An Unjust Practice Before that fateful March day, Phil had never heard of civil forfeiture. He was just a musician driving through Wyoming to a show in Salt Lake City. Phil had big plans for his life savings, which he brought with him for safekeeping. He wanted to put a down payment on a historic music studio in Madison where bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage recorded albums. Phil had dreams of opening up the recording studio to other…

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Commentary: At This Point, It’s Easier to Find Someone That DOESN’T Have a Conflict of Interest

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By Printus LeBlanc   Another day, another hearing and the America public learn more about the mountain of evidence pointing towards the entire Mueller special counsel team being filled with conflicts of interest. Rod Rosenstein said he would not fire Robert Mueller stating, “If there were good cause, I would act.” Well Mr. Deputy Attorney General, not counting the tens of thousands of dollars in political donations to Hillary Clinton, there is plenty of evidence to suggest a biased Special Counsel, if you would only open your eyes. The Department of Justice supposedly has strict rules regarding conflicts of interests. The DOJ regulation regarding personal conflicts of interest states, “In addition to the impartiality regulation, 28 C.F.R. § 45.2 prohibits a DOJ employee, without written authorization, from participating in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution, or any person or organization which he knows has a specific and substantial interest that would be directly affected by the outcome of the investigation or prosecution.” Why does it seem like Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has never seen this regulation? Peter…

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President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Reform Already Reaping Benefits for Tennessee Workers

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Advance Financial’s Chief Experience Officer Tina Hodges sent a welcome email on Friday to employees in all 84 of the company’s locations in Tennessee. The email announced that due to President Trump’s successful passage of tax reforms and cuts, the company will be sharing the considerable corporate tax savings with its employees in the form of increased 401(k) contributions, profit sharing, and for their local communities, increases in donations to their charity, the Advance Financial Foundation. The combined effect of the changes announced Friday morning will include an additional $500,000 to employees and more than $550,000 to community organizations, for a total of a little more than $1 million annually. Advance Financial is not alone in their decision to raise worker benefits in response to the tax cuts. Companies around the country have announced similar programs since the passage of President Trump’s signature economic program this week. Banking giant Wells Fargo announced earlier this week that they will use their tax savings to ratchet their employees’ starting wage to $15 an hour, and next year, they would increase their charitable giving by $400,000. Fifth Third Bank announced they will follow suit with a $15 an hour starting wage. AT&T, Comcast, Boeing, and other companies…

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Non-Partisan Tennessee Coalition for Sensible Justice Releases ‘Blueprint’ to Gubernatorial Candidates

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A liberal and conservative group that usually find themselves on the opposite end of most issues of public policy have joined forces to address what they describe as needed reforms to the justice system. The Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the most liberal groups in the country on most issues, and The Beacon Center of Tennessee, the state’s well respected and leading conservative think tank, along with the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and Goodwill Industries, among others, have formed the non-partisan Tennessee Coalition for Sensible Justice, which last week released their “Blueprint for a Sensible Justice System” to each of the gubernatorial candidates in the running for the Volunteer State’s highest elected office. “The Tennessee Coalition for Sensible Justice sent its 2018 “Blueprint for a Sensible Justice System” to all Tennessee gubernatorial candidates this week. The blueprint outlines recommended reforms to the criminal justice system to enhance public safety and save taxpayers money,” the group’s statement began, adding: The blueprint calls on the next governor to adopt reforms in the areas of: Public safety, including reducing crime rates and recidivism through mental health and addiction training for law enforcement and incentive-based funding for corrections,…

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Democrats Bash Corporate Tax Cuts Even as Their Blue States Slash Their Rates

Tennessee Star Staff

Democrats trained their heaviest fire in attacking the measure’s corporate tax cuts, as a massive giveaway to the rich. But even as prominent Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) trashed the idea, their extremely blue home states have been cutting corporate tax rates.

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Jeff Sessions Orders Examination of Bundy Case after Mistrial

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped into the Bundy prosecution after Wednesday’s mistrial, ordering a third-party examination of the case in light of the latest government snafu. “The attorney general takes this issue very seriously and has personally directed that an expert in the [Justice Department’s] discovery obligations be deployed to examine the case and advise as to the next steps,” said Ian D. Prior, the department’s principal deputy director of public affairs, in a late Wednesday statement.

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Haley: US ‘Will Take Note of Each and Every Vote’ on Jerusalem

Tennessee Star Staff

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley has warned other United Nations envoys that she will be ‘taking names’ when the U.N. General Assembly holds a rare emergency session on Thursday to consider a resolution rejecting U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “The President will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us,” the letter, seen by VOA, says. “We will take note of each and every vote on this issue.”

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Question Posed: How Did Bob Corker Go from ‘Dead Broke’ to $69 Million Net Worth During 11 Years in U.S. Senate?

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  “How do you increase your net worth by 69 million dollars while you’re working full-time as a Senator?” That’s the question Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi asked about Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) on Friday. Neither Taibbi nor Rolling Stone are fans of Corker (or of President Trump, Republicans, or conservatism in general). And Rolling Stone has had problems of its own, recently, as has Taibbi. Nonetheless, Taibbi puts a fine point on what many political watchers across the Volunteer State have been asking for years. Federal campaign contributions and lobbying data tracker Open Secrets has perhaps the most jaw-dropping illustration of Corker’s rise to wealth. As Rolling Stone’s Taibbi writes, “Corker didn’t just enter the Senate without any money. He entered it carrying, according to his own disclosure forms, a mountain range of huge loans.” Setting the stage for his ‘promotion’ from Chattanooga Mayor to U.S. Senator, Taibbi writes of Tennessee’s junior senator: Corker took office in January, 2007, during the last gasp of the Bush/Rove political juggernaut. The Iraq war had gone south and the Republicans had just been routed in midterms. The financial crisis was just around the corner. And nobody paid attention to the smooth-talking freshman Senator from Tennessee, who turned…

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