Amazon is preparing a limited launch of a delivery service that would compete directly with services like Fedex and UPS, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the US online and retail giant expects to begin a delivery service in Los Angeles in coming weeks with third-party merchants that sell goods on its website.
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The Ottawa Senators will get a reminder of a trade that hasn’t panned out as planned when they host the Nashville Predators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night. The two major components, however, have almost produced at an even rate.
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By Robert Romano Senate leaders have reached a bipartisan agreement on the 2018 budget that provides another six weeks of funding for the federal government. It gets there by ending the remainder of budget sequestration, a remnant of the 2011 debt ceiling deal, increasing defense spending by $160 billion and non-defense spending by $131 billion the next two years. As a result, one outcome for certain is there is going to be another major increase in the national debt, now nearly $20.5 trillion, without any major reforms to rein in future spending. And now there is talk of adding an increase to the debt ceiling to the legislation as well, which Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) suggested would be extended until March 2019. Article I is only as good as the Congress we elect. The reality the nation’s fiscal house faces is the only way to get 60 votes to increase defense spending, a top Trump administration priority, is to get 60 votes to increase non-defense spending, and Republicans still lack the votes to go nuclear and eliminate the filibuster on appropriations bills. Lacking leverage or a means of resolution, these are the types of deals that will be produced, and have been…
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Shortly after traveling alone with Sgt. Robert Forrest, head of her security detail during the period of time Mayor Megan Barry admitted to their on-going adulterous relationship, she lectured students at Belmont University about the role of ethics in government. Less than two weeks after her trip to D.C. with Sgt. Forest, on March 22, 2017, Mayor Barry spoke to Belmont University’s Student Center for the Public Trust (Student CPT) telling students that “people have to have faith that their government is ethical.” The Student CPT is “a national network of college students who demonstrate a commitment to ethical leadership.” There are a total of 6 Student CPT chapters at Tennessee schools, all supported by the national Center for the Public Trust whose stated mission is “to champion the public trust by advancing ethical leadership in business, institutions and organizations.” According to a news release from Belmont’s Office of Communications, the Mayor talked about the role and importance of ethical leadership even while admitting that it’s not always a simple matter to capture “what an ethical situation looks like.” She also told the students that, “people have to have faith that their government is ethical.Without this faith rooted in the community, everything…
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The House of Representatives passed a massive $400 billion budget agreement early Friday intended to end a partial federal government shutdown. The lawmakers voted 240-186 to approve the accord that now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature. However, it only funds the government through March 23.
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Mark Gwyn announced in a department-wide memo Thursday that after 30 years in law enforcement – the last 14 of which were as the Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), he will step down, effective June 1st. A copy of the letter was posted at the TBI website and reads: M E M O R A N D U M TO: All TBI Employees FROM: Mark Gwyn, Director DATE: February 8, 2018 SUBJECT: Retirement Announcement I’ve been in law enforcement for over 30 years and have lovingly served as your Director for 14 years, however, the time has come for me to retire. I have prayed and thought about this decision for some time now and I believe this is the right time for me and for the Bureau. During my tenure, I believe I have done all that I can do to improve our resources, training and equipment for the Bureau family and along with your hard work, TBI has become the best state law enforcement agency in this state and this country. We have come a very long way and I am honored to have served in this capacity for so long. I hope I have left…
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Tennessee Star Editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy will be guest hosting for Michael DelGiorno on Nashville’s dominant talk radio station, WTN 99.7 FM, from 9 a.m. to noon today. The 9 a.m. hour will focus on the candidates in the race for the Republican nomination in the 6th Congressional District. State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) is the scheduled guest in the first half hour (see image left), and former Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Bob Corlew (see image below) is the scheduled guest for the second half hour. Former Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture John Rose was also invited for a separate interview, but was unable to make it due to scheduling issues. In the 10 a.m. hour, a new and surprising twist in the ongoing story about Mayor Megan Barry’s extramarital affair with bodyguard Sgt. Rob Forrest will be the topic of discussion in the first half hour. “You can’t make this stuff up,” Leahy said of the surprising new twist. The Star’s own Laura Baigert will provide an update on the 2018 session of the Tennessee General Assembly in the second half hour. In the 11 a.m. the pros and cons of Mayor Barry’s $9.2 billion transit plan, which faces a May 1 public…
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Former judge-turned-Sixth Congressional District Republican candidate Bob Corlew has launched his first television advertisement. The 30-second spot is divided in roughly in half with the first part telling viewers who Corlew is. The advertisement begins with a misty shot of Bob Corlew walking hand-in-hand with his wife, Dianne. The voiceover is by a woman who says, “Bob Corlew, a Christian conservative who believes Tennessee’s values are worth fighting for.” The video cuts to images of Corlew and his family throughout his life, and in his own voice he states, “I’m an Army veteran, former judge, father, and grandfather.” Switching to Corlew himself, viewers see his say, “I’ve dedicated my life in service to others.” Pivoting to his policy agenda, Corlew says, “I’ll stand with President Trump to finish The Wall; no amnesty; restore the rule of law; end chain migration; defund all sanctuary cities; and put more officers and resources on the border.” In the final seconds, he delivers his closing, incorporating the required campaign finance disclosure, “I’m Bob Corlew, the conservative Republican and I approve this message.” Watch the new ad: Voters first learned of Bob Corlew in 1984, when he was elected General Sessions Judge at the age of thirty-one.…
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U.S. President Donald Trump says the rights of people are bestowed upon them by God and that “faith is central to American life and to liberty.” Speaking Thursday at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump said, “Our rights are not given to us by man, our rights come to us by our creator.
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Apparel targeted for the Muslim women’s market will soon be available at Macy’s department stores. The chain describes the hand-dyed hijabs, maxi dresses, and extra-long cardigans among their new Islamic offerings as both modest and fashionable, The Washington Post reports. An online launch is slated for the “Verona Collection” on February 15.
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George Rasley, CHQ Editor As a veteran of over 300 political campaigns I’ve compiled dozens of opposition research memos. Almost every time I did one someone would come forward with salacious charges. Running down these allegations never revealed proof; no affidavits from spurned lovers, no credit card receipts from the Chicken Ranch, etc., so I refused to include those allegations in my work product. From what I’ve read from the Steele dossier very little of it passes those most basic tests of sourcing. No candidate I’ve ever worked with would have paid me for such a document, unless of course they didn’t care if it was true or not. This experience begs the question: Given the problematic sourcing, did anyone involved on the FBI or Hillary Clinton side really believe the allegations in the Steele dossier? Or was it always known to be a cynical lie? Certainly, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson went to great lengths in his testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) to avoid saying he believed the Steele dossier was true – credible was as close as he would go. On Page 9 of the transcript of Simpson’s testimony before HPSCI he responded to…
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High-level FBI officials who violated procedures in the investigations of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump will not escape accountability, a former supervisor at the agency said Thursday. Ron Hosko, who served as assistant director of the FBI and now is president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general, Michael Horowitz, will shoot straight in scrutinizing the conduct of the FBI and the DOJ.
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Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Charles Rettig — a lawyer who backed the president’s decision to keep his tax returns private — to be head of the top US tax collection agency. The White House said Trump would nominate the Beverly Hills tax attorney to be “Commissioner of Internal Revenue for a term of seven years beginning 11/12/17,” a statement read.
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The Criminal Court of Appeals in Knoxville ruled Tuesday that Tennessee’s state law requiring every person convicted of a DUI via blood or breath tests pay a $250 fee to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is unconstitutional. According to the 28-page decision, the fee violates due process and puts into question the integrity of the TBI forensic department’s test results, which receives the monies into its ‘Intoxicant Testing Fund.’ The fee system, the ruling says, creates a monetary incentive for forensic scientists through continued employment, salaries, equipment and training. In addition to the named defendant, Rosemary L. Decosimo, some 20 individuals joined the case, all of whom were charged with DUIs after they provided blood or breath samples, and each would have been subject to paying the $250 fee if convicted. “While we acknowledge that TBI forensic scientists could lose their jobs if they falsify test results and these falsifications are discovered, we also recognize that forensic scientists would most certainly lose their jobs if funding for their positions disappears, a result of which these forensic scientists are no doubt well aware,” the opinion states. Initially, in 2005, the “DUI fee” was set at $100, but in 2010, the fee was raised to…
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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, who ten days ago admitted to carrying on a two year long extramarital affair with her Metro Nashville police officer bodyguard, Sgt. Rob Forrest, showed on Thursday that she wants every voter in Nashville/Davidson County to know that she continues to support her much maligned $9 billion transit plan. With no apparent sense of irony, Mayor Barry promoted her appearance at a Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of Commerce event Thursday in a tweet later in the day in which she said, in part, that her transit plan “is about connecting people.” “Today I spoke at the Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of Commerce about your transit plan, which will be on the ballot May 1 (early voting starts April 11), and all the benefits it will create,” she wrote, adding, “Transit is about connecting people to what they need jobs, schools, health care and much more.” Today I spoke to the Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of Commerce about our transit plan, which will be on the ballot May 1 (early voting starts April 11), and all the benefits it will create. Transit is about connecting people to what they need jobs, schools, health care and much more pic.twitter.com/Wcn93KYxmx — Megan Barry for Congress (TN-7) (@MeganCBarry)…
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