Tom Benson, owner of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, died Thursday at the age of 90, a month after falling ill with the flu, the teams announced. “Tom Benson, 90, passed away peacefully Thursday, March 15 at Ochsner Medical Center with his wife Gayle Marie Benson at his side,” a…
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Professional Educators of Tennessee (ProED Tennessee) recently surveyed over 1400 Tennessee educators about school safety and potential ways to improve security at our schools. The statewide survey questions (conducted February 27-March 12) are available here. While an overwhelming number of respondents, 88%, felt either safe or somewhat safe at their schools, there are some concerns about whether policies and procedures are actually being followed at all schools. 75% of those surveyed indicated that there has been a recent increase in security procedures and awareness. However, only 62% say their school has an “active shooter” protocol in place. Perhaps more concerning is the fact that only 55% report that their School Resource Officer (SRO) carries a side-arm. Apparently, a huge percentage of Tennessee schools are protected only by security “monitors” rather than someone who can respond effectively and immediately in the event of a threat to the school. When it comes to arming teachers, which is a significant point of contention among policy makers, 53% of Tennessee educators responding to the survey indicated that they personally would be unlikely to carry a firearm if it was allowed. However, 63% felt that properly trained personnel should be allowed to carry a weapon at…
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President Donald Trump visited the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego on Tuesday to inspect competing prototypes for the proposed wall between the two countries — and among the eight wall sections was one created by Fisher Sand & Gravel Company, headquartered in North Dakota.
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Davidson County Chancery Court Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman sided with the Davidson County Election Commission and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County on Wednesday, ruling that the special mayoral election will be held on August 2 rather than May 1. Jamie Hollin, the attorney for mayoral candidate Ludye Wallace, “argued that ‘general Metropolitan elections’ only occur once every four years, during the regularly-scheduled mayoral election. The next one of those has been scheduled for August 2019. Under that interpretation, a special election would need to be held in May because August 2019 is more than a year after Mayor Barry resigned,” News Channel 5 reported, adding: But attorneys for Metro’s legal department argued that the upcoming August 2018 General Election also qualifies as a “general Metropolitan election,” saying that the term is not exclusive to the Mayoral election held every four years. Under that interpretation, the mayoral election question would be added to the ballot this August. In her ruling, Chancellor Bonnyman said previous court rulings have used the broader interpretation of the election term, indicating that it can apply to more than just the mayoral elections held every four years. You can watch the complete video of the…
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Nashville Mayor David Briley has made his first major announcement on the job — a proposal to demolish Greer Stadium and restore the land for reintegration into Fort Negley Park. The Tennessean reported the story Tuesday, adding the new mayor needs to ask Metro Council for $1 million to demolish the old stadium and begin restoring the property as a park. Briley’s predecessor, Megan Barry, had made a controversial push to redevelop Greer Stadium into a mixed-use project called Cloud Hill. Barry abandoned those plans in January amid strong resistance. The funds “would come from the city’s 4% reserve fund through a request to the Metro Council in April,” according to a statement on the city’s website. “Following the demolition, the property will be seeded with grass while the Metro Historical Commission produces a Cultural Landscape Report that will help inform decisions by the Metro Parks Board about how best to turn this space into an active park that honors the history of the site.” Learotha Williams, a professor of black history at Tennessee State University, hailed Briley’s move. On Twitter, he said, “this is, without doubt, a tremendous first step at honoring those Tennesseans who first tasted freedom here.”…
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“It’s really easy to love people who think like you think. It is a very arduous task to treat someone who has polar opposite views with the same dignity and respect with which you would treat a friend,” actor Jim Caviezel told LifeZette in an exclusive interview by phone about his latest picture, “Paul, Apostle of Christ.”
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Home schooled students from around Tennessee competed in the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress Debate Tournament at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The Student Congress consisted of two separate legislative bodies: The Gold House, which debated bills for consideration in the Tennessee State Senate chambers, and the Silver House, which debated bills for consideration in the Tennessee House of Representatives chambers. Debate in each house was governed by a presiding officer, a home schooled student who had excelled in previous Davy Crockett Statesman’s Debate Tournament events. The presiding officer observed Robert’s Rules of Order, which governed the conduct of participating student legislators who debated the proposed bills prior to voting on them, similar to the manner in which floor debates are managed in both the Tennessee State Senate and the Tennessee House of Representatives. Among the bills the students debated and voted on were: A proposal to cut off federal funding to the state of California (which failed) A proposal to legalize medical marijuana (which failed) A proposal to repeal the Davis Bacon Act (which passed) A proposal to defund the National Endowment for the Arts (which failed) Three volunteer judges in each legislative body rated each participating student legislator’s debating…
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Thomas Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, charged leading California Democrats Monday, saying they were deliberately distorting the nature and purpose of recent immigration operations in the state. Homan singled out House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who in February said a targeted ICE operation in Northern California was a “bigoted” attempt to “terrorize innocent immigrant families.”
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Democrat Conor Lamb said Wednesday that he will work with President Donald Trump on infrastructure and other issues “that are really important to us here in western Pennsylvania” during an interview Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
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On the one-month anniversary of the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students and teachers across the country walked out of school at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. Spearheaded by the Youth Empower branch of the Women’s March group, the walkout included at least 3,136 events nationwide. Many demonstrations included 17 minutes…
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Embattled Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) finally found something to share with the party’s fed-up base on a hot-button issue one week before his gubernatorial primary election when he vetoed a bill requiring gun dealers to be licensed Tuesday.
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“The 2030s are projected to be a transformative decade for the U.S. population,” said a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday. That’s putting it mildly. Based in part on data from the 2010 census, the report is projecting three core changes for the 2030 decade — and they hinge on the baby boomer generation.
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GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd says he opposes giving illegal immigrants access to the in-state four-year college tuition rate, but is still listed as serving on Obama’s College Promise Campaign board which is working to make state community college scholarships like the Tennessee Promise, available to illegal immigrant students. Almost one year to the date after Obama talked amnesty for illegal immigrants in a Nashville speech, he returned to Tennessee, floated the idea of a national free community college program and shortly thereafter, announced appointments to his newly created College Promise Advisory Board. Randy Boyd who was the ECD Commissioner at the time, was appointed to the board Obama launched in 2015. Obama’s College Promise board is led by the president of the leftist Joyce Foundation and honorary chair Dr. Jill Biden, wife of former Vice-President Joe Biden. It’s website does not hide the College Promise campaign’s intention to include illegal immigrants in the group of students who can access the free education dollars: Who will your Promise program serve? Promise programs use specific eligibility and persistence criteria to determine which students the program will serve and benchmarks for continuation in the program. Some common criteria include: … Citizenship: These programs take into…
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