Day: May 12, 2018

Spokesman Says Randy Boyd ‘Fully Expects the Anti-Sanctuary City Legislation to Become Law’

Tennessee Star Staff

A spokesman for the Randy Boyd campaign told The Tennessee Star on Friday afternoon that Boyd “fully expects the anti-sanctuary city legislation passed this session to become law, and as Governor he will work to enforce that law.” Here is the full statement provided to The Star by Chip Saltsman, spokesman for the Randy Boyd campaign: Randy Boyd has made it clear and will continue to make it clear that he is absolutely opposed to cities or counties in Tennessee becoming sanctuaries for illegal aliens. He fully expects the anti-sanctuary city legislation passed by the legislature this session to become law, and as Governor he will work to enforce that law. As The Tennessee Star reported earlier on Friday, “The anti-sanctuary city legislation sponsored by State Sen. Mark Green (R-Clarksville) and State Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin) and passed overwhelmingly by the Tennessee General Assembly has been signed by Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and on Thursday was formally transmitted to the office of Gov. Haslam,” adding: The governor arrived back in Nashville this morning from an overseas trip, so the ten day clock in which he must either veto the bill–testing…

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Early Voting Turnout Bounces Back in Nashville Special Mayoral Election as 11 Polling Places Open

Tennessee Star Staff

Early voting turnout increased dramatically on Friday to 2,810, more than double the 1,205 that turned out for the first five days in the Nashville special mayoral election as the number of polling sites increased from one to eleven, to bring the total votes cast to 4,215 in six days. With eight more days early voting left, turnout projections remain will behind the 123,000 who turned out for the May 1 transit referendum. Extrapolating at a rate of 3,000 per day for the next 8 days, total early voting would be about 28,000. Assuming double that on election day May 24, total turnout would be in the range of 55,000 to 60,000, about half of the May 1 transit plan referendum. “As more satellite voting locations make casting a ballot in the Special Election easier we should expect the numbers of votes to increase dramatically,” Tennessee Star political editor Steve Gill pointed out. “But without the presence of other candidates on the ballot, the participation level in this race will likely be a record low. That will make polling difficult and predictions of which two candidates are most likely to emerge in a runoff even harder.” “A quick sprint election…

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Trump Is Following Through On His Pledge To Lower Drug Prices, Here’s The Plan

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by Steve Birr   The Trump administration released its blueprint for lowering skyrocketing prescription drug prices Friday, a strategy that has already saved patients nearly $9 billion. President Donald Trump, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, outlined their four-pronged approach to making medications more affordable during an afternoon press conference. Their approach includes: expanding access to generic drugs of more expensive brand names, sweeping Medicare reforms that allow better price negotiation, removing incentives for high list prices and drastically reducing the out-of-pocket expenses of America’s seniors. “President Trump and his Administration are already delivering on the promise to lower drug prices for American patients,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “In the past year we have been very successful increasing competition and curbing high drug prices and are pleased to report that FDA’s 2017 generic drug approvals in 2017 saved prescription drug buyers in America nearly $9 billion.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration set a record in 2017 for approving the most generic drugs in the history of the regulatory agency. A sharp increase in drug approvals coupled with new FDA guidance that helps companies complete the generic drug approval process faster led to $8.8 billion…

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President Trump Faces Institutional Obstacles to Overcome U.S. Drug Pricing Fiasco

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President Trump is scheduled to deliver his first speech Friday to introduce an overarching plan to confront high drug prices. As a candidate, where he railed against the pharmaceutical industry and accused it of “getting away with murder.” The populist rhetoric appears to be giving way to a more nuanced strategy focused on making the pharmaceutical market more open and competitive, with the aim of lowering costs for consumers. It’s an approach that could avoid a direct confrontation with the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, but it could also underwhelm Americans seeking relief from escalating prescription costs. Administration officials previewing the speech Thursday touted it as the most comprehensive plan to tackle prescription drug costs that any president has ever proposed, but offered few specifics. Officials said the plan would increase competition, create incentives for drugmakers to lower initial prices and slash federal rules that make it harder for private insurers to negotiate lower prices. The result would be lower pharmacy costs for patients — a key Trump campaign promise. The plan will not include giving the federal Medicare program power to directly negotiate prices with drugmakers, they noted. Trump campaigned on the idea, which is vigorously opposed by the pharmaceutical industry. Public outrage…

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Facebook Faces Class-Action Lawsuit For Collecting Texts, Phone Call Data

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by Kyle Perisic   Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit following revelations it collects text messages and phone calls via its smartphone apps on Android devices. The social network giant’s actions “presents several wrongs, including a consumer bait-and-switch, an invasion of privacy, wrongful monitoring of minors and potential attacks on privileged communications” such as those between attorneys and clients or doctors and patients, the lawsuit alleges. “Facebook has collected and stored information in a scope and manner beyond that which users knowingly authorized. The practice is ongoing” on the Android version of the Facebook apps, according to the lawsuit. “This activity includes assessing users’ call and text histories (including metadata such as the names and number of persons contacted), the times of such contacts, and the lengths of such contacts,” the lawsuit shows. The extent of Facebook’s data collection activity was brought to light when it was revealed in March Cambridge Analytica, a tech consulting firm, had sold Facebook users’ data to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Former President Barack Obama also used Facebook users’ data in his 2012 campaign. (RELATED: Obama Staffer: Facebook Knew Presidential Campaign Improperly Seized Data, Looked the Other Way) Facebook began collecting the texts and phone call information before…

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Leader U Professional Development is June 1

Bethany Bowman

  If you are a Tennessee educator or a supporter of Tennessee education, you need to attend a day of exceptional professional learning, Leader U at Trevecca University’s Boone Center in Nashville on Friday, June 1. The conference’s theme is Champions for Children where speakers will provide insight on providing a more engaging classroom and school to its students. The conference will begin Friday morning with a keynote address from Champion for Children advocate, Dr. Ronald Woodard as he elucidates on “Developing a Champion Mindset for Children.”  Respected teacher-leaders and presenters from across the state will lead professional development classes on important topics that include Student Engagement, Organized Chaos, Project-Based Learning, Team Evaluation, Bullying and much more.  The 2018 Tennessee Teacher of The Year, Cicely Woodard, will do a 90-minute session on The Engaging Classroom while TSIN 2018 Excellence in STEM Teaching Award winner and Edmodo Educator, Sharon Clark, will complete a session on Bridging Gaps/Cultivating Curiosity. In addition to the keynote, there will be other breakout sessions with a choice of 12 presenters from which teachers and administrators can choose the classes which best fit their needs.  The event is TASL accredited for administrators and all educators will receive a certificate for 6 hours professional development…

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Amid Elitist Vitriol, Chatter Grows About President Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize Prospects

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Barack Obama won it. So did Jimmy Carter, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Now, President Donald Trump’s supporters are pushing for him to be the next U.S. leader to win the Nobel Peace Prize — a move that’s being met by smirks and eye rolls in Europe, where Trump remains deeply unpopular. But that’s not stopping a growing list of champions from pushing the Nobel committee to consider Trump for the world’s most coveted diplomatic prize. “I’ve been talking about this for months,” said Indiana Rep. Luke Messer, praising the success of what he called Trump’s “Twitter diplomacy.” He’s one of 18 Republican lawmakers who penned a letter to Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen last week to “respectfully nominate President Donald J. Trump to receive the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his work to end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.” As is customary, lawmakers in the Nordic region where the Nobel is awarded refrain from commenting on possible nominees. But in Copenhagen, Denmark, there was little appetite for the prospect of a Trump win. “Trump … the peace prize? You must be joking,” said Lene Larsen, a 46-year-old accountant…

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GM Sees Custom Designs, Personal Ownership for Self-Driving Cars

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General Motors Co, which plans a ride-sharing fleet of robotaxis for next year, is looking at further business opportunities for self-driving cars, such as custom designs that could be almost unrecognizable from those of today, a top executive said on Thursday. Custom-designed vehicles could be owned or leased by individual customers, including those outside of large cities, and used in peer-to-peer car sharing applications, said Mike Abelson, GM’s vice president of global strategy. GM is “thinking about several models” to drive revenue from self-driving cars, according to Abelson, speaking at Citi’s Car of the Future conference in New York. Abelson, one of the key architects of GM’s future transportation business, said self-driving cars used for ride sharing “are going to evolve quickly into purpose-built vehicles” that do not look like conventional cars. While GM initially is using specially modified versions of the Chevrolet Bolt EV for its robotaxi fleet in 2019, the U.S. automaker’s next wave of driverless vehicles will do away with the steering wheel and pedals, and could feature different seating arrangements. The design of the vehicles would be continually adjusted to provide customers with “a more appealing experience,” he said. Others have speculated that hoods could shorten,…

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Jeff Obafemi Carr: ‘I Can Deliver a Transit Plan That Serves The City of Nashville Without Being an Extra Burden on the Taxpayers Within 12 Months’

Tennessee Star Staff
Jeff Obafemi Carr and Steve Gill

Nashville mayoral candidate jeff obafemi carr, whose company was brought in to consult for strategy and served as Senior Advisor/Strategist for the No Tax for Trax group that successfully opposed the $9 billion transit plan defeated by voters in the May 1 referendum, told Tennessee Star political editor Steve Gill in an exclusive interview on Friday that transit will be his number one priority if elected mayor of Nashville/Davidson County in the May 24 special election. “I can deliver a transit plan that’s effective, cost-efficient, and serves most of the city of Nashville in an effective way without being an extra burden on the taxpayers within 12 months,” carr told Gill. “That’s a goal that I want to check off the list,” he said. “The second thing I want to do is create an effective, affordable housing plan that doesn’t benefit just a few directors or a few housing builders, but gives people an opportunity to be innovative, and it also should be a transdisciplinary approach, that means it should intersect with any transit oriented development.” “The third thing that comes up for me is youth violence. It’s important. I’m the candidate that’s created programs that are successful. That have…

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