North Carolina Treasurer Warns of Health Plan Insolvency, Has Plans for Reform

A December 2018 report by S&P Global suggests that the North Carolina state health plan will be in real jeopardy of insolvency by 2023 due to unfunded liabilities and rising medical and pharmaceutical costs. “North Carolina’s other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities as a combined funded ratio, are less than five percent funded. The November 28, 2018 report confirms previous research by the Pew Charitable Trusts which explains that the state’s unfunded retirement/health care costs as a share of personal income are one of the worst in the country, right behind Illinois,” State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, announced in a press statement about S&P Global’s findings. “Every man, woman, and child in the state would have to pay almost $3,200 each to cover our current promises of health care for state and local government retirees. We’re having to act because others haven’t,” Folwell said in the press statement. Folwell has a plan to save the health plan and taxpayer money. “We are approaching this like anything else and that’s ‘we attack problems, not people’, Folwell recently told Battleground State News. “Solving this is going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people who educate our kids, who…

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TennCare Recipients Might Soon Reportedly Have to Start Working

If you are on TennCare then you may have to put on your boots, roll up your sleeves and get to work if you still want your benefits, according to the Memphis-based WMC Action News 5. “The state of Tennessee is asking the Trump administration to enact those requirements. They said it would apply to roughly 56,000 Tenncare recipients,” the station reported. “However, there is concern about some details of the plan. In an application to Medicaid in late December, state officials said Tenncare work requirements would not impact pregnant women, the elderly, disabled, or those with certain medical conditions.” Tenncare’s plan, WMC went on to say, asks that recipients put in 20 hours a week of community service, education, or work for four out of six months. Tennessee has 1.3 million people on Tenncare. The work program would affect only 56,000 of those recipients, the station said, without specifying further. The idea for this comes from the neighboring state of Arkansas, WMC reported. “Arkansas is the first state in the nation to implement a Medicaid work requirement and kicked more than 17 thousand people off Medicaid in 2018 for failing to report their work activities,” according to the station.…

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During National School Choice Week, Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn Receives Award for School Choice Efforts

In celebration of National School Choice Week, Tennessee Federation for Children sponsored a Champions of Choice event at the state capitol to present Representative Bill Dunn with the 2019 Champion award. Standing beside Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada (R-Franklin), Shaka Mitchell, Tennessee’s State Director of American Federation for Children, said that as National School Choice Week is being celebrated this week, they wanted to come together to recognize one of the state’s leaders in education and strong advocate for students, Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville). American Federation for Children (AFC) is a Washington, D.C. headquartered non-profit organization that seeks to “empower families, especially lower-income families with the freedom to choose the best K-12 education for their children.” The event was held in the Legislative Library located at the state capitol with as many as 100 in attendance including legislators and members of Governor Bill Lee’s staff. AFC’s partner organizations in the effort including Beacon Center of Tennessee, Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee and Tennessee CAN (The Tennessee Campaign for Achievement Now) were also there. AFC’s Mitchell started off by speaking about the quality of education in Tennessee, “The reality is we still have a long way to go,” after…

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Colorado Teacher Placed on Leave after Doxxing Wrong Covington Catholic High School Student

by Neetu Chandak   A Colorado school district placed a seventh-grade teacher on leave following her alleged claim on Twitter that a random student was part of the “Hitler Youth,” mistaking him for one of the Covington Catholic High School boys caught in the encounter with American Indian activist Nathan Phillips. Mountain Ridge Middle School (MRMS) social studies teacher Michelle Grissom allegedly named and posted a picture of Covington Catholic student Jay Jackson as one of the boys wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats in Washington, D.C. Jackson was not in Washington with his schoolmates at the time of the now-infamous incident. The group of boys were caught in a viral video that made it seem like they were mocking Phillips, though complete footage shows Phillips had initiated the encounter Friday. Many have tried to doxx the boys following the media outrage. John Jackson, the dad, asked Grissom multiple times to take down tweets referring to his son as part of the “Hitler Youth” and a picture of Jay Jackson. Grissom took down the post Sunday, but only after the father sent the tweet to the district. “Michelle Grissom is currently on leave,” MRMS principal Shannon Clarke said in…

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Commentary: Trump Is Lucky in His Choice of Enemies

by Michael Walsh   No matter when or where Donald Trump finally delivers his State of the Union speech – late last night, he gave up on the notion of an alternative venue and tweeted that the speech will take place in the House according to “history, tradition, and importance of the House Chamber,” after the shutdown is over- one thing is certain the President is lucky in his choice of enemies. The Left, of course, thinks it has him on the run: his popularity can’t crack 50 percent, a Vichycon Republican majority foot-dragging during Trump’s first two years resulted in a grand total of bupkis, policy-wise (thanks, Paul Ryan!), and the progressive media has turned every news story- from BuzzFeed’s catastrophic confabulation about the Trump Moscow project to the innocent high schoolers in MAGA hats targeted for a classic propaganda stunt that’s now backfired badly- into an instant referendum on Trump. And yet he’s still standing. That’s because Trump, as combative a personality who’s ever occupied the White House, thrives on conflict. While Washington is often called Hollywood for ugly people, few of the dullards, clods, clowns, rapscallions, and mountebanks who occupy seats in the Congress or in the…

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Congress Puts a Carbon Tax Back on the Table after It Failed in 2018

by Tim Pearce   A pair of U.S. congressmen from Florida are making a renewed bipartisan push for carbon tax legislation that failed to gain traction in 2018, The Washington Examiner reported. Reps. Ted Deutch, a Democrat, and Francis Rooney, a Republican, are planning to reintroduce a bill Thursday that would place a $15-per-ton tax on carbon emissions in 2019. The tax would rise by $10-a-year increments until it hits nearly $100 per ton. “I am supportive of a carbon fee as a non-regulatory, revenue-neutral and market-driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy,” Rooney told The Washington Examiner. “This bill provides a method of ensuring that any fees are rebated back to the public.” The pair of legislators, who co-chair the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, partnered with other lawmakers to introduce an earlier version of the same bill in November 2018. That bill did not come up for a vote and died after the new session of Congress began. The proposal is revenue neutral, or does not create another source of tax revenue for the federal government to tap into and divert for other causes. The money collected…

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Commentary: Establishment Republicans and Their Democrat Allies Are Pulling a ‘Bait and Switch’ on Trump’s Wall Funding

by CHQ Staff   Yesterday after press time our friend Rachel Bovard, Policy Director for the Conservative Partnership Institute, gave us a heads up that the bill touted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the “Trump wall bill” is anything but a bill to give the President the authority and funding he needs to fulfill his oath of office and his campaign promise. According to Ms. Bovard’s analysis, and our subsequent reading of the bill, the $5.7 billion President Trump has asked for is there, and the authorities from the ’96 law (Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act) are incorporated by reference. This is strong and broad authority to build physical barriers and acquire the land to do so. That’s the bait, now here’s the switch: The wall is then limited by the same restrictions outlined in Sec. 230 of the Omnibus from last March, which expressly prohibits any money being spent on the wall prototypes approved by President Trump, and limits various physical infrastructure in some places to only drones, pedestrian fencing or “planning.” You can read the specific language of Sec. 230 through Ms. Bovard’s tweet. Check out section 230 on page 673 of the #omnibus…

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Metro Nashville Reportedly Has Less Money to Spend This Year

The people who run the Metro Nashville government will have to act a little more frugal this coming year, according to Nashville Public Radio. The city’s finance director laid it all out in a recent budget memo, the station went on to say. The director told department leaders not to ask for any discretionary funding increases this year. They are also tasked with thinking about potential cost savings. “While we understand that maintaining current funding levels will be a challenge, we can only consider required/mandatory budgetary improvement requirements given our anticipated revenue streams,” Nashville Public Radio quoted Finance Director Talia Lomax O’dneal as saying. O’dneal also asked departments to consider ways to raise more revenue. Those methods could include charging higher fees and pondering ways to avoid spending, the station reported. “All of those ideas will be given to the new Blue Ribbon Commission, which the Metro Council created last year to hunt for government savings. The commission has been asked to make savings proposals by April 1,” according to Nashville Public Radio. “The finance director does praise city agencies for being thrifty in the past year, as few have requested emergency cash, and ‘targeted savings are on track to be achieved.’” Metro…

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Tennessee Socialists Won’t Offer Opinion on Venezuela Chaos and Juan Guaidó

Members of the Middle Tennessee Democratic Socialists of America refused to say Thursday whether they support America’s policy to back new Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó. As several news agencies reported this week, U.S. Republican President Donald Trump and other world leaders recognized Guaidó as the new president over President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro is a socialist and the anointed successor of the late Hugo Chávez. No one at the TNDSA returned The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Thursday. As several news agencies have already reported, people in socialist Venezuela are starving. A mass exodus of people from that country has sparked the largest migrant crisis in that region’s modern history. According to Thursday’s Daily Caller, Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thus far not supported Trump’s decision to recognize Maduro. “Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic socialist, has not previously commented publicly on human rights offenses by the socialist regime in Venezuela,” according to The Daily Caller. As The Daily Caller went on to say, “thousands have taken to the streets in Venezuela to call for an end to the Maduro regime and a restoration of freedom in their country.” Ocasio-Cortez said Venezuela’s human rights situation and Trump’s decision to recognize Maduro’s opposition was ‘concerning.’” “Our office…

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Cleveland, TN Utilities Employee Uses Utility Money on Personal Shopping Spree

A Cleveland Utilities information technology clerk went on an eight-month spending binge and used $5,415 of utility funds on travel bags and wireless speakers, among other luxuries, according to a state audit released this week. Authorities charged the woman, Rexanna Wilson, 50, with theft. Wilson later pled guilty in Bradley County Sessions Court and paid restitution in full, said Cleveland Police spokeswoman Evie West, in an email to The Tennessee Star.  No contact information for Wilson was apparently available Wednesday, either on social media or through the telephone listings for her area. “Investigators determined the clerk spent at least $5,415 of utility funds between September 2017 and April 2018. She used the money to purchase at least 92 items including purses, travel bags, wallets, headphones, wireless speakers, woodworking tools, and other items for her personal use,” according to a press release from the Tennessee Comptrollers’ Office. “The clerk frequently falsified purchasing documents by providing inaccurate descriptions of the items she bought. She also utilized the utilities’ tax-exempt status to avoid paying sales taxes.” Cleveland Utilities fired Wilson from her position last year. Comptroller’s worked the case alongside Cleveland Police officers and members of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to the Comptrollers’ press…

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Paul Rose Wins Republican Nomination for TN State Senate District 32 Race

Paul Rose easily won the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s State Senate District 32 race Thursday night. According to the results, Rose won with more than 62 percent of the vote, or 6,159 votes out of 9,909 cast overall. Former Shelby County Commissioner George Chism ran a distant second with almost 14 percent of the vote or 1,362 votes. Meanwhile Heidi Shafer, who also served on the Shelby County Commission, placed third, also with almost 14 percent, or 1,358 votes. Former State Representative Steve McManus placed fourth, with about 10 percent of the vote, or 1,030 votes. Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden released a statement after the votes came in. “Paul is a long-time friend and has been committed to advocating for conservative ideas and will make a great State Senator,” Golden said. “We are eager to help them win the General Election and help continue the successes of our Senate supermajority.” Rose will now square off against Democrat Eric Coleman in a March 12 general election, according to the Memphis-based WMC Action News 5. The victor will replace former State Sen. Mark Norris, who is now a federal judge. District 32 encompasses Tipton and parts of eastern Shelby counties.…

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New Tennessee Law Cuts Off the Cash Knox County Gets from Truckers for Scale Violation Tickets

Knox County officials apparently love to give tickets to truckers, but a new state law has cut off that county’s cash flow, according to CDLLife.com. The website caters to people in the trucking industry. County officials got this money by ticketing overweight trucks and last year gave out 1,600 citations. Last year the county made $250,000 for government officials to use, according to the Knoxville-based TV station WBIR. Knox County operates the nation’s second busiest scale house, CDLLife.com reported. “Under a law that went into effect on January 1, 2019, Knox County will no longer be allowed to take in revenue by ticketing overweight trucks at their scale houses,” CDLLife.com reported. “Truckers may still be ticketed, but under the new law, that ticket revenue will bypass Knox County and go directly to the state of Tennessee.” CDLLife.com quoted County Clerk Mike Hammond as saying his local government collects so much money because interstates 40, 75, and 81 go through there. State Rep. Bud Hulsey, R-Kingsport, is responsible for the law. Hulsey reportedly owns the Blountville-based trucking company Burlington Logistics. CDLLIfe.com reported. “He proposed the law after one of his drivers was ticketed in Knox County. Husley successfully argued that it…

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Joe Manchin Will Vote for the Wall

by Jason Hopkins   West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is bucking the Democratic Party, announcing that he will vote for legislation funding a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. “Today I will vote for both gov funding bills b/c I believe we must end this harmful shutdown immediately & it’s our first opportunity in the Senate to do so,” the Democrat tweeted Thursday. “Even though they will probably fail, these votes are a start to finding a way to reopen the gov & get WVians back to work.” Today I will vote for both gov funding bills b/c I believe we must end this harmful shutdown immediately & it’s our first opportunity in the Senate to do so. Even though they will probably fail, these votes are a start to finding a way to reopen the gov & get WVians back to work — Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January 24, 2019 The Senate will vote on two sharply different funding bills Thursday. First, lawmakers will vote on a GOP-backed bill that includes $5.7 billion the president has requested to fund his border wall and protections for some migrants. Following that vote, lawmakers will then decide on a Democratic-led budget…

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Automation, Artificial Intelligence May Replace Chefs, Truck Drivers

Robots aren’t replacing everyone, but a quarter of U.S. jobs will be severely disrupted as artificial intelligence accelerates the automation of existing work, according to a new Brookings Institution report. The report, published Thursday, says roughly 36 million Americans hold jobs with “high exposure” to automation — meaning at least 70 percent of their tasks could soon be performed by machines using current technology. Among those most likely to be affected are cooks, waiters and others in food services; short-haul truck drivers; and clerical office workers. “That population is going to need to upskill, reskill or change jobs fast,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at Brookings and lead author of the report. Muro said the timeline for the changes could be “a few years or it could be two decades.” But it’s likely that automation will happen more swiftly during the next economic downturn. Businesses are typically eager to implement cost-cutting technology as they lay off workers. Some economic studies have found similar shifts toward automating production happened in the early part of previous recessions — and may have contributed to the “jobless recovery” that followed the 2008 financial crisis. But with new advances in artificial intelligence, it’s not…

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Fisk Splits with Hiwassee

NASHVILLE– The Fisk University Bulldogs split with the Hiwassee College Tigers in front of a sold-out crowd in North Nashville on Wednesday. Lady Bulldogs Run Out of Gas in Home Loss Senior guard LaShae Brown scored 27 points and frontcourt mates Andria Thomas (12 points and 18 rebounds) and Kennedi Stephens (10 points 12 rebounds) recorded double-doubles but it wasn’t enough as the Fisk Lady Bulldogs (3-15) lost their 12th straight game 86-71 to the Hiwassee Lady Tigers (17-3) in non-conference play. The first half was close as the Lady Bulldogs went into the locker room down by two points and were primed to deliver an upset. “At the end of the day, we have to learn how to keep our energy throughout games,” said Fisk coach Lauren Falohun. “We didn’t finish around the rim. We dominated them on the boards, but we didn’t take care of the ball. That really hurt us.” The Lady Tigers had four players in double figures led by Leisa Butler’s 22 points. After only being up by five to start the fourth quarter, they scored the first six points in the final stanza and never looked back. Hailey Browning added 17 points, J’Lynn Majors…

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Army Veteran Quits Gym after Owner Objects to His ‘Trump 2016’ Shirt, Citing ‘Safety’

by Grace Carr   An Army veteran who wore a Trump shirt to the gym he’d attended for eight years, was allegedly labeled a racist and asked not to don the apparel again. Staff Sgt. Jake Talbot wore a “2016 Trump For President” shirt to CDY Fitness in Troy, Missouri, and was quickly told by gym owner Liz Drew that the shirt was racist and offensive, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Talbot says he began working out before being approached by Drew who told him the shirt was offensive. “It’s offensive to her and others. It represents racism, and it’s racist,” Drew reportedly told him, according to Talbot. Talbot continued working out and soon after posted a video to Facebook describing the encounter. Drew maintains that she did not allege the shirt was offensive but approached Talbot after a number of gym members expressed concern about the shirt. “I [told Talbot] it could be construed as racist and several of my members had complained about feeling uncomfortable when he wore that,” Drew said, according to WaPo. Drew claims she didn’t ask Talbot to leave the gym or to change his shirt, but privately took him aside and asked him not…

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Independent Film ‘Gosnell’ DVD a Best-Seller on Amazon

by Courtney Joyner   Ahead of its Feb. 5 DVD release, the underdog film “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” is seeing success as it reaches No. 1 on Amazon’s best-sellers list in “drama DVDs.” “We have seen this all along,” said Phelim McAleer, the film’s producer, in a statement to The Daily Signal. “‘Gosnell’ is the movie that the mainstream media and Hollywood don’t want you to see, but the public really has an appetite for the truth.” Unlike mainstream studios, “Gosnell,” which tells the story of the infamous late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, was supported by a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $2.3 million in 45 days. Released in nearly 800 theaters across the U.S. in October, “Gosnell” grossed $3.6 million despite the lack of support from mainstream media outlets. “The film has been suppressed—NPR and Facebook and The New York Times have shut down our advertising,” said McAleer. “They won’t take our money because they don’t want this story told because it shines a negative spotlight on abortion.” The movie depicts the controversial investigation, trial, and conviction of “America’s most prolific serial killer,” as described by ABC News, and the political establishment media’s efforts to…

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North Carolina Lt. Governor Celebrates Charter Schools, Students’ Accomplishments

The North Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools (NCAPCS) held a rally event in Raleigh on Tuesday that included big names such as North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Dan Forest and Ms. Aimee Viana, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). “School choice really is about our kids. It’s about young people. It’s not about institutions,” said  Forest. “It’s not about traditional public school institutions. It’s not about a charter school institution. It’s not about private school institutions or homeschool. It’s not about those things,” Forest said. “It is about the young people. It’s about the kids. It’s about providing the best opportunity for that individual child to explore their potential and get the most out of their education.” Viana told attendees that school choice isn’t about picking this school or that one and it wasn’t about private versus public. “Choice is about freedom,” Viana told the attendees. “Freedom to learn. Freedom to learn differently. Freedom to explore. Freedom to fail and to learn from falling. And to get back up and try again.” Other speakers included Joe Maimone, Chief of Staff for North Carolina, Superintendent Mark Johnson, Courtney Samuelson, 2018 NC Charter School Teacher of…

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North Carolina Treasurer Warns of Health Plan Insolvency, Has Plans for Reform

A December 2018 report by S&P Global suggests that the North Carolina state health plan will be in real jeopardy of insolvency by 2023 due to unfunded liabilities and rising medical and pharmaceutical costs. “North Carolina’s other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities as a combined funded ratio, are less than five percent funded. The November 28, 2018 report confirms previous research by the Pew Charitable Trusts which explains that the state’s unfunded retirement/health care costs as a share of personal income are one of the worst in the country, right behind Illinois,” State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, announced in a press statement about S&P Global’s findings. “Every man, woman, and child in the state would have to pay almost $3,200 each to cover our current promises of health care for state and local government retirees. We’re having to act because others haven’t,” Folwell said in the press statement. Folwell has a plan to save the health plan and taxpayer money. “We are approaching this like anything else and that’s ‘we attack problems, not people’, Folwell recently told Battleground State News. “Solving this is going to make a huge difference in the lives of the people who educate our kids, who…

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Professors Call Line 3 Pipeline ‘Science Denial’ During Protest at the Minnesota Capitol

Climate activists are continuing to pressure Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) against approving Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline, and on Thursday protested in the governor’s reception room of the Minnesota State Capitol. In November, the Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted in favor of green lighting the project, but former Gov. Mark Dayton’s (D-MN) Department of Commerce filed a last minute lawsuit to prevent the project from moving forward. Since his inauguration, activists have been following Walz everywhere he goes, and disrupted both his inaugural reception at the State Capitol and inaugural ball a few days later. A group called Science for the People joined the fight Thursday, and told Walz during a protest that allowing the project to move forward would be the equivalent of “climate change denial.” “If Gov. Walz truly wants to consult the science, we, as scientists, unequivocally state that forwarding fossil fuels infrastructure will have disastrous implications for Minnesota’s ecosystems, agriculture and economy,” Science for the People said in a statement before its Thursday protest. “Building Line 3 is climate change denial.” Christy Dolph, a University of Minnesota professor, encouraged her fellow scientists Thursday to “prevent ‘science’ from being used as cover for cowardly political decisions.” “We…

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine States He Will ‘Absolutely’ Sign ‘Heartbeat Bill’

Newly elected Governor Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he will “absolutely” sign the “Heartbeat Abortion” bill, should it come before his desk. The bill would ban all abortions following the first detection of a heartbeat in an unborn child. His predecessor, former Republican Governor John Kasich had twice vetoed the bill. The issue came up during an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, a nationally syndicated radio show hosted by Hugh Hewitt. While he praised Kasich for his many conservative accomplishments he said that he was “genuinely disappointed” that the governor refused to sign House Bill 258 which would have banned all abortions once a heartbeat is detected. Kasich did not agree with the substance of the bill but he felt that the ensuing legal battle would, not only fail but cost the state millions of dollars in legal fees. The issue with such a ban is that the detection of a heartbeat is deeply dependent on available technology. With a general stethoscope, a doctor can confirm a heartbeat at nine weeks. With a transvaginal ultrasound, heartbeats can be detected within the first month. The generally agreed upon time, however, is six weeks. In spite of this, the proposed bill has found national…

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OFF THE RECORD: Sources Say Bob Corker Instigated Confrontation on Plane with Prominent Tennessee GOP Donor

Multiple sources have confirmed to The Tennessee Star that former Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) instigated a confrontation with a prominent Tennessee Republican donor in the first class section of a commercial flight from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia on January 3, just hours after his term as a United States Senator representing Tennessee had expired. Corker reportedly raised his voice during the boarding process in a conversation he initiated with Tennessee Republican donor Tim Pagliara, who contributed $3,900 to the former senator’s 2012 campaign, and in recent years has been a frequent critic of the outgoing senator’s personal financial dealings while in office. Both men were on the plane after attending the swearing in ceremony of Corker’s successor, Marsha Blackburn, to the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. on January 3. Pagliara, a prominent money manager based in Franklin, Tennessee who founded and operates CapWealth Group, has been a leading contributor to many Tennessee Republican causes, including most recently the 2018 campaign of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). One person from the flight who spoke anonymously to The Star said, “Senator Corker walked onto the plane, where multiple people greeted him and shook his hand. He chatted briefly with Mr. Pagliara as…

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