Day: February 5, 2019

Gov. Bill Lee Hikes Salaries for ‘Lowest’ Paid Cabinet Members to Minimum of $161,905

Jason M. Reynolds

Working as a Cabinet member for new Gov. Bill Lee has its perks – 15 of the department heads are getting raises, the Associated Press reports. AP reporter Kimberlee Kruesi on Monday tweeted, “Lee gives some pay raises to cabinet members #tnpol”. Lee gives some pay raises to cabinet members #tnpol https://t.co/Mnt4uvkTDd — Kimberlee Kruesi (@kkruesi) February 4, 2019 It may be some slight consolation that the top eight paid Cabinet members are not getting a salary bump. Gabe Roberts, the TennCare commissioner, is at the top of the list at $300,000 per year, where he will stay. Other top paid officials include the education and finance heads, the AP said. The story is here. However, the other 15 Cabinet members will be paid $161,905 annually, an increase from the administration of former Gov. Bill Haslam. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill questioned the size of the Cabinet members’ pay raises. “It appears that many of Governor Lee’s political appointees are receiving the biggest paychecks they have ever received in their lives, plus significant benefits that most taxpayers are not provided,” Gill said. “Hopefully they will all prove themselves to be worth it, but the big salaries these officials are…

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Tennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE: Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves Talks Northam Black Face Scandal and Abortion Bill

Julie Carr

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – the duo spoke with Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves regarding the current state of affairs surrounding Governor Ralph Northam’s “racist” yearbook photos and his most recent “awkward” press conference. As the conversation deepened, the men also touched upon the current abortion bill and how the Republican’s may have a political advantage due to the extreme nature of the bill which is technically pushing infanticide and genocide. Gill: Bryce Reeves is a state Senator from Virginia he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. Nearly lost that race in a three person race as Jill Vogel went on to lose to Justin Fairfax who now is apparently under some scrutiny himself as he may poised to take over the governor’s office in Virginia. And Bryce good to have you with us! Reeves: Steve and Michael, great to be with you. And looking forward to another crazy day down here in the General Assembly. Gill: When I first called you it was to talk about this whole infanticide bill…

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TBI Agents Arrest Former Vanderbilt Nurse, Charge Her with Reckless Homicide of Patient

Chris Butler

Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Monday they had arrested a registered nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and charged her with patient abuse and reckless homicide in December 2017. As The Tennessee Star reported last year, a Vanderbilt nurse administered a paralyzing anesthetic to a patient by mistake this same month. The patient later died. TBI Agents put out a press release Monday saying that they began investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Charlene Murphey, 75 at the time she died. “On December 26, 2017, Mrs. Murphey was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Radonda Vaught was a registered nurse who was part of the team providing treatment,” according to the press release. “During the course of the investigation, Agents determined that the actions taken by Radonda Vaught were responsible for the abuse of Mrs. Murphey, and her ultimate death. Vaught is no longer an employee of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.” The Davidson County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Vaught, 35, with one count of impaired adult abuse and one count of reckless homicide. Vaught was arrested Monday and booked into the Davidson County Jail on a $50,000 bond. Medical malpractice A Nashville medical malpractice…

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Despite Current Tariffs, the US Can Expect a Trade Deficit of $410 Billion with China

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Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

by Robert Romano   Last month, China reported growth of its economy in 2018 at 6.6 percent, the lowest in 28 years. The slowdown is real enough but whether it results in a grand trade deal by the U.S. and China may depend on how much pain China is really feeling at the moment. Is Beijing feeling the pinch? Currently, the U.S. is levying 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods shipped to the U.S. that came atop a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods from China. While the talks were ongoing, Trump gave China a 90-day reprieve from the 10 percent tariff also rising to 25 percent, which was supposed to happen at the beginning of the year. That’s the U.S. leverage. If the U.S. and China do not reach an agreement, then the tariff will more than double. On the other hand, 2017 set a record for the trade deficit in goods with China at $377 billion according to the Census Bureau. 2018 will be even worse. Excluding November and December data not yet available for 2018, the goods trade deficit from Jan. 2017 to Oct. 2017 was $309.3 billion. For Jan. 2018 to Oct. 2018, it…

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OFF THE RECORD: Lee Administration Waves the White Flag?

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Governor Bill Lee’s Legislative Director Brent Easley has advised Tennessee legislators that the Administration will abandon the practice of previous Governor’s in “flagging” bills they didn’t like. In a letter dated February 1, Easley advised legislators that: “In the past, you have received “flag letters” from the Governor’s Office or departments when they have noted an issue, concern or opposition to legislation that has been filed. This transparency is critical, but we believe there is a more effective way to communicate these positions.” Under the new Lee Administration policy, a representative of the Governor’s Office (or a state department or agency) will personally contact Legislators individually to express “opposition or concern” about a particular bill. If the Legislator cannot be reached, then the Administration will seek to contact them by phone or email. The Administration will then provide a weekly list of bills that have been “flagged” to House and Senate leadership that will be available to Legislators (and presumably the public) in their offices. Speaker Glen Casada has expressed his opposition to Governors “flagging” bills in the past, and sees it as an interference in the legislative process and encroachment on the powers of the Legislative Branch of government.…

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Biography Reveals New Details Of Roberts’ Obamacare Vote

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by Kevin Daley   A forthcoming biography of Chief Justice John Roberts contains the first account of the Supreme Court’s internal politicking over the 2012 NFIB v. Sebelius decision, in which Roberts joined with the Court’s four liberals to uphold the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. A review of the much anticipated book — the first major Roberts biography — will appear in the March edition of the Atlantic, which disseminates new details of the chief’s scheming in advance of the book’s release. The book relates that in the weeks following the March 2012 arguments, Roberts voted with the conservative bloc to strike down the individual mandate, finding Congress had exceeded its power under the commerce clause by compelling people to buy insurance. Roberts elected to keep the majority opinion for himself — one of the few formal powers of the chief justice is the duty to assign opinions. As time progressed, Roberts grew uneasy and sought a third way. Initially, he hoped Justice Anthony Kennedy — the vaunted swing justice who had negotiated compromise decisions in seminal cases before — would be amenable to such negotiations. Whatever his reputation, Kennedy was not a moderate but an idiosyncratic ideologue, and he was convinced the ACA was unconstitutional.…

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New PAC to Honor Legacy of Late State Rep. Charles Sargent of Williamson County

Jason M. Reynolds
State Rep Charles Sargent

The late State Rep. Charles Sargent’s legacy will be kept alive through the creation of a political action committee. The Franklin Republican died of cancer last November at the age of 73. The former House Finance, Ways and Means Committee chairman had announced that fall he would not seek re-election after two decades of service. Now, the Sargent Legacy Fund has been formed by his friends to continue his service to the community and the legislature, the Williamson Herald reports. The Sargent Legacy Fund held a kickoff breakfast last Saturday at Columbia State Community College’s Franklin campus – inside the Charles M. Sargent Building. According to the Herald: The PAC reflects Sargent’s prior focus on three things: limited government, excellent education and fiscal conservatism. The Sargent Legacy Fund was “created to support local candidates who embody Charles Sargent’s character and share his political philosophy of lower taxes, limited government and support for education.” Founders of the PAC include Erin Westrich, Sargent’s previous campaign manager and lifelong family friend; friends Helen and (attorney) Jeff Moseley; Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson; and Sargent’s wife, Nancy. Anderson will serve as treasurer of the PAC. Two Williamson County Republicans shared their thoughts about Sargent with…

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Ocasio-Cortez Names Her State Of The Union Guest

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by Molly Prince   Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed on Monday that she will be bringing the left-wing activist who notably cornered and shouted down former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator as her guest to the State of the Union. “I’m proud to announce that my #StateOfTheUnion guest will be [Ana Maria Archila],” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Ana Maria is the NY14-er who famously jumped into the elevator with Sen. Flake to elevate the stories of survivors everywhere.” I’m proud to announce that my #StateOfTheUnion guest will be @AnaMariaArchil2. Ana Maria is the NY14-er who famously jumped into the elevator with Sen. Flake to elevate the stories of survivors everywhere. She‘s living proof that the courage within all of us can change the 🌎. https://t.co/OLSeNbP4Z2 — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019 “She’s living proof that the courage within all of us can chance the [world],” Ocasio-Cortez continued. Archila is a co-executive director for the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a left-wing advocacy group that promotes progressive politics. The Open Society Foundation, which was founded and funded by George Soros, is one of CPD’s largest funders, giving millions to the organization over the past few years. CPD rose to prominence…

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Trump To Announce 10-Year Plan To Fight HIV During State Of The Union: Report

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President Donald Trump

by Evie Fordham   President Donald Trump will announce a 10-year plan to fight HIV in the U.S. during his State of the Union speech Tuesday, according to four unnamed sources cited by Politico. The Trump administration’s strategy would “target the U.S. communities with the most HIV infections and work to reduce transmissions by 2030,” reported Politico Monday. Because of modern medicine, an HIV/AIDS diagnosis is no longer a death sentence, but the epidemic still affects roughly 40,000 new patients each year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. Trump’s reported announcement may seem out of the blue, but it is not that surprising given that the CDC’s relatively new director, Robert Redfield, had an extensive career researching HIV/AIDS, reported Politico. Redfield took over the CDC in March 2018 and has predicted the HIV/AIDS epidemic could be over by 2025. “Ending the AIDS epidemic in America? It’s possible. I think it could be done in the next three to seven years, if we put our mind to it,” Redfield said at a CDC staff meeting on his second day at the agency in 2018, reported STAT News. The 10-year HIV plan has a lofty goal: stopping all new infections within the…

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Commentary: Gender Studies’ Value Is Under Question – And for Good Reason

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by Carrie L. Lukas   Class discussions trend towards group-therapy sessions,” wrote Toni Airaksinen in 2016 for Quillette. At the time, she was studying at Barnard College and described moving from an initial infatuation with gender studies to seeing it as an “absurd intellectual alcove where objective truth is subordinate to academic theories used as political propaganda.” This lack of grounding in objective truth and the dismissal of facts and knowledge as patriarchal constructs is at the root of criticisms of gender studies. Gender studies advocates were understandably shocked by the recent decision of the Hungarian government to withdraw accreditation from gender studies programs, and the move was condemned by the Association of University Professors as “directly interfer[ring] with the academic freedom of researchers and teachers.” Certainly, anyone interested in academic freedom should be concerned when the government has the power to decide what can—and what cannot—be studied at universities. Students, rather than governments, should determine an academic discipline’s value. However, the bad news for advocates of gender studies is that careful consideration of the merits of this discipline will lead most students in a different direction. Women’s Studies Isn’t a Traditional Academic Discipline Hungary’s prime minister wasn’t alone when he told the international news agency…

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Trump Taps David Bernhardt to Head the Interior Department

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by Michael Bastach   President Donald Trump nominated David Bernhardt to head the Interior Department, replacing former Secretary Ryan Zinke who left the administration early this year. “I am pleased to announce that David Bernhardt, Acting Secretary of the Interior, will be nominated as Secretary of the Interior,” Trump tweeted Monday. “David has done a fantastic job from the day he arrived, and we look forward to having his nomination officially confirmed!” I am pleased to announce that David Bernhardt, Acting Secretary of the Interior, will be nominated as Secretary of the Interior. David has done a fantastic job from the day he arrived, and we look forward to having his nomination officially confirmed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2019 Bernhardt, the current acting Interior secretary, enjoyed support from conservative groups and Interior political staffers. Bernhardt will have to be confirmed by the Senate before he can officially take over. Should he be confirmed, Bernhardt would take over Interior as it goes through a major restructuring and rewrites Obama administration offshore leasing and land management plans that drastically curtailed drilling, grazing, and logging. Bernhardt would also oversee the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) coastal plain to oil and gas exploration.…

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New Business Filings in Tennessee Increase, Records Show

Chris Butler

In a show of strength for the Tennessee economy, new business filings in the state increased by more than 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a new Associated Press report. “A news release from Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office Thursday says this was the fourth-straight quarter in which new business filings jumped by more than 10 percent in Tennessee,” according to the Associated Press. “The Tennessee Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report documented about 9,800 new entity filings in the fourth quarter of 2018. It says a total of about 42,900 new business entity filings were processed with the secretary of state’s Division of Business Services last year.” Hargett’s office reported 29 consecutive quarters of positive annual growth in new business filings, according to the report. According to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website, during this same period, the number of initial trademark registrations shrank while dissolutions and initial assumed name registrations grew. “Compared to the previous quarter, new entity filings have fallen by 8.1 percent, and annual reports are down 43.0 percent. However, this is a common seasonal pattern, as third quarter filings and renewals typically outpace those in the fourth quarter,” the website…

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Commentary: Congress Has a Little Time to Get Immigration Right

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by Rachel Bovard   After refusing for weeks to negotiate over border security “until the government is open,” the bluff has been called on congressional Democrats. Congress has until February 15 to craft a border security package ahead of what could be yet another partial government shutdown. Talks among the 17 lawmakers appointed to the committee assigned with drafting a proposal have begun, though details remain scarce. Top Democrat Representative Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) told reporters that “everything is on the table.” President Trump has said that the conference committee is wasting its time if it’s not considering a wall. For those claiming that the recent 35-day shutdown resulted in no substantive achievement, the conference committee may well represent the one opportunity for substantive immigration reform from this Congress—and perhaps for the next decade. It is critically important that Congress get it right. A border wall must be a critical component of the package—and for evidence of why it’s necessary, look no further than stunning videos taken by Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas). The freshman member of Congress visited just one unsecured sector of the border in McAllen, Texas, and watched as truckloads of migrants casually strolled into the United States. McAllen is in the Rio Grande Valley sector, approximately 100 miles of…

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Iowa Poll Shows Trump Trouncing Kasich In A Potential Head To Head 2020 Match Up

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by Chris White   Former Vice President Joe Biden remains the best option Democrats have at beating President Donald Trump heading into the 2020 election, according to a poll of Iowa voters published Saturday. Biden would beat Trump in a squeaker, pulling in 51 percent of the vote to the president’s 49 percent, Emerson College found in a survey. The poll’s results show other Democratic candidates have their work cut out for them in terms of name recognition. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Kamala Harris of California earned enough support in the survey, which was conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 2, to fall within the research’s margin of error. Biden holds a nearly 20-point advantage over Warren in the Hawkeye State. The Democratic Iowa Caucus is a year away. The poll also finds Trump would best  Ohio Gov. John Kasich in a head-to-head-match-up in Iowa: 90 percent to 10 percent. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s potential candidacy would be a death knell for Warren, according to the poll, which surveyed 831 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Other recent polls have made similar discoveries. Biden holds a high favorability rating among black people…

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Judge Approves First-of-Its-Kind Debt Restructuring Deal for Puerto Rico

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A federal bankruptcy judge approved a major debt restructuring plan for Puerto Rico on Monday in the first deal of its kind for the U.S. territory since the island’s government declared nearly four years ago that it was unable to repay its public debt. The agreement involves more than $17 billion worth of government bonds backed by a sales-and-use tax, with officials saying it will help the government save an average of $456 million a year in debt service. The deal allows Puerto Rico to cut its sales-tax-backed debt by 32 percent but requires the government to pay $32 billion in the next 40 years as part of the restructuring. Senior bondholders, who hold nearly $8 billion, will be first to collect, receiving 93 percent of the value of the original bonds. Junior bondholders, many of whom are individual Puerto Rican investors and overall hold nearly $10 billion, will collect last and recover only 54 percent. ‘An important step’ “Puerto Rico has taken an important step toward its total financial recovery,” Gov. Ricardo Rossello said in a statement. “This represents more than $400 million annually that will be available for services in critical areas such as health, education, pension payments,…

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LGBT Group, ACLU Applaud North Carolina DMV Update to ‘Gender Designation Change Form’

A.P. Dillon

The ACLU of North Carolina and the LGBT rights group, Equality NC, are applauding changes made to a form used to change one’s gender assignment on a North Carolina driver’s license. The revised form now allows for a long list of professionals to complete the form regarding their opinion on the “applicant’s gender identity.” “We applaud this step the DMV has taken to modernize the process to update gender markers on driver’s licenses,” said Sarah Gillooly, Director of Political Strategy & Advocacy for the ACLU of North Carolina in a press release. “People of all genders shouldn’t have to face invasive questioning and surgical requirements just to have their government identification reflect their true identity. Trans men are men and trans women are women — period,” said Equality NC Executive Director Kendra R. Johnson in the ACLU press release. There is no state or federal law mandating such a change process. Patrice Bethea, a Public Communications officer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation said in an email to Battleground State News that the change was made because the “DMV periodically reviews policies and procedures to make sure they are consistent with federal law.” “North Carolina’s policy is similar to…

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Ilhan Omar Included Among Those Listed in First Step of Covington Catholic Libel Case

Anthony Gockowski

Dozens of prominent media outlets and politicians, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), were issued legal letters Friday in the first step in the lawsuit against those who defamed the Covington Catholic High School students. The Minnesota Sun reported in January that Omar was at risk of being sued after she claimed that the boys at the center of the incident “were taunting five black men before they surrounded Phillips and led racist chants.” Video of the exchange showed that precisely the opposite occurred. In fact, the Covington Catholic High School students were approached by members of the Black Hebrew Israelites and repeatedly taunted as “dirty ass crackers,” “dirty animals,” “racists,” “bigots,” “faggots,” “incest kids,” and more. Attorney Robert Barnes, who is helping with the case, told The Minnesota Sun in January that if Omar “doesn’t retract what she said, she will be sued next week.” She did later delete the tweet in question, but offered no apology or correction. Now, Nick Sandmann’s attorneys have sent letters to those who potentially libeled him and his peers. The letters offer steps to take to avoid being sued, and direct all offending parties not to delete any communications related to the case. According…

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GM Pulls Trigger on Mass Layoffs Throughout the Country

Andrew Shirley

General Motors announced Monday that the long-dreaded nationwide mass layoffs finally began. In November of last year, GM announced that they intended to significantly scale back their workforce. Most jarring for many was their plan to close five manufacturing plants across the country, including the Lordstown Assembly complex in Warren, Ohio. Since then, there have been tireless negotiations aimed at getting GM to reverse this decision. President Donald Trump personally decried the decision, demanding that GM find a way to keep these plants open. When it became clear that there was no reversal in sight, legislators began seeking alternative companies to fill the void GM would leave. At one point, then-Ohio Governor John Kasich began tweeting directly to billionaire and Tesla Motors owner, Elon Musk, asking him to take over the plant. Despite Musk expressing an initial openness to the idea, nothing public has yet has come of the discussion. While GM claims the workforce cuts are across-the-board, it appears that’s not entirely accurate. The company’s operations in China, Mexico, and other overseas locations will not be reduced. In some cases, the numbers of workers will expand. Legislators, labor leaders, and everyday citizens have blasted the decision as yet another company outsourcing its…

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Charlotte, NC Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield Uses Race in Response to Local Paper Critical of Her Appointment to Sensitive Commission

A.P. Dillon

Democrat Charlotte City Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield took to Twitter on Monday to counter the criticism by the editorial board of the Charlotte Observer of her appointment to a sensitive commission. In December 2018, Mayfield was appointed to the Human Rights Commission by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. The Charlotte Observer’s Editorial Board published an Op-Ed critical of the appointment due to Mayfield’s checkered and controversial statements regarding law enforcement and for promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories on her Facebook page. “Mayfield’s appointment sends another troubling message. It normalizes the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that increasingly pollutes public discourse. It says you’re fine saying destructive things so long as you’re on our team,” the Charlotte Observer article read. The Charlotte Observer piece ends with saying that “Cooper should give this appointment another look, instead of looking the other way.” Mayfield’s response to the paper on Twitter arguably underscored the point of the Charlotte Observer’s Op-ed: So interesting, I don't remember outrage regarding the Blatant Bias exhibited by Non-African Americans. Thank You for letting US know what YOU really support #CharlotteObserver #AttemptingToSilenceTheONLYVotingBlackFemale #TheyMadBecauseITalkAboutIt #WellIAmMadThatTHEYWont https://t.co/5q0jm8nQ9f — LaWana Mayfield (@lawanamayfield) February 4, 2019 Since being elected to the Charlotte City Council, Mayfield has made numerous controversial comments.…

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Tennessee Legislators File Bill to Put Guardrails on Community Oversight Boards

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Members of the Tennessee General Assembly want to “place some guardrails on the state’s community oversight boards” and announced new legislation Monday designed to do just that. Under the proposed bill, sponsored by State Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, a community oversight board in Tennessee would not have any power to issue subpoenas for documents or to compel witness testimony. Also, under this proposed law, a community oversight board could not restrict or otherwise limit membership based upon demographics, economic status, or employment history. The legislation was not available on the Tennessee General Assembly’s website as of Monday night, however The Tennessee Star obtained an advance copy of the measure. The legislation would also prevent community oversight boards from releasing confidential information to the public. “This will ensure everyone is treated respectfully and justly during any review of alleged misconduct involving members of our law enforcement community,” Curcio said at a press conference at the state capitol Tuesday while flanked by several other legislators. “Let me be clear. We are not here to drown out the voices of our citizens. This legislation does not eliminate the community oversight boards. It is applicable to all Tennessee communities.” Curcio said at the…

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