Day: February 7, 2019

Tennessee Town Skips Out on Paying Taxes, Audit Finds

Chris Butler

Local government officials in Tennessee might doggedly pursue you if you don’t pony up your hard-earned tax dollars. But that doesn’t mean those same bureaucrats must abide by the same standards they impose upon you. And you, the taxpayer, must pay for the bureaucrats’ sloppiness. Officials in the Tennessee town of Gates, for instance, didn’t pay payroll taxes last year, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. Auditors said payroll taxes were due June 30 of last year — but town officials didn’t pay them until early October. Gates is in west Tennessee, in Lauderdale County. “The Town did not follow the requirements for remitting Federal payroll taxes and incurred penalties that were required to be paid with Town funds,” Comptrollers wrote. No one at the listed phone number for the town government picked up the phone Wednesday to answer The Tennessee Star’s questions. In a written response to auditors, however, unidentified town officials blamed their former city recorder for these lapses. “Former City Recorder (Rachel Isaak) did not pay the payroll taxes as required by law,” Gates’ officials wrote. “We have a new City Recorder (Jenny Ward) in place since October 2018 to assure these issues are…

Read the full story

Rep. Steve Cohen Does Not Like Gov. Lee’s Plan to Expand Vocational Opportunities Using Lottery Funds

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) doesn’t like Gov. Bill Lee’s plan to expand high school vocational offerings using lottery proceeds. Lee unveiled his first legislative plan Tuesday. Information on the Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) is available online here. “We have the opportunity to help students discover quality career paths and gain skills that are needed right now in the workforce by emphasizing career and technical education,” Lee said in a press release. However, Cohen said in a press release, “Vocational and technical education are areas in which Tennessee lags and they can help open job opportunities. But the people of Tennessee voted in 2002 for a Georgia-like HOPE Scholarship program that rewarded the more meritorious and the more needy. That is what scholarships should do: aim at merit and need. I ‘hope’ someone will recall that and increase HOPE and Aspire Award scholarships.” Cohen worked in the state Senate to amend the state Constitution and create a Tennessee State Lottery with proceeds to fund scholarships, as well as enabling legislation, his press release said. Voters approved the amendment in November 2002 and the first lottery tickets were sold in 2004. Communities would have the funding and flexibility to…

Read the full story

King of Boston Talk Radio Howie Carr Tells The Tennessee Star Report ‘Lieawatha’ Elizabeth Warren ‘in Heap of Big Trouble’ After Claiming to be American Indian in 1986 Document

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 team talked to the King of Boston Radio, Howie Carr about his recent column in the Boston Herald regarding Elizabeth Warren’s latest snafu.  The men talked about Warren’s history of claiming she was an American Indian to get herself into a better position as a professor at an Ivy League institution and the recent evidence showing her own hand written application to the Texas bar claiming her minority status. Leahy: We are joined now by Howie Carr who is Boston talk radio king and who has the funniest column ever in this morning about the latest debacle with Elizabeth Warren. Welcome Howie! Carr: Hey thanks for having me. I just forgot to mention. You know I was writing it late during the State of the Union. I forgot to mention happy hunting ground. (Laughter) I’m sorry about that. That’s where her campaign going. Gill: Howie you’ve written some great columns in the past but this one goes in the Howie Carr hall of fame. It’s in the Boston Herald…

Read the full story

Lamar Alexander Talks with The Tennessee Star Report About SOTU and Congressional Research Service Report That Says President Could Build Border Wall Without Declaring National Emergency

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 – Gill and Leahy talked to Senator Lamar Alexander and discussed President Trump’s SOTU address on Tuesday evening and the behavior displayed by the Democrats. As the segment moved to a close, the conversation became heated in a debate about a recent Congressional Research Service report that says President Trump can build the border wall without declaring a national emergency and how the President could appropriate funds to build the wall at the southern border and where those funds would come from. Gill: Good morning glad to have you with us. Alexander: I don’t think it was either. But I have a question for you. Were you watching the State of the Union or the Tennessee basketball game? Gill: To be honest, I was flipping back and forth. (Laughter) Also I had my ESPN box score up, so I was, even when I was momentarily watching the President I was keeping up with the Vols who got another big victory. (Inaudible talk) Alexander: I checked the score a couple of times.…

Read the full story

Gregory Watson Commentary: U.S. House of Representatives’ Quiet Procedural Snub of President Trump’s 2019 SOTU Address

Gregory Watson

When any American President formally speaks before a joint session of the two houses of the U.S. Congress, it is considered a matter of great importance to our nation — and certainly ought to be viewed as quite significant by members of Congress. The State-of-the-Union (SOTU) address — regardless of which President is delivering it, and irrespective of his or her party affiliation — is never trivial. When a President gives his or her remarks, both houses of Congress are officially in session at that point and — just as at any other such time — the words spoken to those persons present within the House chamber are to be reduced to writing and spread upon the Congressional Record. This, of course, is to preserve for posterity such historic comments and to make them more widely available to anyone desiring to reflect back upon them. Hence, it is with some surprise that the full and complete verbatim text of President Donald Trump’s February 5, 2019 speech — and, as it turns out, likewise his February 28, 2017 as well as his January 30, 2018 SOTU addresses – are all completely missing from the Congressional Record. So, I did some investigating.…

Read the full story

Commentary: Murray Rothbard Explains the Progressive Roots of the Deep State

Admin

by Silvio Simonetti   More than 20 years after his death, Murray Rothbard continues to surprise us with his unique interpretations and insights that go far beyond the realm of economics. Rothbard’s The Progressive Era, (Mises Institute, 2017) is the latest example of this genial mind ranging over U.S. history. Rothbard’s book is a series of different studies, some already published and others not, written over decades, which focus on the Progressive Era and its direct consequence, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Over some 550 pages, Rothbard shows us how, at the end of the 19th century, the United States underwent intense political and social transformations that reshaped the intellectual horizons of the nation and opened the doors to the creation of an administrative state equidistant from both democratic control and the legal framework established by the Founding Fathers. The progressive movement was undoubtedly full of nuances, with various tendencies that sometimes overlapped and other times repelled each other. The populist progressivism of the Midwest, for example, was isolationist and suspicious of big corporations and the Federal government’s bureaucracy. On the other hand, West Coast progressives were more determined to advance a radical agenda of social reforms. What united…

Read the full story

Stonewalling on Clinton Emails Continues Under Trump, Watchdog Says

Admin

by Kevin Mooney   Federal bureaucrats, defying President Donald Trump, are resisting requests for information about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account while secretary of state and how that may have compromised national security, the head of a legal watchdog group told The Daily Signal in an interview. Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said Obama administration officials originally declined to assess the extent to which Clinton’s email practices damaged national security. But later, Fitton said, “President Trump’s appointees got in the way of us doing it.” U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled Jan. 17 that Judicial Watch could begin the process of discovery in the Clinton email case. That means former Obama administration officials and Clinton aides must respond to questions from the organization under oath and in writing. “Obviously, Mrs. Clinton’s conduct is an issue here, but we are also talking about the conduct of the Justice Department and the State Department,” Fitton said in the Jan. 31 phone interview with The Daily Signal, adding: The email scandal is not just a Hillary Clinton scandal. It’s a State Department scandal and it’s a Justice Department scandal. There’s a lot of powerful agencies and deep state…

Read the full story

David Malpass, Sharp Critic of World Bank, Could be its Next Leader

Admin

David Malpass has been a sharp critic of the World Bank, the Washington-based lending institution for impoverished nations, and now he could be its next leader. Malpass, the undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury for international affairs, is U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice to head the agency, which has always been headed by an American. But the selection, which has to be ratified by the bank’s board, could draw opposing candidates supported by poor nations that are the institution’s chief funding beneficiaries. Malpass helped push through a $13 billion funding increase for the bank last year, but he has railed against continued lending to China, the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States. He says Beijing no longer needs the bank’s support, which has amounted to nearly $62 billion in development loans since China joined the World Bank in 1980. “The World Bank’s biggest borrower is China,” Malpass said at a 2017 forum sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Well, China has plenty of resources.” Malpass, a Trump loyalist, has argued, much like the president, that “multilateralism has gone substantially too far,” through international agreements that largely have been described as part of the liberal world order of agencies and…

Read the full story

Adam Schiff Expands House Intel’s Trump Investigation

Admin

by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Wednesday revealed a sweeping plan to investigate President Donald Trump, including whether foreign actors have leverage over the Republican, his family or associates. Schiff laid out five areas the Democrat-controlled committee plans to investigate. The California Democrat made the announcement after the committee voted to provide the special counsel’s office with transcripts of interviews conducted as part of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “The President’s actions and posture towards Russia during the campaign, transition, and administration have only heightened fears of foreign financial or other leverage over President Trump and underscore the need to determine whether he or those in his Administration have acted in service of foreign interests since taking office,” Schiff said in a statement announcing the expanded investigation. The committee in September, then under Republican control, also voted to provide the interview transcripts to the Justice Department. Devin Nunes, Schiff’s Republican counterpart, called on the committee Wednesday to make public all unclassified interview transcripts from the investigation. Schiff has long pledged under his control, the House Intelligence Committee would aggressively investigate Trump’s campaign activities, as well as his finances. Schiff has said…

Read the full story

UN Calls for Ending Female Genital Mutilation by 2030

Admin

Wednesday marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. Coinciding with the day, the United Nations is calling for action to eliminate the procedure by 2030. The U.N. estimates at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, a procedure that partially or totally removes female genital organs. In addition, more than 3 million girls between infancy and age 15 are at risk of being subjected to the harmful practice every year. While FGM mainly occurs in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, it is a global problem, with some migrant communities carrying on the traditional practice in Western countries. The World Health Organization says FGM has no medical justification and leads to long-term physical, psychological and social consequences. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says awareness of the harmful effects of FGM is growing and progress is being made toward banning it in some communities. He tells VOA that given the rate of population growth in countries where FGM is prevalent, action must be accelerated to reduce the number of girls at risk of undergoing the procedure. “There was an analysis that was done by our colleagues in…

Read the full story

Eric Bolling Commentary: The State of the Union Is Stronger Than Ever

Admin

by Eric Bolling   President Trump had plenty to brag about at this year’s State of the Union address — despite fierce partisan resistance, he’s managed to compile an impressive list of accomplishments since his last report to Congress and the American people. Unlike establishment politicians who make grandiose promises on the campaign trail and then forget about those pledges once they’re in office, Donald Trump set a genuine goal of delivering on every pledge that he made to the American people. The Democrats tend to forget that voters elected President Trump to repair the damage that liberal policies did to our country during President Obama’s administration and before — and to completely overturn the political establishment in Washington that values power more than the needs of the people. Donald Trump stood out from his opponents in both the primary and general elections in 2016 because he was willing to address issues that other politicians avoided like the plague. His one and only goal has always been to restore America’s greatness, even if that means going to war with the political elite or enduring relentless criticism from the mainstream media. Over the past year, that determination has resulted in numerous…

Read the full story

Angel Family Who Lost Their Son Shortly After Christmas Day Praises Trump’s Immigration Push

Admin

by Nick Givas   D.J. and Wendy Corcoran, who lost their son to an illegal immigrant, appeared on “Fox & Friends” alongside GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn to praise President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. “The Corcorans have stepped forward and they are working so diligently and lovingly to remember their son, Pierce, to honor his life, and to come around other angel families and individuals that have been adversely impacted, Ainsley [Earhardt], by drugs, human trafficking, gangs, sex trafficking and they fully realize that until we secure that southern border, that every state’s a border state,” Blackburn said Wednesday.  “Every town’s a border town because of the impact of illegal entry into our country and onto our streets of our neighborhoods and communities,” the Tennessee senator continued. Pierce Corcoran, 22, was killed on Dec. 29 in an auto accident. The driver was an illegal immigrant who’d been in the country illegally for 14 years, according to Fox News. He was charged with criminally negligent homicide. Wendy Corcoran endorsed Trump’s border wall proposal and pushed for Congress to come together to achieve bipartisan immigration reform. “I thought it was exactly what we had hoped to hear,” she said. “I thought that he…

Read the full story

Former State Representative Tilman Goins Named Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs

Admin

Conservative Tilman Goins, who served as a Republican State Representative from Morristown for three terms ending in 2018, has been named as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer for the State Department of Veterans Affairs. Goins will report to another former legislator, Courtney Rogers from Sumner County, who was appointed as Commissioner of Veterans Affairs by Governor Bill Lee late last year. Rogers was one of only a couple of grassroots-connected conservatives who was selected to serve in Governor Lee’s Cabinet. Her appointment was cheered by conservative Republicans at the time as an indication that Lee was perhaps responding to criticism of his early appointment of moderate Republicans, anti-Trumpers, and Democrats to top spots in his Administration. Nevertheless, those who saw Rogers’ selection as a positive sign were disappointed when there were no other solid and consistent conservatives who “made the cut” as Lee rounded out his Cabinet-level appointments. Goins announced that he would not seek reelection in February of 2018. Goins has a long history of public service, having served on active duty in both the US Marine Corps and the US Army, and as a Hamblen County Commissioner before being elected to the State Legislature. Goins was first…

Read the full story

Democrats’ Same-Day Voter Registration Bill Is ‘Micromanaging’ That Would ‘Seize Control of Elections in Tennessee,’ Rep. Green Says

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Wednesday morning gave Democrats a tongue-lashing over legislation designed to force Tennessee and other states to offer voter registration the same day of elections. Green made the remarks during an Oversight and Reform Committee hearing over the Democrats’ H.R. 1 bill, “For the People Act of 2019.” The bill’s language and other information is available here. Green said the bill should be called the “Fill the Swamp Act.” He added, “It seems every year that passes more and more power is shifted away from the people and into the hands of a wealthy, elite few in Washington. These politicians and bureaucrats can’t help themselves from micromanaging more and more of our everyday lives. “From our roads and bridges, our firearms, the relationship with our doctors, our elementary schools, our farms, and even our toilets, these freedom and federalism hating politicians can’t help themselves. “And now … now you want to decide how we run our elections?” Green did not finish there. He said, “The fact remains there is no constitutional authority for the federal government to come down and seize control of elections in Tennessee. The Constitution creates a federalist system with power…

Read the full story

Trump’s 2020 Democratic Rivals Pounce to Criticize State of the Union

Admin

Democrats vying to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 election moved quickly to attack his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, saying it lacked substance and did nothing to unite the country. About 10 Democrats have already launched campaigns to challenge Trump, and a dozen more could enter the race for their party’s nomination. U.S. Senator Cory Booker, who announced his own bid last Friday, said Trump’s call for unity on Tuesday was hollow. “It takes more than a nod to unity at the top of a speech to bring our country together. Our president has spent the last 2 years trying to drive us apart,” he wrote on Twitter. “Actions speak louder than words.” Stacey Abrams, who fell just short in her bid last year to become the first African-American and first woman governor of Georgia, delivered the official Democratic response to Trump’s speech. Sponsored But many of the party’s presidential hopefuls chimed in afterward with their own critiques. “He wasn’t moving us forward and rising to the challenges of the day,” Senator Amy Klobuchar said on MSNBC. She also hinted at a likely run for president, saying she would hold a rally in Minnesota…

Read the full story

Commentary: The Rise of People Who Actually Say Things

Admin

by Karl Notturno   Over the past two weeks, Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have both announced they will run for president in 2020. These announcements and the media’s reaction to them were as predictable as the well written but vapid speeches and well produced but fluffy videos that accompanied them. We knew that Harris and Booker would jump into the race together from the moment we watched them trying to out-president each other in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room last fall. And we knew they would give impassioned sermons on progressive values, filled with empty platitudes and tired rhetorical devices. We also knew the media would hang on their every word and cover them in continuous (if manufactured) glory. Predictable narratives are predictable. So, it also shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Mika Brzezinski and the other clowns at “Morning Joe” would interrogate potential independent candidate Howard Schultz on the price of a box of Cheerios. It’s possible that they were still upset that Starbucks stopped sponsoring their show in 2013, but it’s more likely that they were trying to produce another “What is Aleppo?” moment. Even though Schultz handled himself much better than Gary…

Read the full story

Fairfax Accuser Hires Law Firm That Represented Christine Blasey Ford

Admin

by Grace Carr   A woman accusing Democratic Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault reportedly hired the attorneys who represented Christine Blasey Ford in hearings regarding allegations brought against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The woman hired Washington, D.C., law firm Katz, Marshall and Banks, National Public Radio reported Tuesday. The law firm represented Ford after she accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault. The woman claims the alleged assault occurred while at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) conference in 2004. The individual did not name Fairfax, but was referring to him, according to Big League Politics, a right-wing blog, which obtained the alleged claim. “Imagine you were sexually assaulted during the DNC Convention in Boston in 2004 by a campaign staffer. You spend the next 13 years trying to forget it ever happened. Until one day you find out he’s the Democratic candidate for statewide office in a state some 3000 miles away, and he wins that election in November 2017,” reads a message by Fairfax’s alleged accuser, according to BLP. “Then, by strange, horrible luck, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll get a VERY BIG promotion.” The Daily Caller News Foundation was unable to corroborate the claim. Fairfax…

Read the full story

In-Depth Analysis of Trump’s Policy Proposals in State of the Union Address

Admin

by Daniel Davis   President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and Heritage Foundation experts weighed in with analysis of the president’s policy proposals. Here’s what they had to say. Immigration Economy Law Defense & Foreign Policy Life Energy & Infrastructure Health Care Education Immigration A Call for Robust Border Security President Donald Trump’s remarks on immigration tonight reflected a commonsense, principled approach to the immigration problem that his opponents refuse to acknowledge in their obsession with opposing anything he does. Trump also made a fundamental point that his opponents refuse to recognize when he said, “We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens.” He pointed out the sharp divide that exists between the public and the Washington establishment when he said, “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.” Referring to the impasse between the president and Congress over border security, Trump was right when he said this was a “moral” issue and that “the lawless…

Read the full story

CNN Airs Video of Sherrod Brown Endorsing Positions That He Called the President ‘Racist’ for Supporting

Andrew Shirley

The man who many Democrats consider to be the best hope to defeat President Donald Trump may have more in common with him than he’d like to admit. On Monday, during CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett, Ohio Senator, and 2002 presidential hopeful, Sherrod Brown was shown a short montage that showed just how much the Senator’s past rhetoric has echoed President Trump’s. In 2006, while running for office, Brown released campaign ads that ended with the tagline “America First.” He also recently argued that a lack of “fair trade” was crippling to American workers. Lastly, he argued that the U.S. “has not done globalization well.” Each one of these points was juxtaposed with a statement from Trump that was almost identical to Brown’s. This poses a significant problem to the Ohio Senator. Many Democrats have aggressively argued that much of Trump’s rhetoric is a series of “dog whistles” and coded calls for racism. One of the most consistent criticisms is that one of Trump’s most prominent slogans; “America First” is steeped deeply in bigotry and nationalism. Recently, Democrats have also argued that critics of globalization, trade deals and most forms of isolationist rhetoric are inherently xenophobic, bigoted and racist. Even when Senator Bernie…

Read the full story

Ilhan Omar Asks Keith Ellison to Investigate ‘Unscientific’ Ban of Trans Woman from Powerlifting Competition

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is asking Attorney General Keith Ellison for an investigation after one of her transgender constituents was barred from participating in a USA Powerlifting competition. In late January, the organization released a statement to explain its policy that prevented JayCee Cooper from partaking in one of its competitions. “Two areas of policy impact such participation: the first has to do with the use of testosterone or other androgens, commonly used to assist in transition from female to male. By virtue of the anabolic nature of these compounds, they are not allowed, nor is a Therapeutic Use Exemption granted for such use for anyone,” USA Powerlifting’s statement reads. “The second area involves the participation of male to female competitors. Through analysis the impact of maturation in the presence [of] naturally occurring androgens as the level necessary for male development, significant advantages are had, including but not limited to increased body and muscle mass, bone density, bone structure, and connective tissue,” the organization said. It is under this second policy that Cooper, a biological male, was prevented from competing as a woman in a USA Powerlifting event in Minnesota. “The IPF [International Powerlifting Federation] Medical Committee, while respecting the rights…

Read the full story

Trump to Hold First Rally of 2019 in Border City of El Paso

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign announced Wednesday that it will be holding its first rally of 2019 in El Paso, Texas on February 11. According to the Trump campaign, the rally will mark the president’s first in El Paso and seventh in the state of Texas. “We are please to announced the Make America Great Again rally on Monday, February 11 in El Paso, Texas, featuring President Donald Trump,” said Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of Donald J. Trump for President Inc. “As the president continues his fight to secure our border, there’s no better place to demonstrate that walls work than in El Paso. President Trump looks forward to visiting with the patriots of Texas who are on the front lines of the struggle against open-border Democrats who allow drugs, crime, and sex trafficking all along our border every day,” Glassner added. During his Tuesday night State of the Union address, Trump pointed to El Paso as shining proof that his border wall would work. “The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime—one of the highest in the country, and was considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, with…

Read the full story

Virginia Attorney General Outs Himself for Wearing Blackface in College

Anthony Gockowski

Attorney General Mark Herring (D-VA) outed himself in a Wednesday morning statement by revealing that he dressed up in blackface when he was an “undergraduate in college.” “In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song. It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes—and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others—we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup,” Herring said in a statement. Herring has freely added himself to a growing list of embattled Democrats in the state. Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) is trying to save his political career after a now-viral yearbook photo was leaked of him wearing blackface next to a person in a KKK robe. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D-VA) is fending off accusations that he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. “This was a onetime occurrence and I accept full responsibility for my conduct. That conduct clearly shows that, as a young man, I had a callous…

Read the full story

North Carolina Leaked Commission Email: It’s Not False to Call Police ‘Home-Grown Terrorists’

A.P. Dillon

Charlotte City Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield, who called police “home-grown terrorists,” was notified by Governor Cooper’s office on Wednesday that she is off the North Carolina’s Human Relations Commission (HRC). A short letter was sent to Mayfield from William McKinney, Cooper’s Chief Legal Counsel informing the councilwoman that her appointment was rescinded immediately so that the commission could do its work “without distraction.” “Spox for Gov. Cooper:  The Governor values law enforcement and recognizes that more must be done to build meaningful respect and understanding between law enforcement and communities,” tweeted Joe Bruno, a reporter with WSOC9. But the problems with Roy Cooper’s appointments to the HRC aren’t ending with Mayfield. In an email leaked exclusively to Battleground State News, a member of North Carolina’s HRC says that fellow Commissioner LaWana Mayfield isn’t wrong to call police “home-grown terrorists.” The HRC is tasked by state statute with the promotion of “understanding, respect, and goodwill among all citizens.” The email discusses calls for Governor Cooper to reconsider LaWana Mayfield’s appointment to the HRC due to her past comments where she called police officers “home-grown terrorists.” The calls for Mayfield’s removal are “partisan-bullying attack for a statement that no one is calling false regarding…

Read the full story

North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District Still Undecided, Hearing Set for February 19

A.P. Dillon

New members of the North Carolina State Board of Elections are now in place, but the state’s 9th Congressional District winner has still not been made official. A winner may be named soon, as the newly appointed North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) members announced they will hold a hearing on the 9th Congressional issue on Monday, February 18th. The new NCSBE members, which were confirmed by the state legislature, are Stella Anderson (D), David Black (R), Jeff Carmon III (D), Bob Cordle (D), and Ken Raymond (R). The NC Republican Party had originally put forth the names of Colonel Francis Deluca, Eldon ‘Buck’ Newton III, Stacy Eggers IV, and Edwin Woodhouse, Jr. Governor Cooper said that two of the NC GOP’s picks, Deluca and Newton, needed to be disqualified due to engaging in electioneering within a 48-month window of their nomination. Governor Cooper’s original list included Democrats Greg Flynn and Valerie Johnson. Both were disqualified for the same reason Cooper had used to removed two Republican candidates – electioneering. Democrats Bill Bell and Jeff Carmon replaced Flynn and Johnson. NEW: Yesterday NCDP was notified two of their nominees are not eligible to serve on the new NCSBE– Valerie…

Read the full story

Report: Nashville Schools Director Shawn Joseph Gave Favored Company No-Bid Contract

Chris Butler

A software company got a no-bid $1.8 million contract, courtesy of the Metro Nashville Public Schools and, more specifically, Director of Schools Shawn Joseph, according to NewsChannel 5 of Nashville. Joseph, according to the report, had already done business with this company, the Utah-based Performance Matters, in the past. In doing so, the school system violated state purchasing laws, according to NewsChannel 5. “Our exclusive investigation also uncovered evidence that, in doing so, Joseph and his team repeatedly misled members of the Metro School Board about key aspects of the deals,” the station went on to say. Metro Schools told NewsChannel 5 they made mistakes “in good faith.” Performance Matters markets student assessment software. The goal is to allow educators to track student progress and professional development software to monitor training that teachers must complete, the station said. “Joseph, who took control over the Nashville school system in July 2016, had appeared in a slickly produced video that touted how Performance Matters’ student assessment software had been utilized in his previous job in Prince George’s County, Maryland,” NewsChannel 5 reported. “A complimentary quote from Joseph was included in the company’s promotions. He had even been the keynote speaker at a Performance Matters…

Read the full story