Month: February 2019

Klobuchar 2020 Preview: All Signs Point to Running as State Media Give Pass

Anthony Gockowski

Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) advance crew was busy prepping Saturday afternoon for her “big announcement” scheduled for Sunday. An early visit to Boom Island Park showed staffers moving in and out of heated tents while they erected a stage with the Minneapolis skyline as a backdrop. Temperatures were slightly above zero early Saturday and those on the scene were decked out in snow gear, making it unlikely that Klobuchar would subject her staff to freezing wintry weather to announce that she isn’t in fact entering the 2020 race. Plus, Klobuchar’s daughter flew in from New York City for Sunday’s event, and posted a video from Boom Island Park Saturday afternoon. “My mom invited me to this big announcement happening Sunday, but she forgot to tell me it was happening outside,” she said. Abigail here! I'm taking over mom's Twitter for a second with a message about tomorrow. Go to https://t.co/Hz91NGmwT1 for more details! pic.twitter.com/dmk4l54EDD — Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 9, 2019 Klobuchar boasted that the event will have hot “cocoa,” “camp fires,” “music”—”the whole bit.” The Sunday announcement will come amid multiple reports that Klobuchar runs an abusive and demeaning office, as The Minnesota Sun reported. It’s widely known that the…

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Klobuchar and McCollum Back Green New Deal, But Omar’s Missing from List of Sponsors

Anthony Gockowski

Two of Minnesota’s most prominent politicians, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), are backing the controversial Green New Deal, but Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is conspicuously missing from the list of House sponsors. The House version of the resolution currently has 67 co-sponsors, including McCollum, who has received $52,733 in campaign contributions from environmental groups over the course of her career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Klobuchar, who is expected to declare candidacy for president Sunday, is one of 10 co-sponsors of the Senate resolution, which has the backing of other presidential hopefuls, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that Klobuchar has received $220,463 from environmental groups throughout her career. Omar is a public ally of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), the resolution’s chief author, and was an early advocate of the Green New Deal. Omar, however, currently isn’t listed as a co-sponsor of the resolution. She addressed her support of the Green New Deal in a statement Thursday, but seemed to take issue with the fact that it is just a resolution rather than actual legislation. “We need to…

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An Ohio Medical Examiner Issued a Public Health Warning After Multiple Opioid Deaths Were Traced to Powerful Animal Sedatives

Andrew Shirley

Dr. Thomas Gilson, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner, issued a Public Health Warning Thursday for the entire county. It stated that, after testing opioids seized at multiple crime scenes, the Cuyahoga County Regional Forensic Science Laboratory had discovered a “significant increase” in the presence of carfentanil, a synthetic opioid that is both extremely potent and deeply unsafe for use by humans. According to the Preliminary 2018 Drug Overdose Death Statistics, Cuyahoga County suffered “24 carfentanil-related deaths in 2018.” Though alarming, this is a “significant reduction from the 191 carfentanil-related deaths in 2017.” Carfentanil is the most potent opioid currently available for commercial use, and of the most potent ever developed. It is officially sold under the commercial title of Wildnil. The main use for the drug is sedating large animals, including “ungulates, elephants, and rhinoceros.” It is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more powerful then fentanyl. “The re-appearance of carfentanil in the local illicit drug supply is alarming,” Gilson said. “This is a very lethal drug and anyone using illicit or diverted drugs needs to be aware of the possibility of being exposed to it…Having another person in the vicinity to call 911 and/or administer naloxone can be…

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Steve Cohen a Cosponsor of Green New Deal

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, not only endorses the controversial Green New Deal resolution — he’s co-sponsoring it. In a press release, Cohen said the New Deal of the 1930s that supposedly ended the Great Depression inspired Democratic lawmakers to propose the Green New Deal. “It contains a full employment initiative; investments in a transition to sustainable, non-carbon sources of energy; elimination of greenhouse gas emissions; and a commitment to addressing climate change as the existential threat it is,” Cohen said. As The Tennessee Star reported last week, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released the resolution that’s become a central part of the Democratic agenda, including backing from 2020 candidates. The “Green New Deal” resolution calls for “10-year national mobilizations” towards a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, according to a copy of the bill obtained by NPR. A separate fact-sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” That includes getting all our energy needs from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.” Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution calls for a variety of social justice and welfare state goals, including “a family-sustaining…

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University of Tennessee and University of Memphis Have Several Title IX Complaints Filed Against Them

Chris Butler

People in Tennessee lodged far more Title IX discrimination complaints against the University of Tennessee and the University of Memphis than other public entities in the state that take federal money, according to a new report. In laymen’s terms, that means a lot of people allege school officials discriminated against them because of their gender. More specifically, Title IX says no education program that takes federal taxpayer money can discriminate based on sex, and it includes protections against sexual harassment. According to a new report from Tennessee Comptrollers, the University of Memphis had 153 Title IX complaints in Fiscal Year 2018, a slight increase from 152 in Fiscal Year 2017. Schools in the University of Tennessee System, meanwhile, had 162 Title IX complaints in Fiscal Year 2018. The UT system had 166 such complaints in Fiscal Year 2017 and 129 in Fiscal Year 2016, according to the Comptrollers’ report. In an emailed statement, Kenneth P. Anderson, the University of Memphis’ Title IX coordinator for the Office of Institutional Equity, said the high number of complaints is “a positive.” “They speak to the University’s efforts to seriously address interpersonal violence and sexual misconduct,” Anderson told The Tennessee Star. “The University of…

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Commentary: Sharyl Attkisson Continues to Fight Bad Actors at Department of Justice

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by CHQ Staff   We Americans like to believe we live in a free country with the right to use the justice system to ensure that government abuses are stopped or redressed. Award-winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson has learned that’s far from the truth, and it’s an awful thing to experience first-hand. A federal appeals court recently heard oral arguments in Sharyl Attkisson’s lawsuit against former Attorney General Eric Holder, unnamed “John Doe” federal agents at the FBI and Justice Department, and others. At issue are the intrusions into her computers while she worked as an investigative reporter for CBS News, revealed by multiple forensic investigations showing use of proprietary government surveillance programs. To help Sharyl Attkisson expose the Obama-era surveillance visit her GoFundMe page. In a recent article for RealClearPolitics, Ms. Attkisson said it was clear early on that the Justice Department was not interested in investigating or prosecuting its own. So she began the search to find the facts about the invasion into her computers and life. That morphed into a lawsuit for damages, because that’s what the law sets out as the legal remedy. It’s been a long and frightening lesson, said Ms. Attkisson, because the government…

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Top EPA Official Leaves Government To Help Trump Fight ‘Venezuela-Style Socialism’

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by Michael Bastasch   Mandy Gunasekara served two years as a top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adviser, but now is leaving the government to be an advocate for President Donald Trump’s agenda. “There is a void out there of folks who can understand and have the pertinent experience to talk about the energy, environment and economic successes of the Trump administration,” Gunasekara told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “I was in the room when we were making these decisions and I know the why,” she added. Indeed, as the principal deputy assistant administrator to EPA’s air office, Gunasekara was “in the room” when the agency issued major rollbacks of Obama administration regulations, including the Clean Power Plan and fuel economy mandates. Gunasekara also worked with former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to convince Trump to stick to his campaign promise and withdraw from the Paris climate accord. She was one of the few political appointees in place at EPA in the early days of the administration, so she spent many nights putting together the legal and policy rationale for withdrawal. Trump announced withdrawal in June 2017. “It was just helping him make it happen as the president,” Gunasekara…

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FAKE NEWS: Washington Post Repeatedly Botches Fact Check of Trump’s State of the Union Address

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Donald Trump

by James D. Agresti   Two days after airing a Super Bowl commercial that depicts journalists as people of great importance and integrity, the Washington Post published an error-ridden fact check of President Trump’s State of the Union address. Written by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo, and Meg Kelly, it contains an array of half-truths, straw men, and outright falsehoods. The State of the Southern Border During his address, Trump said: “The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial wellbeing of all America.” In retort, the Post writes: “By any available measure, there is no new security crisis at the border.” That is a straw man argument, or a rebuttal to a point that wasn’t made. Trump did not say this is a “new” crisis. In fact, he portrayed it as a longstanding problem by saying, “Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.” Trump’s claim is correct. A 2011 Government Accountability Office study of 249,000 non-citizens in U.S. prisons and jails during 2003 to 2009 found that they had been arrested for 25,064 homicide-related crimes committed in the U.S. throughout their criminal careers. This isn’t even a full count…

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Errors Cause Judge to Throw Out Georgia Election a Second Time

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Rep. Chris Erwin finally won a seat in the Georgia legislature after a chaotic campaign in which a judge threw out the first election and ordered the vote to be redone in December. Now a court has ruled that illegal votes tainted the second election, forcing Erwin to prepare to step down and run for the job a third time less than a month after he was sworn into office. “It’s frustrating, I won’t say any different,” said Erwin, who’s already seeing signs of do-over deja vu in his district. “I drove to the dentist this morning and I rode by and noticed three of my campaign signs had been put out already.” Erwin and the fellow Republican he thought he had defeated twice last year, former state Rep. Dan Gasaway, are heading for a third showdown at the polls in state House District 28 in northeast Georgia. That’s after a Superior Court judge found illegal votes tainted both the initial GOP primary last May as well as the special do-over election held December 4. It’s yet another example of problems Georgia voters faced at the polls in 2018. In some cities, voters had to wait two hours or more…

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Mike Lee Slams Senate Judiciary Democrats for ‘Wildly Inappropriate’ Questions on Religion – Mazie Hirono Fires Back an Accusation

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by Molly Prince   Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee condemned the Senate Judiciary Democrats on Thursday for questioning judicial nominees’ religious beliefs before the committee. Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono denied ever instituting a religious test and scolded Lee for what she believed was censuring her. “You can’t openly, publicly question a nominee about that nominee’s religious beliefs, about what he or she believes to be sinful conduct without subjecting that nominee to ridicule and simultaneously demeaning some of the fundamental tenets of our constitutional republic,” Lee said.”You can’t ask a nominee questions like those to which Neomi Rao was subjected just the other day and those that I’ve seen asked of some of our other nominees and then later ask the question ‘how did we get here?’” Lee’s condemnation came two days after Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey questioned Rao on her view of homosexuality and LGBTQ Americans during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to vet her for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court. Booker asked Rao if she considers gay relationships to be “immoral.” “I can’t fathom a circumstance in which it’s ever appropriate for us to ask a nominee about his or her religious…

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Measles Spreading in US, Mostly Among Unvaccinated Children

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"Measles" by Dave Haygarth

Measles is spreading in the U.S. As of Feb. 5, there were 50 cases in Washington state and five in Houston. New cases are being added daily. Health officials, including the U.S. surgeon general, are urging parents to get their children vaccinated. Measles was eliminated in the U.S. 19 years ago. The cases that occur here now are imported from other countries. But that is happening in the U.S. with greater frequency. Dr. Camille Sabella is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. “Measles is incredibly contagious,” he said. “Once it gets around the community it’s very difficult because it’s airborne.” 18 state allow exemptions Eighteen states allow parents to not vaccinate their children if they have moral, personal or philosophical objections to it. A measles outbreak in the U.S. northwestern state of Washington has state health officials scrambling to contain it. Dr. Jason Hanley sees emergency cases at the medical center, PeaceHealth. “I hope I’m wrong, but I think the cases are going to get more frequent and spread throughout the country from this epicenter,” he said. Rural areas in the U.S. tend to have higher numbers of unvaccinated children. But there are significant numbers in cities…

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Matthew Whitaker: ‘Deeply Concerning’ That CNN Was at Roger Stone Raid

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by Chuck Ross   Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said Friday that he found it “deeply concerning” that a CNN crew was present at the FBI raid of Roger Stone’s home in late January. “It was deeply concerning to me as to how CNN found out about that,” Whitaker told the House Judiciary Committee during a Justice Department oversight hearing. Whitaker says he was concerned that a CNN crew was camping out outside Roger Stone's house when he was arrested pic.twitter.com/V3RSmSuzkx — Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 8, 2019 Stone was indicted under seal on Jan. 24 in the special counsel’s investigation and arrested at his home in Florida the next day. A CNN camera crew filmed as 29 FBI agents stormed Stone’s house around 6 a.m. local time. Stone has alleged that CNN was tipped off to his indictment and arrest, while the network has denied the claim. CNN says it sent reporters to Stone’s home after its Washington-based journalists noticed a flurry of activity at the federal courthouse on the day Stone was indicted. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham asked for an FBI briefing on the raid Tuesday. Graham asked whether CNN had advance knowledge of the raid…

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Commentary: Trump’s Wall and a Plan to Stop Cartels at the Border

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Zero Tolerance Border Security

by Bill Thomas   If you’ve been thinking Trump Derangement Syndrome couldn’t get any worse, consider the Democratic Party’s position on border security. Sitting behind President Trump during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spent much of the evening making faces at the back of his head. And when he asked members of Congress to “reject the politics of revenge and resistance” and embrace “compromise and the common good,” she flashed a look that said: “Not while I’m in charge.” Pelosi opposes a wall or anything else that discourages illegal aliens from getting into the country and staying here (preferably in red states, where they can do her party the most political good). By itself, this would be bad enough. But the same dangerously inadequate approach she and most Democrats favor for human traffic is also responsible for the record amount of illicit drugs pouring across the border, not to mention the epidemic of crime and drug-related deaths that comes with them. Follow the well-traveled routes of illegal immigration from the southern border northward and invariably you come to cities and states with the worst drug problems. If Pelosi has her way, that’s…

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Supreme Court Halts Louisiana Abortion Law – For Now

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by Elizabeth Slattery   Late Thursday night, the Supreme Court put on hold a Louisiana law that would require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. The Louisiana law was introduced by state Rep. Katrina Jackson, a Democrat, and passed overwhelmingly in the state’s House of Representatives and Senate in 2014 by a vote of 85-6 and 34-3, respectively.” In 2016, the Court ruled that a similar Texas law constituted an “undue burden” on access to abortion within the state. In addition to requiring admitting privileges, the Texas law also would have required abortion clinics to meet the same cleanliness and safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers. The case was argued and decided not long after Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, and Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Anthony Kennedy voted to strike down the Texas law in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. One of Louisiana’s four abortion clinics challenged the new law. A federal district court, citing the Hellerstedt decision, held that the law advanced “minimal” health benefits while placing “substantial burdens” on women seeking an abortion. But there are a number of reasons why a…

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Weakley County Woman Charged with TennCare Fraud

Chris Butler

Authorities have charged a Weakley County woman with TennCare fraud. Officials with the Tennessee Office of Inspector General say the woman, Tina Mays, 44, of Gleason, fraudulently used the state’s health insurance program to obtain controlled substances, according to a state press release. The practice is otherwise known as doctor shopping. OIG officials, along with Madison County Sheriff’s officers, arrested Mays. They charged her with four counts of fraudulently using TennCare to visit multiple doctors to obtain prescriptions for the painkiller Hydrocodone, according to a press release. “Tennesseans won’t stand for TennCare resources to be used to fuel the opioid crisis,” Inspector General Kim Harmon said in the press release. “The Office of Inspector General works diligently with other state and local agencies to deter prescriptions being diverted to the streets.” TennCare fraud is a Class D felony carrying a sentence of up to four years in prison per charge.  District Attorney General Jody Pickens is prosecuting, according to the press release. State officials have made other TennCare fraud arrests of late. As The Tennessee Star reported this month, law enforcement officials have charged a Jefferson County woman with allegedly falsifying her income to obtain healthcare insurance through the state program. A…

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National Media Hit Klobuchar With More Reports of Running Abusive Office

Anthony Gockowski

It’s been just three days since Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) teased her upcoming “big announcement” and the national media have already released two damning reports about the Minnesota senator’s behavior toward her staffers. Earlier this week, Huffington Post reported that at least three people declined jobs on Klobuchar’s prospective presidential campaign because of her poor reputation with her staff. Now, Buzzfeed News has reviewed dozens of emails and spoken with anonymous ex-staffers to find that Klobuchar “ran a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame.” According to that report, Klobuchar “yelled, threw papers, and sometimes even hurled objects,” often leaving employees in tears. Klobuchar would allegedly berate employees in emails sent in the middle of the night over “minor mistakes, misunderstandings, and misplaced commas.” “Anything could set her temper off, they said, and it was often unpredictable. Among the things that staffers said had prompted outbursts from Klobuchar: minor grammar mistakes, the use of the word ‘community’ in press releases, forgetting to pack the proper coat in her suitcase, failing to charge her iPad, and using staples,” Buzzfeed News reports. One former staffer said that when she hears “the descriptors of our current president and how he lacks responsibility and…

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Second Amendment Advocacy Organization Wins Case Over Bump Stock Ban

Andrew Shirley

Friday, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Robert Rhuehlman granted an injunction against an ordnance by the city of Cincinnati that would have made “trigger activators,” which are more commonly know as bump stocks, illegal in city limits. A bump stock is any device that uses “bump fire,” to increase the rate-of-fire of a semiautomatic weapon, and some revolvers. The device uses the natural recoil of the gun to permit the weapon to fire at a much higher rate. The ATF, led by appointees of the Obama Administration ruled in 2010 that these devices were legal and could be sold without regulation. Despite widespread availability and at relatively modest prices, they were not commonly adopted. This changed dramatically in 2017. On October 1st, 2017, a gunman opened fire in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people, wounding more than 400 with gunfire, and injuring 851. Upon investigation, it was found that he was utilizing bump stocks on several of his weapons. This propelled the otherwise innocuous firearm modification into the national spotlight. Overnight, demand for bump stocks spiked. Many progressive groups began calling for immediate bans. To many second amendment advocates, this appeared to be an overreaction by the federal government that infringed upon the second amendment.…

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Ohio Secretary of State: Redistricting Ohio Before 2020 Election Could ‘Hurt’ Voter Turnout

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose stated on Thursday that he was against Ohio redrawing its district lines before the 2020 presidential election. It was a statement that surprised many, considering he made it at a voting rights forum, hosted by the Ohio League of Women Voters who are currently suing Ohio in the hope of having the state lines redrawn. As reported earlier, in May of 2018, several groups, led by the Ohio League of Women Voters formally filed suit against the Buckeye State, specifically noting; an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander that violates the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I of the United States Constitution….the most egregious gerrymanders in recent history. In his last days as Attorney General, Mike DeWine, who is currently serving as Ohio’s Governor, attempted to have the suit thrown out. The current Attorney General, Dave Yost, is now arguing to have the case delayed. The most effective argument made for the delay has been the United States Supreme Court’s January 4th announcement that it will hear two gerrymandering cases jointly, one from North Carolina and the other from Maryland. Any ruling made in this case would take precedence over the Ohio court’s decision. Last week, a similar gerrymandering case in…

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North Carolina Governor Jets Off To D.C. To Testify On Climate Change

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper went to Washington, D.C. this week to testify before a House Committee on Natural Resources about the impact of ‘Climate Change’. The carbon footprint of an economy class direct, roundtrip flight from Raleigh-Durham to Dulles airport is approximately 0.10 metric tons. Cooper’s testimony included pushing for reducing greenhouse gases and remarks in reference to natural disasters in North Carolina such as mudslides and hurricanes. Scientists have found that climate change makes weather more erratic. It makes storms larger and more powerful and it intensifies heavy rainfalls and droughts. We've seen it here in North Carolina. The time to address climate change is now. pic.twitter.com/MvRzlz3kCZ — Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) February 7, 2019 This is not Governor Cooper’s first foray into Climate Change. On October 29 of 2018, Cooper issued Executive Order 80 for the purpose of addressing climate change and to “transition” North Carolina to a “clean energy economy.” Cooper’s order calls for a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and for at least 80,000 zero-emission vehicles in the state. Just 12 days prior to Cooper’s Executive Order, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions had dropped by…

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Walz Faces Big Decision on Pipeline Project as Both Sides Mount Pressure

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has less than 20 days to make a decision on the highly controversial Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project, according to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. On February 5, the Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed a last-minute appeal of the project made by former Gov. Mark Dayton’s (D-MN) Department of Commerce. The court has given Walz a 20-day window to refile the appeal or allow the project move forward. The court’s decision was mostly based on procedural reasons, saying the appeal was filed “prematurely” since it was made before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a final order for the project. Now, groups on both sides of the issue are pleading with Walz to support their cause. A group of bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to Walz Friday morning urging him to support Line 3. “We strongly encourage you to support the project and direct state agencies to complete the permitting process that would allow this critically important project to move forward,” the letter states. “We believe after more than 3 ½ years of review and evaluation of the project by state and federal experts, 65 public meetings by state agencies, three weeks of evidentiary hearings by…

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Minnesota Republicans Introduce Bill to Ban Abortions After Fetal Heartbeat Is Detected

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s Senate Republicans have introduced a bill that would ban abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected in a pregnant woman’s unborn child. Senate File (SF) 869 was introduced Thursday and is co-sponsored by five Republican state senators, including Sens. Andrew Mathews (R-Milaca), Mark Koran (R-North Branch), Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids), Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake), and Michelle Benson (R-Ham Lake). “Except in the case of a medical emergency, a physician must first test a pregnant woman to determine if a fetal heartbeat is detectable in the pregnant woman’s unborn child before performing an abortion,” the bill states. “A physician shall not perform an abortion on a pregnant woman when it has been determined that the unborn child has a detectable fetal heartbeat, except in the case of a medical emergency.” If passed, violation of the bill would result in a gross misdemeanor punishable by “imprisonment for not more than one year or payment of a fine of not more than $3,000 or both.” Such bills are commonly referred to as “heartbeat bills” and have been introduced in several other state legislatures across the country. Ohio legislators, for instance, attempted to pass their own version of a heartbeat…

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Now Wilson County Commission Opposes School Vouchers

Chris Butler

Add Wilson County to the list of places whose local governments have written a formal resolution opposing school vouchers. Although, in this case, county commissioners may not have done so out of any strong conviction. They were merely passing along a message from the local school system to state legislators. According to the minutes of the Jan. 28 Wilson County Commission meeting, 21 commissioners voted in favor of the resolution. Two commissioners voted no. One commissioner abstained. Yet another commissioner was absent. Commissioner Robert Fields told The Tennessee Star Thursday that he and his colleagues acted because the county’s Board of Education requested it. “We voted to support the BOE’s resolution that they opposed any legislation that would support school vouchers,” Fields said. Fields voted in favor of the resolution, according to the minutes. The Star asked Fields if he and most county commissioners personally oppose school vouchers. “No, I think it (the vote) was more in support of our school’s board of education,” Fields said. A Board of Education representative spoke to commissioners that night. That person came without any statistics or empirical evidence and otherwise did not attest why school vouchers are bad, Fields said. Fields said he…

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New Poll Shows Tennesseans Overwhelmingly Support Education Savings Accounts

Laura Baigert

A new statewide poll released Thursday by the Tennessee Federation for Children shows that when voters receive information about Education Savings Accounts, they are overwhelmingly supportive of a program being passed by the Tennessee Legislature. The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of 625 registered Tennessee voters was conducted between January 31 and February 4, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. Six survey questions were asked during the telephone interview, in addition to participant demographics such as the region of the state, sex, age, race and party identification. The initial question presented to interviewees, “Education Savings Accounts, also known as E-S-A-s, allows parents to use their education tax dollars to customize their child’s learning and development. Approved ESA expenses include technical training, K-12 school tuition, or even special needs therapies from an array of providers, including public and private schools or tutors. Knowing this, would you support or oppose the Legislature passing an ESA program in Tennessee? “ An overwhelming 78 percent of respondents statewide said they support ESAs, of which 54 percent said they “strongly support” the Legislature passing an ESA program. The highest support came from East Tennessee, where 57 percent “strongly support”…

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Commentary: The Virginia Democrats’ Minstrel Show

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by George Rasley   No one can be sure when the first white man “blackened up” to play an African American on stage; however, Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice developed the first popularly known blackface minstrel character called “Jim Crow” in 1830.* Rice’s imitation of a black man and perpetuation of stereotypes was extremely popular with whites in both the North and South. Minstrel music was often inspired by Anglo-Celtic songs, but the performance, singing, and speech mimicked and mocked African American vernacular. Some white performers even augmented their noses and other features when performing to look more stereotypically “black.”* Judging by the revelations of the past week, it appears Mr. Rice’s theatrical descendants are governing the Commonwealth of Virginia, as both Democrat Governor Ralph Northam and Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring have been exposed appearing in blackface during the 1980s. And let’s be clear about what was going on in their appearances: Neither Northam nor Herring were appearing in “make-up” to play the African character in Shakespeare’s Othello or as a traditionally African character like “Zwarte Piet” in old Dutch Christmas pageants. They were blacked-up in the worst tradition of minstrelsy to mock and belittle African-Americans. When the website Big…

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Deadline Passes for Filing of Bills to Be Considered This Year in the Tennessee General Assembly

Laura Baigert

Thursday marked the end of a hectic week for Tennessee lawmakers as the deadline for filing bills to be heard in the first session of the 111th General Assembly approached. The two houses of the General Assembly had their own respective deadline, with the House being on Wednesday and the Senate being Thursday by 3:30 p.m. each day. State Representatives are limited to a maximum of 15 bills each, with the exception of committee chairs, who are allotted an additional five bills each, provided that they pertain to the subject of the committee they chair. There are no limits as to the number of bills a member of the State Senate may carry. By end of business Thursday, the index of legislation on the Tennessee General Assembly website showed that House bills filed numbered through 1499 (HB 1499) and Senate bills filed numbered through 1508 (SB 1508). With bill submission deadlines strictly adhered to, any bill sponsor from either house who was unable to find a sponsor in the other house of the General Assembly, thereby lacking the required companion bill, will not have their bill heard this year. In addition to the bills that were filed, House Joint Resolutions…

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Nashville Police Morale Reportedly Suffers Because of Community Oversight Board

Chris Butler
Nashville Police

Metro Nashville Police officers are writing fewer traffic tickets, and the city loses about $50,000 a month because of it, according to WSMV. “The trend began in August, not long after two key events: police lost their cost-of-living raises, and an officer became the subject of a TBI investigation after he shot and killed a man after a traffic stop,” the Nashville-based TV station reported. MNPD statistics reveal traffic stops “declined dramatically from 2018 compared to 2017,” the station reported. Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood reportedly told the station officers think twice before risking their lives and careers on a traffic stop. “The News4 I-Team also found that the dramatic drop in traffic stops began in August, right after Mayor David Briley’s administration cut officers’ cost-of-living increases,” WSMV reported. Smallwood said rescinded pay raises were only part of what is going on. “According to Smallwood, police are under scrutiny like never before and Nashville officers are anxious right now because Nashville DA Glen Funk is currently prosecuting one of their fellow officers, Andrew Delke, for murder,” the station said. Smallwood explained the officers’ trepidations this way: “They’re reconsidering whether taking that proactive step is worth risking everything,…

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Colorado School Superintendent Recommends Dismissing Teacher Who Called Wrong Covington Boy Part of ‘Hitler Youth’

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by Neetu Chandak   A Colorado school district superintendent recommended dismissing the middle school teacher who allegedly claimed 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 viral encounter with American Indian activist Nathan Phillips. Michelle Grissom, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Mountain Ridge Middle School (MRMS) in Colorado, 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., on Jan. 18. Jackson was not in Washington at the time of the incident that went viral on social media. Jackson’s dad, John Jackson, repeatedly asked Grissom to take down the tweets, but she only removed them once the district was contacted. “I made a recommendation to the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board of Education that Ms. Grissom be dismissed,” DSCD superintendent Thomas Tucker said in a Tuesday statement. Grissom remains on paid administrative leave, DCSD Public Information Officer Paula Hans said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email. The social studies teacher has the right to request for “a hearing on the basis…

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Trump Plans to Declare ‘100 Percent’ Victory Over Islamic State Caliphate

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by Jeff Seldin   U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expected to formally declare victory over the Islamic State terror group’s self-declared caliphate in the next week. “Nobody thought it was possible to do it this quickly,” Trump told members of the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, who were meeting in Washington. “It should be formally announced, probably sometime next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” he added. “We’ve had victory after victory.” U.S. defense and intelligence officials believe that up to 1,500 IS fighters are still clinging to a 50-square-kilometer patch of land in Syria, but have been more cautious in their assessments. In just the past week, they have described the fighting as tough, saying coalition-backed forces were pushing through booby-trapped streets and settlements. And they warned that even once the last of the IS-held territory was liberated, the terror group still would have as many as another 30,000 fighters and supporters dispersed throughout Syria and Iraq. Yet despite more wary assessments from top military and intelligence officials, Trump said Wednesday that the terror organization had been decimated, losing tens of thousands of fighters and more than 60 high-ranking…

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Bill Introduced By State Representative Bruce Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley to Help Fund Trump’s Border Wall Catches Attention of Laura Ingraham

Laura Baigert

The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it. Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill. The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title. If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will retain one…

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Maplewood Lady Panthers Eye Long State Playoff Run

Scott Wallace

NASHVILLE- As you walk in Maplewood High School’s gym, you can’t miss the wall behind the south end that has two panther eyes. This Friday, those eyes and the eyes of District 10 AA will be on a crucial girls’ basketball match-up between the East Nashville Lady Eagles (23-2 overall, 10-1 District 10AA) and the Maplewood Lady Panthers (15-3, 11-0). A victory by Maplewood will clinch the district for the first time and give them a season sweep of the powerful East Nashville squad in both teams’ last regular season game. “This game is very important,” said Lady Panther head coach Tristin Williams. “A win will put us in a good position for the tournament and we expect to see them again in the (district) championship. We have been focused on the task at hand all year. Our goal is to get to Murfreesboro this year. We are trying to get where they are. Coach (Missy) Donaldson does a great job. I have respect for the players and coaches over there. They work extremely hard.” Another daunting image when you walk in the gym are the banners hanging with championships on the wall. In recent years, the boys’ program coached…

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General Assembly Considers Bill Requiring Police to Take Diversity Training

Jason M. Reynolds

It seems Tennessee’s police officers need diversity training, one lawmaker believes, and he has filed a bill in the General Assembly to force that training. State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D-TN-28) of Chattanooga on Jan. 30 filed HB0321. The bill’s caption says it would require “law enforcement officers to satisfactorily complete a diversity training program created by the peace officer standards and training commission by July 1, 2021, or within six months of the officer’s date of employment.” State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-TN-10) of Chattanooga is the Senate sponsor. The Chattanooga Times Free Press says the bill would require the training to take place every year. The bill caption does not mention annual training. According to the Times Free Press: “There is a concern within the city, and our community, as to what is perceived as excessive force,” said Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, a Democrat and the lone black member of Hamilton County’s legislative delegation. “I think part of the problem is that people don’t really know each other.” The legislation is in response to several encounters between police and black suspects. However, Hakeem’s and Gardenhire’s bills could be redundant in nature. Some skeptics say a directive from former Gov. Bill Haslam…

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Green New Deal Outline Released, Calls for ‘Repairing Historic Oppression’

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by Michael Bastasch   New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a resolution that outlines the “Green New Deal” that’s become a central part of the Democratic agenda, including backing from 2020 candidates. The “Green New Deal” resolution calls for “10-year national mobilizations” towards a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, according to a copy of the bill obtained by NPR. A separate fact-sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” That includes getting all our energy needs from “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” by “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.” Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution calls for a variety of social justice and welfare state goals, including “a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security” and “high-quality health care” benefits for Americans. The resolution calls for “repairing historic oppression” among certain groups, including minorities, immigrants, women, low-income workers, indigenous people and youth collectively called “frontline and vulnerable communities.” The call to “promote justice and equity” among those groups is seen as one of the “Green New Deal’s” primary goals by its architects. The House resolution has more than 20 cosponsors,…

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First Climate Change Hearing in Years Relied on Testimony from Activists and Religious Leaders

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by Michael Bastasch   Top House Democrats finally got their wish to hold the first hearings on global warming in six years Wednesday, but both committee hearings meandered into discussions of civil rights, race and apocalyptic warnings without much talk about science. The House Committee on Natural Resources hearing started off with testimony from Govs. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, and Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a Republican — both of whom support liberal climate policies. During that time, Utah Rep. Rob Bishop questioned whether or not the climate hearing broke committee rules. Bishop, the committee’s ranking Republican, also wondered why the committee held a hearing on an issue outside its jurisdiction. “Are these hearings simply for those of us around the horseshoe who are going to make legislation, or are these hearings designed for that group sitting at a table in the corner so they can write cute stories?” Bishop asked, pointing to where reporters sat in the hearing room. The committee chairman, Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, responded that global warming “significance and consequences over all our jurisdictions.” Bishop said he wanted a hearing “focused on solutions and not just empty rhetoric and fear mongering.” So,…

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Metro Councilman John Cooper Will Not Challenge Nashville Mayor David Briley, May not Seek Re-Election to Council

Jason M. Reynolds
John Cooper

Metro At-Large Councilman John Cooper will not run against Nashville Mayor David Briley in August and may not seek re-election to the council, he said Thursday. According to the Nashville Scene, Cooper said it is good to have a rotation of leaders in government. State Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-TN-55) is the only candidate running against Briley. According to the Scene: “Rotation of personnel in citizen government is a good thing,” Cooper told the Post. “Having a bench of personnel who have gone through this learning experience is also super for a community.” To that point, two new names have recently appointed treasurers to run for one of five at-large seats on the Metro Council: former state Rep. Gary Moore and Zulfat Suara, a controller at Meharry Medical College and chair of the American Muslin Advisory Council. Constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian Daniel A. Horwitz tweeted, “I’m very sad about this news.  However, it makes going all in for @JRClemmons easy as can be.  Everyone should be grateful for @JCooper4Council’s service on the Council and his contribution to an otherwise insane and clueless body.” https://twitter.com/Scot_Blog/status/1093611519202545664 Cooper is the brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) and the son of former…

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North Carolina Lt. Governor Lambasts NY, VA Infanticide Bills: ‘A Brutal, Horrible Death’, and ‘Democrats Should Be Ashamed’

A.P. Dillon

In a radio interview, North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Dan Forest spoke truth to power about the Democrat push of bills in New York and Virginia which remove all limits on abortion and open the door to infanticide. Forest, who has started a gubernatorial exploratory committee, told K.C. O’Dea on O’Dea’s morning radio show that all limits on abortion are being ‘thrown out the window’ by the Democrats. “They are completely fearless on this issue now,” said the Lt. Governor. “What was their term? It was going to be ‘ rare and safe and legal’ and whatever? They don’t care about that at all. They’ve thrown that all of those things out the window.” “They took everything off… all limits off. Basically, if the mother’s having a bad day and doesn’t feel like having that baby up to the very last second right before it’s born, they can kill it,” said Forest. “And that’s a brutal, horrible death.” The Lt. Governor Forest slammed the Democrats for pointing to science but ignoring that science shows a baby feels pain very early in its development. Forest also described the process and that Democrats should be ashamed. “Inject poison into the baby’s brain and…

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Commentary: Donald Trump’s Annihilation of the Democratic Party

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by Conrad Black   The nadir of the amoral egotism of what might broadly be called “Me-ism” has been reached by the avant-garde of the Democratic Party in their race to the bottom of the electoral depths. The renunciation of any notions of sacrifice, patriotic pride, the spirituality of life, or the recognition of anything except the smash-and-grab politics of endless atomized grievances and instant gratification of convenience, has reached what must, in its way, be the end of history. The governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, led the way downwards with an unctuous statement on the virtues of delivering children, assuring their survival as live babies, and then determining in discussion with the mother (of course) whether they deserved to be allowed to survive. This was an attitude that appalled a large section of opinion in 5th century B.C. Athens. In espousing it, far more than the utter moral vacuity of the cutting edge of the Democratic Party has been exposed. When running for governor, Northam called his opponent a racist and President Trump a “narcissistic maniac.” The Bigger Fight The informal, spontaneous, emergent strategy of the Democrats is finally erupting and foaming from the mouths and…

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Minnesota University Facing Backlash for Extending Suspension of Professor Who Used Racial Slur in Discussion

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s Augsburg University is facing backlash after extending a professor’s suspension while it conducts a formal review of his use of the n-word in a class discussion. Professor Phillip Adamo was suspended from his teaching duties in October when students complained about his use of the word through the school’s bias-reporting system. Adamo used the word while reading from a James Baldwin book, and later shared essays with his students about using the word in academic discussions. “I see a distinction between use and mention,” Adamo recently told Inside Higher Ed. “To use the word, to inflict pain or harm, is unacceptable. To mention the word, in a discussion of how the word is used, is necessary for honest discourse.” Adamo later took medical leave because of the stress of the situation, and now the university has announced that his suspension will be extended through the spring semester while it conducts a formal review. In a February 1 statement, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) expressed concern that Adamo’s suspension “was a violation of his academic freedom, as it appears to have been primarily based on classroom speech that was clearly protected by principles of academic freedom.” “Professor Adamo’s…

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Kenton County, Kentucky Attorney General: FBI Assisting in Reviewing Threats Against Covington Catholic Students

Andrew Shirley

The advocacy efforts of one Ohio Christian organization may have confirmed that the FBI is now involved in an investigation into threats made against Covington Catholic High School students. On January 18th, at the March for Life rally, in Washington D.C., students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School were viewing the monuments before returning to their bus. On their way, they passed a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, an organization that the Sothern Poverty Law Center classifies as an; extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery, This group began “preaching” directly act the boys; calling them “Donald Trump incest babies” and warning one of the black students that his white classmates would steal his organs. The full video of their “sermon,” and the incident that followed, can be found here. In response, the students mainly laughed off the criticism but many were visibly unnerved. The chaperones encouraged the students to begin singing school chants, presumably to drown out the proselytizing, which they did. At that point, a group of Native Americans engaged in a separate rally, stepped in between the two groups…

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Omar, Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Turn on the Waterworks at Press Conference to Defund ICE

Anthony Gockowski

Several new progressive members of the U.S. House made emotional appeals to defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a Thursday morning press conference organized by MoveOn. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) spoke at the press conference behind a podium with a banner of: “Defund the deportation force.” “Earlier this week we were here and we were hearing inside that Capitol the State of the Union. The president said something. He said and spoke of the idea that he likes quote-unquote legal immigration. But that is a lie. The president does not like any form of immigration,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Now he is asking for $5 billion to continue to militarize and weaponize a force that has zero accountability, whose director and whose secretary has no idea when she goes in front of a hearing how many children are dying in her own care, under her own watch, and they have the audacity to ask for more money to fund that. I don’t think so,” she continued. She went on to say that ICE “does not deserve a dime” because it “repeatedly and systematically violates human rights.” Rep. @AOC is calling on Congress to cut…

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DeWine Appointed Committee Recommends Gas Tax Hike for Ohio

Andrew Shirley

After two meetings and two hours of public testimony, the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Transportation has, so far, agreed on only one thing to save Ohio’s roads and bridges: raise taxes. As previously reported, the committee was officially launched on January 31st. Hand-picked by Governor Mike DeWine, the bipartisan committee of industry leaders, advisers, and infrastructure experts was assigned the review the current infrastructure needs and explore creative and unique solutions. While they have yet to make their final report, these initial findings are sure to disappoint many of DeWine’s voters, should they be adopted. The current gas tax was set at 28-cents-a-gallon on July 1st, 2005. These revenues are intended to directly fund the maintenance, repair, and expansion of roads and bridges throughout the state. Over time, two primary factors have greatly diminished their ability to do so. The first is that, as cars have become more efficient and achieve higher miles-per-gallon, revenues have decreased. In addition, the higher demand and proliferation of electric vehicles has had an effect that will significantly increase over time. Until this problem is addressed, the more ubiquitous electric cars become, the harder it is to maintain the roads all drivers use. The second factor is…

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Venezuela Barricades Key Border Crossing to Block Humanitarian Aid

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Venezuelan soldiers have blocked a key border crossing to prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid from the United States and other foreign nations. A giant orange tanker and two large blue shipping containers were moved into the middle of a bridge connecting Venezuela to Colombia Wednesday, with armed guards patrolling the area to turn back any attempt to cross the border. The U.S. has pledged $20 million in aid to Venezuela, including desperately needed food and medicine, but President Nicolas Maduro has rejected the aid, arguing that Venezuela is not a nation of “beggars” and would pave the way towards a U.S. military invasion. Venezuela’s oil-backed economy is in tatters due to a collapse of world energy prices, corruption and failed socialist policies. Food, fuel, and many basic goods are in severely short supply and inflation is out of control, forcing millions of Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia. The blocked humanitarian aid marks another chapter in the standoff between Maduro and Juan Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who has declared himself the country’s interim president. More than 40 nations, including the U.S., Canada and many members of the European Union, have backed Guaido’s claim that he…

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GOP Rep Sean Duffy Calls Out Democratic Pastors for Siding With Liberals on Abortion

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by Nick Givas   Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin criticized Democratic pastors for siding with liberals on the issue of abortion following President Trump’s State of The Union address. “If I can just join in, I think there’s no more noble cause than to fight for the most defenseless that we have in our society, which are newborn babies or babies in the womb,” Duffy said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.” “And again, we believe in life at conception. We’re talking about late-term abortion that Democrats are now supportive of. And, again, I agree, it was a disheartening moment. But it shows how far and extreme the Democrats have gotten where they are proponents of infanticide? And what’s also disheartening too, there’s a lot of pastors in the Democrat Party. A lot of pastors who are people of faith, who then say ‘we’re going to support these kind of issues.’ Unbelievable.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade said Democrats didn’t understand the impact abortion could have on the electorate and highlighted Democratic Govs. Ralph Northam or Virginia and Andrew Cuomo of New York as prime examples. “Sean, I just don’t think they understand. They didn’t know what they were getting into,” Kilmeade…

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Commentary: Jonathan Mayhew Was America’s First Revolutionary Preacher-Patriot

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by Gary M Galles   Ministers, “watchmen on…the wall of liberty,” according to Franklin Cole, editor of They Preached Liberty, were among America’s greatest revolutionary influences. The most influential was Boston Congregationalist minister Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766). Declaration of Independence signer Robert Treat Paine called Mayhew America’s “Father of Civil and Religious Liberty.” Especially important was his January 30, 1750, address, which was widely printed and read. Given for the centennial of Charles I’s execution, Mayhew argued that obedience is not the due of oppressive governments because such tyranny violates the divinely-instituted purpose of government to benefit the people. And if rebellion against Charles for eviscerating British liberty was justifiable, the same arguments applied to Americans’ loss of liberty under George III. As we commemorate Mayhew, reconsider his argument for our liberty, which is safe only when we recognize its fundamental importance—an argument so important John Adams called it “the spark that ignited the American Revolution.” “Such as really performed the duty of magistrates would be enemies only to the evil actions of men…But how is this an argument that we must honor and submit to…such as are not a common blessing, but a common curse, to society…If magistrates are unrighteous…the…

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February 13th: Concerned Parents and Grassroots Organization Call for School Choice in Response To Failing Public Schools in Ohio

Andrew Shirley

On February 13th, the Citizens for Community Values will join with a group of concerned parents to hold a press conference, imploring the Ohio legislature to expand access to EDChoice Scholarships. Since 2005, EdChoice scholarships have existed been a statewide initiative that gives students the opportunity to receive scholarships to attend private schools, should their local public school perform poorly. The Ohio Department of Education rates each school and district on six components then assigns an overall grade. Overall, Toledo public high schools currently have an “F.” In four of six categories; Achievement, Gap Closing, Graduation Rate, and Prepared for Success, Toledo also has an F. In the remaining 2; Improving At-Risk K-3 Readers and Progress, the district received a “D.” Many local parents have reservations in sending their children to these schools. The concerned parents organizing the press conference all have children who attend private schools local to Toledo, many of which will be entering high school soon. Due to a provision within the law, these private school students, who are not currently receiving scholarships, are ineligible to receive these funds for high school. Therefore, they would have no choice to attend the local public schools or try to pay out-of-pocket, which is an unrealistic expense…

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Box 55 Nonprofit, Helping Emergency Responders, Receives Generous Donations from Twice Daily

Chris Butler

Officials with the Twice Daily convenience store chain announced Thursday they donated several supplies to Box 55, a nonprofit that provides Nashville’s emergency responders with snacks and other essentials while they’re working in the field. This, according to a press release from Box 55 organizers and Twice Daily officials. Box 55 is a 501(c) (3). The nonprofit offers these supplies and other help to first responders, including those in fire, police, and Emergency Medical Services without any government funding, said spokesman Norm Partin. Box 55 volunteers, for instance, assisted first responders during the search for the Waffle House shooter in April of last year, Partin said. “Just imagine a multiple alarm fire that requires an extended stay, whether it is a fire or police issue, or Haz-Mat. It’s not a ‘Wrap it up and get out of here’ situation, but it’s an extended stay. Our volunteers assist the firemen and the police,” Partin told The Tennessee Star. “You are out in the heat for an extended amount of time. You have to take a break and get some refreshment. That is their (the volunteers’) primary goal, to keep everybody hydrated, warm or cold or dry or whatever they can do…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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