Mayor John Cooper’s budget for the 2021 Fiscal Year (FY) includes a five percent increase in spending, which will come at the expense of Nashville property owners by way of a 32 percent property tax increase.
The record-high budget of $2.45 billion is Cooper’s first, and comes on the heels of a devastating tornado on March 3 and during a worldwide coronavirus pandemic which resulted in major losses of personal property and income for Nashvillians.
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President Trump repeatedly has called on companies to move their factories out of Communist China.
He imposed tariffs after determining the Chinese government was illegally subsidizing the production of those goods.
Companies responded by asking the president to lift the tariffs, parroting the Chinese Communist party line.
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On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy spoke to Tennessee Star Senior Reporter Laura Baigert on the newsmakers line.
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Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former Deputy National Security Advisor and author of “Revolution: Trump, Washington and We the People” KT McFarland to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, McFarland talked about her new book and her contentment with positive reviews from both President Trump and his administration. She also weighed in on the new findings of the exoneration of Michael Flynn and gave testimony to the abuse of power she witnessed herself by the FBI and Department of Justice.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who once pled for an influx of healthcare workers to treat COVID-19, now says they have to pay up for the privilege of having worked there to treat the coronavirus.
Cuomo said out-of-state medical professionals who volunteered to help his state owe income taxes, Fox News said. That applies even if they stayed on the payroll in their home states. However, only workers who stayed in New York for more than 14 days are on the hook.
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Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined on the newsmakers line by all-star panelist Dr. Carol Swain.
During the second hour, Swain weighed in on Mayor Cooper’s handling of the shutdown and how he is not making good on his promises that he ran on. She believes that it is a poor time to increase property taxes and that this is a perfect example of what it would be like to live under a Democratic Party rule.
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The European Union allowed the Chinese government to censor part of an op-ed by the EU ambassador to China that was published in a state newspaper, China Daily.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) insisted on censoring an op-ed by the EU ambassador to China to remove a reference to COVID-19 originating in China, an EU spokesman said Wednesday, adding that the EU acquiesced to the censorship rather than withdrawing the op-ed.
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President Donald Trump vetoed a bipartisan congressional resolution Wednesday that would have curbed his ability to direct military action against Iran.
“This was a very insulting resolution, introduced by Democrats as part of a strategy to win an election on November 3 by dividing the Republican Party,” Trump said Wednesday as he signed the veto. “The few Republicans who voted for it played right into their hands. Congress should not have passed this resolution.”
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With many state and local governments starting to relax stay-at-home orders, it’s instructive to examine just how concentrated the spread of COVID-19 has been in the U.S.
Although all U.S. states have reported cases of COVID-19, the distribution of the cases and deaths has remained heavily concentrated in a small number of states, and among a small number of counties within all states.
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Fewer Tennesseans filed new unemployment claims this past week, while the number of continued claims in the state also slightly fell.
This, according to a press release The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development put out Thursday.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcasting live from Music Row on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined on the newsmakers line by all-star panelist and Thales Academy in Franklin’s Principal Rachael Bradley.
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Gov. Bill Lee said more than 23,000 Tennesseans have received a free COVID-19 test at one of 67 drive-through testing sites over the past three weekends.
“Testing remains one of the most important tools for gaining more information in our fight against COVID-19, and the 23,000 tests we’ve completed over the last three weekends have provided incredibly valuable data,” Lee said in a statement. “We’re grateful to the thousands who came out to receive a test this weekend and we continue to remind Tennesseans: when in doubt, get a test.”
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A 57-year-old man from El Salvador became the first individual in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody to die from COVID-19 complications.
Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia passed away early Wednesday morning after being hospitalized and on a ventilator for roughly a week, The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported. Escobar Mejia, a detainee at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, was one of hundreds of individuals in ICE custody who have contracted the novel coronavirus.
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Stacey Abrams said she hasn’t been pitching herself to be the vice presidential nominee, despite repeatedly touting her bona fides to media outlets and reports that she has pressured Joe Biden’s inner circle to choose her.
Abrams walked back the notion that she has been “pitching” herself to be Biden’s vice presidential running-mate in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. The former Georgia state representative and failed gubernatorial candidate described the idea as a “mischaracterization.”
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This week U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) announced that U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-TN-07) a member of the House Oversight Committee, has been named as one of five Republicans to serve on the Coronavirus Select Committee.
Green is the only doctor appointed to serve on this Committee, according to a press release Green put out this week.
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Liberal billionaire John Arnold makes no sense. He is worried that the country’s population will decline, but he generously supports the abortion lobby. He is concerned about global warming, but he tore down a historic, old mansion to build a new 20,000 square-foot home, which cannot possibly have a tiny “carbon footprint.” He wants to help catch criminals while he works to get them released quickly before trial – and then after sentencing if a pandemic occurs. Concern for the rights and wellbeing of prisoners is commendable, but the safety of the public should take precedence.
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The state of Ohio has more than 1.1 million people who have filed unemployment claims in the past seven weeks as Ohio’s stay-at-home led to widespread layoffs – which has more than the combined total for the last three years – the US Department of Labor reported Thursday.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order on Thursday to May 28, while initiating her MI Safe Start Plan.
The plan allows manufacturing workers, such as those at automotive companies, to resume work on May 11. Companies must conduct daily entry screening protocol for those entering the facility, including a questionnaire about symptoms and a temperature screening. Facilities must also create dedicated entry points and suspend the entry of nonessential people.
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More than 600,000 Minnesotans have filed for unemployment since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the state has had 633,405 applications for unemployment insurance since March 16. That number represents a little more than 20 percent of the state’s workforce, Fox 9 reported Wednesday.
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A second lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Gov. Tim Walz on behalf of multiple Minnesota churches and small business owners.
The complaint asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to strike down Walz’s emergency executive orders issued during the coronavirus pandemic as unconstitutional under the First, Fifth, and 14th Amendments.
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State Rep. Diane Grendell (R- Geauga County) wants Ohio Health Department Director Dr. Amy Acton to be more forthcoming about COVID-19 statistics.
Grendell drafted the “Truth in COVID-19 Statistics” bill, the Record-Courier reported. She said the bill will be introduced in the House later this week, and she expects it to gain bipartisan support.
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After 53 days in quarantine, Nashville will move to Phase One of Mayor John Cooper’s plan to reopen the city’s economy, at least partially, this coming Monday.
Cooper wasted no time announcing this while opening a press conference Thursday.
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