Minnesota’s unemployment rate increased to 8.1 percent in April, the first full month impacted by coronavirus restrictions.
Between March and April, the state’s unemployment rate jumped from 2.9 percent to 8.1 percent. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose from 4.4 percent in March to 14.7 percent in April.
Read the full story
The ongoing saga of Owosso barber Karl Manke’s battle against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to shutter businesses during the coronavirus pandemic turned another page on Thursday.
Shiawassee County Circuit Judge Matthew J. Stewart determined state attorneys failed to convince him Manke’s refusal to comply with the governor’s order posed an imminent threat to the public. As a result, Manke’s shop on Owosso’s Main Street will remain open and the 77-year-old barber will be cutting hair for the foreseeable future.
Read the full story
Crime victim advocates say they want members of the Tennessee General Assembly to consider Marsy’s Law before they adjourn their session for the year.
Supporters said this in an emailed press release this week.
Read the full story
In the immense and multifaceted controversy over the coronavirus pandemic, and in the midst of tumultuous pre-electoral events in the United States, the role of the Chinese government in inflicting this economic and public health disaster on the world has been the subject of comparative restraint.
Were it not for these other preoccupations in this American election year, and expert research confirmed official Chinese complicity, by negligence or malice, in the generation of the pandemic, with the complicity of the World Health Organization, there would be some danger of an intemperate response.
Read the full story
An illegal alien was arrested in a Northern Virginia suburb for his alleged involvement in a deadly hit-and-run accident and handed over to immigration officials, but local leaders are looking to scrap a program that allows law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Officials in Prince William County, Virginia, have debated ending a years-long partnership program with federal immigration authorities, the 287(g) program. The introduction of new jail board appointees is expected to lead to the end of this partnership, according to proponents of the program.
Read the full story
A top prosecutor on the special counsel’s team will headline a fundraiser in June for former Vice President Joe Biden.
Andrew Weissmann, a former Justice Department official, will take part in a “fireside chat” for the Biden Victory Fund to be held online on June 2. The event will be moderated by Anne Milgram, the former attorney general for New Jersey.
Read the full story
On Friday’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. – host Michael Patrick Leahy and all-star panelist Crom Carmichael welcomed the owner of Nashville Boutique Venues Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Cook described his attempts to contact Mayor John Cooper’s office to discuss the phase openings and how it’s negatively impacted his business. He expressed his disappointment that he has not received any type of return communication from the mayor’s office after several attempts but appeared hopeful with the local media attention he’s been able to attain.
Read the full story
An all new LIVE STREAM of Descent Into Hell: The Persecution of Religion under the CCP starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday. The two-hour special takes a closer look at the life of everyday Chinese citizens under the Chinese Communist Party and will air live on the John Fredericks Radio Network, America’s Voice Network, Dish TV Channel 219, The Epoch Times, ND TV, GTV and GNews in Mandarin. John Fredericks said, “A longtime China hawk and global leader in the fight for freedom of the Chinese people, Mr. Bannon was one of the first people in the world to accurately predict and call attention to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. This show will be groundbreaking in detailed strategy and the latest firsthand news from the world’s experts on the Chinese Communist Party.” Episode 191: 10 a.m. ET livestream link: Episode 192: 11 a.m. ET livestream link: Previously, Bannon hosted a series of three, two-hour long special programs titled Descent into Hell: The Chinese People Confront the CCP. The show’s broadcast partners are America’s Voice News, the John Fredericks Radio Network, Salem Media Group, and Newsmax TV and the podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and Google Play.…
Read the full story
When schools reopen in the US amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they will be even more restrictive than they already were. Schools have long controlled students’ movements and imposed constraints on where they can go, when, and with whom. With virus concerns, those controls will increase in quantity and intensity.
NPR recently proclaimed that “disruption from the pandemic constitutes an ‘adverse childhood experience’ for every American child.” While many children are sad to be away from their friends and activities, being home with their family members for a prolonged period of time is hardly an “adverse childhood experience” for most American children. Returning to schools with extreme virus control and social distancing measures, however, could very well be traumatic for many kids.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump called on governors Friday to open houses of worship “right now,” warning he will override governors’ orders if they do not allow Americans to attend religious services.
Trump spoke Friday at the White House where he said governors should allow churches and places of worship to open, saying that if governors have any questions on this, “they’re going to have to call me, but they’re not going to be successful in that call.”
Read the full story
During a skyped interview on a New York City radio talk show Friday, Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden belittled any black voters who would not vote for him.
“If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” Biden told Charlamagne, the black host of the New York City-based Breakfast Club radio show.
Read the full story
Music City will honor healthcare heroes, first responders and frontline workers with a televised fireworks show from downtown Nashville on July 4th, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today. There will be no public concert or spectators allowed in parks. A short fireworks display will be set to recorded music by Nashville artists, which will air locally on NewsChannel 5.
Country music superstar Brad Paisley, who was previously scheduled to headline this year’s July 4th event, will instead headline in 2021, giving the community something to look forward to and visitors a reason to book a trip to Nashville next year.
Read the full story
On Friday’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. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
At the end of the second hour, Carmichael discussed the concept of contact tracing and suggested that perhaps the Democratic elite and the media should be the first to explore that option. He reflected on the House Democrats that recently proposed that the country could employ millions of people as contract tracers and speculated that the ultimate goal would be to have them unionized.
Read the full story
U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi has announced a plan to tackle Tennessee’s Asian Carp problem.
This, according to an emailed press release Sethi sent out Friday.
Read the full story
2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s accuser Tara Reade is no longer represented by Douglas Wigdor, Wigdor LLP announced Friday.
The firm made the decision to no longer represent Reade’s allegations against the former vice president Wednesday, but said in a press release that the firm still strongly believes that Reade has been “subjected to a double standard in terms of the media coverage she has received.”
Read the full story
The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee released a new solutions guide for Gov. Bill Lee and the state legislature on Friday that focused on making some of the deregulation done by executive order during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent.
This, according to an emailed press release Beacon put out Friday.
Read the full story
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released numbers on Friday that showed truly how devastating the coronavirus has been on Ohio’s economy.
The data shows Ohio’s unemployment rate jumped 11 percentage points between March and April.
Read the full story
A Michigan Court of Claims judge has ruled in the favor of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, saying that she had the authority to extend Michigan’s state of emergency order.
Judge Cynthia Stephens said that while Whitmer had the authority to extend the order under the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945, she did overstep by trying to extend it under the Emergency Management Act of 1976, which requires legislative authority, according to reporting by The Detroit News.
Read the full story
The general manager of the Minnesota State Fair announced Friday morning that the annual gathering will be canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been working hard and doing our very best with preparations for the 2020 State Fair. The picture was cloudy in March, but things have cleared up considerably since then. Right now is the time of year when things need to really take off if we’re going to have a fair, but we can see that we’re out of runway and can’t get off the ground. There will be no State Fair this year,” General Manager Jerry Hammer said in a statement.
Read the full story
Minnesota business leaders have said they were blindsided by Gov. Tim Walz’s announcement that bars and restaurants will be allowed to resume only outdoor dining on June 1.
Under new guidelines announced Wednesday, bars and restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining on June 1 and must limit seating to no more than 50 people. Salons, barbershops, and other personal care services can reopen June 1, but must limit capacity to 25 percent of the building’s maximum occupancy. Like bars and restaurants, appointments are required and no walk-ins are allowed.
Read the full story
The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) issued a statement criticizing Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday, saying she prioritized mussels over dam safety, leading to massive flooding in the state.
More than 10,000 Midland residents were displaced after heavy rains overflowed Edenville Dam, then Sanford Dam, earlier this week.
A new lawsuit seeks the release of inmates at the Shelby County Jail who are at “high risk of severe injury or death from COVID-19.”
As of Friday afternoon, the jail reported 160 confirmed coronavirus cases among detainees, but 156 have already recovered, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Another 68 employees have tested positive for the virus, 46 of whom have recovered. Only one current hospitalization was reported among both employees and detainees.
Read the full story
“You ain’t black if you don’t back me over Trump.” I cringed when Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, made this startling, demeaning statement about black Americans who dare think for themselves. His ugly, offensive remarks that I and other blacks who support President Trump are no longer black is a racist statement, period. It should be categorically rejected by all Americans.
Read the full story
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development officials revealed Thursday that the state’s unemployment rate was at its highest-ever, because of COVID-19, according to a TDLWD press release.
“The preliminary seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for April 2020 is 14.7 percent, which is an unprecedented spike of 11.4 percentage points when compared to March’s revised rate of 3.3 percent. This is Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate in a generation. Before the pandemic, the state’s all-time highest seasonally adjusted rate was 12.9 percent, which occurred in back to back months in December 1982 and January 1983,” according to the press release.
Read the full story
It’s starting to happen.”
That’s what Brad Parscale said around 8 p.m. to the family and inner circle on the 14th floor of Trump Tower on November 8, 2016, as we were watching election returns trickle in from North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Read the full story
An FBI offer to pay former British spy Christopher Steele to collect intelligence on Michael Flynn in the weeks before the 2016 election has been one of the more overlooked revelations in a Justice Department inspector general’s report released in December.
The reference to the FBI proposal, which was made in an Oct. 3, 2016, meeting in an unidentified European city, has received virtually no press attention. But it might have new significance following the recent release of government documents that show that Steele peddled an unfounded rumor that Flynn had an extramarital affair with a Russian woman in the United Kingdom.
Read the full story
The Great Awakening.
History books tell us “The Great Awakening” was (according to Wikipedia), “The First Great Awakening (sometimes Great Awakening) or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its Thirteen Colonies between the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affected Protestantism as adherents strove to renew individual piety and religious devotion. The Great Awakening marked the emergence of Anglo-American evangelicalism as a trans-denominational movement within the Protestant churches. In the United States, the term Great Awakening is most often used, while in the United Kingdom, it is referred to as the Evangelical Revival.”
Read the full story
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she is following through on a threat to keep President Donald Trump out of her state after he did not wear a face mask for part of a tour at a Michigan car plant.
The president is no longer welcome in Michigan, Nessel told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday after saying earlier in the day on CNN that Trump would be asked “not to return” if he did not follow the state’s guidelines. Not following the guidelines on social distancing and mask wearing cannot be tolerated, she added.
Read the full story
Live from Nashville, Tennessee 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 in studio by former Vanderbilt professor Dr. Carol Swain.
Towards the end of the second hour, Swain further describes elements of her recent meeting with Mayor John Cooper and notes that any Democrat mayor at this point in history is stifled by constituency groups and high levels of deep corruption. She advocated for listeners and citizens of Nashville to sign the petition for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.
Read the full story
The Senate confirmed Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX-04) on Thursday as President Trump’s top intelligence official in a vote straight along party lines.
Ratcliffe became Trump’s second permanent Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in a 49-44 vote, with all Democrats opposed. The vote along party lines was the first since the position was created following the 9/11 attack as generally there are never more than a dozen senators voting against a confirmation for the position, according to CNN.
Read the full story
House Democrats urged the Trump administration Wednesday to stop all deportation flights, arguing that these repatriations contribute to the spread of coronavirus in Latin America.
In a letter sent Wednesday, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf to discontinue deportation flights amid the coronavirus pandemic, and release illegal aliens currently in detention.
Read the full story
Chattanooga businessman Tim Kelly is running for mayor, The Chattanoogan said Thursday.
The election is March 2021. Incumbent Andy Berke is term-limited.
Read the full story
Infection prevention and control deficiencies were widespread across most of the country’s nursing homes before the coronavirus outbreak, a watchdog group reported Thursday.
More than 82% of the United States’ 15,500 nursing homes were cited for infection prevention and control deficiencies between 2013 and 2017, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) wrote in a blog post Thursday.
Read the full story
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 Leahy was joined in the studio by former Vanderbilt professor and mayoral candidate Dr. Carol M. Swain.
At the top of the third hour, Swain discussed her disappointment in Mayor Cooper’s decision-making process by keeping Nashville shut down and acknowledging his lack of compassion. She added that it appears that his brother Jim Cooper may be the man behind Mayor Cooper pulling the strings and who’s first priority is satisfying the desires of national Democrats instead of Tennesseans.
Read the full story
Nashville will move to the second of its four-phased plan on Monday to reopen the city’s economy after COVID-19 shut it down for two months.
Cooper announced this at a press conference Thursday.
Read the full story
Former Vanderbilt professor Dr. Carol Swain joined host Leahy live in-studio on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee 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.
During the second hour, Swain reflected upon her recent meeting with Mayor John Cooper and a few other prominent citizens to discuss ways to cut city budget costs and eliminate the need for an immediate 32% property tax increase. She somberly expressed how Cooper seemed more concerned about optics than he did about the citizens of Davidson County.
Read the full story
Federal officials gave Fisher Sand and Gravel a $1.28 billion deal to build 42 miles of the border wall along the southern border in Arizona, The Arizona Daily Star reported. This May 6 deal is the biggest contract ever given for border wall construction, according to CBS News. The wall will stretch between Nogales, Arizona and Tohono O’odham Nation’s eastern boundary, The Daily Star said. The per-mile cost of this project will be $30 million, which is more than normal due to the difficulties with the land contours of this 42-mile stretch. “While there may be similarities between projects, each project cost is contingent upon its unique characteristics, such as geotechnical, topographical, hydrological and hydraulic, underground utilities, final real estate access, and the cost of materials and labor,” Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Jay Field told The Daily Star. Tommy Fisher, who runs the North Dakota-based company, successfully launched a campaign to get President Donald Trump and federal officials to award him the contract. Republican North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said in a statement, according to KFYRTV, “Fisher Industries is a large employer in North Dakota and we appreciate the contributions this company is making to strengthen our border…
Read the full story
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 Tennessee Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Manny Sethi.
During the third hour, Sethi explained how he has been campaigning throughout Tennessee and witnessing people filled with anxiety about the coronavirus yet recognizing that we need to get back to work. Nearing the end of the segment he called for a second industrial revolution in his Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Tennessee by which would bring back supply chains and medication manufacturing the state.
Read the full story
A man who ran TennCare during the 1990s said Thursday that he expects Tennessee will, within weeks, record a spike in the number of nursing home patients who contract COVID-19.
That man, Rusty Siebert, warned The Tennessee Star Thursday that the goings-on at a Williamson County nursing home might justify his fears.
Read the full story
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in sending a letter on Thursday to Attorney General Bill Barr urging the Department of Justice to investigate Planned Parenthood.
Specifically, they asked Barr to investigate whether dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country fraudulently applied for and received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) despite knowing they were ineligible to apply.
Read the full story
The Minnesota DFL Party, which supported accused domestic abuser Keith Ellison in his run for attorney general, criticized a Republican lawmaker Thursday for “trivializing the severity of domestic abuse.”
Read the full story
The Senate Republican Caucus expressed concern over the governor’s “alarming” interpretation of executive authority in a letter sent this week to Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“Your interpretation of the scope of the Governor’s authority under Minnesota Statutes, section 12.45, is incorrect and inconsistent with legislative intent and with a more measured reading of the law. Most importantly, it is an infringement on the Legislature’s fundamental and exclusive authority to define and prescribe the punishment for a crime,” states the letter.
Read the full story
Ohio saw more than 46,000 people file for unemployment benefits last week, according to numbers released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). This marks the first time Ohio’s unemployment weekly claims have been under 50,000 when the coronavirus hit the state two months ago, and Gov. Mike DeWine shut down the economy. Even though last week’s data reached this milestone, the weekly filings from the week ending May 16 only went down by 5,000 claims from the week ending May 9. Ohioans asking for government assistance should continue to go down as of last weekend, 90 percent of Ohio’s economy had opened up, the Associated Press reported. Since mid-March, more than 1.2 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Ohio. Nationally, America has seen 38.6 million people claim unemployment during the same nine-week span. Ohio has accounted for three percent of America’s unemployment benefit claims during this time period. According to WBNS, ODJFS has given benefits to 619,000 Ohioans totaling over $2.8 billion. This accounts for 52 percent of people who asked for government assistance. ODJFS continues to deal with hackers trying to infiltrate its system. This time, around 24 people who claimed unemployment…
Read the full story
With the data breach exposing the information of unemployed Ohioans, one foundation is saying that the government’s failure to address known flaws with the benefits system means the public has lost trust in the state.
Deloitte Consulting is handling pandemic unemployment assistance claims for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. At least 130,000 independent contractors who filed 1099 forms but have not yet received benefits had their information, including addresses and social security numbers exposed on the Deloitte system, WLWT reported.
Read the full story
Michigan retail businesses, autodealerships and medical services will begin to reopen next week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Thursday.
The latest executive order allows retail businesses to reopen on Tuesday with health and safety guidelines, including providing COVID-19 training to workers. The training must include the proper use of personal protection equipment and steps to take if a worker suspects he or she has symptoms of the coronavirus, among other information.
Read the full story
A new poll from Vanderbilt University claims the approval rating for Mayor John Cooper is “sky high,” but only 19 percent of respondents said they identify as Republicans.
Another 45 percent of respondents said they identify as Democrats, while 26 percent said they are Independents and 10 percent said they are “something else.” Only 21 percent said their political views are “very conservative” or “conservative,” compared to 30 percent who said they are “liberal” or “very liberal.” Forty-eight percent said their political views are “moderate.”
Read the full story
Even as much of the country eases restrictions and slowly begins to reopen state economies, new jobless claims continued their COVID-19 spike last week, increasing the total number of those filing for unemployment benefits to nearly 39 million since mid-March.
According to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor, an additional 2.44 million workers filed for benefits in the week ending May 16. That’s down 249,000 from the revised number of claims filed in the week ending May 9.
Read the full story
Tennessee issued new business guidance Wednesday that will end capacity restrictions for restaurants and retail shops and permit large noncontact attractions to open in 89 of the state’s 95 counties.
Attractions that now can reopen include amusement parks, zoos, large museums and theaters.
Read the full story
There aren’t enough disparaging epithets in the English language to adequately describe “journalists” such as ABC Nightly News anchorman David Muir, the dashing 40-something actor who pretends to share important national news with America. Five days a week, Muir recites agenda-driven propaganda as if it were truth, while his allies who run the social media monopolies throttle down, demonetize, shadowban, or flat out censor reports that conflict with his narrative.
Read the full story
The Rev. Enoch Fuzz of Nashville’s Corinthian Church is currently hospitalized and taking treatments for cancer, according to an emailed press release.
Fuzz, speaking from his room at Metro Nashville General Hospital, said he was taking chemotherapy Wednesday.
Read the full story