An ex-convict in Tennessee is in jail once again this week for allegedly robbing and shooting a 55-year-old man.
This, according to a press release Nashville officials put out this week about Denevie K. Bell.
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American author and lawyer Scott Turow joined 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. – Friday morning on the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Turow discussed what inspired his newest novel “The Last Trial” where he continues to follow the aging life of much-loved attorney Sandy Stern who made his debut in the novel turned Hollywood blockbuster “Presumed Innocent.” He went onto discuss one of his and his fan’s favorite characters in the new book, Pinky Stern, and gave a glimpse into the premise of the story.
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Google acknowledged nixing an internal racial justice program Wednesday, and some employees believe the company did it fearing lawsuits from “right-wing employees,” according to an NBC News report.
The company ended Sojourn in 2019, claiming the program designed to teach about racial injustice was too difficult to expand beyond the United States, NBC News reported Wednesday. Current and former employees, however, told NBC the program ended because Google feared backlash in the wake of former software engineer James Damore’s 2018 lawsuit that accused the company of ideological discrimination.
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Montgomery County, Maryland, a sanctuary jurisdiction that garnered national attention in 2019 for a string of alleged rapes by illegal aliens, is being sued for allotting millions in coronavirus relief funds to its undocumented community.
Two residents in Montgomery County sued county executive Marc Elrich, a Democrat, and the director of the Department of Health and Human Services for green-lighting a program that provides direct financial assistance to illegal aliens who live in the county, but are not eligible for any federal or state relief, according to The Washington Post.
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Facebook is working to set up an AI meme police.
The social media behemoth said it is creating a contest with a $100,000 prize to encourage developers to create artificial intelligence that can “identify multimodal hate speech.”
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Broadcasting live from Music Row Friday 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 the studio by all-star panelist Crom Carmichael.
During the second hour, Carmichael discussed how Democrat governors are using language that is Orwellian in its nature while acting in a manner that proves they think they are better than the average working American. Towards the end of the segment, the duo agreed that this was indeed a failing Democratic strategy to win the November presidential election.
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After the COVID-19 outbreak, and China’s likely role in causing it, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this week asked her U.S. Senate colleagues not to meet with people who represent Chinese companies.
Blackburn said this in a letter dated Thursday.
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PBS affiliates that receive millions of dollars in federal funding each year are airing a pro-Beijing documentary produced in conjunction with CGTN, a Chinese-government controlled media outlet that is registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department.
The film, “Voices from the Frontline: China’s War on Poverty,” did not disclose CGTN’s links to the Chinese government. Nor did it detail the ties that the film’s producer, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, has to Chinese officials and the government’s State Council Information Office, which specializes in foreign propaganda.
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A left-wing group that supports, among other things, the Green New Deal has endorsed a candidate for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District, and it’s not Democratic incumbent Jim Cooper.
Members of that group, Democracy for America, said on their Facebook page this week that they want Nashville public defender Keeda Haynes to replace Cooper.
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Droves of people who live in Nashville’s affordable housing projects aren’t volunteering for COVID-19 tests, despite city officials initially believing they would.
Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency spokeswoman Jamie Berry told The Tennessee Star in an email Friday that only 219 residents tested Thursday at Metro’s Edgehill Apartments and James A. Cayce affordable housing units.
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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 welcomed the owner of Nashville Boutique Venues Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Cook explained where his business falls in the convoluted phases of reopening in Nashville stating that he has been unable to get anywhere at Mayor John Cooper’s office and in desperation has reached out to local media.
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Sweden’s unique approach to the COVID-19 pandemic has been drawing a great deal of scrutiny for weeks, including both admiration and criticism.
The Swedes, unlike most other nations, have eschewed the hardline approach that has led to mass economic shutdowns and skyrocketing unemployment. Restaurants, bars, public pools, libraries and most schools remain open. While the nation’s “laissez-faire” approach has drawn rebuke from some quarters, it is also beginning to draw praise.
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The Michigan Conservative Coalition is planning to hold another protest in Lansing, just a month after hosting Operation Gridlock.
The protest, dubbed “Operation Haircut,” was inspired by the Michigan barber in Owosso who opened in defiance of the state’s lockdown orders. Karl Manke, 77, had originally opened his barbershop on May 4, but was ticketed by Michigan State Police and ordered to close. He recently had his license revoked after a judge denied the state a temporary restraining order.
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Senator Karin Housley has been pushing for testing in nursing homes and on May 14 the National Guard was rolled out.
National Guard workers are currently assigned to help test people. According to KNSI radio, the Guards are trained medics, and many of them work clinical jobs. The Governors of Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, Maryland, Georgia, and Florida had all deployed the national guard by late April.
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Hundreds of protestors congregated in front of Governor Tim Walz’s executive mansion, Thursday, to protest Minnesota’s thrice extended economic shutdowns.
The demonstration began around noon, as concerned citizens lined the street outside the governor’s mansion holding protest signs and flags as vehicles adorned with anti-shutdown messages drove slowly down Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Those in attendance aimed to express their displeasure with how Walz has handled Minnesota’s COVID-19 response.
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Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that child care services can reopen on May 31.
Child care services in Ohio have been limited since March 26 when the state issued measures to combat the coronavirus.
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Gov. Bill Lee announced Friday that Tennessee is lifting its capacity restrictions for restaurants and retail on May 22.
“Tennesseans have worked incredibly hard to do their part and help slow the spread of COVID-19 so that our state can begin to reopen. Thanks to their continued efforts, we’re able to allow restaurants and retail businesses to operate at greater capacity and large attractions to open in a safe and thoughtful way,” Lee said.
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Fewer Tennesseans are filing brand new unemployment claims versus the number who filed last week, but the number of state residents with continued claims has gone up slightly.
This, according to new numbers the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) released Thursday.
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New York has omitted an unknown number of coronavirus deaths in recent reports regarding residents of nursing home and adult care facilities, the New York State Department of Health acknowledged in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In early May, those reports quietly began omitting long-term care residents who died of coronavirus in hospitals. Even so, New York still leads the nation with 5,433 reported deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as of Wednesday.
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One of my favorite short stories is “The Lame Shall Enter First” by Flannery O’Connor. The plot centers on a young, atheist widower who takes in a violent teenage orphan and attempts to reform him. Neglecting his own young and motherless son, the widower focuses all his love and attention on the delinquent teen, even blinding himself to certain crimes the teen commits.
As is common in O’Connor’s work, the ending is gut-wrenching, with the father realizing his neglectful behavior too late as his son commits suicide.
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An outgoing Republican lawmaker says he will buck his party to vote for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s coronavirus stimulus package, a bill that includes a slate of progressive measures.
New York Rep. Peter King told to The Hill Wednesday that he plans to vote for House Democrats’s HEROES Act, a $3 trillion relief package for Americans suffering financially from the coronavirus pandemic. The bill has been criticized by some Republicans as a “liberal wishlist” that has no chance of passing.
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Former Ambassador to Japan and Tennessee Republican Senate Candidate Bill Hagerty joined 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. – Thursday morning on the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Hagerty discussed former Vice President Joe Biden’s involvement in the unmasking of General Michael Flynn and how he has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Hagerty said his campaign is actively laying out a blueprint for bringing much-needed supply chains back to America.
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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 and former Vanderbilt Professor of Law Dr. Carol Swain.
At the bottom of the second hour, Swain reported from credible sources that Mayor Cooper has purchased 40,000 thermometers for Metro employees while keeping his hands out for federal coronavirus bailout money. She added that the coronavirus numbers don’t add up to a shutdown which has forced Nashville to the top of the list of metropolitan cities that are losing the most money during the pandemic.
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The Trump administration is preparing an order that will extend current border restrictions indefinitely, until a top public health official declares the novel coronavirus is no longer a threat, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The White House plans to keep border restrictions in place until it decides the coronavirus outbreak is not a significant threat to the public anymore, according to a draft of a public health order obtained by the NYT. If such an order is implemented, it would remove any concrete timetable to open up the U.S.-Mexico border to non-essential traffic.
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A day after his cellphone was seized by federal agents as part of an FBI investigation into insider trading, North Carolina U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is leaving his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Senator Burr contacted me this morning to inform me of his decision to step aside as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee during the pendency of the investigation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in a statement. “We agreed that this decision would be in the best interests of the committee and will be effective at the end of the day tomorrow.”
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Metro Coronavirus Task Force Chair Alex Jahangir scolded members of the White House Thursday for saying — falsely — that Nashville had a sudden 129 percent increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases earlier this month.
Jahangir said a spike at a prison in nearby Trousdale County had a lot to do with the White House reporting false data about Nashville. This, even though, as The Tennessee Star reported, Jahangir earlier this month made misleading claims about Trousdale County numbers and how they relate to Nashville.
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BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee members will have easier access to health care services moving forward as the state’s largest insurer makes permanent its coverage of virtual visits with in-network providers effective immediately, according to a press release the company put out Thursday.
“The BlueCross decision makes it the first major insurer to embrace telehealth for the long-term after the dramatic expansion of these services during the COVID-19 pandemic, a move the company said aligns with other steps it has taken to improve access to primary care. In March, the mission-driven insurer began covering telephone and video visits with in-network providers,” the press release said.
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China pressured the World Health Organization (WHO) against declaring the coronavirus pandemic a global health emergency, a senior U.S. intelligence official told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
That official’s account confirms aspects of Newsweek’s reporting, which cited a CIA report stating that China urged the WHO not to declare the pandemic a global health emergency.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to ride the wave of business his company is collecting during the coronavirus pandemic to become the world’s first trillionaire, research shows.
Bezos’s net worth has grown by 34% on average over the past half decade, which could make him a trillionaire, according to an analysis from Comparisun, a platform that helps companies create business management tools. Along with creating marketing tools, the company also conducts studies forecasting what will happen in the business sector, Comparisun’s website noted.
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A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ extended safer at home order Wednesday, siding with Republicans who claimed the governor overstepped his authority when his administration extended restrictions on individuals and businesses through May 26.
In the 4-3 decision, all but one of the court’s conservative members ruled that the Evers’ administration does not have the legal power to continuously extend restrictions in the name of trying to slow the spread of COVID-19.
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Reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is once again up for consideration and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has an amendment to fix it — and is urging President Donald Trump to veto the renewal legislation if the Senate doesn’t adopt it.
What makes the Paul amendment unique — and why it must be adopted — as summarized by Lawfareblog.com is that it would “require that electronic surveillance, use of a pen register or trap-and-trace device, production of tangible things, or targeting of U.S. persons for information can be done only pursuant to a warrant issued by a non-FISA federal court and only under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.”
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Dr. Amy Acton claims the Ohio Health Department found five cases in five counties where COVID-19 symptoms were experienced in January.
Acton mentioned serological antibody testing and hinted that contact tracers were involved in investigating the patients’ cases during a press conference Monday, WLWT reported.
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There’s no “pandemic exception” to the Bill of Rights, Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis told The Minnesota Sun in a recent interview. That’s the same argument U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr made in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. “We have three branches of government, and allowing the unitary executive to do this, especially making a pandemic exception to the Bill of Rights, seems to me to be, and to Attorney General Bill Barr, to be overstepping their bounds. Now states, to be perfectly objective about it, states do have plenary police powers, but that assumes the state will make a law in the normal order – introduced in the legislative branch and signed by the governors. That’s not what’s happening here,” Lewis told The Minnesota Sun. Lewis said he’s been campaigning all over the state for the past two weeks because his team decided “enough was enough.” Going through “a second Great Depression” won’t do “anything to stop a virus,” he said. “The lockdown was meant to give hospital capacity a head start – we’ve accomplished that by anybody’s standard. Any official who purports to represent the people of Minnesota cannot deny them their God-given right to earn…
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The Minnesota Alliance for Retired American Educational Fund, along with three of its members, filed a lawsuit to protect voting rights of those who may be self-quarantining without a legal adult.
The lawsuit alleges that those who are quarantining alone — or without a voting-age member of the household — essentially lose their ability to cast a vote, as mail-in absentee ballots require a witness signature.
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About 250 protesters braved a downpour of rain Thursday to object to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders on the Capitol lawn.
Protesters clad in rain gear brought signs wrapped in plastic to share their displeasure with the first-term Democrat’s response to COVID-19.
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Ohio received a little over 51,000 unemployment claims last week, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS).
This marks the third consecutive week that unemployment claims have been less than 100,000. Furthermore, the number of jobless claims people have filed has reduced over 40,000 claims in the last two weeks.
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More than 47,000 people filed for unemployment in Michigan in the week ending May 9, bringing the state total to more than 1.7 million people in the state who have filed for unemployment insurance, according to recently released data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
According to the data, 47,438 people in Michigan filed for unemployment insurance in the state in the week ending May 9, down nearly 20,000 claimants from the previous week. Nearly 3 million people filed nationally.
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More than 40,000 filed for unemployment insurance in Minnesota, bringing the state total to nearly 700,000, according to recent data.
Data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that 40,427 people filed for unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending May 9. That number is down a little more than 1,000 applicants from the week prior.
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City of Franklin officials on Thursday released a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021, and it includes a somewhat steep decrease compared to the current 2019-2020 Fiscal Year budget.
This, according to the City of Franklin’s website, per City of Franklin Administrator Eric Stuckey.
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New jobless claims continued their COVID-19 surge last week, driving the total number of those filing for unemployment benefits to more than 36 million over the past two months.
Even as many states across the country began easing restrictions and slowly reopening their economies, 2.98 million Americans filed for new unemployment benefits for the week ending May 9, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reacted to Wednesday’s bombshell news about prominent members of former President Barack Obama’s administration unmasking Michael Flynn.
Blackburn, in an emailed statement, said that in 2017 she expressed concerns about Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Specifically, the senator said she was concerned about Rice’s role in unmasking members of the Trump transition team on which Blackburn served. At the time, Blackburn wrote that Rice’s behavior appeared, “negligent at best and criminal at worst.”
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It is time for transformative change…towards limited government and more freedom
Out with the old, in with the new.
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Five government-owned internet networks in Tennessee are among several others nationwide that don’t spend public money wisely and also steer business away from private competitors, according to a report a taxpayer watchdog group released Wednesday.
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On Wednesday’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 welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
At the top of the third hour, Carmichael dissected Dr. Fauci’s recent claims and came to the conclusion that we are operating on models that have proven to be false.
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U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty this week released a digital video campaign ad highlighting what he called “Hunter Biden’s corrupt economic relationship with China” and criticized Joe Biden for defending the Chinese Communist regime.
Hagerty said Joe Biden should have held China accountable for jeopardizing the physical and economic health of millions around the globe. Hagerty said he was releasing the video as more incriminating information about Joe Biden’s closeness with Communist China surfaces.
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A federal judge on Wednesday ordered former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to be released from prison to home confinement amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
Manafort, 71, is serving a seven-year prison sentence on fraud and money-laundering charges. He was convicted in August 2018, sentenced to jail in March 2019 and scheduled to be released on Nov. 4, 2024.
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On Wednesday’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. – Michael Patrick Leahy and all-star panelist Crom Carmichael spoke with The Tennessee Star’s National Correspondent Neil McCabe.
During the third hour, McCabe weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill HR-6666 and whether the Republicans will vote to pass it. He was skeptical because of past patterns by Republicans who continuously vote to pass such bills regardless of the conservative opposition.
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Michigan residents went out more last week, according to cell phone data reported by The New York Times, even as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continues to push her stay-at-home executive orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
Approximately one million more people began to move around the state between May 1 and MAy 8, to move around the state again, The NYT reported.
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A friend of mine who traveled China from the 1970s until recently described what the country was like 30 years ago:
Its cities were sprawling, impoverished places with dirt roads and low-rise structures. With few automobiles in the country back then, the Chinese people got around mostly by rickshaws and bicycles. The country had only a few tall buildings and just two sizable airports, in Beijing, its capital, and Shanghai, its financial center. China had no modern highways, bridges or high-speed rails, and the only trains that traversed the country were pulled by antiquated steam engines.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday that fear of catching COVID-19 is not reason enough to vote by mail in the coming elections.
“I think that what we want to do in this state is remove the reason to have fear about going to the polling booths. We have worked really really hard to set up businesses in a way that people can feel safe to go into them, and we’re going to do the same thing with our elections,” Lee said at a press conference Tuesday.
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