The Davidson County Election Commission has recruited a legal team to sue the citizens’ group Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN) for its December ballot tax cut petition.
Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Bill Koch will serve as lead council, and Junaid Odubeko the co-council.
The Belmont University professor who lectured Brentwood High students on Monday about privilege said in an email exchange on Tuesday that she believed The Tennessee Star story about that event portrayed her unfairly. As reported, Professor Mona Ivey-Soto introduced herself to students at Brentwood High on Monday as someone who is “very passionate about public education and what it means to transform the world.” “I pray there is a level of discomfort you might feel [because of what I say]. Why am I feeling uncomfortable and why is this pushing my buttons a certain way and what do I need to do to lean into that?” Soto told students. She also said she sees public schools as an instrument of social change. On Tuesday The Star offered Soto the opportunity to provide a complete response to our story published on Monday. In addition, we posed several follow up questions to her. Soto responded to some of our questions, and declined to respond to several others. Specifically, we asked her to clarify whether we misquoted her words. We also asked her to provide more specifics about an incident at Williamson County where she alleged that Vacation Bible School students chanted…
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At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot less was known about the virus and how to counter it, and while the nation was still ramping up production of testing and hospital resources including ventilators needed, 25 million jobs were lost across the country, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Since labor markets bottomed in April, 13.8 million jobs have been recovered, as states have begun steadily reopening in the months since.
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I’m not sure how Reyna Roberts showed up on my Instagram feed. It was probably because Mickey Guyton reviewed a clip of her singing a cover of Carrie Underwood’s “Drinking Alone, Together.” After I picked my jaw off the ground, I immediately put Roberts on my radar because I knew her career was getting ready to take off.
Roberts was born prematurely in 1997 to U.S. military parents in Anchorage, Alaska. She was told that she could have cognitive, physical, visual, and vocal developmental delays. Because of the bleak prognosis, her family kept music as a main influence to help her improve and become successful.
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U.S. intelligence officials submitted an investigative referral to the FBI in September 2016 regarding an alleged plan by Hillary Clinton to link Donald Trump to Russia’s election interference efforts, according to John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.
Ratcliffe noted in the letter, which he sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, that U.S. intelligence is not certain whether the allegation underlying the referral was based on fabrications from Russian intelligence agencies.
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Mayoral candidate Kim Gray is running to increase transparency in Richmond’s government, return to a community-based planning model, and improve Richmond’s schools. Her resume includes jobs for two former governors, eight years as a school board member, and four years as council member of Richmond’s Second District. Her political roots run to her childhood.
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Police officers in a majority of states are now mandated to receive “implicit bias training,” where they are informed they are subconsciously racist and must admit to and deliberately overcome their racism.
The trainings, which exploded in popularity following the Ferguson riots in 2014, directly respond to accusations that racist police officers are shooting unarmed African Americans. Following the death of George Floyd, multiple states, including Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas, joined the list of states mandating the training for all their officers.
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The FBI’s lead agent on its investigation of Michael Flynn told prosecutors that a confidential source’s allegation about an incident involving the former national security adviser in 2014 was likely false, according to a government document.
Special Agent William Barnett said in an interview with a federal prosecutor on Sept. 17 that the Crossfire Hurricane team obtained the information about Flynn from a confidential human source (CHS) who provided information regarding Carter Page.
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A RealClear Opinion Research poll of 2,020 registered voters in August saw a 10-point increase in support of school choice policies since its last poll in April, from 67 percent to 77 percent.
The American Federation for Children describes school choice as the right for parents to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education in a school of their choice. The tax dollars would follow the child, not be tied to a nearby school system. Funding could be used for public, private, charter, or homeschool education, whichever method the parents believes provides the best learning environment for their child.
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A Christian crowdfunding site has raised over half a million dollars to help 17 year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse with legal fees, New York Post reports.
The GiveSendGo site, created shortly after Rittenhouse shot three Black Lives Matter protesters, and left two dead during a violent night of unrest in Kenosha on Aug. 25. Sponsored by a group called “Friends of the Rittenhouse family,” based in Atlanta, Georgia, set an initial goal of $500,00 but had surpassed that by Monday, with nearly $523,000 in contributions.
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President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a day of meetings with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other pivotal Republican senators in preparation for her fast-track confirmation before the Nov. 3 election.
Joined by Vice President Mike Pence, McConnell said he was glad to welcome Barrett and “get the process started” on her confirmation. But the Republican leader declined to answer questions about whether the judge should recuse herself if legal challenges to the election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden land at the high court.
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After more than a year of circling each other, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio.
The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age, and they share a mutual dislike. But they differ starkly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the outset on the Cleveland stage.
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The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled Governor Bill Lee’s educational savings account (ESA) program “unconstitutional” on Tuesday. The court’s decision upheld a lower court’s ruling on the school voucher program.
The court of appeals ruled that the unconstitutionality of the ESA program is because “is local in effect, and applicable to Davidson and Shelby counties in their governmental capacity.” This decision references article XI, section 9, paragraph 2 of the Tennessee Constitution.
One of Joe Biden’s staffers suggested Monday that Orthodox Catholics, Jews, and Muslims should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court due to their “intolerant” views.
Biden campaign Deputy Data Director Nikitha Rai criticized Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s religious views in a Twitter conversation Monday night with Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid.
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Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn’s announcement of COVID-19-related learning loss projections for Tennessee students took state lawmakers and school superintendents by surprise.
In a joint news conference with Gov. Bill Lee last week, Schwinn announced Tennessee students are expected to face learning loss of 50% in English and 65% in math, stressing the importance of in-person learning. Projections were based on national research and early results of beginning-of-year student checkpoint assessments in Tennessee.
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Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation’s top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises, died Tuesday. He was 91.
In a Middle East replete with elderly rulers, Sheikh Sabah stood out for his efforts at pushing for diplomacy to resolve a bitter dispute between Qatar and other Arab nations that continues to this day.
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A Biden Campaign operative in Texas is attempting to rig the 2020 election with the help of others in a massive ballot harvesting scheme, according to two private investigators who testified under oath that they have “video evidence, documentation and witnesses” to prove it. With the help of mass mail-in ballots, the illegal ballot harvesting operation could harvest 700,000 ballots, one Harris County Democrat operative allegedly bragged.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden didn’t name a single law enforcement group or agency that has endorsed him during the presidential debate Tuesday night.
Biden chose not to respond to the question posed by President Donald Trump during a discussion on law and order. Trump noted that several law enforcement groups have endorsed his reelection campaign.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed public affairs strategist Clint Brewer to the show to discuss current 2020 election polling and the candidates’ debate styles.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Nashville-based attorney Kirk Clements who is handling the lawsuit against Mayor Cooper to highlight the details of the case formed by Lower Broadway restaurant and bar owners.
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Richmond Mayor Levi Stoney proposed a “racially equitable” affordable housing plan on Tuesday.
The mayor will give a majority of the city-owned land parcels to Maggie Walker Community Land Trust. The organization’s mission statement is “to foster racially equitable communities” within their constructed affordable housing.
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of our daily Virginia Trump campaign update! We will provide our readers with daily updates on the Trump Virginia campaign from today to November 3 (and after…if need be!).
It’s officially 34 days until the election on November 3 – and 31 days until early voting in Virginia closes. The deadline to register to vote in time for the 2020 election is October 13.
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General Motors must repay $28 million in tax credits and invest $12 million in the Mahoning Valley following its closure of its Lordstown assembly place, the Ohio Development Services Agency said Monday.
GM received $60.3 million in tax credits in exchange for a commitment to retain 3,700 employees in Lordstown. The company closed the plant and did not maintain its commitment to retain the jobs through 2028.
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Faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) are currently considering making a change to the university’s general education requirements by adding a courses on racism.
The classes would be required for all freshman and grouped under the subject diversities of human experiences, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) on Monday launched a new pandemic metrics dashboard with more specific, aggregated data to show where COVID-19 is spreading in Virginia’s different regions and any changes occurring over time.
The new dashboard will be updated weekly and features three different tabs: About the Data, Daily Region Metrics, Weekly Transmission Extent. Additionally, School Metrics from the CDC are included within the dashboard.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed political consultant Chris LaCivita to the show to discuss his super PAC Preserve America and their focus on moving the needle for President Trump in the upcoming election.
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The Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved a contract supporting facial recognition in Detroit, even after a vast majority of public comments were in opposition to the measure.
The measure, approved by a 6-3 vote, approves spending $219,984 to cover costs associated with upgrades and maintenance. The council’s vote was preceded by a morning protest and an hour of public comment from residents opposing facial recognition, arguing the technology is “racist.”
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In a letter sent Monday, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt called on Secretary of State Steve Simon to conduct a “full and robust investigation” following allegations of systemic voter fraud in Minneapolis.
The letter was issued in response to a Project Veritas video released Sunday night that accused Rep. Ilhan Omar’s campaign of running a ballot-harvesting scheme out of two Minneapolis high-rises. A source quoted in the video claimed that one of Omar’s staffers is central to the operation and even pays voters for their ballots.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed political figure and strategist Steve Bannon to the show to discuss the Trump campaign’s response to the Trump tax hit pieces and that his focus was now on the election in Pennsylvania and Florida.
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Two former GOP secretaries of state are suing current Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over a recent ruling that allows the department to count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled earlier this month that absentee ballots postmarked for November 2 can still be counted as valid even if they arrive up to two weeks after polls close on Election Day, a temporary rule for this election that goes against normal procedure, which generally allows absentee ballots to only be counted if they arrive before 8 p.m. on Election Day.
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The Portsmouth Magistrate has again rebuffed Portsmouth NAACP leaders in attempts to file charges against Portsmouth council members Bill Moody and Elizabeth Psimas. NAACP branch President James Boyd and Vice President Louie Gibbs went to the magistrate on Friday to present emails that they said showed Moody and Psimas committing a misdemeanor violation of the city charter.
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Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper can heal an economy wounded after COVID-19, and Ogles said now is the time to do so.
Simply put, Ogles said Middle Tennessee is Tennessee’s economic engine and what happens there reverberates throughout the rest of the state. He also said it’s time for the state to go back to what life was like February, before COVID-19 impacted the United States. Ogles also said it’s safe to do so.
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The Tennessee Titans suspended in-person activities through Friday after the NFL says three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first COVID-19 outbreak of the NFL season in Week 4.
The outbreak threatened to jeopardize the Titans’ game this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers and posed the first significant in-season test to the league’s coronavirus protocols.
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A judge has ruled that Tennessee officials have to change the absentee ballot application again to reflect their promise to let voters cast mail ballots if someone in their household has an underlying health condition that makes them more susceptible to COVID-19.
In her decision Friday, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle sided with arguments from the plaintiffs in a months-long absentee voting lawsuit. They pointed out that a deputy attorney general made the eligibility commitment for co-habitants in response to multiple questions in front of the state Supreme Court last month.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Monday that Metro Human Resources members have finalized a review committee to find the city’s next police chief.
Cooper said this in a press release that his staff published on the Metro Nashville website.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, former Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson vacated his position much sooner than he previously stated he would — without explaining. Left-wing activists and Metro Council members pushed for either Anderson to resign or for Cooper to fire him.
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With the election around the corner, the D.C. swamp is hard at work. Various special interests are trying to make their pet issue look like an election asset or liability. One interest group working overtime is the biofuel lobby. The federal Renewable Fuel Standard – or RFS – is often falsely labeled as a “pro-farmer” energy policy that helps the Heartland.
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President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee on Saturday filed suit to prevent North Carolina officials from adopting measures that would allow a greater number of absentee ballots to be counted in November.
The State Board of Elections said Tuesday that it would allow November ballots with incomplete information to be fixed without requiring the voter to redo their ballot, leading Republicans to file suit arguing that the system would lead to “fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting,” the Associated Press reported.
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Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
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Amazon is aiming to kickstart the holiday shopping season early this year.
The company is holding its annual Prime Day over two days in October this year, after the pandemic forced it to postpone the sales event from July. It’s the first time Prime Day is being held in the fall, and Amazon is positioning it as a way to get people to start their holiday shopping.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss due process and institutional constraints on government.
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There was once a tradition of Democratic liberalism. But that wing of the Democratic Party no longer exists and died sometime in the 1990s. Old-style liberalism has been absorbed by Progressivism at best and unapologetic socialism at worst—in a journey on the supposedly predetermined arc of history that bends toward 1984.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed country artist John Rich to the show to discuss his new hit Earth to God and the pursuit of happiness.
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In an election year like no other, the first debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, could be a pivotal moment in a race that has remained stubbornly unchanged in the face of historic tumult.
The Tuesday night debate will offer a massive platform for Trump and Biden to outline their starkly different visions for a country facing multiple crises, including racial justice protests and a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed American novelist and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Roger Simon to the show to discuss his move to Nashville and being a conservative in Hollywood.
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A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to block TikTok Sunday, giving the Chinese social media platform an opportunity to forge a deal with Oracle.
The decision gives TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, more time to approve a deal with Oracle and Walmart, media reports show. Judge Carl Nichols’s decision came hours before President Donald Trump’s ban of the video-streaming app was expected to take place.
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A free speech advocacy group has sent two letters to East Carolina University after the public college banned gatherings of more than 50 students, but allowed a Black Lives Matter protest on campus.
Southeastern Legal Foundation sent a letter to the North Carolina public university on September 16 seeking information on its enforcement of its coronavirus policies. After receiving no response, the public interest law group sent a follow-up letter on September 24.
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Almost 1,400 Virginia voters have recently received duplicate absentee ballots in the mail because of printing errors.
So far, voters in three jurisdictions – Fairfax and Henrico counties as well as the City of Richmond – have reportedly received duplicates ballots as the November 3rd election quickly approaches.
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Welcome to the Tuesday edition of our daily Virginia Trump campaign update! We will provide our readers with daily updates on the Trump Virginia campaign from today to November 3 (and after…if need be!).
It’s officially 35 days until the election on November 3 – and 33 days until early voting in Virginia closes. The deadline to register to vote in time for the 2020 election is October 13.
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U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has been linked to a massive illegal vote-buying scheme in an elderly community in her heavily Somali district in Minneapolis. The illegal ballot harvesting operation is just the latest in a growing list of federal crimes the self-avowed democratic socialist is alleged to have committed in recent years, including marrying her brother to commit immigration fraud and student loan fraud.
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Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) issued an apology for operating segregated schools and for resisting efforts to integrate their schools for over a decade after the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education that made segregated schools illegal. The apology is part of the district’s “Action Plans to Combat Systemic Racism.” The apology coincides with the 57th anniversary of the 1963 march where Martin Luther King, Jr. declared, “I have a dream.”
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