Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87.
Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said.
Read the full story
The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores on Sunday and will saddle the apps with technical restrictions that could seriously limit their functionality in the U.S.
The order, which cited national security and data privacy concerns, follows weeks of dealmaking over the video-sharing service TikTok. President Donald Trump has pressured the app’s Chinese owner to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to a domestic company. It is not clear how the latest prohibitions will affect a deal recently struck by California tech giant Oracle aimed at satisfying U.S. concerns over TikTok’s data collection and related issues.
Read the full story
Governor Bill Lee responded in writing Thursday denying Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s request for an additional $82.6 million in coronavirus relief funding.
In addition to the letter, Lee addressed the issue during a press conference Thursday, saying “I have to believe the strategy that I’m investing in is one that is consistent and aligned with the state’s strategy and Nashville’s are not.”
Read the full story
Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s Press Secretary Chris Song attacked the character of the reporter who broke the story about keeping information about COVID-19 cases secret during a press conference Thursday.
WZTV’s Fox 17 reporter Dennis Ferrier was the first to report on the “disturbing revelation” Wednesday based on emails he received from the Nashville mayor’s office.
Read the full story
The best and probably only valid argument for voting to make Joe Biden president of the United States is that he is not Donald Trump. Unlike Mr. Trump, Biden’s personal behavior — except occasionally toward women — is rarely boorish, and his utterances, though often confused, incoherent, and inane, usually are not tasteless or insulting.
Read the full story
The Conservative Clergy of Color wants businesses to know they have an alternative to the racist rhetoric being thrown around for diversity training.
The organization this week announced the “Getting to All Lives Matter,” a fact-based, six-step training program that operates on the assumption all Americans want to build a better society. This is an alternative to the rhetoric pushed by Black Lives Matter, which attempts to scare businesses, they said.
Read the full story
Members of the Tennessee-based 917 Society celebrated Constitution Day Thursday, and some speakers expressed optimism that more widespread knowledge of the U.S. Constitution can help overcome this country’s current divisions.
917 Society members gathered at the Elks Lodge in Franklin.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Carol Swain to the show to help plan Ben Shapiro and Daily Wire’s welcome party on October 24 in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Read the full story
The Trump Administration put critical race theory on notice this month. The White House issued a directive outlawing the inclusion of exercises based on this theory in government training. “These types of ‘trainings’ not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce,” the directive declared.
Read the full story
On the heels of the stunning revelations by Nashville journalist Dennis Ferrier that the Mayor John Cooper’s office suppressed the report of improving coronavirus case numbers, City Council Steve Glover appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight Thursday.
Read the full story
Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break.
Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California’s state firefighting agency, said he’s lost track of the blazes he’s fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps.
Read the full story
In November of 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden belittled and sought to undermine the incoming Trump administration, a recently leaked phone call between Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reveals.
In the call, which was brought to light by Ukrainian politician Andriy Derkach, the outgoing veep told Poroshenko that he had withheld certain information regarding Ukraine from the Trump transition team because they lacked foreign policy experience. Biden also promised to stay “deeply engaged” in Ukraine policy even after he left office.
Read the full story
Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has fallen since June, dropping more than 12 percentage points over the past three months among non-black Americans, according to a poll published Thursday.
Roughly 55% of American adults said that they supported BLM in September, compared to 67% of people who said the same thing in June, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. White American support fell the most, dipping from 60% in June to 45% in September, the poll found.
Read the full story
Roughly two-thirds of U.S. residents don’t believe the CDC’s official tally for the number of Covid-19 deaths. This distrust, however, flows in opposing directions. A nationally representative survey conducted by Axios/Ipsos in late July 2020 found that 37% of adults think the real number of C-19 fatalities in the U.S. is lower than reported, while 31% think the true death toll is greater than reported.
Read the full story
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she cosponsored two bills this week to support law enforcement officers and other first responders. The bills follow an increase in violence against police which coincides with protests and riots.
Read the full story
Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Dr. Carol Swain to the studio to discuss the National Constitution Bee taking place on October 24 in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Read the full story
A professor of political science whose controversial election model has correctly called five of the last six U.S. presidential elections says President Trump will win reelection in 2020 in a “landslide.”
Helmut Norpoth, who teaches at Stony Brook University, is giving Trump “a 90-percent chance of being re-elected in a landslide,” the Long Island, N.Y., school said in a recent press release.
Read the full story
Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Professor Alan Dershowitz to the show to explain his lawsuit against CNN.
Read the full story
A new statewide poll released and conducted by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) offers a glimpse at the opinions of Virginians on two separate policy issues: COVID-19 vaccines and in-person education.
The Survey of 804 adults, age 18 or older, living in Virginia was conducted between August 28 and September 7 using telephone interviews.
Read the full story
The Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor killed a bill on Wednesday that would have required employers to provide paid quarantine leave during the COVID-19 pandemic.
House Bill 5116, sponsored by Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-Prince William), was passed by indefinitely by a vote of 14-Y 1-N.
Read the full story
President Trump and Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sparred on Twitter on Thursday after overseas ballots incorrectly listed a Libertarian candidate in the spot of Vice President Mike Pence.
The Bureau of Election alerted clerks on Tuesday after it was discovered that more than 400 overseas ballots had listed Libertarian vice presidential candidate Jeremy Cohen instead of Pence, according to The Detroit News. The bureau asked clerks to notify the recipients of the ballots and issue corrected ones.
Read the full story
Joining the ranks of other urban jurisdictions, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (FCBOS) voted nine-to-one on Tuesday to enact a gun ban in city buildings, parks, and at or near permitted events. Also on Tuesday, the Loudoun County Board (LCBOS) of Supervisors voted four-to five against evaluating a potential ordinance controlling gun noise.
Read the full story
Facing enforcement problems, Arlington County’s Board of Supervisors voted four-to-one to cancel an emergency ordinance outlawing grouping on sidewalks in specific areas of Arlington. The cancellation is effective at the end of September, ending a $100 fine for people failing to socially distance in specific Arlington restaurant districts.
Read the full story
A suspect in a shooting that killed congressional candidate Lacy Johnson’s 17-year-old staffer and wounded another was arrested today.
Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) reported that they apprehended the suspect after a short vehicle chase. MPD attempted to stop the suspect’s vehicle in Minneapolis; they caught him about twenty minutes west in Plymouth.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed several new bills into law Wednesday.
The new laws include the expansion of the jurisdiction of Ohio courts and stopping state officials from interfering with religious services. House Bill 272 prohibits “a public official from ordering the closure of all places of worship in a geographic area,” and stops public officials “from changing the time, place, or manner of conducting an election, except in certain circumstances.”
Read the full story
Welcome to the Friday 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 46 days until the election on November 3 – and 11 days until President Trump and Joe Biden square off in the first presidential debate.
Read the full story
Minnesota Representatives Ilhan Omar (DFL-MN-5) and Angie Craig (DFL-MN-2) helped pass a House bill to “desegregate” schools nationwide. All 105 cosponsors are Democratic.
“This legislation is an important step in making sure every student receives an excellent public education,” stated Craig in a press release.
After four weeks of being called into a special session to reconcile the Commonwealth’s budget woes, Virginia legislators have yet to tackle the $2.7 billion budget shortfall. Instead, the new Democrat majority in the General Assembly is hyper-focused on cutting $51 million in law enforcement funding.
Read the full story
Nashville Mayor John Cooper and members of his administration weren’t straightforward enough with their COVID-19 data and, in effect, hurt local businesses and justified fears that government officials would abuse their power during this long emergency.
This, according to Beacon Center of Tennessee spokesman Mark Cunningham. Cunningham responded to a FOX 17 of Nashville report that suggested Cooper and his staff members kept secret the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases coming out of the bars and restaurants in the city’s lower Broadway area.
Read the full story