Day: February 14, 2021

Belmont University Will Continue ‘Test Optional’ Admissions Criteria

Corinne Murdock

Belmont University announced that it would continue its test-optional admissions policy for the 2021-2022 admissions. Students will no longer be required to submit ACT or SAT scores for either admissions or scholarship eligibility. This, in addition to the continued acceptance of pass/fail grades.

Their admissions team determined that the COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges for students applying to the university. The university issued the update earlier this week, shortly after announcing that its new president would be Dr. Gregory L. Jones. Belmont Associate Provost and Dean of Enrollment Service Dr. Chris Gage explained that they’d decided to shift their priority focus onto student qualities and backgrounds rather than traditional testing standards for admissions.

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Commentary: America’s Spy-Busters Put Secret-Stealing Chinese ‘Grad Students’ Under the Microscope

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The FBI last month arrested Gang Chen, a well-known MIT nanotechnologist, and charged the China-born naturalized American with concealing close and lucrative connections to China’s scientific and technological establishment on his applications for federal research grants.

Chen, who has pleaded not guilty and is supported by MIT, is not the only prominent academic figure to be arrested and charged with failing to disclose connections to Chinese research institutes. At least half a dozen have been arrested in the last year or so. They include Charles Lieber, the chair of the Harvard University Chemistry Department, who is accused of concealing his participation in an ambitious, state-sponsored Chinese effort to recruit top scientists and engineers from around the world to work in China.

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Trump Celebrates Senate Acquittal: ‘Make America Great Again Has Only Just Begun’

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President Trump on Saturday celebrated his second impeachment acquittal in the U.S. Senate, slamming it as politically motivated and signaling his intent to continue his political career in the future.

The Senate voted 57-43 on Saturday to acquit Trump, with Senate Democrats failing to convict the former president for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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Joe Biden Ends President Trump’s National Emergency on Southern Border

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Joe Biden has announced that his administration will be ending the declaration of a national emergency on the southern border that was first declared by the Trump Administration, as reported by Fox News.

President Trump first declared the national emergency in February of 2019, which allowed him to allocate billions of federal dollars to the construction of the wall after Congress repeatedly blocked his efforts to do so. The move allowed for nearly 500 miles of new border wall to be constructed by the end of his first term. Biden announced the decision in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in which he described the policy as “unwarranted.”

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Nashville’s Financial Health Earns It ‘Sinkhole City’ Designation

The Center Square

Nashville recently was named a “Bottom 5 Sinkhole City” by the nonpartisan think tank Truth in Accounting (TIA) in its fifth annual Financial State of the Cities report.

TIA examined the fiscal health of the 75 most-populous U.S. cities and graded and ranked the cities accordingly. The 2021 report is based on fiscal year 2019 comprehensive annual financial reports.

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FBI Spokesman Says Nationwide Billboards Targeting January 6 Protestors Likely an Agency First

Chris Butler

FBI officials have erected billboards seeking tips on possible suspects who breached the U.S. Capitol January 6 and, according to one agency spokesman, this is likely the first time the FBI has done this nationwide. But Joel Siskovic, speaking for the FBI’s Memphis Field Office, said members of his agency have used billboards before to find suspects — but only in limited regions of the United States.

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Commentary: Valentine’s Day Was Reimagined by Chivalrous Medieval Poets for All to Enjoy, Respectfully

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Valentine’s Day annoys many people.

For many in a relationship, the pressure to impress a partner can weigh heavily, and expensive gifts serve as a reminder of the relentless commercialization of the holiday. Meanwhile those still looking for love approach the day with trepidation – another reminder of their single status and the pressure to find a partner.

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Music Spotlight: Taylor Hughes

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee-  Taylor Hughes was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Although she always loved music and did choirs and shows, her mother was an R & B singer was considered the musical one in the family.

Hughes was an athlete with a scholarship to attend college as a volleyball player when she blew her knee out her junior year of high school and the hope of attending college on a sports scholarship was over.

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China Withheld COVID-19 Data from World Health Organization Team Investigating Virus Origins: Report

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Chinese authorities refused to share raw data on 174 early cases of Covid-19 with a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the scientists on the team told The Wall Street Journal.

According to The Journal, government authorities provided summaries of the coronavirus cases to the WHO team, but withheld raw data that could provide clues about how the virus transmitted early on in the pandemi

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Biden White House Deputy Press Secretary Suspended After Threatening to ‘Destroy’ Reporter

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On Inauguration Day, Joe Biden warned his appointees that a hostile workplace would not be tolerated in his administration, but that didn’t seem to make an impression on White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo, who reportedly threatened a journalist that very same day using “derogatory and misogynistic” language.

According to Vanity Fair, Ducklo threatened to “destroy” Tara Palmeri while she was working on story about his relationship with another reporter.

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Chicago Teachers Union Suddenly Agrees to Immediate In-Person Classes After Threatening to Strike

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The Chicago Teachers Union approved a deal with city officials that ensures an immediate return to in-person instruction, the union said Wednesday morning.

The teachers union approved the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) proposed plan to return to in-person classes in a 13,681-to-6,585 vote Wednesday morning, the union announced. In-person instruction was supposed to begin on Feb. 1, but was delayed after the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to defy the city’s plan in January.

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Lincoln Project Leaders Reportedly Padded Pockets from Anti-Trump Donations While Ignoring Allegations Against Cofounder

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The Lincoln Project was reportedly aware of allegations against co-founder John Weaver as early as June 2020, but pushed ahead with raising massive donations — and $50 million of these donations has gone to firms controlled by the Lincoln Project’s leaders.

Lincoln Project members were made aware of at least 10 allegations of harassment against Weaver in June 2020, the Associated Press reported. The group did not take action against Weaver as it continued its high-profile work combatting the re-election of former President Donald Trump and expressed shock in January over the allegations against its cofounder.

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Pro-Choice and Pro-Life Groups Support Two Bills Focused on Fetal, Infant and Maternal Health Data

Eric Burk

Republican and Democratic legislators don’t often find common ground on pro-life issues in Virginia, but two pro-life bills passed the House of Delegates with unanimous support, and are likely to pass out of the Senate. HB 1950, introduced by lieutenant governor candidate Delegate Hala Ayala (D-Prince William) would develop a plan to create a Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Team in Virginia to collect better data about fetal and infant survival rates. HB 2111, introduced by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), is similar, and establishes a task force to collect data to help create policies focused on improving maternal care. Both bills are now in committee in the Senate.

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Michigan County GOP Censures Meijer over Trump Impeachment Vote

Peter D'Abrosca

One county GOP in Michigan has voted to censure freshman Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI-03) after Meijer voted to impeach former president Donald Trump alongside the entire Democrat Party. 

“It is with great sadness and solemnity that we write to issue this formal Letter of Censure and to condemn your recent vote in favor of House Resolution 24 impeaching President Donald J. Trump,” a letter from the Calhoun County Republican Executive Committee said. 

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Lawsuits Filed Against Ohio Cities over Municipal Income Tax Collections During Pandemic

The Center Square

Two Ohioans filed lawsuits this week challenging Ohio tax law that allows cities to tax income of workers who, the lawsuits say, do not live in nor work in the municipalities.

The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational group, filed the lawsuits on behalf of Eric Denison and Josh Schaad against the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati. The lawsuits ask the court to declare unconstitutional Ohio law that allows cities to tax workers who do not live in and have not been working in those cities.

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Georgia Legislature Approves $650M Spending Increase in Amended State Budget

The Center Square

The Georgia General Assembly approved a more than $650 million increase in spending for fiscal year 2021 on Thursday after lawmakers in the Senate and House came to agreement on an amended budget.

Lawmakers approved a plan that restores 60% of K-12 school funding and adds spending for public health, state employee raises, broadband internet expansion, higher education and state vehicles. The bill now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp for final approval.

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Cohen Says Trump ‘Worst Person in the World’

Peter D'Abrosca

A Democrat congressman from Tennessee known for his hyperbolic attacks against former President Donald J. Trump does not appear to be slowing down, despite the fact that Trump no longer holds office.

“It was clear to me from jump street that Trump was the worst person in the world and responsible for orchestrating the insurrection,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) said on Twitter. “It was a self-produced alternative show to his electoral defeat and he enjoyed watching it. He’s a narcissistic sociopath!”

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