Day: March 5, 2021

General Assembly to Vote on ‘Teacher’s Discipline Act’ Empowering Teachers to Handle Problematic Students

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee General Assembly will consider whether teachers have greater disciplinary authority over troublesome students. Specifically, the bill would allow teachers to request the removal of students whose behavior violates the policies or codes of conduct of either the district or the school. It would also enable teachers to use “reasonable or justifiable force” to relocate students if necessary. 

If passed, the bill would also require boards of education and public charter school governing bodies to include provisions that would allow teachers to enforce student discipline and accountability. This would extend to teachers’ abilities to intervene in physical altercations between students, or between students and an employee. This bill would apply to both public and charter schools in the state. 

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Commentary: Trumpism—Without Trump?

Admin

Six weeks ago, Americans were assured that Donald Trump had left the presidency on January 20, 2021 disgraced and forever ruined politically. 

Trump was the first president to be impeached twice, and first to be tried as a private citizen when out of office. He was the first to be impeached without the chief justice of the United States presiding over his trial.

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Child Migration Quickly Overwhelming Biden Administration’s Resources, Internal Documents Show

Admin

The number of child migrants crossing the United States’ southern border is quickly exceeding the federal government’s ability to hold them, internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show.

In the final week of February, Border Patrol referred an average of 321 children a day to HHS custody, according to Axios, which first reported the documents’ findings. Child migrant crossings averaged 203 per day in late January, and just 47 a day during the first week of 2021.

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House Passes Partisan Election Bill with Zero Republican Votes

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The House of Representatives late Wednesday passed HR 1, an expansive government ethics and voting rights bill that would implement a series of anti-corruption reforms and require states to adopt various voting reforms, such as no-excuse absentee voting and automatic voter registration.

The bill, titled the “For the People Act of 2021,” passed with the support of all but one Democratic member and over total Republican opposition. Included in it are provisions outlawing partisan gerrymandering, requiring same-day voter registration nationwide and mandating that states provide ballot drop boxes ahead of future elections.

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Dave Ramsey Endorses Medical Non-Discrimination Business & Consumer Act

Corinne Murdock

Famed financial guru Dave Ramsey endorsed a bill that would prohibit discrimination against consumers for not having masks or the COVID-19 vaccine. The bill covers more – it also would shield customers from discrimination based on the use of a medical device or having received any sort of medical treatment. 

Tennessee Stands, a local grassroots nonprofit social advocacy organization, produced the legislation. The organization has also produced the Religious Exemption Protection Act, which died in subcommittee on Tuesday, and a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment addressing emergencies.

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Commentary: Promoting Myths About Police Won’t Make Us Safer

RealClearWire

The House of Representatives passed the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021” this week, the bill’s proponents rightly decry pernicious stereotyping and generalizing based on race.

Yet many of those who rightly condemn such dangerous biases, and the lies they are built upon, make misleading claims of their own to advance another reckless bigotry — anti-police bias.

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New Jobless Claims Increase Slightly to 745,000

Admin

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased slightly to 745,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Feb. 20, in which there were 736,000 new jobless claims reported. That number was revised up from the 730,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Alabama Senate Passes Bill Criminalizing Trans Surgeries, Puberty Blockers for Minors

Admin

The Alabama state Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize performing gender transition surgeries or hormone therapy on minors who identify as transgender.

Under the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, doctors would be prohibited from treating Alabama minors with hormone therapy, surgery, or puberty blockers “intended to alter the minor child’s gender or delay puberty.”

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Fauci to Give Vanderbilt Graduation Address

Peter D'Abrosca

The chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, largely responsible for America’s COVID-19 response, is set to give the graduation event at Vanderbilt University. 

“Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top leader in infectious disease research, will be giving an address to Vanderbilt University graduates this year,” according to Fox17. “Dr. Fauci is slated to speak at the virtual Graduates Day event on May 14 when he receives the Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal.”

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Durham File: A Documentary Roadmap to Special Counsel Probe of Rogue FBI Pursuit of Trump

Admin

Freed from his double duty as Connecticut’s chief federal prosecutor, Special Counsel John Durham is zeroing in on the final phase of his far-reaching investigation into whether FBI officials or others committed crimes while conducting the Russia collusion probe, such as misleading federal judges or Congress.

All expectations were that Durham would wrap up his probe with final indictments and/or a report last fall after a plea deal was reached with former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted he falsified a document submitted to substantiate an application for a surveillance warrant targeting the Trump campaign.

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Georgia Gov. Kemp Says He’d Back Trump in 2024 Despite Election Tiffs

Peter D'Abrosca

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Wednesday night that he will support former president Donald J. Trump in 2024, if Trump decides to run for president again and becomes the Republican Party nominee. 

“Absolutely, I’m going to support the nominee,” Kemp said. “As I said, again, I worked very hard for the president. I think his ideas … will be part of our party for a long time in the future. And Republicans, we need to have a big tent. I mean, there’s a lot of great ideas out there.”

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‘Ghost Gun’ Ban Fails in Virginia General Assembly

Eric Burk

The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate failed to come to a compromise over a ban on “ghost guns” – a nickname for firearms that are handmade, improvised, or otherwise assembled from unserialized parts. As a result, the bill died when the General Assembly session ended Monday. Although HB 2276 passed in the House of Delegates, senators worried that the bill could have unintended consequences such as preventing legally owned firearms that had been grandfathered in from being transferred to someone else.

A Senate committee had already changed the bill to allow possession of unserialized firearms, but still banned manufacture, sale, or transfer of the weapons.

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Georgia House Members Pass Tax-Cutting Legislation

Chris Butler

Members of the Georgia House of Representatives this week passed four pieces of legislation that they said will cut taxes for Georgia families and businesses and create jobs and expand economic opportunity across the state. These measures include the Tax Relief Act of 2021, the Georgia Economic Recovery Act of 2021, the Georgia Economic Renewal Act of 2021, and the reauthorization of the House Rural Development Council.

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New Mission PAC Hosts GOP Gubernatorial Forum

Eric Burk

GOP gubernatorial candidates Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Peter Doran, Sergio de la Peña, and Glenn Youngkin met on Zoom on Thursday evening to answer policy questions about school reform, fixing Virginia’s tax code, improving broadband access, and making Virginia more veteran friendly. The New Mission PAC hosted the forum. PAC founder Daniel Gade and former Delegate Chris Saxman asked the questions in a format designed to allow candidates to demonstrate policy positions without engaging in direct debate.

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EXCLUSIVE: Three Friends Form New Venture to Tell Story of Central Ohio Businesses Battered by COVID Restrictions

Jack Windsor

It was spring of 2020 and three friends were sitting in their regular gathering place in the Short North – the district just north of downtown Columbus.

“We were looking around at all these businesses downtown; boarded up, closed or empty – more employees than customers,” said Lad Dilgard, a management consultant and real estate investor.

He continued “behind every one of those is a story; the story of an entrepreneur, manager, supplier, landlord, employees and customers. There are horror stories going on. COVID-craziness with all the lockdowns.  We wanted to give businesses some visibility. What they’re going through and the collateral damage they are suffering.”

Fast forward to March 2021 – after weekly Saturday morning sessions during which one of the three buddies would bring breakfast and another lunch, the trio released a short film under the banner of their own production company, Fire Owl – Behind the Mandates: Untold stories of local businesses.

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Georgia Bill Would Make Certain Noncitizens Eligible as In-State for Tuition Purposes

Chris Butler

  A Georgia legislator has filed a bill that would provide that students — other than nonimmigrant aliens — are classified as in-state for tuition purposes. State Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton), sponsored the bill. Carpenter’s bill also, if enacted into law, would authorize the state Board of Regents and the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia to consider classifying non-citizen students as in-state for tuition purposes. The Georgia Star News contacted Carpenter and his staff by phone and email Thursday to discuss the bill, but no one in Carpenter’s office returned our requests for comment. According to a press release from the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the language in Carpenter’s bill “makes DACA recipients and other deferred action recipients the only non-citizens eligible for in-state tuition. “This excludes the vast majority of noncitizens in Georgia, including Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), asylees, immigrants with TPS (Temporary Protected Status), and immigrants issued U-visas and T-visas, among others,” the press release said. According to the language of the bill, in order to qualify for in-state tuition a student must meet the following conditions: • The student is not seeking admission to any institution of the University System…

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U.S. Marshals Contract with Private Prison Ends, Inmates Have Nowhere to Go in Ohio

Peter D'Abrosca

President Joe Biden is facing his first hurdle in ending contracts with private prisons, a major campaign promise aimed at the progressive wing of the Democrat Party. 

“The Biden administration’s push to end contracts with private prisons has left federal authorities in Cleveland scrambling to find ways to house nearly 800 inmates,” according to a report by Cleveland.com.

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Nashville Community Oversight Board Member Who Resigned Unexpectedly Has Lengthy Criminal Record

Corinne Murdock

Up until last week Ovid Timothy Hughes was a member of Nashville’s Community Oversight Board (COB), dedicated to enforcing police accountability. However, Hughes wasn’t your typical concerned citizen on the COB – he has a lengthy criminal history himself. 

Between 2001 and 2002, Hughes racked up several felony charges for burglary. He was sentenced to two years in the private prison Corrections Corporation of America, now known as CoreCivic, and two years’ probation. Then in 2008, Hughes was arrested and charged for mail fraud. Hughes had reportedly stolen credit card and private account information from his previous employer. From 2006 to 2007, Hughes used the information to spend over $78,000 on items such as computer equipment and designer clothing.

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