Day: March 12, 2021

Verified: Remainder of Community Oversight Board Are Registered Voters in Accordance with Law

Corinne Murdock

The remainder of Nashville’s Community Oversight Board (COB) are registered voters in Davidson County. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office confirmed this information with The Tennessee Star.

The Star inquired initially after discovering that a recently-resigned member of the COB, Ovid Timothy Hughes, isn’t a registered voter. Hughes was convicted of a felony in 2008 – mail fraud committed against a previous employer. Not only did Hughes not disclose this information, he stated falsely before the Metro Nashville City Council that he was a registered voter.

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Newly Revealed Emails Show Green Bay Officials Gave Keys to 2020 Election to N.Y. Dem Operative

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The Wisconsin House of Representatives on Wednesday held a hearing to review election irregularities after newly revealed documents obtained by Wisconsin Spotlight revealed that Democrat activists, funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were able to infiltrate the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin’s five largest cities.

In Green Bay, a Democrat activist was actually given keys to the room where absentee ballots were stored before the 2020 presidential election.

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Bill De Blasio Calls on Cuomo to Resign After ‘Absolutely Unacceptable’ Sexual Misconduct Allegations

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio became the latest Democratic lawmaker to call on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after a sixth woman accused him of sexual misconduct.

After the Albany Times Union reported that a woman accused Cuomo of reaching under her blouse and touching her at his Executive Mansion last year, de Blasio said that the governor “could no longer serve.”

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House Passes Gun Control Bill Enforcing Universal Background Checks

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The House passed a gun control bill Thursday that requires a universal background check for every purchase of a firearm.

HR 8, titled the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021” and led by California Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson and Georgia Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath, passed 227 to 203 with eight Republicans voting in favor. If signed into law, it would mandate background checks whenever somebody purchases a gun, regardless of where they purchase it.

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Entire Nevada Democratic Party Staff Quits After Democratic Socialists Take Leadership Positions

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The entire staff of the Nevada Democratic Party, along with all consultants, has quit after a slate of candidates from the Democratic Socialists of America took over leadership positions, according to a news report.

Alana Mounce, the party’s executive director sent an email Saturday to Judith Whitmer, who won the race for party chairperson alerting her that the staff was quitting, according to a report in The Intercept.

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New Jobless Claims Drop Slightly to 712,000

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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased slightly to 712,000 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 a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Feb. 27, in which there were 754,000 new jobless claims reported. That number was revised up from the 745,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Third-Degree Murder Charge Reinstated Against Chauvin

Peter D'Abrosca
Derek Chauvin

Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill Thursday overturned his own decision to drop third-degree murder charges against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin after an appeal from state prosecutors. 

“The dispute over the third-degree murder charge revolved around wording in the law that references an act ’eminently dangerous to others,'” Spectrum News reported. “Cahill’s initial decision to dismiss the charge had noted that Chauvin’s conduct might be construed as not dangerous to anyone but Floyd.”

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Certain Prisoners Now Front of Line for COVID Vaccinations Following Reports of Panel Saying It Would be ‘PR Nightmare’

Corinne Murdock

Select Tennessee prisoners will now receive COVID-19 vaccinations, following a report on officials’ apparent hesitancy to prioritize them initially. The state progressed to Phase 1C of its vaccination plan earlier this week, which extends vaccines to those prisoners who are 65 and older or have eligible health conditions. Others now eligible to receive the vaccine are individuals 16 years old and older that have diabetes, Down syndrome, or any progressive neuromuscular diseases, or live in households with pregnant women.

The announcement to vaccinate these prisoners came shortly after it was discovered that officials determining the order of vaccine priority groups were hesitant to prioritize prisoners due to the optics of placing them ahead of other citizens. The Pandemic Vaccine Planning Stakeholder group, an advisory panel that assists in vaccine rollout decisions and communication with citizens across the state, reportedly stated during one of its meetings that prioritizing prisoners could prove a public relations “nightmare” and, possibly, a state liability. The Associated Press discovered these remarks in an open records request for the group’s meeting notes late last week.

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer Administration Gave Former MEDC CEO Jeff Mason a $128,500 Severance Payout

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration paid former CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) Jeff Mason $128,500 –26 weeks of pay – to “retire” last year.

The Detroit News reported Mason’s deal was among eight other employees separated from MEDC, bringing the total cost of payouts to $308,623 over the last four years. Those agreements included non-disparagement clauses limiting ex-employees from diminishing the MEDC’s reputation.

However, agency employees said the deals weren’t funded by taxpayer money.

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Coalition Sues Fairfax County Public Schools over New Admissions Plan at Magnet School

Eric Burk

A group of about 5,000 community members including parents, students, and staff are suing the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) Board and Superintendent Scott Braband over changes to admission procedures at magnet school Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). The lawsuit complaint filed Wednesday argues that the changes were meant to reduce the number of Asian-American students at the school.

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Virginia GOP Leadership to Vote on Unassembled Convention Again

Eric Burk

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) State Central Committee (SCC) will once again vote on amending the party plan to allow an unassembled convention. Chairman Rich Anderson called for the meeting on Monday, after last week determining that an in-person parking lot convention would not be possible at Liberty University. The agenda for the Friday evening meeting includes three potential amendments to party rules that would allow an unassembled convention.

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Ohio Bill Giving Lawmakers Oversight of Emergency Declarations and Orders Sent to Gov. DeWine

Jack Windsor

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Wednesday afternoon Senate Bill 22 passed the Ohio House by a vote of 57 to 37.  Five Republicans did not cast a vote – Paul Zeltwanger (Mason), Tracy Richardson (Marysville), Mike Loychik (Bazetta), Jeff LaRe (Violet Twp.), and Ron Ferguson (Wintersville).

One Republican, Nino Vitale, voted against the bill despite being an outspoken opponent to the DeWine Administration’s pandemic health orders. Vitale was also one of a handful of lawmakers who supported articles of impeachment based on alleged executive overreach during the state’s handling of COVID.

The Senate concurred on the House changes so now SB22 will be sent to Governor DeWine where he has the choice to approve, veto or do nothing – in the event of the latter, the bill would become a law after 10 days.

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Dueling Time-Change Bills Moving in Georgia General Assembly

Peter D'Abrosca

In a bipartisan vote last week, the Georgia State Senate voted to end daylight savings time. 

H.B. 100, which ” provide[s] that this state shall observe standard time year round until such time as Congress authorizes the states to observe daylight savings time,” passed with 46 yes votes and only seven no votes. Three members of the Senate abstained. The bill now heads to the state House. 

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Rapid Testing to be Available in K-12 Ohio Schools, DeWine Announces

Jordyn Pair

  The state of Ohio will be making rapid test vaccines available in K-12 schools, according to an announcement from Gov. Mike Dewine on Thursday. DeWine said that the move was meant to “increase confidence and safety in our schools.” “Soon we’ll be shipping more than 200,000 of the at-home tests to our Educational Service Centers, and I encourage our school districts to take advantage of the resource,” DeWine said. The test used will be the BinaxNOW Home Test, which takes about 15 minutes to return results, according to information on the Ohio Department of Health website. Making rapid testing available in schools is part of a push to make rapid tests more accessible for Ohioans. The initiative has four key parts, DeWine said. 1️⃣ Since December, we have provided federally qualified health centers with more than 150,000 rapid tests that are administered on-site. — Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 11, 2021 3️⃣ We're partnering with our public libraries to make at-home tests available in more Ohio communities. During the first two weeks of this initiative, we have had nearly 120 library systems tell us they want to partner on this effort, representing more than 250 sites. — Governor Mike…

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Reporters Barred from Deadly ‘George Floyd’ Autonomous Zone in Minneapolis

Peter D'Abrosca

Protestors have quietly set up an “autonomous zone” near the George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis, according to one reporter who visited the scene. 

“The George Floyd memorial is an ‘autonomous zone’ with several blocks controlled by activists. Police don’t even go in. We tried to respectfully get video-but left after two people confronted us near the barricades. Later learned many protestors don’t even feel comfortable there,” Brian Entin of News Nation Now reported. 

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House Subcommittee’s Orchestrated Actions ‘Emboldened and Protected’ an Activist Judiciary That Changed Absentee Voting Law

Laura Baigert

A resolution that would determine if a judge committed an offense worthy of removal for changing the law regarding absentee voting was killed in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee Tuesday through several orchestrated actions, which “only emboldened and protected the judiciary,” according to the resolution sponsor.
The resolution failed on a voice vote carried out by Chairman Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) with assistance by Rep. Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) who strategically timed his call for the question.

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