Day: May 20, 2021

Tennessee Investing $4.2 Billion in K-12 Public Schools Using Federal Funds

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced that it will invest an additional $4.2 billion for K-12 schools. The federal funds will be allocated to Tennessee schools over the next 4 years, according to the TDOE press release. The funding is a combination of different types of federal emergency relief funding.

TDOE clarified that the funding will be allotted to specific programs and initiatives. $120.7 million will go toward the Tennessee Literacy Success Act and Reading 360, $170.5 million for the Tennessee Learning Loss and Student Acceleration Act, $35 million for the 2022-23 math textbook adoption process, $32 million for online resources, $32.6 million for Innovating High Schools and Advanced Courses, $17.8 million for mental health supports, $56.5 million for K-12 open-source readiness coursework and statewide professional development, and $21 million to support the educator pipeline.

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Commentary: Biden Admin Pushes Critical Race Theory in Public Schools

Admin
First Lady Jill Biden

When President Biden signed an executive order on Inauguration Day calling for “an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda,” he signaled that his administration would embrace the education agenda of the race-obsessed world of radical “social justice” politics. We now see further evidence of the president’s intentions in the Department of Education’s proposal to funnel grants to schools that teach critical race theory. This pernicious theory analyzes every aspect of American society and history through the belief that racism has been, and remains, central to American life, all while peddling revolutionary Marxist philosophy.

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Study: American Hospitals May be Overestimating COVID Cases in Children

Admin
coronavirus cases in children

A new study from an elite university reveals that American hospitals may have been severely overcounting the true number of coronavirus cases in children, USA Today reports.

The study, from Stanford University’s School of Medicine, focused on COVID data from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford over a nine-month period, from May 10th, 2020, to February 10th, 2021. During this time span, 117 patients admitted to the hospital under the age of 18 were either confirmed to have tested positive for COVID, or were suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C.

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‘Reproductive Rights Are in Danger’: Abortion Advocates, Dems Melt Down as Supreme Court Reviews Case Challenging Roe v. Wade

Admin

Abortion advocates and Democrats reacted with anger and fear to news that the Supreme Court would review a case directly challenging aspects of Roe v. Wade, warning that “reproductive rights are in danger.”

The court announced Monday that it will hear Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization beginning in October, and a decision on the case will likely come by June 2022, CNBC reported. This will be the first major abortion case in which all three of former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justice appointees participate, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who gained a seat on the court after a contentious confirmation process in October.

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Border Officials Seized More Fentanyl in the First Four Months of 2021 Than During the Same Period in 2020

Admin

Border officials seized nearly 2,400 more pounds of fentanyl from January to April 2021 than during the same period in 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Officials seized nearly 3,290 pounds of fentanyl in the first four months of 2021 compared to around 920 pounds in the same timeframe of 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Border officials seized a total of 7,300 pounds of fentanyl from January to December 2020.

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Lawsuit Against Metro Nashville Public Schools for Making 4th-Graders Pretend to be Slaves Dismissed by Federal Judge

Corinne Murdock

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and one of their teachers for a lesson making 4th-graders pretend to be slaves. U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger wrote in the ruling that the parents who filed the suit failed to state a claim in which relief may be granted.

The plaintiffs in the case Doe v. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, et. al were the parents of a 4th grade Black student called John Doe for anonymity. The lesson plan was titled after the assigned reading “Let’s Make a Slave,” a graphic, violent speech purportedly given by an 18th-century white slave owner named Willie Lynch as advice on making slaves submissive.

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President Biden’s ‘Infrastructure’ Rescue Plan Bars Memphis from Using Any of the $343 Million in Federal Funds to Repair Bridge

Corinne Murdock

President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan doesn’t allow for either Shelby County or Memphis to use their $343 million in federal funds to repair the broken Memphis bridge. The Hernando de Soto bridge, or I-40 bridge, has been closed to traffic since May 12 due to a large crack in one of its structural beams. As The Tennessee Star reported, Governor Bill Lee visited the bridge on Tuesday to review repair plans. After his visit, Lee criticized Biden’s plan for being marketed as an infrastructure plan but not assisting in actual infrastructure.

“While Congress ponders the definition of infrastructure, we call upon the federal government to prioritize the safety of actual roads and bridges. Although the American Rescue Plan designated $182M to Shelby Co. & $161M to Memphis, funds are prohibited from being spent on road or bridge infrastructure,” said Lee. “The American Jobs Plan, touted as an infrastructure plan, would spend $2T w/ a mere 5.6 percent dedicated to roads & bridges.”

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GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’

Julie Carr

Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate and former State Rep. Vernon Jones called for “an immediate for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election” at a press conference on Wednesday. Here is a transcript of that press conference: Jones: The integrity of our election is nonnegotiable. It is non-negotiable. Zero room. And that is where I’m here today to call for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election. In recent weeks, I found myself troubled by the recent findings coming out of Arizona as they conduct forensic audits of their own led by their state legislatures. From this audit, previously unknown findings have since come to life, including reports of missing ballots, broken seals on the boxes and containers that contain them, and wholly deleted databases of information related to this election. That is not right. Let me make one thing clear. There’s no place in Georgia elections for those types of shenanigans. And the findings of such an audit will paint a clear road map where we must go from here in terms of further reform to safeguard our election process. Since day one, my campaign had made a commitment of integrity to this election while Brian…

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Fulton County Supplied Two Different Versions of 34 Critical Chain of Custody Documents for Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes That Go Back In Time

Laura Baigert

Fulton County election officials provided two different versions of 34 completed critical chain of custody documents for absentee ballot drop boxes from the November 2020 election.

The documents were provided in response to open records requests made by The Georgia Star News, which remain incomplete even six months after the election, The Star reported.

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Florida Lawmakers Ratify Seminole Gaming Compact

Casey Owens
Poker chips casino

After negotiations between Governor DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Florida House and Florida Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that ratifies the  Seminole Gaming Compact.

Under the compact, the Seminole Tribe of Florida will act as the state’s centralized location for sports betting. The deal requires the tribe to work with a minimum of three pari-mutuels within three months after sports betting goes live on Oct. 15.

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Liberal Activists Hold Anti-Israel Rally in Richmond

Cooper Moran

Liberal activist group “Activate Virginia” held a march and rally on Wednesday in opposition to Israel.

“America’s cries on behalf of human rights sound increasingly tinny, given our enabling and defense of what’s happening in places like Gaza,” Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams wrote Tuesday in a piece promoting the event that was published by the paper. “Our ability to navigate a path to social justice here is doubtful if we don’t walk the walk abroad.”

He added,” As long as Palestinians can’t breathe, neither can we.”

By mid-day, hundreds of Richmonders heeded the call and gathered to show their “solidarity with Palestine.”

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Healthcare Industry Exempt from Vaccine Passport Ban

Grant Holcomb

On May 3, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 2006 into law banning vaccine passports in Florida, with the lone exception being health care providers and facilities within the healthcare industry.  

DeSantis has been critical of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines (CDC) and vaccine passports being endorsed by states and governors across the country. He has said, long before he signed the legislation, vaccine passports being required for citizens to participate in society will not happen in Florida.

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Virginia Employment Commission Lawsuit Reaches Agreement as Gov Northam Orders Faster Claims Processing

Eric Burk

The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) is facing criticism and a lawsuit over delays while processing unemployment claims flagged as potentially ineligible. On Tuesday, in court-ordered mediation, the parties in the lawsuit came to an agreement. The same day, Governor Ralph Northam announced Executive Directive 16, requiring the VEC to add 300 new adjudication officers and make technology upgrades.

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46 Apply for Seven Seats on the Virginia Court of Appeals

Eric Burk
Lewis F. Powell Courthouse

Virginia’s Court of Appeals is expanding by six seats and filling a seventh seat left vacant. 46 people have applied for the positions, triggering delays to meet a July 1 deadline. Still, the General Assembly is expected to fill the seats this summer at a yet-to-be-scheduled special session.

In the first 2021 General Assembly special session, legislators passed SB 1261, adding the six seats to the court.

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Geoff Duncan’s Former Chief of Staff Says Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Never Should Have Assumed Office

Chris Butler

The former chief strategist for Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said his former boss was the wrong fit for the job and that Duncan’s personal and professional shortcomings likely doomed his reelection prospects. That man, Chip Lake, told The Georgia Star News Wednesday he worked on Duncan’s political campaign for a year and a half. During the lieutenant governor’s first year in office Lake served as Duncan’s chief of staff. Lake said he regrets working for Duncan.

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Meijer Donated to Nonprofit that Paid for Whitmer’s Private Flight to Florida

Peter D'Abrosca

Scandal-plagued Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) remains in hot water after it was discovered that Michigan Transition 2019, her inaugural nonprofit, paid for her secretive trip on a private plane to visit her father in mid-March.

According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, supermarket giant Meijer contributed $50,000 to Michigan Transition 2019. The company was one of 182 groups or individuals that donated to the nonprofit, which raked in millions, shortly after Whitmer was elected in late 2018. 

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CRITICAL RACE THEORY: Expert Warns Williamson County School System Officials Behave Like ‘Equal Guardian of the Child’

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN — Williamson County School System officials deny they push Critical Race Theory (CRT), but a Republican congressional candidate who wants to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) said the school system is headed in that direction. And that man, Robby Starbuck, told The Tennessee Star Wednesday that Williamson County currently follows the pattern he witnessed in California.

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