Day: June 10, 2021

Nashville Mayor’s Affordable Housing Task Force Cites Racial Equity, Anti-Racism, Reparations as Guides for Progress

Corinne Murdock

Nashville’s Affordable Housing Task Force declared that racial equity, antiracism, and reparations are several goals for affordable housing development. These goals were outlined in Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s affordable housing report, published Wednesday. The task force wrote in the report that these goals would bolster their recommendations, leading to significant progress for the next four years.

“Racial inequity permeates Nashville’s past and present – and housing is no exception. While existing Fair Housing policies are intended to protect vulnerable communities, many Black and Brown Nashvillians still face housing discrimination,” read the task force report. “Current status-quo practices and policies continue to perpetuate harm, so we must intentionally work to design and implement solutions that are anti-racist both in outcomes and processes.” [emphasis added]

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Commentary: China’s Vaccine Propaganda Is Maligning the U.S., Bribing the World

Admin

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved China’s Sinovac vaccine for COVID-19, following its approval of China’s Sinopharm last month. The WHO can now distribute both vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) program, which distributes COVID-19 vaccine to the developing world. China is poised to export over one billion COVID-19 doses abroad in 2021 alone, according to Chinese state-run media outlet the Global Times.

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Record Number of Americans Find Abortion ‘Morally Acceptable,’ Poll Finds

Admin

A record number of Americans find abortion “morally acceptable” though American sentiment on the matter is sharply divided, a Gallup poll released Wednesday found.

Forty-seven percent of Americans find abortion acceptable, while 46% think abortion is wrong from a moral perspective, the poll found. The percentage of Americans who find abortion acceptable increased two points, the highest level of support Gallup has found since it began tracking the matter two decades ago.

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Joan Carter Replaces Late Husband as State Representative

Cooper Moran
Joan Carter

Joan Carter was appointed by a unanimous vote on Wednesday to serve as the State Representative for the 29th District, replacing her late husband Rep. Mike Carter. 

While the business of the Tennessee General Assembly has concluded for the year, the appointment serves as an honor to the late representative and will allow Carter to carry on the legacy of her husband. She will serve as the state representative for the area on an interim basis, until the conclusion of the special election with the primary election being scheduled for July 27 and the general for September 14. 

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Commentary: Rural Families Need Educational Choice Too

RealClearWire

This school year started unlike any other for children across the country, many of whom began the year staring at a computer screen. Yet for the minority of students who were able to start the year at an independent school, their education was minimally impacted, with most continuing with in-person classes. It’s unfortunate that some students are being forced to go virtual for their education, with some public school districts refusing to reopen classrooms until the beginning of the next school year. What’s even more unfortunate is the reason for these decisions to keep classrooms closed may not be based on safety and science but sheer political influence. 

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Miley Cyrus Held Free Pride Month Concert for Vaccinated People Only at the Ryman

Corinne Murdock
fans

Pop star Miley Cyrus held a free Pride Month-themed concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Wednesday – but only for vaccinated people. Less than 2,500 people were granted entry; no phones or cameras were allowed.

In order to get a free ticket, fans had to flash their vaccination cards as proof of immunization. Although those in line were likely vaccinated, several still wore masks. Local historian David Ewing documented pictures and video of fans standing in line waiting for their free tickets. It appears from the video that the line wrapped around the building and down Commerce Street. 

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Nashville Mayor John Cooper Wants More Revenue Sources to Fund Affordable Housing

Chris Butler

Nashville Mayor John Cooper released a report Wednesday that not only calls for more affordable housing within the city but also calls for new sources of revenue to fund it. The report specifically calls on Metro Nashville officials to pursue additional revenue streams. Metro planners also suggest generating more affordable housing by using land already publicly-owned and underutilized. The report said city officials could expand Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to support Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). This method, the report went on to say, would fund long-term housing by partnering with nonprofit and private developers. Metro planners also suggested creating “mixed use, mixed income communities.”

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Biden Repeals Trump’s Attempted TikTok Ban, Replaces It with Order to Review Foreign Apps

Admin

President Joe Biden revoked an executive order that sought to ban downloads of Chinese-owned apps like TikTok and WeChat in the United States, the White House announced Wednesday.

Instead, Biden directed the Commerce Department to evaluate software applications connected with foreign adversaries like China, and “take action, as appropriate,” according to the fact sheet the administration released. The previous slate of executive orders were signed by former President Donald Trump, one of which sought to ban TikTok completely in the U.S.

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Ohio Attorney General Sues to Make Google a Public Utility

Cooper Moran

A lawsuit filed on Tuesday by Ohio Attorney General David Yost aims to make Google a public utility, limiting the ways the search engine provides search results.

“Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products–that’s discriminatory and anti-competitive,” Yost said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same and give everybody access.”

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Commentary: I Need an AR-15

Admin

I don’t need an AR-15 for hunting: It’s not even legal to take a deer with one in my state—the caliber is too small. I also don’t need an AR-15 for self-defense, though I’d want to have one if someone broke into my house. And I certainly don’t need one just because it’s a beautiful piece of engineering. I need an AR-15 because the government doesn’t want me to have one.

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Minnesota Man Arrested in Cold Case Murder of Julie Ann Hanson

Hayley Feland

A 50 year old murder was recently solved when police arrested Barry Lee Whelpley of Mounds View, Minnesota for the murder of 15 year-old Julie Ann Hanson. The murder took place in Chicago, Illinois when Whelpley was 27, in 1972.

The girl was stabbed 36 times and was sexually assaulted. Her body was discovered in a field in Naperville, Illinois after she had been reported missing. At the time, no suspects were arrested in the case.

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Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Crist Begins ‘Voting Rights Tour’

Casey Owens

Gubernatorial candidate and current U.S. Representative Charlie Crist created a Voting Rights Tour of the state of Florida to advocate against GOP leadership in Florida and their efforts to establish stricter voting provisions for Floridians.

Crist began his tour on Tuesday and will visit seven cities in Florida before wrapping it up on Friday. The selected cities include: Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Broward County, Miami, Orlando, and Gainesville.

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121 People Register to Speak at Loudoun County School Board Meeting

Eric Burk

The public comment period at Tuesday’s Loudoun County Public School Board meeting lasted about three hours after 121 people registered to speak. Several factors contributed to the high participation, according to LCPS citizen reporter Julie Sisson.

“It was insane,” Sisson said. “A combination of the first in-person audience in over a year, the fact that LCPS suspended Tanner Cross after the last one and the court ruling in his favor had come out earlier that day, last meeting of the school year, and the SB was supposed to discuss Policy 8040 (rights of transgender students) but they pushed it back to Committee.”

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Minneapolis DFL Accused of Discriminating in Online Caucus System

Hayley Feland

The Minneapolis Democrat Farmer Laborer (DFL) Party moved their caucus process online and are now being accused of discrimination. Three DFL leaders, DFL Party activist Ken Vreeland, and former Minneapolis Council members Tony Scallon and Lisa MacDonald, have come out in opposition to the online system, saying that it prohibits people who don’t have the resources to access the online system from participating.

They say that the online system has led to the “disenfranchisement of thousands of voters, fraudulent registrations, and preferential treatment of campaigns.” According to Vreeland, MacDonald, and Scallon it disproportionately affects minorities and the elderly, because of a lack of resources to access the online caucus. Scallon also said that “the party’s request for voters’ ages amounts to discrimination.” According to the Star Tribune, Scallon said that “They [caucus participants] thought they were done when they got done registering. We’ve never had a required verification before and so a lot of people have been denied and they did not get to be delegates. It’s just really a mess.”

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Metro Nashville Schools Allows Faculty to Implement ‘Gender Support Plan’ for Students Aged 16+ Without Parental Consent or Knowledge

Corinne Murdock

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) faculty may implement a “Gender Support Plan” for students aged 16 and over without parental consent – or knowledge.

The Tennessee Star obtained a copy of MNPS’s Gender Support Plan. After listing the student’s preferred name, if any, the plan includes a questionnaire asking if the parent or guardian is aware and in support of the student’s gender status. It also notes that Gender Support Plans involving students under the age of 16 must be consulted with Student Services. Additionally, the plan asks what considerations must be accounted for concerning student safety if parental or guardian support is low, and if it would be necessary to develop a “safety plan.”

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