Day: July 8, 2021

Bill Proposes Voter Poll on Legalization, Decriminalization of Medical or Recreational Marijuana in Tennessee

Corinne Murdock

Tennesseans may have the option to weigh in on the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana: medical, recreational, or both. State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) introduced bill HB 1634 on Wednesday to include a voter opinion poll on the subject within the November 2022 ballot.

The poll would ask voters if Tennessee should legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, and legalize and regulate commercial sales of recreational marijuana.

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PR Firm Hires Ex-White House Spokesman TJ Ducklo As Senior Vice President, After He Resigned for Threatening Reporter

Corinne Murdock

Risa Heller Communications hired TJ Ducklo, the Nashville native who resigned as the Biden administration’s deputy press secretary shortly after his suspension for threatening and insulting a reporter. The reporter in question, Tara Palmeri, had inquired with another political reporter, Alexi McCammond, about the potential conflict of interest presented in her new relationship to Ducklo. In response, Ducklo made an off-the-record call to threaten and harass Palmeri. Palmeri shared Ducklo’s comments with his superiors. In one response to Palmeri’s concerns, senior Biden officials took Palmeri to task for breaking a reported off-the-record agreement with Ducklo. The scandal occurred shortly after President Joe Biden promised in his inaugural address to employees that disrespecting colleagues would be a fireable offense.

The PR firm’s founder and primary operator, Risa Heller, was formerly the communications director for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former Democratic governor of New York, David Paterson. Heller also offered crisis communications assistance to former Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY-09) amidst his sex scandal in 2011; Ivanka Trump as she navigated conflict ahead of her appointment as a senior advisor to her father, former President Trump; and the family real estate company of Jared Kushner, the previous president’s son-in-law.

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Spring Hill Lab Owner Charged in Massive Medicare Fraud Scheme

Chris Butler
Person in lab gear

Federal officials have charged the owner and chief executive of the Spring Hill-based Crestar Labs, with aiding and abetting and violation of the anti-kickback statute for allegedly orchestrating a fraudulent Medicare billing scheme. This scheme, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, related to genetic testing in cancer patients.

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Far-Left Activist Ibram Kendi, ‘Leading Thinker’ of Critical Race Theory, to Speak at Teachers’ Union Conference

Admin

On Wednesday, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) will be hosting one of the most far-left activists in America at their biennial conference, for the purpose of promoting Critical Race Theory, Breitbart reports.

Ibram Kendi, the author of numerous books that fuel racial division such as “How to be an Antiracist” and “Antiracist Baby,” will be a featured speaker at AFT’s Together Educating America’s Children (TEACH) conference. Other speakers who will appear during the five-day conference include Jill Biden, failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and the Deputy Secretary of the Education Department Cindy Marten.

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CloutHub Founder Jeff Brain Reacts to Trump’s Big Tech Lawsuit

Peter D'Abrosca
Jeff Brain

The founder of CloutHub, a free speech social media network, has responded to former President Donald J. Trump’s class action lawsuit against several Silicon Valley titans, which the forty-fifth president announced Wednesday. 

“I am pleased that President Trump is fighting back against Big Tech corporations after enduring months of blatant injustices,” Jeff Brain said in press release. “His lawsuit is based on the infringement of his fundamental free speech rights that powerful companies such as Facebook and Twitter imposed based on their own political bias; a bias that has no place with such important keepers of our national public square online.”

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Eric Adams Wins Democratic Primary in Race to Be New York City’s Next Mayor

Admin
Eric Adams

Former NYPD officer Eric Adams will be the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City after updated vote tallies gave him a narrow lead over former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia.

Adams led Garcia 50.5% to 49.5% when the Associated Press called the race, a full point closer than last Wednesday’s results. The city’s Board of Elections the day before had mistakenly counted approximately 135,000 invalid ballots, though the original incorrect results mirrored those released Wednesday.

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Rep. Diana Harshbarger Introduces Bill to Increase Transparency Within the Department of Homeland Security

Cooper Moran

U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) introduced a bill on Tuesday that is aimed to increase the level of transparency associated with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The legislation, known as the DHS Contract Reporting Act of 2021, would instruct DHS to publish a public, daily report of all headquarters and component contracts related to the agency that exceeds $4 million.

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More Ohio Farmers Will Get Paid to Help Keep Lake Erie Clean

The Center Square

More Ohio farmers can be paid by the state to implement measurers officials say help protect Lake Erie as 10 more counties have been added to the H2Ohio program, which received a $120 million boost in the recently signed state budget.

The program, which offers funding to farmers who use proven conservation practices that limit agricultural phosphorus runoff from fertilizer, now includes 24 northwest Ohio counties. Officials said phosphorus runoff is the primary factor behind algal blooms in Lake Erie.

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Appellate Court to Decide Florida’s Cruise Industry Fight with CDC

Grant Holcomb
Cruise ship next to dock

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing a case between the State of Florida and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over cruise industry COVID-related restrictions.

Last month, a federal district judge sided with Florida and issued an immediate injunction against the CDC-imposed COVID restrictions on the cruise industry, halting the restrictions temporarily.

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Florida’s May Revenues Exceed Expectations

Grant Holcomb
Florida’s Historic Capitol and Florida State Capitol

State revenue projections for Florida in May have exceeded expectations, according to a new report from state economists. May’s state income reflected a tenth straight month of revenue exceeding state projections, which economists say is a good sign despite the cost of products and goods going up. 

The Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research announced $3.6 billion in general revenue. The original projections had the state raking in over one-half million dollars less.

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Legal Issues May Arise as Tucson Ignores Arizona’s ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary’ Law

Rachel Alexander

The city of Tucson passed a resolution recently declaring that it will defy Arizona’s “Second Amendment Sanctuary” law, which says the state will not comply with federal laws and regulations that violate the Second Amendment. Arizona’s law prohibits the police and sheriffs from enforcing those laws. The state passed the 2nd Amendment Firearm Freedom Act into law in April. 

Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik introduced the resolution last month. Democratic Mayor Regina Romero and the City Council unanimously passed the resolution on June 22, which they labeled an emergency.

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Uptown Minneapolis Annual Art Fair Canceled Due to ‘Unanticipated Challenges’

Hayley Feland
Uptown Art Fair

The Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis was canceled for 2021, because of “unanticipated challenges.” A statement from the executive director of the Uptown Association said that having the 2021 fair was “not something that we can feel comfortable with, for safety reasons and for our artists.” She cited dumpster fires and an increase in drag racing as some of the safety concerns.

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer Veto Places 136 At-Risk Kids’ Lives into Uncertainty, Critics Say

The Center Square

When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed House Bill 4945, she threw into uncertainty the futures of 136 at-risk Detroit kids, supporters of the measure say.

Possibilities include prison, the streets, or shipping them across the state to another Strict Disciplinary Academy (SDA) instead of allowing them an education through Ace Academy in Highland Park.

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U.S. Capitol Police Announce Field Offices in Florida and California

Casey Owens

As a result of an increase in threats to members of Congress since January’s Capitol riot, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) announced its plan to establish field offices in Florida and California to investigate said threats.

As clarified in an email sent to the News Service of Florida, the specific locations within the two states will be the Tampa and San Francisco areas.

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Former Governor Harry Byrd, Sr. Statue Removed from Virginia Capitol

Eric Burk

The statue of former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, Sr., was removed from Virginia’s Capitol Square on Wednesday. Byrd was a renowned Democratic politician who helped stimulate economic growth and a better road network. But he’s more well-known for orchestrating efforts to fight integrating Virginia’s schools despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.

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Arizona Attorney General Says He ‘Will Not Tolerate’ Biden Adminstration’s Plan to Go Door-to-Door for Unvaccinated Americans: ‘This Is a Severe Breach of Privacy’

Corinne Murdock
Attorney General Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich called President Joe Biden’s plan to go door-to-door encouraging COVID-19 vaccinations “alarming.” In a letter submitted to the president Tuesday, Brnovich told Biden that he wouldn’t tolerate breaches of privacy concerning Arizonans’ vaccination status.

“I, along with many Arizonans, was greatly alarmed by your White House indicating that it might be in possession of medical records revealing the contact information for Americans who have not been vaccinated,” wrote Brnovich. “If this is the case, this is a severe breach of privacy, and I will not tolerate such intrusions within Arizona.”

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Involvement in Virginia Local School Board Politics Is Increasing

Eric Burk

Public comment periods at the Loudoun County School Board have repeatedly gone viral as hundreds of parents and activists speak out against new transgender policies mandated by law and Critical Race Theory (CRT) equity initiatives. There’s also an effort to recall six of the school board members. But Loudoun County Public Schools isn’t the only Virginia school district to see new growth in public involvement in school politics.

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New Arizona Law Aims to Improve Civilian Review Boards on Police Misconduct

Rachel Alexander

One of the bills passed this year in the Arizona Legislature and signed by the governor, HB 2567, adds rules for independent community oversight of Arizona police departments. Although Arizona isn’t plagued like some states by high-profile incidents involving law enforcement, overall community concern led to the legislation.

John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, who comes from a law enforcement background and sponsored the bill, said, “I’m not throwing cops to the wolves, especially politically motivated wolves.

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Uncle of Girl Who Filmed Viral George Floyd Video Killed in Minneapolis Police Squad Car Crash

Peter D'Abrosca
Minneapolis Police Department Squad Car

The uncle of Darnella Frazier, the Minneapolis teenager who was recently awarded an honorary Pulitzer for filming the viral video of the arrest of George Floyd, which led to his death at the hands of ex-Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, has died after a collision with police. 

While officers from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) were pursuing a suspect in an armed robbery Tuesday morning, one officer’s squad car struck an unrelated vehicle. 

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Davidson County Election Chair Splits from Private Job After Support for Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act

Cooper Moran

Jim DeLanis, the chairman of the Davidson County Election Commission and a former attorney at Baker Donelson law firm, is no longer with the firm after voting to support the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act.

In a commission meeting, DeLanis voted to appeal a ruling from a Nashville judge that canceled a special referendum that was to be held with the goal of reducing the city’s substantial tax hike.

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