Day: July 16, 2021

Zinn Education Project Pulls Teachers’ Critical Race Theory Petition Due to ‘Glitch’ After Tennessee Star Report

Peter D'Abrosca

After The Tennessee Star reported on a petition signed by teachers nationwide who vowed to teach Critical Race Theory even if it was outlawed in their respective states, the nonprofit that circulated the petition appears to have pulled it offline. 

“Lawmakers in at least 21 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history,” a Zinn Education Project’s petition said.

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Former State Rep. Beth Harwell Reflects on Her Time as Tennessee House Speaker

Julie Carr
Beth Harwell

  Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed former Tennessee Speaker Beth Harwell in studio to talk about her time as speaker for eight years. Leahy: We are joined in studio by our good friend, former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell. You know, Beth, as I look at the country today and I look at the problems we have, I’m a big believer in the concept of federalism and state sovereignty, as you are. Harwell: Absolutely. Leahy: Now I look at this and I say, you know what? I think the most important job in America today is to be the speaker of the House of Representatives in a red state legislature. That’s how I see it. Harwell: It’s a great job. It really is. And I thoroughly enjoyed being speaker. And you’re right. Federalism is so key. And I think we’ve seen this in the COVID thing because certain states have handled the crisis differently than other states. Certain cities have been doing things differently. And you’ve seen a sharp contrast.…

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Commentary: Research Used to Justify California’s ‘Equity’ Math Doesn’t Add Up

RealClearWire
Black Pen on Equations

The push to create “equity” and more “social justice” in public schools in America’s largest state rests on this basic premise: “We reject ideas of natural gifts and talents,” declares the current draft of the California Math Framework, which also states that it rejects “the cult of genius.”

Informed by that fundamental idea, the 800-page Framework calls for the elimination of accelerated classes and gifted programs for high-achieving students until at least the 11th grade.

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Blackburn and Hagerty Introduce Bill to Leave Border Restrictions in Place

Cooper Moran
Blackburn and Hagerty

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would limit President Joe Biden’s ability to roll back current border restrictions put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The legislation, known as the SHIELD Act, strengthens Title 42 , which was put into place by former President Donald Trump in an effort to limit the coronavirus over the course of the pandemic

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Tennessee Department of Education Awarded $830 Million in American Rescue Plan Funds

Corinne Murdock

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded Tennessee $830 million in funds to reopen and secure schools. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) earned these funds based on their American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Plan (ESSER). All states may submit an ARP ESSER plan. So far, ED reports that 40 states have submitted one.

According to the ED press release, this latest funding brings Tennessee’s total ARP funds to nearly $2.5 billion.

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Federal Unemployment Benefits Spur Hiring Crisis, Poll Shows

The Center Square
Woman Stressed at Computer

Republicans have argued for months that federal unemployment benefits are keeping Americans from going back to work, and a new survey seems to support that claim.

The survey from Morning Consult released Wednesday found that 1.8 million Americans have turned down jobs even though they were unemployed saying, “I receive enough unemployment benefits without having to work.”

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Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments: Who’s Eligible, and How Much Could They Get?

Admin
family

Millions of American families will begin to receive monthly cash payments Thursday as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law in March.

The payments are an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, and will continue for a year before requiring congressional renewal. As many as 90% of American families are eligible to receive hundreds of dollars a month for each child they have, and some experts believe that the policy could ultimately cut child poverty in half.

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Jobless Claims Decrease to 360,000, Hit Pandemic Low

Admin

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 360,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a slight increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending July 3, when 386,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 373,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Tennessee’s June Revenues $372 Million over Budget for a $2.8 Billion Surplus

Laura Baigert

Tennessee’s revenues for the month of June exceeded the budget by $372.3 million, putting the year-to-date surplus at $2.8 billion, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Butch Eley announced Thursday.

State taxes for June 2021, which is the eleventh month of the current fiscal year, were $321.1 million more than June 2020.

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Election Auditors Report Surplus of over 74K Mail-In Ballots, 4K Voters Registered After Deadline, 18K Voters Removed from Rolls Following Election

Corinne Murdock

During the Arizona Senate hearing on the election audit in Maricopa County Thursday morning, audit officials reported discovery of issues such as ballot duplicates and surpluses, voter roll data, and machine security. The audit officials testifying were Senate Liaison Ken Bennett, Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, and digital security firm CyFIR founder Ben Cotton. Cyber Ninjas is conducting the audit.

The Arizona Sun Times checked the Arizona legislature website at 8 am MST. The website was down. All that was displayed was an error message that said service was unavailable. The website remained that way until sometime after the Senate hearing began. 

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Youngkin to Skip Virginia Bar Association Debate over Moderator’s Conflict of Interest

Peter D'Abrosca
Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe

Gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin will not participate in the Virginia Bar Association’s upcoming debate due to a conflict of interest presented by the moderator. 

The Virginia Star reported last week that Youngkin’s campaign was considering sitting out of the debate if PBS’ Judy Woodruff was named the moderator. Woodruff customarily moderates the Virginia Bar Association’s gubernatorial debate. 

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BLM Questioning Enforcement of Florida’s Anti-Riot Law

Grant Holcomb

Black Lives Matter activists have been asking questions about Florida’s new law, dubbed as the “anti-riot” law as a result of the many anti-communist protests taking place across Florida.

The law enhances penalties for criminals committing acts of violence during a protest as well protestors could be charged with felonies if they block roadways. A driver may also be granted immunity if they drive through protestors blocking a road.

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In a Reversal, Gov. Ducey Tells Two School Districts Their Quarantine Policy for Unvaccinated Students is Illegal

Rachel Alexander

An advisor for Governor Doug Ducey sent letters Wednesday to two Arizona school superintendents letting them know their policies of requiring unvaccinated students exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine is illegal. Education policy advisor Kairlin Harrier told the superintendents of Peoria Unified School District and Catalina Foothills School District their policies violate a new law, HB 2898, which states, “A school district or charter school may not require a student or teacher to receive a vaccine for covid-19 or to wear a face covering to participate in in-person instruction.” 

Harrier went on, “The policy must be rescinded immediately.” She pointed out that children under age 12 haven’t even received approval from the federal government to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Children ages 12-15 only received approval for the vaccine in May.

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Ohio Senate Candidate J.D. Vance Hits Dems for Sneaking Amnesty into Budget Bill

Peter D'Abrosca
JD Vance

A U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio is speaking out against a provision in the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion proposed budget that would allow amnesty for some illegal aliens. 

“Joe Biden’s crisis at the Southern border is already grossly out of hand, and the Democrat plan to grant mass amnesty to illegal immigrants in their budget will only make things worse,” J.D. Vance said in a press release. 

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Fairfax County to Consider Five-Cent Single-Use Plastic Bag Tax

Eric Burk

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted nine to one to ask staff to draft an ordinance for a five-cent single-use plastic bag tax for presentation to the board in September; part of the drafting process includes a period of public outreach.

Supervisor James Walkinshaw introduced the proposal on Tuesday. He said, “There was an environmental survey of the Chesapeake Bay done several years ago and they discovered that the floor of the Chesapeake Bay is littered with plastic bags which is disrupting the habitat and ecosystem of the floor of the Chesapeake Bay, not to mention the micro-particles that come from torn plastic bags that unfortunately make their way into the food supply and the water supply and that all of us are ingesting.”

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Florida Department of Education Adopts New Education Standards

Casey Owens

The Florida Department of Education (DOE) adopted new education standards regarding how topics like Holocaust Education, Civics and Government, Character Education, and Substance Abuse Prevention, will be taught in schools.

In the press release on Wednesday, the DOE stated that the new standards are set to strengthen Florida’s education standards which are already “nationally recognized.”

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Protests and Riots Erupt in Uptown Minneapolis After Removal of ‘Peace Garden’

Hayley Feland
Winston Smith Memorial Garden clearing

On Wednesday night, riots and protests erupted again after the city of Minneapolis and 7 Points Uptown decided to remove the “peace garden” where a memorial for Winston Smith was located. The garden, also known as Boogie World, was a second autonomous zone established in Minneapolis after a wanted man, Winston Smith, was shot and killed by U.S. Marshals on June 3.

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Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Calls for Fulton County Officials to Be Fired After Repeated Election Mistakes

Cooper Moran

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Thursday called for two of the top elections officials in Fulton County to be fired after numerous mistakes in the election process have been discovered.

“Fulton County’s continued failures have gone on long enough with no accountability. Rick Barron and Ralph Jones, Fulton’s registration chief, must be fired and removed from Fulton’s elections leadership immediately. Fulton’s voters and the people of Georgia deserve better,” Raffensperger said in a tweet.

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Virginia Ends Fiscal Year 2021 with $2.6 Billion Revenue Surplus

Eric Burk

Virginia ended Fiscal Year 2021 with a $2.6 billion surplus, the largest in Virginia’s history, with a 14.5 percent revenue growth over FY 2020.

“We have effectively managed Virginia’s finances through the pandemic, and now we are seeing the results—record-breaking revenue gains, a recovery that has outpaced the nation, and recognition as the best place to do business,” Governor Ralph Northam said in a press release.

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Tennessee Department of Health Reportedly Fired Chief Vaccination Official for Months of Inappropriate Behavior – Not for Sharing Mature Minor Doctrine

Corinne Murdock

Contrary to current claims, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) reportedly fired its previous Vaccine-Preventable and Infectious Diseases State Medical Director Dr. Michelle Fiscus due to months of unprofessional behavior and poor job performance. TDH Chief Medical Officer Tim Jones detailed issues with Fiscus at length in a recommendation for termination email to TDH Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey. 

Although Fiscus claims that she was fired for informing the public about the mature minor doctrine, TDH offered a laundry list of the issues Fiscus has reportedly caused. According to their records, Fiscus consistently engaged in inappropriate behaviors such as mistreating her colleagues and ignoring superiors. Her behavior reportedly caused two senior leaders to resign. She’d also been pushing TDH over the last three months to award funds to her nonprofit organization – though it had no staff or other major funds.

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