Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Audit Liaison Ken Bennett Confirm Bennett Will Remain as Senate Liaison, Pledge Bennett Will Have ‘Full Access’

Ken Bennett

Arizona Senate President Karen Fann released a statement on Friday that confirmed former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett will continue to serve as the Senate’s Liason to the ongoing audit.

Further, Fann promised that Bennett will be granted “full access” to all aspects of the forensic audit, after Bennett threatened to leave the post earlier this week.

Read the full story

Tennessee Representative Rose Calls Out Biden Claim That ‘Crime Is Down’

In House floor remarks on Thursday, Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) called out President Joe Biden for insisting in a CNN Town Hall with host Don Lemon a week ago that “crime is down” even as murder rates rise.

The current rise in violent crime has been broadly acknowledged by an array of journalistic and academic observers, and even by liberal outlets like the Atlantic Monthly.

Read the full story

Commentary: Republicans Will Defend Their Corporate Friends but Not Their Voters

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has so many problems to solve right now. A crime wave leaves hundreds of Americans dead and has turned our cities into war zones. A border crisis allows hundreds of thousands of illegals to enter our country. A domestic war on terror threatens basic civil liberties. 

But none of these crises have persuaded Graham to go to war. No, the civilizational question that demands his full zeal has to do with . . .  a fast-food chain. 

Read the full story

Biden Admin Will Keep a Trump-Era Public Health Order Expelling Most Migrants in Place, Citing COVID-19 Variants

The Biden administration will keep a Trump-era public health order used to expel most migrants from the U.S. in place, citing COVID-19 variants, Reuters reported Thursday.

President Joe Biden reportedly planned to lift public health order Title 42 restrictions for migrant families at the end of July, according to Reuters. The administration decided not to lift the order in light of rising COVID-19 infections in Mexico and the spread of the delta variant, according to three people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported.

Read the full story

Pfizer Launches Trials to Test Booster COVID Shots in Knoxville, Nashville

Pfizer has launched trials in Knoxville and Nashville to test a third booster shot for the COVID-19 vaccine, marketed as an “updated version.” Alliance for Multispecialty Research (AMR) Knoxville’s Volunteer Research Group is conducting the Knoxville study, and Clinical Research Associates is conducting the Nashville study. Pfizer claimed in a press release earlier this month that a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine would more effectively provide immunization, especially against the Delta variant.

Read the full story

GDP Surges 6.5 Percent as Economy Reaches Pre-Pandemic Size

The U.S. economy surged 6.5% in the second quarter of 2021 as states continued to end coronavirus-related restrictions that triggered an economic recession last year.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of net services and goods produced, jumped at a 6.5% annual rate between April and May, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report released Thursday. GDP plummeted 31.4% in the second quarter of 2020 amid the massive nationwide economic shutdowns that occurred during the first coronavirus outbreak.

Read the full story

Commentary: Homeschooling Is an Option for Parents Who Don’t Like Back-to-School Mask Mandates

School districts across the country are beginning to impose mask mandates for all students and staff this fall. Officials in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, DC declared last week that everyone in school buildings will be required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

These school districts are going beyond current CDC guidelines, which recommend masking for unvaccinated students and staff only. Instead, they seem to be embracing the masking stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics which announced last week that all students over age two, as well as staff, should wear masks at school even if they are vaccinated.

Read the full story

Senator Hagerty Introduces Bill to End Government-Directed Big Tech Censorship

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced a bill on Wednesday aimed to limit “government collusion” with Big Tech to censor Americans’ free speech.

“The purpose of the First Amendment is to prevent government from suppressing speech with which it disagrees. If the federal government is attempting to end-run the Constitution by secretly working with tech platforms to censor Americans’ speech, then the American people deserve to know. Requiring transparency will ensure that the government cannot work secretly to censor Americans,” Hagerty detailed of his proposed legislation.

Read the full story

Biden Expected to Issue Vaccine Mandate for Federal Employees

President Joe Biden is expected to announce Thursday that all federal employees and contractors must receive the COVID vaccination or undergo regular COVID testing, just two days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that vaccinated Americans should resume wearing masks.

Though the decision is not official, Republicans have begun criticizing it and the CDC’s mask reversal, calling them federal overreach. The CDC in May said vaccinated individuals did not ned to wear masks.

Read the full story

Fauci’s Agency Dumped Millions into Chinese Entities to Study Infectious Diseases Since 2012, Federal Data Shows

The National Institutes of Health has doled out nearly $46 million in taxpayer funds to 100 Chinese institutions in the form of subgrants since the 2012 fiscal year to conduct research into infectious diseases, drug addiction, mental health and other scientific fields, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of federal spending data.

Read the full story

Biden’s Latest Immigration Plan Won’t Resolve Border Crisis, Critics Say

border-crisis_840x480

The immigration crisis has been a thorn in the side of President Joe Biden, and the administration’s latest plan to tackle the issue is facing pushback.

Critics are taking aim at Biden’s latest proposal after months of federal data show illegal immigration has only grown worse. In the proposal released this week, Biden pledged an “expedited removal process for those who arrive at the border,” and faster processing for those seeking asylum.

Read the full story

Poll: Majority of Americans Support Regulating, Breaking Up Big Tech

A majority of Americans believe major tech companies are too powerful, and support the government regulating and breaking them up, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted from June 7 to 12 and released Wednesday by Change Research on behalf of progressive groups CAP Action and Public Citizen, found that 81% of respondents believe Big Tech and social media companies are too powerful, with 73% at least “somewhat convinced” they should be regulated and broken up. Republicans had a less favorable view of tech companies than Democrats and tended to be more supportive of antitrust action.

Read the full story

Music Spotlight: Gracie Carol

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Gracie Carol is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. As an athlete, Carol only remembers hearing her parents play country music as a child.

She recalled, “Every time we played games or practiced, my parents would be in the car just blaring new Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson and George Strait and all the late 90s and early 2000s songs from country radio.”

Read the full story

Virginia Court Dismisses Senator Louise Lucas’ Defamation Lawsuit Against Tim Anderson

A court has dismissed Senator Louise Lucas’ (D-Portsmouth) defamation lawsuit against Tim Anderson, GOP candidate for the 83rd House of Delegates district. Lucas had sought $20 million in damages alleging that Anderson had falsely said that Lucas caused citizens to pull down the Portsmouth Confederate monument in June 2020.

In a Facebook statement Wednesday, Anderson said, “An elected official suing a citizen who is sharply criticizing the officials actions is not a cause of action for Defamation under Virginia law. Today the Court agreed.”

Read the full story

Senate Liaison for Arizona Audit Reverses Course on Stepping Down, Will Remain Under Certain Conditions

Ken Bennett

The former Secretary of State serving as the liaison for the Arizona State Senate Audit, Ken Bennett, will remain in his capacity as liaison after all. This is the second time that Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) has apparently walked Bennett back from the brink of walking away from the audit. Their latest agreement to keep Bennett on was less publicized than the first; no official statements have been put forth concerning the new terms of Bennett’s role. Per their agreement, Bennett will regain access to the building and may obtain information from the auditing company, Cyber Ninjas, upon request.

As The Arizona Sun Times reported on Thursday, Bennett has gone back and forth over his decision to bow out of the audit. Bennett relayed those sentiments twice this week: once on Monday, then again on Wednesday. Both times, Bennett discussed stepping down from his role with the radio host James Harris on morning episodes of The Conservative Circus. Both times, Bennett said he was liaison “in name only” because he was repeatedly excluded from overseeing critical aspects of the audit.

Read the full story

Georgia Officials File Motion to Dismiss U.S. Department of Justice’s Lawsuit Against SB 202

Georgia officials have filed a motion to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) lawsuit against the state’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr this week released a statement and called the lawsuit “politically-charged” and said it seeks “to intrude into the State of Georgia’s constitutional authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of its elections.”

Read the full story

Conservative Virginia Supreme Court Justice Mims Retiring

Bill Mims

Virginia Supreme Court Justice William C. Mims, a Republican who earlier served as a state lawmaker and state attorney general, has announced his plans to retire from the court next spring.

Mims, who would have been eligible for reappointment in anticipation of his term ending March 31, wrote in a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam (D), House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Springfield) and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Alexandria) that he wants to “discern other opportunities to serve” as he turns 65 next year.

Read the full story

Senator Marsha Blackburn Argues That Mask Mandates Are About ‘Power,’ Not Science

In an impassioned speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Senator Blackburn on Thursday argued that the implementation of new mask mandates are connected to a push for power, not “following the science.”

“We are going to continue to have COVID-19 in our presence. We know that, but we also know that what is happening today is not necessarily about masks. This is about continuing to perpetrate these lockdowns. We’ve had a series of lockdowns…[and the left was] pulling back on freedom, giving power to the government, and lessening the ability for individual choices,” Blackburn said while addressing her colleagues.

Read the full story

Georgia Gov. Kemp Says No New Lockdowns Coming, Encourages Vaccination

There will not be any new shutdowns or mask mandates in Georgia, as concerns over the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases grows. 

“Georgia will not lock down or impose statewide mask mandates,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday on Twitter. “As the first state in the country to reopen over a year ago, we’ve proven that Georgians know how to come together and protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Read the full story

Senate Passes Bill to Fund Capitol Police, National Guard, Resettlement of Afghans Who Helped U.S. Troops

A $2.1 billion bill to fund the Capitol Police, National Guard and resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. troops sailed through the Senate Thursday afternoon on a 98-0 vote.

The bill was brokered by Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, the two top lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The deal, which also provides funding for COVID-19-related measures around the Capitol complex, was reached amid reports that the Capitol Police was set to run out of money in the coming weeks.

Read the full story

Arizona Cities Reinstate Mask Mandates Following CDC Guidance

The cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Peoria, Tempe, and Flagstaff have all announced reinstatement of their mask mandates following the updated CDC guidance. The mayors of these cities directed their officials to mandate masks in city facilities regardless of vaccination status. Tempe and Tucson’s mandate went into effect on Wednesday, Peoria’s mandate on Thursday, and Flagstaff’s mandate on Friday. Phoenix’s mandate will go into effect on Monday.

As The Arizona Sun Times reported, the CDC recommended on Tuesday that everyone – even fully-vaccinated individuals – wear masks inside public spaces where high transmission rates exist. The CDC claimed that this reversed guidance was influenced by the surge of Delta variant cases. The CDC mentioned that certain data necessitated this change, but hasn’t published it.

Read the full story

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Youngkin Proposes Spending on Taxpayer Relief, Businesses, Education, and Public Safety

RICHMOND,Virginia – Glenn Youngkin announced his $5.8 billion plan for spending Virginia’s surplus revenue and federal American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA] funds at a press conference Thursday morning. The list include $1.5 for taxpayer and family relief; $2.6 billion for jobs, small business, and broadband; $1.2 billion for education; and $0.5 billion for public safety and mental health.

“Thanks to the McAuliffe-Northam failures, the murder rate in Virginia is at a 20-year high. Our economy has fallen behind, jobs have come back slower, and our cost of living is way too high. Our schools are underperforming, and as a result, taxpayers, families, seniors, and our children are suffering,” Youngkin said. “The change we need will not come from a failed politician with stale ideas that he failed to deliver when he had his chance as governor.”

Read the full story

DeSantis Announces $250M for Florida’s Ports

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced $250 million in funding for Florida’s ports to help with economic recovery as a result of decreased revenue last year.

“Not only are Florida ports a key economic driver for their surrounding communities, but also for our state as a whole,” said DeSantis. “From the cruise industry, to cargo, to supporting military operations, our ports provide nearly 1 million jobs for Floridians. This $250 million investment in our ports is a commitment to our future economic prosperity for generations to come.”

Read the full story

Ohio Special Congressional Election Inspires Increased Spending with Low Voter Turnout Expected

Various outside groups and campaigns have spent millions to project their supported candidate in the Ohio 15th Congressional District special election, but many signs point to rather low voter turnout in the approaching August 3 primary.

According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, approximately 3,900 people had voted early or returned absentee ballots through Friday with only one week left to cast an early ballot.

Read the full story

Group Takes Step Toward Legal Marijuana in Ohio

A group pushing for legalizing marijuana in Ohio began the formal process to send proposed legislation to the General Assembly.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted the language of its plan to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The submission of the first 1,000 signatures, according to group spokesman and attorney Tom Haren, will require Yost to review and approve the petition language within 10 days.

Read the full story

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate McAuliffe Accepts Endorsement from Another Far-Left Group

Terry McAuliffe

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), the current Democrat Party nominee for the same position, accepted an endorsement from another radically far-left group this week.

“Proud to be endorsed by [New Virginia Majority]. Together, we are going to keep Virginia moving forward. That starts with building a more inclusive Commonwealth that lifts up working people across Virginia. Onward!” McAuliffe said on Twitter. 

Read the full story

Kaiser Aluminum Moves Headquarters from California to Tennessee

Kaiser Aluminum plant

Kaiser Aluminum on Thursday joined a growing list of companies that are moving their business from California to Tennessee when they detailed that its new corporate headquarters will be located in Franklin.

In the move to Williamson County, the company, which frequently supplies Boeing with various supplies, will invest a total of approximately $3 million and create 80 jobs.

Read the full story

Tennessee’s Fired Immunization Chief Blasts Health Commissioner on COVID-Testing Contract

Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the recently fired director of the Tennessee Department of Health’s (TDH) Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program (VPDIP), blasted Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey this week for the latter’s handling of a $26.5 million COVID-testing contract.

“We knew that she was not being truthful with that committee,” Fiscus said to NewsChannel 5, referring to testimony Piercey gave before the state legislature last December.

Read the full story