The primary election might be finished in Ohio’s 11th District, but Rep. James Clyburn (D-MD-06), the third-highest ranking Democrat in Congress, is still making his presence felt.
“These are creations, and to say all we got out of endorsing Joe Biden was a federal holiday? That’s the kind of BS that sent me to Cleveland, I was going to stay right here in South Carolina minding my business until I got called stupid,” Clyburn told Axios.
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The Virginia Redistricting Commission is facing key decisions about how it will create legislative maps. The U.S. Census Bureau is expected to publish 2020 Census data later this month. When the commission receives the data on August 16, that will launch a 45-day deadline for the commission to create the maps for House of Delegates and Senate. But the commission is still debating key questions about how to draw the maps: should subcommittees be used, who should be on them, and should the maps be based on the current maps.
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Crystal Ivey, broadband director at Tennessee’s Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD), said Wednesday that $500 million in taxpayer money bestowed upon Tennessee in the latest round of federal COVID-19 relief will go toward broadband expansion.
ECD officials and Governor Bill Lee (R) have stressed the heightened importance of telecommuting, e-commerce, telemedicine and distance learning after the pandemic hit.
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The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent guidance on the process of state election audits indicates that the federal agency is apparently deeply unsettled by the string of election audits and election reform efforts carried out by state Republicans since last November’s presidential election.
The guidance, distributed last week and directed in part toward state legislatures, instructs investigators on “how states must comply with federal law” when conducting election audits. It also addresses efforts by some state legislatures to repeal emergency COVID-19 voting rules that other states have in some cases sought to make permanent.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday introduced an amendment to the bipartisan infrastructure deal that will reallocate $1 billion to resume construction of the wall at the southern border.
The potential addition to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would strip the money from grants awarded to the Northeast Corridor Amtrak and apply those funds to border wall construction.
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Earlier this week, the estimable Robert Stacy McCain delivered a quite spot-on assessment of the terrible science behind the Centers for Disease Control’s guidance on masks, vaccinations, and the Delta variant of COVID-19. That guidance has thrown the entire country into a fresh panic about the virus, so much so that in places like Nevada, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. there are now mask mandates in place even for people vaccinated against the virus.
It seems the CDC had two sources for upsetting the national applecart. According to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, it relied on a study of a vaccine in use in India which apparently was less than effective in warding off the Delta variant — but that vaccine isn’t used in the United States because our authorities weren’t satisfied as to its effectiveness, period.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Dr. Adrienne Battle on Wednesday announced she will ask members of the school board to implement a universal mask mandate.
According to Battle, the mandate would require all students, seemingly regardless of their vaccination status, to wear a mask indoors and on school buses.
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Open Door, Inc. and Alumni Music, Inc., both based in Shelby County, have been determined to not be using their federal Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) funds to provide meals to children, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office asserted Wednesday.
A probe was conducted cooperatively by the Comptroller of the Treasury and the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) during summer 2020 to ascertain what nourishment the two companies were providing to minors.
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A new state law that limits teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) has prompted the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) to propose new rules as it pertains to teaching on the subject of race in public schools. According to state of Tennessee’s website, educators may not teach that one race is superior to another race. They also cannot teach that an individual is privileged due to race or sex, whether consciously or subconsciously. They also may not teach that the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.
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Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy is calling for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, citing their “reckless immigration policy” that many lawmakers argue is endangering the lives of Texans and Americans.
“Total encounters: 205,029. Total known getaways: 37,400. 1.3 million for 2021 so far. Largest monthly encounter number since 2000,” Roy tweeted.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed 400-meter runner and Team USA member Cynthia Monteleone to the newsmakers line to talk about running against transgender males and what she’s doing to fight it.
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Border officials encountered an estimated 210,000 migrants at the southern border in July, the highest monthly total since 2000, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Preliminary government data reportedly shows border officials encountered some 19,000 unaccompanied migrant minors, a record high from previous months including just over 18,800 in March, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy David Shahoulian said, the AP reported.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Grant Henry in studio to discuss the excellence of the Tennessee legislature and the importance for citizens to become involved.
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The Washington D.C. Offices of the Chief Medical Examiner submitted a request to cremate Jan. 6 Capitol protester Ashli Babbitt two days after gaining custody of the body, according to documents obtained and released Tuesday by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch.
Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and San Diego native, was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as she attempted to climb through a broken window of a door to the Speaker’s Lobby, a room off House chambers.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the Trump-era public health order allowing border officials to expel most migrants back to Mexico or Canada, the agency announced Monday.
The regulation, known as Title 42, temporarily prohibits noncitizens from entering the U.S. through Canada or Mexico regardless of their port of origin in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 into the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unaccompanied migrants minors were exempt from the order.
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Approaching three days into the trial of Steven Wiggins for the 2018 shooting death of Dickson County, Tennessee Sergeant Daniel Baker, jurors were shown body camera footage of the sheriff deputy’s deadly encounter with the defendant.
Wiggins is charged with premeditated first-degree murder and other counts associated with Baker’s death.
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The word “confusing” is being used (even by the New York Times) to describe the CDC’s reasoning behind its announcement that masks must again be worn indoors, even by the fully vaccinated.
In fact, the CDC’s reasoning is clear, and talk about “confusion” is an attempt to conceal a straightforward assessment: As CDC head bureaucrat Rochelle Walensky said on Fox News on Friday, vaccinated people can still get the “delta” variant and can transmit it. Top medical mafioso Anthony Fauci said essentially the same thing last week—that for the delta variant there was no difference in the observed level of “virality” between people who were vaccinated and those who were not.
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Joe Biden is planning an effort to distribute doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to illegal aliens pouring into the United States across the southern border, as reported by Breitbart.
The report first came from the Washington Post, after several officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spoke under condition of anonymity. According to the officials, federal authorities will soon begin administering the single-shot vaccine to illegals currently held in U.S. custody along the southern border with Mexico. DHS plans to get illegals vaccinated as soon as possible upon their entry into the country, to be done even before they are fully processed.
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Private companies added 330,000 jobs in July, far fewer than expected and the lowest amount since February, according to a major payroll report.
The 330,000 jobs added to private payroll last month represented a significant decline from the 680,000 jobs added in June, the ADP National Employment Report showed. Economists predicted that private companies would add 653,000 jobs in July, nearly double the number reported Wednesday, according to CNBC.
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America’s largest automobile manufacturers, along with United Auto Workers (UAW), will require all employees to wear masks again starting Wednesday.
The decision was made by a COVID-19 task force comprised of health officials from UAW, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which manufactures Dodge and Chrysler vehicles. All workers, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, have to wear masks at plants, office buildings, and warehouses, UAW announced in a statement Tuesday.
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Flight attendants’ and teachers’ unions whose members are on the front lines of disputed Covid safety protocols are ardent enforcers of mask mandates for the public but do not require their members to get vaccinated. Such inoculation is widely acknowledged as the most effective step in stopping the spread of the new Delta variant, while masking is viewed as of secondary importance, and many are highly skeptical of its effectiveness and critical of its inconvenience.
As the Association of Flight Attendants continues to urge federal authorities to allow flight attendants to police passengers for masking – a policy that has led to fisticuffs on some flights – the union has struck an agreement with at least one airline, United, to allow unvaccinated members to fly. American Airlines and Southwest Air say they also do not require their flight attendants or other employees to vaccinate. Flight attendants for both airlines are unionized.
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A Mark Zuckerberg-funded nonprofit, the Center for Election Innovation and Research, gave a virtually inactive Michigan nonprofit, The Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration, a $12 million grant in September 2020 for the putative purpose of helping voters figure out how to navigate the supposed complexities of mail-in ballots, as The Michigan Star reported in April 2021.
Ninety-nine percent of the $12 million grant – more than $11.8 million – was used to pay two highly partisan Democrat political consulting firms, according to the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration (MCELA) Form 990 for the year 2020 filed with the Internal Revenue Service in May of this year.
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Several Minnesota medical groups are pushing local K-12 schools to require masks when school resumes in the fall. They are asking the school districts to enact masking mandates that follow the latest federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
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President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been exchanging verbal punches at one another over each other’s handling of the COVID pandemic.
Biden criticized DeSantis on Tuesday for opposing mask mandates and for vaccine passports, specifically noting DeSantis’ fight with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over vaccine passports for the cruise industry.
Used car prices keep climbing in Detroit.
According to iSeeCars’ newest study, used car prices in June increased by 31.4% or $7,179, in Detroit year over year as a result of the microchip shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Federal officials have sentenced a Stonecrest, Georgia man for defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Coronavirus Food Relief Program and attempting to defraud the IRS’s COVID-19 relief program. This, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia published this week.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reiterated his opposition to mask mandates in schools Wednesday.
Mandates “don’t work,” Kemp told Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt during an on-air interview.
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Leftists in Detroit, Michigan were dealt a blow at the ballot box Tuesday with the defeat of Proposal P, which received under 33 percent of voters’ support.
Over 69,000 Motor City residents cast ballots in this week’s primary election, of which nearly 47,000 voted to reject the progressive rewriting of the city charter offered by the Detroit Charter Revision Commission.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed The Star News Network’s Washington Correspondent Neil McCabe to the newsmakers line to illustrate the dynamics of anti-Trump Republican Senators and infrastructure spending.
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RICHMOND, Virginia – The House of Delegates met, passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) by a 71-25 vote and adjourned in 30 minutes on Wednesday. Facing 107 pages of proposed amendments, a photo-op, and a series of lengthy recesses, the Senate had not completed its debate by press time Wednesday evening although it convened at 10 a.m.
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Minnesotans are organizing a protest for medical freedom following several Minnesota healthcare providers requiring employees to take the COVID vaccine or lose their jobs. The protest will be held at the Minnesota State Capitol on August 28. Mayo Clinic, Allina Health, and M Health Fairview are three major healthcare providers that will be requiring employees to take the vaccine. The organizers are holding the protest to “demand informed consent and transparency in matters of health choice and medical freedom without coercion.”
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Detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s office, in conjunction with several other law enforcement entities, ran a sting operation to catch child sex predators between July 27 and August 1.
Dubbed “Operation Child Protector,” law enforcement posed as 13 and 14-year-old girls online, and made contact with several suspect online. When the suspects attempted to meet up with the “girls,” they were taken into custody.
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In a new poll from St. Pete Polls taken from Aug. 2nd through 3rd, 62 percent of likely Florida voters support mask mandates for schoolchildren.
The poll was conducted after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced the signing of an executive order banning mask mandates in Florida’s public schools. The order also directed the state to craft penalties and punishments for school districts who choose to ignore the state’s directive and impose a mandate regardless.
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Trade associations representing Ohio’s restaurants and other small businesses have lauded a July 29 decision in Franklin County Common Pleas Court upholding Governor Mike DeWine’s authority to not spend federal funding that gave those unemployed – as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – a $300 weekly bonus to their state unemployment benefits.
But the attorney representing the Cleveland area plaintiffs in the case said a hearing on an appeal of Judge Michael Holbrook’s decision to end the payments effective June 26 could get heard in the Franklin County Court of Appeals as early as this week.
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The We Vote Michigan Rally took place on Wednesday, where Michigan lawmakers said that the GOP voting bills are trying to ‘punish’ seniors, young voters, and Black people. Progress Michigan, a progressive activist group who helped to sponsor the event, tweeted out that “Michigan is facing a number of attacks on voting rights.”
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A new report from the Arizona Legislature’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee shows Arizona is in great economic condition, breaking records. Revenues from taxes are high or better than projected, with significant gains expected in the future, and personal income is growing at the fastest pace since 1985. It comes after Arizona passed historic tax cuts, reducing the personal income tax to the lowest flat tax in the country at 2.5%. However, some of the rosy picture is due to COVID-19 relief.
Governor Doug Ducey issued a statement about the report, “It paints a picture of a state economy that has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic not only in great shape, but poised to achieve even greater accomplishments in the years ahead. The ‘extraordinary growth’ Arizona saw in Fiscal Year 2021 is positive news for every Arizonan. We are leading the way in the nation’s economic recovery.”
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U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) hopes to get the $550 billion Infrastructure & Investment Act legislation before the full Senate next week after the proposed bipartisan legislation recently cleared the committee on a 20-0 vote.
Portman speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box show on Tuesday, lauded the legislation as a way to boost economic productivity while avoiding a rollback of the Trump administration’s signature tax cuts from 2017.
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Attorney General Mark Brnovich is leading a coalition of attorneys general in filing a petition challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s “Delay Rule,” which postponed the Trump Administration’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR).
“While the Biden Administration talks a lot about preserving clean air and water for future generations, they have failed to ensure clean drinking water for our children now,” Brnovich said in a news release on Friday.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Mom’s for Liberty-Williamson County Robin Steeman to the newsmakers line to give examples of Wit and Wisdom’s propagandizing curriculum and how they are fighting back.
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Barring a major unforeseen upset, Democrat Shontel Brown will be the next congresswoman from Ohio’s 11th District.
She won Tuesday night’s special election against Nina Turner and several other Democrat candidates, which was called in favor of Brown as she led Turner 51 percent to 44 percent.
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As the old saying goes in Virginia, there’s always another election coming up next year. Political newcomer and United Air Force Veteran Clay Percle announced his campaign for the United States House of Representatives campaign. Percle sat down with The Virginia Star to discuss his bid for Congress and discuss current political events.
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After attempting to tie his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin to former President Donald J. Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results, former Virginia governor and current Democrat candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe has enlisted fundraising support from a notorious election skeptic.
During last week’s back-and-forth between the candidates that featured McAuliffe attacking Youngkin over his support for Trump and what McAuliffe’s campaign characterized as Trump’s election lies, and Youngkin responding by blasting McAuliffe for saying the 2000 election was stolen by then-President George W. Bush in his capacity as chairman of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Democrat activist and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was sending fundraising emails on behalf of McAuliffe.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced on Wednesday that he will reinstate a mask mandate for all Metro Government buildings beginning Thursday.
The move will require all Metro employees and members of the public to wear a face covering, regardless of the individual’s vaccination status.
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On Tuesday, the second day of Steven Wiggins’s trial for killing 32-year-old Dickson County, Tennessee Sergeant Daniel Baker in 2018, jurors heard from the law-enforcement officers who found the slain sheriff’s deputy.
Drug Task Force (DTF) Agent Nathaniel Proctor of the 23rd Judicial District was the first to take the stand in the Charlotte courtroom, followed by his colleague Darren Adams.
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I have always admired the admonitory wisdom that Auric Goldfinger imparted to James Bond early in Ian Fleming’s novel named for the gold-loving villain: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action.”
I have thought often of that sage advisory in recent months as so many once-trustworthy institutions of American life seem to have been weaponized against the people they were meant to serve.
This is, alas, a huge topic, and today I will only scratch the surface.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Davidson County GOP Chair Jim Garrett to the newsmakers line to discuss the 2022 election and his decision to push back on MNPS mask mandates.
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U.S. Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-08) on Tuesday introduced bipartisan legislation aimed to deter repeated robocalls to consumers.
The Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls (DO NOT Call) Act will create stricter penalties for companies and individuals who elect to engage in the intentional harassment of consumers.
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Alegal battle and war of words between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the federal government over COVID-positive migrants being released into Texas communities escalated over the weekend.
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Texas Friday over an executive order Abbott issued restricting the transport of infected immigrants who entered the country illegally being released into the general population.
“The Biden Administration is knowingly admitting hundreds of thousands of unauthorized migrants, many of whom the federal government knows full well have COVID-19,” Abbott said in response to the lawsuit.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces a renewed surge of calls for his resignation after an independent investigation released a report Tuesday finding the sexual harassment allegations against him credible and that his administration broke several laws in responding to some claims.
The report led President Joe Biden and other prominent national Democrats, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to say Cuomo needs to go.
“I think he should resign,” Biden told reporters Tuesday afternoon at the White House.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to reiterate Monday’s press conference as Tennessee stands united on COVID and education.
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