The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval Monday to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a major step that will likely have significant implications for vaccination mandates nationwide. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have not yet received full FDA authorization.
The Pfizer vaccine previously received FDA authorization, which allowed its emergency use but did not give the full approval. Pfizer is the first company to receive full approval in the U.S.
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The U.S. Capitol Police said Monday that it would not take any action against the officer who shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt on Jan 6.
“USCP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) determined the officer’s conduct was lawful and within Department policy, which says an officer may use deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes that action is in the defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in the defense of any person in immediate danger of serious physical injury,” the department said in a statement. The officer’s identity was not disclosed due to safety concerns.
“This officer and the officer’s family have been the subject of numerous credible and specific threats for actions that were taken as part of the job of all our officers: defending the Congress, Members, staff and the democratic process,” the department said.
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Bettina L. Love may not have the same public profile of Ibram X. Kendi or Robin DiAngelo, but she is still an active and influential voice among Critical Race Theory and anti-racism scholars.
A professor at the University of Georgia and founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network, Love promotes Critical Race Theory across the country in children’s schools.
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Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) announced on Monday that he will name Sammie Arnold his new chief of staff.
Most recently, Arnold served as Assistant Commissioner of Community & Rural Development for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD). In his position, he was appointed by Governor Bill Lee to serve on an economic recovery group aimed at getting Tennessee’s economy going after the coronavirus pandemic.
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There are more than 95,000 farms in Missouri with the Show Me State placing among the nation’s top 10 in terms of beef, chicken and pork production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But consolidation within the meatpacking industry – four firms (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, National Beef) control more than 80% of all the beef slaughtered in the United States – has long frustrated Missouri producers.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to reminisce about the talk radio stylings of recently passed conservative talk radio host Phil Valentine.
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Written and produced during the COVID pandemic, Sadie Campbell’s ‘Darkroom’ addresses mental health issues in an elegant, yet haunting way. EP is out on August 27th. Listen to the single “Fade” now.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss the continuation of Joe Biden’s failed foreign policy.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Senior Correspondent for The Star News Network Laura Baigert to the newsmakers line to describe Saturday’s Trump rally in Cullman, Alabama.
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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced that his office will investigate the and the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institute at Valparaiso University.
“The investigation is aimed at identifying and getting to the bottom of the true intent of any relationships between Valparaiso University’s programming and the Chinese Communist Party,” a statement from Rokita’s office reads.
Valparaiso, a private Lutheran institution, received $1.1 million from the Chinese government between 2010-2019 and acknowledges the Rokita’s investigation on its Confucius Institute website.
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Throughout his candidacy, presidency, and reelection campaign, Donald Trump was targeted by the deep state, which undertook to subvert, defeat, and destroy him. In the 2020 election specifically, we saw leaks, lies, and letters from “experts” and “leaders” attacking Trump with sundry false accusations, all intended to boost the chances of his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Unlike so many of Biden’s open supporters, such as the National Education Association or the Service Employees International Union or even his billionaire supporters’ dark money, it is impossible to quantify how much the deep state contributed to him. But it is indisputable the deep state is part of Biden’s core constituency.
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The Wisconsin state senator who represents the towns around Fort McCoy has issued the strongest objection yet to the still murky plan to bring thousands of Afghan refugees to central Wisconsin.
Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, on Friday sent a strongly worded letter to Gov. Evers asking for answers about who the refugees are and where they will go once they arrive.
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University of California’s new Community Safety Plan shifts major responsibilities and funding away from UC Police Departments.
The plan, based on an 80-page report released this summer by the Department of Public Safety Community Advisory Board, was announced by UC President Michael Drake last week and will be implemented across all 10 campuses. It reflects UC’s “commitment to equity and social justice.”
“Under this new model, a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals, campus police, social service providers, police accountability boards and other personnel will work together to prioritize the well-being of the entire UC community,” Drake said in a message to the university. “This reimagined structure will ensure that the m,ost appropriate responders are deployed to meet our community’s specific needs with tailored care resources and services.”
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed American radio talk show host and political commentator, Jeri Thompson in studio to discuss mask mandates imposed by local school boards and the challenge facing Governor Bill Lee’s executive order.
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In a letter to President Joe Biden, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) said that Minnesota is eager to welcome Afghan refugees. Walz said that Minnesota will be “providing the stable foundation they need to rebuild their lives, achieve their highest potential, and contribute to our state.”
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Demand is soaring for an “antibody cocktail” that can greatly diminish the severity of coronavirus cases, Michigan Radio reported.
The antibody cocktail created by Regeneron is the same former President Donald Trump received after he contracted the virus and is intended to be administered only after a patient has contracted the disease.
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Minnesota’s leading pro-family advocacy group has formally thrown its support behind an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case that could overturn Roe v. Wade.
On July 29 of this year, the Minnesota Family Council filed an amicus brief for the court’s fall hearing of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
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The Virginia Redistricting Commission voted Monday to start with blank, new maps. Some legislators proposed an alternate proposal to draw two sets of maps, one based off current maps, and one from a blank slate, but that motion was defeated.
Citizen Commissioner Sean Kumar (D) introduced the initial motion for blank maps, noting that in public comment, most of the public has expressed a desire for new maps, and that both parties have an interest in protecting the incumbents.
Barker introduced the substitute plan to draw the two sets of maps, and Senator Steve Newman (R-Bedford) seconded it.
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Michigan could receive up to nearly $800 million from a proposed multibillion-dollar national opioid settlement with Johnson & Johnson and the three largest pharmaceutical distributors in the country: Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel officially signed the agreement announced last month for the companies role in the opioid epidemic.
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Georgia State House Minority Leader James Beverly (D-Macon) and other members of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus on Monday demanded that Governor Brian Kemp and other state officials mandate COVID-19 masks at public schools. Beverly did not return The Georgia Star News’ request for comment Monday. We contacted the eight other caucus members who said in an emailed press release that public school students must wear masks. Seven of those eight state representatives did not respond before Monday’s stated deadline.
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John Adams, a four-term veteran of the Ohio House of Representatives, has formally announced he will take on Ohio Secretary of State of Frank La Rose for the GOP nomination to lead the key elections and business registration office.
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An Arizona Senator is holding firm on her commitment to vote against a $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill pushed by her more progressive colleagues.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) remains opposed to the deal, despite intense pressure from the far-left elements of the Democrat Party.
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Parents raised millions for their beloved local Catholic school, but then the administration allegedly became so woke it ultimately violated its own mission, according to a lawsuit filed in June.
Anthony and Barbara Scarpo charged the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, Florida, with “distancing itself from mainstream Catholicism, and embracing the new, politically correct, divisive and ‘woke’ culture.” Gender identity and openness to LGBTQ lifestyles, pro-abortion stances, white guilt and other “hot-button issues” replaced Catholic teaching, and students were allegedly taught to feel “guilt for not having been ‘woke’ sooner,” according to the lawsuit.
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Congressman Bob Good (R-Virginia-05) and other members of the House Freedom Caucus blasted infrastructure legislation in a press conference Monday afternoon. The representatives said the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in the Senate has only $100-$200 billion in real infrastructure, warning that other provisions in that bill and a larger $3.5 trillion package are ‘woke’, part of the Green New Deal, and would weaken the U.S.’ position against China.
“No matter how good some parts of the $1.2 trillion might be, a little sliver of it, we don’t have the money. The latest combined $5 trillion in spending will put us on a path to increase our national debt from the current $28 trillion to $45 trillion in ten years, all to fund, as others have said, amnesty for some 10-20 million illegal aliens in our country, to greatly expand and further bankrupt Medicare more quickly, to pass extreme environmental energy climate policies, a Green New Deal, all to transform us into a Marxist, socialist country,” Good said.
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The Leon County School District is the latest public school district to announce they are imposing K-8 mask mandate without a parent permission opt-out form. The district operated the first couple weeks of school without the opt-out form, but Superintendent Rocky Hanna made the announcement Sunday night.
“I do have an obligation to uphold the laws of the state of Florida,” said Hanna. “But, I have a greater obligation however to protect, the health, safety and welfare of the children of Tallahassee and Leon County.”
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After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary was suspended from Twitter and the Associated Press (AP) sent a letter criticizing DeSantis, DeSantis responded with his own letter to the AP saying they deserved a little pushback against the AP’s “smear” tactic.
“I assumed your letter was to notify me that you were issuing a retraction of the partisan smear piece you published last week,” DeSantis wrote. “Instead, you had the temerity to complain about the deserved blowback that your botched and discredited attempt to concoct a political narrative has received. The ploy will not work to divert attention from the fact that the Associated Press published a false narrative that will lead some to decline effective treatment for COVID infections.”
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Amid the Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan which led to a swift takeover by the Taliban, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says it is Michigan’s “duty and honor” to welcome Afghan refugees with open arms.
In a lengthy statement, Whitmer announced that the state will be resettling refugees in the near future.
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Despite Florida’s recall laws not pertaining to statewide elected officials, Newsweek magazine published a story highlighting the growth of a Florida statewide petition calling for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recall.
Newsweek placed the detail related to the prohibition of recalling statewide elected officials at the bottom of the article.
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President Joe Biden’s plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for nursing home employees could damage further an industry struggling in Ohio, the executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association said.
Pete Van Runkle said the group is pro-vaccine but a federal mandate negatively could affect services to some of the most needy people in the state and be damaging to skilled nursing facilities.
“We believe the Biden Administration’s plan, at least articulated in the press conference, would be devastating to Ohio SNFs and to their staff and residents,” Van Runkle said. “While we support vaccination and recognize that it is the most effective defense against COVID-19, the proposed mandate does not account for staffing that is already stretched beyond the breaking point.”
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After two years of waiting for a federal report on allegations of Democratic spying on the Trump campaign, Republicans are demanding answers.
More than 40 Republican U.S. senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday requesting the release of the Durham report, the long-awaited results of an investigation into the controversial origins of the FBI investigation into Russian collusion.
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As confirmed cases of the coronavirus continue to rise throughout the country, monoclonal antibody treatments, such as Regeneron, are becoming a widespread source of treatment.
Across the state of Tennessee, hundreds of locations are providing the treatment to individuals who have tested positive for the virus.
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Washington Democrats’ efforts to pass their signature, $3.5 trillion spending package is in jeopardy of falling apart, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrat-controlled chamber, does not appear to have the votes this week to advance the measure awaiting in the Senate.
The votes are set to be cast Monday and Tuesday, with House members returning for two days during their August recess to try to move forward the pending package.
Pelosi can afford to lose only three votes in the narrowly divided chamber. However, nine moderate Democrats have vowed to oppose the two voting measures until the House passes a roughly $1 trillion, bipartisan infrastructure spend package passed in the Senate before the recess.
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Record-breaking rain and flash-flooding on Saturday devastated the small city of Waverly, in central Tennessee, leaving at least 16 people dead and 51 unaccounted for.
Rescuers are searching for those unaccounted for in Waverly, which is about 60 miles west of Nashville. “The waters tore up homes, flipped cars and led families desperate for answers to fill Facebook groups and comment chains with the names of their missing loved ones,” reported the Washington Post.
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While the disadvantages of aging are often lamented and discussed, there are a few perks. One of which is having actual memories of events about which younger people can only read about or view on YouTube. For me, one of those memories etched indelibly in my mind is that of American helicopters airlifting diplomats and workers off of rooftops in Saigon as it fell.
I watched Vietnam fall with the voice of Walter Cronkite narrating. The symbolism of that long and failed endless American war was so vivid and so devastating that for me, like others in my generation, I was left to hope that the United States would never let something like that happen in the future.
Now, as I watch the scenes out of Afghanistan, I am put in mind of the immortal line given to us by New York Yankee legend Yogi Berra: It’s déjà vu all over again.
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Californians wanting to attend events with more than 1,000 people will have to prove they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The California Department of Public Health announced attending indoor events with 1,000 or more guests will require either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours. The requirement previously was triggered at events with 5,000 or more attendees.
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Susan King is stepping down as dean of the University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
The university announced the decision yesterday.
The Hussman School faced backlash from progressives after it apparently backed off from a plan to give Hannah-Jones tenure for her work as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism.
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Jesse Jackson, the civil rights icon who was an of early recipient and champion of all the coronavirus vaccine, was hospitalized Saturday with COVID-19, his organization announced.
Jackson, 79, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, and his wife Jacqueline, 77, were being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said.
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House lawmakers are set to return from recess Monday and will likely take up the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate passed last week — and with it, a controversial and last-minute cryptocurrency tax provision.
The bill contains a tax reporting mandate forcing cryptocurrency “brokers” to disclose gains and transactions to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of a scheme designed to help cover part of the infrastructure bill’s cost. However, the bill’s definition of “broker” has been criticized by the cryptocurrency community and pro-crypto lawmakers as vague, expansive and potentially unworkable, with many fearing it could stifle the industry and force crypto companies to collect personal information on their customers.
The provision defines a broker as “any person who is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person,” and forces brokers to report transactions to the IRS in a form similar to a 1099. This means brokers have to collect and report customer information such as names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers.
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After Robert Reeder was arrested in February and charged with four misdemeanors for his involvement in the Capitol protest on January 6, he lost his job as a truck driver for FedEx. “As a result of his arrest in this matter, he has been placed on administrative leave/has been terminated,” Reeder’s attorney wrote in court filing. “He has not been able to secure steady employment since being charged in this matter.”
Reeder, like many Americans who attended Donald Trump’s speech then walked to Capitol Hill, went alone. He is a registered Democrat but supported some of Trump’s policies. The Maryland resident decided to travel to Washington on the morning of January 6, a “spur of the moment” decision, according to his attorney.
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The Biden administration signaled to Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday that it will not support an extension of pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
President Joe Biden won’t advocate for an extension of the $300 unemployment bonus given to millions of out-of-work Americans on a weekly basis, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh wrote in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal. The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, which was implemented in March 2020 and extended by Democrats’ recent American Rescue Plan, is set to expire in early September.
“As President Biden has said, the boost was always intended to be temporary and it is appropriate for that benefit boost to expire,” the secretaries wrote.
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A junior nominated for a position on Auburn University’s student government was successfully shot down because he expressed Christian and conservative beliefs on social media.
Stephen Morris was nominated for the position of chief justice of Auburn University’s Student Government Association. To his surprise, at the session where his nomination was to be taken up, held remotely over video, several members of the student senate strongly opposed his nomination.
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Governor Doug Ducey’s program offering up to $7,000 in grants for low-income K-12 parents wanting to relocate their students due to their current school’s COVID-19 protocols began Friday. Eligible families have a total household income at or below 350 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, and show proof that their current school has COVID constraints, including: mask mandates, quarantines, vaccine mandates, or discrimination based on vaccination status. The grant funds may be used for a variety of education-related expenses beyond tuition like transportation, online tutoring, and even child care.
Ducey announced the $7,000 booster on Tuesday. The governor’s office cited Yale University research that found COVID-based school closures disproportionately harm low-income students. More affluent students reportedly didn’t exhibit any significant impairments.
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A former member of the Minneapolis City Council painted a grim portrait of life in a neighborhood struggling with chronic lawlessness and virtually no police presence.
In an early August interview on “The Chad Hartman Show,” Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member, shared his thoughts on what he and his neighbors deal with on a regular basis.
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Jennifer Bridges knew what was coming when her director at Houston Methodist hospital called her up in June to inquire about her vaccination status.
Bridges, a 39-year-old registered nurse, responded “absolutely not” when asked if she was vaccinated or had made an effort to get vaccinated. She was terminated on the spot.
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The Florida Elections Commission will look to add three new members after Governor DeSantis appointed Nicholas Primrose, Marva Preston and Carlos Lopez-Cantera to the panel on Friday, Primrose being the designated Chair.
DeSantis’ appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate and are the first in over a year to replace all current members of the FEC whose terms have expired but are still serving.
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The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) wants the Loudoun County Circuit Court to reconsider its decision to dismiss a legal challenge to the Virginia Values Act. On Friday, the ADF filed a Motion to Reconsider Calvary Road Baptist Church v. Herring, a lawsuit that claims the VVA and an associated insurance law violate constitutionally-protected freedoms through hiring non-discrimination laws.
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In letter a letter collectively addressed to the state’s electricity providers, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called for increased credits for residents who have endured power outages this summer.
“More than 750,000 Michiganders lost power over the last few weeks, with some outages lasting up to a week on some of the hottest days of the year,” the governor said in a statement. “Outages like these lead to fridges full of spoiled food, interfere with life-saving medical equipment, disrupt the workday, and exacerbate the dangers of unmitigated hot weather. We need tangible, immediate action from Michigan’s three largest utility companies to ensure the production and delivery of affordable, reliable energy to every family, community, and small business.”
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The newest class of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, as part of their education, are being forced to watch a video that is supportive of the far-left domestic terrorist organization Black Lives Matter, Fox News reports.
The video in question portrays a fictional situation where a mixed-race student named Jose, who has a Nigerian mother and a Mexican father, is pressured into attending a Black Lives Matter rally on his campus by two of his friends. A third friend tries to convince him to not go, instead suggesting that “all lives matter” is a better slogan, since “black lives matter” would suggest to Jose that his mother’s life matters more than his father’s.
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Minorities have increased their mobility and financial standing over the last decade, according to federal data that challenges some of the narratives of the so-called Critical Race Theory spreading through schools and media.
While the Federal Reserve reports that “the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical black family and five times the wealth of the typical Hispanic family” it also acknowledges that African-American and Hispanic families have made significant gains.
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Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe is famous for his voracious fundraising, from his roles as head of the Clinton money machine to his success the last time he was governor. But now his fund-raising is earning him some infamy.
McAuliffe, in a close race to reclaim the Virginia governorship against GOP nominee Glenn Youngkin, has for decades raised millions for his party and some of its marquee candidates including former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton, a two-time White House candidate.
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