Former White House advisor Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday following his refusal to comply with a subpoena by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Bannon’s indictment, just days after the House Committee announced further subpoenas of Trump officials.
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The Arizona Court of Appeals rejected a request from Cyber Ninjas, the company that audited Maricopa County’s ballots, to block a public records request by the media for records from the audit. Phoenix Newspapers Inc., which owns The Arizona Republic, asked for emails and other documents in its April request, which the lower trial court granted. Cyber Ninjas appealed the decision. The appellate court rejected the cyberfirm’s argument that opening its records up for public inspection would allow opening the records of any contractor that does business with the state.
Jack Wilenchik, Cyber Ninja’s attorney, expressed his disappointment to Capitol Media Services, “The government cannot force private contractors to produce things the government does not own. He said it’s similar to a violation of the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed conservative rap artist of Let’s Go Brandon song fame, Bryson Gray in studio to talk about sales of the single and his new track, Thanks YouTube.
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Along with the seven bills that passed Tennessee’s Legislature during its recent COVID-19 related special session, a joint resolution also passed both chambers of the legislature and sits on Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
While the bills become law if Lee signs them, “resolutions differ from bills in that they do not become law but simply serve to express the views of the majority of one or both houses of the Legislature.”
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The Democratic Party defeat last Tuesday was followed by an even more ominous report on the job approval of the two leading Democrats.
Recall, last week, Democrats lost Virginia in a remarkable sweep. They lost assembly and senate seats in New Jersey – and almost lost the governorship. A Republican was elected city attorney in Seattle (that’s right, Seattle). They lost a Texas state legislative seat in a district which is 73 percent Latino. Republicans swept to victory in Long Island, while New York voters rejected three different Democratic referenda to make elections less secure.
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This week, District 14 Council Member Kevin Rhoten filed a resolution to end vehicle emissions testing in Davidson County – the only county in Tennessee still mandating emissions testing.
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“History will figure that out on its own.” That is what Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) recently replied to Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In a heated congressional exchange, Fauci derided the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic was due to the leak of a dangerous virus, engineered in the Chinese Wuhan virology lab—and in part funded by U.S. health agencies, on the prompt of Fauci himself.
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More than half of state school board associations have distanced themselves from the national association after it sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal intervention to investigate parents who protest at local meetings.
Of the 26 that have repudiated the letter, 11 have discontinued their membership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after Kentucky did so Wednesday.
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“We are still here” even though the election is over, about 150 parents reminded the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) school board outside its Tuesday meeting.
Concerned community members, parents, grandparents and students spoke out during the meeting to tell the school board that although Glenn Youngkin won the gubernatorial race last Tuesday, the problems at LCPS still remain.
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Prominent leaders of a Black Lives Matter group in New York City promised violence if Mayor-elect Eric Adams brought back the city’s anti-crime units.
“If he thinks that they’re going to go back to the old ways of policing, then we are going to take to the streets again,” Hawk Newsome, who co-founded Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, told the New York Daily News.
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Oak Park Elementary District 97 is teaching students so-called “critical race theory,” which argues that racism is to blame for differences in racial group performance, such as lower test scores by black students, or higher violent crime rates for blacks than whites.
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request by West Cook News, District 97 indicated it is teaching the critical race theory-centric “1619 Project,” which holds that the American Revolution was fought to preserve black slavery, Abraham Lincoln was a racist and that America’s wealth today is the result of black slavery.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon live from Music Row to weigh in on his visit to Las Vegas for the Republican Jewish Coalition event and speculated the whereabouts of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to update listeners on the speakers at the Las Vegas Republican Jewish Coalition event.
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The defense team in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse requested a mistrial with prejudice, arguing that Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger had acted in bad faith during the trial and engaged in prosecutorial misconduct.
When Binger told Kenosha Judge Bruce Schroeder that he had made his arguments in good faith, the judge said, “I don’t believe you.”
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Rejection used to be common for medical sociologist Thomas LaVeist when he tried to get his research published on the effects of racism on the health of black people. “Now,” said the 60-year-old dean of Tulane University’s School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, “I have those same journals asking me to write articles for them.”
LaVeist’s experience illustrates the dramatic transformation in medical research, accelerating in the past few years. While few would dispute that black Americans are more prone to chronic health problems and have shorter life expectancies than whites, the medical community generally sought answers in biology, genetics and lifestyle. Research, like LaVeist’s, that focused on racism was frowned upon as lacking rigor or relevance, an amateurish detour from serious intellectual inquiry.
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A higher percentage of migrants were granted asylum under the Biden administration despite fewer applications filed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new TRAC report released on Wednesday.
Asylum grants increased from 29% under former President Donald Trump to 37% during the Biden administration, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Nearly 24,000 asylum decisions were made during the fiscal year 2021 when COVID-19 restrictions and shutdowns were in effect compared to 60,000 in the fiscal year 2020.
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The Department of Defense (DOD) said Wednesday that China and climate change were “equally important” threats to U.S. national security.
“We get paid to examine all the threats to our national security,” Defense Department press secretary John Kirby told reporters. “And I don’t know that it does anybody good to put some sort of relative analysis assessment on that. You’ve heard the secretary talk about the climate as a — a real and existential national security threat, and it is, not just to the United States, but to countries all over the world.”
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Teachers at Lyons Township High School will participate in a book study organized by a Black Lives Matter group, “Teaching for Black Lives.”
The group will train LT teachers on how to better incorporate “the truth about the breathtaking heroism of black communities in the face of injustice,” and how they can replace “eurocentric textbooks with a curriculum that centers the intersectional identities of black people.”
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Kenosha Assistant District Attorney and Prosecutor Thomas Binger, leading the state’s high-profile trial against Kyle Rittenhouse, was described as “evil” and accused of acting unethically and illegally by other attorneys watching the trial Wednesday.
Judge Bruce Schroeder stopped the trial twice Wednesday, sending the jury out of the courtroom, to admonish Binger. Twice, he became irate with the prosecutor for his cross-examination of Rittenhouse.
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After Tuesday’s recall petition filed against Loudoun County School Board (LCSB) Chair Brenda Sheridan, who represents the Sterling district, Loudoun County Public Schools remained noncommittal in the recall fight.
Notably, embattled LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler, who has refused to resign in the wake of a coverup of a 14-year-old girl’s rape by a biological boy wearing a dress, will not take a position on the recall efforts.
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Amidst public concerns of electoral irregularities in Pennsylvania, a recount will decide the outcome of the Commonwealth Court contest between Republican Drew Crompton and Democrat Lori A. Dumas.
Based on unofficial returns published by the Pennsylvania Department of State, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Dumas now leads Superior Court Judge Crompton by 16,804 votes out of more than 2.5 million votes cast for either of the two. That’s a margin of about a third of one percent, within the 0.5 percent difference that prompts a recount under Pennsylvania’s Act 97 of 2004.
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Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) said he voted against the recently passed federal infrastructure bill because it contributes to more government waste, stretches out the deficit, and doesn’t concentrate enough on security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Clyde said this in an emailed newsletter to his constituents this week.
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An agent with the Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol, Anibal A. Perez, died in the line of duty, the group announced on Thursday.
The officer, who passed away earlier this month, had served the organization since 2006.
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State Rep. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) has accused the Racine County Sheriff’s Office of conducting a “political stunt” after an investigation into alleged nursing home election fraud. “The Wisconsin Election Commission directed municipalities throughout Wisconsin, all 72 counties, to not follow the law,” Racine County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael Luell said.
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Minneapolis DFL Chair Devin Hogan suggested that the City Council should “refuse” to accept the results of an election that weakens the council’s authority.
“Refuse to cede power!” Hogan urged in a Twitter conversation that involved outgoing Council Member Phillipe Cunningham. The DFL leader aired this anti-democratic position days after voters chose to reduce the City Council’s power in a free and fair election.
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Much to his dismay, a piece of legislation proposed by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry to remove a Confederate monument in Springfield Park was withdrawn Tuesday evening by the Jacksonville City Council in a 12 to 6 vote.
Curry’s proposal to remove the Tribute to the Women of the Confederacy Monument would have would cost $1.3 million.
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Wisconsin’s special investigator is adding more to his look into last year’s election.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman on Wednesday told the Assembly’s Committee on Elections that he is now incorporating the findings from Racine County’s voter fraud investigation into his investigation.
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U.S. District Judge Judith Levy gave final approval to the $626.25 million settlement for victims of the Flint lead-contamination water crisis.
“The court is persuaded that the over $600 million settlement is a fair and sensible resolution of the claims against the settling defendants,” Levy wrote in a 178-page opinion. “The complexity and volume of this litigation present significant risks and potentially great expense to all parties if the cases were to be tried.”
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White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the efforts of Florida’s Republican leadership to ban vaccine mandates in the upcoming special legislative session. The special session begins next Monday and runs through Friday.
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An Ohio think tank has identified more than 60 occupational licenses it said can be eliminated or reformed as the General Assembly continues a nearly two-year effort to reduce business regulations.
The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based policy group, prepared a report that outlines licenses the state should remove or change to in effort to make the state more economically competitive and make it easier for Ohioans to earn a living.
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The leadership of the Ohio Republican Party has taken away the board subcommitee assignments of several State Central Committee members who have questioned the accounting standards and management actions of management during the last months.
The sidelining of the six members elected by GOP voters comes ahead of a Dec. 3 quarterly State Central Committee meeting that may include the state GOP’s panel’s consideration of endorsing Ohio Governor Mike DeWine ahead of the May 3 primary election.
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Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin announced his transition steering committee and advisors on Wednesday. The group includes Republican legislators, Republican Party of Virginia officials, and the three previous Republican governors of Virginia. Former Democratic Governor Doug Wilder is also on the list; he aimed several attacks at opponent former Governor Terry McAuliffe during the campaign without ever endorsing Youngkin. The list also includes Sentara Chief of Staff Aubrey Layne, who was a cabinet official to both Governor Ralph Northam and McAuliffe.
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Arizona’s capital is fighting to recruit new police officers as its current patrol force is more than four dozen officers short of the bare minimum.
Officers with the Phoenix Police Department reported their monthly recruitment and staffing work to the city council’s Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday morning.
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The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to rename Jeb Stuart Road and Fort Johnston Road. The Board also directed staff to amend county naming standards and initiate renaming roads that include Confederate and segregationist names. In a November 3 meeting, Board Chair Phyllis Randall said the issue had been a long-time priority for her during a minor dispute with Supervisor Juli Briskman over who would second one of the motions.
“Having a name on a road school or structure is an honor that should be reserved for a very select few,” Randall said in a county press release.
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President Joe Biden and members of his staff are considering Terry McAuliffe for a position in the administration, according to a report from Punchbowl News.
The media outlet cited numerous, “high-level” sources and described that McAuliffe has not openly asked for a position.
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A former Georgia State University (GSU) professor has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography, and certain images and videos he had showed children as young as five engaging in sexually explicit conduct. That man, Daniel Deocampo, taught at GSU and was also a dean.
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Attorneys for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) have issued a 33-page court document earlier this week saying they did not feel the new Seminole Gaming Compact, signed by the State of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
The new compact allows the Seminole Tribe to be the primary facilitator of sports betting in the state. The betting takes place on a downloadable app for smartphones, leading to questions about its legality since the betting does not have to take place on tribal land.
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Michigan State Representative John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) on Wednesday detailed a plan to reduce the shortage of nurses throughout the state.
The legislation would allow community colleges in Michigan to award bachelor’s degrees in nursing.
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Staff at the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville are advertising for a new dean, and one of the five finalists uses his position in academia to promote Critical Race Theory (CRT). University of Tennessee (UT) staff announced the five College of Law dean finalists this month.
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