Questions continue to surround a candidate’s voting history in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional seat.
Former Trump administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus’ voter history remains unclear. Davidson County election officials say Ortagus registered to vote in Tennessee on November 29, 2022.
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U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-2) has made an endorsement in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
Rep. Crenshaw has endorsed former Trump administration State Department Spokesman Morgan Ortagus. Crenshaw’s endorsement came when he retweeted Ortagus’ announcement video, saying “Proud to stand with you Morgan. See you in Congress.”
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Because of increasing specialization, most of today’s top government officials have spent their entire lives in government service. They lack the gentleman-amateur chops of a Dean Acheson or the business background of someone like Donald Trump. The results are not encouraging.
One thing you learn in business is that bluffing is dangerous. It’s easier to make promises than to keep them, and that often it’s better to be ambiguous, to say nothing, or, if necessary, to communicate only in private.
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Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden, urging the Democratic leaders to take action to curb the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
“From 2019 to 2020, drug overdose deaths jumped from 70,630 to 91,794, driven by 20,000 more deaths attributed to synthetic opioid fentanyl and its deadlier analogs. In fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents seized over 11,000 pounds of fentanyl coming across the southern border, a 42 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. Our country cannot tolerate another year of surging overdose deaths. It is past time to fight back,” he wrote in the letter to Pelosi.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and Macy’s, Inc. officials announced Wednesday that the company will expand operations in Robertson County.
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Kip Capley announced on Wednesday that he’s running for state representative from Tennessee’s 71st District. Former U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi has already endorsed Capley’s candidacy, according to an emailed statement.
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On Wednesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee asked FEMA to work with TEMA on a joint Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) to determine the state’s eligibility for federal assistance to support power restoration and recovery efforts in counties impacted in the floods and severe ice storm on February 3rd and February 4th, 2022.
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On Wednesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the appointment of Butch Eley as deputy to the governor. Eley will continue serving in his current role as commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration (F&A) and as a member of Governor Lee’s cabinet, according to a press release by Lee’s office.
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The Australian-based Tritium DCFC, which manufactures fast chargers for electric vehicles, has announced plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Tennessee. “The location is expected to house up to six production lines for Tritium’s DC fast chargers, including the company’s award-winning RTM and all-new PKM150 models,” according to a statement on the company’s website.
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Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in sending a letter to President Biden rebuking the administration’s negotiations for a new Iran nuclear deal.
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Tennessee State Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville) introduced a bill that would allow the state of Tennessee and other municipalities to invest in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs.
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As the mid-term elections approach, a number of Democrat governors are now following in the steps of Republican Governors Ron DeSantis (FL) and Glenn Youngkin (VA) in support of dropping mask mandates.
Supported by their political and media allies, the governors of states, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, California, and Oregon are now announcing mask mandates in schools may be dropped soon, as the New York Times reported Tuesday.
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Media outlets have provided a microphone to activists who want to society to accept pedophilia as a sexual identity separate from any criminal activity.
At the same time that activists push for a respectable place in society for pedophiles — who are called minor attracted people — some conservative commentators and concerned parents are voicing fears about the sexualization of children and their exposure to sexual materials, often in relation to gender and sexual identity programs targeting young people.
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A United States government agency was still doling out millions of taxpayer dollars to the scandal-plagued EcoHealth Alliance as late as October of 2021, long after it became known that the Peter Daszak-led operation had funneled federal grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct risky gain-of-function research.
The Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a $4.67 million five-year grant to EcoHealth Alliance in late 2021. A group of 26 House Republicans have sent a letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power demanding answers.
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Major technology companies and social media platforms have removed, suppressed or flagged the accounts of over 800 prominent individuals and organizations, including medical doctors, for COVID-19 misinformation, according to a new study from the Media Research Center (MRC).
MRC’s Free Speech America CensorTrack, an initiative that monitors acts of censorship across online platforms, identified over 41 instances between March 2020 and February 2022 in which doctors, scientists and medical organizations were censored, according to the results of a study shared with Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Over half of Americans don’t think schools have a responsibility to teach students about the ongoing impact of slavery and racism, according to according to a poll released Monday by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University in partnership with APM Research Lab.
Two-thirds of Republican respondents and almost half of Independents said educators should only teach the history of slavery, according to the “Mood of the Nation” poll. Only one-fifth of Democratic respondents said exclusively the history of slavery should be taught.
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The Internet Accountability Project (IAP), a conservative tech group, launched a nationwide ad campaign Wednesday urging the passage of a bill targeting Apple and Google.
The ads, set to launch on Newsmax, are intended to support Republican senators who backed antitrust legislation designed to curb the anticompetitive practices of major tech companies, according to a review of the ad campaign by Daily Caller News Foundation. The ads thank the senators for backing the Open App Markets Act, which if passed would prevent app stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store from forcing developers to use the tech giants’ in-app payment systems as a condition of distribution.
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The inspector general for the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) has opened a formal investigation into allegations that the law enforcement agency has been improperly spying on Republican members of Congress, their staff, and visitors to their offices, the Federalist reported on Tuesday.
Concerns that the USCP have overstepped their bounds have been simmering for months, with some Republican lawmakers alleging that the Capitol Police have been transformed into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “personal Praetorian Guard.”
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed businessman Baxter Lee to the newsmaker line to talk about his candidacy for the 5th Congressional Race and answer tough questions.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed National Political Editor Neil W. McCabe to the newsmakers line to explain his recent article on Homeland Security’s February 7th bulletin and changes since last August.
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After leaving his victims with shattered dreams and millions in collective financial losses, the legendary con artist Charles Ponzi observed with casual cruelty, “Even if they never got anything for it, it was cheap at that price.”
There is something of that same unrepentant sentiment in the selective silence of previously voluble woke corporate boards and national media pundits. Their unwillingness to demand accountability and transparency of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a $90 million organization that publicly promised social justice to its millions of small donors and corporate benefactors – including Facebook, Google and Twitter – after George Floyd’s death, makes them aiders and abettors to BLMGNF’s questionable leadership and violations of law.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Representative Todd Warner from District 92 to the newsmaker line to talk about his background and the new state budget.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers indicated this week they’re authoring legislation to enhance the effectiveness of a web-based system used to confirm workers’ legal U.S. residency.
In 1996, the federal government established the E-Verify system as a voluntary five-state pilot program to ease employers’ ability to check the immigration statuses of their new hires. It was expanded for use in all 50 states in 2003 and is administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
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After appearing without a mask for a photo opportunity last week in front of a classroom full of masked students, Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has apologized.
“I took a picture and that was the mistake,” Abrams said on CNN Tuesday. “Protocols matter and protecting our kids is the most important thing and anything that can be perceived as undermining. That is a mistake and I apologize.”
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Rep. Athena Hollins, DFL-Saint Paul, is authoring a bill that would tighten restrictions on no-knock warrants in Minnesota.
Minnesota House of Representatives DFL announced the legislation Tuesday at a news conference attended by Amir Locke’s aunt Neka Gray and cousin Nneka Constantino.
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Wednesday was a good day for Governor Glenn Youngkin, who received two major education policy wins from the Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate, which passed Senator Siobhan Dunnavant’s (R-Henrico) bill requiring parental notification of sexually explicit instructional material in public school classes. Senators Lynwood Lewis Jr. (D-Accomack) and Montgomery “Monty” Mason (D-Williamsburg) voted with all the Republicans to pass the bill 20 to 18.
Dunnavant said, “Senate Bill 656 is a bill that we discussed and passed out of this body before that seeks to inform parents when controversial, sexually explicit material is being discussed in the classroom. It has nothing to do with libraries. It has an enactment clause that specifically protects books and ensures that it does not censor books.”
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The Ohio Supreme Court again sided with the League of Women Voters and tossed out new state legislative district maps for a second time, saying Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission disregarded its initial ruling.
The court ruled, 4-3, the commission’s second attempt that preserved Republican majorities was unconstitutional and ordered the commission to adopt a new plan, saying if the commission would have used its time more wisely and been committed to working together to find a map that met court guidelines, it could have been accomplished.
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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones for the state’s 10th Congressional District. Trump announced the endorsement via video.
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The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is looking into allegations that North Miami voters were receiving help in completing ballots in voting booths from election officials and other government employees.
The findings were first reported by the Miami Herald.
Florida law allows voters to request assistance in the voting booth if proper procedures are followed. The procedure requires voting assistants to complete a form swearing that the voter sought their help. The voters, if they have never previously asked for assistance, must fill out a separate form swearing that they requested it.
However, the concern in North Miami is with the number of people seeking assistance and those who are helping the voters. Records indicate that more than two-thirds of the assisted voters were helped by city employees or campaign workers.
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School closures and district struggles to provide adequate remote learning platforms for students have led parents, and some teachers, to think outside the box to create their own private “microschools” that provide individualized learning and flexibility.
In late summer of 2020, as many school districts wrestled with reopening amid government-imposed mandates and teacher union demands, Jason Bedrick, director of policy at EdChoice, and his colleague, fellow Matthew Ladner, prepared a report at Heritage.org that explained the concept of microschools.
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The Virginia Senate passed a bill that will allow parents to opt their children out of wearing masks at school. Democratic Senators Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) and Lynwood Lewis Jr. (D-Accomack) joined with Republicans to pass SB 739 after the Senate debated the bill for over an hour on Wednesday.
Bill sponsor Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico), an OB/GYN, said during debate, “Two years into this pandemic, keeping unproven measures in place is no longer justifiable. We must evolve; science doesn’t stand still. We did masks and boxes and other things because we thought maybe they might help but they have not proven to do so. I will say further that you have before you a conflict between two constitutional priorities in Virginia. One is that school boards get to decide policy for their districts. But the other is that we are a parental rights state. You’re going to have to choose which authority, ceded by the Constitution, you’re going to stand by today.”
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The University of Wisconsin Health System will mandate the coronavirus vaccine booster shot for all staff and volunteers, according to a Wednesday release.
The new requirement will build on a previous mandate initiated last year by the group that made 96 percent of the staff fully vaccinated. The healthcare system detailed that there were “only a handful choosing not to comply with the policy.”
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State Representative Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) asked Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for a legal opinion on whether there is an “invasion” under the U.S. Constitution on the U.S. border with Mexico, allowing Arizona to defend itself. Brnovich responded affirmatively on Monday, saying it’s up to Governor Doug Ducey to initiate action.
Hoffman told The Arizona Sun Times, “I’m glad to see that Attorney General Brnovich today agreed with my assessment that the crisis occurring on our southern border constitutes an invasion and a total failure by the Biden administration to fulfill its constitutional obligation to protect the people of Arizona.”
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A federal plea deal filed Monday says Kaleb Franks, 27, will plead guilty to the March 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Franks also will testify against four others in a March 8 trial.
Franks signed a plea deal that he was “not entrapped or induced to commit any crimes” by undercover agents or confidential informants, contrary to the defense’s claims.
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Ohio gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci, a Republican primary challenger to incumbent Governor Mike DeWine, promised to appoint an administration official to serve as a pro-life advocate, if he were elected.
According to the candidate, the individual, who would be given the title “Unborn Child Advocate,” would play a key role in his administration.
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The Arizona House Education Committee on Tuesday advanced a bill that will alter the state’s civics education requirements, mandating that students score at least 70 percent correct in order to graduate.
The committee voted unanimously to advance the legislation.
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A preschool teacher in West Palm Beach has deleted a TikTok video wherein she explained that she was teaching her students – younger than 5 years old – about racism.
Fortunately, the video was archived by another TikTok account dedicated to exposing far-Left teachers in America’s schools.
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On Tuesday, Herschend Enterprises, the nation’s largest privately-owned themed attractions corporation, announced it will cover 100% of tuition, fees, and books for any of its 11,000 employees who choose to pursue further education.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) have simultaneously called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a Disaster Declaration for farmers and growers in counties impacted by the recent, uncharacteristic hard freeze.
DeSantis penned a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack where he reinforced Florida’s agricultural impact to the American economy, and how much Florida’s farmers have had to endure.
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Outgoing Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) spoke Monday on the floor of the U.S. Senate on behalf of his bipartisan bill that would rename the Avondale area of Cincinnati.
“I’m pleased to come to the Senate floor today to speak in support of a bill sponsored by the entire Ohio delegation naming the post office in Avondale of Cincinnati, Ohio for two World War II veterans, John Leahr and Herbert Heilbrun,” Portman said. “These two remarkable men, one black and one white, grew up in Avondale, which is a neighborhood [that is] part of Cincinnati, Ohio.”
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An illegal alien with a long prior rap sheet that includes violent crimes has once again been sentenced to prison time.
Abdulhakim Omar Erbob, 27, attempted to carjack a man in St. Paul last year, according to Pioneer Press. He beat the man who he tried to carjack when the man began to fight back, and was subsequently charged with attempted first-degree aggravated robbery.
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President Joe Biden (D) and the White House entered the debate focused on Florida House Bill 7 by Representative Bryan Avila (R-District 111). On Twitter Tuesday, both the White House account and the president’s account chimed in, criticizing Florida’s Republican lawmakers for their support of the legislation.
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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he is backing a plan that would eliminate statewide requirements that masks be worn in child care facilities and public and private schools in the state.
The governor announced he is working with the departments of public health and education to determine whether masks will continue to be a requirement beyond the Feb. 28 deadline.
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Candidates for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional seat have begun collecting ballot access petitions. The first day to begin collecting petitions was February 7th.
Candidates can pick up their petitions paperwork from either the secretary of state or their county elections office.
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