A new bill making its way through the Georgia General Assembly would, if enacted into law, remove provisions that keep election ballots and other election documents under seal — but only under certain conditions. The main sponsor, Representative Shaw Blackmon (R-Bonaire) did not return The Georgia Star News’ requests for comment Friday.
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Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares joined radio host Jeff Katz of The Jeff Katz Show on WRVA, where he expressed his dismay about Loudoun County Public Schools’ (LCPS) current mask mandate policy.
“I’ve gotta admit, that was a pretty astonishing even coming from the Loudoun County administrators,” Miyares said.
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The chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) School Board has a long history of using Critical Race Theory (CRT) talking points on her TikTok page.
“I want to first acknowledge the land of the indigenous people,” Dr. Tarese Johnson said in a TikTok video last October. “I want to say to you all that Gwinnett County is the land of the Muskogee Creek and the [inaudible] Cherokee people.”
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Currently operating under personnel totals appropriate to Florida’s population in 1958, a memorial passed by the Florida Senate would ask the federal government to consider increasing the size of the Florida National Guard.
SM 826 sponsored by State Sen. Tom Wright (R-FL-14) would “impel the United States National Guard Bureau to examine the resource allocations of the Florida National Guard and allow an increase in its force structure.”
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has announced recommendations for Florida to invest $100 million in cancer research. However, Florida lawmakers have proposed healthcare budgets that do not meet the $100 million threshold.
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Another attempt by a grassroots group to create an Ohio law that would ban vaccination mandates was turned away by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Yost rejected the summary of a petition for the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act, a proposed statue that would require the state to protect the privacy and freedom of Ohioans to abstain from vaccinations or gene therapy without being discriminated against.
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Arizona Republican Blake Masters picked up an endorsement on Thursday from the Club for Growth PAC, an outside group that supports conservatives in key elections across the country.
The support from the group will likely provide Masters outside funding in an attempt to defeat his GOP contender and, potentially, Democrat Senator Mark Kelly.
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Flint Public School staff members got a $22,500 COVID bonus with federal money intended “to safely reopen” schools before the school in January shifted indefinitely to online learning, citing COVID.
The move forced more than 3,500 students – a majority of them Black kids – back into virtual learning, despite bleak past results and at least $99 million of federal money the U.S. Department of Education expressly designated “to reopen K-12 schools safely.”
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The latest attempt to close one of the loopholes from the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin would use the state’s constitution.
Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, is proposing a constitutional amendment that would ban private donations for election operations in the state.
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Several Minnesota officials have responded to the death of Amir Locke at the hands of Minneapolis Police earlier this week. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said, “Amir Locke’s life mattered. He was only 22 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. His family and friends must now live the rest of their lives without him.”
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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on Friday announced new grants for training for law enforcement officers, totaling more than $5 million.
The grants were dished out to state and local law enforcement agencies across Georgia, with the highest individual award, totaling approximately $1 million, given to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.
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Freshman Delegate A.C. Cordoza (R-Hampton) said in a Thursday speech in the House of Delegates that the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) wouldn’t allow him to join due to political differences, but VLBC Chair Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico) told The Virginia Star that it was due to concern over Cordoza’s motives.
“When I came to this assembly, I expected to be welcomed with open arms by my brothers and sisters in the Legislative Black Caucus. Instead, I was rejected by a vote. While I’m sure a few of my brothers and sisters voted for me to join them, the majority did not,” Cordoza said in his speech. “This was disheartening but not shocking. The questionnaire for entry had little to do with being black, and had more to do with being leftist.”
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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Friday vetoed a bill passed by the Wisconsin state legislature that would ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools in the state.
In his reasoning for rejecting the potential law, the Democrat called the measure “censorship.”
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Michigan Senator Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) questioned Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s gift to the Michigan Democratic Party.
The money was funded by excessive campaign donations from individuals collected by Whitmer through a campaign finance loophole, which allowed the governor to cite the threat of a recall to raise unlimited funds.
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The Democratic-controlled House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol has been subpoenaing numerous Republicans close to former President Donald Trump, including subpoenaing three months of phone records from Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. Ward did not participate in the rally that day.
Several of the Republicans subpoenaed are fighting back against the aggressive posturing, including Ward, who filed a lawsuit in Arizona federal district court on Feb. 1 along with her husband against the House Select Committee and its chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-02-Miss.) in order to stop T-Mobile from turning over the records.
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A federal appeals court has allowed a Tennessee law that prohibits abortions sought due to sex, race, or prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, to go into effect until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced while litigation against it continues. The court also postponed hearing the case until after the Supreme Court issues a decision in Dobbs, a case involving a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
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The Tennessee Firearms Association announced their opposition to a pending bill under General Assembly consideration that lowers the handgun carry age from 21 to 18.
Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison-HD73) filed HB1735 on January 13, 2022. House Majority Leader William Lamberth is a co-sponsor. Senator Mike Bell (R-Riceville-SD9) filed the companion bill, SB2291, on February 2, 2022.
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In December, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia all announced diplomatic boycotts against the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and since then, several other nations around the world have joined the boycott.
A diplomatic boycott means that government officials from those nations will not attend the Olympic Games. This sent an important message to the citizens of those countries that attending the games even as spectators is immoral and at odds with the spirit of their own nation.
The Chinese Communist Party knew this, and in a preemptive attempt to avoid the embarrassment of empty bleachers, it made a decision on Jan. 17 not to sell spectator tickets to people from outside China’s mainland, and invite in controlled groups instead.
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Nashville Metro Council passed a resolution establishing a target of an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2014 levels by 2050.
Metro Council approved the resolution at its last meeting on Tuesday and Mayor John Cooper added his stamp of approval the following day.
The goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions is part of Cooper’s Sustainability Advisory Committee Report on the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s Climate Change Mitigation Action Plan that was issued in 2021. The report recommends that Davidson adhere to the Paris Climate agreement goal of limiting average global temperature rise to no higher than 2ºC “above preindustrial levels.”
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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) this week announced that former Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke will serve that agency in a senior leadership position and will have direct influence over President Joe Biden. Berke is joining NTIA as a special representative for broadband.
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Elementary and high schools throughout the country this week are having children participate in Black Lives Matter at School’s “Week of Action,” using lesson plan “resources” based on the activist organization’s core principles that seek to disrupt Western family structure, and teach children to affirm the “transgender” and “queer” lifestyles.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) at School has provided a toolkit for schools and teachers with a curriculum that features a movie for different grade bands matched to “the 13 guiding principles of the BLM movement.”
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The Big Board in the H Street neighborhood of Washington, D.C. was given a notice by city health officials Tuesday that the establishment was being shut down due to its “disobedience of COVID-19 guidelines,” according to FOX News.
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The investigative reporter and author of the new book “Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win” told The Star News Network that U.S. colleges and universities, such as the case with Yale University and Joseph Tsai, are not complying with federal reporting laws in regards to their gifts from China and Chinese nationals.
“Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 is very explicit,” said Peter Schweizer, the founder and president of the Government Accountability Institute and the host of “The Drill Down” podcast. “It says that if U.S. colleges and universities take in foreign donations, they’re required to report those to the federal government.”
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The faith, trust, and confidence in our election process has been in steep decline for decades. Concerns over hanging chads and dimpled ballots from 2000’s presidential election may now have been replaced with questions about photo ID and drop boxes – but the overall result is the same: The American people simply don’t trust the outcome of elections.
In fact, recent polls show only 57% of voters believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020. Similarly, just 61% of Americans believe Trump legitimately won in 2016.
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Monogram Foods, a manufacturer of packaged and value-added foods, will expand its operations in Tennessee, according to Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe.
The new space will infuse a $53.5 million investment into the economy in Dickson and create approximately 400 new jobs for the region.
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Black Lives Matter (BLM) removed fundraising features from its website Wednesday after California and Washington threatened to hold the group’s leaders personally liable for its missing financial records, the Washington Examiner reported.
BLM hasn’t had a known leader managing its $60 million bankroll since May 2021, the Examiner reported. California demanded that BLM cease all fundraising activities Wednesday due to the BLM Global Network’s failure to report on its 2020 finances, and the state said it would hold BLM leaders personally liable if they do not submit information about the organization’s finances within 60 days.
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A newly-released study from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University revealed that the sweeping lockdowns in response to the Chinese coronavirus had “little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality.”
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the study was conducted through an analysis of 24 different studies that all focused on government mandates ordering the closure of various aspects of everyday life, including school and business shutdowns, mask and vaccine mandates, and stay-at-home orders, among others.
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Young women were five times less likely than young men to aspire toward STEM careers in 80 different countries, according to research and a report from the Institute for Family Studies published in late January.
Women preferred “people-oriented” careers such as nursing or teaching, while men preferred “things-oriented” careers generally falling into STEM or blue-collar categories, researchers reported.
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Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri called on President Joe Biden to abandon NATO’s pledge to accept Ukraine as a member of the organization.
“It is not clear that Ukraine’s accession would serve U.S. interests,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “Indeed, deteriorating conditions in the global security environment caution otherwise.”
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in studio to comment upon the recently interviewed author of Red Handed, Peter Schweizer, and American politicians close ties to China.
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A U.S. operation lead to the death of the leader of the Islamic State in northwest Syria late Wednesday evening, the Pentagon said.
The mission resulted in the death of its target, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the known leader of the terror group ISIS, according to the Department of Defense. There were no American casualties and all U.S. forces were safely evacuated.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed MAGA Rapper Bryson Gray to the newsmakers line to talk about his new album release and staying at the top of the music charts.
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One way of understanding the 2009-2014 Obama Administration policy of “reset” with Vladimir Putin’s Russia is to recall two iconic incidents.
The first was the 2009 “reset.”
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to reflect upon knowing Whoopi Goldberg in the 1980s and her current leave from The View.
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On Wednesday, the United States Army announced that it will begin the process of discharging any soldiers who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine effective immediately.
As reported by ABC News, the Army is the last branch of the United States military to fully discharge those who do not comply with the strict vaccine mandates; the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps have already discharged all personnel who refuse the vaccines, from active-duty members to entry-level members at boot camps.
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Facebook parent company Meta is on pace to lose roughly $200 billion in market value as shares plummeted early Thursday.
The company’s shares dropped as much as 23% in pre-market trading which, if the losses hold, would lose Meta roughly $200 billion in market value.
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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) redefined racism again on Monday with what it called an “interim definition.”
Racism is now defined by the group as occurring “when individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual or group based on race or ethnicity,” according to Professor Robert Livingston of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in studio to describe the nature of Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional voters and how candidates could campaign effectively.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to talk about voting on the Academy Awards and the art of screenwriting.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) doubled down on his position that if public universities want to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, they must wait until the General Assembly passes a law to that effect.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is a critical tool in our fight against COVID-19, and it could save your life. The Attorney General has been vaccinated , has received the booster, and he encourages everyone to get the vaccine,” Miyares’ spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita told The Virginia Star. “He also promised to be an Attorney General that calls balls and strikes – and according to Virginia law, only the General Assembly can enact a statute that requires the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of enrollment or in-person attendance, as it has with six other vaccines.”
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RICHMOND, Virginia – The House of Delegates passed a bill banning consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in admissions to Virginia’s governor’s schools. That’s a reaction to controversy at Thomas Jefferson (TJ) High School for Science and Technology, where officials instituted a merit lottery to try to expand the largely Asian American student base to underrepresented groups while still maintaining a high standard. Conservatives saw that as part of a broader wave of watered-down academic standards in the name of equity, and Republicans campaigned in 2021 on restoring Virginia’s educational standards of excellence.
Delegates debated HB 127 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Delegate Richard (Rip) Sullivan (D-Fairfax) said he and his wife spent years as proud TJ Colonials parents.
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On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency executive order for almost all of Central and South Florida after the extreme cold weather threatened Florida’s farmers and growers.
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Ohio’s seven-day COVID-19 case rate has now fallen to about the same level of seven-day cases as the state saw in mid-September, when the more deadly Delta variant was the virus’ prominent strain.
As of February 2, Ohio had an average seven-day case rate of 7,806, a drastic drop in that average over a period of just two weeks, according to publicly available data. On January 19, the seven-day average caseload was 27,462 cases.
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Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) blasted President Biden and congressional Democrats for the ongoing border crisis that had produced a spike in migrants coming across the border.
In a recent press conference, Johnson contended that Biden’s policies, supported by Democratic lawmakers, have made it easier to illegally enter the country.
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A Republican legislator has introduced a bill intended to curtail Michigan’s alleged teacher shortage.
The House Education Committee heard testimony related to House Bill 5685 on Monday. The bill, introduced by Rep. Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield Twp., if passed, would allow public schools to hire college education majors prior to their certification as teachers.
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The new episode of The Ohio Star Podcast, hosted by Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor for The Star News Network, dropped Thursday.
McCabe interviewed Star reporter Peter D’Abrosca about his interview with Mount Vernon attorney Scott A. Pullins, who is now a candidate for state representative. Pullins is also the attorney for Blystone campaign whistleblower Sarah Chambers.
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The House of Delegates Finance Committee advanced a bill to eliminate Virginia’s grocery tax and a bill to double the standard deduction on income tax; those are two key promises Governor Glenn Youngkin made in his campaign as part of his focus on “kitchen-table issues.”
HB 90, sponsored by Delegate Joe McNamara (R-Roanoke) exempts food for human consumption and essential personal hygiene items from state and local sales taxes. On Monday, Delegates Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William) and Delegate Richard ‘Rip’ Sullivan (D-Fairfax) expressed concern about how a different Youngkin-inspired tax bill would impact low-income Virginians. McNamara recalled those remarks in the Wednesday committee meeting.
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A Minnesota gubernatorial candidate released a video statement saying that he stands with the Canadian truckers. Dr. Scott Jensen, a frontrunner in Minnesota’s 2022 gubernatorial election said, “From Minnesota, to Canada, and beyond… I stand with them.”
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants state lawmakers to put the brakes on lowering the state gas tax, saying infrastructure upgrades are needed around the state and those projects create jobs.
A state senator pushing to scale back the tax to pre-2019 levels for at least five years believes now is the right time, however.
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The relationship between Wisconsin’s Elections Commission, state lawmakers, and voters is not improving.
Members of the legislature’s rulemaking body on Tuesday criticized the commission for once again failing to vote on rules for ballot drop boxes in the state.
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