Metro Nashville Council’s meeting agenda is highlighted by resolutions accepting a family planning grant and distributing more than $1,000,000 to local nonprofits.
Metro Council meets on Tuesday, March 15 at the Metro Courthouse at 6:30pm.
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President Joe Biden granted a Major Disaster Declaration on Friday to help seven Tennessee counties recovering from the severe winter storm that hit the region in early February, at the request of Governor Bill Lee.
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President Biden and other White House officials dramatically changed their tune this week in defending their green agenda in the face of skyrocketing gas prices and Russia’s energy supply stranglehold over Europe.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden for months blamed increasing gas prices on supply-chain issues and pent-up post-pandemic demand for travel, deflecting questions on whether his push to move the country off fossil fuels was a factor.
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The campaigns for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District and New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District are two races that are important to the GOP’s chances at taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Representatives Chris Pappas of NH-1 and Teresa Leger-Fernández of NM-3 are two Democrat incumbents that could find themselves out of a job in November if their Republican challengers have their way.
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In partnership with TennGreen Land Conservancy, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced in a press release the addition of five acres of property adjacent to Cedars of Lebanon State Park and Natural Area in Wilson County.
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Republicans are taking aim at New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District seat, which is currently occupied by Democrat U.S. Representative Chris Pappas.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has announced that they are targeting Pappas for defeat and there are four candidates in the Republican primary that are listed on their website as participating in the Young Guns program.
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The Supreme Court of Texas recommended Friday a lawsuit challenging the state’s “heartbeat” abortion ban should be dismissed since it is enforced by “private civil action,” and not state officials.
Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd concluded in the decision regarding the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, that state officials, such as medical licensing boards, cannot enforce the law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected
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Job recovery in Michigan continues to rank among the worst in the country, according to a recently released report.
Michigan had the sixth-largest number of claims filed last week compared to 2019. The report, published by the personal finance website WalletHub, also ranks Michigan 47th in biggest increase in number of unemployment insurance initial claims in the week of Feb. 28, 2022 compared to the week of March 1, 2020. Only Kentucky (48); New Jersey (49); Kansas (50); and District of Columbia (51) fared worse.
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The Georgia House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation to allow individuals to carry a concealed handgun without obtaining a license from the state.
House Bill 1358, known as a “constitutional carry” bill, will strengthen Second Amendment rights of citizens in the state, supporters of the bill argue.
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A social media influencer paid by Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel’s election campaign last week disparaged opposing candidate J.D. Vance’s U.S. military service.
“[J.D. Vance] carried a camera, not a rifle,” Nick Adams said on Twitter.
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If Connecticut’s Democrat-run General Assembly and Governor Ned Lamont (D) approve a bill now before the Joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees, striking workers will gain the right to collect unemployment.
Current state law does not permit union strikers to collect jobless benefits, as eligibility requires having come into “unemployment through no fault of your own.” The legislation under consideration, sponsored by State Representatives Michael Winkler (D-Vernon), David Michel (D-Stamford) and Robyn Porter (D-Hamden) would, starting this October, allow strikers to get unemployment checks two weeks into a labor walkout.
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Coming from a 30-year career in the mainstream media as a local broadcaster, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has naturally been able to spotlight many of the biases of the media while campaigning. The Trump-endorsed candidate’s second TV ad launched this weekend, including on Monday during the former show she co-anchored on Fox 10 News. It instructs viewers to turn the show off.
She began in the ad, “The media isn’t just corrupt, they are anti-American.” A clip of her walking next to 12 News reporter Brahm Resnik is shown, with Lake telling him, “I noticed that you would not say the Pledge of Allegiance and that’s really despicable. Why can’t you put your hand on your heart? When these Media Hacks show you how much they hate America, believe them.”
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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Wednesday dished out $20 million in “healthcare infrastructure” grants.
The funds will be used to upgrade and improve portions of the Marshfield Medical Center-Park Falls, according to a release from the governor’s office.
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In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden promoted electric vehicles (EVs), trumpeting his plans to establish “a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.” In so doing, Biden is unwittingly supporting the worst humanitarian abuses in the world. This is because of the way in which the materials used in manufacturing the batteries that power today’s EVs are obtained.
To obtain a reasonable amount of power per pound of battery weight, EV manufacturers generally use various forms of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, so named because the battery’s positive electrode, called the cathode, is largely made up of the highly reactive metal lithium (Li). To keep the cathode stable when a battery is not in use, the lithium is combined in a metal oxide matrix, with different manufacturers using different combinations of metals.
Most EV manufacturers combine lithium with nickel, cobalt and manganese to create a Li-Ni-Mn-Co oxide matrix to form the cathode. Tesla substitutes aluminum (Al) for the manganese, yielding a Li-Ni-Co-Al oxide matrix for the cathode on their batteries. Tesla maintains that their formulae is more cost-effective as less cobalt is required.
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A Canadian man, extradited to Florida, faces a host of charges related to his connection to cyberattacks utilizing a ransomware known as “NetWalker.”
Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins is facing indictments for conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wire fraud and intentional damage to a protected computer, in connection to the ransomware that has been used to attack businesses, hospitals, schools, emergency response services, and other organizations.
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A bipartisan group of state lawmakers in Minnesota introduced legislation to terminate the state’s connections to Russia amid the country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
According to a release from State Senator Karin Housley (R–Stillwater), the legislation would “divest Minnesota’s state pension fund from Russia and codify Governor Walz’s Executive Order barring Minnesota from contracting with Russian companies into law,” if fully enacted.
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Pennsylvania State Senators Doug Mastriano (R-Chambersburg) and Scott Hutchinson (R-Oil City) last week proposed a measure to lighten the tax and regulatory burden for fossil-fuel producers.
Their legislation, entitled the PA Energy Independence Act, would immediately pause income taxation for natural-gas developers, reduce state gas-extraction fees by 200 percent and end Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) moratorium on new state-land leases for fossil-fuel drilling. It would also suspend the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would amount to a tax on carbon emissions.
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The Virginia Association of School Superintendents released a letter on behalf of Virginia’s 133 division superintendents criticizing Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow after the Youngkin administration published Balow’s 30-day report on steps taken to remove divisive concepts. The letter says superintendents should have been consulted, and the removal of many equity-related materials, with an administration emphasis on equitable opportunities, not outcomes, could be harmful.
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1. Oil and gas proceeds fund more than one-third of the entire Russian federal budget.
Russia produces 12% of the world’s oil. Its economy is strongly dependent on its publicly owned oil and gas sector — which employs about 2.5 million people, and generates an average of $191 million in revenue every day for the Kremlin.
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After banning almost all Virginia law enforcement from using facial recognition in 2021, this week the General Assembly passed a bill to allow local law enforcement to use the technology, with some restrictions. The legislation passed out of both chambers with broad bipartisan support, but also with broad bipartisan opposition.
“It can be used to help identify other people who might be witnesses or involved in crimes. It will also help identify people who are unconscious or dead, that don’t have ID on them, maybe people who have dementia or are wandering around,” sponsor and State Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) told The Virginia Star.
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An analysis of news articles published by journalists in the Tallahassee Democrat between February 9th and March 11th show that reporters repeatedly used the term “Don’t Say Gay” slogan when writing about the Parental Rights in Education bill.
The analysis shows that the “Don’t Say Gay” term was used over 6 times more than the title of the bill, “Parental Rights in Education” in news articles.
The “Don’t Say Gay” slogan was adopted by opponents of the Parental Rights in Education bill. Supporters of the bill have argued the slogan mischaracterizes the legislation.
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An industry group that tracks sports betting laws and revenue from gaming across the nation called Ohio’s new sports gambling law the best in the country.
PlayOhio, part of the PlayUSA Network, believes the state’s patience and collaborative approach to produce its sports gaming law set the bar high for state’s still debating gaming options. The group’s opinions are outline in a new market analysis recently published.
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A new Trafalgar poll shows Joe Biden’s approval rating at 41.8 percent, with 52.4 percent disapproving. Of the 52.4 percent who disapproved, 26.2 percent strongly disapproved of Biden’s performance.
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While the pandemic has upset the norm in education, a substitute teacher shortage in Pennsylvania has sparked changes to state law and continues to delay the return of a normal school day.
The shortage sometimes means pay spikes for substitutes, cutting into school district budgets. In the long run, shortages may require more tax revenue to cover costs and attract teachers.
Some schools have turned to remote days or shut down when they became shorthanded, like they did during a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review noted. By February, disruptions in Pennsylvania and nationally leveled off, but the supply of substitute teachers remains small.
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The Transportation Security Administration has extended its mask mandate on public transportation through April 18.
The extension applies to plans, trains, and buses – which also includes airports, train stations and bus terminals.
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Former President Barack Obama has tested positive for COVID-19, despite being vaccinated and receiving a booster, according to a Sunday statement from his official Twitter account.
“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” he wrote.
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A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has struck down a tax placed on high-earning Arizona residents to fund public education.
Proposition 208, which was approved by 51.7% of voters in the November 2020 election, added a 3.5% tax on single filers earning more than $250,000 per year and joint filers earning more than $500,000 per year, with the revenue going towards public education.
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Connecticut students will have a say in how $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief funds will be spent.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced that 150 proposals from 54 school districts were selected as part of the Voice4Change initiative that empowered high school students to use critical thinking to solve real-world issues.
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Minneapolis was receiving five times the average number of 911 calls at the height of the George Floyd riots in May 2020. This call volume grew so intense that it “overwhelmed the system,” according to a city report released this week.
Many have interpreted the report as a rebuke of city leadership, as it offers a page-by-page analysis of the many mistakes that were made in the 10 days following Floyd’s death.
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The latest class of National Guardsmen trained to be nursing assistants in Wisconsin has graduated. But just how much work they will do remains to be seen.
Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday said 154 soldiers have now completed their Certified Nursing Assistant training.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp plans to use more than $217 million in federal money to fund grants for hospitals, assisted living communities and personal care homes.
The state will use money from the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds for grants to bolster COVID-19 response efforts.
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Goods and services around the country are becoming increasingly more expensive, but farmers may be among the hardest hit as inflation, supply chain issues, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are expected to send food prices soaring even higher.
That impact is being felt by farmers around the country.
“The cost of fertilizer is up as much as 500% in some areas,” said Indiana Farm Bureau President Randy Kron. “It would be unbelievable if I hadn’t seen it for myself as I priced fertilizer for our farm in southern Indiana. Fertilizer is a global commodity and can be influenced by multiple market factors, including the situation in Ukraine, and all of these are helping to drive up costs.”
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved an experimental use permit submitted by a British biotech company to release millions of genetically engineered mosquitos into the Florida Keys in an effort to combat Dengue fever, Yellow fever, and the Zika virus.
All three diseases are transmitted by the Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito) and Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) in certain parts of the world.
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Football legend Tom Brady has reversed his decision to retire and now plans on joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2022 season.
“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now,” Brady tweeted Sunday evening.
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The Tennessee Republican senator, who served as President Donald J. Trump’s ambassador to Japan, stands out as one of six GOP senators who did not sign the March 10 letter drafted by Iowa’s Sen. Joni K. Ernst and Utah’s Sen. W. Mitt Romney demanded President Joseph R. Biden Jr. give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to secure their own airspace in support of that country, invaded on Feb. 24 by Russia.
The Star News Network reached out to Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, but his staff did not respond to inquiries before deadline.
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