The Tennessee General Assembly may be preparing to enable illegal immigrants to acquire commercial and professional licenses in the state.
The bill which could accomplish this, HB2309, narrowly passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday in a 56 to 35 vote, with 35 Republicans joining 15 Democrats and 3 Republicans present and not voting, led by bill sponsor State Rep. Bill Freeman (D-Nashville).
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Within hours of the enactment of a new law on Wednesday that requires candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee to be residents of the state for three years prior to their placement on a primary ballot, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office offered conflicting comments about whether he intends to enforce the new law and remove “carpetbagger” candidates from the August 4 Republican primary ballot.
Reaction from Tennessee state legislators to the comments from the Secretary of State’s office were swift and pointed.
Sources tell The Tennessee Star that if the Tennessee Secretary of State refuses to enforce the newly enacted law and remove any candidate from the ballot for the U.S. House who fails to meet the three-year residency requirement he will be sued to require him to enforce the law.
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The three-year residency requirement legislation for Tennessee candidates for federal office in primaries is now law – effective immediately – without Governor Lee’s signature.
The Tennessee General Assembly sent the legislation, which it overwhelmingly approved, over to Governor Lee’s office on April 1. Governor Lee had the option to sign the legislation into law, veto it, or allow ten days to pass where it would be enacted into law without his signature. Lee chose the third option.
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Former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell, a candidate for the TN-5 GOP nomination, announced on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy that if elected, she will limit herself to three terms of service totaling six years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Harwell has additionally signed the U.S. Term Limit’s pledge which states “that as a member of Congress I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits Amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit.”
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A Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Deputy Chief who is running for political office in his home of Sumner County, appears to be violating department policy by wearing his police uniform while off-duty.
MNPD Deputy Chief Chris Taylor, who as a resident of Sumner County is currently a member of the Sumner County Board of Commissioners, is running in the May 3 Republican primary for the office of Sumner County Mayor.
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In just the span of about a week, legislation concerning ending the lives of unborn babies in two states starkly reveals that while many state lawmakers are standing up to protect human life, some appear to be underscoring the extremity with which they are prepared to go to dismiss it.
The states continue to take their respective stands in advance of the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, now awaiting a decision at the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is considered to present the most significant challenge to the Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
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Khulia Pringle would seem an unlikely critic of the local Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. The St. Paul native embarked on a teaching career in the hope of improving a school system that she saw as failing her daughter. By the time she finished her training in 2014, she had grown so disillusioned with the public school system that she took a job with an education reform group, helping to recruit and place hundreds of tutors in schools across the state.
While she shares the union’s emphasis on pushing for higher pay and smaller classrooms, the self-described liberal education activist says the federation’s three-week strike last month provided final confirmation of her worst fear: The union and public education system place a higher priority on serving their own needs than they do on serving students and parents, 60% of whom are minorities.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed official guest host, Grant Henry in studio for another edition of Grant’s Rants.
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Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined a group of her GOP colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the “dangerous and reckless decision” to rescind the Title 42 Order issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayoral Candidate David Baker about his background and separation of church and state.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Independent Maury County Mayoral candidate David Baker in studio to discuss his experience and maintaining the liberty and freedom established by Andy Ogles.
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State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) is effectively the Democrat nominee in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
Two candidates submitted qualifying petitions signatures to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office, Campbell and Justicia Rizzo. The Secretary of State’s office lists on Campbell’s petitions signatures as approved.
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Former Tennessee House Majority Leader and current State Representative John Mark Windle (I-HD41) is now a former Democrat.
Known for being a defender of Second Amendment rights, Windle switched his partisan status to Independent effective immediately and is running for reelection as an Independent as well.
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Senators on the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee defeated legislation this week that would have permitted terminally ill adults to obtain substances to hasten their deaths.
Typically, members of both chambers vote in Connecticut’s legislative committees. Regarding the assisted-suicide bill, Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Wallingford) moved to split the committee to take a vote from delegations from each chamber. When the committee’s nine senators voted, one Democrat, Mae Flexer (D-Windham) sided with the panel’s four Republicans, killing the bill, which had previously passed the Public Health Committee.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed 26 bills from the 2022 General Assembly session, including nine of the ten bills sponsored by Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) who helped lead efforts to block some Youngkin appointees. Youngkin also amended over 100 bills, including a bill introducing staggered elections at the Loudoun County School Board; Youngkin’s amendment would force all the members of the board to run for re-election this year.
“My goal as Governor is to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family and the bills I vetoed today reaffirm that commitment,” Youngkin said in a Monday evening announcement of the 25 newest vetoes. “I look forward to working together with members of the General Assembly in the future to ensure that we’re working for all Virginians. Together we can make the Commonwealth a place where businesses can prosper, students can thrive, and communities are safer.”
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Republicans in the Minnesota Senate are touting public safety bills that are working their way through the legislation process.
The group recently passed S.F. 2673 out of committee. The complex, lengthy legislation would target sentence requirements for criminals, support for law enforcement, and additional transparency in the judicial process.
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General Motors (GM) and Honda plan to produce millions of “affordable” electric vehicles (EV) with prices of some popular models starting at around $30,000.
GM Director of Finance and Sales Communications David Caldwell told The Center Square that the collaboration will result in “a series of compact crossover EVs – the most popular vehicle segment globally.”
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Arizona’s Senate President took to a popular podcast last week to reveal that audit results from the 2020 election show major problems with how absentee ballots were handled.
“What they’re not telling you is all the ballots that were returned to the post office – undeliverable – and you know what, they said ‘we don’t want them back, you can keep them. You can just destroy them. We don’t need them,'” Senate President Karen Fann (R-District 1) said on The Conservative Circus Podcast. “So those ballots never went back to the Election Department. They told the Post Office “oh, you can just destroy them, we don’t need them.'”
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Georgia’s governor Tuesday signed a bill into law that will allow residents of the state to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
“I certainly want to thank all of those legislators – many of them – that along with us have been pushing to get this bill across the finish line for a long time,” Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said in the bill signing ceremony at Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville.
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Two Ohio-based conservative groups, the Greater Toledo Right to Life and The Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition, opted to endorse Ohio gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci and Lieutenant Governor candidate Joe Knopp.
The two organizations selected the GOP challengers over incumbent Governor Mike DeWine and Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, according to a release from Renacci.
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On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee approved term limits for the Philadelphia District Attorney as well as a bill allowing state prosecutors to pursue Philadelphia gun violations.
Both measures have the secondary effect of rebuking the performance of the city’s top prosecutor, Larry Krasner (D), under whose watch violence and crime have skyrocketed. In 2017, 315 murders occurred in Philadelphia and the number rose to an all-time high of 562 last year. Many attribute the increase in crime to Krasner’s tendency to release many defendants charged with illegal gun possession and violent offenses.
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Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed South County, Georgia school board candidate Mike Valdes to talk about how he will make sure teachers are upholding the state law in the classroom.
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With Tyler Braden’s newest hits, “Try Losing One,” and “Seventeen”, he has proven that his star is on the rise. You will be hearing a lot more from this singer/songwriter in the future.
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The Florida Legislature announced they will not be drawing the redistricting congressional maps but will defer to the maps drawn up by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis interjected into the process earlier in 2022 when he submitted his own plans outside of the legislature’s recommendations.
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Live from Virginia Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia; WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 p.m.) Hampton Roads; WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and weekdays 6-10 a.m. and 24/7 stream – host Fredericks welcomed Pennsylvania state Senator and candidate for governor Doug Mastriano to talk about how he’ll fight for election integrity.
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A voter registration group led by a former U.S. Senator held a registration drive over the weekend at gas stations across the metro Atlanta area.
“Part of Greater Georgia’s broader mission that has already registered tens of thousands of lean-conservative voters, this latest registration drive will continue at a variety of consumer marketplaces over the coming weeks, including at gas stations, grocery stores, and gun stores,” that group said in a press release. “It will also include an accompanying digital and text registration campaign in counties across the metro area.”
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The Arizona Democratic Party submitted a complaint on Monday to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, asking him to investigate whether a couple of members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) violated the Arizona Constitution by drawing district boundary lines to protect at least three incumbent Republican state senators. Executive Director Charlie Fisher, who signed the letter, also asked the attorney general’s office (AGO)to determine if the members violated Arizona’s Open Meeting law, and whether members, as well as senators and their staff, improperly used state resources and funds.
The moves may have been done to include significant Republican enclaves in heavily Republican districts, not to just grab a single senator’s residence. State Senator Vince Leach (R-Tucson), one of the senators who was accused of being gerrymandered into a heavily Republican district, explained to The Arizona Sun Times about the area he lives in that was included, “Catalina has always been in LD 11. Since the election of 2012.”
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced in a press release that he will donate his first-quarter salary to the Virginia Law Enforcement Assistance Program (VALEAP).
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Ohio’s Governor, who is in the midst of a heated battle for reelection, Tuesday released an ad targeting the Biden Administration’s economic policies.
“There’s Joe Biden’s way,” the ad says. “Higher taxes. Wasteful spending. And with Biden’s inflation everything costs you more.”
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Newly released federal inflation data show that prices continue to rise at the fastest rate in four decades, continuing the trend of soaring inflation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index, a key indicator of inflation, which showed prices rose an additional 1.2% in March, part of an 8.5 percent spike in the past 12 months.
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The adage is that no one loves a warrior until the enemy is at the gates. We are the land of the free for one reason only: We are also the home of the brave. We need more people willing to stand up and bravely speak out on issues. However, it is not always about being right, it is about doing what is right. On that front, we need more warriors not afraid to do what is right and what is necessary.
Ronald Reagan, a man known for his wit, preferred humor to attack politics. Journalist H.W. Brands wrote: “Even those who disliked his policies had difficulty disliking him.” Brands also called Reagan the Republican Party’s “last hero, their last real vote-getter.”
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With one exception, every gold standard study of masks in community settings has failed to find that they slow the spread of contagious respiratory diseases. The outlier is a widely cited study run in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic, and some of its authors claim it proves that mask mandates “or strategies like handing out masks at churches and other public events—could save thousands of lives each day globally and hundreds each day in the United States.”
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A new study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that states led by Republicans did a better job than Democrat-led states at managing the coronavirus and keeping their states from slumping into an economic and social recession.
As reported by The Daily Caller, the three states that ranked the worst in mortality, economy, and schooling during the COVID pandemic were New Jersey, New York, and California, all of which had implemented some of the strictest lockdown measures in the nation. By contrast, the states that ranked the highest were Utah, Vermont, and Nebraska.
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Philadelphia said Monday the city is bringing back its indoor mask mandates for public places, schools and daycares amid an increase in COVID-16 cases and hospitalization.
The mask mandate will officially return on April 18. The city’s previous mask mandate was dropped March 2, roughly just six weeks ago.
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Following four days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in late March, the full Senate voted 53-47 last week to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as an associate justice of the Supreme Court—fulfilling Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to name a black woman to the high court. Three Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues in voting to confirm Jackson—Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins, and Utah’s Mitt Romney.
Imagine a slightly different scenario: a Republican president nominates someone to serve on the Supreme Court and asks a 50-50 Senate to confirm that person. You can be absolutely sure that Democrats would force the vice president to break the tie to get that nominee on the bench. Remember when, in 2016, President Trump nominated Betsy Devos to be secretary of education and Vice President Mike Pence had to break a tie, even without an evenly split Senate?
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Middle school students in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis, have reportedly been given the opportunity to step out of class for “reflection” time during Ramadan.
An online form asks parents of students at Valley View Middle School if their child has permission to leave class for 15 minutes throughout the month of April. The story was first reported by the Center of the American Experiment.
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Truckers working between Texas and Mexico have been blocking two busy bridges at the southern U.S. border, amid rising tensions over an order by the office of Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott for tighter safety inspections that also have purportedly slowed traffic.
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Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he referred more than 1,600 cases of potential non-citizens attempting to register to vote in Georgia to local prosecutors and state investigators.
The secretary of state referred the cases to the State Election Board, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and local prosecutors. The announcement comes weeks after Raffensperger said the state completed the first citizenship audit of the state’s voter rolls.
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State laws governing such hot-button topics as absentee voting to school choice and concealed carry in Wisconsin will not be changing.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed 43 pieces of legislation from the Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly.
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A group of 40 House Republicans sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday, urging the agency to rescind a regulatory proposal forcing companies to disclose “climate-related risks.”
The Republicans, led by House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment Ranking Member Ralph Norman, slammed the financial regulator, saying it exceeded its congressionally-mandated authority in issuing the climate rule, in the letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The lawmakers added that the rule was especially inappropriate given the ongoing energy crisis.
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The Tennessee State Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill, 25-6, that requires high school students to be taught the virtues of capitalism and the constitutional republic form of government in comparison to other economic systems and governmental systems.
The Tennessee State House of Representatives approved the House version of the bill on March 28, 68-21. Prior to the final vote, the Senate voted to substitute and conform to the House-approved version.
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