Metro Nashville Council Agenda Highlights Include Over $62 Million in Appropriations, LPR Information, Earth Day Resolution

Metro Nashville Council released the agenda for their Tuesday meeting and highlights include over $62 million in appropriations, an ordinance concerning LPR information, bonds issuance, a resolution recognizing Earth Day, and a resolution setting the date and time for the 2022 State of the Metropolitan Government Address.

Other issues on the agenda include zoning and contracts.

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Texas Mask Mandate Repeal Case Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge’s Ruling

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Robert Henneke, the executive director and general counsel of The Texas Public Policy Foundation, about Florida federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s Oct. 18, 2022 ruling that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for air travelers and public transportation passengers.

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TNGOP Chair: Committee Voted to Disqualify Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee from TN-5 GOP Ballot

TNGOP Scott Golden has confirmed to The Tennessee Star that as of Tuesday evening, Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee, and are no longer candidates for the TN-5 GOP nomination due to a vote by a select committee of the Tennessee Republican party.

The select committee voted not to restore Robby Starbuck, Morgan Ortagus, and Baxter Lee to the ballot after they were previously removed because of verified challenges to their bona fide status.

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Texas Mask Mandate Lawsuit Attorney Welcomes Florida Judge Striking Mandate in Separate Suit, but Says: ‘Our Case Will Continue’

The executive director and general counsel of the Texas Public Policy Foundation told The Star News Network he welcomed Monday’s ruling in Florida by federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, that overturned the Centers for Disease Control’s mask mandate for public transportation and air travel.

“The arguments that are pending in our ongoing lawsuit in Texas are the same arguments that prevailed in the case in Florida with a judge in Florida agreeing that the Centers for Disease Control did not have the statutory authority that it claimed to impose a face-covering requirement for all Americans engaging in transportation,” said Robert Henneke, who represents both the foundation and Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne in an independent lawsuit challenging both the CDC’s mask mandate and the Transportation Safety Administration’s derivative mandate that relies on the CDC’s now-overturned authority.

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Commentary: Twitter Is Not a Business, It’s a Political Operation

Person holding phone up with Twitter sign up page on smart phone.

Here’s your first clue Twitter is not really a business with a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value – when Elon Musk made a public offer to buy the company for $54.20 a share (roughly $40 billion) the company’s management not only turned down the offer, but began to work on a poison pill defense aimed solely at Mr. Musk, who is already Twitter’s largest shareholder.

According to reporting by the New York Times, some investors and Wall Street analysts said that Mr. Musk’s offer of $54.20 a share was too low, and that he would need to go to at least $60 a share to appeal to shareholders. That would be 25 percent higher than the share price when Mr. Musk announced this month that he had acquired a 9 percent stake in Twitter.

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New York City ‘Blue Ribbon’ Principal Accused of Fraud to Bolster Graduation Rate Removed from Post but Given $1.8 Million ‘Desk Job’

A Queens, New York City, high school principal who had been removed from his post after accusations he padded his school’s graduation rate, has received a “sweetheart” settlement deal that allows him to have a “desk job” with the city’s Department of Education and ultimately pocket more than $1.8 million, the New York Post reported Saturday.

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, former principal at Maspeth High School, which was conferred the federal “Blue Ribbon” award in 2018, demanded his teachers pass students and allow them to graduate regardless of their academic performance, the Post revealed in reports over the past several years.

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O’Neal Proposes Tax Credit to Offset RGGI Compliance Costs in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania state Rep. Timothy O’Neal (R-Washington) has indicated he’s drafting legislation to bestow tax credits on power plants to cover costs of complying with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Pennsylvania is among eleven northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to have joined RGGI, a compact to levy de facto taxes on electricity-generation facilities for emitting greenhouse gases — chiefly carbon dioxide and methane — which are associated with global warming. Because Keystone State legislators have balked at the program, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced in 2019 that he would enter the state into it using his own regulatory authority. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Commonwealth Court blocked the state’s entry into RGGI, insisting that Wolf breached the limits on his executive power, but the ruling is not ironclad as the Democrat-run state Supreme Court could reverse it.

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Nearly Two Dozen Alleged Terrorists Arrested by Border Patrol Last Year, Some in Arizona

A U.S. Congressman from Arizona Monday reacted to a report that nearly two dozen suspected terrorists were caught crossing the border into the United States illegally in 2021. 

“As seen by the events on 9/11, we know that it only takes a handful of harmful actors to wreak devastation on our country,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) told The Arizona Sun Times. “[U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s] latest figures are alarming but are not unexpected.”

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Exclusive: Gwinnett County School Board Pushing Chamber of Commerce to Go ‘Woke’

According to emails obtained by The Georgia Star News, far-left Gwinnett County School Board (GCSB) Chairwoman Dr. Tarese Johnson pushed for the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce (GCCC) to adopt social justice initiatives. 

In a chain of internal GCSB emails from August, Johnson complains that the GCCC put on a skit regarding the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the public transit system in the city, that “perpetuated deeply rooted stereotypes.” 

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Lima Mayor Endorses Nan Whaley for Governor

The mayor of a prominent Ohio city Monday announced her endorsement of former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley (D), who is running for governor. 

“Hi, my name is Mayor Sharetta Smith, and I’m mayor of the great city of Lima, Ohio, and I’m here to offer my support and my endorsement of my great friend Nan Whaley, former mayor of Dayton, Ohio, in her bid to become Ohio’s next governor,” Mayor Sharetta Smith (D) said in a video. “I believe in Nan. I believe in her platform to help working families. She’s talked about how under her leadership, our wages will go up, and our bills will go down. Nan is also a former mayor, and no one knows better the issues facing our local families. She’s a hard worker. Her boots have been on the ground. She sees firsthand what’s happening with our families, and I believe Nan is the one for us – to go to Columbus and fight for us.” 

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Commentary: Ohio Professor Wins Settlement in ‘Preferred Pronoun’ Case

In a refreshing religious liberty result from the world of academia, free speech won and preferred pronouns lost.

A professor at Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth, Ohio, will be able to honor his conscience as a Christian who believes God created human beings as male and female and that a person’s sex cannot change, and will not be required by the school to compromise that belief when addressing students.

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Former Elementary School Assistant Principal Sues Albemarle County School Board after Quitting Due to Alleged Racially Hostile Work Environment

A former Albemarle County elementary school assistant principal is suing the school board, claiming that a racially hostile work environment forced her to quit her job in 2021. Emily Mais’ lawsuit describes an escalating series of conflicts related to anti-racism trainings, including the book Courageous Conversations About Race, which Governor Glenn Youngkin’s education administration has identified as an example of Critical Race Theory.

“The curriculum sets up a classic Catch-22, in which a white person’s objections to the content of the curriculum are simply evidence that he or she is a racist who needs further training on the curriculum,” the complaint states. “Unfortunately for her, Ms. Mais was caught in that Catch-22. When Ms. Mais complained about the curriculum and protested reverse racism, she was branded a racist, severely and pervasively harassed, relentlessly humiliated, and ultimately compelled to resign from a job that she loved to preserve her mental health.”

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Commentary: Louisiana’s Bold Move to Overhaul High School Career and Technical Education

America’s high schools have problems. Nearly twenty years ago, Bill Gates observed that the existing model is obsolete — that, even when high schools “work,” the results are too often mediocre. In 2016, The Education Trust found that 47 percent of high schoolers graduated prepared for neither college nor a career. In 2018, Gallup reported that two-thirds of high schoolers described themselves as wholly or partially disengaged. And, just last month, the National Center for Education Statistics concluded that high schools are plagued by grade inflation: Over the past decade, grades have risen to a record high even as math and science performance by 12th graders has edged down.

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Youngkin Signs School Safety Audit Bill from Del. Taylor, Amends Del. Greenhalgh’s SRO Bill

Virginia’s schools will be required to collaborate with the chief local law enforcement officer when conducting required safety audits.

“It is critical to have collaboration between local law enforcement and their school districts for the safety of our children. The requirement to provide safety audits allows safety recommendations to be made to school boards in a timely manner,” bill sponsor Delegate Kim Taylor (R-Dinwiddie) said on the House floor in February.

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VA-07 GOP Candidate Derrick Anderson Wants to Focus on Veterans Affairs Red Tape, Agriculture Fuel Costs and Supply Chains, and I-95 Issues

Former Special Forces Green Beret Derrick Anderson is part of the crowded GOP primary race for Virginia’s newly redrawn seventh congressional district. He says he’s a constitutional conservative, and highlights his roots in the district and his role as a political outsider. In recent fundraising results, he raised slightly more than perceived front-runner Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania,) which Anderson said is proof that his hard work makes him the best choice to go against Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) in the general election.

Anderson listed three policy areas he wants to focus on as a congressman.

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Georgia Candidates for Statewide and Other Offices Set to Debate in the Coming Weeks

There are several Georgia primary candidate debates scheduled to occur in the upcoming weeks.

Many view the contest for the GOP nomination in the governor’s race as the main event. Incumbent Governor Brian Kemp and former U.S. Senator and Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue are scheduled to face off on Atlanta, Georgia’s WSB-TV on April 24, Savannah, Georgia’s WTOC on April 28, and at the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting on May 1.

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New Report Shows Florida Unemployment Dropping

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) released their monthly unemployment figures and the state’s unemployment rate is continuing to drop. Conversely, Florida is also seeing consistent job growth from month-to-month.

According to the report, Florida’s adjusted unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in March, which was a decrease by 0.1 percent from the previous month. The national unemployment rate was hovering around 3.6 percent.

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Former President Trump Slams Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Signals Opposition to Him in U.S. Senate Race

Former President Donald Trump slammed Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for his actions relating to the 2020 election and signaled his opposition to Brnovich’s run to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate.

According to Trump, Brnovich’s lack of results is proof he is “going to kick the can down the road” and “stay in that middle path of non-controversy.”

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Biden White House Report Says Energy Taxes Are ‘Needed’ for Green Transition

The White House said Americans should pay higher taxes to ensure a rapid green transition away from fossil fuels in a report on President Joe Biden’s economic record.

The federal government can encourage such a shift through carbon taxes or a cap and trade system forcing an emissions limit on companies, said the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report released last week. The White House added that consumers would continue purchasing “artificially inexpensive, carbon-intensive goods” without proper government policies in place.

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Mitch McConnell Moves to Protect Republican Moderates, Unseat Dems in 2022 Through Senate Leadership Fund SuperPAC

A super PAC attached to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is reserving $141 million worth of advertisements to bolster conservative candidates in the midterms, Politico reported Monday.

“This is such a strong year that we need to invest as broadly and deeply as we can,” Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), told Politico. “In the Senate, majority control is everything. It determines what happens on the floor and what doesn’t happen. It will have an impact on future Supreme Court nominations. I mean, there’s so much at stake.”

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Ohio Bill Would Raise Homestead Property Tax Exemption

Ohio senior citizens could save more on their property taxes and that savings could grow if inflation increases under a bill proposed in the Ohio House.

House Bill 207 would raise the state’s homestead exemption by more than $6,000 for elderly or disabled homeowners, tie the exemption to any increase in inflation and increase the income threshold for the exemption, all moves necessary to keep seniors in their homes, according to Rep. Daniel Troy, D-Willowick.

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Four Largest Airlines Drop COVID Mask Requirement Hours After Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down CDC Mandate

Four major U.S. airlines are ditching COVID-19 mask requirements after a federal judge in Florida on Monday struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate for air passengers and others mass travelers.

Several airlines, including United Airlines, Delta, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines announced that they were dropping the mask requirements for passengers and employees.

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Michigan Farmers Struggle as Fertilizer Prices Jump 120 Percent

Spiking fertilizer prices spiking over the last two years is contributing to current rising food inflation, says Theresa Sisung, an industry relations specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau.

Record 40-year-high inflation is biting into Michiganders’ budgets from more expensive cars, higher energy costs, and higher prices at the grocery store, and it’s no different for farmers who tend roughly 47,600 farms in the Wolverine state that house nearly 10 million acres of farmland.

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Judge Finds Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance ‘In Contempt of Court,’ Orders Fees Returned to PACs

Last week, a judge held a Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance agency, the Registry of Election Finance, in contempt of a previous permanent injunction and ordered the agency to return $64,000 in fees collected.

In 2018, the Registry of Election Finance, was ordered to cease the enforcement of Tenn. Code Ann. §2-10-121, which establishes a registration fee for multi-party political campaign committees because it was ruled to be unconstitutional. A permanent injunction against enforcement was issued.

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