LGBTQ Activist Group Urges American Students to ‘Take Vow of Silence’ in Schools to Address ‘Anti-LGBTQ Behavior’

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) rallied U.S. students to participate in their annual Day of Silence Friday, during which the students are supposed to vow to remain silent in school, supposedly to draw attention to claims of “anti-LGBTQ behavior.”

According to GLSEN, which was founded by gay activist and former Obama administration “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings, the “Day of Silence” is “a national student-led demonstration where LGBTQ students and allies  all around the country—and the world—take a vow of silence to protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools.”

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Tennessee Legislature Approves $500M for New Titans Domed Stadium

LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee

The Tennessee Legislature approved $500 million of bonds for a new Tennessee Titans stadium as part of a record $52.8 billion budget on Thursday.

The Titans stadium funds were not initially included in budget appropriations passed by the Senate in the early afternoon after they were removed in committee on Wednesday, but later in the day the Senate concurred on the budget that the House had passed, including the Titans stadium funds.

The $500 million in bonds for the stadium will require $55 million in annual payments.

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Williamson County GOP Judicial Candidate Running in Primary Against Incumbent Judge She Previously Sued

Williamson County Republican judicial candidate Connie Reguli is running in the May 3 GOP primary against incumbent Juvenile Court Judge Sharon Guffee, who she named in a lawsuit over a decade ago. Reguli named Guffee and several others, including the state of Tennessee, as defendants in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in part because of Guffee’s role as the judge in a case involving her daughter and a teenage boy she was dating. According to court documents, Guffee repeatedly ruled against Reguli’s position in the case. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed the case against Guffee and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed its decision. Reguli has been disciplined by boards of professional responsibility and the Tennessee courts system several times. Since 2009, Reguli has faced discipline that includes being suspended from the practice of law for nearly a year, a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court, and professional probation as ordered by the state courts system for a period of 11 months and 29 days. According to a document released by the Board of Professional Responsibility for the Supreme Court of Tennessee detailing some of the history of…

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Federal Judge Blocks Kentucky Law That Made the State Abortion-Free

A federal judge has temporarily halted a new Kentucky law that blocked the state’s last two remaining abortion clinics from performing the procedure.

Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, a Donald Trump appointee, of U.S. District Court of the Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Division, ruled Thursday in favor of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups by issuing a temporary restraining order that blocks Kentucky officials from enforcing its new law that would block the state’s only two abortion clinics from performing the procedure.

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Dave Stewart: George Floyd Murder Brought Attention to MLB’s Lack of Diversity in Ownership

On the heels of the news that World Series Most Valuable Player and Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Dave Stewart will lead a Diverse Equity Ownership Initiative for the Music City Stars baseball organization, Stewart told The Tennessee Star that George Floyd’s murder is one of the reasons why the new initiative exists. 

“Baseball has been – for as long as the sport has been played – it’s been owned, it’s been run by people other than minorities,” Stewart told The Star. “Unfortunately, the George Floyd murder brought attention to a topic that really needed to be addressed by mostly white people in America – and that is what are we practicing in our daily lives, and are we really recognizing the fact that we don’t open ourselves to people other than ourselves?” 

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Tennessee Legislature Votes to Grow State Government $3 Billion and 16 Percent More than the Growth of Tennesseans’ Incomes

Tennessee Capital building

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday that acknowledges that the growth in state government this year exceeds the growth of Tennessean’s income by $3 billion, or 16 percent.

The action by the legislature is mandated by the Tennessee Constitution in Article II, Section 24 when state spending grows faster than its economy.

The measure, commonly known as the Copeland Cap, was named for its House sponsor of the constitutional amendment, the late Republican State Representative David Copeland of Ooltewah, who passed away in 2019.

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Top Planned Parenthood Official ‘Excited’ about Biden Administration Forcing Healthcare Professionals to Perform Abortions, Transgender Treatments Against Faith Values

The administration of self-described “Catholic” Joe Biden will junk the Donald Trump administration’s 2019 rule that sought to protect the rights of healthcare workers to refuse to participate in abortions and transgender treatments that violate their faith beliefs.

In response to the Biden administration’s announcement, Politico reported Jacqueline Ayers, senior vice president of policy, organizing, and campaigns for Planned Parenthood, referred to the Trump rule as “discriminatory,” and added, “We look forward to seeing the details of the new rule and are excited about this step forward.”

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Corman to Bannon: Election Integrity Will Be Paramount in Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Administration

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore and gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room Thursday to discuss his proposed reforms to make elections more secure in his state.

Corman promised to call for a special legislative session on election-related legislation the day he takes office. Items he said he intends to address foremost are requiring identification of all voters, rescinding a state policy allowing people to vote by mail without submitting an excuse, banning absentee-ballot drop boxes and banning the use of private grants for election administration.

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Florida Legislature Passes Congressional Redistricting Map, Democrats Protest

A number of Florida’s House Democrats staged a protest on the floor of the Florida House to voice their opposition to Republicans’ efforts around congressional redistricting yesterday. Due to the protest, the Florida House’s procedures were temporarily halted. However, the protest was short-lived, and the House proceeded to approve Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) proposed congressional map.

The Florida Senate had already approved the map, and the House was the map’s final stop.

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Minnesota Supreme Court to Take Up Minneapolis Police Staffing Case

minneapolis police department

The Minnesota Supreme Court has granted a case review for eight Minneapolis residents appealing a lower court’s decision that argues the mayor of Minneapolis does not have a duty to employ police officers.

According to a news release from the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), the legal group representing the eight residents, the Minnesota Supreme Court also granted a motion to expedite the appeal, and will therefore hear their case on Thursday, June 9.

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Nearly 3,000 State Workers in Connecticut Had Salaries Exceeding the Governor’s in 2021

A review of Connecticut’s salary records published by the center-right Yankee Institute (YI) Thursday indicated that 2,927 state employees received higher salaries than the governor in 2021.

State statute confers a $150,000 yearly salary on Gov. Ned Lamont (D). Approximately 2,000 state employees earned higher pay than him through 2017. Over the next three years, that number rose by nearly 1,000.

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Michigan Attorney General Nessel, Consumers Energy Agree Tentatively to End Coal Use

Attorney General Dana Nessel entered a proposed settlement with Consumers Energy Company to end its use of coal by 2025 — 15 years earlier than originally planned.

The proposed settlement with Consumers Energy is in its integrated resource planning case, (Case No. U-21090), which is subject to final approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC).

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Youngkin Amends Legislation to Protect Religious Expression; Del. Shin Says He Hijacked Her Bill

Delegate Irene Shin (D-Fairfax) called Governor Glenn Youngkin a “wolf in fleece clothing” after he amended her bill to protect people wearing religious items against discrimination. Youngkin’s amendments to HB 1063 expand the definition of “religion” in the legislation. The bill passed out of the General Assembly with unanimous support, but the legislature will meet next week to vote on Youngkin’s amendments to the bill and other legislation.

“And in the face of this bipartisan collaboration, the Governor has drastically changed the scope and intent of this bill and warped into something much more insidious,” Shin said in a press release Wednesday. “The practical implications of the Governor’s amendment would be to create legal protections for discriminatory and bigoted policies, acts and beliefs under the guise of religion. The fact that this Administration would co-opt a universally approved bipartisan measure designed to ensure equal protections and weaponize it to advance their agenda of discrimination and division, while sadly unsurprising, is still appalling.”

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Virginia Employment Commission Agrees to Pay $200,000 in Legal Fees After End of Lawsuit over Unemployment Insurance Claims Backlog

Inside DMV, people standing in line

The Virginia Employment Commission has agreed to pay $200,000 in legal fees to organizations who led a 2021 lawsuit over delays in employment claims processing.

In a press release, the VEC said, “After the May 25, 2021, settlement, Legal Aid subsequently sought an award of attorneys’ fees on February 1, 2022, for its work in connection with the case. After a mediation on April 20, 2022, regarding the issue of attorneys’ fees, the parties have agreed to resolve the matter for $200,000. This amount is less than the total amount of attorneys’ fees sought by Legal Aid in this case.”

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Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce Leaning Leftward, Hosting DEI Summit in May

The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce (GCC) will continue its flirtation with the political left by hosting a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) summit next month.

“Exposure to diversity alters the way individuals think by promoting creativity and innovation, as well as decision-making and problem-solving skills,” says an explainer for one of the panels at the session. “You will learn what these experts, educators, and executives are doing to develop a more inclusive mindset.”

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Ohio Attorney General’s Office Warns of New Deadly Synthetic Drug

Ohio’s top attorney this week is warning residents of a new class of designer drugs that are more deadly than fentanyl. 

“Frankenstein opioids are even more lethal than the drugs already responsible for so many overdose deaths,” Attorney General Dave Yost said in a press release. “Law enforcement and the public need to pay attention to these emerging hazards.” 

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Feds Offering 80 Percent Less in Oil and Natural Gas Lease Sales, Increasing Royalty Rate

The U.S. Department of Interior announced it is making only 20% of eligible acreage for oil and natural gas production available for leasing on federal lands to comply with a federal court order.

In his first week in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters to be halted by the Interior Department. The agency was also tasked to review existing permits for fossil fuel development.

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Biden Administration Will Fight to Keep Mask Mandate for Planes, Trains and Airports

The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed a federal judge’s ruling overturning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate on planes, trains and in airports.

In her ruling to overturn the mandate, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle called the CDC mandate “unlawful,” saying the Biden administration did not follow proper procedures and went beyond its authority in making the rule.

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Ohio Election Officials Say Second Primary Must Be August 2

Ohio election officials said the state could not hold its second primary any later than Aug. 2, despite an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that suggested the state could easily hold an election later in August or even September.

The Ohio Association of Election Officials said overseas and military ballots, along with other requirements for testing voting systems and proofing ballots, make Aug. 2 the last day to have a primary for state legislative offices if the same rules are to be met for the November general election.

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More Than 300,000 Votes Unverified in Georgia’s Fulton County in 2020, New Complaint Alleges

A new complaint to the Georgia State Election Board alleges that more than 300,000 ballots were unreliably recorded on unverified early voting poll closing tapes in Fulton County, Georgia in the 2020 election.

“Fulton County’s Advance Voting poll closing tapes are a fraudulent, un-certified, unsigned, and un-checked false representation of over 311,000 ballots that no court could legally accept,” the complaint alleges.

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Senator Hagerty to Tennessee Star: ‘I Am Very Rightly Concerned About the Biden Administration’s Competence to Execute Anything’

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty criticized the Biden administration’s competence, handling of Afghanistan, the energy crisis and how it affects the situation in Ukraine, and discussed a recent trip he took to Japan during an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star that occurred after a Wednesday afternoon joint press event held on border security with Governor Bill Lee outside his Nashville district office.

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