Nashville Metro Council Considers First Reading of Fiscal Year 2023 Budget and Grant Acceptances at Latest Meeting

Nashville Metro Council considered the first reading of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget and issues like grant acceptances at its latest meeting.

BL2022-1248, a bill on first reading, was the ordinance setting the Fiscal Year 2023 budget and is on the agenda. The full proposal can be viewed on the Metro Council website. It was referred to the Budget and Finance Committee.

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Ortagus Moves On from TN-5 Race and Announces Involvement in Polaris National Security

Morgan Ortagus, a disqualified candidate in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat, announced to German-owned Politico her participation in an organization called Polaris National Security.

Politico reported, “Morgan Ortagus, the State Department’s chief spokesperson during the Trump administration, has launched a new group called Polaris National Security. The organization, chock-full of former Trump administration and campaign aides on staff and other Republicans on the advisory team, will have a 501(c)(4) and PAC arm.”

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Polls: Majority of American Voters Want Abortion Restrictions

Two polls released this week have found most American voters want limits on abortion.

Results of a Trafalgar Group/Convention of States poll released Wednesday found 57.6 percent of American voters want abortion to be legal in only specific circumstances, while a Rasmussen Reports survey published Tuesday showed 67 percent of likely U.S. voters say abortion should not be legal past the first three months of pregnancy.

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Commentary: The Abortion Wars Are Just Getting Started

The Supreme Court’s apparent decision to send the abortion issue back to the states may be a triumph for federalism and the concept of the separation of powers, but it is also a recipe for unyielding division. Abortion politics will become even more of a litmus test for tens of millions of pro-choice and pro-life voters at the local, state, and federal levels because their legislators will have far more power to shape policy. This, in turn, will further polarize our politics and empower the extremes because many voters will likely back candidates no matter their position on schools, crime, housing, jobs and debt, so long as they are the right kind of “pro.”

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Burchett: Hospitalization of Infants Who Couldn’t Get Baby Formula ‘Absolutely Tragic’

A U.S. Congressman from Tennessee spoke out after news that two infants in Memphis were hospitalized because special baby formula they needed for medical conditions could not be found. 

“Absolutely tragic,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) told The Tennessee Star. “This nationwide crisis is landing kids in the hospital, and it’s unacceptable this is happening here in the United States. All our economic might doesn’t mean a thing if we still can’t protect our children.”

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Connecticut Republican Senators Find Governor’s Oversight of West Haven’s COVID Spending Inadequate

Gov. Ned Lamont (D) this week approved the Municipal Accountability Review Board’s (MARB) request to heighten state oversight of the city of West Haven which is alleged to have misspent COVID-19 relief money, but Republican lawmakers are arguing that the move falls short.

The state now deems West Haven a Tier IV municipality, subjecting it to the most rigorous financial scrutiny for which state law provides. This comes as a result of an audit MARB issued last month which detailed numerous fiscal-management problems the city has incurred. Earlier in April, a separate review by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management found that the city misused nearly four-fifths of over $1 million in funds it received as part of COVID response efforts.

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Biden Reverses Course on Cuba Policy, Florida Officials Condemn

President Joe Biden (D) announced this week the United States will be loosening restrictions on Marxist countries, namely Cuba and Venezuela. Travel restrictions will be lightened to Cuba and flights will be authorized to Cuban cities outside of Havana and travel will be permitted for educational purposes.

In reaction, Florida Republicans and Democrats have condemned the actions saying that going soft on the dictatorial regimes will only embolden Castro and Maduro.

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Despite Campaign Promise from Whitmer, Michigan Roads Remain in Disrepair

Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s campaign slogan to “fix the damn roads” gained viral attention for the Michigan Democrat.

However, as she gears up to seek another term, the state is still burdened with infrastructure issues. Residents of the state are required to pay thousands of dollars annually to repair their vehicle due to poor road conditions, according to one study from the nonprofit organization, TRIP.

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Pennsylvania Senate Race Remains Unresolved

Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary between celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz and former hedge-fund chief executive officer Dave McCormick remains unresolved the day after voters went to the polls.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Oz leads McCormick by 1,610 votes out of more than 1.3 million votes cast for GOP Senate nominee in total. Oz has 410,822, or 31.29 percent of the vote while McCormick has 409,212 or 31.17 percent. The insurgent candidacy of veteran and political commentator Kathy Barnette gained 323,700 or 24.66 percent while four other candidates split the rest of the vote.

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Virginia Congressman Celebrates Pause of Federal Government ‘Disinformation Board’

A U.S. congressman from Virginia Wednesday celebrated the pause of the creation of a federal government “Disinformation Governance Board,” which was marred by controversy from its inception. 

“Victory for free speech: the Biden Administration is not proceeding with its Ministry of Truth. As a cosponsor of [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23)]’s bill to defund the so-called DHS Disinformation Governance Board, I welcome this news. I will stay vigilant against threats to the First Amendment,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09).

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Pennsylvania High School Teacher Charged with Alleged Sexual Relationship with Student

A judge issued a warrant for the arrest Friday of a Pennsylvania high school choral teacher who has been charged with allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student.

Police in New Wilmington Borough charged Olivia Lois Ortz, 26, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, with two counts of intercourse/sexual contact with a school student, and one count each of unlawful contact with a minor for sexual offenses and criminal use of a communication facility – all felony-level charges, New Castle News reported Monday.

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Reps. Wittman, Luria Concerned About Biden Administration’s 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan

Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) are concerned that the Biden administration’s FY 2023 spending plan and an associated 30-year shipbuilding plan will increase risk. In a Wednesday hearing of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, Wittman and Luria questioned officials about the impact of the administration’s budget.

Wittman, the subcommittee’s ranking member, also submitted a scathing written statement to the official record, criticizing the shipbuilding plan, saying he would reject an “anemic shipbuilding request,” that plans to retire vessels, seeks to not maintain the naval aviation plan, would “eviscerate our mine countermeasure warfighting capabilities,” “irreparably harm our nation’s ability to support future forcible entry options” by reducing amphibious forces, and would “waste significant taxpayer’s monies.”

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Youngkin Announces Alternative Hiring Process for People with Disabilities

Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced an alternative hiring process for people with disabilities; Youngkin’s Tuesday announcement said that reflects Virginia’s priorities for its workforce.

“This process is only the beginning of our strategy to demonstrate our commitment to individuals with differing abilities to improve the state workforce,” Secretary of Administration Margaret “Lyn” McDermid said. “It is one facet of a more comprehensive strategy, which includes accommodations, communication, education and awareness, compliance and retention of individuals with differing abilities.”

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Twitter Lead Client Partner Caught on Tape Slamming Free Speech and Describing Elon Musk as a ‘Looney Tune’ with ‘Special Needs’

Twitter is not in business to make a profit or to give people free speech, but to do “something that’s good for the planet,” a company employee can be heard saying in a secretly recorded video.

The new undercover footage from Project Veritas features Lead Client Partner Alex Martinez discussing the company’s authoritarian views on speech, and denigrating Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a “loony toon” with “special needs.”

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Dr. Robert Malone: ‘Rotten to the Core’ FDA Knew COVID Vaccines Could Spur Viral Reactivation, but Said Nothing

healthcare worker with a mask and hairnet on

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was aware early on that the COVID vaccines could spur viral reactivation of diseases like the varicella-zoster virus (shingles) in some people, but chose not to disclose it, according to renowned vaccinologist and physician Dr. Robert Malone.

“They knew about the viral reactivation,” Malone declared during a recent panel discussion hosted by Del Bigtree with fellow Global COVID Summit physicians Dr. Ryan Cole, and Dr. Richard Urso.

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Commentary: Hybrid Schools Are Finding Each Other and Joining Forces

In May the National Hybrid Schools Project at Kennesaw State University hosted the first Hybrid Schools Conference on campus. 175 people from over 30 states traveled to Kennesaw to meet and talk about their experiences with schools which meet a few days per week, and ask their families to homeschool the rest of the week.

Most of these schools around the country are small, hyper-local entities. They are tiny startups; excellent examples of communities coming together to solve hyper-local problems. Some belong to one of the few larger networks, but most are simply doing their own work, and have had little chance to meet other people who have started similar schools. Many were unaware that others like them even existed. Convening as many of these hybrid school educators as possible was the major purpose of this conference.

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Lawmaker Wants Ohio Voters to Decide Recreational Marijuana Use This Year

One lawmaker is continuing his push to allow Ohio voters to decide in November to legalize the recreational use of marijuana after a lawsuit settlement pushed a potential ballot initiative to 2023.

A citizens group working for a vote this year reached a settlement with state officials recently that will put the measure on the ballot next year. Also, the state agreed to accept more than 140,000 signatures the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has already collected.

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Biden Administration to Reverse Trump-Era Free Speech Rights in Education

The Biden Administration’s Department of Education (DOE) is making plans to reverse Title IX regulations that had been implemented by the Trump Administration to more greatly protect free speech rights in education.

The Daily Caller reports that the soon-to-be-unveiled rewrite by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), focusing on Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, will roll back the Trump-era rules dictating that public schools, from K-12 to college, must investigate claims of sexual misconduct in a fair an unbiased manner. The rules implemented by President Trump allowed greater rights to both the accused and the accuser in such cases, including the right to be represented by counsel, the ability to cross examine witnesses, and the presumption of innocence.

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Minnesota School Supports Students Who Kneel for National Anthem

A local high school softball team kneeled for the national anthem at a recent game, earning an understanding explanation from their school which said they were protesting for “social justice.”

Alpha News received a video of the Robbinsdale-Cooper girls softball team kneeling as the Star-Spangled Banner was played before a recent game. Only two of the fourteen players pictured remained standing for the national anthem.

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