Day: June 12, 2022

Report: Tennessee Stadium’s Proposed $1.5 Billion Public Subsidy Far Surpasses Any Prior NFL Stadium

The Center Square
Nissan Stadium

A new report from Sycamore Institute shows that the proposal for a new Tennessee Titans stadium includes the highest total amount of public subsidies for an NFL stadium at a proposed $1.5 billion while bringing limited public benefit in return.

That commitment was part of $1.5 billion in total stadium commitments lawmakers have made in the past 18 months. In a comparison of 10 new NFL stadium proposals since 2008, the new Nashville stadium includes more total public funding than any previous NFL stadium proposal and includes an estimated 68% public financing, which is higher than any proposal since the $700 million Lucas Oil Stadium built in Indianapolis in 2008, which relied on 86% public financing.

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Five Republicans Voted for Democrats Gun Control Bill

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Five House Republicans voted with Democrats to pass a gun control package Wednesday evening that would raise the purchasing age to buy a semi-automatic firearm to 21 if signed into law.

The majority of House Republicans voted against the Protecting Our Kids Act introduced by Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, which sought to raise the purchasing age of people buying semi-automatic rifles to 21, mandate gun owners store their firearms in a safe and increase regulation on bump stocks. Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Chris Jacobs of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Fred Upton of Michigan joined Democrats in voting to pass the bill.

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Rock Legend Jim Seals of ‘Seals and Crofts’ Dies at 80; Leaves Behind Musical Legacy That Honors Family, Affirms Life

Steve Morley

Jim Seals, co-founder of internationally successful soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts (pictured above, left), died on Monday, after a lingering illness following a stroke in 2017. Seals, who had homes in Costa Rica and Hendersonville, Tennessee, is believed to have been at his Tennessee home at the time of his passing.

The duo’s primary success came in the years between 1972 and 1977, though hits such as “Get Closer,” “Diamond Girl,” and “We May Never Pass This Way Again” have since become woven into the fabric of popular culture, continuing to permeate classic-pop formats across the board.

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Report: The U.S. Military Is Almost Completely Dependent on China for Key Mineral Used in Ammunition

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The U.S. military depends almost completely on China for a mineral essential to the production of ammunition and other defense products, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The House Armed Services Committee released draft legislation on Wednesday which would require a briefing on the antimony supply by October and a five-year outlook on supply chain vulnerabilities, Defense News reported. The U.S. has no domestic mine for the mineral antimony, which is reportedly used in the production of night vision goggles, armor-piercing bullets, explosives and nuclear weapons.

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Minnesota Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Minneapolis Police Staffing Lawsuit

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minneapolis police department

The Minnesota Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that claims the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey violated the law by understaffing the city’s police department.

The lawsuit, filed by eight north side residents in 2020, outlines a city charter requirement which states in part that the council “must fund a police force of at least 0.0017 employees per resident, and provide for those employees’ compensation.”

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National Integrated Ballistic Information Network Aids ATF-led Operation United Front in Multiple Convictions

Addison Basurto

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced on Thursday that The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) has aided the undercover law enforcement effort, dubbed “Operation United Front,” in the indictment of a third person that was involved in narcotics distribution and the illegal possession of weapons.

“Addressing violent crime in Middle Georgia means utilizing every asset at our disposal, including high-level ballistics technology like ATF’s NIBIN,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.

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Whitmer Vetoes Bipartisan Michigan Tax-Cut Bills

The Center Square

Michigan’s personal income tax will remain 4.25% for the foreseeable future after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have lowered it to 4.0%.

House Bill 4568 and Senate Bill 784 were vetoed or, in the case of SB784, vetoed in effect on Friday. The bills were tie-barred, which means neither bill could pass without acceptance of the other bill under consideration.

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Pennsylvania’s Political Leaders Line Up Behind Hydrogen Hub to Grab Federal Dollars

The Center Square

While Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled General Assembly has been at odds with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on spending and budget priorities, both parties have shown bipartisan cooperation for billions in energy-related federal funds.

Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, along with Wolf, issued a letter lending their support for a hydrogen hub in the state that would “modernize our industrial and manufacturing base with less carbon intensive forms of energy,” according to the letter.

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DeWine Pushes Biden on Solar Panel Tariffs for Ohio Manufacturers

The Center Square

Ohio solar manufacturers want to be on equal footing with foreign competition, and Gov. Mike DeWine is pushing President Joe Biden not to give other countries an “unfair advantage” over American businesses.

In a letter to Biden, DeWine called a decision this week to ban new tariffs for two years on solar panels imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam a mistake and nod to China.

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LGBTQ Group Urges Wisconsin Schools to Continue Misgendering Investigation

The Center Square

There is a call for more gender, harassment, bullying, and Title IX investigations in Wisconsin schools.

The group Fair Wisconsin, which calls itself the leading statewide organization advocating for LGBTQ+ people, on Thursday said local schools need to be supported after what happened with the misgender/sexual harassment investigation into three middle schoolers in Kiel.

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Commentary: Westerns Are Us

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In 1939, William S. Hart, a Shakespearean actor from New York who had been a key player in the making of Hollywood 20 years earlier, and for a time was considered its biggest silent star by virtue of filming “western” melodrama in a signature gritty and realistic style, re-released his 1925 silent epic “Tumbleweeds.” With it he offered a spoken introduction that was a sad farewell to both his own career and to the genre he had helped establish. This same year also saw the release of “Stagecoach,” John Ford’s benchmark. “Tumbleweeds” was a depiction of the actual opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma by the U.S. government only 50 years before and, to Hart’s mind, the end of the Western epoch. But the “western,” as we now know it, had just been re-born.

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