Month: June 2022

Early Voting Concludes as Voters Head to the Polls for Primary Runoff Election Day

Addison Basurto

Early voting has concluded as Georgia voters make their way to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the midterm primary election runoff. Republicans in the 2nd, 6th, 7th and 10th House Congressional Districts, including two Trump endorsees, are all facing off.   

“These runoffs are very interesting races. Very low turnout. So far, there have been only 14,000 people that voted in all of Georgia’s Sixth District,” the Trump-endorsed Jake Evans said on the John Fredericks Radio show on Monday. “This is 100% a turnout game. We feel very strong about the position we’re in.”

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Environmental Groups Sue Biden to Vacate Oil and Gas Permits as Gas Climbs over $5 per Gallon

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Amid an ongoing energy crisis nationwide, two environmental law groups are suing the Biden administration to block over 3,500 oil and gas leases that were previously greenlit in Wyoming and New Mexico.

Represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians are suing the Department of the Interior (DOI) and its Secretary Deb Haaland, as well as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its Director Tracy Stone-Manning. The government is violating the Endangered Species Act and others, the groups alleged Wednesday.

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Texas GOP Adopts New Platform: Biden ‘Was Not Legitimately Elected’

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The Texas Republican Party has adopted a new platform, rejecting the certification of the 2020 presidential election results and declaring “that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”

The 40-page platform was adopted by the state GOP in Houston over the weekend for its biennial convention, The Hill reported.

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Rumors Swirl at the Vatican That Pope Francis May Soon Retire

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In the past year, rumors have swirled in Rome that Pope Francis may soon retire, and in the past few days, those rumors have accelerated. The 85-year-old’s frail health is one reason for the speculation.  In recent weeks, he has been confined to a wheelchair due to debilitating knee pain.

He also reportedly struggles to stand due to his sciatica.  The “Woke Pope” recently cancelled a trip to Africa scheduled for next month due to his knee ailment, “raising questions about his ability to walk during the rest of his papacy,” according to Reuters.

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New Jersey Parent Sues School for Curriculum That Allegedly Discriminates Against White Students

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A parent is suing their child’s school district and its individual administrators in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, for teaching an educational curriculum that allegedly promotes “anti-racism” and discriminates against white students, according to legal documents.

The parent, listed as B.L. for privacy, is suing Mountain Lakes School District for certain parts of its curriculum put in place since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 which allegedly teach “racial political ideology” and create a “hostile educational environment” for white students, according to the lawsuit filed on June 6. White students, and particularly one student listed as J.L. for privacy, have been allegedly discriminated against because of race, the lawsuit says.

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Marsha Blackburn on Inflation, Gas Price, and Border Emergencies: Biden Administration Is ‘Doing This Intentionally’

Aaron Gulbransen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – In an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star, Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn blasted the Biden administration, saying regarding the inflation, gas price, and border emergencies that “they are doing this intentionally.”

Blackburn spoke with The Star backstage at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference.

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Billboard Chart-Topping Conservative Hip-Hop Artist Topher Tells Americans to ‘Keep the Faith’ and ‘God Is the Answer’

Aaron Gulbransen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Billboard topping conservative hip-hop artist Topher has a simple message that he shared with The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview for Americans going through tough times due to the Biden administration’s disastrous governance of our nation: “Keep the Faith.”

Topher emphasized to The Star that Americans need to rely on God and that conservatives are not alone in their beliefs.

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Commentary: White House Border Policy Racks Up Losses in Court

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Joe Biden in 2020 promised he would return “normalcy” to the White House, that the adults would be back in charge, and that America would enter a new era of prosperity. In other news, the Titanic is an unsinkable ship and Enron stock is the foundation of a solid investment portfolio.

It is becoming difficult for even the most partisan Biden supporter to put a positive spin on the current administration’s growing list of failures. The centerpiece of the White House’s calamity is its immigration policy, which is deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans. It is even less popular in America’s courts, where judges continue to reject Biden’s attempt to impose a unilateral vision of a borderless country and all the suffering that comes with it.

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Jason Maxedon Named New Executive Director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Kaitlin Housler

Jason Maxedon was named executive director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the department announced Thursday in a press release. As executive director, Maxedon has exclusive supervisory control of the agency and is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating its activities. The commission serves as the governing body of the TWRA, the department notes.

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Commentary: What The Washington Post Knew About Watergate and When They Knew It Was the Real Coverup

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On the 50th anniversary of the still-fascinating Watergate scandal, the media continues to portray it untruthfully, albeit often unwittingly so, with the focus as always on the unattractive persona of Richard Nixon. But was Nixon—who, to be sure, did commit two relatively minor acts of obstruction—the person most responsible for withholding the true story from our country? 

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Virginia Attorney General Offers Help in Prosecution After Judge Kicks Local Prosecutor off Case

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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is offering to help prosecute a criminal case in northern Virginia after a judge removed the local prosecutor from the case.

The court removed Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj from prosecuting a case after alleging she misrepresented the facts so the judge would grant the defendant a lighter sentence.

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Alluding to Fetterman, Senator Proposes Requiring Officials to Notify Pennsylvania Executive and Legislature of Health Emergencies

Bradley Vasoli

State Sen. David Argall (R-PA-Mahanoy City) last week proposed a rule that Pennsylvania’s statewide elected officials must disclose urgent medical conditions to the governor and legislative leaders.

He indirectly mentioned the most recent example of a statewide elected official who apparently neglected to disclose a life-threatening condition: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D). Now a candidate for the U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Republican Pat Toomey, Fetterman suffered a stroke four days before the May 17 primary.

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Kemp Touts 1,100-Acre Development of ‘The Middle Georgia Megasite’

Addison Basurto

Georgia Governor Brian P. Kemp announced on Wednesday the purchase of a 1,100-acre economic development site that will be the location of the “Middle Georgia Megasite.”

“Even after announcing the two largest projects in the State’s history back-to-back, we remain focused on attracting key industries and investment by providing the project sites companies need,” said Governor Brian Kemp in a press release.

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DeWine to Ohio Superintendents: $100 Million Budgeted for School Safety Grants

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio schools will receive $100 million in total to purchase security equipment as part of the next round of K-12 School Safety Grants, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) wrote to superintendents on Friday.

The allocations, which come as a part of the state’s capital budget bill that DeWine signed into law last week, will go toward purchases such as outdoor lighting, facility-mapping software, school-radio systems, door-locking technology and visitor-badge systems. The Ohio School Safety Center in Columbus is now drafting the application for schools to access this money and expects to soon start the application process.

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Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Leads 24 States Objecting to SEC Requiring Climate Change Disclosures by Businesses

Rachel Alexander

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is leading a coalition of 24 states objecting to proposed rule changes by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) that would require publicly-traded businesses to disclose information about their greenhouse gas emissions and discuss climate risks. The coalition filed formal comments indicating the 500-page rule titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” goes beyond the jurisdiction of the SEC and into environmental regulation. 

In a 44-page letter addressed to the SEC, Brnovich and the others stated that the Biden “administration has tried and failed to impose regulation directly, and it now appears content to use back-door financial regulatory actions to implement its political will.” The coalition warned, “profit will become secondary to political interests, and capitalism will fall by the wayside.” The proposed rule “seeks to make ‘decisions of vast economic and political significance.’” They accused the SEC of “taking on major policy decisions that belong to Congress.” 

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Gordon Chang Commentary: The Chinese Economy Is Collapsing

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Chinese ruler Xi Jinping has staked his rule on making China larger, by annexing neighbors. Taiwan is not his only target. He needs success to assure a precedent-breaking third term as the Communist Party’s general secretary, but the Chinese people, preoccupied by a failing economy, are in no mood for their leader’s aggression.

We start with the Party’s storyline that the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdowns is leading to an economic revival.

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Thousands of Californians Moving to Mexico to Escape High Taxes, Costs of Living

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Of the 360,000 Californians who have fled the deep-blue state in the last year alone, a significant portion are moving to a rather surprising destination to find cheaper costs of living: Across the border in Mexico.

According to the Washington Examiner, California remains one of the most expensive states to live in, with a median housing price of $787,470. In most cities, the yearly property tax is at least $14,000. As a result, many households have failed to pay their property taxes, with at least 2 million delinquent homes in Los Angeles County alone.

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Tech Company Slack Bans Conservative Group from Using Its Platform

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On Wednesday, the tech company Slack announced that it had banned a conservative immigration restrictionist group from using its services, allegedly for violations of the platform’s “terms of service.”

The Washington Free Beacon reports that Slack, a messaging app designed specifically for professional and workplace use, did not offer any specific reasoning for their ban, nor an explanation of which terms of service were violated, when they banned the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

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George Washington University Dumps ‘Colonials’ Nickname

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George Washington University, located in the heart of the nation’s capital, is ditching the moniker “Colonials” in favor of a campus-wide nickname that will better “unite” the campus community.

The decision was announced Wednesday by the Office of the President after the Board of Trustees voted to toss the name, a move that came at the recommendation of The Board and Special Committee on the Colonials Moniker.

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Microsoft Retires Internet Explorer After 30 Years of Service

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Internet Explorer, the longtime web browser that led countless users onto the early Internet on Microsoft operating systems, is officially no longer compatible with Windows, the company announced this week.

In a blog post on Microsoft’s website, Sean Lyndersay—the general manager to the Windows web browser Microsoft Edge Enterprise—explained the decision by nothing that “the web has evolved and so have browsers.”

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New Arizona Law Expands Eligible Bus Driver Pool

The Center Square

After years of struggling to hire and retain school bus drivers, Arizona lawmakers and Gov. Doug Ducey hope to have enacted a solution.

“Drivers with a CDL are in high demand, and we’re losing them to big companies like Amazon and FedEx. A mixture of outdated federal and state laws are only exacerbating the problem,” said Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Maricopa, “Children are experiencing big delays in their pick-ups, field trips and athletic events are being canceled, parents are forced to drive inordinate distances to get their children to class, drivers are working sometimes 15-hour days to combat the shortage, and administrators are being forced to pick up some of the workload themselves.”

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Over 2,000 Cattle Die from Heat, Humidity in Kansas

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The already struggling meat industry suffered another blow after extreme temperatures in Kansas killed at least 2,000 cattle across the state.

As reported by The Daily Caller, the estimated total of dead cattle comes from facilities that reached out to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (DHE) for help in disposing of the carcasses. The Kansas Livestock Association said that the cause of death was heat stress as a result of extremely high temperatures and humidity.

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Republicans Introduce Bill to Defund John Kerry, Other Biden ‘Climate Tyrants’

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Eight Republican House members have introduced legislation to defund climate czar John Kerry and other “climate tyrants“ inside the Biden administration, blaming them for an energy crisis that has sent gasoline soaring to $5 a gallon.

The group, led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for CZARS Act that would ban federal funding for any activity of the special presidential envoy for climate, including salary and both administrative and travel expenses.

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Report: World’s First Trillionaires Could Be from Texas

The Center Square

The world’s first trillionaires could be from Texas, according to a new analysis of the 30 richest people in the world.

A new report published by the software company Tipalti Approve estimates that newly relocated Texas resident, Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk, could become the world’s first trillionaire by 2024. Houston native and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell could become a trillionaire by 2033.

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Lawmakers Say Documents Show DHS Head Misled Congress About Disinformation Board, Demand Hearing

The Center Square

Several Republican senators are demanding a hearing saying they received documents from a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower about the agency’s new disinformation governance board that allegedly show DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas misled a Senate committee when he testified about the board last month.

The lawmakers sent a letter this week to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asking for a hearing on the issue where Mayorkas could come back for questioning.

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Pennsylvania Makes It Easier for Foreign Nurses to Get Licensed

The Center Square

A new law in Pennsylvania makes it easier for foreign nurses to get certified in the state, expanding the potential pool of health-care workers as the state confronts a nursing shortage.

Act 22 updates nursing license requirements by allowing the State Board of Nursing to approve graduates of international nursing programs to sit for the registered nursing examination. So long as the education they received outside the United States meets the state board’s standards, graduates can get licensed much quicker than before.

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North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson Says ‘The American Dream Is Absolutely Not Dead’

Aaron Gulbransen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson told The Tennessee Star at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority Conference on Friday that the “American Dream is absolutely not dead.”

“It’s like I said to a group today, they say that the American Dream is dead. People will tell me that to my face,” he said. “I’m living the American Dream. I’m literally the guy that’s from the wrong side of the tracks with all the so-called strikes against me. Here I am, making history in North Carolina, the first black Lt. Governor of North Carolina.”

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Executive Director Timothy Head Talks Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Midterm Elections Activities

Aaron Gulbransen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Faith and Freedom Coalition Executive Director Timothy Head spoke with The Tennessee Star about the impact he expects the organization to have on the 2022 midterm elections on Thursday.

“We now have a national database of faith-based conservative voters that’s about 43 million people. What we’ll do in the fall in election cycles is we’ll target those voters,” he said.

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New Security Breach: Capitol Police Arrest Seven People Tied to Comedian Colbert for ‘Unlawful Entry’

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In a major security breach in the shadows of the Jan. 6 hearings, Capitol Police alerted Congress on Friday that at least seven individuals tied to comedian Stephen Colbert’s TV show were arrested for “unlawful entry” to the Capitol Police, according to authorities and lawmakers.

Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the top Republican on the House Administration Committee that oversees Capitol security, confirmed the arrests Friday evening after his staff received a briefing from police. “The only people arrested by Capitol Police for touring the House office buildings are the people that work for Stephen Colbert,” he said.

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Commentary: As Great as a Mom May Be, Kids Still Need Their Dads

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by Christopher Becker   “Smokin’ Joe,” a biography of late heavyweight boxing champion and 3-time Muhammad Ali foil Joe Frazier, was recently reviewed by Gordon Marion in The Wall Street Journal. Among the notable details is the fact that five different women gave birth to Frazier’s eleven kids. This occurrence is not uncommon among celebrities. Muhammad Ali, actor and director Clint Eastwood, and comedian Eddie Murphy are just a few who have fathered children with multiple women. Politicians fall prey to this problem as well, with San Antonio mayoral candidate Greg Brockhouse – who has four children with four mothers – being one of the most recent examples. The ideal arrangement for children is that they live with both biological parents 24/7. When two people accept the duty that comes with parenthood, no one else has the same vested interest in the health, well-being, and success of their children. Life happens, though. Some spouses commit acts of inexcusable betrayal. Domestic violence could enter the picture. Non-violent clashes of principle can also make continued cohabitation untenable. Relationships can break down over time and marriages are not immune. Nevertheless, parental breakups don’t absolve us of the responsibility we owe our children. Spending…

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Rick Morton of Lifeline Children’s Services Talks Calling to Adopt Children and Human Cost of Ukraine Conflict

Aaron Gulbransen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Tennessee Star spoke with the Vice President of Engagement for Lifeline Children’s Services, Rick Morton, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference about his family’s adoption of children from Ukraine and how the current situation is affecting children in that nation.

Rick and his wife Denise have been married for over 26 years, and they have 3 children, all of whom became part of their family through international adoption.

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Supreme Court Dismisses GOP Lawsuit to Make It Harder for Migrants to Stay in the U.S.

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The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to increase restrictions on illegal aliens entering or seeking to stay in the U.S.

The lawsuit argued that Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and 12 other states suing had the right to defend the rule, which was reversed by the Biden administration. The Supreme Court’s dismissal means the high court is not willing to weigh in on whether the states can fight to reinstate the Trump-era rule, leaving in place a lower court ruling that favored the Biden administration.

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Ohio Business Startups Dip Again; LaRose Blames Inflation

The Center Square

Inflation is taking a toll on startup businesses in Ohio, dropping the state’s new business filings by more than a quarter from a year ago, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

LaRose pointed to two surveys from the National Federation of Independent Business that show inflation continues to be a significant factor for small business and small business optimism both nationwide and in Ohio.

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Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Boss: Energy Policies Driving Record-High Inflation

The Center Square

The latest inflation snapshot has the head of Wisconsin’s largest business group talking about energy policy.

Kurt Bauer,  Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce president and CEO, on Wednesday said the latest numbers show the Producer Price Index is up almost 11% year-over-year. He said that’s not sustainable for manufacturers and producers in Wisconsin.

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Whitmer Signs Bill to Require High Schoolers Take Personal Finance Class

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan bill requiring Michigan high schoolers to take a financial literacy class before graduating.

“As a mom, I want every kid who graduates in Michigan to enter the world with a diverse set of skills and knowledge, and that must include financial literacy,” Whitmer said in a statement. “I am proud to sign this bipartisan bill requiring all public school students to take a personal finance course. Every young Michigander deserves to know how to budget, save, and invest their money wisely so they can get off a great start after high school, whether they go to college, start working, or open a small business.”

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Connecticut Governor Signs Consumer Data Privacy Act into Law

The Center Square

Greater safeguards to personal data are the focus of legislation that has now become law in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said.

The governor announced Public Act 22-15 has been signed. The legislation creates a comprehensive set of protections designed to help consumers by creating a stronger ability to safeguard personal data that is collected with online businesses.

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