Sheriff’s Office Says Disney Worker Arrested in Child Sex Crackdown

A Florida sheriff’s department says it arrested a Disney employee as part of a larger sting in which it nabbed a dozen suspects in a child sex crackdown.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Friday that in early June it “conducted a two-week-long undercover operation ‘Operation Child Protector II’ during which detectives posed as children on social media platforms, mobile apps, and online dating sites to investigate those who prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity.”

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Eight Philadelphia City Workers Charged in $300,000 Unemployment Scheme

The attorney general’s office has charged eight Philadelphia municipal workers, alleging they claimed more than $300,000 in pandemic-related unemployment funds.

Thanks to a referral from Philadelphia’s Office of Inspector General, the eight were found to have received payments from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program while still on city payroll. Each worker received between $20,000 and $60,000 in PUA benefits.

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Court Allows Envigo to Complete Contracts for Dogs Amid Ongoing Federal Lawsuit

U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon granted beagle-breeder-for-testing Envigo a partial win on Friday, allowing the facility to complete contracts for more than 500 dogs while a Department of Justice lawsuit against the Cumberland facility proceeds.

“Those dogs have been abused, and the right thing to do would be to let them be adopted and have a loving home like those who have been adopted,” Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) told The Virginia Star.

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Radical Group Claims Responsibility for Attack on Minneapolis Pro-Life Office

The radical abortion group Jane’s Revenge has apparently claimed responsibility for a vandalism attack on a Minneapolis pro-life office.

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) office sustained shattered windows and red graffiti that spelled out “abortion is liberation.” It’s the second time MCCL was targeted. The first attack happened several weeks ago after the Roe v. Wade draft opinion was leaked.

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New Arizona Law Aims to Require Anti-Communist Civics Education in Arizona High Schools

Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill into law Friday that requires anti-Communist civics education to be taught in Arizona high schools.

House Bill (HB) 2008 directs the State Board of Education to update its high school social studies academic standards, which only included personal finance and American civics education. The update will consist of a comparative discussion of political ideologies, such as communism and totalitarianism, in opposition to the freedom and democracy essential to the United States’ founding principles.

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Atlanta Wins Bid as Host City for 2026 FIFA World Cup

City of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced on Wednesday that Atlanta, Georgia is one of 16 cities across North America that have a won bid to be a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“We have the pleasure of celebrating Atlanta’s selection as a host city of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, because of our strong, bipartisan public-private partnerships and many who have been working for years to put Georgia on the map since we hosted the 1996 Olympics,” Governor Brian P. Kemp said.

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Commentary: ACLU Features Man Who Says the Words ‘Girl,’ ‘Woman,’ and ‘Wife’ Were Historically Used to Demean Women as ‘Sluts’

The American Civil Liberties Union hosted a podcast earlier this month in which a man who identifies as non-binary, Alok Vaid-Menon, argued that society should discard the “gender binary.” People who do not affirm transgender and non-binary identity, the mixed-media artist and activist argued, are acting out of grief over being forced by society to be either masculine or feminine.

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‘Sexualization of Children’: Feminists Join Christian Conservatives to Stop Biden LGBTQ Order

President Biden has strengthened the growing coalition between social conservatives and gender-critical feminists against transgender ideology by issuing an executive order on “advancing equality” for people who are not heterosexual or don’t identify with their sex.

While they disagree on abortion rights and same-sex attraction, this ideological odd couple shares common ground on the primacy of sex-based rights, the harm of pornography and even the “sexualization of children” through exposure to adult themes such as drag.

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Nashville Could Commission $200K Study on Titans’ Stadium Lease Obligations

Nashville will consider spending $200,000 on a “stadium study” to evaluate the Tennessee Titans’ claim that the city would owe $1.839 billion under the terms of the team’s current lease if Nissan Stadium in Nashville was renovated instead of having a new estimated $2.2 billion stadium built.

The line item called “study of Nissan Stadium obligations” appeared on a revised city budget from Metro Nashville Budget and Finance Chair Burkley Allen. The amendments will be discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting.

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California Pet Store Bans Second Amendment Supporters from Adopting Pets

A pet store in California is facing intense backlash after announcing it would not allow any supporters of the Second Amendment to adopt animals from their shop.

Fox News reports that Shelter Hope Pet Shop, in Thousand Oaks, released a statement on their website declaring that “we do not support those who believe that the 2nd Amendment gives them the right to buy assault weapons.”

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Secretary of State Tre Hargett Charged with DUI After Attending Bonnaroo Music Festival

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett was charged with a DUI after attending the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Coffee County on Friday.

According to The Tennessee Journal, the secretary was at the event “from Friday afternoon through around 11:30 p.m. when he was stopped by Tullahoma police. He was given a blood test and charged with DUI.”

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Report: Potential MLB Stadium in North Nashville Would Be Built with ‘Almost All Private Funding’

If Music City Baseball brings a Major League Baseball to Nashville, the team’s stadium will be build with “almost all private funding,” a potential ownership group led by Dave Stewart told the Tennessean.

The stadium is planned for North Nashville near Tennessee State University and would be set to open for the 2026 or 2027 season if the Nashville Stars management group is able to bring an expansion franchise or move a current franchise to the city, the group told the paper.

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FDA Quickly Authorizes COVID Shots for Infants and Young Children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quickly authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine shots for infants and young children Friday, paving the way for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee to vote on authorization over the weekend to allow the youngest children to get the shots as early as next week.

Per the press announcement by the FDA, the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID vaccine for older children and adults has been “amended” to “include use of the vaccine in individuals 6 months through 17 years of age,” while the EUA for the Pfizer COVID shot will now include use of the vaccine for babies as young as “6 months through 4 years of age.”

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National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott on Bipartisan Senate Gun Deal: ‘If They Focus on Gun Control, There Won’t Be a Deal’

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), told the The Tennessee Star at the Williamson County GOP’s monthly mix and mingle event on Friday that he thinks the bipartisan deal on guns and school safety won’t go through if the focus is gun control.

In response to a question asked by The Star if he thought the deal would come to pass, Senator Scott said, “I think if they focus on school safety, there’s an opportunity. If they focus on gun control, there won’t be a deal.”

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Blackburn Blasts ‘Woke’ Military During Pride Month

A U.S. senator Friday spoke out against the “woke” policies implemented by the military, which has become especially apparent during LGBT Pride Month of June.

“The United States military should be focused on one objective – creating the most lethal fighting force on planet Earth,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told The Tennessee Star. “Instead, Joe Biden’s military leaders are secretly attempting to turn our brave warfighters into social justice warriors. Communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea do not care how woke our military is or what our soldiers’ pronouns are.“

She echoed a similar sentiment on Twitter.

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Commentary: Democrats’ Radical Green Policies Don’t Help, They Hurt

Joe Biden

Last week, Michigan Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow bragged that on her way to Washington, D.C. she drove past “every single gas station” in her brand-new electric vehicle “and it didn’t matter how high [gas] was.” Apparently, Stabenow’s message to Americans struggling to afford their commute to work and school is to buy an expensive electric vehicle. For Americans – and especially Michiganders like me – Stabenow’s comment is as unhelpful as it is condescending. But Stabenow isn’t the only Democrat embracing a “let them eat cake” attitude. Climate activists are hurting Americans with their green agenda.

The Biden administration has made EVs a pillar of its anti-U.S. energy agenda. Last year, Joe Biden set a goal that by 2030, half of the vehicles sold in the country would be EVs. More recently, Biden pledged to use taxpayer dollars to build EV charging stations across America. And just a few weeks ago, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested that families anxious about rising gas prices should just buy an EV, which have an average price tag of more than $60,000. Meanwhile, in more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia, drivers are paying more than $5 for a gallon of gas. Painfully high fuel prices aren’t an accident. They’re the momentum driving Biden’s energy “transition.”

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Anthony Fauci: Vaccine Committee Members Receiving Royalties from Drug Companies ‘Not Required to Divulge Them’

During a Senate health committee hearing Thursday that focused on the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that members of vaccine committees who ultimately decide on whether vaccines should be approved for use “are not required to divulge” whether they receive royalties from the drug companies who manufacture them.

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Former President Trump Speaks to Energized Crowd at FFC Road to Majority Conference in Nashville

Former President Donald Trump addressed an energized crowd at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference on Friday.

While the former president addressed many issues during his address, Trump took strong aim at the January 6 Commission, blasting it in his speech.

“The committee is taking the testimony of witnesses who defended me for eight hours, chopping it up and truncating sound bites to make it sound like what they said was absolutely terrible,” he said.

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Wisconsin DOJ Launches Critical Incident Response Teams for Schools Across the State

The Wisconsin Department of Justice announced new “Critical Incident Response Teams” for schools across the state.

The new program will train individuals to respond to critical incidents and “provide all Wisconsin K-12 public, private, charter and tribal schools with access to a regionally based team to support them if a critical incident ever occurs at their school.”

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Arizona Border Patrol Launches Initiative to Save Migrant Lives During Heat Waves

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Arizona has launched a new initiative to mitigate what has become a pattern of migrants dying in the extreme heat as they attempt to illegally enter the United States. 

“In collaboration with Tucson Border Patrol Sector, Three Points Station and Casa Grande Station personnel will be supporting the deployment of new Heat Stress Kits/Go-Bags that will be distributed to 500 agents,” said a CBP press release. “CBP has launched a feasibility study to enhance heat stress awareness among the workforce and minimize the impact of heat exposure along the southwest border for migrants attempting to make the dangerous journey.”

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General Assembly Kills Gas Tax Holiday, Hyde Amendment, but Pass Partial Lab School Expansion in FY 23-24 Budget

RICHMOND, Virginia — The Virginia General Assembly approved many of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s budget amendments on Friday, but in mostly-partisan votes, killed his efforts to expand a ban on using state tax dollars on abortions, and to create a three-month gas tax holiday. Additionally, House Republicans and Democrats killed an amendment that would have made it a felony to protest outside courts and justices’ homes to influence proceedings.

Youngkin criticized the defeat of the gas tax holiday on Twitter: “Democrats failed to put politics aside for the good of Virginians — for a third time.”

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Fewer Students, Bigger Budget Requests for Pennsylvania Higher Education

The pandemic has not been kind to Pennsylvania higher education: Its colleges have seen a 6.4% enrollment drop for freshmen since spring 2020.

The data, from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, is a reminder that Pennsylvania’s shrinking population of college-aged youth has made it harder for colleges to fill seats. The two-year decline means that 22,738 fewer students are on campuses now.

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Brad Raffensperger Calls for Federal Amendment on Election Security

In a follow-up tweet that expounded on his letter penned in January on election reform, Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, reiterated his call for a federal Constitutional amendment on U.S. citizenship and election integrity.

“A citizenship amendment is a necessary security measure that will ensure that only American citizens are voting in our elections. We need an amendment now,” Raffensperger said.

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Legislation Could Create Licensure Reciprocity in Ohio

Ohio moved a step closer to recognizing business licenses from other states, which could help with an ongoing labor shortage, a Columbus-based policy group believes.

The House and Senate each passed versions of bills that would adopt universal occupational license recognition before the summer recess, a move The Buckeye Institute believes will make the state more attractive to newcomers and allow employers more options to fill open spots.

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‘Maricopa County Transit Slush Fund Tax’ Looks ‘Optimistic’ for Legislative Referral to the Ballot

A transportation bill dubbed the “Maricopa County Transit Slush Fund Tax” by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) is steadily advancing through the legislature, and its supporters say it will probably make it through the Arizona Legislature this year in a referral to the ballot. Senate Bill (SB) 1356 has passed the Senate, the Senate Transportation and Technology Committee, and the House Transportation Committee. Valley Metro’s new CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller said this week about it, “We are cautiously optimistic about SB 1356.”

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New Mexico County Refuses to Certify Election Results over Machine Concerns, Igniting Legal Battle

A New Mexico county has been ordered by the state Supreme Court to certify its primary election results and threatened with legal action by the state attorney general after the county commissioners refused to do so over concerns about Dominion vote-counting machines.

The three Republican members of the Otero County Commission, in their role as the county canvassing board, decided to not certify the June 7 primary results because of their distrust of the Dominion machines, the Associated Press reported. The commissioners also voted last week to recount the ballots by hand, discontinue using the Dominion machines, and remove ballot drop boxes.

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Commentary: It’s Time to Impeach Larry Krasner

Philadelphia is in a crime crisis, and District Attorney Larry Krasner has been willfully derelict in doing anything to stop it. Since he will not stand up for the people of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by enforcing the laws to keep people safe, we will.

Thomas Paine once wrote: “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.” Krasner has created an environment where breaking the law is easily gotten away with, and where Philadelphia criminals need not fear the tough-on-crime laws already on the books.

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Total Southern Border Encounters, ‘Gotaways’ Greater Than Population of 23 U.S. States

President Joe Biden and his administration insist the southwest U.S. border is closed and federal immigration laws are being enforced.

But since Biden took office, more than 3 million people have been encountered/apprehended entering the U.S. illegally from over 150 countries, according to Customs and Border Patrol data. And that number doesn’t include so-called “gotaways,” the term used for those crossing the border illegally who evade capture.

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DeSantis: Texas Should Be Sending Illegal Immigrants Back to Mexico

Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says Texas shouldn’t be allowing illegal immigrants to enter the state, echoing sentiments conservative Texans have been arguing for over a year.

“What Texas needs to do is just send them [illegal immigrants] back across the border,” Gov. DeSantis said at a recent press conference in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. “Who cares what the Feds are saying. They aren’t doing their job.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Talks Democrats Blocking Her Plan to Make the Military Less Woke

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) spoke with The Tennessee Star on Friday about two measures she introduced which were designed to make the U.S. military less woke “by preventing military children from being indoctrinated by Department of Defense (DoD) teachers and keeping the force focused on lethal threats rather than servicemembers’ pronouns.”

Senate Democrats on the Armed Services Committee blocked both measures.

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Tennessee to Suspend Sales Tax on Food in August

As part of the state’s 2022-2023 budget, Tennesseans can expect that the state’s tax on food and “food related items” will not apply during the month of August. 

“As Americans see their cost-of-living skyrocket amid historic inflation, suspending the grocery tax is the most effective way to provide direct relief to every Tennessean,” said Gov. Bill Lee said upon signing the budget bill. “Our state has the ability to put dollars back in the pockets of hardworking Tennesseans, and I thank members of the General Assembly for their continued partnership in maintaining our fiscally conservative approach.”

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Commentary: Is This Any Way to Run a Party?

If The Williamson County Republican Party (WCRP) succeeds in its plans, by the close of its next meeting it will have removed or otherwise run off the majority of its elected members. Of the 8 WCRP board members who were elected, 4 have resigned or been forced out since April 2021.

As planned, the last remaining conservative, First Vice Chair Sean Raesemann will be removed from office to be replaced by someone of the chairwoman’s own choosing. That someone will make it easier for the chair to run her own show. Considering what has already been achieved by this chair, it could be some show.

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FDA Vaccine Panel Recommends COVID Shots for Babies and Toddlers

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine advisory panel unanimously voted Wednesday to recommend the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for infants and young children despite an abundance of calls from physicians, children’s health organizations, and members of Congress to refrain from approving the shots for a population that shows the least risk for serious disease from COVID.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted, 21-0, in favor of recommending Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA COVID vaccines for infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children.

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Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life Talks Pending Supreme Court Decision on Abortion

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life spoke with The Tennessee Star on Thursday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference which is taking place from June 16-18 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

Pavone spoke with The Star about the pending U.S. Supreme Court decision potentially overturning Roe v. Wade.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Joins Letter Blasting DOJ’s Refusal to Charge Protestors Outside the Homes of Supreme Court Justices

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined a letter with several Republican Senators to demand answers on the lack of law enforcement action surrounding potentially violent protests that have targeted  Supreme Court Justices.

Leftwing individuals have flocked to the homes of conservative members of the Court, following a leak from the Supreme Court that indicated the group favors overturning Roe v Wade.

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Faith and Freedom Coalition Executive Director Timothy Head Talks Purpose of Road to Majority Conference and Why Nashville Was Chosen to Host

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Executive Director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Timothy Head spoke with The Tennessee Star on Thursday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference which is taking place from June 16-18 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

According to their website, “The Faith and Freedom Coalition is a national grassroots movement of over 2 million conservatives and people of faith in support of time-honored values, stronger families, and individual freedom.”

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