Jack Maxey: Contents of Hunter Biden’s Laptop Point to Chinese Communist Ties, Include 80K Images Due for Legal Scrutiny

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, about his work mining Hunter Biden’s laptop. Maxey said his next step is to partner with law enforcement to review sensitive national security and other materials that would be illegal for a private citizen to view without the color of law.

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Commentary: Rutherford County Needs Charter Schools

Whether you believe we do, or do not, the fact of the matter is that our Governor & legislature have made it clear that they do, and most parents have made it clear they want more “school choice” for their children.

My name is Tammy Sharp, and I am the Rutherford County Zone 1 school board member. I am completing my first 4-year term on the board, and am unopposed on the August 4th ballot. This zone I very proudly serve, represents a large part of Smyrna and Lavergne on the east side of interstate 24. Eleven of its 13 schools are Title 1 schools.

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Senator Tim Scott Tells The Tennessee Star That the ‘Great Opportunity Party’ Has ‘A Very Bright Future’

FRANKLIN, Tennessee – U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) told The Tennessee Star on Saturday at the Williamson County Republican Party Reagan Dinner that “the GOP, the ‘Great Opportunity Party’ has a very bright future.”

The Star was able to sit down with Senator Scott and conduct a one-on-one interview, arranged through Senator Scott’s staff and Williamson GOP Chair Cheryl Brown.

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Metro Nashville Committee Won’t Seek Independent Review of Economic Numbers for Tennessee Titans’ New Stadium

Nissan International Stadium

Nashville’s East Bank Stadium Committee plans to parse information on a new projected $2.2 billion Tennessee Titans stadium deal once it’s announced, along with information on the city’s current lease obligations and a $200,000 stadium study the council has planned along with land-use requirements around Nissan Stadium.

But the group will not be producing its own economic impact and tax impact numbers related to the proposed project.

“I am guessing the council doesn’t have an appetite for spending $25M on its own professionals, or $5 million or $1 million or half a million,” committee chair Bob Mendes said in the group’s planning meeting. “So we’re, necessarily, going to have to rely on information from others on that. I assume we’re going to hear about that. When we’re going to get presented with an actual deal, there’s going to be a list of income streams and a look forward on what it generates over time. Sources and uses.

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Memphis Officials Silent After Vowing Not to Enforce State Abortion Law

Officials in the city of Memphis are silent after the City Council pledged not to follow Tennessee’s law restricting abortions, which takes effect in August and would make performing an abortion a felony offense for doctors. 

Tuesday, Councilman JB Smiley introduced a resolution Reproductive Autonomy Is Necessary (RAIN) Act, which was subsequently passed by a vote of 6-0, with two members of the City Council abstaining. 

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Akron, Ohio Mayor Ends Downtown Curfew

Akron, OH Mayor Dan Horrigan (D) Sunday lifted the curfew he imposed on his city’s downtown area on the Fourth of July. 

The restriction applied between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and affected Akron residents encircled by Route 59, Interstate 76 and Route 8. The mayor gave his initial emergency order two Mondays ago after anti-police protests turned violent and severely damaged Main Street businesses. 

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Reps. Wittman, Luria Support House Passage of FY23 NDAA, Most Virginia Republicans Voted ‘Nay’

The House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with added funding after Virginia Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) blasted the administration’s original military spending proposals for not including a large enough budget and for planning to decommission some ships. Wittman was the only Virginia Republican voting in favor of the bill after the House Freedom Caucus criticized it the day before the vote.

After passage of the NDAA on Thursday, Wittman praised it in a press release: “In today’s increasingly divided political world, today’s passage of the NDAA is encouraging proof that Congress can still work together for the greater good of our nation. This year’s NDAA does right by our servicemembers and their families, reverses Biden’s reckless defense cuts, counteracts Biden’s harmful inflation, provides the resources we need to deter Chinese aggression, and protects our homeland.”

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Pennsylvania Toughens DUI Sentences

Pennsylvania state Reps. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) and Chris Quinn (R-Media) on Friday lauded area lawmakers and activists for their work toward enactment of “Deana’s Law” which toughens drunk-driving sentences.

The new act is named after Deana DeRosa Eckman, a 45-year-old Delaware County resident who died in a February 2019 car collision caused by six-time Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) offender David Strowhouer in Upper Chichester Township. Strowhouer had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199, more than twice the level the commonwealth permits, and was driving 80 miles per hour before striking Eckman’s vehicle head-on. 

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Buckhead City Movement Opposition Peter Aman Named Chief Administrative Police Officer

Atlanta Police Interim Chief Darin Schierbaum and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced on Thursday that former City of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer Peter Aman would be the first ever chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the Atlanta Police Department (APD).

“I created the Chief Administrative Officer position to ensure that the personnel of the Atlanta Police Department have the best tools and support as they fight crime and serve our community,” Mayor Dickens said.

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Illinois Opens Doors to Wisconsin Residents Seeking Abortions

Pregnant woman holding ultrasound photo in front of stomach

Illinois will open its doors to Wisconsin residents seeking an abortion after Planned Parenthood announced a partnership between organizations in the two states.

In 2020, 9,600 out-of-state residents received an abortion in Illinois. That’s expected to increase as neighboring states restrict the procedure following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade and sending the regulation of abortion back to individual states. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton this week testified in front of a U.S. Senate committee, saying Illinois has already seen the number of out-of-state abortion patients double since last month’s decision. 

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Michigan Fish Hatcheries Get New Ship, $34 Million for Repairs

Michigan fish hatcheries will receive $34 million in the 2023 budget for infrastructure repairs and replacement of a 54-year-old survey vessel.

“Michigan’s fish and aquatic habitats are among our state’s greatest natural, recreational and economic assets, and we must continue working together to protect them for future generations,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “Together with the historic, $450 million investments in our parks and public lands under the Building Michigan Together Plan I signed earlier this year, our bipartisan budget represents a once-in-a-generation investment that will help us continue safeguarding our most precious natural resources.”

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Arizona Judge Rules Father May Present an Argument That He Is Representing the Estate of His Aborted Baby to Sue Abortion Doctor

According to Pro Publica, an Arizona judge this week ruled that U.S. Marine veteran Mario Villegas may represent the estate of his aborted child and sue the abortion doctor, and refer the doctor for wrongful death.

Villegas asserts in his complaint that doctors failed to properly inform his now ex-wife of the long-term medical risks of abortion, nor the “reasonable alternatives to abortion” such as counseling and putting the baby up for adoption. He said they failed to talk to her about the “intense and emotionally satisfying maternal bond and relationship inherent in birthing and raising that child.”

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New Civics Initiative Launches in Florida Targeting Potential Minority Voters

A new civics initiative launched Thursday in Miami-Dade County in Florida targeting potential minority voters.

The Republican National Committee launched the initiative at its Hispanic Community Center in Doral, Florida, Thursday. It’s designed to help future voters learn more about American history and help lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or green card holders, prepare for the civics portion of their naturalization test.

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Largest Teacher’s Union Plans to Compile List of Opposition Groups to Target

The National Education Association (NEA), the country’s largest teacher’s union, committed to spending more than $140,000 to research and target opposition groups at a convention July 3-6, according to Education Week.

NEA will research and create fact sheets on at least 25 organizations “that are actively working to diminish a student’s right to honesty in education, freedom of sexual and gender identity, and teacher autonomy,” according to a convention business item seen by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  The resolution was approved for $140,625 at the NEA’s convention last week, and the fact sheets that will be distributed to NEA state affiliates, according to Education Week.

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Republican National Committee Launches New Program to Coach Immigrants Through Citizenship Process

The Republican Party is starting a program to train immigrants on the U.S. citizenship and naturalization exam, according to a Republican National Committee (RNC) Thursday press release.

The Republican Civics Initiative will prepare “future voters” who are green card holders hoping to become citizens through basic U.S. civics and history topics included on the naturalization exam, the press release stated. RNC staff will be trained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) certified RNC Strategic Initiatives, according to the press release.

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California’s New Pro-Union Law Could Grind the Supply Chain to a Halt

California truckers are protesting across the state to express their disapproval of Assembly Bill (AB) 5, a new law backed by unions that reclassifies them as employees rather than independent contractors and could send shockwaves through an already-stressed supply chain.

The regulation was partly enacted to protect gig workers at companies like Uber and Lyft that hire independent contractors in large numbers without affording them the benefits given to employees, but will complicate or render illegal the current employment status of many of California’s approximately 70,000 independent truck owner-operators, The Wall Street Journal reported. The law will likely force some truckers out of the industry, thus lowering shipping capacity and raising prices for transporting cargo in the Golden State at a time when California ports have already experienced major supply-chain bottlenecks during the COVID-19 pandemic, CalMatters reported.

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Commentary: Adam Schiff Is Hiding Something

Jeffrey Rosen had a secret on January 6, 2021.

The then-acting attorney general—Rosen was appointed on December 24, 2020 to replace departing Attorney General William Barr—had assembled a team of elite and highly skilled government agents at Quantico, a nexus point between the FBI and U.S. military, the weekend before Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the same time he was rejecting President Donald Trump’s last-minute appeals to investigate election fraud, Rosen was managing a hush-hush operation in advance of planned rallies and protests in Washington on January 6.

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Commentary: Study Provides More Evidence That School Mask Mandates Are Not Effective

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that mask mandates did little to nothing to curb the spread of Covid-19. The latest research further undermines the controversial policy.

A new study analyzing a pair of schools in Fargo, North Dakota—one which had a mask mandate in place in the fall of the 2021-2022 academic year and one that did not—provides more evidence that mask mandates are ineffective public policy.

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Judge Orders Discovery Phase in Social Media Collusion Lawsuit Against Biden Administration

President Joe Biden, members of his administration and select social media companies must turn over documents and answer questions within the next 30 days during a discovery phase of a lawsuit alleging collusion to suppress freedom of speech, a court ruled.

The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit in May alleging Biden and eight high-ranking members of his administration and the government colluded with and/or coerced social media companies Meta, Twitter and YouTube to suppress “disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social medial platforms.”

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Federal Judge Sentences 69-Year-Old Grandmother with Cancer to 2 Months in Jail for ‘Parading’ in the Capitol on January 6

A federal judge has sentenced a 69-year-old Idaho grandmother and cancer patient to two months behind bars for parading in the Capitol, a misdemeanor.

Pam Hemphill pleaded guilty in January to one count of demonstrating, picketing, or parading in a Capitol building.  The diminutive senior was photographed inside the Capitol Rotunda.

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The University of Virginia Will Not Say If 4.7 Percent Tuition Increase Will Be Reversed

All but one public university in Virginia are taking steps to address students’ tuition burden after a call to action from the governor. 

Earlier this year, Glenn Youngkin requested that the commonwealth’s public universities reverse their planned tuition increases, citing inflation.

The University of Virginia (UVA) is the only public university not to announce a plan to reverse its tuition increase. NBC29 reports that UVA students will see a 4.7% tuition and fee increase, raising rates for first-year in-state students to $14,878 and $50,348 for out-of-state students. 

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TN-5 Candidates Winstead and Harwell Show Significant Cash on Hand in 2nd Quarter FEC Reports, Ogles and Two Others Miss Filing Deadline

The July 15 deadline for federal candidates to file their Federal Election Commission (FEC) second-quarter campaign finance reports has passed, and six of the nine candidates for the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat have reports that are available for public viewing.

The FEC second-quarter reporting period covers April 1 through June 30.

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