Tennessee Supreme Court Picks Jonathan Skrmetti as State’s New Attorney General

The Tennessee Supreme Court announced in a statement released on Wednesday that they have selected Jonathan Skrmetti to serve as the state’s next Attorney General and Reporter.

“Mr. Skrmetti has dedicated the majority of his career to public service and has the breadth of experience and vision necessary to lead the Attorney General’s office for the next eight years,” Chief Justice Roger A. Page said. “He is an accomplished attorney with a deep understanding of Tennessee government and our judicial system.”

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Georgia Governor Kemp to Headline Cherokee County Breakfast on Saturday

Governor Brian Kemp (R) will be the featured speaker at Cherokee County GOP’s August breakfast on Saturday, an event which will also include State Senator Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) and Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods.

“I am excited to join hardworking Georgians in Cherokee County this weekend! Every day, Georgians and Americans are witnessing the failure of the Biden Administration and Democrats in Washington, but make no mistake: their failed policies are Stacey Abrams’ agenda for Georgia,” Kemp told The Georgia Star News on Tuesday.

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Arizona CBP Seizes Cloned Fire Department Vehicle Used by Smugglers

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Arizona said Monday it confiscated a look-alike fire department vehicle that it suspects smugglers were using to traffic illegal aliens across the border.

“#ClonedVehicle seized by Douglas Station. Agents responded to a suspected vehicle incursion and encountered the abandoned SUV. Mormon Lake Fire Dist. decals were improperly labeled as ‘Mormon Like.’ Several individuals fled from the vehicle to Mexico before agents arrived,” said Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent John R. Modlin on Twitter. 

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Commentary: A History Lesson for President Joe Biden

A nation emerging from a significant pandemic and an economic downturn awaited President Joe Biden in early 2021. President Warren G. Harding inherited a similar situation after winning the 1920 election in a landslide. But Harding overcame it by getting government out of the way. The economy recovered quickly—whereas Biden enacted bad progressive policies that have resulted in a double-dip recession with 40-year high inflation.

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Top 10 Tough Votes Democrats Had to Take During Vote-a-Rama for Massive Spending Bill

During a “vote-a-rama” on their $739 billion reconciliation spending bill that has hundreds of billions for climate and health care programs, Democratic senators had to take a series of uncomfortable votes on hot-button issues — particularly tough for those representing swing states.

The bill, which also includes federal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, passed on a party line vote 51-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.

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More Funding Sought to Subsidize Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Purchases

The Pennsylvania Department of Health released its annual report on the state’s medical marijuana program and is asking for more funding to subsidize patients who can’t afford medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana has been legal since 2016 in Pennsylvania and is approved for residents of the commonwealth with a “serious medical condition” and who get certified by a doctor registered with the program.

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Fed Study: Ending Pandemic Unemployment Aid Connected to ‘Substantial Rise’ in Employment

States that ended pandemic unemployment aid saw “a substantial rise” in employment, according to a recent working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The study, which used data from 46 states and Washington, D.C., found that “in the three months following a state’s [emergency unemployment benefits] termination, employment increased by about 37 people for every 100-person reduction in EUB recipients.”

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Elite Nashville Girl’s School Will Allow Anyone Who Identifies as a Girl to Attend

An elite girl’s school that has become increasingly woke in past years now says that any student who identifies as a girl will be allowed to attend. 

“Harpeth Hall is a girls school. The school culture is unique and distinctly about girls, complete with the use of references to students as girls and young women and the collective use of female pronouns,” says a Gender Diversity Philosophy document obtained by The Tennessee Star. “Any student who identifies as a girl may apply to our school. Students who join and remain at Harpeth Hall do so because our mission as a school for girls resonates with them.”

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U.S. Representatives Harshbarger and DesJarlais Join GOP Doctors Caucus Letter to Pelosi and Schumer

U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-1) and U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-4) signed on to a letter sent by the GOP Doctors Caucus to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer warning them of grave impact government drug price control will have on patient care in the reconciliation package.

The GOP Doctors Caucus consists of Republican members from both chambers of the United States Congress.

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Commentary: Fool Nashville Taxpayers Twice on Titans Stadium, Shame on Us

Mayor John Cooper wants to saddle Nashvillians with an estimated $1 billion in taxes to pay for a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, blaming a poorly negotiated contract and the shoddy craftsmanship of Nissan Stadium. But here’s the kicker: the mayor and city officials appear to be entertaining the same stadium designer who helped with the construction of the existing subpar stadium for this new boondoggle.

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Maricopa County GOP Censures Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer over Election Fraud Denials and Mishandling: ‘Resign or Be Recalled’

After an Arizona primary election last week full of anomalies, the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) issued a resolution on August 4 censuring Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican. The resolution cited problems that arose during the election and Richer’s previous denials that election fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election.

Member-at-large Brian Ference drafted the resolution, which passed 13-11 with two abstentions. It cited “irregularities” in the primary election, including “reports of printers and scanners not working,” “Pentel felt-tip pen smearing and not drying,” and “late counting and delayed results.”

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Miyares Joins Amicus Brief Supporting Decision to Vacate Travel Mask Mandate

Attorney General Jason Miyares joined an amicus brief opposing the Biden administration’s ongoing lawsuit over the CDC’s mask mandate for interstate travel. A district court vacated the requirement, but the CDC appealed, and the Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden case is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

“Mask Mandates across the country have been lifted in virtually every aspect of daily life. For months, Americans have been traveling safely while making their own, autonomous decisions. The CDC mask mandate on public transportation, like air travel, is obsolete and no longer necessary – not to mention a clear example of federal overreach,” Miyares said in a press release.

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Want Education Secretary’s Gender Policy Reversed — or His Resignation

Twenty Republican members of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week called on acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Eric Hagarty to reverse controversial state guidelines concerning schools’ treatment of sex and gender. 

On a webpage titled “Creating Gender-Inclusive Schools and Classrooms,” the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) calls “binary gender,” e.g., the idea that gender and biological sex are properly denoted as either “male” or “female,” a “faulty concept.” The document also suggests that teachers host a “gender-neutral day” for students above the second grade wherein kids would identify ways in which they will eschew gender stereotypes on that day. Elsewhere, the guidance counsels teachers to ask a student his or her gender identity before assuming the right pronouns by which to call the child. 

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Ohio GOP Congressional Delegation Wants Garland and Wray to Explain Mar-a-Lago Search

Republican members of Ohio’s congressional delegation reacted with mistrust that the federal government had sufficient cause to conduct its surprise search of former President Donald Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, FL earlier this week.

The former president himself has characterized the move as “prosecutorial misconduct” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice to unfairly target President Joe Biden’s most high-profile adversary. Sources with knowledge of the event told the press that agents intended to gather evidence regarding whether Trump brought classified documents from the White House to his Palm Beach residence.

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Speaker of the House Gilbert Reappoints Retired Judge Hupp to Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission

Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) reappointed retired judge Dennis Hupp to a two-year term on the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission (VCSC), a body that creates felony sentencing guidelines.

“As someone who has had the pleasure of practicing before Judge Hupp, I know what an exceptional jurist he has been, and I’m grateful to him for agreeing to return to the Criminal Sentencing Commission where we previously served together,” Gilbert said in a Monday announcement.

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Ohio, Michigan Charter Schools Sue Biden Administration

A group of Ohio and Michigan charter schools sued the Biden administration today, claiming a new rule that requires charter schools to prove public schools are over-enrolled is illegal.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, includes the Michigan Charter School Association and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit charter school authorizer that supervises 13 charter schools in Ohio.

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TN-5 Republican Nominee Andy Ogles Condemns DOJ ‘Weaponization of the FBI’

Republican nominee for the 5th Congressional District and Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles critcized the “Department of Justice weaponization of the FBI to advance a partisan political agenda solely aimed to ‘get Trump'” in a campaign press statement issued on Tuesday that decried the FBI raid on the former president’s Florida home.

Ogles emerged from the nine candidate field in the August 4 Republican primary and will face Democrat nominee, State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) in the November general election.

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Sen. Blackburn Hammers FBI, DOJ After Mar-a-Lago Raid

A U.S. Senator from Tennessee is speaking out against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its parent agency, the Department of Justice (DOJ), after the FBI Monday raided former President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. 

“Why are the FBI and DOJ refusing to comment after raiding the private home of a former U.S. President? The American people demand transparency — they do not want another political witch hunt of President Trump. We need to know if Joe Biden or his allies were involved,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said. 

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