On a 150-year-old farm in Brewster, Tom Behrends hopes his tell-it-like-it-is style will finally get the attention he believes it deserves in Minnesota’s race for governor.
Read the full storyMonth: September 2022
Connecticut Task Force Begins Examining Early Childhood Workforce Concerns
Licensure requirements, professional development opportunities and employment compensation are among some of the weighty issues a new Connecticut task force will delve into in the coming months.
The state’s Early Childhood Workforce Development Task Force held its first monthly meeting recently and began laying the groundwork for its deep-dive conversations in the coming months.
Read the full storyGeorgia Officials Settle Case with Florida-Based Direct Mail Solicitation Firm
Georgia has settled allegations that a company sent deceptive direct mail solicitations to help small business owners in the state secure a Certificate of Existence.
The state attorney general’s office alleged that CA Certificate Service, which also operates as GA Certificate Service, misrepresented that the fee it charges for obtaining a Certificate of Existence was a government fee. However, state officials say the company has no affiliation with any Georgia government agency, including the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
Read the full storyVirginia Gets $16.61 Million in Agreement with JUUL After Investigation into Marketing Targeted at Youth
Virginia will get $16.61 million over six to ten years as part of a $438.5 million agreement in principle with JUUL after an investigation into whether the e-cigarette manufacturer marketed its products to underage users.
“Youth vaping is an epidemic, and from the get-go JUUL has been a leader in the e-cigarette industry. But JUUL targeted young people with deceptive social media advertising campaigns and misled the public about the product’s dangers. My office will continue to go after and hold accountable companies that market addictive products like e-cigarettes to minors, with no concern for their health or well-being,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release announcing the agreement.
Read the full storyGeneral Assembly Leaves Vacancy on State Corporation Commission, Senate Republicans Object to Judge with Ties to Loudoun Prosecutor
RICHMOND, Virginia — The General Assembly reconvened for one day on Wednesday to elect four judges to circuit, district, and juvenile courts, but didn’t fill a vacancy on the three-member State Corporation Commission. Senate Republicans abstained on one vote to appoint current District Court Judge Matthew Parke Snow to the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court. Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) criticized Snow’s links to Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj.
Snow and Biberaj used to practice criminal defense and civil law together in Leesburg. Biberaj has come under fire from Republicans for embracing a progressive prosecutorial philosophy.
Read the full storyButtigieg Touts New Tucson Bridge in Video About Infrastructure
A former Democrat candidate for president and the current Secretary of Transportation posted a video touting a bridge in Tucson as a successful example of the Biden administration’s infrastructure spending package.
“The 22nd Street Bridge project in Tucson, Arizona is an example of what infrastructure investment looks like in practice — helping people connect to the places and things they need to reach affordably, efficiently, and safely,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, attaching a video message on Twitter.
Read the full storyMaricopa County Attorney’s Office Announces Effort to Combat Animal Cruelty in Arizona
Attorney Rachel Michell recently announced the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) would continue to strengthen its efforts to combat animal cruelty, which researchers say is a gateway crime to more serious offenses.
“As you know, I am a believer in the ‘broken windows’ approach to reducing crime,” Mitchell said during a news conference. “If criminal elements get away with small offenses – and let me be very clear, I do not consider animal cruelty to be a small offense – they become emboldened though to pursue bigger crimes or crimes against human beings.”
Read the full storyArizona Attorney General Will Not Defend New Law Prohibiting People from Filming Police Up Close
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) recently submitted a legal filing, sharing that he will not be defending the legality of House Bill (HB) 2319, which is set to go into effect on September 24th.
“The Attorney General is not the proper party to defend the merits of A.R.S. § 13-3732. The Attorney General will provide notice to the President of the Arizona State Senate and the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives that local and county prosecutors are the proper entities to defend this statute,” wrote Brnovich.
Read the full storyProgressive Groups’ Aggressive Targeting of New Naturalized Citizens Helped Break Turnout Records in 2022 Primary Election
Arizona continues to have increasingly large numbers of registered voters participating in recent elections, with a record turnout of 34.92 percent of all registered voters casting a ballot in August’s primary election. Part of the reason for the high turnout may be due to the increase in naturalized citizens, whose population climbed by 63,857 new Arizonans between 2016 and 2020 alone, with many of them registered to vote by progressive advocacy groups.
Almost half – 28,864 – were born in Mexico.
Read the full storyArizona Department Celebrates Decade Low in Children Entering the Foster Care System
Mike Faust, Director of the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS), recently announced that there were under 12,000 children between the age of zero and 17 in the foster care system, the lowest the department has seen since 2012.
“Although this was one of the goals from the start, little did the team know how challenging it would be to reach this milestone,” Faust said in a press release. “DCS was deeply challenged a decade ago, and had it not been for the commitment of all those involved to make DCS a standalone agency, the resolve and steadfastness of Director Greg McKay from 2015-2019; the commitment of the thousands of employees and partners who devote their lives to protecting children; the loving support of kinship families; and the dedication of biological families to reunifying with their children, this would not have been possible.”
Read the full storyConservative Group Asks IRS to Investigate the American Federation of Teachers
The conservative Landmark Legal Foundation (LLF) has asked the IRS to audit the second-largest teachers union in the United States for allegedly misreporting its political spending.
In a letter to the IRS, which the Washington Examiner obtained, the group alleges that the American Federation of Teachers inaccurately claimed that it did not “engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office” on their Form 990s from 2016-2019.
Read the full storyBiden’s Student Loan Forgiveness to Raise Tuition for Future Generations
Critics are taking Biden’s student loan forgiveness initiative to task because they believe it will only raise tuition in the future.
The Education Data Initiative reports that as of January 2022, in-state tuition and fees for a public 4-year university in Michigan climbed 3.31% in the last year. The cost for out-of-state tuition and fees climbed 2.76% during the same timeframe. The cost for room and board jumped a combined 10.59% in the last year.
Read the full storyFormer FBI Boss Warns Prosecutor Might See Trump Search Warrant Tossed Out Entirely
The FBI warrant to search former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago may be thrown out entirely in court, according to former FBI boss Kevin Brock.
News broke over Labor Day weekend that Trump had been granted a legal win when a federal judge ordered a special master to review the documents seized from Trump’s home.
Read the full storyIndependent Voters Say Biden’s Attacks on ‘MAGA Republicans’ Went Too Far
President Joe Biden has turned up the rhetoric against Trump supporters and what he calls the “ultra MAGA” wing of the Republican party, but new polling shows most Americans fear his comments are too divisive.
Biden’s rhetoric, and the concern that he has gone too far, ratcheted up when the president gave a primetime speech last week blasting the “ MAGA Republicans” as a “threat to Democracy” and “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
Read the full storyYour Middle Tennessee Fresh Forecast with Chief Meteorologist Daphne DeLoren for Wednesday Night and Thursday
Star News Network Chief Meteorologist Daphne DeLoren shares her Middle Tennessee Fresh Forecast for Wednesday night and Thursday.
Catch Daphne’s Fresh Forecast weekdays at 5pm and on demand.
Read the full storyCrom’s Crommentary: Root Causes Behind the Cycle of Violence Plaguing Black and Hispanic Lower-Income Communities
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
Read the full storyOANN’s Neil W. McCabe Updates on DeSantis-Crist Race in Florida and Republicans Around the Country
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed investigative reporter for One America News, Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to give updates on Ron DeSantis race in Florida, getting behind Republicans, and races in other states.
Read the full storyBlount County State Executive Committee-Elect Mark Pulliam Describes Efforts Made by the Tennessee GOP to Keep Him Out
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Misrule of Law blog creator and California refugee Mark Pulliam to the newsmaker line to discuss his win of State Executive Committee seat in Blount County and the efforts made by the Tennessee Republican Party to take him off after the election had been certified.
Read the full storyLeahy and Carmichael Discuss Jon Meacham’s Appointment to University of Tennessee’s Institute for American Civics
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss their efforts to verify that historian Jon Meacham penned Joe Biden’s hate speech last week and his recent appointment to the board of taxpayer-funded Institute for American Civics at University of Tennessee.
Read the full storyJudge Rules Eric Greitens Did Not Engage in Pattern of Domestic Violence, Abuse of Children
A judge has ruled that former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens did not engage in a pattern of domestic violence or abuse his minor children, bringing an abrupt end to allegations from his ex-wife that fueled a multimillion-dollar political ad campaign that sank Greitens’ political comeback last month.
“The Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that there has been no pattern of domestic violence by either Mother or Father,” Boone County Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider wrote in a decision dated Aug. 26 that was reviewed by Just the News. “The children have never been at risk or vulnerable at the hands of either parent.”
Read the full storyEuropean Country Fines Instagram $400 Million
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Instagram €405 million ($403 million USD) Monday over child privacy violations, according to Business Insider.
The fine for failing to protect the privacy of minors stemmed from a variety of default settings for minor-operated accounts that the data watchdog considered improper, according to Business Insider. Children were allowed to operate business accounts, receive messages from adults and had their accounts set to “public” by default, according to Business Insider.
Read the full storyAnalysis: U.S. Universities Water Down Standards in the Name of ‘Diversity’
Higher education institutions have implemented diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to vet students and faculty rather than evaluating them on their merits.
Universities have included different DEI initiatives including axing standardized test requirements, mandating DEI statements in applications and curriculum requirements. The initiatives aim to raise diversity and social justice awareness, considering mainly the promotion of understanding and consciousness of DEI.
Read the full storyNew Poll Shows Joe Biden’s Approval Rating at 45 Percent
While still underwater, Joe Biden’s approval rating has surged to 45.1 percent in the latest poll conducted by Insider Advantage for the Center for American Greatness. The national survey of 500 likely voters showed that 53.8 percent of respondents disapproved of Biden’s job performance, and 1.1 percent had no opinion or were undecided. Specifically, only 26.8 percent said they wholly “approved” of the job Biden is doing, while another 18.3 percent said they “somewhat approve.”
Read the full storyCommentary: For Pennsylvania Families, the Midterms Can’t Come Fast Enough
The critical midterm election is in less than 70 days, but it can’t come soon enough for Keystone State families being crushed under the weight of failed Democrat policies. Reckless spending by Democrats in Washington has driven us into a recession and burdensome policies by Tom Wolf, John Fetterman, and Josh Shapiro have left Pennsylvania with high unemployment and shuttered small businesses. As State Treasurer, I know the importance of fiscal responsibility. I oversee an office of more than 300 employees and am tasked with protecting more than $150 billion in state assets. As a Pennsylvanian living in Joe Biden’s economy, I know firsthand the consequences of reckless spending and see the painful impact on every town in the commonwealth.
Read the full storyCommentary: Former Feds Give Justice Department a Bad Name
Andrew Weissmann is one weird dude, to say the least.
Weissmann, an author, law professor, and MSNBC legal analyst, is a prolific user of social media—but rather than post a head shot on his Twitter bio page, Weissmann has a photo of a dog staring down a doll resembling Donald Trump lying face-up on the floor. It’s unclear if the dog is supposed to represent Weissmann, described as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “pit bull” during the Russia election collusion investigation, or it’s just another indication of Weissmann’s insatiable obsession with the 45th president of the United States.
Read the full storyTennessee Department of Health Gets Grant Money for Improving Maternal Death Outcomes
The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) announced Tuesday that it has received a $5 million competitive federal grant to fund community and clinical programs that improve the state’s maternal health outcomes.
Read the full storyMetro Nashville City Council Votes to Keep Sidewalk Cafes Permanent
The Metro Nashville City Council voted on an ordinance that would allow for sidewalk cafes to remain permanent on Tuesday.
Read the full storyAnti-Science Biden Administration to End Protections for Girls Title IX Ensured in 1972
The Biden administration is determined to undermine the science of biology in order to prop up an activist political agenda that will serve up a manufactured concept of limitless “genders” with a side order of government-approved child grooming opportunities.
The proposed Title IX rule, announced in June by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, is designed to overturn the Trump administration’s desire to continue enforcement of Title IX’s protections for girls and women in education. Former President Donald Trump also ensured due process rights protections for those students accused of sexual misconduct.
Read the full storyTennessee IT Projects Recognized by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers
The State of Tennessee is a finalist in three categories for awards from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO).
Read the full storyCommentary: Nuclear Power Is Making a Big Comeback All Around the World
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom was spearheading an eleventh-hour effort to pass legislation to extend a lifeline to Diablo Canyon, a 2,250-megawatt nuclear plant that supplies some 8 percent of the energy produced in the Golden State.
Under pressure from lawmakers and environmental activists, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) agreed in 2016 to decommission Diablo when its operating licenses expire in 2024 and 2025. But in light of the recent energy policy environment, California lawmakers had second thoughts.
Read the full storyAnalysis: Electric Cars Are Not ‘Zero-Emission Vehicles’
While praising California’s decision to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Governor Gavin Newsom declared that this will require “100% of new car sales in California to be zero-emission vehicles” like “electric cars.” In reality, electric cars emit substantial amounts of pollutants and may be more harmful to the environment than conventional cars.
Toxic Pollution
The notion that electric vehicles are “zero-emission” is rooted in a deceptive narrative that ignores all pollutants which don’t come out of a tailpipe. Assessing the environmental impacts of energy technologies requires measuring all forms of pollution they emit over their entire lives, not a narrow slice of them. To do this, researchers perform “life cycle assessments” or LCAs. As explained by the Environmental Protection Agency, LCAs allow for:
Read the full storyLeft-Wing New York City Elite School Administrator on Paid Leave After Project Veritas Video
The school activities director who was heard boasting in a Project Veritas (PV) exposé video how easily she was able to indoctrinate her students in her leftwing political agenda has been placed on paid leave, according to a report at National Review.
Jennifer “Ginn” Norris was placed on paid administrator leave while Trinity School, a private school in New York City’s Upper West Side, has “hired outside counsel to conduct an investigation” into the PV undercover video, the report said.
Read the full storyOhio Senate Candidates Divided on Electric Vehicle Subsidies
Electric vehicle (EV) creation is among the latest policy fissures to open up between Republican Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance and his Democratic opponent U.S. Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13).
Vance emphasizes the disadvantage many auto workers could suffer if EV manufacturing — less labor-intensive than traditional car making — expands.
Read the full storyGeorgia’s K-12 Education Spending Increases as Enrollment Grows at a Higher Rate
Georgia’s spending per pupil has grown over the past two decades, but its enrollment has increased at a higher rate, a new analysis found.
According to the Reason Foundation’s 2022 K-12 Education Spending Spotlight, Georgia’s inflation-adjusted per-pupil K-12 revenues grew by 6.2% — or $803 per student — between 2002 and 2020. During that same period, enrollment increased by 18%.
Read the full storyPennsylvania Senate Bill Proposed to Address First-Responder Shortage
State Senator Michele Brooks (R-PA-Greenville) is encouraging colleagues to back two upcoming bills she proposes to allay shortages of first responders in Pennsylvania.
The first piece of legislation concerns insufficiencies among volunteer-firefighter companies. In a memorandum to fellow senators asking them to cosponsor her bills, the senator noted that certain professionals including corrections officers undergo rudimentary training in fire suppression. Nonetheless, that instruction does not yet count toward the over 200 training hours that aspiring volunteer firefighters must acquire in order to qualify. Brooks’s bill would make workers’ basic-firefighting lessons applicable to those seeking to join local fire departments.
Read the full storyFlorida College Pre-Approves Advertisements Before Being Displayed on Campus
Florida A&M University (FAMU), a historically black college in Tallahassee, released a regulation in 2018 restricting the posting of signs, flyers, and advertisements on designated bulletin boards, and requiring that any such postings be pre-approved by the university.
Posting material is “limited to the Quadrangle Information Center and bulletin boards and will not be displayed, for example, on trees, buildings, or road signs,” the regulation reads.
Read the full story‘25,000 Dead Registrants’: Why Legal Nonprofit Is Suing Soros-Backed Michigan Elections Chief
Following a recent win in his legal battle to compel Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to purge 25,000 deceased voters from her state’s rolls, Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams explained his suit on the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show on Friday.
After the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan last week denied Benson’s bid to dismiss the legal nonprofit’s suit against her, Adams decried the George Soros-backed election official’s unwillingness to update her rolls despite PILF’s documentation of the dead voters.
Read the full storyDelegate Keam Resigns to Join Biden Administration
Delegate Mark Keam (D-Fairfax) resigned to take an unspecified role in the Biden administration, and two Democrats have already announced their candidacies for an expected special election to complete his term in the Democrat-favoring district.
“Today, Delegate Mark Keam announced that he has resigned from the General Assembly. We thank Mark for more than a decade of public service in the House of Delegates and honor the history he made as the first Asian-born immigrant and the first Korean American elected to any state-level office in Virginia,” Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Bryan Graham said in a Tuesday press release.
Read the full storyFamily of Four Pays $576 to Attend Tennessee Titans Game, 12th-Highest Among NFL Teams
It would cost a family of four $576.22 to attend a Tennessee Titans game last season, according to a new report from Bookies.com.
The website took the cheapest available ticket for each NFL team and multiplied it by four before adding in the price of parking, four hot dogs, two beers and two sodas at each stadium.
Read the full storyYale University Recieves $1 Million to Conduct Study on ‘Racism’ of Video Game Characters’ Hair
The Ivy League university at Yale was recently gifted $1 million by a nonprofit group to carry out a study for the purpose of drawing a connection between racism and the hair colors of video game characters.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the study will be lead by Professor Theodore Kim, and will seek to “develop new tools and algorithms to bring inclusivity to the digital screen,” as stated in a press release by Yale. The statement went on to add, with no evidence, that video game algorithms are “deeply biased” and favor “predominantly European features” whenever creating a player’s in-game avatar.
Read the full storyCity Invests in Wisconsin’s First Men’s Homeless Shelter
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway have announced a $9 million investment for the state’s first men’s homeless shelter.
“City-County announces additional $9 million investment in men’s homeless shelter,” Rhodes-Conway posted on Twitter highlighting the sides continued partnership. “A new commitment from @DaneCoJoe represents the single largest investment in the Dane County Capital Budget.”
Read the full storyMinnesota School District Removes Pork from Menu to Accommodate Muslim Students
A public school district in southeastern Minnesota has banned pork offerings on all of its menus to accommodate Muslim students.
Faribault Public Schools is no longer offering pork in its school cafeterias after a prior board meeting where concerns about the pork offerings were raised by the local chapter of the Minnesota Parent Union.
Read the full storyState Representative Diego Espinoza Drops from Unopposed Arizona Senate Race, Leaves Seat Open to Write-In Candidates
Arizona State Representative Diego Espinoza (D-Tolleson) announced last week that he would resign from the Arizona House, despite winning the August primary election for a seat in the Senate, leaving no one on the ballot.
“Today, I announced my resignation to my seat in the Arizona House effective Monday, September 5th 2022. I will also forgo my primary election win for a seat in the State Senate,” Espinoza said while announcing his resignation. “As a lawmaker, I was able to reach challenging milestones for our community and overcame many obstacles to achieve a better tomorrow for our people in Arizona.”
Read the full storyTrump to Hold Mid-September Ohio Rally with J.D. Vance
Former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he will hold a rally with Republican Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance at the Covelli Centre at 229 East Front Street in Youngstown in the afternoon and evening of Saturday, September 17.
Trump’s arrival on behalf of Vance, who the ex-president strongly endorsed in the primary, comes as the candidate maintains a slight polling lead against Democratic opponent Tim Ryan, a congressman representing the Buckeye State’s 13th District. An August Emerson College survey showed Vance, an attorney, venture capitalist and author, with the support of 45 percent of Ohio voters while Ryan had the support of 42 percent. Another poll from the Trafalgar Group later that month showed the Republican with a four-point lead.
Read the full storyPhoenix Hires New Interim Police Chief
Arizona’s largest city has officially hired a new interim police chief after the City Council approved his contract.
“I want to thank City Manager Jeff Barton for this opportunity to work with the women and men of the Phoenix Police Department [PPD] and the communities which make up the fabric of Phoenix,” said Interim Chief Michael Sullivan. “I also want to thank Mayor Gallego and the City Council for approving my employment agreement. This is an important time for the City and the Phoenix Police Department.”
Read the full storyMajor Pennsylvania Newspaper Says Fetterman’s Stroke ‘Raises Serious Concerns’ About His Ability to Serve
A major newspaper in Pennsylvania questioned Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s ability to serve in the Senate in a Tuesday editorial after he declined another debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has not fully recovered from the serious stroke he suffered in May,” the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said. “His campaign has acknowledged his obvious struggles with ‘auditory processing’ and speech, but the persistence of those struggles has contrasted with the campaign’s rosier predictions of a return to the rigors of campaigning, including debating his opponent, Mehmet Oz.”
Read the full storyDr. Oz Says He Would Have Certified Biden Victory in 2020
Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz said on Tuesday that he would have certified President Joe Biden’s electoral victory in 2020 had he been in office at the time.
Read the full storyFormer College Basketball Coach in Georgia on Title IX
Campus Reform Higher Education Fellow and tenured associate professor of English at Georgia State University, Rob Jenkins, joined The Lars Larson Show to discuss the Biden Administration’s proposed Title IX changes.
Read the full storyBlake Masters: Mark Kelly Should Be Forced to Attend the Funerals of Teenagers Overdosing on Fentanyl
Arizona Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters recently blasted his incumbent opponent Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for supporting the Biden Administration’s open border policies that have led to a flood of fentanyl entering the country.
“There are no words to describe tens of thousands of dead American teenagers, dead from fentanyl because of the wide-open southern border,” Masters said. “Mark Kelly should be forced to attend the funerals of each of those dead children, so he can better understand the consequences of his support for Joe Biden’s open borders. I truly mean that.”
Read the full storyArizona Troopers Making Traffic Stop Seize Enough Fentanyl to Kill Seven Million People
An Arizona state trooper made a massive drug bust when he pulled over a motorist in late August.
“During the traffic stop, the trooper observed multiple indicators of criminal activity,” said a Friday press release from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS). “A subsequent search of the vehicle led to the discovery of approximately 46 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills concealed in natural compartments within the vehicle.”
Read the full story