The majority of young adults who moved back home with their parents at the outset of the pandemic still live there, according to a new survey, a sign that the economic fallout surrounding pandemic policies in the U.S. continues to squeeze more and more Americans.
Read the full storyMonth: September 2022
Biden Makes Surprising, Garbled Deficit Reduction Claim
President Joe Biden is being mocked after he made a garbled claim that he is reducing the deficit this year by one trillion, five hundred thousand dollars, with the number being especially awkward given the vast difference between trillions and hundreds of thousands.
“You know how much, how much I’m reducivethedefcit this year? One trillion, five hundred thousand!” Biden said during a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee, Wisc. It appears the president was attempting to say he’s “reducing the deficit this year.”
Read the full storyBiden Admin to Distribute $50 Billion Chips Fund Based on Race and Gender
The Commerce Department announced plans to prioritize “underrepresented” business owners, including women and racial minorities, when distributing $50 billion in federal funding for the semiconductor industry provided by the recent semiconductor subsidy bill.
Read the full storyGas Prices Continue Decline, Still Much Higher Than Last Year
Gas prices have continued a steady decline in recent weeks, coming down from record-high gas prices this summer, but the Congressional Budget Office says natural gas prices may see an increase from the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.
According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.78, down from $4.08 a month ago and down significantly from earlier this summer when prices surpassed $5 per gallon. Prices have dropped about a nickel in the past week.
Read the full storyMusic Spotlight: The Imaginaries
Accomplished musicians, Maggie McClure and Shane Henry have formed a duo known as the Imaginaries. Married for 11 years, the chemistry and deep commitment they share are evident in their music.
Read the full storyYour Middle Tennessee Fresh Forecast with Chief Meteorologist Daphne DeLoren for Tuesday Night and Wednesday
Star News Network Chief Meteorologist Daphne DeLoren shares her Middle Tennessee Fresh Forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Catch Daphne’s Fresh Forecast weekdays at 5pm and on demand.
Read the full storyA.J. Rice Discusses His New Book and Reviving American Culture
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the CEO of Publius PR and author of The Woking Dead, A.J. Rice to the newsmaker line to discuss his new book and the need to save America’s culture.
Read the full storyDr. Carol M. Swain on ‘Soul of the Nation’ Speech, Midterm Elections, and New School Board Training Initiative
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist, Dr. Carol M. Swain, to the newsmaker line to comment upon President Biden’s divisive Soul of the Nation speech, November midterms, and her upcoming projects.
Read the full storyAaron Gulbransen Announces Career Move as Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition’s New Executive Director
Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed official guest host and lead political reporter for The Tennessee Star Aaron Gulbransen in-studio to announce his new career move as executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition.
Read the full storyPolice Confirm Body Found Is Kidnapped Tennessee Teacher, Jogger
Police in Tennessee confirmed Tuesday the body found over the weekend is that of teacher Eliza Fletcher, who went missing days earlier on a morning run.
The Memphis police department on Sunday said it had charged Cleotha Abston, 38, with evidence tampering and aggravated kidnapping in connection with Fletcher’s disappearance early Friday morning.
Read the full storyCommentary: ‘Equity’ Pursuits Don’t Provide Fairness in Our Healthcare System
Millions of dollars are being spent on pursuing ‘equity’ in our healthcare system while insisting that we do not have “equity” because our entire medical enterprise is systemically racist. To get there, some even suggest that we should prioritize care delivery by skin color.
Read the full storyCanadian Mass Stabbing Suspect Damien Sanderson Found Dead, Police Say He Was Likely Not Involved in Spree
Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police have changed their view of the mass stabbing spree in and near Saskatchewan’s James Smith Cree Nation that has now killed 11 and left 19 injured, including the suspects.
Saskatchewan RCMP found the body of suspect Damien Sanderson, 31, outside a house in the area with “visible injuries … not believed to be self-inflicted” and no longer believe he was involved in the homicides, Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said.
Read the full storyNew Hampshire Community in Turmoil as Political Activist LGBTQ Organization Scheduled to Conduct Teacher Training
The firestorm in New Hampshire School Administrative Unit (SAU) 21 is continuing over a scheduled teacher training September 13 by political activist LGBTQ organization Seacoast Outright, which also stands with Black Lives Matter.
“In SAU21, the upcoming teacher training on September 13th has caused political factions to argue against each other,” wrote education researcher and parental rights advocate Ann Marie Banfield at Granite Grok Friday.
Read the full story‘TikTok Channel for Cosmic Gendersmurfs’: Science Journals Bow to Woke Orthodoxy, Provoke Ridicule
Before “The Science” became the default invocation in response to criticisms of COVID-19 policies, scientific journals, academic departments and faculty sought to unshackle the discipline from its purported white male heterosexist biases.
With COVID mitigations receding from American public life, the earlier ideological battles in science are are now reemerging.
Read the full storyPolice Find Body in Search for Abducted Teacher Eliza Fletcher, Identity Not Confirmed
Memphis, Tennessee police say they found a “deceased party” in the area where teacher Eliza Fletcher went missing on Friday during an early morning job, the New York Post reports. The body hasn’t been identified yet.
Read the full storyVictor Davis Hanson Commentary: Here Come the Bad Old Days
There is no end of history. Instead, civilization is a constant fight to embrace what has worked for the common good through the ages – and to reject what in the past has failed abysmally.
Bad and bankrupt ideas, protocols, and ideologies – like McCarthyism, communism, various cults, or fascism – resurface not because of their intrinsic or lasting value or record of success, but because civilizations become less vigilant and allow human vanities, ignorance, arrogance, and evil to reassert themselves.
Read the full storyPR Firm That Dropped Jason Aldean Removes Site Content Amid Blowback
A Nashville public relations firm that dropped country music superstar Jason Aldean after his wife’s public comments about the transgender agenda has pulled its website content offline amid backlash.
The GreenRoom PR’s website was fully operational Monday morning when The Tennessee Star reached out for comment about Aldean’s canning.
Read the full storyBiden Faces More Heckling as He Refines Attack on ‘MAGA Republicans’ as ‘Threat to Democracy’
President Biden faced his second heckling in a public speech in less than a week as he continues to hammer “MAGA Republicans” as an existential threat to America.
“God love ya,” the president responded to the heckler at his Labor Day speech in Milwaukee. “Let him go,” Biden told supporters who were booing the heckler. “Look, everybody’s entitled to be an idiot,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Read the full storyFederal Government Gives Wuhan-Linked Organization $1 Million to ‘Prevent Future Pandemics’
The federal government has awarded a controversial nonprofit a $1 million grant for research to help prevent future viral pandemics, an award that comes after more than two years of suspicions that the nonprofit in question may have been bankrolling certain types of highly dangerous coronavirus experiments in the city where the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Read the full storyOhio Pushing More Money into Jail Renovations, Buildings
Ohio plans to spend an additional $51 million to renovate and build jails across the state in an effort, Gov. Mike DeWine says, to create environments that reduce recidivism.
The money comes on top of $45 million the state handed out a year ago to six local jails for major construction projects. Also, another $5 million went to smaller projects at six other sites.
“Our continued investment in Ohio’s local jails is a public safety investment that benefits everyone involved,” DeWine said. “This funding will go a long way toward creating safer and more secure jails for Ohio’s communities.”
Read the full storyDetroit Public Schools Set to Spend $1.2B of COVID-19 Relief
The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) plans to spend $1.2 billion of federal COVID-19 relief to recover from learning loss and revamp its buildings.
The spending plans aim to repair learning loss detailed by test data the state and federal government released this week showing a drop in test scores, and for some students, decades of learning loss.
Read the full storyMinnesota Department of Agriculture, University of Minnesota Ask Businesses to Report Food Sourcing Practices
A Minnesota Department of Agriculture and University of Minnesota partnership is surveying state businesses that source, distribute or serve food.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program grant funds the three-year Statewide Cooperative Partnership for Local and Regional Markets, which designed the survey.
Read the full storyReport: Georgia’s Election Integrity Measures Rank Second Nationally
Georgia ranks second in the country for its election integrity measures, an analysis found.
According to the Election Integrity Scorecard from the Heritage Foundation, the Peach State ranked behind only its neighbor to the north, Tennessee. Hawaii ranked last on the list, just behind Nevada and California.
Read the full storyFederal Judge Hands Trump Win, Orders Special Master to Review Evidence Seized from Mar-a-Lago
A federal judge on Monday handed Donald Trump a significant win, ordering a special master to review evidence seized by the FBI during its raid of the former president’s Florida estate last month.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the independent master can “review the seized property, manage assertions of privilege and make recommendations thereon, and evaluate claims for return of property.”
Read the full storyAbortion Supporters Sue to Restore Full Access in Ohio
Abortion provider Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio filed litigation in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas on Friday to kill Senate Bill 23, the Ohio law banning abortion after the unborn child has a detectable heartbeat.
Lawmakers passed and Republican Governor Mike DeWine signed that statute in 2019, though it only took effect this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Although the high court refused to uphold that ruling’s stipulation that the federal Constitution bestows right to terminate a pregnancy — while mentioning neither pregnancy nor abortion — the abortion advocates argue that the Ohio Constitution — also silent on abortion — still grants that right.
Read the full storyRon Johnson: We Need Whistleblowers in Order to Stop Federal Bureaucrats from Meddling in Another Election
Federal bureaucrats meddled in the last two presidential elections by promoting false Russia collusion claims and suppressing the Hunter Biden story, and more whistleblowers are needed to keep that from happening again in 2024, says Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.).
“I think that started in 2016 when they tried to meddle in the election, and they did meddle in that election,” Johnson told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview. “They tried to get Hillary Clinton elected, and they failed. But in 2020, they succeeded by downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop by censoring, by suppressing that.”
Read the full storyMiyares, National Attorneys General Association Call for Authority to Enforce Consumer Protection Laws Against Airlines
Attorney General Jason Miyares and 36 other attorneys general want Congress to grant them power to enforce consumer protection laws against airlines; on Wednesday the National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Congressional leaders saying that the U.S. Department of Transportation has failed to protect airline customers under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Miyares said in a press release, “Flying is essential to millions of Virginians and helps support both our state and national economies, which means that consumer confidence in the air travel experience has significant economic impact. For years, the federal government has failed to spur the U.S. Department of Transportation to effectively and efficiently respond to consumer complaints and state attorneys general have little to no authority to hold airline companies accountable when they break the law and abuse consumers. Congress must discuss possible legislation that provides more consistent and fair enforcement mechanisms for consumer violations to protect Virginians that are heavily reliant on the airline industry for personal and professional travel.”
Read the full storyConnecticut Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Stefanowski Vows to Target Hundreds of Licensing and Regulatory Fees Small Businesses Forced to Pay
Republican candidate for Connecticut governor Bob Stefanowski pledged last week to cease collection of the hundreds of licensing and regulatory fees small businesses and entrepreneurs are forced to pay prior to their repeal by the next legislature.
“Now I know everybody’s gonna jump up and down, you can’t do that, OK,” Stefanowski said Tuesday, according to CT Mirror. “I’m going to tell [the tax commissioner] to do it.”
Read the full storyIn Pennsylvania, University Mandates Proof of COVID-19 Vaccine for Students but Not Staff
Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania released its Fall 2022 COVID-19 vaccination protocol, stating that returning students must be fully vaccinated prior to arriving on campus.
“Students are required to be fully vaccinated prior to arriving to campus, unless approved with an exemption,” the Susquehanna University Plan for Fall 2022 reads.
Read the full storyWisconsin Voter Fraud Charges Open Hypocrisy Debate in Election for State Attorney General
Wisconsin’s highest profile voter fraud case yet is now an issue in the race for attorney general.
Democrat Josh Kaul, the attorney general, has filed voter fraud charges against a Racine County man who requested the ballots of Wisconsin’s Assembly speaker and the mayor of Racine ahead of the August primary.
Read the full storyCosts, Sloppy State Paperwork Mire Wisconsin Broadband Audit
A new state audit raises questions about where Wisconsin’s broadband money was actually spent.
The Legislative Audit Bureau released its report Thursday. Auditors say the state’s Public Service Commission didn’t track just how much internet companies actually spent to expand broadband service across the state.
Read the full storyArizona GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Kari Lake Blasts Dem Opponent Katie Hobbs for Ducking Debate
Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee is thrashing her Democrat opponent over that Democrat’s refusal to debate her before the November general election.
“13 days ago, I offered up the sweetest debate offer in history. [Secretary of State Katie Hobbs] waited until 2 hours before the official [Arizona Clean Elections Committee] deadline & denied my offer. She has disdain for us, Arizona. She thinks we are beneath her. We’re going to beat her like a drum in November, folks,” Kari Lake said on Twitter Friday.
Read the full storyMaricopa County Attorney Changes Policy for Cases Involving Gun Violence
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Thursday that she would change prosecution policies for cases involving gun violence in an attempt to ensure violent criminals face jail time.
“The revision to our plea policies recognizes that these crimes will not be tolerated in Maricopa County. Those who choose to put the residents of this county at risk by using a firearm in the commission of felony will be held accountable,” Mitchell said. “I will not let the Valley of the Sun and surrounding communities become another San Francisco or Chicago where law and order has been overlooked by prosecutors, which has caused unnecessary chaos.”
Read the full storyThe Morning Ritual with Garret Lewis: Kari Lake on ‘Soul of the Nation’ Speech,” Grassroots Politicians’ ‘Existential Threat’ to Dems’ Agenda
Friday morning on The Morning Ritual with Garret Lewis, host Lewis welcomed GOP nominee for Governor of Arizona, Kari Lake to the show to comment upon Joe Biden’s Soul of the Nation prime time speech.
Read the full storyArizona Attorney General’s Office Asked to Take Actions Against Local School Board Event
The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) made a request to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office (AGO) Wednesday, asking it to take action against a school board event that would use taxpayer dollars to oppose school choice.
“Arizonans should be appalled to learn that school districts are using taxpayer resources to have district employees participate in an event clearly geared toward a political objective,” said GI Senor Attorney Scott Day Freeman. “All Arizona families should be free to make educational choices for their children without having the government work against them by rigidly defending a status quo that protects bureaucrats and government unions.”
Read the full storyRailroad Ridership on Virginia-Supported Routes Hit All-Time High in July
After adding more routes in Virginia, ridership on four state-supported Amtrak routes hit all-time highs in July, beating pre-pandemic levels with 110,256 passengers.
“These numbers make it very clear – Virginians want more passenger rail to be a part of their transportation network,” Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VRPA) Chief Operating Officer Mike McLaughlin said in a press release. “With the launch of two new roundtrips and the resumption of another, we know that rail works for the Commonwealth and look forward to further expanding service throughout the state.”
Read the full storyKansas School Forced to Give Teacher Nearly $100K After Suspending Her for Refusing to Use Transgender Name
A Kansas teacher has been awarded nearly $100,000 after being suspended from her school due to her refusal to use a transgender-identifying student’s new name in class.
Read the full storyTruss Tapped to Be Britain’s Next Prime Minister, Draws Comparisons to Margaret Thatcher
Liz Truss, a hawkish diplomat who has drawn comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, was chosen Monday by the Britain’s Conservative Party to be the country’s next prime minister.
Truss, 47, defeated Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the Exchequer, in the race to succeed the scandal-tarred Boris Johnson. She captured 57% percent of the vote and will assume office Tuesday when installed by Queen Elizabeth II.
Read the full storyStudent Loan Forgiveness in Pennsylvania Favors the Wealthy
As Pennsylvania higher education institutions face a shortage of students, their former students will disproportionately benefit from student loan forgiveness.
A research brief from the Independent Fiscal Office estimates that almost 2 million Pennsylvania borrowers hold $69 billion student loan debt, and $21 billion would be forgiven. Another $1.8 billion would be forgiven through the expansion of the income-driven repayment program.
Read the full story‘Socialism in Sheep’s Clothing’: Pro-Market Leaders Combat ESG, Liberal Capture of Corporate America
Pro-market elected officials and thought leaders are fighting back against progressive activists’ creeping capture of corporate America through the Environmental Social and Governance movement..
ESG investment strategies, increasingly prevalent among large asset management firms, seek to leverage passive investors’ assets to steer corporate decision-making to promote progressive social and environmental priorities. ESG has often been compared to the “social credit” system used by China’s ruling communist elite to enforce political conformity on its population.
Read the full storyCaught on Camera: George Mason University Students for Life Harassed by Pro-Abortion Student
In videos obtained by Campus Reform, a pro-abortion individual at George Mason University (GMU) is seen allegedly stalking the Students for Life (SFL) chapter during its Wednesday club fair in an attempt to deter the group’s ability to recruit.
The videos show the individual in a heated debate with Students for Life Regional Coordinator Gavin Oxley and disposing of the chapter’s recruitment material.
Read the full storyNavy SEALs Fighting COVID Vax Mandate Get Boost from Congress, States, Delta Force Legend
More than two dozen members of Congress and nearly half the states are supporting Navy SEALs in their legal efforts to secure religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, rejecting the Biden administration’s invocation of judicial deference to military decisions.
They filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week, arguing the “near-total denial rate” for religious requests and preference for nonreligious requests violates the Free Exercise Clause, the “overwhelmingly bipartisan” Religious Freedom Restoration Act and state RFRAs.
Read the full storyLeftist Author Jon Meacham Named to Board of University of Tennessee’s Institute for American Civics
Author and former MSNBC contributor Jon Meacham was named to the Board of Fellows of the University of Tennessee’s newly established Institute for American Civics last week by University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd.
German-owned Politico reported that Meacham helped President Joe Biden “frame” his now infamously divisive “speech from hell” delivered in Philadelphia last week in which he attacked the 74 million Americans who voted for former President Donald Trump as a “threat to American democracy.”
Read the full storyReport: Vanderbilt University Professor Jon Meacham Helped Write Biden’s Anti-MAGA Speech
According to a weekend story in German-owned Politico, one of the men behind President Joe Biden’s divisive Thursday night speech is a Vanderbilt professor who has long been mired in controversy for his far-left political leanings.
“The actual writing of the speech started about three weeks ago, with Jon Meacham, the historian who has had a hand in a number of Biden’s most sweeping speeches, helping the framing,” according to Politico.
Read the full storyEmployee Attendance Plunges to 47 Percent at Financial Institutions: Report
Despite offering workers a variety of incentives to return to the office, employees at financial institutions are simply ignoring new requirements to come into work on hybrid schedules, Reuters reported.
On average, employee attendance at banks is 47%, with companies averaging about a day less of actual attendance compared to expected attendance, according to a survey of 80,000 workers conducted by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA). When hybrid companies demand two, two or three, or three days of attendance, employees only showed up to work for 1.1, 1.6, and 2.1 days on average.
Read the full storyCommentary: Mandating Kindergarten Is a Bad Idea
This back-to-school season, many parents are eager to drop-off their kindergarteners to begin the 13-year journey toward high school graduation. It can be a joyful time, full of anticipation and excitement. But just because something may be desirable for many families doesn’t mean it should be mandatory for all.
California is the latest state to try to mandate kindergarten for all students, angling to become the 20th to do so. The California legislature recently passed a bill for compulsory kindergarten attendance that is now awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature.
Read the full storyTennessee Has the Highest Beer Tax Rate in the U.S.
Tennessee has the highest beer tax rate in the country, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation.
Tennessee’s rate is $1.29 per gallon, one of just two states that charge more than $1 per gallon in the country. Alaska charges $1.07.
In the fiscal year just completed at the end of July, Tennessee collected more than $19 million in beer tax, which was $1.6 million more than it had budgeted. The year before, it collected $18.7 million in beer tax.
Read the full story‘Massive Abuse of Power’: Intel Committee Rep Mike Gallagher Vows to Use ‘Power of the Purse’ to Get Transparency from Biden, DOJ
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, denounced a “massive abuse of power” and vowed to use congressional funding powers to get transparency from the Biden administration about the Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago during a Sunday appearance on Fox Business.
“For something of this magnitude, something unprecedented, you would expect the FBI and the DOJ to go to great lengths to insure they are conducting themselves with the highest level of professionalism, but they never notified our committee — which you would expect them to do if, indeed, there was a danger posed by the classified material that was in Donald Trump’s possession,” Gallagher told former Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, who guest-hosted the show, adding that many committee members found out details of the raid from news reports based on leaks from the Justice Department.
Read the full storyCommentary: Saving America Now Requires a Ruthless Offense
The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us there is nothing new under the sun. But there is undeniably something new happening in American history. New and terrible. No hyperbole; we are living through the greatest threat to America since the Civil War.
This new threat, which has been germinating its poisonous fruit for decades in the darkened earth of sheltered universities, federal agencies, and media newsrooms has erupted into such full and ugly view today that it cannot be met and defeated, or even retarded, with any of our normal methods.
Read the full storyCommentary: Real Deterrence of China Will Be Uncomfortable
The pace of China’s nuclear modernization has been described as breathtaking by Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. The increased size and sophistication of the capabilities being developed make them a strategic threat to the U.S. and its allies. Along with that threat comes the uncertainty around how large China plans to grow its force.
Read the full story