Americans for Prosperity Calls Out Oracle for Reported Layoffs While Receiving Taxpayer Money

Following a report that tech company Oracle has begun laying off workers from its Nashville location, the libertarian conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is calling on state and local leaders to scrutinize the company especially after it received “nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money.”

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Tennessee Representatives Join Letter Demanding Answers from Pentagon over Veterans’ Lack of Access to TRICARE Pharmacies

Tennessee Representatives Mark Green (R-TN-07), David Kustoff (R-TN-08), and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) joined 25 of their colleagues on Wednesday in sending a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “regarding the impact of the Department of Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) decision to proceed with Cigna/Express Script’s reduced reimbursement plan.”

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Tennessee’s Blackburn and Green Take Biden to Task for 20-Year Mortgage-Rate High

Republican federal legislators from Tennessee blasted the Biden administration yesterday in light of the news that mortgage-interest rates have reached a two-decade high. 

Government-sponsored mortgage corporation Freddie Mac reported this week that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage — the option most homebuyers choose — hit 7.08 percent, exceeding seven percent for the first time since Spring 2002. The rate was 6.94 percent last week.

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State Senator Brian Kelsey Files Motion to Change Not Guilty Plea in Federal Investigation

Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown)  issued an attempt to change his original not-guilty plea regarding charges stemming from his federal campaign finance case.

As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, in October 2021, a federal grand jury in Nashville indicted Kelsey on a five-count indictment charging him and another man with violating multiple campaign finance laws. Prosecutors said Kelsey and Nashville social club owner Joshua Smith allegedly violated multiple campaign finance laws as part of a conspiracy to benefit Kelsey’s 2016 campaign for Congress.

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Arizona Corporation Commissioner Warns Officials That Using Electronic Voting Machine Tabulators Violates the Law; Cochise County Agrees to Hand Count Ballots

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor and a group of concerned Arizonans have made some progress in their efforts to convince Arizona’s counties to refrain from using electronic voting machine tabulators in the Nov. 8 election. The Cochise County Supervisors (CCBOS) voted two to one during a meeting on Monday to conduct a hand count in addition to using the machines, although due to a threat from Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ State Elections Director Kori Lorick, it may only be a partial hand count.

“It’s about the people. It’s about our right to vote and have our votes counted and feel confident in the election process,” Republican board member Peggy Judd said, explaining why the hand count is needed. She said immediately before the vote, “I’d like to take this chance. My heart and my work has been in it and I don’t want to back down. I might go to jail.”

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Wisconsin Judge Refuses to Allow Mail-In Ballots with Partial Addresses to Be Counted in Win for GOP

A Wisconsin judge has rejected a request from the state’s League of Women Voters to allow election officials to count absentee ballots with incomplete witness addresses. 

Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell on Wednesday said the group’s request for a temporary injunction “would upend the status quo and not preserve it” and “frustrate the electoral process by causing confusion” less than two weeks before Election Day, CBS News reported.

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Tim Ryan Unsure If Illegal Immigrants Should Be Permitted to Vote in Ohio

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) says that he is still undecided on two major issues on the Ohio midterm ballot, including one deciding if illegal immigrants should be allowed to vote in Ohio elections.

Under two weeks from the midterm election, Ryan says he doesn’t know his standpoint on Ohio’s two ballot initiatives. State Issue 1 if passed would require judges to consider public safety when setting bail amounts for criminal defendants. State Issue 2 would prohibit non-citizens from voting in state and local elections.

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Kari Lake Blasts Katie Hobbs and Fake News Media for Defamatory Statements Following Burglary

PHOENIX, Arizona – Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake spoke to a crowd of journalists following what she called “defamatory” statements attacking her for a burglary that occurred at her Democrat rival Katie Hobbs’s Phoenix campaign office.

“Katie Hobbs, sure enough, is a coward. She refuses to debate. She disrespects the people of this state by refusing to debate. She’s willing to make up complete, bogus stories. She knew I had nothing to do with that break-in, and yet she perpetuated that lie. You guys [the media] all fell for it, and she knew you’d fall for it,” Lake said.

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Democrat Blows Whistle on Alleged Ballot-Harvesting Scheme, Florida Opens Criminal Probe

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election crimes unit has recommended state police open a full criminal investigation into a Democrat whistleblower’s detailed complaint of a long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation in the African-American communities in politically important central Florida.

Former Orange County Commissioner candidate Cynthia Harris filed a sworn affidavit in late August with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that illegal operations to collect third-party ballots have been going on for years in the Orlando area where voting activists are paid $10 for each ballot they collect.

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Georgia Unemployment Rates Drop in September

Georgia’s Regional Commissions saw a drop in their unemployment rates in September, officials said.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September stood at 2.8% for the third consecutive month. The rate is down slightly from 3.2% in January and from 3.5% in September 2021. 

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s preliminary non-seasonally adjusted unemployment was 2.6%. That is down from 3% a month ago and 3.5% a year ago.

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Public Comment on New Transgender Guidelines Ends, But Enactment Delayed for at Least 30 Days

Public comment has ended on the Youngkin administration’s draft transgender model policies, but they won’t go into effect until November 26 at the soonest, and may take longer, according to Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Director of Communications Charles Pyle. “The department’s timeline for finalizing the guidance and model policies document will be determined by the law (Section 2.2-4002.1.) and the amount of time required to review comments submitted by the public and make any edits to the document warranted by the comments. The guidance and model policies won’t become final until the review is complete and a final version is approved by the state superintendent,” Pyle told The Virginia Star. The 2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools will replace the 2021 Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Virginia’s Public Schools. Law passed in 2020 requires school boards to enact policies consistent with the model policy guidance documents created by the VDOE, and the law includes requirements over what the policies contain. During the 30-day comment period, the model policies received 71,298 public comments on Virginia’s regulatory review site, and although the board of education…

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Goldwater Institute Achieves Victory for Pima County Taxpayers in ‘Balloondoggle’ Case

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) announced Thursday that it had achieved victory in the state appellate court against Pima County on behalf of taxpayers for a scandal involving World View Enterprises (WVE).

“Arizona’s Constitution is crystal clear: Taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden for corporate welfare. Yesterday’s ruling reinforces this edict, letting hardworking Arizonans off the hook for a ‘balloondoggle’ of epic proportions that sought to gamble with their own money,” said GI Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur in a statement emailed to the Arizona Sun Times.

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Ohio Secretary of State Warns Voters: Absentee Ballots Cannot Be Returned to Precincts

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose cautions voters that Ohio law does not allow them to return their absentee ballots to their precincts on Election day.

Those who elect to hold onto their paper ballots until November 8th must deliver them to their county board of elections office. According to LaRose, poll workers at precinct-level voting locations cannot accept them.

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Kari Lake Campaign Highlights Katie Hobbs’ Racist Actions in New TV Ad

With under two weeks until the November general election, Republican Kari Lake’s campaign for governor released a new TV Ad reminding Arizonans of the past racist actions of Lake’s Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs.

“Katie Hobbs may try to run from her racist behavior, but she can’t hide her appalling record from the voters of Arizona,” said Lake’s campaign in a statement emailed to reporters. “Arizona’s state employees – and all Arizonans who are proud to call this state home – simply can’t afford to elect a racist to the governor’s office.”

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Obama Jumps into Pennsylvania Midterms After Fetterman’s Error-Filled Debate Performance

Former President Barack Obama urged Pennsylvanians to vote for Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections during a campaign ad, just days after Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman struggled during his debate with Republican Mehmet Oz.

Obama told Pennsylvanians that their midterm vote would shape the future of American democracy and women’s abortion rights, according to the 15-second ad which was obtained by Axios. Obama’s efforts to ramp up support for the Democrats in Pennsylvania comes after most of the debate audience believed that Fetterman failed to win, according to a recent poll conducted by WXPI.

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Commentary: Zero Basis Exists for the Claim That Electric Vehicles Have ‘Zero Emissions’

As California, New York, and other states move to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, public officials routinely echo the Biden administration’s claim that electric vehicles are a “zero emissions” solution that can significantly mitigate the effects of climate change. 

Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may be too rash to write off all internal combustion vehicles just yet. 

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State Department’s Afghanistan Rescue Program Had 325,00 Unread Emails, Federal Watchdog Reports

A new federal watchdog report shows the State Department recently had as many as 325,000 unread emails from Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort and want to be evacuated.

The report by the State Department’s inspector general shows the number of unread emails was as of May – nearly nine months after the U.S. military completely pulled out of Afghanistan, in a chaotic last-few-days exit in which residents were seen clinging in vain to the takeoff gear of cargo evacuation planes and ultimately being left behind.

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Commentary: Fetterman’s Record in Braddock Is No Roadmap for Pennsylvania

Aliquippa, Duquesne, Greenville, New Castle, and Rankin: western Pennsylvania has no shortage of economically distressed municipalities that seem to have been left by the wayside and forgotten. But the town of Braddock got something different: a political figure standing 6-foot-8, draped in gym shorts and a Carhartt hoodie. He promised to turn around a persistent economic depression, and he brought national media attention to the small town, which had seen a population decline from a peak of 20,000 in the 1920s to under 1,800.

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GDP Bounces Back with 2.6 Percent Growth After Decline Earlier This Year

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its quarterly Gross Domestic Product data Thursday which the economy grew in the third quarter of 2022 by 2.6% at an annualized rate.

“The increase in real GDP reflected increases in exports, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending, that were partly offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and private inventory investment,” BEA said.

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Pennsylvania GOP Prepares to Impeach Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner

Republicans in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives are taking steps towards impeaching Larry Krasner, the far-left District Attorney of Philadelphia, due to his record of soft-on-crime policies that have made the city more dangerous.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, a group of Republicans in the lower house, led by State Representative Martina White (R-Penn.), filed articles of impeachment against Krasner on Wednesday. This comes after a bipartisan majority of the State House gave the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order the authority to investigate the causes of the rising crime wave in Philadelphia, and to propose solutions for solving the crisis.

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White House Spokesman Won’t Say If Hunter Biden Still Shares Ownership of Firm with Beijing

On Wednesday, White House spokesman John Kirby claimed that he had no information as to whether or not Hunter Biden is still co-owner of an investment firm that he shared with the Chinese government, even though Hunter’s lawyer has claimed that he has divested the entirety of his ownership stake.

The New York Post asked Kirby, the top spokesman for the National Security Council, if Joe Biden’s son still owns 10 percent of BHR Partners, a private equity company backed by the state.

“On China, this is a very simple question, but it’s an enduring point of uncertainty: Does the president’s son still co-own a company with China’s government?” The Post reporter asked at Kirby’s latest White House briefing. “And if not, can you provide some basic transparency about who bought that stake and for how much money?”

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Democrat Mayor Wants to Give Herself a Pay Raise Despite City’s Rampant Crime

Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is lobbying for a raise to her $216,000 salary, according to the Chicago Sun Times, despite the city’s crime problem worsening considerably under her leadership.

The Mayor’s salary hasn’t changed since 2005, but Lightfoot’s new budget proposal includes an annual salary adjustment equivalent to the rate of inflation, capping it at 5%, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Chicago has seen major crime spikes in several categories, including homicide, under Lightfoot’s leadership.

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Mortgage Rates Spike to Highest Level in over 20 Years

Mortgage rates have continually increased for 10 straight weeks, with current 30-year fixed rates hitting their highest point since 2001.

Mortgage rates hit 7.16% for the week ending in Oct. 21 as markets simultaneously saw a 2% decrease in demand for loans, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) survey. Mortgage rates are predicted to continue climbing as ongoing inflation concerns have left many analysts predicting another hike in interest rates, CNBC reported.

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