Tennessee State Board of Education Approves List of Math Materials Eligible for Adoption by Local Districts

At its regularly scheduled meeting Friday, the Tennessee State Board of Education approved a list of eligible materials for K-12 instruction of mathematics by local districts. The list is compiled by the Tennessee Textbook Commission and presented to the state board by the Tennessee Department of Education (TNDOE).

The submission and subsequent approval are part of a legally mandated review process conducted by the state. Every six years, one core subject is slated for review, and districts must select materials they intend to purchase and implement to educate students in that core subject for the next six years. English language arts went through the process in 2019, and social studies in 2020. Math was slated for review in 2021 but was delayed for two years, so as not to conflict with a state review of math standards.

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Report: FDA Concerned Providers Prescribing Abortion-Inducing Drugs for Women Who Are Not Pregnant

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says abortion providers are prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to women in advance of becoming pregnant – a practice that is without authorization and potentially dangerous for women.

“The FDA is concerned about the advance prescribing of mifepristone for this use,” an anonymous FDA spokesperson reportedly told the German-owned Politico Friday. “Mifepristone is not approved for advance provision of a medical abortion.”

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Beacon Center Publishes Strategy to Cut Red Tape in Tennessee

The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee unveiled a strategy Tuesday to whittle down the mass of regulations that burden businesses in the Volunteer State. 

Beacon cites 2017 data from the National Small Business Association indicating that the total financial burden that regulations place on the average American business in its first year of operation surpasses $83,000. And while national regulations are famously onerous, even the generally free-market state government in Tennessee imposes a weighty regulatory regime. 

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Tennessee Grant Will Give $5 Million to Volunteer Fire Departments

In keeping with a recent theme of proactive public safety measures, Tennessee Tuesday announced that it will provide $5 million in grants to volunteer firefighting brigades across the state. 

Through what is called the Volunteer Firefighter Equipment and Training Grant Program, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) and the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) are inviting local volunteer firefighting organizations to apply for the grants, according to a release. 

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Biden Voter Registration Effort Targets Vulnerable Americans Likely to Vote Democrat, Memos Show

Congressional investigators have obtained evidence that the Biden administration has launched a sprawling effort to use federally funded job training and food stamp programs to register new voters in Democrat-skewing demographic groups such as young adults and Native Americans, fueling concerns the federal government is placing a partisan thumb on the scales in the midterm elections.

Part of the plan, spurred by a 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden, is captured in an eight-page memo that the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration sent out in March to state and local officials responsible for providing training to workers in need of jobs.

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Williamson County Moms for Liberty Chapter Hosting ‘Gender 101’ Course

Moms for Liberty of Williamson County, a grassroots group of conservative mothers who battle against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other left-wing ideology in schools will be hosting a seminar on gender ideology. 

“GENDER101 is part of the chapter’s ‘2022-2023 School Year for Parents’ initiative, focusing on one critical issue in Williamson County Schools per month,” the group said in a release. “The November focus is Gender Ideology, and GENDER101 offers parents a ‘crash course’ on this topic.”

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VSG Report Released That Claims to Substantiate Estimate of $2.1 Billion to Renovate Nissan Stadium

The much-anticipated report from VSG (Venue Solutions Group), which claims to substantiate the estimated $2.1 billion in projected costs to renovate Nissan Stadium was released Tuesday.

The previous estimates for an upgrade to the stadium to the “first-class condition” required in the 1996 stadium lease agreement at costs ranging between $1.75 to $1.95 billion is what is driving the argument for a new stadium.

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Central Arizona Water Conservation District Candidates Discuss Water Shortage, Taxes at EZAZ Forum

The grassroots group EZAZ held a forum featuring the candidates running for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) Board of Directors on Sunday. At least one of the candidates, Republican Legislative District Chair Cory Mishkin, said the coming water shortage was manageable, and called out California for causing problems. A couple of the candidates expressed concern that property taxes are being used to subsidize developers and municipalities.

Jeff Caldwell, EZAZ’s secretary and volunteer coordinator, asked each candidate five questions, as well as allowing them to give opening and closing statements. The candidates were not provided the questions in advance.

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Montana to Vote on Referendum That Protects Infants Who Survive Abortions

A pro-life referendum takes center stage in Montana as state residents are set to decide whether to give additional legal protections to babies who survive abortions.

Montana LR-131, also known as the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, says that infants born alive after an abortion are legal persons and that healthcare providers must take “necessary actions to preserve the life of a born-alive infant.” These “necessary actions” include “the right to appropriate and reasonable medical care and treatment.”

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Voter Guides by CCV, BallotReady, iVoterGuide Vie to Inform Ohioans on Candidates and Ballot Issues

Several organizations have created nonpartisan voter guides to help Ohioans discover where candidates stand on key issues for the upcoming midterm election.

The Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), iVoterGuide, and BallotReady say that the reason behind the resource is to voters determine the true positions of the candidates on some of the most important issues.

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Despite Legal Battle, $5 Billion Rivian Electric Vehicle Plant Still in Progress for Georgia

 Work on electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive’s $5 billion plant will progress as planned despite an ongoing legal fight, officials confirmed to The Center Square.

Site grading began in the early fall, and the judge’s ruling does not affect progress on development, Marie Gordon, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, told The Center Square. However, Gordon deferred to a representative of a public affairs agency to answer more substantive questions about the project.

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Endorses Oz over Fetterman, GOP Senate Nominee Says Newspaper’s ‘Had Enough’

Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz is touted an endorsement from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a major newspaper in the state whose readership is largely in Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s home county.

The editorial board of the Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania’s second-largest paper, questioned Fetterman’s capabilities in a Sunday opinion piece. The board said Fetterman’s “lack of transparency” following a serious stroke he suffered in May “suggests an impulse to conceal and a mistrust of the people.” The paper also said Fetterman’s “life experience and maturity are also concerns” as he has “lived off his family’s money for much of his life.”

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Ohio’s Buckeye Institute Urges Circuit Court to Kill Biden Tax Mandate

The Columbus-based Buckeye Institute this week filed an amicus brief in the federal court case challenging the authority the Biden administration has asserted to limit state tax-reduction efforts. 

Opponents of the White House policy are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to rule in Texas v. Yellen that a provision of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) cannot condition states’ receipt of federal aid on accepting “ambiguous” federally prescribed tax policy. Plaintiffs and their supporters further argue that President Joe Biden and his Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cannot invoke their regulatory power to fix ARPA’s lack of clarity.

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Michigan Schools’ COVID Recovery Includes Support Dogs and Massage Chairs

Michigan schools are spending $6 billion of federal COVID relief to recover from pandemic learning loss with solutions ranging from summer school to support dogs to even a new amphitheater.

Spending records obtained by more than 90 records requests show schools deploying a range of recovery mechanisms, including smaller class sizes, more tutoring, facility improvements and new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

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Somali Parents Join Movement Against Left-Wing Indoctrination in Minnesota Schools

The Minnesota Parents Alliance packed a room in Golden Valley Sunday afternoon for an event geared toward Somali parents, many of whom were shocked and alarmed to discover some of the materials available to their kids.

Public school priorities are increasingly at odds with the family values and religious beliefs of the Somali community, speakers at the event explained.

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Commentary: Faulty FBI Data Obscures Successful Defensive Gun Use

With crime such an important issue, Americans depend on the FBI for accurate data. The crime data for 2021 is a mess, with almost 40% of law enforcement agencies around the country not submitting any data to the FBI. In California, 93% didn’t report crime data. In New York, 87% didn’t. Cities are embarrassed by the soaring crime rates, and even when they have collected the data they aren’t transmitting those numbers to the FBI.

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Florida Hispanic Students Rank First Nationwide in Reading

Florida’s highest-ever 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress rankings indicate that the state’s students are “well ahead of their peers, especially with younger and educationally at-risk students who were harmed the most from distance learning in other states,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said when announcing the ranking. 

“We insisted on keeping schools open and guaranteed in-person learning in 2020 because we knew there would be widespread harm to our students if students were locked out,” he said, adding that the results “once again prove that we made the right decision.” 

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State Senator Nancy Barto Calls for Arizona State Hospital Overhaul Following Patient Attack on Nurses

Arizona State Sen. Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) called for an overhaul in the Arizona State Hospital (ASH), a psychiatric care facility, to better protect nurses and patients and create stronger accountability.

“While the Arizona Department of Health Services [AZDHS] claims this incident was a rare occurrence, I’ve been contacted over the years by numerous courageous whistleblowers from within the system that have provided disturbing testimony on the many dangerous incidents, injuries, patient conditions and the lack of staffing that has led to what I see as a collapse of operations at the Arizona State Hospital,” said Barto.

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Miyares, Dominion Energy Tout Potential New Deal over Offshore Wind Project Costs

Dominion Energy, the Office of the Attorney General, and other stakeholders have announced a tentative settlement agreement over how the utility will pay for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Project. The agreement, which still needs approval from the State Corporation Commission, would allow the utility to bill some cost overruns in the project to consumers, but sets a cap along with some protections for the utility’s shareholders who would otherwise bear the burden. Attorney General Jason Miyares said that’s a win for consumers, and the utility said the agreement balances financial impacts.

“I am pleased that we have achieved consumer protections never seen before in modern Virginia history,” Miyares said in a press release. “For the first time Dominion has significant skin in the game to ensure that the project is delivered on budget. Should the project run materially over budget, it will come out of Dominion’s pocket, not consumers’. If approved by the State Corporation Commission [SCC], this agreement provides first-of-its-kind protections for Virginia consumers. A wide range of stakeholders support this agreement. I especially want to thank the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices for joining, as well as Virginia’s largest private employer, Walmart. This landmark agreement means that Virginia will be a national leader in offshore renewable energy for years to come and most importantly in a fiscally responsible way.”

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Libertarian Marc Victor Drops Out of Senate Race, Endorses Blake Masters

Arizona’s Libertarian nominee Marc Victor announced Tuesday his withdrawal from the race, endorsing Republican nominee Blake Masters on his way out the door. Masters said this endorsement.

“Marc Victor joins a growing list of Arizonans from across the political spectrum who are fed up with open borders, big government corruption, and rising crime,” Masters said. “We are building a broad coalition to defeat the worst Senator in America. This is another major boost in momentum as we consolidate our support against the extreme and radical policies of Mark Kelly and Joe Biden. Live and Let Live.”

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University of Virginia Student Government Calls for Divestment from Companies Implicit in Chinese Communist Party Atrocities

University of Virginia’s student government voted on Tuesday in favor of divesting the university’s holdings and endowment from institutions linked to Chinese Communist Party’s abuses of the Muslim Uyghur people.

The Athenai Institute, a nonpartisan student group that advocates for CCP divestment, celebrated the news.

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Kari Lake Tells Arizonans to Support ‘Common Sense’ Propositions 128, 129, and 132

Arizona Republican Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake told Arizonans she supports Propositions 128, 129, and 132, which are all up for a vote on the November election ballot, in a video released Sunday.

“Blue state billionaires are spending tens of millions of dollars to raise taxes in Arizona. Don’t let them California our Arizona,” Lake said. “Vote yes on Propositions 128, 129, and 132.”

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Nevada GOP Challenger Holds Lead over Democratic Governor

Republican challenger Joe Lombardo leads Nevada incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak just one week ahead of the midterms, according to a new poll.

Of 885 likely voters, 49% said they would vote for Lombardo, and 45% said they would back Sisolak, according to the NYT/Siena College poll released Monday. Lombardo, who serves as the Clark County Sheriff, had trailed behind Sisolak in the polls until October, but made up ground as Republicans nationwide surged.

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Commentary: We Must Remember Those Lost at Fort Hood Because the U.S. Army Brass Will Not

Fort Hood, Texas, is named after John Bell Hood, a West Point graduate and Confederate general. The Army wants to rename the base after the late General Richard Cavazos, a hero of the Korean and Vietnam wars. This selection bypasses qualified candidates with a history on the base, such as Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman.

An expert in post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, Warman received an Army Commendation Medal for service at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the  facility where soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq received treatment before returning stateside. Warman loved her work and volunteered for flights to Iraq to care for soldiers.

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Cybersecurity Group: China Working to Undermine Midterm Elections

A cybersecurity group has claimed that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively taking steps to undermine the coming midterm elections in the United States, with just one week left to go.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the threat assessment comes from Mandiant, an intelligence and cybersecurity-focused organization that has worked with both the government and the public sector. Mandiant claims that the Chinese government has been using an army of fake social media accounts and fake news “websites” in order to “sow division both between the U.S. and its allies and within the U.S. political system itself.”

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FBI Agent Who First Censored Hunter Biden Story Now Playing a Key Role in Administration’s ‘Misinformation’ Strategy

One of the FBI agents who was directly involved in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal back in October of 2020 is now playing a lead role in the Biden White House’s efforts to suppress so-called “misinformation” as the 2022 midterms draw closer.

As reported by the Daily Caller, FBI agent Laura Dehmlow was a key part of the coordinated effort between the FBI and the social media giant Facebook to censor the New York Post’s bombshell story about Hunter Biden and the many scandals that were exposed on his laptop. Now, according to The Intercept, Dehmlow has been part of the administration’s deliberate efforts to censor various social media posts that it unilaterally determines to contain “misinformation.”

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Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan Demands Biden Admin Show Compliance with Landmark Energy Decision

Republican Ranking House Judiciary Committee Member Jim Jordan told Biden administration authorities Tuesday to show how their agencies are obeying the Supreme Court’s June West Virginia v. EPA decision limiting the EPA’s power to unilaterally regulate emissions.

The court ruled in West Virginia v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not set carbon dioxide emissions caps for power plants to force a national transition away from coal power without explicit congressional authorization. Jordan sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Kathi Vidal, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan asking whether their agencies are complying with the decision.

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American Troops in Ukraine to Track Billions of Donated Weapons

The U.S. has troops on the ground conducting inspections and tracking the final destination of U.S.-provided weapons, a defense official confirmed Monday.

A contingent under the Defense attache and the Office of Defense Cooperation teams operating out of the embassy in Kyiv have initiated what are called “end-use” inspections to ensure some of the $17 billion in weapons the U.S. has provided to Ukraine are accounted for, the official, who spoke on a the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said at a press briefing Monday. The personnel monitor weapons stocks “whenever and wherever the security conditions allow” inside of Ukraine, far from the front lines where Ukrainian troops remain heavily reliant on U.S.-provided arms assistance.

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Poll: Republican Lee Zeldin Gains Lead In New York Governor’s Race

Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, who is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul, has taken the lead in the race for the first time, per a new poll.

Zeldin currently has the support of 48.4% of respondents, compared to Hochul’s 47.6%, a lead of 0.8 points, according to the poll by The Trafalgar Group released Monday. Per RealClearPolitics, this is the first major poll that has shown a lead for Zeldin, a Long Islander representing New York’s 1st Congressional District.

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Immigration Records Show Pelosi Attacker in Country Illegally, Officials Say

David DePape, the man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, entered the United States from Canada 22 years ago and never sought legal status after that, making him an illegal alien in the eyes of the U.S. government, officials told Just the News.

U.S. immigration records show DePape is a Canadian citizen born in 1980 and he last lawfully entered the United States on Aug. 6, 2000, the officials said.

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Federal Government Will Spend More on Debt Payments than the Entire Defense Budget

Interest on federal debt is set to skyrocket, potentially surpassing defense spending by as early as 2025, CNN reported Tuesday.

The federal government made $475 billion in net interest payments in the fiscal year 2022 — which ended in September  — up from $352 in fiscal year 2021, according to the Treasury Department. The number exceeds the $406 billion spent on transportation and veterans’ benefits, and is on track to eclipse the roughly $750 billion spent on defense this year between 2025 to 2026, according to CNN, citing financial analytics firm Moody’s Analytics.

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Commentary: Scandal-Ridden San Francisco FBI Field Office Involved in Pelosi Investigation

No one should accept at face value the strange account of what happened to Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), at their California home last week.

Plenty of factors—a wholly dishonest news media, unsubstantiated claims the attacker was a foiled assassin who planned to kill the speaker of the House, and Mr. Pelosi’s recent legal troubles, to name a few—feed justified skepticism surrounding the alleged break-in and hammer attack that occurred in the wee hours of October 28. Details continue to change while leading Democrats including Hillary Clinton blame the incident, without evidence, on Republicans and Donald Trump.

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