Lucas County GOP Unanimously Censures Republican Lawmakers Who Backed Speaker Stephens

The Lucas County Republican Party voted unanimously this week to censure the Republican representatives who voted in favor of newly elected House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill).

Last month, lawmakers elected moderate Republican Stephens as the new speaker to succeed State Representative Bob Cupp (R-Lima) despite the Republican Caucus‘ previous selection in November of State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Moncolva) as the new speaker. Although the GOP caucus voted for Merrin as Speaker of the House in December, Stephen fought in collaboration with the Democrats to collect votes and garner a win.

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Report: Lab-Grown Meat Firms Don’t Know If Their Food Is Safe Long-Term

Despite leading scientists generally agreeing that lab grown meat is safe to eat, no long-term studies have been conducted to reliably demonstrate this, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Lab-grown meat is often made using immortalized cell lines, which, unlike regular cells, are capable of continuously dividing and growing in a manner similar to cancer cells, according to Bloomberg. Companies developing lab-grown meats have largely remained silent about the connection between their product and cancer cells, possibly in a bid to keep consumers from getting skittish about their products.

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Commentary: Stephen Curry’s Housing Hypocrisy

Stephen Curry is quite the guy. Professional athlete, philanthropist, and social justice advocate—is there anything he can’t do? Apparently there is, seeing as how the NBA player has difficulty practicing what he preaches.

Curry came under fire this week after it was revealed that he and his wife oppose the construction of multifamily housing near their $31 million Atherton mansion. Yet this shouldn’t surprise us. Hypocrisy is a defining trait for many wealthy liberals.

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Commentary: College for Some, Not All

Over recent decades, parents, grandparents, and high school students have been subject to a barrage of messages suggesting that everyone should go to college. Higher education is the pathway to more money and more status, we’re told.

Few have asked, “Is this path best for all young people, and is it best for our country?” Many young people are not cut out for college, but they have other talents. The vast majority of jobs in this country don’t require a college degree, although many do require additional training.

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Davidson County GOP Chair Candidate Lonnie Spivak Highlights Endorsements, Encourages All Republicans to Attend Saturday’s Meeting

Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the candidate for the Davidson County Republican Party Chair, Lonnie Spivak in studio to discuss his endorsements and how to register for the election on Saturday.

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National Security Expert Bill Gertz: Biden’s Weak Response to China Spy Balloon Yet Another Example of America’s Current ‘Woefully Inadequate’ Leadership

Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Washington Times reporter and national security expert Bill Gertz to the newsmaker line to comment on the Chinese spy balloon and the intentions of current U.S. leadership.

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Nashville DA’s Office Installs Listening Devices In What Seems a Troubling Secret Recording Trend

Listening devices have been installed in areas around the Nashville District Attorney’s office, according to news reports. The revelations come as similar recording devices are popping up in other government buildings across the country in what privacy experts say is a troubling trend of citizen monitoring. 

District Attorney Glenn Funk’s team did not dispute the findings of a NewsChannel 5 investigation, the news outlet reported.

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Records: Former Memphis Police Officers Lied About Details of Tyre Nichols Traffic Stop

Documents from Tennessee’s law enforcement regulatory and training agency are shining more light on the concerning conduct of the former Memphis Police officers involved in the Jan. 7 traffic stop that body cam video shows ended in the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols. 

A report filed with the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Commission that sought the officers’ decertification includes a statement from Officer Justin Smith, who insists he used departmental training during Nichols’ arrest.

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Biden Administration to End Title 42 in May

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration told the Supreme Court that it still fully intends to end the Title 42 public health rule that heavily limited immigration during the presidency of Donald Trump.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar revealed in a filing to the court that the administration will formally allow Title 42 to expire in May, around the same time the White House will let the nationwide public health emergency status over COVID-19 end as well.

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Poll: Americans Haven’t Been This Down on Their Personal Finances Since the Great Recession

Half of Americans say they are financially worse off now than a year ago, one of the few times 50% of Americans have reported being in a worse position since the great recession in 2008, according to a recent poll.

Of 1,011 respondents, 50% said they are worse off when reflecting on their personal financial situations, and only 35% reported being better off now than they were a year ago, according to the Gallup poll released Wednesday. In 2021 and 2022, Americans were evenly divided between 41% to 41% for being better off versus worse off, and in 2020, Americans were three times more likely to say they were better off, 59% to 20%.

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East Palestine, Ohio Police Silent When Asked Why They Arrested NewsNation Reporter at DeWine Press Conference

On Wednesday, police in Ohio arrested a NewsNation correspondent as state Governor Mike DeWine spoke at a press conference to announce the lifting of an evacuation order due to last week’s railway incident in East Palestine.

Last Friday, a 50-car freight train near Pennsylvania crashed while transporting hazardous goods.

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Commentary: Boosting Manufacturing in North America

The world paid little attention when the leaders of North America met in a summit in Mexico City last month, but what they decided was momentous. President Biden, Mexican President Lopez-Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau agreed to build on  President Trump’s 2020 trade agreement to find new ways to integrate their economies, boosting manufacturing and significantly reducing reliance on Asia.

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Red Flags Rise over UW-Madison Get-Out-the-Vote Initiative with ‘Zuckerbucks’ Feel

The BadgersVote initiative “strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections,” according to organizers. But is the campus-wide “public service” campaign really just a Democratic Party Get-Out-the-Vote effort underwritten by a taxpayer-funded university, a nonprofit research center, and liberal activist groups? 

For some, the university-nonprofit partnership feels a lot like the Zuckerbucks scandal of 2020.

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Wisconsin Governor Evers Proposes Expanding Veterans’ Programs

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) on Thursday announced several budget items for Fiscal Years 2023-25 that would expand aid to Badger State veterans. 

Priorities Evers mentioned included programs to assist ex-military personnel with employment, education, mental health and housing security. He said the proposal builds on earlier expenditures the governor and legislature made last year, spurred by recommendations of his Blue Ribbon Commission on Veteran Opportunity. 

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DeSantis Administration Further Investigates AP African American Studies Revision After College Board Reveals CRT Authors ‘Going to Be Freely Available to Students and Teachers’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration has requested the College Board release all of its materials regarding its revised Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) curriculum following an NPR interview in which the College Board president touted radical leftist material would still be very much available to high school students taking the course.

With Florida’s Stop WOKE Act banning the promotion of the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in grades K-12, the DeSantis administration rejected the initial APAAS course because it included writings such as those by radical Marxist and former Communist Party member Angela Davis, and others associated with portions of the course called the “Movement for Black Lives,” and “Black Queer Studies.”

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Abortion Fund of Ohio Launches Program to Help Minors Get Abortions Without Parental Consent

The Abortion Fund of Ohio (AFO) launched the “Legal Access Program” on February 3rd that will undermine parental rights in Ohio. This program aims to help minors get abortions without parental consent in addition to provide free legal guidance, case management, and link patients with pro bono attorneys.

An unemancipated minor in Ohio under 18 years old may not obtain an abortion unless one of her parents or her guardian has given written consent or she obtains a court order known as a judicial bypass, in which case the judge authorizes the procedure. The Legal Access Program is Ohio’s first judicial bypass program.

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Gov. Youngkin Condemns Black Lives Matter at School Push in Virginia Ed Union: ‘This Will Not Be Tolerated’

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office said the Black Lives Matter at School toolkit released by a Virginia teacher’s union “will not be tolerated.”  

The Virginia Education Association’s Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action toolkit champions BLM’s 13 principles in the classroom. It uses kindergarten through 12th grade lesson plans made by the education branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center to teach students principles including “transgender affirming,” “queer affirming,” “restorative justice,” and “globalism.”  

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Whitmer’s 2024 Budget Eyes $318 Million in Subsidies for Electric Vehicles

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed $79 billion budget for fiscal year 2024 aims to require taxpayers subsidize electric vehicles and chargers with $318 million.

Whitmer’s mobility budget includes $160 million for capital investments in rail, bus, and marine transit service expansions, $65 million for EV charging stations, and $48 million over two years for an EV sales and use tax exemption.

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House Speaker Ben Toma’s Ballot Image Bill Passes Through Elections Committee

A new bill from Arizona State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), which involves the publication of election ballot images, passed through the House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee Wednesday. State Sen. Ken Bennett (R-Prescott), a former Arizona Secretary of State, has a mirror bill in the State Senate and spoke in favor of Toma’s bill during the meeting.

“I don’t think this is a partisan issue. We have got to come together somehow as Republicans and Democrats in Arizona to make our elections transparent, trackable, and publicly verifiable,” Bennett said.

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Wisconsin Representatives Introduce Victims’ Rights Measure

Two state legislators from Wisconsin are urging colleagues to back their bill to strengthen crime victims’ rights to restitution in their state. 

The bill authored by State Representatives Shae Sortwell (R-Gibson) and Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) would halt the restoration of felons’ voting rights until after the perpetrators pay all fines, court fees, and victim restitution. In the Badger State, a convict loses his or her right to vote until he or she serves all prison time and completes any parole or probation that a court imposes. But that person may again vote before meeting his or her legal monetary obligations. 

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Abe Hamadeh’s Team Allegedly Delayed in Inspecting Maricopa County Adjudication Logs, Warns More Legal Action May Come

Republican Abe Hamadeh shared Thursday that Maricopa County had allegedly delayed his team’s efforts to inspect the County’s adjudication log from the 2022 election following a public records request.

“Maricopa County told my team that they were available for inspections this week. After we arrived yesterday morning the County kicked us out after just one hour. Maricopa County continues to obstruct and conceal – my team is prepared for litigation,” tweeted Hamadeh.

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Former State Legislator Paul Boyer Announces Candidacy for Glendale Mayor

Former Arizona state legislator Paul Boyer announced this week that he is running for mayor of Glendale. The current mayor, Republican Jerry Weiers, assumed that office in 2013 after serving eight years in the Arizona House.

Boyer submitted an op-ed to the Daily Independent on Monday explaining his decision. He criticized the legislature for attempting to pass laws that would stop cities and towns from taking certain actions.

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Commentary: Young Men Hold More Conservative Views than Young Women

A favorite argument the left propagates is that demographics are destiny, and that a tidal wave of young left-wing voters will erode GOP margins beyond repair. The argument that demographics are destiny is of course inescapable, but the argument that these demographics favor the left exclusively is misleading.       

What the data shows is there have been small but discernible shifts away from the Democrat Party over the past few years. The bulk of the research on younger voters also shows a widening gender gap. Younger women are becoming increasingly liberal and younger men are not. Recent research shows that younger men hold more conservative views than older men on gender issues, including the transgender question.  

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Matt Walsh Stuns Tennessee Democrat Lawmaker: ‘Do You Think a 16-Year-Old Can Meaningfully Consent to Having Body Parts Removed?’

Matt Walsh left speechless a Tennessee Democrat representative who failed to catch Walsh in a supposed contradiction when the conservative author asked the lawmaker a simple question during a State House Committee meeting covering a bill that would ban life-altering transgender medical treatments for minors.

State Representative Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) attempted to confront Walsh with a statement he supposedly made about 16-year-olds getting married, when, as the conservative author noted, he was a radio host “13 or 14 years ago and in my early 20s,” and leftist Media Matters subsequently did a “hit piece” on him using an inaccurate version of his statement.

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Tennessee Gov. Lee Pitches Plan to Expand Support for Pregnancy Care Centers to $100 Million

Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) announced Monday during his State of the State address he would propose boosting support for women in unplanned pregnancies through various programs, including an expansion in funding for crisis pregnancy care centers to $100 million, widening Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and parents, and granting additional paid family leave time for state employees.

Tennessee’s “trigger” law that bans abortion, titled the Human Life Protection Act, took effect August 25, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

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Fauci Paper Suggests Feds Knew COVID Vaccines Were Doomed from the Start: ‘Decidedly Suboptimal’

Anthony Fauci knows why COVID-19 vaccines have been so unreliable at halting infection and transmission beyond a few months. He waited until he stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to publicly explain it.

Elsevier’s medical journal Cell Host and Microbe published a “perspective” led by Fauci’s office last month that shows NIAID had good reason to believe COVID vaccines would fail even before they were authorized, based on research spanning Fauci’s 38-year tenure leading NIAID.

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Texas AG Sues Biden Admin over HHS Guidance Forcing Pharmacies to Carry Abortion Pills

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tuesday over the agency’s guidance mandating pharmacies provide abortion pills regardless of state law.

The HHS issued the guidance in July 2022, citing federal anti-discrimination law and threatening to pull Medicaid and Medicare funds from pharmacies that do not comply. The lawsuit argues that the guidance contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which found no constitutional right to an abortion and kicked the ability to pass regulations back to the state level.

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Report: China Has More ICBM Launchers than U.S.

A new report from the United States military asserts that China is now in possession of more land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers than the U.S., further reflecting China’s ongoing military escalations as part of its quest to become a superpower.

The New York Post reports that the Armed Services Committees in both houses of Congress were notified of this development on January 26th by General Anthony Cotton, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command. However, even despite having more launchers, the U.S. still has more ICBM missiles, whereas many of the Chinese launchers are empty. The U.S. also maintains superiority over China in the size of its nuclear fleet, despite China’s continuing efforts to increase the size of its own nuclear arsenal.

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Chair of Tennessee State Senate Education Committee Takes Third Grade TCAP Test

State Senator John Lundberg (R-Bristol) recently took the state test administered annually to Tennessee’s third-grade students. He said he found it to be fair, devoid of trick questions, and completable in a reasonable time frame.

In a phone conversation with The Tennessee Star, Lundberg said, “I heard a lot of concerns from parents around third-grade retention, and TCAP [Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.] I felt I owed it to them to delve deeper into the subject, and so I asked the department of education to allow me to take the test.”

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Virginia Lawmakers Support Banning ‘Foreign Adversaries’ from Buying Farmland

A proposal backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to prevent “foreign adversaries” from acquiring farmland in Virginia won support in the House and Senate this week when similar measures were passed in both chambers. 

Two bills in the House and Senate – Senate Bill 1438 and House Bill 2325 – would prohibit “foreign adversaries” from purchasing agricultural land in the commonwealth starting this year. The bill defines “foreign adversaries” as any foreign government or “nongovernment person” determined by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to have engaged in “a long-term pattern” of conduct threatening national security. 

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Florida Bill to Set Up Unauthorized Alien Transport Program Passes First Hurdle

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal to transport foreign nationals out of Florida to sanctuary cities passed a key hurdle in the state Senate on Tuesday.

The Florida Senate Committee on Fiscal Policy approved Senate Bill 6-B by a 14-6 margin that will authorize the state to procure contractors to transport foreign nationals around the United States through a specialized program.

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Lawmakers Say Green Bay City Officials Could Face Felonies for ‘Snooping on Citizens’

The installation of audio recording devices at Green Bay’s City Hall without the general knowledge of the public is “unsettling,” more than likely illegal and an “egregious breach of privacy,” Green Bay-area lawmakers tell The Wisconsin Daily Star. 

“Whether this is sheer incompetence or malevolence, it might be impossible to overstate just how jaw-droopingly brazen a violation of civil rights [this is],” said state Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere.) He added that Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich and other city officials have exposed the city and themselves to “criminal and civil liabilities” for “snooping on citizens.” 

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Lawsuit Takes Aim at Connecticut’s Assault Weapons Ban

Gun rights advocates are seeking to block Connecticut from enforcing a new federal rule that reclassified certain weapons as banned firearms under the state’s assault weapons ban. 

A lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Second Amendment Foundation on behalf of several gun owners, seeks a declaratory judgement that Connecticut’s laws banning the sale or possession of “assault weapons” violate the Second Amendment, and calls for a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing the laws. 

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Commentary: The Left’s Little Financial Engine That Could Change the World Radically

Amalgamated Bank, with just five branches across three cities, and a market value lower than the net worth of many an individual hedge fund honcho, would seem an unlikely mover and shaker in the world of Wall Street, let alone Washington, D.C. 

Yet last fall, it successfully pressured colossal credit card companies Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to use the financial system to track and report gun purchases. Amalgamated is “more than a bank,” says Michael Watson of the Capital Research Center. “It’s a bank for an ideological movement.” 

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