When Tennessee added nearly 83,000 residents last year from people who moved to the state from elsewhere in the United States, it was likely the largest yearly in-migration in state history.
That’s according to the Tennessee State Data Center, which looked at the U.S. Census Bureau’s data releases for the year ending June 30, 2022.
Read the full story
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to control health care costs in the state is facing blowback over claims it would cost hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Lamont’s proposal, which is being considered by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health, calls for reducing costs that often get tacked on to consumers’ medical bills, such as facility fees that charge patients for the use of medical and hospital offices during treatments, which he says would save the state’s consumers $400 million a year.
Read the full story
Georgia reported its February net tax collections surpassed $2.1 billion, an increase of 8.7%, or $169.3 million, compared to last February.
The state reported more than $1.9 billion in net tax collections a year ago. So far this fiscal year, the state’s net tax collections surpassed $20.9 billion, an increase of 5.9%, or roughly $1.2 billion, over fiscal 2022.
Read the full story
Arizona State Senator John Kavanaugh (R-Fountain Hills), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Arizona Sun Times Friday that attempts to work with Democrats on a state budget have not received necessary responses.
“This year, nobody is going to be able to claim that we shut them out,” Kavanaugh said in a phone interview.
Read the full story
Virginia revenue collections are running hundreds of millions of dollars above budget projections by state finance officials, according to a new revenue report published Friday.
It’s a sign Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin says confirms the state is correct in its projection of a “multi-billion dollar budget surplus.”
Read the full story
A new tax credit could send millions to career and technical education in Pennsylvania to cover program costs – if the General Assembly approves it.
The proposal, House Bill 52, would establish the Career and Technical Education Investment Incentive Program, a $15 million tax credit available to businesses that donate to CTE scholarships or purchase equipment for these programs.
Read the full story
Republican culture warriors have devoted considerable energy to subjects like “drag queen story hour” and “protecting women’s sports.” While these battles must be fought, they are oblique ways of addressing the real problem. Drag shows are low-hanging fruit. It doesn’t require much courage to denounce them. What does take some courage is to say, “so-called transgender individuals are mentally ill, and their dangerous delusions must be rejected for the sake of our children, and our personal dignity as rational beings.”
Read the full story
The Michigan Senate voted along party lines to prohibit some employers from firing an employee for having an abortion.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, said Senate Bill 147 aims to close a “loophole” in the Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act.
Read the full story
The Florida House of Representatives passed a significant expansion of the state’s education savings account program Friday.
House Bill 1, authored by Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, would expand school choice to all 2.9 million school-aged children. The bill would remove income requirements from the education savings account law and end the waiting list for children with disabilities awaiting a scholarship.
Read the full story
A new bill in the Minnesota Legislature would prohibit police and all other state employees from cooperating in the enforcement of America’s immigration laws.
The bill, HF2860/SF2724, is sponsored by Sen. Omar Fateh, DFL-Minneapolis, and Rep. Sandra Feist, DFL-New Brighton, along with 16 other Democratic co-authors in the House.
Read the full story
Far left Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Janet Protasiewicz wears the “progressive label” as a badge of honor, including her endorsement by the left-wing Human Rights Campaign PAC.
But reports that the Milwaukee County judge repeatedly abused her late elderly ex-husband when the couple were married 25 years ago and used the N word to refer to black people in children’s court would seem to tarnish Protasiewicz’s human rights halo.
Read the full story
Republican lawmakers have reintroduced a plan to allow state education dollars to be used by every Ohio parent to pay for private school or other education expenses. House Bill (HB) 11, sponsored by State Representatives Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky) and Marilyn John (R-Richland County), aims to make all public, nonpublic, and home-school students in grades K-12 eligible for a state scholarship to attend a nonpublic school or to be home-schooled. “The Backpack Scholarship Program would empower families to find the best educational environment for their child. As a father of five, I know how different the needs of each child can be and by giving each child the opportunity to pursue the best path will lead to better outcomes. Education is not a one size fits all model. This program recognizes that and allows educational freedom as well as competition. Parental involvement is one of the most important aspects of a child’s education regardless of learning environment,” McClain said. Under the legislation, an education savings account would fund the scholarships. Scholarship recipients would receive $5,000 for students K-8 or $7,500 for high school students. The funds could be paid directly to a school or reimbursed to parents. According to the…
Read the full story
New Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes issued a press release last month criticizing her predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich, for disagreeing with two of his employees on whether there was election fraud in the 2020 midterm election. As a result of her press release, 17 people filed bar complaints against him, including Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Jennifer Wright, who served as the Arizona Attorney General Office’s (AGO) Election Integrity Unit (EIU) civil attorney, denounced Mayes for the move, and is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to look into whether Mayes violated ethics rules by releasing attorney-client privileged work to the public.
In a March 13 letter addressed to Justice Bill Montgomery as the chair of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force on Ethics Rules Governing the State Attorney General, County Attorneys, and Other Public Lawyers, Wright referenced Mayes’ position on the task force, and said, “I encourage the Task Force to inquire as to what Rule of Professional Conduct Ms. Mayes relied upon to justify waiving her predecessor’s attorney-client privilege and publicly releasing privileged materials.”
Read the full story
While all eyes are on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court election, the April 4 ballot also includes an important question asking voters to amend the state’s constitution.
The constitutional amendment proposes to reform a bail system that most agree is broken, although there’s argument on how to fix it. State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and State Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield), authors of the legislation, offer answers to many of the most frequently asked questions surrounding their proposed amendment.
Read the full story
Gender ideology preys upon the young, convincing girls and boys that they were “born in the wrong body” and rushing them onto experimental drugs, hormones, and surgeries that will leave them stunted, scarred, and infertile. Yet the ostensible Catholic who currently occupies the Oval Office not only supports this horror but had the gall to condemn those who would protect children from it as “sinful” and “cruel.”
Read the full story
With a background in both studying economics and working in the fitness industry, I can see how the two fields complement each other and together provide a valuable learning opportunity. I’ve found that the lessons I taught my fitness clients in the gym about the well-being of their bodies are similar to the lessons that governments, and the public, need to learn about the well-being of the “body politic,” particularly when it comes to the economy.
Read the full story
Taking a different position than his old boss on a key foreign policy issue, former Vice President Mike Pence told a gathering of Iowans Saturday that the U.S. must continue to help provision Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression.
While he repeatedly trumpeted “Trump-Pence” successes, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate definitely differs with potential top presidential race rivals, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on U.S. involvement in the war-torn European country.
Read the full story
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says an indictment against fellow candidate and former President Donald Trump would be a “national disaster.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Friday asked for a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a possible indictment of Trump next week, Fox News reported.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be arrested Tuesday by New York prosecutors in a case over hush money to a porn star and called for Americans to protest and “take back our nation.”
Read the full story
A Tennessee Senate committee will be looking at bills to extend tax deals for the Memphis Grizzlies’ FedExForum through 2059 on Tuesday.
The tax proposal comes up as Gov. Bill Lee has proposed sending $350 million to Memphis for renovations at the Grizzlies’ FedExForum and Memphis’ Liberty Stadium. That is part of $684 million in planned renovations to Memphis sports facilities.
Read the full story
Several Republican lawmakers announced on Friday that they will introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse President Joe Biden’s attempt to cancel student loan debt, according to a press release sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas and Joni Ernst of Iowa made the announcement shortly after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled that the CRA, a congressional oversight tool to reverse rules by federal agencies, can be used to counter the Biden administration’s student loan cancelation proposal, according to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions’ press release. The senators argue that the plan does not cancel debt, but shifts the burden to the taxpayers.
Read the full story
Transgender Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rachel Levine recently praised the work of children’s hospitals, such as Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford, for their “gender-affirming care” clinics that provide children and teens with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries, such as elective double mastectomies.
Levine (born Richard Levine) told a very welcoming audience at CCMC’s Pediatric Grand Rounds in February that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex Americans, especially our youth … need our attention because they’re being attacked and … are attempting suicide at an alarming rate.”
Read the full story
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are investigating Chinese company ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for surveilling Americans, according to Forbes.
The DOJ Fraud Section and the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia subpoenaed information from the company about its employees’ efforts to access the location and other private information of American journalists through TikTok, Forbes reported, citing an anonymous source. The FBI is conducting interviews on the same subject.
Read the full story
A left-wing watchdog organization sued Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Thursday for allegedly withholding records relating to the decision to reject the AP African American Studies course.
American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education claiming the government agency is allegedly not responding to eight public records requests for the communications between state agencies, DeSantis’ office and outside parties discussing the decision to reject an AP African American Studies course because it lacked “educational value and historical accuracy.” The lawsuit comes after DeSantis rejected the college-level course because it violated state law against the teaching of CRT.
Read the full story
The Hendersonville Police Department reported Thursday that a Connecticut man had been taken into custody by the Connecticut State Police as the suspect for threats made against the Hendersonville Public Library, where its director Allan Morales was recently fired.
Read the full story
Connecticut lawmakers are debating a plan that would offer property tax relief to senior citizens who agree to deed-restrict their homes as affordable housing.
The proposal, which cleared a key vote by the Legislature’s Housing Committee earlier this month, would allow seniors with household incomes of up to 80% of the area median income to “opt-in” to a program that deed-restricts their homes as affordable. In exchange, they wouldn’t be required to pay local property taxes.
Read the full story
As thousands of Virginia families grapple with food insecurity, the state could soon renew and expand tax credits for farmers who donate surplus crops to nonprofit food banks under a bill sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk this session.
Before the close of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that would allow farmers who donate food crops or “wholesome food” to a nonprofit food bank in the commonwealth to claim a tax credit equal to 50% of the fair market value of such donation. In total, each farmer could claim a maximum of $10,000 in tax credits for donations starting in the 2023 tax year. The bill has a sunset date of Jan. 1, 2028.
Read the full story
Georgia’s regional commissions reported higher unemployment in January but the labor force grew in all but one of the state’s regions, according to numbers released on Thursday.
The Georgia Department of Labor says it is an annual trend for unadjusted unemployment rates to increase in January after the end of the holiday season.
Read the full story
The Arizona Senate Majority Caucus announced Thursday that two Senate Bills (SBs) from Sen. Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) aimed at regulating sexually explicit performances, so minors are not exposed to them passed through the floor despite receiving no Democrat support.
“Senate Democrats don’t seem to have a problem with children being exposed to sexually explicit adult performances. If they did, they would have voted in support of these two bills. Instead, all Senate Democrats voted against protecting our Arizona kids,” the caucus tweeted.
Read the full story
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday ordered states to stop preventing the transportation of contaminated debris from an Ohio train disaster that resulted in a fire from reaching hazardous waste storage facilities around the country.
This announcement follows Ohio Governor Mike DeWine calling on both the EPA and Norfolk Southern Railway to authorize more sites to take East Palestine’s contaminated soil due to some states with sites that are certified to take in hazardous materials not accepting it.
Read the full story
Former Vice President Mike Pence will be in Des Moines Saturday morning for a foreign policy discussion.
The presumptive GOP presidential candidate will be joined by former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who recently dropped out of the Republican presidential sweepstakes and whose former chief of staff is wanted by the FBI.
Read the full story
Members of the Pennsylvania Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee met in Chambersburg Thursday, just as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued orders at the national level to increase access to mental health care in the military.
Committee Chairman Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg, opened the meeting by optimistically noting the downward trend of suicides in recent years following a series of state initiatives meant to address mental health amongst veterans. But, he said, there’s much more work to be done.
Read the full story
The lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Services, set to go to trial on April 17, may turn out to be a seminal case in First Amendment jurisprudence, with effects that reach well beyond Fox. In a nutshell, Dominion charges that Fox defamed them by putting on air people who claimed that Dominion’s voting machines yielded incorrect results, to the benefit of Joe Biden. More than this, the plaintiffs have secured, through depositions, evidence that Fox News hosts and news executives themselves disbelieved the claims their on-air guests were making.
Read the full story
In a surprise move Friday, Governor Tony Evers hastily appointed former Democrat State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski Secretary of State after Doug La Follette suddenly resigned the post he’s held for nearly half a century.
Consider it a gift to the far left Godlewski, who ceded last year’s Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senate to former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes in his losing campaign against Wisconsin’s Republican senior U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.
Read the full story
Dr. Sarah Traxler, the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood North Central States, said second-trimester abortions have increased substantially in the region during a hearing this week in the Minnesota Senate.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Traxler said PPNCS has seen a 13% increase in patients coming from out of the region for abortions and a 40% increase in second-trimester abortions. PPNCS includes Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Read the full story
The Michigan Senate passed gun legislation on party lines Thursday.
The bill package aims to expand background checks, enact safe storage requirements, and add red flag laws.
Read the full story
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine visited East Palestine, Ohio to receive remediation updates on Friday, exactly six weeks since a Norfolk Southern train derailed wreaking havoc on the environment and negatively impacting the health of residents.
Although soil is being removed in the area more swiftly than before, according to DeWine, “it’s never fast enough.” Despite the fact that 1,620 tons of earth were removed last week as opposed to 910 tons the week before, there is still a substantial amount.
Read the full story
Alan Shaw, CEO of Norfolk Southern, drank a glass of East Palestine, Ohio, tap water in front of a group of reporters at a media round-table on Thursday while promising to clear the scene of a horrific train derailment and contribute to rebuilding the community.
According to Shaw, he is sorry for what happened and wants to make it right.
Read the full story
Leave it to the United States Government to lose track of almost three states worth of public land. Only an institution with so little incentive and ability to allocate resources for the betterment of human wellbeing could instantiate such a catastrophic waste of potential.
The following is a story of an engineer named Eric Siegfried, a Montana man who caught public officials in almost unimaginable levels of incompetence and waste. It is also a cautionary tale about the way extreme misallocations of resources are the predictable outcome of America’s current form of land use governance, which systematically severs control over certain resources from anyone equipped to use them rationally and effectively.
Read the full story
On Thursday, more than two tons of radioactive uranium that had previously thought to have been missing was discovered in a Libyan warehouse, easing concerns about the possible nuclear threat of the missing materials.
As the New York Post reports, Khaled Mahjoub, a spokesman for the Libyan National Army (LNA), released the statement revealing that the uranium was discovered in southern Libya, contained in at least 10 barrels; video taken from the recovery shows workers counting up to 18 barrels.
Read the full story
Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed California refugee and an accomplished attorney, Mark Pulliam to the newsmaker line to announce his candidacy for Blount County Republican chair and why he’s qualified to do it.
Read the full story
Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss false statements made by News Channel 5’s Phil Williams that were left hanging on the internet for seven hours before correction.
Read the full story
Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
Read the full story
Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed openthebooks.com Founder Adam Andrzejewski to the newsmaker line to unravel Silicon Valley Bank’s ties to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump made his first post on Facebook Friday since being banned in 2021 following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building. “I’M BACK!,” the former President posted, including a video clip from his 2016 election-night victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Read the full story
Rasmussen Reports and College Republicans United issued the results of a type of “late exit” poll on Friday, revealing that likely Arizona voters said they voted for former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake over Governor Katie Hobbs 51 percent to 43 percent.
Also, the poll found these likely Arizona voters voted for Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem over their Democratic opponents who won those respective state races.
Read the full story
In a meeting held on Wednesday, the Sumner County Library Board voted 4-3 to dismiss Hendersonville Public Library director Allan Morales, just weeks after Christian actor, writer, and producer Kirk Cameron headlined a story hour event at the library in February.
Read the full story
As the federal government extends its reach into county elections offices by funding cybersecurity services through the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans, state and local officials are arguing that election administration should stay local.
County elections offices across the U.S. are receiving ambiguous “cybersecurity services” free of charge from the nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS), which has played a key role in flagging purported election “misinformation” for Big Tech censorship and collaborates with other left-wing nonprofits and the Democrat-connected cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Read the full story
The state of Texas intends to take control of the Houston Independent School District, citing poor academic accountability, violations of the law and the expiration of an injunction that had previously prevented the state from acting, state officials said Wednesday.
The Texas Education Agency said it would name a new district superintendent and suspend the district’s board of trustees. This is the latest in a yearslong fight between the state and the district of about 200,000 students over poor academic performance and the behavior of trustees.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is leading an 18-state alliance to combat “woke” environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment policies.
The alliance, formally announced Thursday, comes after President Joe Biden vowed to veto an anti-ESG bill that intended to roll back a Department of Labor rule allowing pension and retirement fund managers to weigh ESG factors when determining investments. The governors will lead “state-level” initiatives to protect “Americans’ financial freedom” by allocating state funds accordingly.
Read the full story