Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed State Representative Brian Richey (R-Maryville) in studio to discuss his background and what prompted him to run for office.
Read the full storyDay: April 5, 2023
State Rep. Brian Richey on Tennessee Capitol Riot: Justin Jones’ Plan Was to Make National News
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed State Representative Brian Richey (R-Maryville) in studio to talk about last week’s unprecedented riot at the Tennessee Capitol and the vote to expel the three left-wing legislators that instigated it.
Read the full storyCrom’s Crommentary: You Can’t Unify the Country If the Party That Wins an Election Is Determined to Crush the Other Side
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
Read the full storyMichael Patrick Leahy and Crom Carmichael: No Accountability for Tennessee Capitol Riot Could Lead to More, Injury, or Death
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the duty of the county commissions of the left-wing state representatives that perpetuated last week’s Tennessee Capitol riot and to hold them accountable.
Read the full storyNeil W. McCabe: Manhattan DA Bragg Obtained National Enquirer Documents from DOJ to Invent an Unspecified Crime in Indictment of Former President Trump
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed national political correspondent for One America News, Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to explain his latest tweet indicating how a non-prosecution agreement with the National Enquirer set the groundwork for Trump’s indictment.
Read the full storyTwitter Labels Taxpayer-Funded NPR as ‘US State-Affiliated Media’
Twitter has assigned the label of “US state-affiliated media” on its social media platform to taxpayer-funded National Public Radio (NPR).
“Seems accurate,” said Twitter CEO Elon Musk Wednesday morning as he posted his company’s policy on that classification category.
Read the full storySen. Blackburn: Trump’s Arrest ‘Soros-Backed Play’ Targeting Former President
A U.S. Senator from Tennessee is speaking out against today’s arrest and arraignment of former President Donald J. Trump.
“President Trump’s indictment is nothing but a cynical, Soros-backed play to take down a 2024 candidate and former president,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
Read the full storyFlorida Grand Jury Accuses Biden Administration of Abetting ‘Forced Migration, Sale’ of Foreign Kids
A Florida grand jury’s five-month probe into the government’s processing of unaccompanied migrant children is poking a major hole into President Joe Biden’s border narrative, concluding his administration has been “facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children.”
In an interim report released by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the grand jury raised deep concerns about the Homeland Security Department and Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) implementation of the Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC) program, saying the government’s rhetoric does not match its performance.
Read the full storyTrans Activists Say They Are Victims of ‘Violence’ of State Laws Protecting Minors from Transgender Drugs and Surgeries
Radical transgender activists claimed the Nashville police’s identification of Christian school shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale as transgender is serving to continue the “targeting” and “demonizing” of transgender individuals, which, to them, includes their victimization of “violence” at the hands of state laws protecting children and teens from a predatory transgender industry.
Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former student at the Christian Covenant School, stormed into the school last week, killing three nine-year-old children and three adults before she was shot and killed by police.
Read the full storyPreliminary Data: Nearly 245,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways at Southwest Border in March
Nearly 245,000 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported as gotaways after illegally entering the southwest border in March, according to preliminary data obtained by The Center Square.
“Gotaways” refers to those known and reported to illegally enter the U.S. primarily between ports of entry, who intentionally evade capture by law enforcement and don’t return to Mexico. In March, gotaways totaled at least 74,924, with the greatest numbers reported in the Tucson Sector of Arizona, followed by the El Paso Sector, which includes all of New Mexico and two west Texas counties.
Read the full storyNew Poll Shows Trump, DeSantis Lead in New Hampshire, Followed by Granite State Favorite Son
A new poll in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state shows former President Donald Trump leading the pack, followed at a distance by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a New Hampshire native son.
The Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll also shows the youngest candidate in the race, 37-year-old Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy picking up a bit of momentum in the Granite State.
Read the full storyJPMorgan Boss Warns That Banking Crisis Will Have Consequences ‘For Years to Come’
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in his annual shareholder letter Tuesday that the current fallout from the bank failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank would likely continue for years.
“As I write this letter, the current crisis is not yet over, and even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come,” wrote Dimon. However, in comparison to 2008, Dimon said the 2023 crisis “involves far fewer financial players and fewer issues that need to be resolved.”
Read the full storyReport Shows Massive Growth in Tennessee Charter Schools
A public policy group in Tennessee released a report this week showing a massive uptick in charter school growth in the Volunteer State.
According the report by The Beacon Center of Tennessee, charter schools in Tennessee have increased in number from fewer than 20 in 2010 to more than 110 in 2019. Such schools have only become more popular since 2019, and more than 44,000 students in the state are enrolled in a charter school.
Read the full storyFormer Governor Candidate Arrested at Protest After Florida Senate Passes Abortion Bill
The Florida Senate on Monday passed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions from being performed in the state after six weeks gestation. In response, protestors including state Democratic leaders were arrested after sitting on and obstructing the street outside of City Hall near the state capitol.
Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said, “Now DeSantis is arresting his opponents,” tweeting a video posted by Planned Parenthood, which claimed the protestors were engaged in “peaceful protest.”
Read the full storyCommentary: DA Bragg, New York Judge Would Rig 2024 Election by Silencing Trump
Well of course.
In the Deep State mania to put former President Donald Trump on trial for something — anything! — New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan may be about to launch one of the biggest backfires in American political history as they attempt to rig the 2024 election by forcing now-candidate Trump into a court-ordered silence.
Read the full storyCity in Michigan Revokes Marijuana Dispensary License
The city of Gaylord revoked the retail marijuana license of an Exclusive Brands dispensary last week for violating city ordinance violations.
Since Wednesday, 25 employees are out of a job while the dispensary exercises the option to appeal to the city within 30 days.
Read the full storyUniversity President in Minnesota Will Retire After Firestorm over Fired Professor Who Showed Muhammad Picture in Class
Hamline University President Fayneese Miller announced on Monday that she will retire months after she walked back an administrator’s claim that a professor’s lecture was “Islamophobic” for showing an unveiled portrait of the prophet Muhammad.
Miller will officially step down on June 30, 2024, according to the announcement sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Faculty members demanded she resign following a controversy that involved Professor Erika López Prater’s contract not being renewed for the spring semester after a student complained that she showed an unveiled portrait of the prophet Muhammad during a lecture on Islamic art.
Read the full storyIowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Demands Biden Administration Release All Information on China Spy Balloon
Recent reports that China’s claimed “weather” balloon was taking multiple images of U.S. military sites and sending them back to the communist nation are raising greater national security alarms.
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is demanding the Biden administration release all information available on the spy balloon that invaded U.S. air space in late January and early February.
Read the full storyConnecticut Lawmakers Advancing Lamont’s Gun Control Bills
Connecticut lawmakers are advancing Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to close “loopholes” in the state’s gun control laws in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide.
The legislation, which is teed up for a vote in the state Legislature, would tighten the state’s ban on “ghost” guns, increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, prohibit open carry in public, ban the bulk purchase of handguns and expand the state’s restriction on large-capacity firearm magazines, among other changes.
Read the full storyFar-Left Candidate Janet Protasiewicz Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Liberals Gain Control
In a nationally watched state Supreme Court race dominated by abortion, bruising campaign attacks and money (lots of money), liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz easily defeated conservative Daniel Kelly in Tuesday’s spring election, handing liberals control of Wisconsin’s high court for the first time in more than 15 years.
The election seemed over before the shouting. Less than an hour after Wisconsin’s polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press called the contest. At that time, Protasiewicz led by double digits over Kelly, a former Supreme Court justice who lost his seat three years ago to far left jurist Jill Karofsky.
Read the full storyU.S. Senator JD Vance Wants National Institutes of Health to Look into Health Effects of East Palestine Train Derailment
U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) wants the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to look into how residents of East Palestine and nearby towns are affected by the chemicals that were released during the February 3rd Norfolk Southern train derailment.
On Monday, Vance along with U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), and John Fetterman (D-PA) sent a letter to NIH Director Lawrence Tabak and NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Director Rick Woychik urging them to “help assess and mobilize existing assets and resources to respond to the community’s biomedical research needs.”
Read the full storyMark Finchem Adds New Exhibits in Election Contest, Including Expert’s Declaration That Printer Settings Were ‘Intentionally Changed’
Former Republican candidate for Arizona Secretary of State Mark Finchem, who is contesting his loss last fall to Democrat Adrian Fontes, filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority and Evidence in Support of Contestant’s Motion for Reconsideration last week. A Maricopa County judge dismissed his lawsuit in December. Finchem included 10 exhibits consisting of mostly declarations from observers, election workers, and experts, including one who believes the election printer settings in Maricopa County were deliberately modified to create misreads of the ballots.
Exhibit K was a declaration from Bob Hughes, who has 50 years in the printing industry and 16 years printing ballots for the Maricopa County Elections Department. Last month, Hughes and a team examined the Logic & Accuracy tests that were performed immediately prior to the election, the ballots used for testing, the certification reports for each voting center, and the tabulator reports printed from the testing. He concluded, “An intentional change was made to the printers affecting the DAY OF Election ballots.”
Read the full storyArizona Republican Kari Lake Heading Back to Iowa Amid Legal Fight for Governor and Trump Arrest
Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is returning to Iowa this week with several planned stops around the Hawkeye State.
Lake is slated to be in Iowa City, Nevada, and Cedar Rapids, beginning Wednesday evening.
Read the full storyThink Tank Files Brief Arguing Pennsylvania School Funding System Should Provide Choice
A brief filed this week in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court by a Harrisburg think tank argues the school-funding system the court recently found unconstitutional must change to provide educational choice.
In the amicus curiae filing, the center-right Commonwealth Foundation (CF) notes it has frequently studied K-12 education spending in the Keystone State since CF’s founding 35 years ago. The foundation’s analyses have determined that increases in spending don’t necessarily improve learning outcomes. CF posits policymakers should consider this finding in light of the recent court ruling deeming numerous districts underfunded and instructing a new system that funds them more bountifully.
Read the full storyOhio Republican Politicians Announce Candidacy to Unseat Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
Two Ohio Republican candidates have announced their candidacy to run for Ohio’s 9th Congressional district in 2024. U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), who is currently in that seat, is serving her 21st term in Congress.
Former Republican Mayor of Walbridge Dan Wilczynski was the first contender to enter the running last week, announcing his candidacy with the focus of finally defeating America’s longest tenured Congresswoman Kaptur.
Read the full storySuperintendent of Public Instruction Says Project Momentum Arizona Will Continue Under His Administration
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) announced Monday that the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) would take up the funding needed to continue expanding Project Momentum Arizona (PMA) in state schools.
“My job is to make sure student learning increases and test scores improve. Project Momentum Arizona has proven to be remarkably effective where it has been implemented. Every school in the Avondale Elementary [School] District [AESD] is now either rated A or B, and students in the Buckeye Elementary District outperformed the state average in the latest statewide achievement test,” Horne said.
Read the full storyArizona Boosts Mobile Home Eviction Payoffs Ahead of Mass Redevelopments
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has quickly moved to turn into law a bill that offers assistance to valley mobile home residents facing eviction over the coming days so developers can build new units on the land they once called home.
“Today, I signed HB 2381 into law,” Hobbs posted to Twitter. “Mobile home residents are our neighbors, and deserve adequate compensation when they are forced to leave their homes behind. By increasing resources available through AZHousing, we are taking immediate action to support through families.”
Read the full storyArizona Corporation Commissioner Seeks Information from Scottsdale on Rio Verde Foothills Water Solution
Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) Commissioner Nick Myers (R) sent a letter to the city of Scottsdale and utility company EPCOR, inquiring what the two entities are doing to agree on how to provide water to the unincorporated Rio Verde Foothills (RVF) area.
“The Commission has a constitutional duty to establish ‘just and reasonable rates’ for the customers of the public service corporations it regulates. Therefore, the Commission must always evaluate the cost effectiveness of proposals under its consideration,” said Myers, “that is why as I continue to evaluate EPCOR’s application to provide standpipe water service, I want to make sure more cost-effective options have been properly explored.”
Read the full storyKatie Hobbs Vetoes Four More Republican Sponsored Bills
Gov. Kaite Hobbs continues to strike down Republican-sponsored bills, announcing Monday that she vetoed four House Bills (HB), bringing her total to 24 this session.
“Issuing vetoes is easy. Actual leadership requires hard work, and Republicans in the legislature will continue to pass good public policies that make the state better for working Arizonans and families,” said Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) in a statement emailed to The Arizona Sun Times.
Read the full storyPennsylvania Community Bankers Worried About New Regulation’s Impact on Small Business
A new data-reporting rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has Pennsylvania’s community bankers worried about its implications for them and the businesses they serve.
The regulation requires lenders making at least 100 small business loans annually to gather data regarding the entities’ applications, including credit prices, geographic figures, lending determinations and demographic information. The banks must then publish the data they collect. Entities meeting the definition of “small business” are those with gross revenues under $5 million in their last fiscal year.
Read the full storyDenver Expects to Spend Tens of Millions on Illegal Immigrants
The city of Denver, Colorado, is expected to spend up to $20 million to support illegal immigrants, Denver’s chief financial officer Margaret Danuser said during a budget meeting Monday.
Denver is spending roughly $800 to $1,000 per migrant each week and the expected $20 million in spending is for the timeframe of December 2022 and June 2023, Danuser said. The city has supported more than 6,000 migrants with shelter and hotel housing, three meals each day, transportation, staff to assist them and supplies.
Read the full storyAfter Pushing to Shut Coal Plants Down, Biden Shells Out Millions for Green Projects in Coal Towns
The Biden administration announced hundreds of millions of dollars to support green energy projects in current and former coal towns Tuesday morning, as the administration continues to push policies that could run some coal plants out of business.
The funding includes $450 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to develop “clean energy demonstration projects” on current and former mining territory, which the administration projects will generate up to 90 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy, according to a White House fact sheet. Economic incentives in the president’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, in concert with stricter environmental regulations could lead to roughly between 50 GW to 80 GW in coal-fired power plants going offline by 2030.
Read the full storyCommentary: Time for House to Join Senate, Reclaim Congress’ War Powers
The Senate voted overwhelmingly, and on a bipartisan basis, last week to repeal the obsolete 1991 and 2002 Iraq Authorized Use of Military Force resolutions by a vote of 66-30.
That is sound policy, as I previously wrote here. It’s time for the House of Representatives to debate the Senate-passed repeal, and while doing so, keep in mind the many reasons why it should repeal these vestigial AUMFs, given the current threat environment.
Read the full storyU.S. Manufacturing Hits New Low Under Biden
On Monday, a report revealed that, on Joe Biden’s watch, American manufacturing has reached its lowest point since the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, known as PMI, hit its lowest point since May 2020, scoring just 46.3. If the extraordinary conditions of the pandemic are not taken into account, then it is the lowest level since 2009.
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