Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Davidson County Republican Party Chair Lonnie Spivak in studio to give his statement in response to a down vote by Metro Council for school safety evaluations.
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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.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Davidson County Republican Party Chair Lonnie Spivak in studio to discuss whether State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) can legally run for his seat in District 52 and the possibility of a Republican challenger.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Bill Pascoe of Tea Party Patriots PAC to the newsmaker line to break down the bill proposed to increase the debt ceiling if spending is cut.
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The Supreme Court on Friday opted to preserve access to mifepristone while a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug makes its way through the courts. The Biden administration and mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories had appealed to the court for relief. The court did not decide on the merits of the case, which will continue through the court system, the Associated Press reported.
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The Washington Post reported Thursday that a Trump campaign spokesman said the former president believes abortion issues should be decided solely at the state level.
“President Donald J. Trump believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, according to the Post.
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Former California gubernatorial candidate and radio host Larry Elder announced on Thursday he would seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. Elder made the announcement on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
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The Tennessee House voted this week to raise the starting pay for those entering the teaching profession in the state.
HB0329 calls for an increase in salary for teachers to $42,000 for the 2023-2024 school year. That number will increase each year by $2500 until it hits $50K for the school year of 2026-2027 school year.
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A U.S. congressman from Tennessee is among 16 members of Congress and three U.S. senators who signed a letter to President Joe Biden demanding the de-escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine and a strategic plan to bring the war between those two countries to an end.
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Medicaid expansion has failed to prevent the ensuing opioid crisis, with 14 out of the 15 states with the highest overdose rates being expansion states, according to research exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The research from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) indicates that while Medicaid expansion was intended to combat the opioid crisis, it hasn’t helped and “may be making it worse,” co-authors Michael Greibrock and Sam Adolphsen wrote. Of the states with the lowest overdose rates, half of them are non-expansion states, and another two only recently expanded.
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The White House announced $1 billion in U.S. support for the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund (GCF) Thursday, ahead of a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF).
The new U.S. contributions will bring its total investment in the GCF, a U.N. project that promotes green technologies, particularly in developing nations, to $2 billion, according to a White House fact sheet President Biden will also request an additional $500 million from Congress to support the Amazon Fund — an anti-deforestation fund managed by the Brazilian Development Bank to protect the Amazon Rainforest — and promote a variety of green technologies, including carbon capture.
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Metro Nashville Council Member (At-Large) Bob Mendes endorsed fellow council member Freddie O’Connell as the next mayor of Nashville.
In January, The Tennessee Star reported that current Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced that he would not seek re-election, leaving the race wide open. O’Connell was one of the first to announce his candidacy for the position.
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On Tuesday, the Metro Nashville City Council failed to pass a resolution concerning the evaluation of school safety plans at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).
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Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers improperly brought forward new pieces of footage as evidence during a Jan. 6 defendant’s cross-examination at trial, without giving the defense enough time to review them, the defendant’s attorney alleged Thursday.
Zachary Rehl testified between April 11 and Tuesday in his ongoing trial with other former Proud Boys members for allegedly conspiring to oppose the January 2021 transfer of presidential power, along with related charges. Minutes before cross-examining Rehl Monday, the government revealed two U.S. Capitol CCTV videos, a body camera clip and an open source video, using the last one to question Rehl without immediately admitting they received it recently from a yet-unidentified source, Rehl’s attorney Carmen Hernandez said in a Thursday court filing.
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House Republicans voted Thursday to pass the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” the latest salvo in the ongoing battle over transgender athletes.
The legislation would ban schools that receive federal funding, which is nearly all schools, from allowing biological males to compete in sports designated for women and girls.
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In the half century since Watergate, the adage that the coverup can be worse than the crime has been emblazoned in the American psyche of political scandal. And while historians still debate whether that adage was true or not for the Nixon scandal, allegations of coverup, false testimony or obstruction have transformed many a political controversy since.
On Wednesday, an IRS whistleblower’s stunning disclosure to Congress that “preferential treatment and politics” were “improperly infecting” the Hunter Biden investigation instantly transformed the scandal that has most bedeviled the Biden presidency.
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During the latest state legislative session, the Georgia House passed a measure that proponents say will “advance” the state’s electric vehicle industry.
The move comes after state officials have given millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded incentives to various EV projects, including $1.5 billion for a Rivian Automotive electric vehicle assembly plant in Morgan and Newton counties.
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Connecticut Democrats are moving ahead with a $51 billion two-year budget that includes more money for education, health care, and other priorities.
The spending plan, approved Wednesday by the Legislature’s Democratic-led Appropriations Committee, calls for boosting spending in the next fiscal year by an estimated $400 million over Gov. Ned Lamont’s preliminary budget, filed in February.
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Court of Claims Judge Thomas Cameron has denied immediate relief via a temporary restraining order for two gun groups that sued the Michigan House and Senate with claims alleging the bodies suppressed speech and violated the Open Meetings Act.
Great Lakes Gun Rights and Michigan Open Carry sued on April 13 to challenge gun restriction bills moving through the Legislature. The lawsuit, filed in the Court of Claims, says that the House and Senate – both dominated by Democrats – suppressed speech by not allowing gun rights activists to testify against the bills, thus violating the Open Meetings Act.
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As he moves closer to a presidential campaign announcement, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has scheduled a trip to the Badger State next month.
DeSantis, who is expected to officially launch his run for the White House after the Florida legislative session ends in early May, will speak at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 6.
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Supporters of exporting liquid natural gas (LNG) from Philadelphia got unambivalent backing from Democratic former Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan at a state hearing at the city’s Navy Yard on Thursday.
The liberal ex-lawmaker who unsuccessfully opposed Republican J.D. Vance for the U.S. Senate from Ohio last year is now on the leadership team of the pro-natural-gas Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future. In that capacity, he appeared before the LNG Export Task Force to strongly urge the creation of an LNG terminal at the Port of Philadelphia.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an amicus brief on Wednesday with the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit urging it to affirm states’ authority to remove local prosecutors who refuse to put the law ahead of their personal politics.
Yost claimed in a news release that states have a right to defend their constitutions against local prosecutors who, by pledging not to enforce laws they dislike, essentially wield veto power over lawfully enacted legislation.
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Ahead of a four-day campaign swing this weekend through the Hawkeye State, Ohio businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is announcing the first phase of his Iowa leadership team.
The lineup includes some political heavy hitters, including the former president of the Iowa State Senate.
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Santa Cruz County Judge Thomas Fink denied a request from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to temporarily block the Cochise County Supervisors from delegating election responsibilities to Cochise County Recorder David Stevens. Mayes filed a lawsuit against the supervisors on March 7, alleging that they did not have the authority to make the agreement earlier this year. However, the Maricopa County Supervisors delegated those responsibilities to the Maricopa County Recorder for years until recently, and Yuma County still does.
In turning down Mayes’ request for an injunction, Fink said the state had not met its burden of showing there was an “unqualified transfer of statutory power.” He said the agreement had provisions to serve as “safeguards that are, in the court’s opinion, sufficient to ensure the board meets authority over the conduct of elections in Cochise County.”
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After serving 16 months behind bars, online records show Kim Potter is scheduled to be released from prison on Monday. However, the Department of Corrections says the time “has yet to be established.”
The former Brooklyn Center police officer was convicted in December 2021 of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright. Potter accidentally grabbed her gun instead of her Taser on a traffic stop where Wright tried to flee.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced $1.5 million in grants to support revitalization projects in the Virginia port communities of Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth before his trade mission trips to Asia later this month.
The grants come from Port Host Community Revitalization Fund, which supports redeveloping dilapidated structures, improving maritime operations, expanding business opportunities, creating jobs and preventing environmental hazards.
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In New York City, if the newcomers aren’t put up at the luxury cruise terminal that served the QE2, they could get $700-a-night midtown hotel accommodations with iconic Manhattan views. In Chicago, they found themselves whisked to suburban lodgings. In Denver, officials refer to them discreetly as “guests” and you needn’t bother inquiring about their inns or addresses.
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The Florida Board of Education has approved an expansion of the state’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill that would prohibit classroom instruction in sexual orientation and gender identity in all K-12 grades, rather than only K-3.
In March 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law H.B.1557, known as the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, a measure that bans classroom instruction by teachers or third parties on the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3, “or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
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A new poll of likely New Hampshire Republican voters shows former President Donald Trump far outpacing his nearest competitors.
Trump now holds a 20 percentage point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (42% to 22%), according to the University of New Hampshire’s Granite State Poll.
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The Ohio Senate advanced a Republican-led resolution on Wednesday that tries to alter how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and a bill to allow for special elections to be held in August for certain purposes.
Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 and Senate Bill (SB) 92 passed along party lines. The resolution passed 26 to 7. The bill passed 25 to 8, with State Senator Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) voting with the Democrats.
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More Republican Legislators have announced that their bills have been signed into law, including State Representative Selina Bliss (R-Prescott), who created a bill to extend at-home medical treatment for Arizonans.
“Save time, save money, stay home – for some medical conditions we see better outcomes if patients are able to receive acute care services at home, as opposed to having to remain in a hospital,” shared Bliss.
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Arizona Republican legislators proposed a bill this session to bring oversight of the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) closer in line with the Arizona Constitution’s provisions for regular schools. For about 100 years, the ASDB has only faced oversight once every 10 years, instead of the two-year requirement in the Arizona Constitution that applies to schools. The ASDB serves 2,100 students at campuses in Phoenix and Tucson.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who chairs the Senate Government Committee which heard HB 2456, explained during a speech to the Senate Committee of the Whole on April 13 why he believes a shorter extension is necessary. He said the Democrats who oppose the shorter extension want to treat oversight of the children the same way the government treats its oversight of “changing thermostats” infrequently at the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA).
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As the Wisconsin Legislature considers sweeping tax cuts, a new report finds a flat tax would yield substantial benefits for all.
The report, published by the Badger Institute, notes single-rate reform to Wisconsin’s costly progressive tax system would spur faster economic growth, creating more jobs and more investment — all while lowering the burden on Badger State taxpayers.
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As part of Gov. Katie Hobbs’s (D) latest record-setting batch of vetoes, SB 1091, by State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), was rejected despite passing through the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support.
“Helping to ensure inmates get back on their feet and become productive members of society after their release is massively important,” said Kern. “This bill would have really improved the transition process and 70 other lawmakers agreed. Unfortunately, the Governor didn’t take the time to fully understand it.”
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Joe Biden is now 80 years-old. He will be 82 when he campaigns for the 2024 presidency—and a clearly debilitated 86 should he be elected and fill out his second term. He has been in government for over a half-century.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current representative from California is 83.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Rising Nashville artist and Maryland native Mark Taylor has had a guitar in his hand since he was two years old and has never looked back.
“My dad was/is a huge influence on my music career. He paid his way through college playing cover gigs in bars. By the time I was two years old, I was playing nonsense chords on a little guitar. By the time I was six and seven, I was playing in his band with a bunch of his friends,” he said.
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BuzzFeed on Thursday announced it has shuttered its news division.
In an email obtained by news outlets, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the move was part of a 15% workforce reduction across a number of teams.
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