NBC News reporter Chuck Todd on Sunday said he is leaving “Meet the Press” after hosting the talk show for nine years, and NBC’s co-chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker will take over the show.
Read the full storyDay: June 4, 2023
Governor Lee Visits Tennessee National Guard Troops Before Deployment to the Southern Border
Governor Bill Lee and other federal & state elected officials visited 100 Tennessee National Guard troops in Millington before their deployment to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read the full story2023 NHL Awards Hosted by Dierks Bentley Coming to Nashville This Month
The 2023 NHL Awards will be broadcast live from Nashville and hosted by country music artist Dierks Bentley this month.
Read the full storySmall Businesses Struggle to Fill Job Openings, Report Finds
A newly released survey of small businesses shows that nearly half are having trouble filling job openings.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the survey, which found that 44% of small business owners report being unable to fill current job openings, a full 20 points higher than the average reading over the last 49 years.
Read the full storyYouTube Reverses Misinformation Policy, Allows Claims About 2020 Election on Platform
YouTube reversed its misinformation policy regarding content about elections on Friday and will now permit content that questions the veracity of the 2020 presidential election results, according to the company’s website.
YouTube’s parent company Google has a policy that prohibits content “advancing false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in certain past elections to determine heads of government,” and Youtube wrote in December 2020 that it would remove content that “misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.” The platform will now “stop removing” such content about the 2020 election, per its website.
Read the full story14 GOP Governors Sending National Guard Troops and Resources to Texas to Secure Southern Border
Republican governors are sending National Guard troops to the southern border.
Governors of Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia announced this week they will send troops and resources to Texas to support the work of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Operation Lone Star to secure the southern border.
Read the full storyEconomy Added 339K Jobs in May, Nearly Double Wall Street Expectations
U.S. employers have added roughly 339,000 jobs in May, and the monthly unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, from a five-decade low of 3.4% in April, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month while on an annual basis, wages increased 4.3%, which was a 0.1 percentage point under the estimate.
Read the full storyConfirmed: Alleged Carjacker Shot by Memphis Police Is an Illegal Alien
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed for The Tennessee Star that the man arrested for a litany of crimes in Memphis last week was an illegal alien.
“ICE issued an immigration detainer on May 31 for Honduran national Jairo Ponce, 29, following his arrest by the Memphis Police Department on charges of aggravated robbery, carjacking, aggravated assault on a first responder, employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony and evading arrest,” an ICE spokesperson told The Star Friday. “On an unknown date and location, Ponce entered the United States without being admitted or paroled by an immigration official.”
Read the full storySchool Choice Coalition Pressures Pennsylvania Governor for Support
An unorthodox coalition wants Gov. Josh Shapiro to put money behind the support he expressed for school choice on the campaign trail last year.
Advocates said Friday that letting children move to better schools should transcend partisan lines and is crucial for their futures.
Read the full storyMilwaukee Gets Credit Downgrade Ahead of Pension Spike, Shared Revenue Deal
Milwaukee’s looming fiscal cliff and the lack of an agreement on shared revenue at the Wisconsin Capitol have earned the city a credit downgrade.
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded Milwaukee’s credit from A to Triple-B+, with a negative outlook.
Read the full storyOne-Fourth of Virginia State Senate Incumbents Are Running in Contested Primaries
Democrats currently hold a 22-18 majority in the Virginia State Senate, which holds elections every four years rather than every two.
The chamber is already poised to welcome at least 11 new members next year: ten incumbents are retiring, and two incumbents are running in the same district, leaving 11 districts open, over one-fourth of the chamber.
Read the full storyMark Finchem Slams ‘Two Tier Justice System,’ Advocates Removing Judges After Sanctions Granted Against Him for Election Challenge
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Iyer Julian awarded sanctions on May 26 against Mark Finchem and his attorney over Finchem’s lawsuit challenging his election loss in the Arizona Secretary of State’s race to Democrat Adrian Fontes.
Finchem issued a response from his Substack. Titled “Yes, We Have a Two Tier Legal System.” In this piece, he advocated removing “judges who act outside of the law.”
Read the full storyMinnesota to Move Biological Male Inmate to All-Female Facility, Pay for Vaginoplasty
Under a settlement reached this week, the Minnesota Department of Corrections has agreed to transfer a biological male inmate who identifies as a woman to an all-female facility and will allow him to pursue a vaginoplasty procedure.
Left-wing legal group Gender Justice announced the settlement agreement Thursday, saying its client Christina Lusk will also receive $495,000 in monetary compensation, about half of which will go towards legal fees.
Read the full storyGOP Presidential Candidates, Sans Trump, Descend on Iowa for Senator Joni Ernst’s Annual Roast and Ride
In many ways, the start of the 2024 presidential election year began Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines — with Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride.
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls assembled all under one roof, making their case to some 750 Iowans on why they’re best suited to lead the most powerful nation in the world.
Read the full storyGeorgia Supreme Court Upholds Dismissal of Challenge to Campus Gun-Free Zones
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a Fulton County judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by five University System of Georgia professors filed challenging a change to campus gun-free zones.
The professors challenged a 2017 amendment to state law removing public colleges and universities from the designated “school safety zones” prohibiting weapons. Before the 2017 amendment, carrying a weapon on campus was a misdemeanor.
Read the full storyOhio Republican Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Exempt Sales Tax from Firearms and Ammunition
Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate have introduced legislation to exempt sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide business incentive growth in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 189, sponsored by State Representative Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) and companion bill Senate Bill (SB) 134, sponsored by State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) aim to remove sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide gun and ammunition manufacturers a tax credit that would offset the federal excise tax imposed on these manufacturers.
Read the full storyCommentary: Trump Still Has the Magic
The Republican primary is already in full swing. While a few second-tier candidates have joined the fray, including neoconservative Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and old school evangelical and former Vice President Mike Pence, the chief contest is between former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Things are already heated. Some former Trump supporters now support DeSantis. Indeed, they have completely turned against Trump. The firehose of criticism reminds one of the refrains of a jilted lover.
Read the full storyFlorida Marijuana Initiative Has Enough Signatures to Appear on 2024 Ballot
Smart & Safe Florida, a campaign supporting a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in Florida, has collected 967,528 valid signatures, exceeding the 891,523 valid signatures needed to be placed on the ballot in 2024.
State officials confirmed on June 1, that the campaign had submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot and had met the signature distribution requirement mandating that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state’s 28 congressional districts.
Read the full storyMaricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates Will Not Run for Re-Election in 2024
After serving on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors since 2016, Bill Gates announced on June 1 he would not run for reelection in 2024.
Gates released a statement on Twitter saying he planned to “pursue other interests and opportunities.” His announcement comes after the Board of Supervisors faced many false allegations of election fraud following the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Read the full storyAmerican Greatness Poll: Trump Leads DeSantis in Nevada
Former President Trump leads Governor Ron DeSantis in Nevada by 32 points (53%-21%) in a multi-candidate poll of likely Nevada Republican voters.
Other declared candidates register with 3% or less.
Read the full storyCatholic Org Launches Initiative Encouraging Parents to Revolt Against Sexually Explicit, Transgender Books
A Catholic organization is launching a campaign through the month of June that encourages parents to revolt against books containing sexually explicit and transgenderism content offered to children in public libraries as a part of Pride Month.
CatholicVote, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group, is promoting its second annual “Hide the Pride” campaign, which encourages parents to visit their local libraries and check out as many books as they can that “push eroticism, glorify LGBTQ identities, undermine parental rights and are 100% contrary to the Church’s teaching on love and sexuality” in an effort to prevent others from accessing them, the organization told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Parents joining the campaign are encouraged to participate in groups and request that librarians take their Pride Month display down, the campaign information stated.
Read the full storyCommentary: Don’t Believe The Jobs Day Hype — Americans Are Still Getting Poorer
Friday’s jobs report shows 339,000 jobs were created in May, beating expectations again. While Democrats and the media celebrate, the labor market condition is not as strong as this topline number suggests.
The report shows that real wages continue to decline. For the 26th consecutive month, average wages grew slower than inflation. The Biden presidency will forever be marked as one where Americans got poorer and saw their living standards decline.
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