Month: August 2023

New GOP Group Launches Campaign to Encourage Continued Support for Ukraine

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Republicans launched an organization Tuesday to advocate for continued financial support of Ukraine in the war against Russian aggression, according to a press release.

GOP Strategist Sarah Longwell and commentator Bill Kristol will head Republicans for Ukraine, which unveiled its $2 million campaign to encourage party voters and politicians to stand with the nation, according to the press release. The organization will run digital ads of Republican voters’ testimony about why they believe the party should continue providing aid to Ukraine on cable, television and YouTube throughout the remainder of 2023.

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More Restaurants, Bars Stock Up on Fentanyl, Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug as Deaths Soar

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An increasing number of restaurants and bars across the country are keeping a stock of Naloxone, an antidote to fentanyl and opioid overdoses, according to The New York Times.

Local officials and nonprofit organizations are ramping up efforts to more bars and restaurants as overdoses become all too common in public spaces, according to the NYT. Between February 2022 and February 2023, there were more than 105,000 reported drug overdoses in the U.S., according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Express Lanes to Open Along Virginia I-95 Corridor

The Center Square

A ribbon cutting this week will commemorate something that Stafford County residents and D.C.-area commuters have long awaited – sometimes impatiently, while cursing out their car windows: The opening of approximately 10 miles of express lanes along the infamously congested I-95 corridor.

The District of Columbia was ranked the eighth-worst American city for traffic in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 rankings and has ranked second-worst in the past. And the southbound stretch of I-95 is chief among D.C. roads notorious for gridlocks and traffic delays, according to the National Capital Region Transportation Board.

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Commentary: Keeping Trump Off the Ballot in 2024 Will Hurt the GOP

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Now there are four separate trials against former President Donald Trump, the latest in Fulton County, Ga., arising from Trump challenging the results of the 2020 election, coming atop trials in New York City over supposed federal campaign finance violations, Miami, Fla. over his receipt of classified documents while he was president and retention when he left office and Washington, D.C. again over his challenge of the 2020 election.

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Arizona Lawmakers React to Trump Indictment in Georgia Election Probe

Hannah Poling

Arizona lawmakers voiced their opinions following a Georgia grand jury indictment of former President Donald Trump.

A Georgia grand jury approved 10 indictments in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election probe, which included Trump, who is running for president, along with 18 others.

A Georgia grand jury approved 10 indictments in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election probe, which included Trump along with 18 others.

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Frustrated by Pace of East Palestine Derailment Cleanup

Hannah Poling

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) is frustrated by the slow pace of cleanup from Norfolk Southern’s February train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.

Vance visited the derailment site and met with local leaders to discuss the cleanup status on Monday evening. According to Vance, the cleanup was supposed to be completed in July but now in the middle of August, it’s still nowhere near completion.

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Minnesota Commission Charged with Redesigning State Flag, Seal Set to Begin Work This Month

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Membership of a new commission tasked with redesigning the Minnesota state flag and seal was supposed to be finalized earlier this month. But it appears it’s not quite ready to begin its work, which is to be completed and sent to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2024.

While Gov. Tim Walz appointed three members of the public to the 17-member State Emblems Redesign Commission earlier this month, a handful of appointees from state councils and agencies had not yet been listed as filled on the webpage for the body as of Monday. The commission was supposed to be finalized by Aug. 1, according to statute.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Tim Scott Talks Border, Biden, and Barbecue with Governor Kim Reynolds at Iowa State Fair

M.D. Kittle

Rising in the Hawkeye State polls, U.S. Senator Tim Scott did the Iowa State Fair Tuesday, rediscovering the sweet joys of funnel cake and sitting down with Governor Kim Reynolds for a “Fair-Side Chat.”

The top tier contestant for the Republican Party presidential nomination and proud South Carolinian also made a confession that could cause him some heartburn in the Palmetto State.

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Wisconsin Parents Report Daughters’ Bruises, Injuries After Practices with Trans Athlete

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In Wisconsin, a group of parents are expressing outrage over what they believe to be injuries caused to their daughters due to a “transgender” athlete participating in their sports practice.

According to Fox News, the parents said that their daughters have begun coming home from practice with bruises and welts that they had never seen before. Due to confidentiality concerns, the parents have not yet revealed which school their daughters attend, nor which sport they play. All that is known for now is that they are located somewhere in the Green Bay Area Public School District.

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Arizona Legislative Leadership Threatens Litigation Against Secretary of State Fontes over Draft Changes to Election Procedures Manual

Rachel Alexander

Every two years, the Arizona Secretary of State is required by law to update the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM), but similarly to what happened in 2021, the process is not going smoothly. After reviewing the proposed changes Secretary of State Adrian Fontes suggested making to the EPM, State Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), accompanied by Speaker of the House Ben Toma (R-Peoria), issued a statement on Monday threatening legal action.

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Florida Officials Predict Increased Student Aid Costs for Taxpayers

The Center Square

Florida officials project that taxpayer-funded student aid will increase in coming years as more students graduate from high school in the Sunshine State.

The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research’s Education Estimating Conference was held on Friday to discuss projections for various scholarship programs for Florida college students in fiscal 2023-24 to fiscal 2028-29.

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Michigan to Spend $506,000 Subsidizing Electric Boat Industry

The Center Square

Michigan taxpayers will pay $506,000 to five private boating companies and one university to demonstrate electric boating potential on the Great Lakes, including shore-side charging stations.

“The Fresh Coast Maritime Challenge, along with today’s grant recipients, represent a critical investment in our water recreation infrastructure that will help to attract visitors, create jobs and preserve the natural beauty of our lakes and waterways for generations to come,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “By expanding access to e-boats and charging solutions, Michigan will further foster a thriving mobility ecosystem that supports local businesses, enhances community offerings and boosts overall economic growth.”

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AG Kris Mayes Asks Arizona Supreme Court to Reject New Abraham Hamadeh Trial

Tom Pappert

An attorney representing Attorney General Kris Mayes has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to refuse Abe Hamadeh’s request for a new trial for his election lawsuit contesting his purported loss, and asked the court to force Hamadeh to pay Mayes’ legal fees.

Lawyers for Mayes claimed argued that Hamadeh’s team could have worked to expedite his legal cases, has not asked the current judge for a final decision, and once acceded it did not have enough evidence to overthrow the election.

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Ohio GOP Congressman Apologizes After Condemning Christian for ‘Bigoted’ Post

Just the News

Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller on Tuesday issued an apology after a heated Twitter exchange in which he appeared to condemn an activist in hist state for expressing a basic statement of her Christian faith.

“I posted something earlier that conveyed a message I did not intend. I will not try to hide my mistake or run from it. I sincerely apologize to Lizzie and to everyone who read my post,” Miller stated. He did not clarify what his intended message was.

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House Republicans Investigate Foreign Funding to Influence Elections

The Center Square

House Republicans have launched an inquiry into whether foreign actors are funneling money through nonprofit groups to influence America’s elections.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-MO., and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert, R-Ariz., released an open letter soliciting input on the matter, suggesting that some nonprofit groups may be violating the law to help political parties and candidates.

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Commentary: The Bill Comes Due for Blue Sanctuary Cities

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The seemingly low-cost virtue signaling of declaring your non-border city or state a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants has now revealed its hefty price tag.

“If we don’t get the support we need, New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last week of the now crisis-level illegal immigrants who continue to flow into the Big Apple.

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Montana Judge Rules in Favor of Climate Activists in First-of-its-Kind Trial

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On Monday, a far-left climate activist group scored a legal victory when a judge in Montana ruled in their favor, declaring that state agencies are legally obligated to protect citizens from so-called “global warming.”

As ABC News reports, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley determined that the state of Montana’s current policy of evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits is unconstitutional, as it does not include a provision forcing agencies to consider greenhouse gas emissions. If it stands, it could set a similar precedent for the entire country.

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Tennessee Lawmaker: Gov. Lee No Longer Pushing Red Flag Laws for Special Session

Peter D'Abrosca

A member of the Tennessee General Assembly Tuesday told The Tennessee Star that Gov. Bill Lee (R) will not ask Republicans to submit a bill for red flag laws during the upcoming special session. 

“The Governor is not pushing any type of gun control legislation nor is he pushing red flag legislation,” State Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) told The Star by email. “I was on the legislative task force the Governor pulled together to discuss options. He never once brought up or asked us to support a red flag law during the 3 meetings we discussed specific topics.”

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Americans Want McConnell to Resign amid Health Concerns: Poll

Just the News

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faces intense opposition to his remaining in elected office, a recent survey has revealed.

64% of eligible voters said that he should resign, according to a Redfield & Wilton poll, conducted for Newsweek. that figure includes members of both parties. The same percent of Biden voters said McConnell ought to resign while Trump voters expressed the same sentiment by an even wider, 71%, margin.

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Gulbransen Confronts the Rumor Mill About a ‘Backroom Deal’ to Pass Red Flag Gun Control Laws During Special Session

Tennessee Star Staff

Sparks fly in Tuesday’s edition of Aaron’s Analysis on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, as official guest host Aaron Gulbransen directly confronts swirling around the politics of Gov. Lee’s proposed “red flag” gun control law. In a rare moment, Gulbransen shares shocking details about his past and how that informs his insights into what he thinks which measures will and won’t pass during the upcoming special session. TRANSCRIPT Aaron Gulbransen: So, I wanna set this up: I absolutely despise talking about myself other than telling funny stories, but I feel I must point out a few things so the audience can understand where I’m coming from in general, and how I view things politically in special session. The audience knows me, of course, as the official guest host of this program and the executive director of The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition. I am, long ago, a Blue State refugee. I got my start in politics as a volunteer for the Long Island Coalition for Life, the oldest pro-life organization in the country, folding and distributing their newsletter. My first paid campaign was in the year 2000 against Hillary Clinton. Years later, I moved to Virginia and…

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U.S. Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno Announces County Captains in Over 50 Ohio Counties

Hannah Poling

On Monday, Republican businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate Bernie Moreno announced county captains in over 50 counties across Ohio in his campaign for the U.S. Senate against Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024.

According to a press release e-mailed to reporters, these county captains will help implement Moreno’s campaign strategy in each of the 50 counties represented and will serve as a hub of operations.

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Suspected Terrorism Funder Arrested After Being Released into U.S. at Border

The Center Square

Another foreign national who entered the U.S. illegally and was released into the country by the Biden administration had an extensive criminal record and was wanted in Venezuela for financing terrorism.

In April 2021, Border Patrol agents arrested a Venezuelan national for illegal entry near San Luis, Arizona, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was charged with inadmissibility under U.S. immigration law and issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

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Memphis Mayor Strickland Grilled on Crime After Viral Assault on Police Officer

Peter D'Abrosca

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland (D) joined FOx13 in Memphis Monday where he was forced to answer some poignant questions about the city’s crime in the wake of a viral video showing a Memphis Police Department (MPD) officer being assaulted by a group of men. 

“All of this is completely unacceptable, and somebody out there knows who did both those actions, and they need to call Crime Stoppers because we need quick justice to all those criminals,” Strickland said.

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Chattanooga Mayor’s ‘Hate’ Council Strategized with Far-Left Group Demonizing Moms for Liberty

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Tennessee’s third-largest city launched a council to oppose “hate” and “extremism” in 2018, and that council has repeatedly collaborated with the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, which is notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits “hate groups,” putting them on a “hate map” alongside the Ku Klux Klan.

Then-Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, a Democrat, launched the Council Against Hate in 2018. In doing so, he referenced a July 2015 shooting in the Tennessee city.

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Analysis: New Data Shows High School Boys Twice as Likely to Identify as Conservative vs Liberal

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According to a large survey of high school graduates, the share of young men identifying as conservative is rapidly increasing compared to previous decades. The left loves to trumpet their successes with “the youth vote”, but the reality is there is a growing gender gap that will have broad-reaching political implications for decades to come.

New research from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey of 12th grade high school students shows just how vast the gender partisan gap has grown among young men and women.

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Tennessee Spent Nearly $600 Million to Bolster School CTE Programs

The Center Square

Nearly $600 million in grants have gone to Tennessee schools for career and technical education from a pair of grant programs since 2019 and a new legislative brief shows the impact of that spending.

Over three years, $22.5 million was granted from the Supporting Postsecondary Access in Rural Communities program while $30 million of federal funding when to the first Innovative School Models grants in 2021 and more than $560 million has been awarded by the ISM program since it was launched.

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Tennessee Gun Rights Leader Blasts GOP Gov. Bill Lee’s Push for ‘Red Flag Laws’

Neil W. McCabe

The Tennessee Firearms Association executive director told the Influence Watch podcast he is shocked that Volunteer State’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee called a special election, so he could exploit the Covenant School shooting to pass so-called red flag laws.

“In March of this year, there was a school shooting at a place called Covenant School in Nashville, where three adults and three children were killed by a 28-year-old female who reportedly had been a student at the school in her past,” said John Harris, a Nashville attorney, who founded the TFA in 1995.

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Arizona State Senator Calls Out Governor Hobbs for Joining the U.S. Climate Alliance

Hannah Poling

An Arizona Republican Senator is calling out Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs for her recent “publicity stunt aimed at appealing to her radical environmental base” in joining the radical U.S. Climate Alliance.

Last month Hobbs announced that Arizona joined the U.S. Climate Alliance a coalition of 25 governors all committed to “to securing America’s net-zero future by advancing state-led, high-impact climate action.”

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Minnesota Catholic Colleges Announce ‘Non-Binary Admissions Policy’

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Two affiliated Catholic colleges in Minnesota adopted a policy for the new academic year allowing “non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender-nonconforming individuals” to enroll in a men’s or women’s college based on the sex with which they identify.

The colleges’ previous policy only explicitly referred to “transgender” students, except in a “frequently asked question” that noted non-binary students must “consistently live and identify” as either a man or a woman.

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Arizona House Launches Censorship Probe after Hobbs’ Big Tech Emails Go Public

Tom Pappert

The Arizona House has launched an investigation into the censorship requests by Governor Katie Hobbs, including those revealed by Arizona Capitol Oversight, and those made by other state government officials.

House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) created the panel late last week, enlisting Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) to serve as its chair. In what Kolodin called “an interesting coincidence,” the panel was created the same day Arizona Capitol Oversight released an 8 page report revealing several of Hobbs’ censorship requests to Facebook and Twitter, including one against a member of the Arizona Legislature.

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Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit to Block Abortion Amendment from November Ballot

Hannah Poling

The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit filed by a group of pro-life advocates requesting that they block a proposal that aims to enshrine abortion into the state constitution from the November ballot.

All of the seven Supreme Court justices dismissed the lawsuit brought by former state Representative Tom Brinkman from Cincinnati and former legislative candidate Jennifer Giroux who say that that the Ohio Supreme Court should block the proposal as the submitted signature petitions to get on the ballot fails to specify which state laws would need to be abolished if voters approved the constitutional amendment.

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Connecticut Bans Harvest of Horseshoe Crabs

The Center Square

Connecticut has banned the harvesting of horseshoe crabs along its coastline amid concerns about the ecological health of the species, which is prized for its life-saving blue blood.

The ban, approved by the state Legislature, outlaws horseshoe crab hand harvesting beginning on October 1. Anyone caught violating the law faces a $25 fine for each crab harvested. There are exemptions for scientific and medical purposes if it is determined that doing so will not harm the overall horseshoe crab population.

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Tennessee Department of Education to Hold Town Halls as New School Letter Grade System Set to Launch this Fall

TC Weber

n November, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), in compliance with state law, will release school letter grades for individual Tennessee schools. To prepare families, teachers, community members, and decision-makers to review that data, the TDOE is holding a series of 10 Town Halls.

“Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, policymaker, or an interested community member, school letter grades will empower all Tennesseans with the information they need to support K-12 public education and our local schools,” said Lizzette Reynolds, Commissioner of Education. “I encourage all Tennesseans to join us at a town hall or submit a public comment to share what you want to know about schools in your community and how they are serving your kids.”

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Ohio Coalition Resubmits Petition to End Qualified Immunity for Government Employees

Hannah Poling

A group of Ohioans wants to try yet again to change the state’s Constitution to permit lawsuits against government employees.

The amendment, aiming for the November 2024 presidential election, looks to add a Section 22 to Article I of the Ohio Constitution in order to end qualified immunity being used to protect state employees, including but not limited to law enforcement officers, against civil lawsuits.

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