As a law enforcement officer in Knoxville for nearly 30 years, I have spoken with community members, businesses, and individuals who have utilized the arbitration system as a key platform to find agreements to their disputes. It has proven to be a speedy process and the most affordable legal option for working people.
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The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition released a lengthy statement to The Tennessee Star Tuesday afternoon after a far-left gun control group directed its supporters to protest an event where the nonprofit’s Williamson County chapter will focus on eradicating human trafficking in the Volunteer State.
Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) and State Senator Jack Johnson (pictured above, left) (R-District 27) will attend.
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Despite facing three criminal indictments, former President Donald Trump is crushing his GOP presidential nominee competitors and running neck and neck with President Joe Biden, according to the latest polls.
In battleground Arizona, a new Emerson College poll finds Trump leading Biden by 2 percentage points in a hypothetical rematch of the 2020 presidential election.
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United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain criticized President Joe Biden on Tuesday for pushing electric vehicle goals that UAW believes do not result in great enough compensation for workers, according to The Washington Post.
Fain is still withholding an endorsement for the president by UAW after criticizing Biden for low wages at the new Ultium Cells plant, General Motors’ electric vehicle battery project that is jointly owned with LG Energy Solutions, according to the Post. UAW is currently in negotiations with top automakers Ford, GM and Stellantis over a possible strike for the 150,000 U.S. hourly workers represented by the union.
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RedDOT Corporation officials announced Tuesday that the company will invest $18 million to expand its manufacturing and distribution operations in Memphis.
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The Tennessee House Republican Caucus responded to Governor Bill Lee’s official special session proclamation for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene at 4 p.m. on Monday, August 21.
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Data released on Friday by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released last week shows that Metro Nashville taxpayers are paying roughly $120 million a year over the state’s contribution to fund city schools.
Under Tennessee’s new public school funding formula – Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) – most local school districts, except Nashville Sevier County, can expect to pay one-third of the local education cost, with the state paying the other two-thirds for two districts.
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) busted seven men in connection with human trafficking, according to the agency’s website.
“Over a two-day period beginning August 4th, as part of an undercover investigation aimed at addressing human trafficking in East Tennessee, authorities placed several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases,” according to TBI. “The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors. As a result of the operation, authorities arrested seven men.”
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The City of Nashville has the most generous yard sizes of any of the 50 largest U.S. cities, according to recent research analyzed by online nationwide self-storage search website StorageCafe.
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After the head of the American Library Association (ALA) declared herself to be an open “Marxist,” the group has faced severe backlash that has led to at least one state pulling its funding altogether.
As reported by Fox News, Emily Drabinski celebrated her own election as head of the ALA last year by tweeting “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD. I love you mom.”
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In Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of former President Donald Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, the issue of alternate electors from seven states has become another focal point, as officials – all Democrats – from six of those states determine whether to prosecute.
In the federal indictment of Trump last week, Smith charged the former president with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The indictment also acknowledges six unnamed co-conspirators with whom Trump allegedly did “conspire, confederate, and agree” to defraud the country.
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Governor Bill Lee has issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to take up gun-control measures, including a controversial “red flag” bill that many of his GOP allies in the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly say is a non-starter.
The long-expected proclamation was apparently leaked to the liberal Tennessee Lookout late Thursday afternoon before it’s official release.
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The estimated value of the Tennessee Titans franchise rose 33% to $4.37 billion in the new Sportico National Football League valuations list.
The increase came despite the Titans missing the playoffs but came in a year when Tennessee and Nashville taxpayers signed up to fund $1.2 billion of a new Titans stadium set to open in 2027. The deal includes an estimated $3.1 billion tax fund to pay off sports authority bonds on the project along with infrastructure around the stadium and future capital expenses at the stadium during the new lease.
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After a long campaign season for and against Ohio State Issue 1 to raise the threshold to amend the state constitution, voting numbers from county boards of elections are pouring in and being added to the unofficial results on the Ohio Secretary of States Website.
As of 10:00 pm on election day, the trending unofficial outcome is that voters have defeated Ohio State Issue 1.
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Earlier this year, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 118 and House Bill 622 to triple Bartow County’s homestead tax exemptions for school and county ad valorem taxes.
But property owners across the Peach State have seen their property tax bills balloon. State Rep. Matthew Gambill, R-Cartersville, spoke with The Center Square recently about property taxes and what action state lawmakers might take.
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A federal appeals court has upheld a 2021 Connecticut law banning religious exemptions for immunization requirements for schools, colleges and early education, but critics of the restrictions are vowing to take their case to the Supreme Court.
In the 2-1 ruling issued on Friday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that rejected a lawsuit challenging the repeal of the state’s long-held religious exemptions to childhood vaccines.
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The U.S. Office of Inspector General audited Virginia’s Medicaid program from 2019-21 and estimated the commonwealth paid managed care organizations at least $20.8 million in capitation payments for more than 12,000 deceased Medicare enrollees during those years.
As Medicaid is a government-provided benefit, whereas individuals or their employers typically pay a monthly health insurance premium for coverage, Virginia pays that amount on behalf of the enrollee to managed care organizations and is reimbursed a percentage by the federal government.
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Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a shortcut of sorts to expand health care access: let psychologists, not just psychiatrists, prescribe medication.
A handful of states and the federal government already do so, but critics worry about a lack of proper training and other innovations of the past that have not panned out.
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A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio dismissed a lawsuit on Monday challenging Bethel Local School District’s policy to permit students to use bathrooms according to their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
The Bethel School board adopted a new policy last January that allowed students to use bathroom facilities according to their gender identity. Before the policy change, transgender students predominantly utilized a gender-neutral bathroom.
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At the end of the classic independent film Reservoir Dogs, the characters end up in a Mexican standoff. The criminal gang’s ringleader, Joe, insists that Mr. Orange is working with the police, even though he is dying on the floor, having been shot during a failed jewelry store heist. Mr. White – the crooks use aliases – insists that Joe is wrong. Guns get drawn. Mr. White demands some proof for Joe’s claim about Mr. Orange. Joe angrily responds, “You don’t need proof when you have instinct!” You can watch the (admittedly brutal) scene here.
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The Florida Board of Governors is expected to vote at the end of August on whether to offer the Classical Learning Test (CLT) along with the SAT and ACT for public college admissions, a move that would make the Sunshine State the first in the nation to offer a test based specifically on the foundations of Western civilization and a “back to basics” education model.
A committee of the board of governors already met in June and approved the CLT as an option for the 12 schools in the State University System, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time. After a two-week public comment period, the full board of governors will take its final vote August 30.
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Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh continue to contest their election losses in the 2022 election for governor and attorney general respectively, producing ongoing new evidence of irregularities and possible wrongdoing in the election. Much of the evidence has taken months to come out, including evidence related to the problematic 2020 presidential election, due to stonewalling by Maricopa County and other government agencies at turning it over. Maricopa County mostly ignored four repeat requests for data and equipment regarding the 2020 election from Jennifer Wright, the Election Integrity Unit civil attorney for the Attorney General’s Office, who resigned at the end of 2022 and now represents Hamadeh in his election contest.
Much of the evidence appears to show violations of the state’s Election Procedures Manual, which are Class 2 misdemeanors. While not all of the alleged violations can be described as fraud, many of them can be characterized as alleged criminal activity. Here is a look back at some of the most serious complaints regarding alleged wrongdoing during Arizona’s 2020 and 2022 elections.
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More than a dozen communities across the state participated in Brave Books’ first annual “See You at the Library” event over the weekend, a national movement to “bring traditional Christian and American values back into the public space,” local event organizers told Alpha News.
“When we saw Brave Books was looking for people to host story hours at their local libraries, we thought it would be an awesome way to connect with the community, educate parents how low our literacy rates are, and bring an hour of fun to families right in their local library,” said Britni Granquist with Dakota County Moms for Liberty, which helped organize five story hours across the south metro attracting more than 600 attendees.
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Former President Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 presidential election in Michigan, according to a new poll.
Trump received 43% support, while Biden came in at 41% and Green Party candidate Cornel West is at 4%, while 4% support someone else and 7% are undecided, according to a survey of registered voters released last week by Emerson College Polling.
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Former President Donald Trump’s support among New Hampshire Republicans remains solid.
A significant majority — 62 percent — of Republican primary voters say they would vote for Trump even if he’s convicted of a felony by the time they cast their ballots for president, according to a new NHJournal/co-efficient poll.
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Kari Lake, the former gubernatorial candidate, has emerged as the preferred choice for U.S. Senate among a plurality of Arizona Republicans, with a 31-point lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in a recent poll. The data also showed Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) winning a three-way contest between Lamb and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
Lake was the first choice of 42 percent of Arizona Republicans, according to a recent Emerson College Polling survey. Pollsters found just 11 percent of respondents preferred Lamb. An additional 7 percent of Republicans support former Senate candidate Blake Masters, 2 percent support businessman Jim Lamon, and 2 percent support Brian Wright.
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The ACLU of Wisconsin voiced its opposition against a new state law that would send people who sell fentanyl that kills people to jail.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed a law requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for people who sell the drugs involved in deadly fentanyl overdoses.
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An Arizona Republican lawmaker criticized Democrats for refusing to attend an emergency joint committee meeting in Kingman in opposition to creating a new national monument near the Grand Canyon.
According to State Representative John Gillette (R-Kingman), Democrats need to be voted out of the state legislature after refusing to attend Monday’s emergency meeting to oppose the “Biden Land Grab” and allow for public comments.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Monday that he named Giles Allen as his new director of Legislative Affairs.
Allen (pictured above), who is DeWine’s former deputy director of Legislative Affairs, will replace former director of Legislative Affairs Aaron Crooks, who Lt. Governor Jon Husted recently named as his chief of staff.
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The Georgia Lottery Corp. recently announced that it raised $1,516,383,000 for education in the Peach State during fiscal year 2023 (FY23), which spanned from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
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In a major shakeup weeks in the making, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign announced Tuesday it had replaced its campaign manager amid low polling in the 2024 GOP primary.
DeSantis’ gubernatorial chief of staff James Uthmeier replaced campaign manager Generra Peck, DeSantis’ team confirmed to The Hill.
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One year after implementation, the Army’s fitness and academic prep course has produced nearly 9,000 graduates, a 95% success rate that chips away at the Army’s recruiting struggles, the Army said Tuesday.
The Army brought an initial 1,900 potential recruits who couldn’t meet academic or physical fitness standards through a pilot program that began in August 2022 to boost test scores, and expanded the program to a second training base in January. Service leaders have also increased recruitment bonuses for soldiers to hopefully provide more incentive for prospective servicemembers to enter high-skilled military occupations, and over the past 12 months the Army gave out more than $15.5 million in bonuses to prep course graduates, according to an Army news article.
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The wheels of justice often turn slowly, but when it comes to U.S. corporate complicity in China’s record of religious persecution, human rights activists say they are finally picking up speed and moving in the right direction.
Top reformers in Washington, D.C., are heralding a recent twist in a 12-year legal battle that could have far-reaching implications for all U.S. companies that have sold surveillance or tracking technology to China.
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Labor productivity remains below COVID-19 pandemic levels after its first increase year-over-year was announced Thursday since 2021, with experts citing Biden administration regulations as one of the causes for the lackluster results.
Nonfarm business labor productivity reached 1.3% growth year-over-year for the second quarter of 2023 after declining for five straight quarters starting with the first quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Biden administration has imposed a large amount of regulations that have hindered productivity, and the recent return to modest growth is in spite of these costly regulations , experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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When I was sent William Beckmann’s song, “She Can’t Be Found,” I was mesmerized. It sounded like something from Johnny or Waylon with a little bit of Elvis thrown in. Surely that young man who I saw on Instagram wouldn’t be singing a song that sounded like it was straight out of 1970s country. I was impressed.
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The faith-based film Jesus Revolution soared to popularity on the big screen in early 2023, and now has become an immediate hit on Netflix, landing in the streaming service’s Top 10 in the United States.
The film, which first hit theaters February 24, debuted on Netflix on July 31 and, by the next morning, was ranked in the number 8 spot of the top 10 movies viewed in the United States, reported What to Watch.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is not yet convinced by his own party’s push to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to Politico.
More conservative House Republicans are finding it more difficult to get McCarthy, along with the more moderate members of the party, to join their efforts, Politico reported. Several House Republicans, including Pat Fallon of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have already filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.
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Through Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have rescued more than 900 children being smuggled into and through Texas from Mexico by human traffickers, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez announced.
Among them was a recent rescue in Maverick County in Eagle Pass, Texas, where troopers found a five-year-old Honduran girl who’d been smuggled into Texas by three adult women who weren’t related to her. The women found the girl in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and then brought her with them as they crossed illegally into Texas between ports of entry.
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State Rep. Gloria Johnson (R-Knoxville) formed an exploratory committee for her expected run for U.S. Senate, and a Nashville insider told The Tennessee Star that Johnson is expected to use the upcoming special session of the General Assembly as a bully pulpit to raise the profile of her campaign.
“I’ve been told by people in the general assembly that say that she’s officially announcing the day before session, and then she’s going to roll right into session and grandstand and make the session about her campaign,” the source told The Star, adding that Johnson is expected to “ham it up with her two buddies,” referring to Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Knoxville).
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Executive Director of Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition Aaron Gulbransen shares his insights about who is empowering the modern slave trade right here in Nashville and how the people of Tennessee can confront and defeat this ancient and evil practice on Tuesday’s cant-miss episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.
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The Supreme Court stayed Tuesday a lower court decision to vacate a rule designed to crack down on “ghost guns” by regulating gun parts kits as traditional firearms.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently announced multiple transitions to his leadership team, including his appointments of a new policy director, press secretary, and senior advisor.
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The largest individual donor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign effort has said he will stop donating to DeSantis unless changes are made to the campaign, according to a report by Reuters.
Robert Bigelow, a multimillionaire and owner of the Budget Suites of America, has donated over $20 million to the Never Back Down PAC, the principal super PAC supporting DeSantis’ campaign — accounting for two-thirds of the PAC’s fundraising in the first half of 2023. On Friday, Bigelow said that he would stop funding DeSantis’ campaign until it exhibited a more moderate policy platform, according to comments made to Reuters.
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Transgender woman Olivia Hill garnered enough votes last Thursday to make it to the runoff election in the 2023 Metro Nashville Election.
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Arizona Republican lawmakers are urging Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to extend the deadline for public comment on the 2023 Election Procedure Manual.
State Representatives Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) and Michael Carbone (R-Buckeye) are calling on Fontes to extend the “extremely short” public comment period he set for the 2023 Elections Procedure Manual. Fontes released the manual draft on August 1st and set the deadline for August 15th, even though he is not required to produce it to Governor Katie Hobbs or Attorney General Kris Mayes until October 1st.
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National pro-life leader and former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson spelled out Sunday what could await pregnant teens in Ohio should a proposed constitutional amendment allow them to obtain abortions without parental consent.
Johnson spoke to a large crowd at a Rosary Rally, organized by Catholics for Catholics, to encourage Ohioans to vote “yes” on Issue 1 on Tuesday.
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Governor Katie Hobbs said canceling state leases to a Fondomonte, a foreign company that grows water-hungry alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia to feed cattle, was complex, asserting that some have asked Arizona to “unilaterally yank one lease” while allowing other, similar leases to continue in a recent interview. The governor did not comment on her campaign’s connection to Fondomonte, but gave detailed reasons why terminating the lease would be a complicated issue.
Hobbs stressed that ending the lease to Fondomonte is complicated because, “It would be treating one leaseholder differently than others,” in an interview with The Arizona Republic. Hobbs continued, “We can’t just unilaterally yank one lease because we don’t like that alfalfa’s going to Saudi Arabia.”
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“Structural racism” contributes to higher Type 2 diabetes rates in black Americans, according to a new paper from Emory University researchers.
The researchers used a framework that “consider[s] the domains of health behaviours and social norms, structural racism, access to high-quality care, economic development, and public awareness.”
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Oberlin College sued its insurers for refusal to pay the $36.6 million in damages the liberal school paid to end a six-year legal battle after it defamed a local bakery as “racist” after a store employee chased out of the store several black individuals who stole wine.
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Students that attend Fulton County Schools and DeKalb County Schools were met with new security improvements including weapon detection systems and push-button alert systems.
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