History Next Door: Councilman Jeff Eslick’s Drive to Restore the ‘Hidden’ Overton Family Cemetery

Thomas Overton

In Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy an unexpected tale unfolds – one that transcends the ordinary municipal challenges and reminds us of all of the historical gravitas of the home we call Nashville.

Council Member Jeff Eslick takes us through the twists and turns of a story that began with a seemingly routine issue: a tree limb reaching over a fence and into a constituent’s home.

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Despite Backlog of Claims, Department of Veterans Affairs Using Resources to Help Illegal Immigrants

At a press conference on immigration reform earlier this month, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., criticized President Biden for putting the needs of illegal immigrants over those of America’s veterans. “Veterans have a hard enough time getting the care that they need and now they have to compete with illegal immigrants? This will not fix the border crisis. Biden’s border crisis puts illegal immigrants first, it puts our veterans last,” Daines said.

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Academic Groups Wary of UC San Diego’s Climate Change Grad Requirement

UCSD Campus

The University of California San Diego does not require students to take courses in literature, foreign language, economics or U.S. government and history, receiving a “C” rating from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for its general education requirements.

Students haven’t been able to graduate for 10 years now without a diversity, equity and inclusion course, however, and next fall’s incoming class will have another arguably ideological obligation to fulfill: climate change.

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Murfreesboro Police Announce ‘Real Time Crime Center’ Equipped with Cameras, License Plate Readers

The Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD) released new details about its Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) on Tuesday, revealing the new system will rely on Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), Public Safety Camera systems, and potentially “gunshot detection technology” to more quickly locate and respond to crime.

The agency revealed on its website that MPD “is taking the final steps” toward completing its RTCC, with ALPRs already “installed in various locations” selected “based on historical crime trends and traffic patterns” throughout the city, and cameras coming soon to areas hit with violent crime or another “specific need” identified by police.

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From Patriot to Prison: Tennessee Couple’s Battle Against Injustice Post-January 6

Ronald McAbee

In an emotional interview on Thursday’s episode of The John Fredericks Show, Tennessean Sarah McAbee joined guest-host Michael Patrick Leahy to share the disturbing journey of her husband, J6er and former Williamson County Deputy Sheriff Ronald McAbee.

In this in-studio interview, Sarah McAbee reveals new details about her husband Ronald McAbee’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment and discusses the daunting legal battle, the possibility of a 17-year prison term, and the devastating toll the prosecution has had on the couple.

Her experience inspired Sarah McAbee to found a nonprofit foundation aiding January 6 defendants and their families called Stand in the Gap.

Despite facing political reluctance, she remains steadfast in her pursuit of justice for her husband and others and urges all Americans to consider the ongoing human cost and broader implications for civil liberties in the United States caught in the aftermath of January 6.

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Wisconsin La Crosse Chancellor Unanimously Fired After Filming Online Porn Videos with Wife: ‘Abhorrent’

The New York Post   The University of Wisconsin chancellor who previously paid a porn star thousands of dollars to speak to students on campus was canned Wednesday — after it was revealed he films his own adult content with his wife and posts the X-rated videos online. The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents decided unanimously to fire longtime UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow, citing his “abhorrent” conduct in a vague statement. “In recent days, we learned of specific conduct by Dr. Gow that has subjected the university to significant reputational harm. His actions were abhorrent,” UW president Jay Rothman said in a statement. READ THE FULL STORY           

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Air Force Academy Privately Fretted the End of Race-Based Admissions Would Hamstring ‘Diversity’ Goals

The Air Force Academy’s top official worried the Supreme Court’s decision that race-based admissions were unconstitutional would set back the service’s “warfighting imperative” of building a racially diverse military, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On June 30, 2023, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, the Air Force Academy’s superintendent, wrote a preview of the consequences that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action could have for service academies’ abilities to judge candidates on the basis of race, according to emails the DCNF obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Although the justices did not overtly apply the decision to military schools, the records show how the Air Force Academy scrambled to minimize the impact of the June 29 decision on racial diversity goals.

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China’s Funding of U.S. Climate Initiatives Mirrors the Russian Funding of Anti-Fracking Groups

Windmills

A nonprofit with operations in Beijing reportedly funded a number of nonprofits in the United States fighting climate change and pushing for sustainable or “green” energy.

Tax filings obtained by Fox News showed funding from the Energy Foundation China, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has a majority of its operations in China. The group, which refers to itself in tax filings as “Energy Foundation China” contributed $3.8 million to initiatives to phase out coal use and expand the use of electric vehicles, according to Fox News.

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Tennessee Official Says Anxiety, Depression on the Rise Among Children

An official with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) said in a recent interview that mental illnesses among children are on the rise in the Volunteer State, as the state’s Attorney General works to tackle some of the potential root causes of those illnesses. 

“The data from all sources point to that we see increased sadness and hopelessness among high school students,” TDMHSAS Deputy Commissioner Matthew Yancey told WKRN. “We’ve seen increases in emergency room presentations related to psychiatric emergencies, increases in suicidal ideation.”

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State Bar of Arizona Suspends License of Former Maricopa County Prosecutor April Sponsel for Two Years Over Prosecuting Antifa

The State Bar of Arizona’s disciplinary judge Margaret Downie, along with a hearing panel of two others, suspended the law license of longtime Maricopa County prosecutor April Sponsel on December 19 mainly for prosecuting multiple people at an Antifa riot that took place in downtown Phoenix on October 17, 2020 after the death of George Floyd. The 71-page Decision and Order Imposing Sanctions also faulted her decision to charge a thief accused of assaulting police officers. The Arizona bar has come under increasing criticism in recent years for targeting conservative attorneys.

The trial was held in October, with over 8,100 pieces of evidence, including documents and videos, and 30 witnesses testifying. In February 2021, then-Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel made a decision to dismiss all the charges. ABC-15 credited their reporting with the reason for the dismissal. “On February 12, 2021, MCAO dismissed the gang charges against protesters following a week of intense scrutiny because of ABC15’s reporting,” the news site said. The station interviewed the rioters and portrayed them as peaceful protesters.

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Worker Discrimination Lawsuit Against Union Argued in Pennsylvania Court

AFSCME Members

The Commonwealth Court recently heard arguments in a case regarding a state worker and the public sector union she says discriminated against her during an employer dispute.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2021 by the Fairness Center, alleges Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, violated its duty of fair representation when it negotiated an unfavorable settlement without the consent of the worker it involved, Penny Gustafson.

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YoungkinWatch: Democrats Signal Opposition to Governor’s Plan to Eliminate Car Tax

Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly have signaled their opposition to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s plan to eliminate the state’s unpopular car tax as part of his budget since he unveiled it last week. Despite Youngkin’s calls for additional mental health and education funding, the plan’s detractors say revenue generated through taxing personal vehicles is necessary to fund the commonwealth’s schools.

Youngkin declared before the Virginia House of Delegates on December 20 that the commonwealth’s “car tax belongs in the trash can, not in your mailbox,” and his budget revealed plans to offset revenue lost by eliminating the car tax and lowering the income tax with a sales tax increase.

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Georgia Election Board Chairman Will Be Replaced Weeks After Vote Against Investigating Brad Raffensperger

The Georgia State Senate is reportedly planning to replace the acting chairman of the State Election Board just weeks after he voted against investigating how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) managed the 2020 presidential election. Raffensperger’s political adversary, Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R), will reportedly play a role in determining the new chairman.

Acting chairman Matt Mashburn will be replaced with another Republican by the Georgia State Senate, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which cited two sources familiar with the plan. Mashburn most recently received a two-year appointment by former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan (R), and was confirmed by the Georgia Senate in 2021. His term expired earlier this year.

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Georgia Sees Its Population Increase by 1.1 Percent in 2023

Georgia saw its population increase by 1.1% from 2022 to 2023, though new numbers show the rate of its increase trailed that of several neighboring states.

According to the latest estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia’s population stood at more than 11 million people in 2023, up from 10.9 million in 2022. Census numbers show that the state’s population has grown more than 2.9% since 2020.

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Prison Oversight Commission Suggests Hobbs Found New State Agency Amid Lawsuit over Refusal to Appoint Directors

Walt Blackman

The Prison Oversight Commission created by Governor Katie Hobbs (D) in January reportedly lacks the “teeth” necessary to enact change, a former Arizona lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Former Arizona State Representative Walt Blackman, a Republican who represented Snowflake until 2023, said the volunteer commission on which he serves, established by Hobbs on January 25, lacks the “teeth” necessary to mandate and enforce policy changes in Arizona’s prisons, according to Arizona Capitol Times. 

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Top Business Schools Push CRT and Other Progressive Ideas: Report

America’s prestigious business schools regularly push leftist ideologies, including critical race theory and environmental, social, and governance standards, according to a new report.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation launched the project through its CriticalRace.org database. It details the CRT and environmental, social, and governance initiatives at the top 10 business schools in the country, including minority scholarship programs, discriminatory admissions practices, and “anti-racism” trainings required for faculty members.

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Commentary: CDC’s Latest Abortion Numbers Is a Sobering Reminder of Monumental Task Ahead

The most recent report on abortion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out and, as usual, it’s grim.

The number of abortions rose from 620,327 in 2020 to 625,978 in 2021. The key drivers in this depressing increase are a greater use of dangerous chemical abortion pills and weakened safety protocols governing the use of such pills.

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New York Times Sues AI Giants for Alleged Copyright Violation

The New York Times sued artificial intelligence (AI) giants OpenAI and Microsoft on Wednesday for alleged copyright violation.

OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing Chat are large language models that are trained on data from the internet and generate text based on prompts from users. The tech giants trained these chatbots with millions of the NYT’s copyrighted articles without permission, the outlet alleges in the complaint.

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Brits Buck ‘Gender Identity Ideology’ in Schools, Strange Bedfellows with Red States

by Greg Piper   The United Kingdom pioneered the legal practice of recognizing a person as the opposite sex without a surgical operation nearly 20 years ago. Its gender-identity clinic for children was created before the fall of the Soviet Union. But as 2023 draws to a close, the U.K.’s. educational policy for gender-confused children is leaning toward red America. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Department for Education published “non-statutory guidance” for schools in England this month that resembles legislation and school board policies in conservative U.S. states that have quickly provoked litigation. The alignment is all the more surprising because supporters of Britain’s governing Conservative Party, at least on social views, more closely resemble Democrats than Republicans in the U.S. Addressing schoolchildren by pronouns that correspond with their sex, and requiring them to use restrooms and locker rooms in line with their anatomy, may be the only subject of agreement among Brits and Idahoans other than an affinity for potatoes. Nearly half of U.S. states joined a brief last week backing The Gem State in a legal challenge to its sex-separation law for schools. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted a federal district judge’s order refusing to block SB 1000 in October. The Biden administration and American mainstream…

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FBI Agent Told Boss Biden Laptop Could be Russian Disinformation, But Team Knew Otherwise

The FBI agent who ran the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) during the 2020 election admitted in Congressional testimony that he advised his leadership that Hunter Biden’s laptop could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign, apparently unaware his team already knew that the FBI had obtained and corroborated the computer as “real,” according to interview transcripts reviewed by Just the News.

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