Although a bill that creates an electric vehicle fee in Pennsylvania cleared a House committee on Monday, it’s unlikely to pass in its current form.
Senate Bill 656, sponsored by Sen. Greg Rothman, R-New Bloomfield, would replace the alternative fuel tax with a $290 EV fee paid at the time of vehicle registration. Owners would also have the option of enrolling in a monthly payment plan.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) revealed on Monday he will seek $90 million in his December 20 budget to fund new research at three Virginia universities that have all suffered from antisemitic protests and demonstrations on their campuses, accusations of antisemitic posts from faculty, or claims of failing to accurately reflect Israel’s position in its defensive war against Hamas at university events.
Youngkin announced in a press release Monday that he is seeking “a total of $90 million in one-time funds to the University of Virginia’s Manning Institute for Biotechnology, Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medicines for All Institute” that will require them to work with the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority to increase “commercialization and startup support” for the institutions.
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A Florida high school has been fined and placed on administrative probation for violating the state’s bylaws by allowing a biologically male student to participate on a female sports team, The Daily Signal has learned.
The move appears to be the first time that a public school has been punished for violating state laws protecting fairness in women’s sports.
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Dozens of protesters shut down an Edina School Board meeting Monday night in a show of support for two Edina High School students who were suspended for using an antisemitic chant during a walkout for Palestine Oct. 26.
The students were suspended for three days for chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during a student-led walkout in October. Protesters say the students’ First Amendment rights were violated and want the suspensions expunged from the students’ records.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) sent a letter to Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason on Tuesday expressing his concern over a bill in the Irish parliament.
The bill, introduced last year, would combat “hate speech” by amending Irish law “relating to the prohibition of incitement to violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of certain characteristics (referred to as protected characteristics) of the person or the group of persons.”
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Even as Democrats such as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warn of “right-wing dark-money network seeking to undermine the future of democratic elections in the United States,” progressives have far-outstripped Republicans in harnessing the power of putatively non-partisan, nonprofit organizations that push the boundaries to win elections.
More than 150 progressive nonprofits spent $1.35 billion on political activities in 2021 and 2022, according to data compiled by Restoration of America, a conservative political action committee. Although there are no readily available estimates of comparable conservative efforts, observers say they are overmatched.
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The Roswell City Council issued a temporary moratorium on Monday to prohibit the city from granting new licenses for massage parlors in the Fulton County suburb located north of Atlanta. The moratorium follows a number of September human trafficking arrests and law enforcement actions at six massage parlors.
The city approved a resolution “instituting a temporary moratorium on new massage establishment licenses and occupational tax certificates” for 90 days “or until the City has properly amended its ordinances regarding massage establishments.”
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A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS shows former President Donald Trump leading incumbent President Joe Biden in a hypothetical head-to-head 2024 matchup in Georgia.
The poll, published Monday, shows Trump leading Biden by five points, with the former president receiving 49 percent compared to the current president’s 44 percent.
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Progressive organizations are aggressively registering new voters online using special online access implemented under Democratic election officials. In Arizona, the program was launched during COVID-19 in 2020 and is open to groups that intend to register more than 1,000 voters. There was very little news coverage of the program launch other than a press release, and the names of the progressive organizations are no longer listed on the Arizona Secretary of State’s website.
Last year, the list of the progressive groups granted access under then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was prominently displayed on the site including Chicanos por La Causa, Mi Familia Vota, Equality Arizona, Inspire 2 Vote, One Arizona, Rock the Vote, and The Civics Center. Additionally, three other organizations that nominally sound nonpartisan but lean to the left were the Arizona Student’s Association, the Phoenix Indian Center, and the Arizona Center for Disability Law.
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The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is set to provide House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) with access to over 1,700 emails from Joe Biden’s vice presidency, in the midst of an ongoing impeachment inquiry against him.
According to the Daily Caller, NARA will provide Comer and the committee with 62,610 total pages of records, which includes 1,799 emails and attachments. The emails are all from Biden’s tenure as Vice President, and are all relevant to Hunter Biden and his business relationship with Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy firm at the heart of the corruption accusations against the Bidens. The agency announced its intentions to hand over the documents in a letter to Comer on Monday.
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A former Army medical officer has filed a criminal complaint against his commanding officer, alleging that the major general unlawfully retaliated against him after he made protected whistleblower disclosures about the COVID-19 shots.
After the COVID-19 vaccine mandate was imposed on the military, First Lieutenant Mark Charles Bashaw sent communications up the chain of command alleging violations of military regulations and federal law, and warned of the health risks associated with the shots, the Epoch Times reported.
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Big pharmacies are distributing Americans’ private medical information to law enforcement agencies without a warrant, lawmakers said in a Tuesday letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Law enforcement agencies discreetly get a hold of thousands of Americans’ prescription records per year with no warrant, and often with no legal review, according to Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Democratic California Rep. Sara Jacobs. The lawmakers are pushing HHS to increase its regulations to protect Americans’ data and require a warrant to obtain it.
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Today’s challenge, game show Jeopardy-style: “They have a particular status in common: Anwar al-Awlaki, Yaser Esam Hamdi, the twin daughters of El Chapo, Chinese children born to US surrogates, and children born in the US to illegal immigrants.”
After seeing the first two names, a contestant would probably be preparing to hit the button to answer something like “What is Islamic terrorism?” – until they finished reading the entire list. The last item would clinch it, and then the fastest button-pusher would confidently offer the politically-correct answer: “What is birthright citizenship?”
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All-star panelist, renowned academic scholar, and author Carol Swain joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Tuesday as the dual scandals involving Harvard University’s President, Claudine Gay continue to unfold.
A fiery Swain expressed her anger over Harvard’s apparent attempt to redefine plagiarism to protect its DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) image, stating that despite their best efforts, the university doesn’t get to decide what constitutes plagiarism. She emphasized that Harvard’s reputation has suffered tremendously as a result. Swain detailed how her own acclaimed research was allegedly plagiarized by Gay, and pointed out that this lack of citation damages academia as a whole by undermining the work of students and researchers. Swain’s stance has resonated with many who believe that Harvard’s decision reflects a double standard.
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In this engaging interview on Tuesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) previews for listeners his new idea for school safety. The longtime lawmaker emphasizes the importance of this comprehensive approach to school safety and highlights the need to protect teachers from assaults and false accusations.
In addition to discussing the school safety bill, the interview offers a peek behind the curtain of the Tennessee General Assembly into the complex process of navigating and passing legislation.
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Inflation ticked slightly down year-over-year in November but continued to remain well above the Federal Reserve’s target, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Tuesday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, increased 3.1% on an annual basis in November, compared to 3.2% in October, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, remained high, rising 4.0% year-over-year in October, compared to 4.0% in October.
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House Republican leadership pulled two bills reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from the floor, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faced backlash for allowing two bills to be introduced on the surveillance law.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a member of the House Rules Committee, confirmed to the Washington Examiner late Monday evening that neither of the bills reforming Section 702 would come to the floor for a vote this week.
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In episode 50 of his newest production, “The Tucker Carlson Encounter,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed professional golfer on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champion John Daly.
Daly said he learned how to golf when he was young through golf digest lessons released by professional golfer Jack Nicklaus and practicing on a baseball diamond close to his childhood home in Dardanelle, Arkansas.
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The New York Post Harvard University covered up a high-level investigation into whether its controversial president was a plagiarist — and used an expensive law firm to threaten The Post over our own probe. The college announced Tuesday morning that it had investigated Claudine Gay over whether some of her academic work was plagiarized and had cleared her of breaching the college’s “standards for research misconduct.” Instead, it said that she would request four corrections in two publications to insert citations and quotation marks that were originally “omitted.” READ THE FULL STORY
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On Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, Beacon Impact Director of Government Relations Jordan Long discussed why he supports Gov. Lee’s Tennessee Education Freedom Act. Long dives into the importance of expanding educational choice and the success of the existing program in three counties, highlighting the potential for exponential growth statewide and emphasizes the need for accountability measures. The Beacon Impact lobbyist also shares his valuable insights into the proposed legislation and its potential impact on education in Tennessee. This is a must-read for the parents of school-aged children who are looking at the future of their children’s education. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: Tell us a little bit about Beacon and Beacon Impact and how long they’ve been around and what the main mission is. Jordan Long: So Beacon started as the Tennessee Center for Research and Policy and we’re actually going to celebrate our 20th anniversary next year at Beacon. After it was the Tennessee Center for Research and Policy, it was rebranded to “Beacon.” We’re part of the State Policy Network, so when you think of places like Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, we are essentially a Tennessee version of those organizations,…
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U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) sent a letter to James Comer (R-KY-01), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, requesting he subpoena the flight logs associated with the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane.
“As you are aware, there have long been unanswered questions surrounding the sex trafficking ring spearheaded by the late Jeffrey Epstein,” Burchett wrote. “We know that Epstein and his associates engaged in child sex trafficking and catered to the rich and powerful elite from around the globe. Many of Epstein’s clients are alleged to be some of America’s most powerful and well-known people.”
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Six candidates will be considered by the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments to fill the Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of the Honorable Roger A. Page.
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Several medical schools across the nation have recently amended or scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies after they were flagged by Do No Harm, a medical advocacy group that seeks to push back against declining meritocratic standards and DEI encroachments in med school curricula.
The watchdog organization has filed more than 140 complaints with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights within the last two years, and nearly 40 investigations have been opened so far, with 30 still active, according to a spokesperson.
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The Harvard board on Tuesday said Claudine Gay would remain as president of the university despite calls for her ousting following her answers about antisemitism before Congress last week as well as allegations she plagiarized parts of her Ph.D. thesis. “As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the board, known as the Harvard Corporation, said in a statement signed by all members except for Gay. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
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The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has issued a public statement announcing the search of two known street racers who are currently wanted on outstanding warrants related to dangerous driving activity earlier this year.
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Drew Johnson, who founded and served as the first president of the Beacon Center of Tennessee, formerly the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, told The Tennessee Star he intends to take his years of policy experience to Congress if he wins election to the U.S. House to represent Nevada’s 3rd Congressional district.
Johnson explained to The Star that he started Beacon Center when in his early twenties, and lived and operated from his personal vehicle for the think tank’s first few months of operation. He told The Star he saved American taxpayers around $60 billion and brought about 100 charter schools to Tennessee over his time in public policy.
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Tennessee U.S. Representatives John Rose (R-TN-06) and Mark Green (R-TN-07) met with community members and surveyed some of the damage left behind after a series of tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee over the weekend.
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Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) endorsed Kari Lake to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate on Monday, stating the former newswoman and gubernatorial candidate “will stand up to the Biden agenda and put Arizonans first” if elected.
Lake wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that she was grateful for Cotton’s endorsement, calling him “a conservative warrior in the Senate.” Lake wrote that she looks “forward to working with Senator Cotton to secure the border” in a future Republican Senate majority.
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The mayor of Clarksville Monday told The Tennessee Star that his city is receiving help from the state and local levels after several deadly tornadoes ripped through middle Tennessee over the weekend.
“The Governor and Mrs. Lee, along with TEMA were on the ground with us yesterday,” Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts told The Star Monday. “The White House reached out to me and offered any help we needed. So, yes, state and federal government have been helpful.”
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A Catholic college in Memphis has announced major cuts to its academic programs and faculty amid an ongoing budget deficit that has plagued the school for years.
“Though difficult, these steps are necessary for the long-term interest of our students and University. These changes will help place CBU in a much stronger financial position, as we work toward full reaffirmation of SACSCOC accreditation,” Christian Brothers University President David Archer reportedly said in a letter to students and alumni.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) denied that Virginia Republicans suffered from his political action committee’s heavy campaigning to restrict abortion during the November elections during a Monday interview. However, the governor also acknowledged the majority of Americans are “living paycheck to paycheck” in remarks that follow a leadership challenge against his allies in the House of Delegates, which was reportedly orchestrated due to frustrations over Republicans’ failure to campaign on the economy.
Responding to criticisms that Virginia Republicans may have suffered due to Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC spending heavily in favor of restricting abortion during the 2023 elections, the governor told Bloomberg that campaigning on abortion “was not a mistake.” He seemed to argue the issue gave Republicans something to run on, telling the outlet, “I firmly believe that one of the challenges that we have had as Republicans is we haven’t been clear on what we’re going to do.”
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If signed into law, two bills in the Florida Legislature could help rural communities in the Sunshine State have better access to emergency health care.
Senate Bill 644 is sponsored by state Sen. Corey Simon, R-Quincy, and specifies eligibility requirements for rural emergency hospitals to be licensed, authorizes rural hospitals to enter into contracts required for federal reimbursement and requires individual and group health insurance policies and health maintenance contracts performed under certain circumstances in rural hospitals.
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A new Morning Consult poll released on Monday shows former President Donald Trump leading the 2024 GOP presidential primary field in 26 states, including Ohio.
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The Covenant School delayed the return of students and faculty to its Burton Hills campus until April 15 in a letter sent to parents that was published by Nashville media on Monday. Though not referenced in the letter, the delay follows the November publication of three leaked pages from the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, which were cited in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to compel the release of Hale’s full manifesto.
In the letter Covenant School officials sent to parents, reported by NewsChannel 5, officials cited concerns over safety and security, learning disruption, and teacher and student readiness. They also cited a desire to reopen the campus after the March 27 anniversary of the Covenant School shooting, during which Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male, fatally shot three 9-year-old students and three faculty.
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Former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead over President Joe Biden in Georgia, according to a new CNN-SRSS poll, which suggests the current president is struggling with voters in key demographics.
The poll showed Trump winning with 49 percent of the vote, while just 44 percent of voters said they would vote for Biden. The polling was conducted between November 30 and December 7, and pollsters reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent.
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Dear Mom and Dad, My first semester of college is almost over. Exams start this week with organic chemistry. Can you believe it? Your daughter’s dreams of one day becoming a doctor are underway! I promised I would not waste this opportunity, and I haven’t.
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The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) unanimously passed a resolution on December 5 calling on the Arizona House of Representatives to impeach Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes. The resolution cited Mayes’ record opposing election integrity, notably her prosecution of two Cochise County Supervisors over delaying the certification of the 2022 election for three days.
The MCRC executive board and all legislative district chairs voted for the resolution, which began, “WHEREAS, We, the Executive Guidance Committee of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, condemn Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ illegitimate political prosecution of the brave elected officials of Cochise County, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, for acting in accordance with their oath of office.” It accused Mayes of “abusing her prosecutorial powers as the Arizona Attorney General,” by engaging in “an act of political prosecution common in dictatorships or communist countries.”
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The Ohio Chamber of Commerce believes the state should spend more than $1 million to create a special task force to combat the growing trend of organized retail theft.
Almost six months after the chamber formed a Crime Task Force, the group focused on organized retail theft as it issued its findings report and legislative recommendations.
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The U.S. Department of Defense is being urged by members of Congress to develop a national security plan to address China’s interest and investments in seabed mining.
Virginia U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, led over two dozen legislators including fellow Rep. Jen Kiggans in sounding the alarm on China’s involvement in mining critical resources, such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, manganese and zinc from the seabed.
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Ohio plans to build two dozen fast electric vehicle charging stations after it became the first state to open a charger funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.
The announcements come as car dealers across the country told President Joe Biden electric vehicles continue to stack up on car lots, as previously reported by The Center Square.
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From ancient Egypt to medieval England, cultivating one or more crops in the same field was common practice among many farmers for thousands of years. However, in the last century, food producers largely stopped ‘intercropping’ and moved towards an industrial type of agriculture – a shift that contributed to 34% of the world’s farmland being degraded today.
“Interest is growing in intercropping [again] because farmers increasingly understand it improves their soil health,” said Jerry Allford, an organic farmer and advisor from the Soil Association, a UK charity promoting sustainable agriculture. Jerry thinks this renewed focus can “open up a whole new way of farming” because it can bridge profitability with regenerative agriculture practices.
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Inventors figure out how to create something that is better than what existed before, and then protect their rights to the idea/creation with a patent. This is a fundamental principle of private property, one which our nation’s entire economic system is based.
The U.S. Constitution enshrines this basic idea into the DNA of our nation as Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 known as the Patent and Copyright Clause plainly states, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
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The CEO of the video streaming platform Rumble said Monday afternoon on X, formerly Twitter, that his site is down and facing an “unprecedented” attack that he suspects to be politically motivated.
“I can confirm that this attack has been unprecedented and has been happening since this weekend,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovsky said in response to another X user. “I also suspect it is political, coming from activists and/or organizations who want to censor our creators, and related to J6 videos being posted on Rumble.”
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In this intriguing installment of the Tennessee Star Report, renowned all-star panelist, Carol Swain engages in an eye-opening discussion about the alleged plagiarism by Harvard’s President, Claudine Gay. Get insight into Swain’s views on academic accountability, the true origin of research ideas, and the integrity of the tenure system. Swain breaks down who she believes is responsible and why; and lays out what she is (and is not!) willing to do to help Harvard find their way out of this growing academic scandal. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: And welcome back to The Tennessee Star Report in studio original all star panelist Crom Carmichael on the newsmaker line right now our very good friend all star panelist Carol Swain. Good morning, Carol. How are you? Well, you are at the center of a storm here, aren’t you? Carol Swain: I am. It just seems to follow me around. I don’t ask for this stuff. Michael Patrick Leahy: So just to set the stage on this. So the president of Harvard, my alma mater, Claudine Gay was under pressure because she refused to condemn antisemitism on campus. And then Christopher Rufo reported yesterday that Claudine Gay had plagiarized a number of other scholars, including Our own Carol Swain. Take it from…
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Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s WarRoom on Monday to discuss the launch of his radio show on Nashville’s newest conservative talk station 760 AM WENO “The Flame,” the Music City’s only America First newstalk station.
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Proposed new legislation would revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization that is providing material support for terrorist groups.
The bipartisan bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., comes out of the House Ways and Means Committee, which unanimously approved the legislation last week.
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Texas and Florida state troopers, as well as sheriff’s deputies, continue to apprehend human smugglers in the small border community of Brackettville, in Kinney County, Texas.
A Texas DPS trooper, assisted by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, recently conducted a traffic stop in Brackettville, which led to a human smuggling bust.
The stop occurred at night in a residential neighborhood when a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and FHP trooper pulled over the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro.
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With Christmas fast-approaching, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa put out a “naughty list” of government agencies that have high no-show rates of employees who have not returned to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.
According to Ernst’s list, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration top the list with just 7 percent office occupancy rates.
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Senator Dick Durbin said the quiet part out loud on the Senate floor yesterday in opposing Republican efforts to do something about Joe Biden’s wide open borders. He noted that the U.S. military – which Team Biden has also been wrecking with its purges of patriots, forced jabs with illegal, unsafe vaccines and Marxist policies and leaders – needs to tap what he described as “undocumented” persons who “want to serve and risk their lives for this country.”
In other words, the senior Senator from Illinois believes that we should encourage enlistment by not only U.S. citizens and those immigrants who have come here legally. He wants the ranks to be open to those whose first act in this country has been criminally trespassing to get here.
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The national debt continues to rise sharply to record levels during the ongoing debate in Congress over the next federal spending bill.
The federal government has already piled another $383 billion onto the debt so far into the 2024 fiscal year, which began on October 1.
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