Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the latest developments surrounding his efforts to make new school-specific security technology eligible for the school safety grants approved by the General Assembly last year.
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Texas sheriffs and some residents have a message for a trucker convoy scheduled to come to the Texas border on Feb. 3: “Don’t come.” Organizer of the “Take Our Border Back Southern Border Convoy & 3-state Rally” are calling on “all active and retired law enforcement and military, veterans, mama bears, elected officials, business owners, ranchers, truckers, bikers, media and law abiding, freedom-loving Americans” to travel to rural, hard-to -reach areas near Eagle Pass, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysirdo, California.
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A proposed rule from the Biden administration would require federal contractors to delegate “quasi-regulatory” authority to two environmental activist groups, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) collecting annual climate disclosures and target data for reduction in greenhouse gases from federal contractors. If the rule is implemented, federal contractors would be required to pay fees to these groups to comply with the regulation.
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Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday after leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax records, according to NBC News.
Littlejohn, 38, was charged in September 2023 with one count of disclosing information from a tax return for a government official, and he pleaded guilty in October to leaking 10 years of Trump’s tax records to The New York Times. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes sentenced Littlejohn to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to NBC News.
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As part of making their case to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans identified more than a dozen parole programs they argue Mayorkas illegally created to circumvent laws established by Congress.
Texas, Florida and other states have sued over many of the programs that have allowed illegal border crossers to remain in the U.S., agreeing with the committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who is leading the charge for impeachment.
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A hearing in the public records lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County related to release of records from The Covenant School shooting took place before Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles on Monday.
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Tennessee State Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) filed a bill last week that will allow Tennessee gun owners with an enhanced handgun carry permit to bring their firearm into buildings that otherwise prohibit or restrict carrying weapons.
A second bill filed by Barrett, which would prevent individuals, businesses, or governments in Tennessee from prohibiting firearms, is scheduled to be heard this week.
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The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has demanded the school makes a specific policy prohibiting “hate speech.” The call comes as the right-of-center ETSU chapter of Turning Point USA prepares to host Kyle Rittenhouse for a February 8 event they’re calling “The Rittenhouse Recap.”
ETSU’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) said Rittenhouse’s visit to campus is “in clear violation of ETSU’s supposed hate speech policy” in a Friday Instagram post. YDSA also demanded that ETSU’s president and student government issue a statement condemning the event.
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The number of Chinese nationals who crossed the southern border illegally in December surpassed totals for previous entire years, according to federal data updated Friday.
There were 5,951 encounters of Chinese migrants crossing illegally at the U.S.-Mexico border in December alone, which is more than fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Federal authorities recorded 302,034 encounters at both ports of entry and between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in December, marking the highest month on record.
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Tennessee Representatives who were part of a joint committee examining the state rejecting K-12 federal education funding submitted a report on their findings without the signature of one member.
The report said Tennessee schools will accept $1.3 billion in federal funding this fiscal year, 9.9% of the funding for those schools. The state contributes $6.9 billion and local governments spend $4.8 billion.
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The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (TBJC) has sent a letter to Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) recommending Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd be removed from office.
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A majority of Democratic voters would support candidates who want “open” borders, according to a new poll conducted by CRC Research for The 85 Fund that was first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The survey asked respondents whether they “would be more or less likely to support a candidate who…Says that immigration is healthy for the U.S. and we should keep our borders open to fill jobs many Americans do not want to do.” Fifty-five percent of Democratic voters said they would be more likely to support such a candidate, while 36 percent said they would be less likely.
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Former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards made public this weekend that has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer.
After receiving the diagnosis six months ago, Richards first publicly disclosed her illness Sunday to New York Magazine’s The Cut.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares confirmed on Thursday a $2.8 million media campaign to support Operation Ceasefire, the campaign he began in 2022 to lower gun violence throughout the commonwealth.
A trailer for the attorney general’s campaign, posted to YouTube last month, reveals an upcoming “public awareness and media campaign” titled Ceasefire Virginia. Miyares intends to reach “young people who may be considering gang or violent criminal activity” by targeting them on social media.
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Senate President Warren Petersen are asking the Internal Revenue Service not to tax a rebate that went out last year to roughly 700,000 Arizona families.
Some Arizona families received a state tax rebate in the fall, which maxed out at $750 per family. Families got $250 for each dependent under 17 and $100 each for dependent adults. The Center Square reported on Monday that the IRS has decided to tax it as miscellaneous income.
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A second attempt to significantly overhaul Ohio’s voter laws by putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot failed.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost again called the proposed amendment to expand early voting and voter registration and stop required voter roll purges misleading.
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Reading Matt Taibbi’s summary how the Democrats weaponized the government against Donald Trump, starting before the election of 2016 and proceeding right up to the present moment, I am reminded once again that the issue is not democracy but “Our Democracy™.”
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A total of 10 Republicans in the Georgia State Senate are now sponsors of SB 359, originally filed by State Senator John Albers (R-Alpharetta), which would expand Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to allow misdemeanor crimes to be included in RICO cases.
The bill would also allow enhanced sentences to be considered in RICO cases based on a defendant’s political affiliations or beliefs.
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More and more Ohio teenagers wait until their 18th birthday to get their driver’s license, and the state plans to spend $4.5 million in taxpayer funds to try and change that.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced 34 grants through the Creating Opportunities for Driver Education program to increase driver training capacity at nearly 100 locations around the state.
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Arizona State Rep. Jennifer Longdon, D-Phoenix, resigned from the House effective on Friday.
“I take pride in the collaborative efforts that transcended party lines, resulting in meaningful bipartisan accomplishments,” Longdon wrote in her resignation letter. “I remain humbled by the trust placed in me by the Office of the Speaker in naming me as Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Abuse and Neglect of Vulnerable Adults. I am proud of the accomplishments we have been able to achieve thus far.”
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The Biden administration reportedly waived fees for an offshore wind project that are in place to ensure that the infrastructure is removed and the site reclaimed at the end of the project’s life.
President Joe Biden, as part of his climate agenda, is pushing an aggressive buildout of offshore wind projects along the East Coast. With the offshore wind industry struggling financially, the waiving of these fees raises concerns about what would happen if these companies go bankrupt and leave behind wind farms they can’t afford to remove.
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A small handful of veterans who claim to be “transgender” are filing a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), claiming that the agency is delaying their so-called “gender transition” surgeries and other procedures.
As reported by Fox News, the lawsuit is being filed on behalf of the veterans by the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA). TAVA President Bekky Eshler released a statement claiming, with no evidence, that “my transgender veterans…are trying to commit suicide because they can’t see themselves in their body.”
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From Boston to Los Angeles, teachers’ unions and their progressive counterparts have quietly devised an unprecedented method to bypass the legislative process by embedding unrelated policy issues deep within the intricate terms of teacher contracts.
This new, covert strategy, hidden in plain sight, allows state and municipal officials to create sweeping policy changes that evade the scrutiny typically associated with customary legislative procedures, which include publicly available draft legislation, committee hearings, amendments and comprehensive floor debates.
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Newly released federal inflation data shows prices rose in December.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its Producer Consumption Expenditure, a key marker of inflation, which showed a 0.2% increase last month. That is an increase of 2.9% in the last year.
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