An Illinois judge on Wednesday ordered former President Donald Trump’s removal from the ballot under the 14th Amendment, following in the footsteps of Colorado and Maine.
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Tennessee State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) has doubled down on his call for incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) to reconsider retiring from Congress and instead run for re-election.
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Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman, and Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies explained how immigration – both legal and illegal – into the U.S. must be reduced in order to balance out the nation’s rapidly rising foreign-born population.
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) has picked up notable endorsements in his re-election bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear arguments over former President Donald Trump’s immunity claims in special counsel Jack Smith’s D.C. election case.
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A New York judge on Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to pause enforcement of a $454 million civil fraud penalty from state Attorney General Letitia James’s prosecution while he appeals the decision.
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Athens-Clarke County in Georgia is widely described as a sanctuary city, leading to increased scrutiny from Republicans after an illegal immigrant was accused of killing university student Laken Riley there last week.
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The Tennessee House of Representatives voted 70-24 on Monday to pass HB 1605, a bill prohibiting the displaying of certain flags on or in a public school, including LGBTQ pride flags.
The bill, introduced by State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) in November, now heads to the Senate.
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Mark Elrod, who is currently serving as interim sheriff of Williamson County amid former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades’ retirement, said the biggest issues affecting the county in regards to crime are drugs and fentanyl.
“I would say that probably one of our biggest issues is drugs, narcotics, fentanyl. We’ve had an uptick in that as well as heroin over the last several years. With Williamson County, we’re a transient community where a lot of the drugs and other crimes come in from other areas into Williamson County. It’s not so much your next door neighbor or the people down the street, although there is some of that, but most of it is coming from other places…Davidson County, out of Nashville, out of the city of Columbia. We have four interstates that come through the county, so it could be, you know, really coming from anywhere, everywhere,” Elrod said on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.
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Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell plans to resign from his position as Senate GOP leader this November.
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Nashville Scene A stuffed orange envelope showed up at Scene headquarters in mid-February. On it was a printed label with no return address and four American flag Forever Stamps — perhaps the sender is inclined toward tradition, stability and long-term thinking. Inside, a stapled dossier details disorder inside the Tennessee Democratic Party, split along generational lines. A Jan. 27 meeting of the state executive committee, the 77-person body that governs the state party, had devolved into name-calling, profanity-laden attacks and political threats, according to emails shared with the Scene. At issue was whether to include the president of the Tennessee High School Democrats as an ex officio member of the committee, which includes positions for leaders of the Tennessee Young Democrats, Tennessee College Democrats, Tennessee Federation of Democratic Women, and Tennessee Democratic County Chairs Association. READ THE FULL STORY
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The Tennessee General Assembly is considering a bill that would restrict the state’s Department of Child Services from requiring prospective adoptive or foster parents to get vaccinated.
The State House Children and Family Affairs Subcommittee voted to pass the State House version of the legislation today after discussion and testimony. It is now on the calendar for the State Senate for February 29.
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Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower announced an audit of Shelby County due to the alleged “incompetence and willful neglect” of the county by Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert.
Mumpower announced his intention in a letter to Mayor Lee Harris and the Shelby County Commission, expressing “deep concern and lack of confidence” in Halbert’s office.
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Immigration is now the top concern among Americans as President Joe Biden’s administration continues to see record amounts of illegal border crossings, a Tuesday poll from Gallup found.
The issue was previously ranked second at 20%, behind only “government” at 21%, in Gallup’s January survey. Americans now say immigration is top of mind at 28%, followed by 20% who chose “government” and 12% who tapped the “economy in general,” according to the poll.
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New statements by a onetime business partner of Hunter Biden to the House impeachment inquiry shed new light on the efforts by the son of the then-vice president to secure a financial future for his family: by organizing a multibillion-dollar hedge fund marrying foreign investors with the “globally known political name” Biden.
Though Jason Galanis’ sworn testimony provides new context to the group’s plans, an email obtained from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop and evidence obtained by the impeachment inquiry reveal the full scope of the effort before a fraudulent tribal bonds scheme brought down Galanis and Devon Archer—another Hunter Biden business partner involved in the deal.
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information to assist the committee in its investigation into the murder of 22-year old nursing student Laken Riley.
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A coalition of Republican state attorneys general led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is fighting a federal agency’s proposal to massively reduce the amount of single-use plastics consumed by the government.
The General Services Administration (GSA) — which provides centralized procurement for the federal government and offers office products and other services to federal agencies — proposed a rule in late December 2023 that would put the federal government on track to significantly reduce its use of single-use plastic packaging in an effort to be environmentally friendly. Skrmetti and 13 other state attorneys general argued in comments filed Monday that the policy exceeds the agency’s authority, and that it would decrease the efficiency of federal procurement and increase costs while failing to do much for the environment.
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Tennessee State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) have proposed legislation that would prohibit America’s largest financial institutions from discriminating against customers based on their religious or political beliefs.
Their bills, HB 2100 and SB 2148, would specifically prohibit banks, insurers and other financial institutions from “denying or canceling services to a person, or otherwise discriminating against a person, based upon the use of a social credit score or other factors.”
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Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon expressed the party’s sympathies to the family and friends of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was slain on the University of Georgia (UGA) campus.
He described the death of Riley as a “preventable tragedy” and pointed to sanctuary city policies and the Biden administration’s border crisis after police identified her alleged murderer as Venezuelan illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra.
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A bill that would put term limits on Florida county commissioners passed a key hurdle in the Senate Committee Rules on Monday.
Senate Bill 438 is sponsored by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill. It would introduce term limits for county commissioners and would require certain counties to hold a referendum election to ask voters if they approve or disapprove of term limits in their county.
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The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that would see taxpayers spend millions to help companies build infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in “distressed” parts of the commonwealth.
HB 107 by Delegate Rip Sullivan Jr. (D-Arlington) passed in the House of Delegates with 71 votes in favor on February 8, and most recently advanced through the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor on February 19.
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Arizona could have six presidential candidates on the ballot in November after a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims to have obtained enough signatures for the independent presidential candidate to qualify.
The American Values 24 super PAC confirmed on Tuesday it “met the signature requirements” for Kennedy to get “on the ballot in Arizona and Georgia.”
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There are rumors—likely trial balloons—that Joe Biden is about to get serious about controlling the border. Along with inflation and our country’s repeated humiliations on the global stage, the border debacle is one of the major sources of Biden’s persistent unpopularity.
He tried to use the border situation as leverage in negotiations with congressional Republicans over Ukraine funding by pretending he could not close the border until the funding bill passed. This is false, as this authority was the basis of Trump’s “Muslim Ban,” which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
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Connecticut Republicans have unveiled a slate of proposals aimed at addressing rising electricity costs in the state, which they say are putting the squeeze on energy consumers.
The package of proposed policy changes, calls for setting limits on Power Purchase Agreements by utilities so that no contract can be for more than 100% over the wholesale electric market price while providing relief to ratepayers by tapping into $190 million in unspent pandemic-related federal funds to pay down rate increases.
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The Ohio Supreme Court coordinated a conference where an activist group held a training for judges that claimed children have a “stable sense” of their gender identity by the age of four.
The presentation, titled “The Judicial System & LGBTQ+ Families: A Cultural Humility Approach,” was given by a local activist group, Equality Ohio, during the Ohio Association of Magistrates (OAM) Fall 2023 conference. The presentation featured the “gender unicorn” — a graphic portraying gender identity and expression as spectrums — and encouraged “affirming” youth transgender identities by “respecting their pronouns and allowing them to change legal documents,” according to the slideshow obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation via a public records request.
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Expansion in the way Wisconsin prepares new teachers has passed the state Assembly and awaits a decision from second-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
His decision has yet to be signaled.
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The black bear harvest declined to a 10-year low, according to state data, despite a dramatic spike in interest among hunters during that same time.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced that 2,920 bears were killed in the 2023 seasons, an 8% drop from the 3,171 bears taken in 2022. The recent high came in 2019 when 4,650 bears were killed by hunters, but most of the last decade has seen 3,100-3,700 bears taken every year.
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The Osseo school board voted Tuesday to leave a sexually explicit graphic novel in the Maple Grove High School library.
“It does have the potential, as a parent mentioned earlier, to help some students,” board member Thomas Brooks said while explaining why he would be voting to leave the book on the shelves.
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The White House and Biden 2024 reelection campaign are concerned that President Joe Biden is hemorrhaging support from voters in Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan amid his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Politico reported Tuesday.
Biden has publicly backed Israel’s war effort against Hamas even as many of his supporters and voters demand he call for a ceasefire in favor of protecting the Palestinian population in Gaza. Multiple uncommitted voter campaigns have sprung up against Biden as he continues to lose support from Arab and Muslim communities threatening not to back him in the state’s Tuesday primaries, according to Politico.
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Rich Goszka, a staff representative with the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, sent a letter to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and members of the Virginia General Assembly urging the opposition of any attempts that aim to legalize skill games.
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The scientist who first blew the whistle on the DNA contamination in the COVID mRNA injections last year, said Monday that regulators and fact checkers have been “continually wrong” about his alarming discovery, downplaying its significance and telling flat out lies about the potential dangers.
Last April, microbiologist Kevin McKernan, published a paper establishing that simian virus 40 (SV40), a virus found in monkeys and humans, is present in Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 injections. The discovery was highly significant because SV40 has been linked to cancer in humans, and since the rollout of the mRNA products, the western world has seen a dramatic increase in cancers, especially in previously healthy working aged people.
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Amid a polarizing presidential election, areas of common ground are rare, especially around energy. President Joe Biden has labeled climate change as “the only existential threat humanity faces,” and outlined an agenda to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Meanwhile, his would-be Republican challengers have pledged a different course, with the frontrunning campaign of former President Donald Trump pledging to “maximize fossil fuel production” and roll back funding for Biden’s landmark 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
A step back from the daily partisan back-and-forth reveals an idea with something for everyone to support: increasing choice when it comes to where consumers get their energy. A commitment to freedom and creating our own destinies is quintessentially American. Yet most of our citizens have zero control over their power provider and the cost of their energy, and very few politicians on either side of the aisle say anything about it.
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Anyone who follows my blog knows I like a good hometown rockin’ country band. When I first heard Bettin’ On the Mule (BOTM) from Rockmart, Georgia, I instantly loved their energy.
The “Hometown Rock” pioneers consist of Jacob Wilson on lead vocals, bass, and rhythm guitar, who also serves as the band’s lead songwriter, new member Phil Beavers on lead guitar and backing vocals, Rick Norris on drums and backing vocals, and Shannon “Beef” Wilson on bass and backing vocals for the band.
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Home prices for the 10 largest cities in the U.S. rose by 7.0% year-over-year in December, up from 6.3% in the previous month, according to Standard and Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index report.
The top 20 cities had a slightly less pronounced increase, with prices rising 6.1% year-over-year as of December, up from 5.4% in November, according to the index. The increase in costs is coupled with a rise in the average for a 30-year mortgage rate, which ticked up to 6.90% the week of Feb. 22 after declining slightly from the recent peak of 7.80% that was seen in October, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
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