Lisa Daftari, Editor-in-Chief of The Foreign Desk, said the deaths of Iran’s Islamic Republican President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other regime officials “won’t move the needle too much” when it comes to sparking reform in the Middle East County.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Student Solidarity Network will hold a “Justice School” in July to teach individuals as young as 15 how to organize protests and campaigns for “progressive movements.”
Read the full story
At the conclusion of key prosecution witness Michael Cohen’s testimony Monday in Donald Trump’s so-called “hush money” trial, jurors were left to ponder a litany of damaging statements that have further cut into Cohen’s credibility and likely made the prosecution’s case harder to prove.
Both the defense and the prosecution wrapped up their cases on Monday, signaling the shift into the later stages of the trial.
Read the full story
A spokesman for Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) provided new details to The Tennessee Star about the alleged hate crimes the Democrat experienced as an undergraduate student in Memphis around 2002.
Pressed for details about the incidents, Crockett’s spokesman told The Star, “they consisted of racist slurs and hate mail that were put in her and 17 other students’ campus mailboxes,” and Crockett “described them as using letters cut from newspapers and magazines.”
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Actress Patricia Heaton, known for her roles in Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle, took a public stand against rising antisemitism in America by starting her own nonprofit, the October 7 Coalition (O7C).
Heaton, who lives in Nashville, founded O7C as a Christian grassroots group meant to serve as a network for Christians and pastors to take public stands against antisemitism in the U.S. Heaton and the group have been involved in protests against antisemitism, like at Columbia University which has previously been embattled by anti-Israel demonstrations and encampments by students.
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee– A group of Israeli artists gathered in a Nashville recording booth Monday to make music for a special initiative to fight antisemitism organized by actress Patricia Heaton.
Heaton, an Emmy winner for her role as Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, serves as founder of the October 7 Coalition (O7C), a nonprofit organization meant to be a network of Christians taking visible stands against rising antisemitism in the United States in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden’s new student loan forgiveness plan has legal experts divided, with some citing similar problems to his previous plan struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education Plan is an income-based student loan repayment plan that provides full loan forgiveness in certain cases.
Read the full story
A three month operation organized by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and executed with the help of nearly 20 local, state, and federal law enforcement partners has resulted in the arrests of 12 people on child sex crime charges.
The operation, dubbed “Operation Protecting Tomorrow,” was designed to “identify and locate children who were victims of sextortion and online sexual exploitation, along with identifying and arresting individuals who aim to harm children online,” according to TBI.
Read the full story
Pete Barrett, the founder of Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, has endorsed the new “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition organized by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and former President Donald Trump.
Read the full story
A group of House Republicans is asking federal authorities for answers on a program meant to monitor illegal immigrants throughout the U.S., arguing it has failed to properly track enrollees and has essentially become a “social services scheme.”
Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, along with 15 other House Republicans, sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Executive Associate Director Daniel Bible a list of questions on how the agency is managing the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program in a Friday letter. The lawmakers asked for details on the number of available ICE detention beds, the rate of enrollees showing up to their removal proceedings and information on how these enrollees are supervised, among other questions.
Read the full story
A record high number of Tennesseans are expected to travel during this year’s Memorial Day weekend, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Read the full story
Homeowners across the U.S. are seeing skyrocketing insurance rates, increased deductibles, excluded protections, and canceled policies.
Insurers say that they’re having to adjust to changing conditions to remain profitable. Among the problems they blame is inflation, rising construction costs, and costs associated with regulatory compliance. But many insurers are also blaming climate change for driving extreme weather events and increasing losses, and much of the media coverage is zooming in on this narrative.
Read the full story
The arrest of a Ukrainian national previously in Tennessee on a student visa to study at Carson-Newman University was announced Thursday, with federal authorities alleging the foreign national participated in an “illicit revenue generation” scheme to aid the government of North Korea.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that Oleksandr Didenko, a 27-year-old university student originally from Kiev, Ukraine, was arrested in Poland on May 6 on charges including identity theft of U.S. citizens for use by North Koreans.
Read the full story
An independent accounting of the costs associated with the transportation referendum put forward by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Thursday claims the true cost of the mayor’s goals will swell to $6.93 billion over the 15-year life of the project.
O’Connell originally announced the cost of building the transportation improvements in his referendum would amount to about $3.1 billion, with additional annual operating costs of about $111 million.
Read the full story
A new conservative, America First movement is building–and leading the formation of this new governing philosophy are Hispanics yearning for the American Dream they came here to realize. They are shaping and leading a new conservative majority that builds on their shared values of faith, family, freedom, and work.
This rapid shift of Hispanics to the conservative movement has shaken the Left to its core, who for years pinned their political hopes on demographic destiny and the idea that the Hispanic community would be a permanent fixture of their base.
Read the full story
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Monday released a full, unredacted version of the criminal indictment of Republican activists and politicians who assisted former President Donald Trump with his efforts to contest the 2020 election results in the state.
In a brief statement posted to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office website, Mayes’ staff confirmed, “The following individuals are named as defendants in the indictment: Rudolph Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Jenna Ellis, Michael Roman, Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.”
Read the full story
Diverse Erie, formerly known as the Erie County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, on Friday distributed $300,000 in federal grant money.
The organization restricted the money to individuals that are part of the “BIPOC community,” which includes black, indigenous and all people of color, indicating only whites were precluded from applying for the funds.
Read the full story
Continued hiring and millions in building projects pushed an Ohio public school system to a financial cliff, including a projected $90 million deficit by 2028, state Auditor Keith Faber said.
A new state performance audit says the Mt. Healthy City School District in suburban Cincinnati hired dozens of new teachers and staff and advanced $18 million in building projects without formal plans or funding to sustain operations.
Read the full story
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority re-opened its Airport Station on Monday following a six-week closure as part of a multi-million-dollar station update.
The $55 million upgrade to the station connected to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is part of a systemwide, roughly $1 billion multi-year Station Rehabilitation Program initiative to overhaul all 38 stations. The transit agency is paying for the upgrades using State of Good Repair Funds from its capital budget.
Read the full story
The United States Department of Agriculture is awarding $30.8 million to the nation’s 19 historically Black land-grant universities, including the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Virginia State University, for agricultural and nutritional research and growing extension programs.
“1890 Land-grant Universities are a vital part of our nation’s fabric,” said Manjit Misra, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, in a statement. “This investment will strengthen the ability of 1890 Land-grant Universities to deliver innovative solutions that address emerging agricultural challenges impacting diverse communities.”
Read the full story
It should be painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that the Biden administration distrusts an armed civilian population and is willing to fudge the truth time and again to defend its untenable positions. But for those living blissfully unaware of the Biden administration’s animosity toward gun owners, it once again demonstrated its animosity in clear terms.
Earlier this month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security accidentally said the quiet part out loud: It thinks that only the government really can be trusted with firearms, even when the government at issue is notoriously corrupt.
Read the full story
Two Memphis men have pleaded guilty to committing arson at three tax service businesses, according to the United State’s Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
“Dantoni Colbert, 35, and Edward Matthews, Jr., 33, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit arson, and arson of three separate tax service businesses,” says a release from United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz’s office. “According to the information presented in court, on February 6 and 7, 2023, Colbert and Matthews conspired to set fire to three different buildings that were occupied by Washington Tax Services in the Memphis area.”
Read the full story
Anti-Israel/pro-Hamas campus protests have engulfed hundreds of college campuses. But the more coastal, blue-state, and supposedly elite the campus was, the more furious the violence that sometimes followed these demonstrations.
Even rowdier and more vicious street analogs shut down key bridges, freeways, and religious services. Protestors often defaced hallowed American monuments, national cemeteries, and iconic buildings. Visa-holders were among the worst perpetrators, adding ingratitude to their criminality.
Read the full story
Lawmakers and consumer advocates are calling for a federal investigation into online Chinese retailers Temu and Shein.
The companies have spent billions of dollars in online American advertising with social media companies such as Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, and Google. The probe is warranted, critics say, because of anti-competitive practices skirting U.S. trade and public safety regulations; alleged use of slave laborers to make products sold at cut-rate prices; and advertising targeting children, low-income families and older Americans.
Read the full story
A federal judge temporarily blocked a background check rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Sunday night.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the rule covering background checks for firearms purchases April 10, claiming it was based on bipartisan legislation passed in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the rule until June 2.
Read the full story
“It would require Big Tech and others to work with Congress over 18 months to evaluate and enact a new legal framework that will allow for free speech and innovation while also encouraging these companies to be good stewards of their platforms. Our bill gives Big Tech a choice: Work with Congress to ensure the internet is a safe, healthy place for good, or lose Section 230 protections entirely.”
That was House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) in a May 12 oped in the Wall Street Journal outlining their proposed draft legislation, the “Section 230 Sunset Act,” that would end Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protections on Dec. 31, 2025 for millions of interactive computer services, including websites, e-commerce stores and other small businesses.
Read the full story
Jeff Clark, former acting assistant attorney general during the Trump administration, said it is unlikely any officials in the Biden Administration will be charged and prosecuted under a provision of the 1939 Hatch Act for election interference and affecting the 2024 election.
Read the full story
Six major American financial institutions struggled to accurately assess the extent of their exposure to climate change and related risks, according to the Federal Reserve.
The Fed ran a pilot program for six leading American banks to assess how ready they are to keep track of the risks that climate change poses to their businesses, a practice that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is attempting to mandate for large corporations across the country. The banks — JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup — generally struggled to assess their exposure to climate change because they lacked key data and because climate risk modeling is so new that even the country’s biggest banks could not identify reliable techniques, according to the Fed’s May report on the pilot program.
Read the full story
No signs of life were detected at the site of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter crash, according to state media.
His helicopter, which was carrying other top Islamic Republic officials, crashed during rough weather.
Read the full story
FBI agents last week arrested a man from Maine for his involvement in the events of January 6. According to a Department of Justice press release, Lincoln Deming spent about 30 minutes inside the building after entering through an open door with Capitol Police standing by. Deming faces numerous charges including civil disorder and the dreaded “parading” in the Capitol misdemeanor. The DOJ bragged in the press release about the government’s scalp count for its unprecedented prosecution of Jan 6 protesters. “More than 1,424 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol,” Matthew Graves, the Joe Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, boasted. The investigation into the four-hour disturbance, Graves warned, is “ongoing.” Indeed. The DOJ, astonishingly, is on pace to arrest one J6 protester a day this year; Graves has stated his intention to bring the total caseload to at least 2,000 defendants before the statute of limitations expires. If DOJ Didn’t Have Double Standards, It Would Have No Standards at All…Oh Wait At the same time, the DOJ refuses to bring federal charges against pro-Palestinian demonstrators who in many instances engaged in similar if not worse…
Read the full story
Key prosecution witness Michael Cohen in the Trump hush money trial testified Monday under cross-examination that he stole from the Trump Organization, for whom he worked for over a decade.
Cohen, who was a Trump attorney and fixer before turning on his former boss, admitted he failed to fully reimburse a company that provided services to the Trump Organization and pocketing the difference.
Read the full story
Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry on Sunday explained her decision to reenter politics with a challenge to U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), asserting “now is the right time” for her foray into the public arena.
Barry resigned as Nashville mayor in 2018 after it was reported she financed an affair with her bodyguard using almost $175,000 in taxpayer money and used taxpayer resources and vehicles to facilitate the affair at the Nashville City Cemetery.
Read the full story
As inflation continues to rise this year, small businesses are feeling the pain.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses released a survey of small business owners Tuesday that found the nation’s job creators cite inflation as their top concern more than any other issue.
Read the full story
Democrats claim that non-citizen voting doesn’t occur while Republicans and most states are trying to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote in elections.
As states are adopting constitutional amendments to prevent non-citizens from voting and Republicans are raising the alarm about the issue as more evidence has been presented, Democrats insist that it is not a concern because non-citizens are not voting in U.S. elections.
Read the full story
Lawmakers will grill President Joe Biden’s Energy Secretary at a newly announced oversight hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is expected to face lawmakers for questions amid elevated gas prices, a depleted strategic petroleum reserve, and ongoing criticism of Biden’s energy policies.
Read the full story
Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Biden Administration is desperately trying to escape the press coverage of migrants illegally crossing the southern border by ignoring congressional statutes to allow for the abuse of the parole authority to take place.
Read the full story
Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) claimed in a 2020 interview that she and other black students were the victim to multiple hate crimes in 2002, when she was attending Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
Crockett told Darling Society in September 2020 that she was “the victim of a series of hate crimes” at Rhodes College that required the university to enlist the help of The Cochran Firm, a Memphis-based law firm made famous by its founder, Johnnie Cochran Jr., who secured a not guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial often dubbed the “Trial of the Century.”
Read the full story
Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, believes former President Donald Trump made a mistake in agreeing to a CNN debate against President Joe Biden.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump now holds a five-point lead over President Joe Biden in a head-to-head race in Arizona, a poll released Sunday revealed.
The CBS News/YouGov poll found 52 percent of Arizonans would vote for Trump if the election were held today, compared to 47 percent who said they would vote for the Democratic incumbent.
Read the full story
Drexel University President John Fry said in a Saturday statement that harassment, intimidation and other antisocial behavior will not be tolerated following the formation of an anti-Israel encampment on the university’s campus.
An encampment was constructed on Saturday at the Philadelphia campus of Drexel. Those involved with the anti-Israel protest have reportedly claimed they intend to “keep it peaceful.”
Read the full story
A Cobb County School District (CCSD) spokesperson told The Georgia Star News on Friday that a complaint from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) repeats “made-up narratives espoused and circulated by a small community group which includes candidates for local office.”
NWLC’s complaint accused the school district of violating students’ civil rights by removing inappropriate books from school libraries. The complaint was filed on Monday against CCSD for creating a “hostile environment” for students by allegedly “censoring” books written by or about LBGTQIA people and people of color (POC).
The spokesperson said, “Local political candidates, including those running for Board, repeating a made-up narrative doesn’t make it true and community groups who want to promote access to sexually explicit content for minors, doesn’t make it right.”
Read the full story
For President Biden and congressional Democrats, the fierce party division over the campus protests and the war in Gaza is full of warning signs during the 2024 election year. The unrest is unlikely to stop when universities break for the summer; protesters are pledging to disrupt the August Democratic National Convention planned to be held in Chicago.
Most House Democrats have been reticent on the antisemitic protests and encampments roiling college graduations this month, while a handful have vocally defended or even celebrated the student protests as displays of protected free speech.
Read the full story
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump had a hissy fit the other day about immigration, writing an article in his column titled “The 2020-was-stolen crew is here to stoke fears of noncitizen voters”—by which he probably meant “The 2020-election-was-stolen crew.”
That must be rule one, or perhaps six, of column writing at the Washington Post: If you’re not sure your column will be successful in making your case, stuff your basic message into the title. It’s also true that often it’s the editors who supply the titles, sometimes to beef up a column that hasn’t quite made the point the writer seemed to have wanted to make.
Read the full story
A new campaign ad for District Attorney Fani Willis says that Fulton County is safer now than it was four years ago. However, year-end data from the Atlanta Police Department shows that crime rates have increased in southwest Atlanta and that car theft continues to skyrocket. Willis released the campaign ad on Monday.
In a post on the X platform, the campaign ad for Willis, currently running for re-election, states, “The last four years, we’ve made Fulton County safer for everyone — and we’re just getting started.”
Read the full story
After pressure from lawmakers, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy agreed to pause changes to mail processing operations until after January 1, 2025.
The pause would put on hold USPS plans to change operations in multiple areas nationwide that are undergoing Mail Processing Facility Reviews (MPFR).
Read the full story
Voter registration reveals Republicans continue to gain ground in Pennsylvania, with Democrats losing a number of registered voters to the opposing party, a Monday report citing Pennsylvania Department of State data.
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania (PAGOP) between the end of March and May 13, gained 10,152 new registered voters, according to Politics PA.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden’s signature pieces of legislation are routing billions of dollars into swing states, but pundits are not convinced that the money will make much difference in November’s elections.
The bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021, the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have cumulatively routed billions of dollars to battleground states over the course of Biden’s first term. The Biden campaign is running swing state ads to promote the funding and projects that Biden’s legislative agenda has created, but state and national pundits told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the benefits are unlikely to be a decisive factor in states like Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Read the full story
On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that parents in Maryland’s largest school district do not have the right to opt their children out of pro-LGBTQ curriculum in the K-5 grades.
As reported by Fox News, the 2-1 ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous decision by a lower court, which denied the parents a preliminary injunction based on their alleged failure to prove that the policy would constitute a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
Read the full story
The New York Times is widely regarded as the newspaper of record in the United States. Founded in 1851 to appeal to a cultured, intellectual readership rather than a mass audience, the Gray Lady has won a record-breaking 137 Pulitzer Prizes, including for its reporting on the infamous Pentagon Papers.
In times of sharp political polarization, however, the reputation of the Times, like many other outlets, has suffered significant damage. Arguably, much of this is self-inflicted, with the paper increasingly setting aside its iconic moniker “All the News That’s Fit to Print” in pursuit of activist journalism.
Read the full story
California gas prices could rise by at least $1.11 per gallon by 2026 if the California Air Resources Board adopts amendments to its low carbon fuel standard program, CARB says. The LCFS amendments proposed at the end of 2023 would phase-out credits for turning manure into renewable natural gas, ending that business, and add jet fuel to LCFS purview, increasing flying costs for every flight that starts or ends in California even if the fuel was purchased elsewhere. Because so much of America’s imports come in through California, the LCFS amendments would raise the costs of goods for every American.
LCFS uses a system of credits and deficits to reward or punish producers that make fuel better or worse than the rising “clean” standard.” Current LCFS guidelines call for a 20% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 compared to 2010, while the proposed amendments call for a 90% reduction by 2045, including significant step-downs starting in 2025 that would result in major fuel cost increases starting that year.
Read the full story