Tennessee Gov. Lee Grants $41 Million for Vocational Education Programs

Gov. Bill Lee at Rural Opportunity Summit

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office announced $41 million in grants to 23 projects to invest in vocational education in rural counties.

The Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education grants, capped at $2 million apiece, are intended to expand regional partnerships between Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, community colleges and local industries.

Read the full story

Pro-Vaccine Doctors Skeptical of New COVID-19 Boosters: ‘I’d Really Like to See the Data’

Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing new COVID-19 boosters, claiming that people who don’t stay “up to date” with shots – regardless of how many they’ve already taken – “are more likely to get very sick” while those who take them annually are “much less likely to get very ill, be hospitalized, or even die” from COVID.

The Democratic nominee for president is so committed to staying up to date on jabs that Vice President Kamala Harris made COVID boosting a requirement to work on her campaign, “unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law.” They can also ask the human resources department for a “reasonable accommodation … prior to reporting to an office location.”

Read the full story

Tim Walz’s Political Origin Story Is Reportedly Full of Holes

Tim Walz

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz’s story about why he first decided to get involved in political campaigns contradicts public records and statements reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Walz, who previously had a career as a social studies teacher, has long repeated a story about how he and two of his students were refused entry to a reelection rally for former President George W. Bush in 2004, saying that the incident was ultimately what inspired him to get involved in politics, according to the Examiner. However, Walz himself was not refused entry, according to a source who spoke anonymously with the Examiner, and the two “students” Walz brought to the event were actually teenagers who went to different high schools than the one he taught at and who had a public altercation with Bush staffers days prior to the event, public records show.

Read the full story

Federal Appeals Court: Illegal Aliens Do Not Have Second Amendment Rights

Second Amendment

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that illegal aliens do not have the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, due to the fact that they are not American citizens.

As reported by Fox News, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that federal law prohibiting illegal aliens from owning firearms is legal, as the Constitution does not apply to anyone who has entered the United States illegally.

Read the full story

Listeria Outbreak from Boar’s Head Deli Meat Claims Life of One Tennessean

Bolar Head Ham

One Tennessean died from the effects of a Listeria outbreak linked to the recalled 7.2 million pounds of Boar’s Head deli meats, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this week.

Since July 26, Boar’s Head has recalled 71 of its ready-to-eat meat and poultry products with “sell by” dates ranging from July 29 through October 17.

Read the full story

Biden Admin Looks to Open Up 31 Million Acres for Solar After Locking Up Oil, Gas in Huge Swath of Alaska

The Biden administration proposed to open up tens of millions of acres of public lands to solar development on Thursday after cementing restrictions on oil and gas activity across large swaths of Alaska.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rolled out its proposed “Western Solar Plan,” which would put approximately 31 million acres across 11 western states on the table for possible solar development. The agency’s solar plan comes on the heels of its Tuesday announcement that it had finalized protections for 28 million acres of public land in Alaska that will effectively prohibit oil and gas activity on that acreage.

Read the full story

Tennessee Equality Project Criticizes New Law Requiring Parent Notification of Student Pronoun Changes

In a new online form electing feedback from students, teachers, staff, administrators, school counselors, parents or legal guardians, and LGBT allies, the LGBT group Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) bemoans a new state law that requires school officials to give parental notice of a student wishes to change their pronouns or “gender identity.” 

“Tennessee Equality Project is tracking how school districts and schools are implementing the new state law (SB 1810) that targets transgender and gender expansive students: the requirements of the law are triggered when a minor-aged student makes a request to a teacher to use a name and/or pronouns that may not align with their medically assigned sex on their birth certificate,” the form says. 

Read the full story

Enrollment Growing for Virginia’s Four-Year Colleges, Community Colleges Declining

Students at University of Virginia

College enrollment declined nationwide by 15 percent from 2010-21 and still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, though the 2023-24 school year was the first since 2020 that schools saw an average increase in enrollment. 

Virginia colleges also experienced these trends but over a slightly shorter period. As of fall 2023, enrollment in the state’s four-year universities was actually higher than it was at its peak in 2012 but much lower for its community colleges. 

Read the full story

Open Primary Ballot Measure Will Appear on Ballot Despite Ongoing Litigation

An open primary proposition will be on the ballot in November, but whether or not voters can actually put the measure into law remains to be seen.

Proposition 140, also known as the Make Elections Fair Act, would require that primary elections no longer be partisan. Candidates of any affiliation would all be competing in a general election and voters can vote on any candidate regardless of either’s affiliation.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Grueling and Expensive Journey to Treat Vaccine Injury

Moderna Vaccine

$40,000.

That’s how much Kate Zerby has spent trying to put herself back together after the Moderna COVID vaccine wreaked havoc on her body.

As Intellectual Takeout reported back in 2022, Kate Zerby of St. Paul, Minnesota, suffered a serious adverse reaction to her Moderna shot, beginning the night after she got it, February 16, 2021. At 3:30 a.m., she awoke, gripped by a pervading sense of gloom and foreboding and the unsettling sensation that something strange was slithering through her system. At the same time, an interior voice seemed to tell her, “If you get the vaccine again, you will die.”

Read the full story

Republican Lawmakers Push Defense Department to Blacklist Chinese EV Battery Company Tied to CCP

Moolenaar Rubio

Republican lawmakers are urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to bar a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer from receiving U.S. military contracts and deter the company’s U.S. clients from using its services.

Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Pentagon Wednesday requesting EV battery-maker CATL be added to its 1260H list that identifies company’s “involved in bolstering Beijing’s military ambitions” and prohibits them from being awarded defense contracts. The lawmakers accused CATL of being controlled by China due to “subsidies, tax incentives [and] favorable procurement deals” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and of furthering the interests of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by supporting its battery infrastructure.

Read the full story

California City Bans Smoking at Many Homes

Smoking in Home

The City of Carlsbad near San Diego, banned smoking from multifamily buildings with three or more units to reduce risk of secondhand smoke. The one city councilmember to vote against the measure called it an overreach, saying landlords and property managers should be able to make their own choices about their properties.

The ordinance bans smoking and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products both inside and outside buildings, including common areas, with use only permissible in designated smoking zones. The bill does not generally apply to single-family homes, though it does apply to townhomes, which tend not to share air systems with neighboring units.

Read the full story