Venezuela has agreed to resume accepting deportation flights from the U.S. after briefly refusing to accept such flights after President Donald Trump canceled the energy giant Chevron’s license to operate in the South American country.
Read the full story
Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said his bill to require juvenile court judges to use dedicated courtrooms located in detention facilities is directly inspired from “Elon Musk and DOGE,” drawing comparisons between the move and those suggested by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to its legislative summary, Senate Bill (SB) 718 would require juvenile courts to use “a dedicated courtroom provided by the county that is closest in proximity to an approved detention center,” whenever holding hearings for any “child custody, detention, or adjudicatory proceeding.”
Read the full story
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on the Senate floor Thursday evening he would support the GOP spending bill, caving to Senate Republicans’ pressure to keep the government open and avert a partial shutdown.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump renewed calls for the U.S. to acquire Greenland during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday under questioning by Pennsylvania-based radio show host and publisher of The Virginia Star John Fredericks.
Read the full story
A Thursday report revealed the Metro Nashville-authorized governing board overseeing the Continuum of Care (CoC) network that addresses homelessness in the city changed the name of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee as part of a “creative” effort to keep nearly $12 million in federal funding amid the Trump administration’s effort to stifle funding to programs pushing the controversial ideology.
The CoC is the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-mandated network of nonprofits, government entities, and other organizations in Nashville and Davidson County, while the Homelessness Planning Council (HPC) is the Metro-backed board governing the CoC. Board members are elected by members of the network.
Read the full story
Democratic Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva passed away Thursday morning “due to complications of his cancer treatments,” according to a statement released by the 77 year-old lawmakers’ office.
Read the full story
The Tennessee State Senate on Monday will consider an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that prosecutors have called “the single most important” legislative effort to improve public safety in more than a decade.
Lawmakers are currently slated to consider Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 25 by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) on Monday, which would modify the Tennessee Constitution to allow judges to refuse bail to defendants accused of capital offenses, acts of terrorism, second degree murder, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated rape, grave torture, or any other crime for which they would be required to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence if convicted.
Read the full story
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a “big house cleaning” appears to be needed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the bureau continues to stall on the release of much-anticipated documents relating to the Covenant School shooting and the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump extended an open invite for Democrats to negotiate a deal on a temporary funding bill to avert a government shutdown before the Friday night deadline.
Read the full story
Pennsylvania-based radio show host John Fredericks called in to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show live from the White House on Thursday morning as he prepared to join the press pool in the Oval Office as President Trump met with the Secretary General of NATO.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star recently published an opinion piece by Richard Mariano on March 13 that contained a number of false claims about Taher Shriteh, his family, and his business. The Tennessee Star wants to correct the record by removing the opinion. We at The Tennessee Star will continue to take steps to make sure that our opinion pieces uphold the highest standards of responsible journalism.
Read the full story
In a narrow 12-11 vote split along party lines, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to become the next director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With all Republicans voting in favor, the nomination now heads to the full Senate for a floor vote, marking a significant step in Bhattacharya’s journey from ostracized academic to potential leader of one of the nation’s premier scientific institutions.
Read the full story
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes former Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey’s criminal case is an example of the many “politically biased prosecutions” which were launched under the Biden administration.
Read the full story
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) passed a resolution of no confidence in Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin’s position as chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS). The lengthy resolution, issued last week, called for him to be replaced as chair, citing his actions resulting in Republicans being unable to speak to the MCBOS about their election integrity concerns.
The situation escalated after Galvin and last year’s MCBOS signed an agreement with the previous Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer taking away significant election powers from that office, frustrating the new recorder Justin Heap. At a MCBOS meeting on February 26, Galvin cut off public comment after a heated exchange regarding a disabled former candidate for recorder who was going to be prohibited from speaking, leaving about 15 people who had waited three hours unable to speak.
Read the full story
The U.S. Agency for International Development is facing criticism after news broke that federal employees were reportedly told to burn or shred classified documents.
USAID has been the center of controversy since President Donald Trump took office, and billionaire Elon Musk directed the Department of Government Efficiency to expose a slew of spending items widely mocked and criticized, from transgender operas to propaganda overseas and more.
Read the full story
President Donald Trump’s approach to economic growth relies on a multifaceted approach that includes reducing wasteful federal spending, placing tariffs on foreign goods, and perhaps most significantly, extending the sweeping slate of tax cuts he implemented in his first term for all Americans.
Those tax cuts, which Americans have been benefiting from for the past seven years, are set to expire unless Congress acts to extend them, and President Trump is working overtime to ensure they remain in place.
Read the full story
A pet project of the outgoing Biden administration has been doling out billions of taxpayer dollars to expand high-speed internet access across the country. Tennessee will receive more than $800 million in federal funds to connect “unserved and underserved” residents to broadband, causing local governments and electric co-ops to see dollar signs. Many are seeking these taxpayer dollars to build broadband internet networks paid for by taxpayers and managed by local governments. But are government owned networks (GONs) the best way to expand high-speed internet access?
A recent report from the Beacon Center of Tennessee suggests the answer is no. It highlights the financial difficulties, risks to taxpayers, and chronic underperformance of government-owned broadband networks across the state.
Read the full story
The overwhelming majority of Americans support requiring immigrants to the country to adapt to American culture and learn English and back at least some measures to encourage that behavior, according to a recent survey.
Ninety-six percent of registered voters expressed the belief that it was important for immigrants to learn English, including 75% who said it was “very important,” according to a Napolitan News survey. Seventy-six percent, moreover, approved of President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing English as the official language, including 96% of Republicans and 52% of Democrats.
Read the full story