Day: March 26, 2025

Tennessee House Bill Could Allow Local Police to Serve Illegal Immigrants with 72-Hour Notice to Leave State

Tom Pappert
ICE arrest

Legislation unveiled on Tuesday through an amendment filed in the State House would make it a criminal offense for those already in the United States illegally to enter the State of Tennessee, empowering law enforcement in the Volunteer State to charge them with misdemeanor and felony crimes, as well as serve them with notices to leave Tennessee in 72 hours.

The legislation was introduced in the State House as House Bill (HB) 177 by State Representative Lee Reeves (R-Franklin), who on Tuesday introduced an amended version of his legislation during a hearing for the bill in the Departments and Agencies Subcommittee.

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‘Dismantling DEI Departments Act’ Clears First Committee in Tennessee House

Tom Pappert

Lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced legislation that would dismantle any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office or initiative in Tennessee’s state government, ban future DEI efforts, and nullify all existing contracts or agreements related to DEI.

The Dismantling DEI Departments Act, introduced as House Bill (HB) 923 by State Representative Aron Maberry (R-Clarksville) in the Tennessee State House of Representatives, would amend state law to expressly forbid any “department, agency, or other unit of state government,” from creating, authorizing, or maintaining “an office or department that promotes or requires discriminatory preferences in an effort to increase diversity, equity, or inclusion.”

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Companies Backing Out of Supporting Several Major Gay Pride Events amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown

Daily Caller News Foundation

Numerous companies are reportedly reducing their support for several major gay pride events across the U.S. and Canada in recent weeks.

Several pride organizations are falling behind on their funding goals after some companies have begun to either scale back their support or fully pull sponsorships, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Other organizations have been grappling with fundraising shortfalls in recent weeks amid longtime corporate sponsors backpedaling their support, including San Francisco Pride, which has been scrambling for alternative methods to raise $300,000.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Introduces Bill to Codify President Trump’s Dismantling of the Education Department into Law

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would codify President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the closure of the U.S. Department of Education into law.

On March 20, Trump signed an executive order titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” which directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”

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‘The Pandemic Is Over’: All NIH COVID Grants Eliminated Under New Directive

Daily Caller News Foundation
researcher in lab

A two-sentence paragraph in a new guidance document to National Institutes of Health grant managers brings a five-year surge of COVID-19 research funding to a screeching halt.

Chief grants management specialists at each of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers have been instructed to “completely excise” grants that clash with the Trump administration’s priorities. A Tuesday NIH directive broadens the categories of research that clash with the administration’s priorities to include research on COVID-19, according to Nature magazine.

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Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson Restrained on House Floor After Confrontation with Republican Lawmaker

Tom Pappert
Pearson and Farmer altercation

Video appeared to show State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) being physically restrained on the State House floor by staff members and colleagues after an interaction with State Representative Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) over the Democratic lawmaker’s gun control legislation.

The incident occurred as Pearson appeared in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee to testify in support of House Bill (HB) 1390, his red flag law legislation that would allow courts to iss extreme risk protection orders that allow law enforcement to confiscate firearms from citizens who are not accused of crimes, when Pearson apparently suggested lawmakers on the committee were shirking their duty to provide for the public safety of Tennesseans.

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Trump Admin Plans to Freeze Millions in Federal Funds for Planned Parenthood, Like Groups over DEI

Just the News
Donald Trump and Planned Parenthood

The Trump administration reportedly plans to freeze $120 million in federal grants to Planned Parenthood and other similar organizations while the Health and Human Services Department investigates whether the grant money was used for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Planned Parenthood clinics in approximately dozen states expected to receive about $20 million from the federal government in 2025.

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Signal App Episode Part of Pattern of Officials Using Private Communications for Public Business

Just the News
Signal app

The use of the private messaging app Signal by senior Trump national security officials is only the latest episode in a long, bipartisan history of those in government using private communications platforms to conduct official business, a problem that experts say would be simple to solve. 

Experts told Just the News that government officials use private messaging apps for many reasons, including convenience or in an effort to avoid public records laws. They say that the Trump administration incident does not seem to suggest the officials were interested in evading the law, but that it will be a wake-up call for the government about its messaging practices.

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Commentary: The Greenhouse Gas Windfalls Blew Hard for Solar in the Biden EPA

RealClearWire

Fresh off its decision to claw back $20 billion in “greenhouse gas reduction” money the Biden Environmental Protection Agency parked at Citibank, the Trump administration is setting its sights on another massive chunk of planned green spending receiving less attention.

The $7 billion Solar for All program – part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund — is meant to “enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy,” according to the EPA’s website. 

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Calls for Hegseth, Waltz Ousters Grow in Congress over Leaked Chat

Admin

Axios   A growing number of Democrats in Congress are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to be fired or resign over the leak of a Signal chat discussing a strike in Yemen. The Atlantic — whose editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to the chat — published the entire transcript Wednesday morning. Hegseth sent the group details about timing and weapons systems in advance of strikes on the Houthi rebel group, Axios’ Zach Basu reports. READ THE FULL STORY               

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Report: First Group of Gaza Migrants Heads to Indonesia Under Israeli-Led Emigration Program

Admin

Breitbart   Roughly 100 Palestinians from Gaza will travel to Indonesia for construction work under a new Israeli pilot program, according to Channel 12 News, which reported the initiative as the first stage of a larger plan to facilitate voluntary migration from the Hamas-run enclave. On Wednesday, Hebrew media revealed that the pilot initiative — coordinated by the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and overseen by Major General Ghassan Alian — is designed to test the feasibility of voluntary Gaza emigration through overseas employment opportunities. If successful, the program will be transferred to Israel’s newly established Migration Directorate, a unit created within the Defense Ministry by Defense Minister Israel Katz and approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet just days earlier. The Directorate is tasked with organizing “safe and controlled passage” for Gazans seeking to relocate abroad, including logistics for land, air, and sea departures. READ THE FULL STORY 

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Massachusetts College Student Taken into Custody for Alleged Support of Hamas

Admin

CBS News   A Tufts University international graduate student was taken into custody by federal authorities in Massachusetts Tuesday evening. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” but did not provide details about her alleged activities.  A DHS spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday that she is being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in central Louisiana. In an email to campus, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said Ozturk was apprehended “outside an off-campus apartment building in Somerville.” READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Clint Brewer Discusses Ethical Standards Surrounding Atlantic Reporter’s Response to Being Included in Signal Group Chat

Kaitlin Housler
Jeffrey Goldberg

Clint Brewer, recovering journalist and Nashville-Clint Brewer, recovering journalist and Nashville-area public policy expert, said he believes the journalist who was mistakenly included in a group chat among top Trump administration officials could have handled the situation in a more ethical way.

On Monday, The Atlantic magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said he was invited to join the chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal and did so when it later convened about a conversation among officials about U.S. plans to launch airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.public policy expert, believes that the journalist who was mistakenly included in a group chat among top Trump administration officials could have handled the situation in a more ethical way.

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Tennessee AG Skrmetti Leads Multi-State Push for Congress to Pass Legislation to Curb Contraband Cellphones in Prisons

Kaitlin Housler
Inmate in prison cell

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a bipartisan coalition of 30 attorneys general on Wednesday in calling on congressional lawmakers to pass legislation aimed at disrupting contraband cellphone use in prisons.

Skrmetti and the coalition is calling on Congress to pass the Cellphone Jamming Reform Act, filed as H.R. 2350 and S. 1137, introduced in the U.S. House by Tennessee Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-08) and in the U.S. Senate by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR).

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Actor Gary Sinise to Deliver 2025 Graduates Day Address at Vanderbilt University

Kaitlin Housler
Gary Sinise

Actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise, who played Lieutenant Dan in the hit 1994 film Forrest Gump, will speak at Vanderbilt University’s 2025 Commencement activities this spring.

Vanderbilt said Sinise will receive the university’s prestigious Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal upon speaking at the commencement celebrations on May 8, the day before the university’s official commencement ceremony.

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Commentary: Teachers Unions Oppose Reintroduction of Phonics

The Daily Signal
Teaching Students

For decades, K-12 schools have wandered away from a time-tested, research-based method of teaching reading: phonics. Student scores have plunged to historic lows, but some states are turning back to the practice of teaching letter sounds—if teacher unions do not spoil the efforts first.

Phonics instructs children to identify letters and their pronunciation to construct words, supplying the tools needed to tackle combinations of letters. “Cueing” and its related methods, such as “look-say” and “whole word,” show children a picture with a word beneath it (such as a picture of a dog with the letters “d-o-g” beneath). Students are supposed to connect the visual with the word below. American Public Media reporter and podcaster Emily Hanford has documented the widespread failure of cueing that has haunted schools and students nationwide for generations.

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Trump Issues Executive Order Enforcing Citizenship Requirement in Federal Elections

Just the News
people voting

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on election integrity on Tuesday, including enforcing a citizenship requirement for voters in federal elections.

“Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic,” the executive order reads. “The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election.

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Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty Sue Kari Lake for Halting Their Funding, D.C. Court Holds Hearing

Rachel Alexander
Kari Lake

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) filed a lawsuit against Kari Lake in her capacity as advisor to the acting CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) last week.

The two independent media organizations, contracted by the government, alleged that she wrongly halted their grant funding as part of the Trump administration’s DOGE cuts. Royce Charles Lamberth, a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, heard oral arguments on Monday.

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U.S. Reaches Terms with Russia, Ukraine on Black Sea Shipping Ceasefire Deal

Daily Caller News Foundation
Donald Trump and Ukraine

The U.S. reached agreements with Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday to stop attacks on maritime traffic in the Black Sea and lay the groundwork for further progress toward peace, the White House announced.

Both Russia and Ukraine agreed to “ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea” in separate agreements, and both warring states also agreed to come up with plans to implement an agreement to not attack each other’s energy infrastructure, the White House announced. The progress announced Tuesday is the result of several days of negotiations involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.

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