Day: May 22, 2025

Tennessee Valley Authority Submits Nuclear Reactor Permit After Urging from Sens. Bill Hagerty, Marsha Blackburn

Tom Pappert
Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) this week filed an application to build the nation’s first General Electric Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy small modular reactor (SMR) at its site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, just months after U.S. Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) urged the TVA to embrace a “nuclear renaissance” so it may “lead our energy future.”

TVA announced on Tuesday that it filed its application to build the SMR at its Clinch River site with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which it said would establish “America’s energy dominance to power artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing.”

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Audit of Tennessee Nonprofit Raises Questions over $3 Million in Biden-Era Stimulus Given by Nashville Council Prior to ‘Belonging Fund’ Donation

Tom Pappert
Metro Council meeting

From 2022 through 2024, Metro Nashville awarded nearly $3 million to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) using federal funds it received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, one of the top legislative achievements by former President Joe Biden.

The first sum of just over $1.8 million was awarded on June 7, 2022, when the Metro Nashville Council voted to give the money to TIRRC in order to fund 87 percent of a “two-year pilot program” to “expand critical immigration legal services in Davidson County.”

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Biden-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Bid to Shut Down Education Department

Daily Caller News Foundation
Judge Myong J. Joun

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from abolishing the Department of Education (ED).

President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the department in March. Judge Myong J. Joun, a Biden-appointed judge, granted a preliminary injunction Thursday against the department’s attempt to redistribute its duties to other agencies and lay off over 1,000 employees.

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GOP Senator Ron Johnson Launches Probe into Biden’s Health

Daily Caller News Foundation
Joe Biden

Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is launching a probe into former President Joe Biden’s health while he was in office, Axios reported.

Johnson’s probe arrives on the heels of Biden’s announcement that he has aggressive metastatic prostate cancer, as well as reports alleging that the White House attempted to cover up his declining health while he was president. The senator told Axios he plans to send letters requesting information on Biden’s health to “a couple dozen people” whom he believes had “direct contact” with the former president, as soon as Wednesday evening.

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Recorder Justin Heap Is Trying to Regain His Office from the Maricopa County Supervisors’ ‘Attempt to Undermine Election Integrity’

Rachel Alexander
Justin Heap

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, an election integrity champion, has been unsuccessfully trying to regain control of his duties over early and mail-in voting, which the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) reduced before he assumed office this year. Heap tried to renegotiate the Shared Services Agreement (SSA) with the MCBOS without success this year, and finally submitted a final draft of the SSA to the MCBOS last week, hinting at legal action. He requested a response by Friday.

However, Grassroots activist Merissa Hamilton of EZAZ observed on X on Wednesday that the MCBOS, led by chair Thomas Galvin, a holdover from the last board, hasn’t scheduled any public review of Heap’s SSA yet. “@ThomasGalvin did not add @azjustinheap’s statutory compliant SSA to today’s BOS meeting agenda, even though it was discussed in their Monday Executive Session,” she said. “He also hasn’t scheduled a Special Meeting for the Board of Supervisors to discuss the SSA. After weeks of defamation and sabotage against the Recorder by most of the BOS, this is a funny way for Tom to show he’s negotiating in good faith.”

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Commentary: Outlaw Public Sector Unions

American Greatness
CTA members

California Governor Gavin Newsom is attempting to pivot to the political center in hopes of appealing to moderate Democrats in the 2028 presidential primaries. But Newsom is constrained by the same political machine that influences Democrats nationwide: public sector unions. Some would say this influence is absolute—and in California, that is almost certainly true. Over the past 15 years of Newsom’s political career, public sector unions contributed over $21 million to his campaigns, more than any other special interest group. In second place at $9.5 million were Democratic Party organizations, themselves primarily dependent on contributions from public sector unions.

This is the forgotten enabler of the so-called deep state. When we speak of an out-of-control administrative state, we must consider who organizes these bureaucrats, collects dues automatically from their taxpayer-funded paychecks, and then uses that money to make or break any politician they wish.

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