A Tennessee bill seeks to prevent local governments from putting restrictions on accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
State Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) introduced House Bill (HB) 2031, which prevents local governments from restricting ADUs more than single-family homes.
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The Chattanooga-based Moms for Social Justice group held two “gender inclusive” workshop events at the Chattanooga Downtown Public Library over the weekend with the purpose of creating “safe spaces” for “queer children.”
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American unions, once wary of — or even outright hostile — to immigration because of its threat towards American wages and bargaining power, are now at the forefront of the anti-ICE protests opposing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.
Since President Donald Trump took office last year, several of America’s most prominent unions, like the Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, and others under the AFL-CIO umbrella, have opposed deportations of illegal immigrants and other ICE operations through general strikes, protests, and workplace training.
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CBS News Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions during a virtual appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Monday. Her lawyer said she would be willing to cooperate with the panel’s probe if President Trump grants her clemency, and would testify that the president is “innocent of any wrongdoing.” “As expected, Ghislaine Maxwell took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions. This obviously is very disappointing,” chairman James Comer told reporters after the deposition. “We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed, as well as questions bout potential co-conspirators. We sincerely want to get to the truth for the American people and justice for survivors.” READ THE FULL STORY
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Breitbart More than 900 Google workers have signed an open letter calling on the tech giant to sever its business relationships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. CNBC reports that a group of over 900 Google employees has publicly condemned the company’s partnerships with federal immigration enforcement agencies, demanding full disclosure of contracts and complete divestment from these relationships. The open letter, circulated among staff, comes amid growing concern about the role technology companies play in supporting government immigration operations. The letter says Google workers are “appalled by the violence” and “horrified” by Google’s involvement in ICE operations. The employees assert that Google is actively enabling what they describe as a campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression through its technology platforms and services. READ THE FULL STORY
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The Hill The Trump administration on Monday proposed stripping the power of an independent board to review challenges from fired federal workers while barring employees from taking the matter to court. The new proposed rule would impact federal workers fired through a Reduction in Force (RIF), the process used at 22 different agencies last year as the Trump administration conducted widespread layoffs. If finalized, any federal worker fired in a future RIF would not be able to plead their case before the quasi-judicial Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which last year found that some agencies had “engaged in a prohibited personnel practice” in firing the workers. READ THE FULL STORY
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Monday called for Nashville Electric Service (NES) CEO Teresa Broyles-Aplin to resign after the company’s response to Winter Storm Fern, which saw thousands of customers left without power for more than a week.
Blackburn called for Broyles-Aplin to resign after she delivered remarks in a special meeting held by the NES board, when the top executive at the municipally owned utility announced an “independent after action review” to improve the company’s response in future crises.
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The FBI conducted a tabletop exercise in summer 2020 that imagined what sort of violence might ensue in a contested presidential election that year, devising strategies like undercover informants and mass prosecutions for minor crimes that it would later use with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, documents obtained by Just the News show.
FBI Director Kash Patel turned over the long-secret memos to Congress last week, providing fresh evidence that federal law enforcement was acutely concerned for months ahead of time about the potential for violence in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
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Mark Pulliam, retired attorney and Misrule of Law blogger, criticized Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s attendance at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, arguing that her presence at the event undermined the impartiality and public credibility expected of a Supreme Court justice and that she should recuse herself from all immigration cases moving forward.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said to “take the vaccine” for measles amid outbreaks across the U.S.
Oz said Sunday: “Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem,” according to the Associated Press.
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Ghislaine Maxwell, the former madame of late sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, invoked the 5th Amendment during her deposition before the House Oversight Committee.
“As expected, Ghislaine Maxwell took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions,” said Chairman James Comer. “This is obviously very disappointing.”
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A recent oversight report highlighted significant worries that some of America’s most elite colleges and labs have been “infiltrated” by Chinese academics who are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party’s infamous “Thousand Talents Program” which has historically been used to steal U.S. technological and scientific know-how for the benefit of China.
A conservative non-profit watchdog group, the American Accountability Foundation, reported that it found nearly two dozen Chinese academics working at elite U.S. schools and labs “who because of the dual-use threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in China, and/or clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party should be expelled from the United States or never be re-admitted.”
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In a stunning reversal, the Trump Justice Department on Monday asked the Supreme Court and a federal judge to dismiss the criminal contempt indictment and conviction of Steve Bannon for refusing to testify in the January 6 investigation by Congress, declaring such a request is in the “interests of justice” after years of politically weaponized lawfare by Democrats.
The move by DOJ is extremely rare — but not unprecedented — considering Bannon was already convicted and served time in prison.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a public records request has revealed that Nashville Electric Service (NES) entered into a three-year, multimillion-dollar communications contract with FINN Partners, which he said has not paid off considering the utility continues to face criticism from both sides of the political aisle for its poor communication during Winter Storm Fern.
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Teresa Broyles-Aplin, the CEO of Nashville Electric Service (NES), said during a Monday board meeting that the company’s forthcoming “independent after action review” for Winter Storm Fern would include a resiliency assessment which would lead to, “increased vegetation management to reduce outage risk.”
Speaking during the special board meeting on Monday, Broyles-Aplin recommended an “aggressive timeline” for the after action report, and said the renewed focus on tree trimming and vegetation management would be the final of “four pillars” that will guide the the assessment.
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Veteran novelist and screenwriter Roger Simon sat down for an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his forthcoming novel EMET, which he said marks both a new literary series and a profound shift in his purpose as a writer.
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A YMCA facility in Nashville was seen displaying a banner for Black History Month featuring the raised, clenched fist commonly associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Legislation under consideration in the Tennessee General Assembly would restore the state’s sovereign immunity, blocking lawsuits against Tennessee or its state agencies, after such lawsuits were made possible through 2018 legislation that was later determined to waive the state’s immunity.
House Bill (HB) 1971 by State Representative Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) and Senate Bill (SB) 1958 by State Senator John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), declares “the General Assembly never intended to waive Tennessee’s sovereign immunity,” as the Tennessee Supreme Court determined occurred in its May 2022 decision, and instead “maintains its intent to retain Tennessee’s sovereign immunity.”
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