Day: March 12, 2026

Tennessee State Lawmakers Advance Bill to Require English Comprehension to Obtain Driver’s License

Tom Pappert
Adult English Learning cClass

Lawmakers in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly this week advanced legislation that would require applicants to prove their ability to read English before receiving a full driver’s license and require proof of citizenship to register a vehicle. 

House Bill (HB) by State Representative Kip Capley (R-Summertown) was first advanced on Tuesday by the State House Transportation Committee, who approved the legislation for transfer to the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee in a 16-3 vote. The bill was previously approved by a subcommittee last month in an 8-1 vote.

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Tennessee Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to $80 Million in Pandemic Relief Fraud, Faces Decades in Prison

Tom Pappert
Renata Walton

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that a Mississippi woman who operated a tax preparation company in Tennessee, pleaded guilty to her role in a scheme that defrauded $80 million in federal pandemic relief funds. 

Renata Walton pleaded guilty to orchestrating the fraud scheme that ultimately robbed the government of about $80 million in COVID-19 relief funds, designed to keep small business afloat during the pandemic. She was assisted by her employee, Nicole Jones, who the DOJ said pleaded guilty to her role in the scheme last year.

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Suspected ODU Shooter Previously Pleaded Guilty to Supporting Islamic State, Praised 2015 Chattanooga Terrorist Attack

Tom Pappert
Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, Old Dominion University

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) releases reveal that Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, who Fox News and CBS News identified as the suspected shooter who killed one and injured two at Old Dominion University (ODU) on Wednesday, pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant with material support. He also praised the terrorist who killed five members of the U.S. military during the July 2015 terrorist attack in Chattanooga. 

The identity of the shooter, who was found dead after the attack, was first reported by CBS News, which also revealed that Jalloh previously pleaded guilty to attempting to offer material support to the Islamic State in October 2016. 

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Lawmaker Who Accused Trump of Kennedy Center Snub Missed Invite in Spam Folder

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

The Hill The Democratic congresswoman suing President Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees over their bid to revamp the storied arts institution was caught in a blunder ahead of a court appearance Thursday. In court filings last week, lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said she had not been invited to a March 16 meeting where the plan to overhaul the center is set to be formalized. But the Justice Department countered — and Beatty’s counsel later confirmed — that the congresswoman was in fact extended an invitation; it just went to her email spam folder. READ THE FULL STORY

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Security Guard Mows Down Active Shooter Who Rammed Explosives-Packed Car into Synagogue

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

The Daily Caller A man armed with weapons was shot and killed by security officers at a Michigan synagogue on Thursday after ramming his explosives-laden truck through the front doors. Reports indicated a truck loaded with Improvised Explosive Devices drove into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and continued down the hallway, according to a press conference held by Sheriff Mike Bouchard. The school also has a preschool that was reportedly in session at the time. The vehicle caught fire shortly after ramming into the building and the driver was reportedly on fire from “something,” Bouchard told reporters. The alleged suspect was found dead inside the truck. READ THE FULL STORY

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During Kentucky Rally, Trump Offers to Endorse Jake Paul, Should He Decide to Run for Office

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

USA Today President Donald Trump endorsed boxer and podcaster Jake Paul for political office during a Kentucky rally even though he isn’t campaigning for anything – yet. “I’m going to make a prediction that you will be, in the not-too-distant future, running for political office,” Trump said. “You have my complete and total endorsement.” Paul joined Trump onstage at the president’s urging. READ THE FULL STORY

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Panel: U.S. Adversaries Weaponize Immigration to ‘Undermine American Sovereignty’

The Center Square

Following a U.S. Senate hearing this week on birthright citizenship, U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt R-Mo and Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, joined a Heritage Foundation webinar panel Wednesday to discuss immigration issues.

“Things are different in part because of what foreign actors are doing; they are weaponizing immigration and using it as a tool to undermine American sovereignty and to advance their own political interests inside the United States,” Schweizer said. “We need to stop thinking of immigration as just an organic economic process driven by push‑and‑pull factors and recognize there are political and strategic implications behind what’s happening.”

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Commentary: Tennessee’s Health Care Affordability Crisis

Star News Contributor
doctor patient

Tennessee proudly calls Nashville our nation’s “health care capital” as we are home to some of the largest hospital systems in America and a hub that shapes care far beyond our borders. Yet for many Tennessee families, health care feels less like a source of pride and more like a source of anxiety.

More than three in four Tennesseans, an incredible 76 percent, say they worry about affording care, and medical debt remains one of the most common financial burdens in our state. How can the epicenter of American healthcare also be a place where so many fear the cost of getting sick?

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Commentary: Pushback Against Science of Reading Mandates

RealClearWire
Library

Half a century after the book “Why Johnny Can’t Read” sounded an alarm about the rise of illiteracy in the U.S., it has only gotten worse: A quarter of all young adults, many of them high school graduates, are now functionally illiterate. Unable to read more than basic, short sentences, their prospects in today’s information economy are bleak. 

This crisis gave rise to a movement that embraced the science of reading and produced a surprising success story in the Deep South, a region dogged by the highest rates of childhood illiteracy in the nation. State leaders and education reformers in Mississippi and Louisiana led a remarkable improvement in elementary reading scores that now rank among the highest in the nation. 

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