Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a federal habeas corpus filing on behalf of Colombian journalist Estefany Rodriguez Flores is unlikely to succeed, calling it a “waste of time” as a rapid appeal by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps her detained following a bond ruling.
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The first time I held my daughter, she was an hour old. Her birth mother had chosen me, trusted me, to raise this child she loved but couldn’t care for. In the days that followed, as a new mom with a baby I did not carry, I understood something no law had ever conveyed to me: family is neither defined by blood nor a bureaucratic designation. It is built during bath time, in middle-of-the-night feedings, in the thousand small moments that accumulate into a shared life. It is a state of being, not a coincidence or an assignment.
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An affidavit included as part of a Monday legal filing submitted by attorneys representing Estefany Rodriguez Flores, the Colombian journalist arrested in Nashville, appears to claim that one of her lawyers advised her to wait a “few weeks” after missing an appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to Winter Storm Fern, despite the agency instructing her to contact the ICE Field Office if she could not attend.
Written by Alejandro Medina III, a citizen of the United States who married Rodriguez Flores on January 21, the document summarizes his recollection of the events surrounding his wife’s March 4 arrest and detention by ICE.
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A group of 16 Democrat state attorneys general sued to block the Trump administration’s policy on fair housing.
The coalition, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.
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President Donald Trump’s tariffs are still causing some American small businesses major headaches.
Trump introduced a new 10% global tariff in February after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy certain global duties. Several small business owners told the Daily Caller News Foundation they have been grappling with cost increases, heightened uncertainty, and a lack of domestically-produced alternatives for some affected items amid Trump’s new tariffs.
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State Representative Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro) was elected by his colleagues to serve as chairman of the Tennessee-Ireland Trade Commission, an 11-member commission formed in 2024 to advance bilateral trade and investment between Tennessee and Ireland.
The commission focuses on encouraging mutual investment in infrastructure and human capital while also promoting business, educational, and cultural exchanges between the two regions.
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Joe Kent on Tuesday stepped down as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.
“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today,” he said in an X post. ” I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”
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The United States expressed outrage when Great Britain revealed two years ago that its voter registration databases were hacked by China in what became a global scandal. But it turns out the U.S. intelligence harbored its own secret at the time, knowing since 2020 that Beijing also gained access to American voter registration data, according to documents reviewed by Just the News and interviews with officials with direct knowledge.
“[Redacted] Chinese intelligence officials analyzed multiple U.S. states’ [Redacted] election voter registration data, [Redacted] to conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 US general election,” stated a once highly classified April 2020 National Intelligence Council memo entitled “Cyber Operations Enabling Expansive Authoritarianism.”
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The Hill A senior Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official warned Tuesday that some airports could be forced to close if lawmakers fail to quickly reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and end the partial government shutdown. In an interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said the agency is running out of options to blunt the impact of the funding lapse. “As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up,” Stahl said. “A lot of these officers can’t afford to come in.” READ THE FULL STORY
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CNBC Arizona’s attorney general has filed misdemeanor criminal charges against Kalshi, accusing the predictions platform of running an illegal gambling and election wagering operation in the state. These are the first criminal charges to have been filed against Kalshi, though the company is embroiled in multiple lawsuits and investigations and has received dozens of cease-and-desist letters across the nation. Prediction platforms like Kalshi have drawn comparisons to online sports gambling as they allow users to wager on the outcomes of events in pop culture, politics, sports and more. READ THE FULL STORY
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Reuters The price tag for the Golden Dome missile defense shield has grown to $185 billion, up $10 billion, to accelerate key space-based capabilities, the program’s director said on Tuesday, adding that Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab, RTX (RTX.N), opens new tab and Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), opens new tab have joined as prime contractors. Golden Dome envisions expanding ground‑based defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors and command‑and‑control systems while adding space‑based elements meant to detect, track and potentially counter incoming threats from orbit. These would include advanced satellite networks and still‑debated weaponry in orbit. We were asked to accelerate some space capabilities,” Golden Dome’s manager, Space Force General Michael Guetlein, told the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Arlington, Virginia. He identified three programs that would benefit from the additional funding: the Advanced Missile Tracking Initiative, a space data network, and the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, known as HBTSS. READ THE FULL STORY
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The most powerful union in the United States is putting its weight behind a GOP effort to crack down on a longtime trucking industry gimmick behind many horrific highway crashes.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is officially endorsing the Safety and Accountability in Freight Enforcement (SAFE) Act introduced by Republican Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman, the Daily Caller News Foundation has exclusively learned. The legislation aims to eliminate the prevalence of “chameleon carriers,” trucking companies that repeatedly reopen under new identities after being shut down.
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House Oversight Chair James Comer issued a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi Tuesday over possible mismanagement of the federal government’s handing of the Epstein files.
In a letter to Bondi, Comer raised concerns over the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) compliance with a law passed by Congress last year forcing the release of all the files. The move comes a month after five House Republicans on House Oversight joined their Democratic colleagues in calling Bondi to testify in front of the committee.
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The Tennessee State House on Monday passed two immigration bills as part of the effort to make the Volunteer State a national model for cooperating with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
House Bill (HB) 1704 by State House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) would create the new Class A misdemeanor offense of intentionally failing or refusing to leave the United States while subject to a final order of removal. It would also make it a Class A misdemeanor to illegally enter the country, or be found in Tennessee, after previously being denied entry, deported, or otherwise removed from the United States.
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On St. Patrick’s Day, The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy argued that Irish Americans – not modern Ireland – are the true stewards of St. Patrick’s legacy, highlighting on his radio show the contrast between the preservation of traditional faith and cultural identity in the U.S. and what he described as Ireland’s abandonment of its historic foundations.
During Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy began by highlighting the prominence of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations across the U.S., pointing to parades in cities such as New York, Boston, and smaller communities like Erin, Tennessee.
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The Tennessee Senate unanimously passed a bill creating a disciplinary offense for a teacher or school employee who bullies a student.
On Monday, state senators passed Senate Bill (SB) 1774 by a vote of 32 to 0. State Senator Paul Rose (R-Tipton County) introduced this bill.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stepped into an ongoing dispute between Nashville prep school Lipscomb Academy and concerned parents, raising questions about whether the private Christian school’s code of conduct unlawfully restricts free expression.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Monday that Nashville Noticias journalist Estefany Rodriguez Flores remains in federal immigration custody in Alabama while her case moves through the immigration court system.
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Saint Patrick’s Day is here, and so it goes we join millions across the globe to don our best green garb and imbibe in a panoply beverages from the unnaturally verdant Shamrock Shake to the local pub’s green draft – all in a joyous tradition to cheer one another in the name of a spiritual hero of Ireland.
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President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order forming a national task force to combat public fraud and placed Vice President JD Vance in charge of the effort.
“If we found half the fraud in this country… we would have a balanced budget,” Trump insisted. He further joked that he expected Vance to take the role seriously and not merely accept a nominal post, pointing to his predecessor.
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The war with Iran has made it clear: the United States’ allies’ broad use of American defense capabilities exponentially boosts our nation’s capacity to inflict damage on our adversaries.
Amid the deluge of headlines on the war and the global economy, this dynamic has been overlooked.
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The United States expressed outrage when Great Britain revealed two years ago that its voter registration databases were hacked by China in what became a global scandal. But it turns out the U.S. intelligence harbored its own secret at the time, knowing since 2020 that Beijing also gained access to American voter registration data, according to documents reviewed by Just the News and interviews with officials with direct knowledge.
“[Redacted] Chinese intelligence officials analyzed multiple U.S. states’ [Redacted] election voter registration data, [Redacted] to conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 US general election,” stated a once highly classified April 2020 National Intelligence Council memo entitled “Cyber Operations Enabling Expansive Authoritarianism.”
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