Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday published an open letter to the American people in which he asked them to question whether the American government had their interests at heart and denounced the ongoing war against his country.
Pezeshkian argued that Iran maintained a strong military to defend itself and said that “portraying Iran as a threat is neither consistent with historical reality nor with present-day observable facts.”
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Legislation that would require local law enforcement agencies, governments, and state agencies to report data used to estimate the cumulative cost of public services used by illegal aliens was advanced on Tuesday by the State House. The bill would require the information to be supplied to the Tennessee Department of Safety’s Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division (CIED) and other state entities.
The House State and Local Government Committee notably recommended House Bill (HB) 1711, filed by State Representative Elaine Davis (R-Knoxville) as part of the 2026 immigration package, with one or more amendments, potentially including an amendment that significantly rewrites the bill to require more extensive reporting, though the final language has not been formally adopted.
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A newly released episode of Michael Patrick Leahy Interviews features veteran journalist James Rosen discussing his latest book on Antonin Scalia, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1986 to 2016.
Rosen, currently the chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax and formerly of Fox News, centered the discussion on his new book, Scalia: Supreme Court Years, 1986 to 2001, which explores the early tenure of the late justice.
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The Tennessee State Senate on Tuesday advanced legislation, originally introduced last year, that would require voters to formally declare their political party affiliation or register as unaffiliated to participate in primary elections. This would effectively prevent an unaffiliated voter from casting a primary ballot in contests created to determine Democratic or Republican nominees.
Senate Bill (SB) 777, introduced as a caption bill last year by State Senator Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun), would amend Tennessee’s voter registration form to require citizens to indicate their affiliation with the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, a recognized third party, or as an unaffiliated voter.
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Fox News Iran is pushing back on President Donald Trump’s claim that it requested a ceasefire, with an official calling the statement “false and baseless in a blunt public denial. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, made the remarks rejecting Trump’s claim on Wednesday, according to a report on Iranian state television. Trump made the claim about Iran requesting a ceasefire in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning. But the president indicated that the U.S. will only entertain the prospect once the Strait of Hormuz is open for ships. READ THE FULL STORY
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The Hill U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a Tuesday filing said tariff refund payments may take up to 45 days to review and process once its new claims portal system is operational. The U.S. Court of International Trade is overseeing the process for tariff refunds to importers who paid levies issued by the Trump administration. The duties were ultimately deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court in February, but the high court did not issue guidance on how to issue refunds. READ THE FULL STORY
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CBS News The Department of Homeland Security, now led by Secretary Markwayne Mullin, on Wednesday reversed a policy put in place by former Secretary Kristi Noem that required the secretary to approve contracts and grants worth more than $100,000. There were thousands of contracts in this range. The directive lifts the requirement across all DHS components, including its major immigration enforcement agencies: U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a statement to CBS News, DHS said Mullin “re-evaluated the contract processes to make sure DHS is serving the American taxpayer efficiently.” READ THE FULL STORY
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The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office announced Wednesday it has received an interim forensic audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) uncovering what Comptroller Jason Mumpower said was “clear evidence of management failures” and widespread operational breakdowns that raise serious concerns about the district’s ability to ensure accountability and properly manage public funds.
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The Tennessee Legislature passed a bill targeting people or groups that hire protesters.
Senate President Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) signed off on the bill this week after both chambers passed Senate Bill (SB) 2222.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., teamed up on a proposed moratorium on data centers. The measure would “enact a reasonable pause” in the development of such facilities.
Ocasio-Cortez said in an announcement on the bill that AI poses an “existential harm” to our society. The two lawmakers demand that “billionaire Big Tech oligarchs” not be allowed to harm health and safety, that AI should be developed for the benefit of workers and not the wealthy, and that data centers should not impact electricity costs.
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Virginia Democrats’ proposed redraw of the state’s House map would effectively strip the state’s rural communities of federal representation, a conservative group argues in a new study.
The lopsided gerrymander backed by Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Barack Obama would most likely change Virginia’s House makeup from six Democrats and five Republicans to 10 Democrats and just one Republican — if a majority of the state’s voters back it on April 21. In a policy brief first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Defend Forgotten America (DFA) calls the plan a “structural demolition of rural representation,” noting that its passage will lump residents in Virginia’s rural areas into districts overpowered by Washington, D.C., suburbs.
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave Congress a June 1 deadline to send a bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol to his desk amid the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
The shutdown has lasted 46 days as Democrats continue to demand changes to immigration enforcement policy that Trump has rejected. Republicans have since floated passing additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol through a reconciliation bill, which would not require Democratic support. Trump, for his part, threw his support behind the idea and set a June 1 deadline for Congress to send him the bill.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the Memphis police officers placed on administrative leave after arresting protesters at Saturday’s “No Kings” rally will likely be cleared of wrongdoing.
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There are few things in life more terrifying than a diagnosis of cancer – as any victim to this horrible disease will tell you.
So let’s kill cancer before it kills us.
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Two Appalachian states are pushing legislation to introduce nuclear energy to their coal-dominant energy grids.
Kentucky’s State Senate passed Senate Bill 57 on March 27, which would create a Nuclear Reactor Site Readiness Pilot Program to lay the foundation for bringing nuclear energy to the coal-dominant state. On the same day as SB 57’s passage, Republican West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey approved House Bill 5381 which would expand the electrical grid through utilizing a plethora of different energy sources, including nuclear.
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