As autonomous vehicle company Waymo faces scrutiny following reports of driverless cars stalling in traffic after its recent Nashville launch, The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy and Chris Burger, founder and CEO of Rotunda Public Affairs, highlighted a broader divide over the technology’s future.
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Iran’s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic triggered an immediate decline in oil prices, a development national political reporter Neil W. McCabe said reflects easing geopolitical fears rather than a significant change in global supply.
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Both the House and Senate voted on Friday to extend the government’s spy powers under FISA for 10-days after Republicans struggled to iron out a compromise on reforms.Â
The House had voted in the dead of night to extend the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which faced steep opposition from a faction of the Republican conference who wanted reforms to the law, including a warrant requirement.
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It has been nearly 80 years since the guns fell silent in World War II. In that long arc of peace, the United States helped rebuild a shattered Europe, deter Soviet expansion, and anchor what we now call the transatlantic alliance. Those were noble achievements. They mattered. They still echo in the prosperity and stability of the Western world today.
But history is not a life sentence. And gratitude, while virtuous, is not a strategy.
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Ohio businesses are getting squeezed from every direction right now. Tariff uncertainty is disrupting supply chains. Input costs are up. The labor market hasn’t fully stabilized. Many of the business owners I know are just trying to keep their people employed and their doors open. That context matters when you look at what Congress is considering doing to them next.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act (H.R. 5408) would impose a federal timeline on first-contract collective bargaining negotiations. Bargaining must start within 10 days of a union election. If there is no agreement within 90 days, a government mediator steps in. If mediation fails, a government-appointed arbitration panel takes over and writes the contract—wages, benefits, working conditions, all of it. The employer has no further say. Neither do the workers.
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I have interviewed hundreds of singer-songwriters, including Kelli Belles, and if you ask them who the one person they would like to collaborate with is, nearly all will name “Dolly.”
Belles is a third-generation entertainer. When I found out that Dolly Parton was actually going to sing with her on a song she had written, I had to learn the story behind it.
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