Day: June 1, 2026

JC Bowman and Michael Patrick Leahy Discuss Tennessee Lead’s Plan to Transform the State’s K-12 Public Education

Kaitlin Housler
JC Bowman

JC Bowman, founder and president of Professional Educators of Tennessee, joined The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy for a sit-down discussion regarding the future of K-12 education in the Volunteer State, examining everything from direct instruction and charter schools to education freedom scholarships, civic education, and workforce development.

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Embattled Shelby County Democrat Sues to Challenge Primary Loss amid Ouster Effort

Tom Pappert
Wanda Halbert

Embattled Shelby Criminal County Clerk Wanda Halbert last week filed a lawsuit against the Shelby County Election Commission over her narrow primary election loss to State Representative Joe Towns (D-Memphis), with just 126 votes deciding the election. 

In her lawsuit, Halbert claims that about 1,700 absentee ballots cast during the May 5 election are “unprocessed, unresolved, uncounted, or otherwise not reflected in the certified election totals.”

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The Atlantic Defendants in Kash Patel’s Defamation Lawsuit Granted Two Additional Months to Submit Response

Tom Pappert
Kash Patel

The publisher of The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick were granted until July 27 to respond to the lawsuit filed by FBI Director Kash Patel, after a filing revealed that the defendants’ lawyers had reached an agreement with Patel and his attorneys to accept service of the lawsuit on their clients’ behalf.

By the new July deadline, The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick will have had more than three months to respond to the defamation lawsuit, which was filed on April 20, shortly after the outlet published an article claiming Patel has a serious drinking problem that impacts his job performance and leaves him unavailable to staff for extended periods of time.

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Clock Ticking on GOP to Pass President’s Agenda as Midterms Loom

Daily Caller News Foundation
Thune and Johnson

Republicans are running out of time to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda and tackle the affordability crisis as the midterm elections inch closer.

With the midterms looming, Republicans have struggled to pass several policy agendas, including funding immigration enforcement, addressing affordability and adding voter identification requirements. Republicans are on a time crunch to address the hot-button issues for voters, including the economy and immigration, before they cast their ballots in November.

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Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Released from Prison

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

Colorado Public Radio   Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters was released from a women’s correctional facility in Pueblo on Monday as ordered by the governor. The Colorado Department of Corrections did not provide specific details ahead of her release, and Peters was not seen by the dozen reporters and photographers stationed outside the La Vista Correctional Facility. Peters was convicted of several felonies and misdemeanors and sentenced in 2024 to nearly nine years in prison for her role in tampering with Mesa county’s voting machines months after the 2020 presidential election in search of evidence of election rigging. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence last month, in a controversial decision that led to immediate backlash from state officials. READ THE FULL STORY   

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Divided Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration’s Ban on Transgender Military Service Is Unconstitutional

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

CBS News   A divided federal appeals court ruled Monday that the Trump administration’s policy banning transgender individuals from serving in the military is likely unconstitutional. A panel of three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit split 2-1 in finding that the ban rolled out by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last year was driven by animus toward transgender people. Judges Judith Rogers and Robert Wilkins agreed that the Trump administration’s policy targeting transgender service members likely violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. READ THE FULL STORY   

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Oregon Governor Halts Undercover License Plates for ICE

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

The Hill   Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) has halted Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to acquire undercover license plates. According to a release from her press office, the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicles Service (DMV) was ordered by Kotek on Saturday to halt the issuance of undercover license plates for ICE. “ICE agents have repeatedly engaged in illegitimate activities, causing unwarranted chaos, sowing fear, and damaging the relationship between law enforcement and our communities,” Kotek said in the release, obtained by The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation. READ THE FULL STORY   

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Abortion Pill Ruling Sparks Mounting Anger Among Pro-Life Organizations

Daily Caller News Foundation

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to maintain access to telehealth abortions is seemingly intensifying some pro-life activists’ dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s administration’s handling of abortion issues.

The Supreme Court’s May 14 ruling preserved access to abortions via telehealth, reportedly fueling further discontent among some pro-life activists who are urging the Trump administration to do more to support the pro-life movement. 

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Democrat Governors’ Leftist Agenda Meets Unexpected Resistance: Sheriffs and Prosecutors

Just the News
Spanberger and Moore

Two Democrat governors trying to advance progressive policies on immigration and gun control are facing pushback from local law enforcement, with sheriffs and prosecutors in Maryland and Virginia openly resisting portions of the states’ new agendas.

In Maryland, a majority of the state’s elected sheriffs filed a federal lawsuit challenging the newly enacted Community Trust Act, a law backed by Democrat Gov. Wes Moore that limited cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities. 

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RFK Jr. Announces Largest Autism Fraud Bust in History

Just the News
Secretary Robert Kennedy

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced a major fraud bust in which authorities cracked down on misuse of public funds intended for autism aid in Minnesota.

Kennedy highlighted that the original cost of the Early Intervention Development Program was a mere $38.1 million in 2020, but that it had ballooned to $442 million in 2026, with much of that increase stemming from fraud.

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Ex-Intel Official Reported Hunter Biden Laptop Letter Was ‘Deception Operation,’ DOJ Asked to Probe

Just the News

A former senior intelligence community official under President Barack Obama reported concerns earlier this year that the Hunter Biden laptop letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials in 2020 bore characteristics “consistent with coordinated intelligence deception operations,” according to a memo the ex-official submitted to the intelligence community inspector general.

The concerns have now been referred to the Justice Department, a remarkable turnabout for a letter that was used six years ago to censor factually based concerns about Biden family corruption.  

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Florida Sues OpenAI over Claimed AI Harms, Including Aiding Mass Shooters, Encouraging Suicide

Just the News
Florida AG

Florida on Monday became the first U.S. state to sue OpenAI over the alleged harms caused by the artificial intelligence firm, arguing it knowingly released an unsafe product and ignored warnings about its possible harms. 

The lawsuit, filed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, alleges that OpenAI permitted its flagship AI assistant ChatGPT to aid and abet mass shooters, encourage user suicides, damage users’ critical thinking skills, and addict minors, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

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Federal Panel Hearing Lawsuits over Tennessee Redistricting Includes Two Trump-Appointed Judges, One Nominated by Obama

Tom Pappert

The panel of federal judges who will decide the fate of four lawsuits filed to prevent Tennessee’s new Congressional map from taking effect before the midterm elections was announced last Wednesday. Two of the judges are appointees of President Donald Trump, while the third was nominated by former President Barack Obama.

According to the order released last Wednesday by the Sixth Circuit Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has assigned assigned Circuit Judge John Nalbandian of the Sixth Circuit, who was appointed to the circuit court by Trump in 2018, and Chief District Judge Greg Stivers of the Western District of Kentucky, who was nominated to the bench by Obama in 2014.

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Farmers for Marsha Back Blackburn’s Gubernatorial Bid at Kickoff Event

Michael Patrick Leahy
Marsha Blackburn

Farmers for Marsha announced their support for Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) gubernatorial bid at a kickoff event held Saturday at the Double Barrel Angus Sales Barn in Williamson County.  Tim and Serena Humerick, owners of the Double Barrell Farm in College Grove, Tennessee, hosted the event, attended by over 300 Tennessee farmers and political leaders.

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