Day: August 17, 2026

Report: Nashville Lacked Proper Procedures to Deal with Winter Snowstorm

Zachery Schmidt
Winter Storm Fern

The City of Nashville lacked formal plans and procedures to handle a January winter snowstorm that left nearly half of its residents without power, according to an interim report.

Nashville’s Winter Storm Response Commission released a report on Friday detailing the city’s failures in a storm that left an estimated 85,000 people without power for nearly a week. Approximately 29 people experienced weather-related fatalities from Winter Storm Fern, according to the state Department of Health.

Read the full story

Report: 83 Colleges and 26 Schools Act as a Pipeline for China’s Regime

The Daily Signal
college students

A new report from Defending Education has identified at least 83 universities and 26 K-12 schools across 30 states that exposed their students to Chinese Communist Party propaganda through the Young Envoys Scholarship program.

According to the report, titled “Little Red Classrooms: China’s Infiltration of American K-12 Schools,” the program is monitored by the China Education Association for International Exchange, or CEAIE, and serves as an alternative to the Confucius Institutes, which Congress began restricting in 2021.

Read the full story

Tennessee Star Wins Covenant School Shooter Manifesto Lawsuit After State Supreme Court Denies Nashville’s Appeal to Block Public Release

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

In a major victory for The Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal from Metro Nashville, the Covenant School, and a group of Covenant parents challenging a February ruling from the Tennessee Court of Appeals in the Covenant School killing-records lawsuit.

The denial issued last week leaves intact the appellate court’s decision reversing Tennessee Chancery Court Chancellor I’Ashea Myles’ broad order withholding the records, and sends the case back to Davidson County Chancery Court for further review.

Read the full story

Tennessee Democrat Who Stood on Desk to Protest Republican Redistricting Plan Threatens Lawsuit over Punishment

Tom Pappert
Charlane Oliver

Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) said she is “seeking legal redress” over the punishments meted out by Lt. Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) after her outburst during the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session that saw Republican majorities redraw the state’s congressional districts. 

“During the redistricting special session in May, I made the courageous decision to stand on my Senate desk and sing with pride after the Speaker cut my mic while giving a floor speech. I held up a banner that read ‘No Jim Crow 2.0,'” wrote Oliver in a post to the online newsletter platform Substack. “For that, GOP leadership refused to count my ‘NO’ vote. Then they came for my paycheck.”

Read the full story

Trump DOJ Renews Gun Rights Restoration for Felons Back to Life

Just the News
Todd Blanche

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Monday that the Justice Department (DOJ) was reviving a process by which those who lost gun rights due to criminal convictions could have them restored.

While federal law provides for a process to restore Second Amendment rights lost after a felony conviction or other circumstances, Congress had largely blocked the process since 1992 by refusing to allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to spend any federal funds on it. Blanche described the new process as “commonsense” while also respecting Second Amendment rights.

Read the full story

School Vaccination Rates Inch Down Again to Record Low as Exemptions Reach New High

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

CBS News   U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates inched down again last year and the share of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Monday. The fraction of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 4.2%, up from 3.6% the year before. That’s an estimated 155,000 children nationally during the 2025-26 school year. It’s the fourth consecutive year that the national average exemption rate has reached a new record, and the vast majority are parents withholding shots for nonmedical reasons. Exemptions increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia. READ THE FULL STORY   

Read the full story

Blanche: Congress Has Already Approved White House Ballroom Project

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

The Hill   Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday said the Department of Justice believes Congress has already granted President Trump the authority to construct the White House ballroom under existing presidential authority. “We don’t believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we’re doing,” Blanche said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday.” “Many presidents have done a tremendous amount of work to the White House, as they should, and Congress has authorized them to do so,” he added in discussion with anchor Shannon Bream, a lawyer criticized by Trump after the interview aired. READ THE FULL STORY   

Read the full story

Judge Blocks Homeland Security Review of Migrant Trucker Licenses

Admin
BREAKING NEWS

Breitbart   A federal judge has blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from reviewing state databases of truck drivers as it seeks to remove illegal migrants from the trucking industry. U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga issued an administrative stay preventing DHS from accessing the records of 17 million commercial truck drivers from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Judge Trenga’s order came after a lawsuit was filed by 21 Democrat-controlled states claiming that the government has no right to the information and would need individual subpoenas for each and every record, according to Freight Waves. READ THE FULL STORY   

Read the full story

Pappert: Abrego Garcia Case Shows Impact of Obama, Biden Judicial Appointments

Kaitlin Housler
Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the prolonged legal battle surrounding Kilmar Abrego Garcia highlights what he described as the lasting impact of judicial appointments made during the Obama and Biden administrations, arguing the case demonstrates how federal judges can shape immigration policy through their rulings.

Pappert previously broke the story for The Star that Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) in 2022 while transporting nine people in a vehicle under circumstances that raised suspicions of human trafficking.

Read the full story

FBI Had Evidence Swalwell Got Illegal Donations from Suspected Chinese Spy, Bombshell Memos Show

Just the News
Eric Swalwell

The FBI developed evidence that a Chinese woman with direct ties to that country’s intelligence service had potentially compromised a Democratic congressman from California with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations while she was being recruited to become a bureau informant a decade ago, according to bombshell memos that expose another threat to America’s political system from Beijing.

The files chronicling the relationship between Rep. Eric Swalwell and the Chinese national Fang Fang – also known by her English name Christine Fang – were declassified by President Donald Trump and released Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force as part of a broader effort to unmask foreign threats to U.S. political and election systems.

Read the full story

Study Shows County, City Governments Make Tennessee National Leader in Property Tax Hikes

Tom Pappert
Nashville taxes

Tennessee led the United States in property tax hikes from 2019 to 2025, according to an analysis by the Beacon Center of Tennessee.

The pro-free-market nonprofit think tank examined Wall Street Journal-produced data that shows Tennessee “with a double-digit lead over” Colorado, its nearest competitor. “The Volunteer State stands alone as the only state with over a 75 percent increase,” the Beacon Center revealed.

Read the full story

Report: With Tariffs Set to Come into Effect Wednesday, Canada Scrambles to Negotiate

Just the News
Canada trump

Facing President Donald Trump’s crippling tariff threat that’s set to come into effect on Wednesday, Canada is continuing to negotiate a trade deal that will allow it to avoid the tariffs and get additional relief on existing tariffs in key sectors. 

However, despite meetings between Canadian and American negotiators over the last three weeks, the two countries can’t move beyond an impasse in these last days, the CBC reported. 

Read the full story

Tunnel to Towers Opens New Memphis Veterans Village to House, Support Homeless Veterans

Kaitlin Housler
Tunnel to Towers

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation officially opened its new Memphis Veterans Village, providing housing and supportive services for up to 110 veterans and their families.

The grand opening ceremony occurred Friday morning, marking the completion of the foundation’s project to transform a former hotel on Riverdale Bend Road into permanent housing for homeless veterans.

Read the full story

Trump’s Endorsement Strength Will Be Put to Test in Florida Primaries

Just the News
Donald and Donalds

Florida voters are set to head to the polls to choose the Republican and Democratic nominees for Senate and governor on Tuesday, with the governor’s race setting up a test of President Donald Trump’s endorsement power.

The president has endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., in the state, but he faces several candidates that have waged aggressive campaigns against him. DeSantis himself has not issued an endorsement in the contest.

Read the full story

UK Citizen Hired at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Convicted of Child Sex Exploitation, Will Face Deportation After 19-Year Sentence: DOJ

Tom Pappert
Andrew Worrall

A citizen of the United Kingdom, who was in Tennessee working as a Director for an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) program, on Wednesday was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his sexual exploitation of two 17-year-old girls on social media, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. 

Andrew Worrall, 56, will serve 19 years in federal prison under the sentence imposed last week by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Varlan, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

Read the full story