Tennessee Republican lawmakers approved many new laws this year that the state will enact starting Thursday, July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Tennessee State Senate GOP officials described the changes in an emailed press release on Tuesday.
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DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Asha F. Jackson, as the law mandates, picked two Republicans and two Democrats to serve on that county’s Board of Registrations and Elections (BRE) and, lastly, an at-large political independent. But, as DeKalb County GOP Chairwoman Marci McCarthy told The Georgia Star News on Tuesday, the independent Jackson selected, Karli Swift, is anything but. McCarthy said Swift’s views lean hard-left.
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A Georgia man traveled to Tennessee and posed as a veteran to receive more than $20,000 in medical benefits, according to federal officials. Federal officials this month sentenced that man Kristopher M. Voyles, 31, to 27 months in prison followed by three years’ supervised release.
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ALPHARETTA, Georgia — Several people crammed into an Alpharetta hotel Monday to hear evidence that last year’s presidential election in Georgia was flawed and likely corrupt and, how consequently, Donald Trump, seeking a second term, got robbed. About 2,000 people attended. Women for America First held the meeting at The Hotel at Avalon.
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The majority of Tennessee counties recorded unemployment rates below 5 percent in May, according to data the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) released late last week. This, according to a TDLWD press release.
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Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is suing Georgia unfairly for its new voting law when officials in other states impose the same standards upon their voters. U.S. Justice Department officials announced last week they will sue the Peach State over its new voting law Senate Bill 202.
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) wants the nationwide permit for the proposed Byhalia Connection Pipeline rescinded, and this week he took the matter up with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Cohen told the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that the pipeline endangers his constituents in Memphis.
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U.S. Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA-12) asked U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about school choice, but Cardona’s answers displeased the congressman, who later said the secretary “would rather prioritize schools over students.” Allen said this in a newsletter he emailed this week to his constituents.
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Tennessee ranks as one of the top states in the nation in terms of how it funds its pension systems, according to a report that the Arlington, Virginia-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released this week. ALEC officials titled their report Unaccountable and Unaffordable, 2020. This annual report collects and analyzes each state’s unfunded public pension liabilities. The report finds state governments’ unfunded liabilities total $5.82 trillion nationwide – an average of $17,748 per person.
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reacted harshly Friday to news that U.S. Justice Department officials, under Attorney General Merrick Garland, will sue the Peach State over its new voting law Senate Bill 202. “The Biden Administration continues to do the bidding of Stacey Abrams and spreads more lies about Georgia’s election law,” Raffensperger said on Facebook Friday.
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger this week said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told “untrue statements about Georgia’s election” and suggested New York state officials were correct to suspend Giuliani’s ability to practice law. Raffensperger said this in an emailed press release.
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After two months of drama, the election for a new Fulton County Republican Party (FCRP) chair remains on hold, but a resolution is pending. The outcome will likely determine whether the FCRP sticks to its establishment roots or veers in a direction more friendly to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Fulton County, Georgia poll manager Suzi Voyles said this week that members of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office pressured her to recant her declaring she saw potentially counterfeit ballots last November that favored Joe Biden. Voyles said this when she appeared Wednesday on The John Fredericks Show. Fredericks is the publisher of The Georgia Star News. Voyles said state officials asked her to go over her affidavit concerning potentially counterfeit ballots in January. “There just was something that felt a little off,” Voyles told Fredericks. “They had my testimony. They had my affidavits, and I couldn’t figure out what else could be said. It was very plain. It was very simple. It wasn’t a 5,000 page document. It was pretty well articulated in the document.” Voyles said the nature of the conversation aroused her suspicions. “As it continued on, it got to the specific box number and the batch numbers that were in question in that first affidavit. I’m thinking ‘Wait a minute. You have that printed out right there.’ There was nothing vague in my affidavit. It was very specific. I just felt it a little odd that if they were questioning me about my affidavit then…
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Reacting to the cancellation of the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act referendum, Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable suggested one way members of the Tennessee General Assembly could react. “This ruling once again silences Nashville voters and taxpayers who continue to be saddled with harmful tax increases. Nashvillians are tired of Mayor Cooper and Metro’s spending addiction that put the city in jeopardy of a state takeover,” Venable said in an emailed press release.
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A Georgia man who founded a charter school to steer young black men away from violence and gang culture reportedly said members of the Dougherty County School System won’t sell him a school already abandoned. That man, King Randall, said school system officials won’t sell him the school unless he agrees to adopt the public school system’s curriculum.
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Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III and 21 other state attorneys general urged Congress to maintain the Hyde Amendment in the 2022 budget. The amendment prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions. Members of the Biden Administration removed the amendment despite its inclusion in federal budgets for the last 45 years.
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State investigators in Georgia reportedly inspected hundreds of potentially suspicious absentee ballots in Fulton County supposedly cast during last year’s presidential election even though those officials didn’t have the legal right to do so. This, according to an article that Real Clear Investigations published Tuesday.
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Federal authorities have arraigned a Snellville, Georgia man for allegedly lying to obtain U.S. citizenship. The defendant, Mezemr Abebe Belayneh, 65, of Snellville, allegedly concealed his involvement in the late 1970s Red Terror period in Ethiopia, where he served as a civilian interrogator at a makeshift prison. A federal grand jury indicted him last month and charged him with two counts of unlawful procurement of naturalization.
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McDONOUGH, GEORGIA — The lawsuit alleging voting shenanigans in Fulton County during last year’s presidential election continued Monday as Chief Judge Brian Amero heard opposing attorneys spar over voters’ rights and who to hold accountable for violating those rights. Amero presides over the case out of Henry County.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) has introduced a bill that would, if enacted into law, direct the U.S. Secretary of Defense to produce ongoing reports about foreign land purchases around U.S. military bases. This, according to a press release that Green and members of his staff published on his website this week. Green titled the bill the Military Perimeter Transparency Act. “It’s critically important for the Department of Defense to identify when foreign adversaries like China or Russia acquire land near American military bases. America’s adversaries, especially those with a history of cyberattacks, espionage, and disinformation warfare, should never be allowed within reach of a U.S. military installation. Doing so would be a risk to our security and a major strategic mistake,” Green said in the press release. “The Secretary of Defense and the heads of our Armed Forces must have full visibility when foreign governments attempt to acquire and use land in close proximity to our military bases. My bill is a commonsense measure that will strengthen our defense and ensure transparency when it comes to securing the perimeter of our military bases.” According to Green’s bill, the U.S. Secretary of Defense would coordinate with the secretaries of…
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Georgia officials announced Friday that the state’s unemployment rate had dropped for the 13th straight month from 4.3 percent in April to 4.1 percent for the month of May. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, however, said more pressing matters remain.
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Federal officials in Tennessee reported that two more convicted felons in the state have run afoul of the law for owning firearms even though the law forbids it. After a two-day trial, a federal jury in Memphis convicted Carl Clarke, 31, already a convicted felon, for possessing a firearm. This, according to a press release that Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr., published this week.
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Americans for Prosperity (AFP) – Tennessee members announced this week they want volunteers to help them fight for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. The referendum, if voters approve it, would roll back Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent tax increase.
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Two Georgia residents in two separate cases allegedly committed massive Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act fraud while another Georgia resident admitted in federal court to committing such fraud. In the first case, federal officials took two Columbus residents into custody after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging them both with wire fraud and theft of government property related to the CARES Act. This, according to a press release that officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia published this week.
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Greater Georgia members announced this week they have registered thousands of new conservative voters and achieved important milestones. Group members announced this in an emailed press release Thursday.
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Fulton County, Georgia had more election integrity problems during last year’s U.S. presidential elections than were previously known, according to a new investigative report that Just the News published late Thursday night. Reporters John Solomon and Daniel Payne cited a 29-page memo they obtained that documented double counting of votes, insecure storage, threats, and massive chain of custody irregularities.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and members of his staff would not say Thursday whether they will dispatch resources to Texas and Arizona to help guard the U.S.-Mexican border. The Tennessee Star made repeated attempts Thursday to contact Lee’s Communications Director Laine Arnold — by email, phone, and text. Arnold did not return our messages before Thursday’s stated deadline.
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Tensions were high Thursday as school system employees assembled at this month’s Gwinnett County School Board meeting and handed out flyers instructing parents to act with civility as they discussed and debated Critical Race Theory (CRT). The contentious issue of CRT divided the parents who showed up in droves.
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Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on Wednesday issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against U.S. President Joe Biden’s ban on oil and gas leases on federal lands. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joined 12 other state attorneys general in filing suit to block the Biden Administration’s violation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA). Coalition members are citing Wednesday’s action as a major victory.
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Rhodes College officials in Memphis have notified students that they must vaccinate themselves against COVID-19 — or else pay a per semester mandatory testing fee of $1,500. This, according to a letter that Vice President for Student Life Meghan Harte Weyant recently distributed to students about the upcoming school year.
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An African American man who allegedly shot and wounded five white men in Phenix City, Alabama last weekend and then crossed the Chattahoochee River into nearby Columbus, Georgia could face federal hate crimes charges. This, according to Phenix City Assistant Police Chief George Staudinger.
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Authorities have indicted a former Fentress County Sheriff’s Department deputy for allegedly using nearly $9,000 of taxpayer money to fuel his personal vehicle using his county-authorized fuel credit card. Tennessee Comptrollers identified the deputy as Johnny Dishman.
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Members of a group called No Left Turn in Education this month asked Peach State residents to stand up to Critical Race Theory (CRT) and sign a petition asking government officials to ban it. In a press release, No Left Turn in Education Georgia chapter members also said they want K-12 schools statewide to ban the 1619 Project and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion & Action Civics.
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Buckhead made national headlines Monday after FOX News host Tucker Carlson described, in sometimes graphic terms, how crime rates in this Atlanta residential district have soared and how certain of Atlanta’s opportunistic politicians incited the violence. Buckhead residents have organized and wish to secede from Atlanta.
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Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) officials have announced they will reinstate the unemployment insurance requirements they had in place before COVID-19. This, according to a press release that GDOL officials published late last week.
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Members of the Fulton County Republican Party (FCRP) have yet to elect a chairperson, despite talk that they had scheduled an election to settle the matter this past Saturday. GOP officials at the state level may have to help resolve the conflict.
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U.S. Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA-12) and U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO-04) reintroduced The Saving American History Act to ban K-12 school officials from using federal funds to teach the 1619 Project. Allen announced the legislation Sunday in an emailed newsletter to his constituents.
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No known cuts are coming to Fort Campbell in this year’s defense budget, but the installation has other longstanding problems that need resolving. Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Joseph Martin addressed these matters during a U.S. House Armed Services Committee hearing last week.
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The State of Georgia’s May net tax collections approached $2.66 billion for an increase of roughly $1.08 billion, or 68.1 percent, compared to May 2020. Net tax collections in May of last year totaled $1.58 billion, according to a press release that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp released this week.
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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Saturday endorsed Robby Starbuck for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) currently represents the district.
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Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and others said at a Thursday night town hall that Republicans nationwide are passing voter integrity bills to prevent black people from voting. During this virtual town hall, Abrams told audience members to pressure the U.S. Senate to pass the For the People Act. Some people also refer to the bill as H.R. 1. The For the People Act, if enacted into law, would nationalize federal elections. The proposed law would require that states automatically register residents to vote and also require absentee ballot drop boxes. The For the People Act would also eliminate state restrictions on mail-in voting, require same-day voter registration, and gut state voter identification laws.
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Members of the Georgia General Assembly are preparing to discuss reapportionment, which involves redrawing district lines for the U.S. House of Representatives following the 2020 Census. Members of the Georgia House Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Committee as well as members of the Georgia Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee will hold a joint virtual town hall hearing next week. The hearing will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15 on the Georgia General Assembly’s website.
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Former Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, according to an article The Atlantic published this week, “is trying to figure out how religious Republicans got so extreme.” Haslam granted an interview to Atlantic writer Emma Green. Green said “Haslam is disturbed by some aspects of the national Republican Party’s recent direction—particularly the way politicians and activists have frequently used religion as a cudgel.”
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Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones just returned from Arizona where he observed an audit of ballots from the November 2020 presidential election and also witnessed up-close what he said was a calamity at the U.S.-Mexico border. Jones talked to The Georgia Star News Thursday. He said a firm overseeing the audit has done a thorough and professional job that leaves little room to allow mistakes. Jones did not name the firm.
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Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin is two points below former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe in a new WPA Intelligence poll. This, according to an article that The Republican Standard published Thursday. The poll said Youngkin had 46 percent while McAuliffe had 48 percent.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper released a report Wednesday that not only calls for more affordable housing within the city but also calls for new sources of revenue to fund it. The report specifically calls on Metro Nashville officials to pursue additional revenue streams. Metro planners also suggest generating more affordable housing by using land already publicly-owned and underutilized. The report said city officials could expand Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to support Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). This method, the report went on to say, would fund long-term housing by partnering with nonprofit and private developers. Metro planners also suggested creating “mixed use, mixed income communities.”
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Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has scheduled a virtual town hall where she said she will call on her supporters to pressure the U.S. Senate to pass the For the People Act. Some people also refer to the bill as H.R. 1.
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The people who oppose the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act this week began a paid media campaign to tarnish the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act as the brainchild of “radical extremists.” But Nashville attorney Jim Roberts, one of the architects of the referendum, told The Tennessee Star this week that he and his supporters are currently crafting their own media counteroffensive.
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Former U.S. President Barack Obama this week publicly praised Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Obama, during a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, pondered the ramifications of the 2020 election and the election integrity concerns.
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A supporter of Susan Opraseuth’s said Tuesday the candidate does not have a database of 330 delegates she needs as she campaigns to replace Fulton County Republican Party incumbent chair Trey Kelly — but she’s supposed to. Party members said this election pits Kelly, an establishment Republican, against Opraseuth, who strongly supports former U.S. President Donald Trump.
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