Greater Georgia members have launched a digital ad campaign to boost voter turnout for the special election for State House District 34, which includes Marietta. Group members said the ad highlights “the Radical Left’s misinformation campaign that cost Cobb County countless jobs and a $100-million opportunity.”
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper this month delivered a speech that invoked race and even Donald Trump as a means to frighten voters out of supporting the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. The referendum, if voters approve it, would roll back Cooper’s 34 to 37 percent property tax increase.
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The Sons of Confederate Veterans are in Memphis and digging up the coffins that hold Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife so they can transport them to the National Confederate Museum in Columbia, Tennessee. Staff at the National Confederate Museum did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Sunday.
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Buckhead, already trying to formally break away from the City of Atlanta so they can address an out-of-control crime wave using their own resources, had another violent weekend, including a murder. According to the Atlanta Police Department’s (APD’s) website, someone shot a man Saturday as he jogged through the 1200 block of West Wesley Road in Buckhead.
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Federal officials in Memphis have sentenced an illegal alien to 30 months in prison for unlawful reentry into the United States and for illegally possessing a firearm. This, according to a press release that Joseph C. Murphy Jr. the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, published this week.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp spoke to members of the state GOP at their convention in Jekyll Island Saturday, but few people in the crowd of about 2,000 heard what the governor had to say. That’s because so many people in the room drowned Kemp’s words out with almost-deafening boos.
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Members of the Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to formally oppose teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the state’s K-12 classrooms. Board members, according to their resolution, described beliefs such as CRT as “concepts that impute fault, blame, a tendency to oppress others, or the need to feel guilt or anguish to persons solely because of their race or sex.”
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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will soon sign an administrative order directing the city’s Department of Enterprise Assets Management (DEAM) to designate all single-occupancy restrooms within city facilities as gender neutral. This, according to the order that Bottoms will sign later this month. The Georgia Star News obtained a copy on Friday from Atlanta Director of LGBTQ Affairs Malik Brown.
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Republicans throughout Georgia have asked Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a special session of the state legislature so that independent parties can conduct a forensic audit of the state’s November 2020 presidential election. These Republicans sent an open letter to the people of Georgia, which they forwarded to The Georgia Star News Thursday.
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A self-described conservative businessman and political outsider has announced he wants to succeed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) in Congress. Candidate Matt Richards, in an emailed press release, said he is “a pro-Trump businessman who went from sleeping on a dirt floor to owning his own multi-million dollar demolition company in Atlanta.”
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Georgia Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) might run for the U.S. Senate next year, although he said he hasn’t decided for certain. Ralston appeared on Georgia Public Broadcasting late last week and praised U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Ralston also said the country’s current direction troubles him. If he does serve in the U.S. Senate then he said his tenure as Georgia Speaker of the House will help guide him.
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A Metro Nashville School Board member said she wonders if school system officials are doing thorough background checks on school system employees, and she said knows of one instance where they did not. Board member Fran Bush told The Tennessee Star this week that Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Executive Director of Security Reginald Young lied on his resume. Young said he previously served in Florida as the Gadsden County School District’s chief of police and its Emergency Management Coordinator.
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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has announced he will travel to Memphis on Thursday, June 3, to assess the disruption to traffic that the closure of the Hernando DeSoto-Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River has caused. Inspectors said they found a large crack in one of the bridge’s structural beams on May 12.
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The apparent break-in at the Fulton County warehouse where officials were storing ballots for a pending audit has prompted Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones to demand an official investigation. “This report, if true, is deeply concerning and needs to be independently investigated at once. I am calling on Governor Kemp to immediately order an investigation into this matter by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation,” Jones told supporters Monday in an emailed statement.
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Delta Airlines officials did not confirm Tuesday whether they received a letter from an anonymous company employee with two decades of experience who is reportedly angry about CEO Ed Bastian and the company’s Woke culture. Delta officials did not return The Georgia Star News’ request for comment before Tuesday’s stated deadline.
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Thieves throughout Nashville are stealing firearms from other people’s vehicles and even stealing the vehicles themselves because the owners aren’t locking their vehicle doors. “This, according to a press release that members of the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) published this week.
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The U.S. Air Force has announced plans to bring four new missions, including new aircraft, to Robins Air Force Base (AFB), in Houston County, Georgia, beginning fiscal year 2022. This according to a press release that Robins’ AFB officials published this week.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced this month that the office’s Prosecution Division has concluded its case against Judge William “Allen” Wigington, a former Chief Magistrate Judge in Pickens County. Wigington was found guilty of one count of racketeering, three counts of fourth-degree forgery, five counts of theft by taking, 39 counts of unauthorized use of a financial transaction card, and one count of violation of oath of office. In total, his crimes amounted to 44 felonies and five misdemeanors. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He will serve five years in custody, followed by the remainder on probation.
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On Sunday U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) announced that he co-signed a letter to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and demanded investigations into the Wuhan lab. Carter, in a newsletter he emailed to constituents Sunday, said “China allowed this virus to spread and they need to be held accountable” and that “we need to fully understand what happened and make sure it never happens again”.
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The CAGW has evaluated every Congressional member’s voting record on how they voted on issues to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government, and protecting hardworking taxpayers. This, according to an emailed newsletter that Loudermilk emailed late last week.
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Gov. Brian P. Kemp this week announced Georgia has again secured the highest ratings of AAA with a stable outlook from each of the three main credit rating agencies: FitchRatings, Moody’s Investors Service, and S&P Global Ratings. This, according to a press release that members of Kemp’s staff published on his website.
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U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) told constituents in an email Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated several longstanding problems and created more than a few new ones within the federal government. “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for example, has a tremendous backlog of millions of income tax returns waiting to be processed, leading to lengthy delays in refunds and stimulus checks to many Americans. Another case is the State Department, which is taking 10 to 12 weeks to process even a simple passport application. Perhaps the worst example is the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), a little known but critical agency responsible for the military service records needed for veterans to receive care from the VA. As of April, the backlog for veterans’ records is roughly 500,000 and may take up to two years to clear. Unreal!” Hice wrote.
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COLUMBIA — Many thousands of people descended upon the city of Columbia, Tennessee Friday evening for the 2021 MuleFest, and, to signal the end of COVID-19, not a single person appeared to wear a face covering. Maury County officials held the event in the city’s downtown area.
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Former State Rep. Joe Carr this week said State of Tennessee agencies and departments are driven and “absolutely consumed by political correctness,” spurred on by staff at the Tennessee Department of Human Resources (DOHR). “Political correctness drives their bus,” Carr said.
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An Atlanta City Council member who tried to defund the police of millions of dollars last year called 911 Wednesday to report that four people stole his 2016 Mercedes. That man, Antonio Brown, told a 911 dispatcher the car thieves consisted of four children.
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U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) and U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16) this month wrote U.S. President Joe Biden expressing concerns about the president’s support for waiving Intellectual Property (IP) protections related to the COVID-19 vaccines. This, according to a newsletter that Carter emailed his constituents.
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Former State Rep. Joe Carr, currently running for Rutherford County mayor, disclosed certain people accused him of harassment while he worked at a state agency, but he described the allegations as “a big nothingburger.” Carr addressed these allegations in a nearly 1,200 word post on Facebook Tuesday.
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Administrators within the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) are calling on students to report — anonymously — any acts of bias, discrimination, harassment, or intimidation motivated by prejudice. LCPS spokesman Wayde Byard told The Virginia Star Wednesday that students may use what they call the Share, Speak Up, Speak Out: Bias Reporting Form to report instances of prejudice or bias.
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Booksellers are scheduled to release a book later this year that Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan wrote about reforming the Republican Party, but details about how much money Duncan will make were unavailable Wednesday. Members of Duncan’s staff as well as publishers at the New York-based Simon and Schuster did not return The Georgia Star News’ emailed requests for comment before Wednesday’s stated deadline.
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Members of Tennessee Stands told supporters in a newsletter this week that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is weak on immigration and refugee resettlement issues. “We have a crisis at the border and it’s undeniable. And while there are many areas we could point to regarding the Lee administration where things are not always what they seem, one of the most glaring for most of his time in office has been immigration and refugee resettlement. Lee is weak on enforcing a conservative immigration policy and has a propensity to use the guise of Christianity to support refugees pouring into our state,” according to the newsletter.
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One of Georgia’s top election officials said “Trump supporter-ish kind of people” prompted the audit of Fulton County’s absentee ballots, and he also suggested those individuals are biased and cannot inspect ballots in an honest manner. That man, Gabriel Sterling, is Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s chief operating officer.
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Despite U.S. President Joe Biden ending the group, members of The 1776 Commission have reconvened, regardless, to carry out a task that commission member Carol Swain said she and other members take seriously. Former U.S. President Donald Trump appointed the members before he left office.
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said this past weekend that he expects to perform well within the Peach State as he seeks reelection. But his campaign staff remained mum Monday when asked whether supporters of Donald Trump will overlook his and staff members’ past actions against the former president.
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If an audit of absentee ballots that Fulton County officials tallied during the 2020 presidential election produces any irregularities then the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) must step in, said one state legislator. State Sen. Burt Jones (R-Jackson) told The Georgia Star News Monday that if the audit proves any irregularities than that means one or more people committed fraud in last year’s election.
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Three former Flying J officials want a change of venue in their pending retrial on federal charges of cheating truckers out of diesel fuel rebates. This, according to an article that the website Transport Topics published late last week. The website reported that “the high-decibel press coverage from the east Tennessee media has poisoned the jury pool to the point that a fair trial in east Tennessee is impossible.”
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U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas ordered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency to discontinue using its Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, but a congressman said it closed based on a lie. Mayorkas directed ICE to abandon the facility late last week.
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The Virginia-based Southern Environmental Law Center has filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleging that running the proposed Byhalia Pipeline through Memphis violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Byhalia, according to its website, is a crude oil pipeline that is supposed to run nearly 49 miles from Memphis to Marshall County, Mississippi. The pipeline, the website went on to say, will connect the Diamond Pipeline with the Capline Pipeline. The Diamond Pipeline provides the Valero Memphis Refinery with crude oil to produce gasoline and jet fuels. The Capline Pipeline, meanwhile, runs between Central Illinois and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
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Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) officials announce this week that the state’s unemployment rate dropped another 0.2 percentage points to reach 4.3 percent in April. Last month, Georgia reported the lowest unemployment rate among the 10 most-populated states.
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Members of Americans for Prosperity — Tennessee (AFP-TN) have scheduled an event where they will host U.S. Mark Green (R-TN-07) and AFP President Tim Phillips to discuss what they say are significant problems with U.S. President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion infrastructure proposal. The event, which AFP officials have titled the End Washington Waste Event, is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Monday, May 24, at the Bold Patriot Brewing Company at 410 39th Ave. N. in Nashville.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp this week submitted a letter to members of the state board of education and warned about the dangers of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools. But Vernon Jones — Kemp’s declared Republican opponent for next year’s gubernatorial race — also denounced CRT and said, if elected, he’ll do more than just warn about it.
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Buckhead residents organized earlier this year and announced they wish to secede from Atlanta, but members of a new group formed within the district this week and they say seceding is dangerous. This, according to a press release that members of the group A Committee for a United Atlanta emailed to The Georgia Star News this week.
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Tennessee Department of Human Resources (DOHR) Commissioner Juan Williams has not appeared before the Tennessee General Assembly’s Government Operations Committee to testify about the diversity and equity council program he wants state agencies to enforce. Tennessee State Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge), who chairs that committee, told The Tennessee Star Thursday that he cannot say for certain whether Williams will ever come to testify on the topic.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said he’s joining 20 other attorneys general and urging the Biden Administration to reconsider proposals that would impose the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the 1619 Project in America’s classrooms. This, according to a press release that Carr published this week.
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Two-thirds of the states have advanced legislation to protect free speech from Internet censorship, but Georgia also has an opportunity to shape public discourse with potential legislation of its own. With that said, politicians should demonstrate vigilance and only craft legislation that doesn’t trample other people’s rights and liberties.
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The former chief strategist for Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said his former boss was the wrong fit for the job and that Duncan’s personal and professional shortcomings likely doomed his reelection prospects. That man, Chip Lake, told The Georgia Star News Wednesday he worked on Duncan’s political campaign for a year and a half. During the lieutenant governor’s first year in office Lake served as Duncan’s chief of staff. Lake said he regrets working for Duncan.
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FRANKLIN — Williamson County School System officials deny they push Critical Race Theory (CRT), but a Republican congressional candidate who wants to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) said the school system is headed in that direction. And that man, Robby Starbuck, told The Tennessee Star Wednesday that Williamson County currently follows the pattern he witnessed in California.
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Members of the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to hold a Joint Government Operations Committee meeting Wednesday, and sources say they will discuss the controversial Diversity and Equity program for state employees. State legislators have scheduled the meeting for 1 p.m. Central Wednesday at House Hearing Room I in the Cordell Hull Building in Nashville, according to the Tennessee General Assembly’s website. An agenda for the meeting was unavailable Tuesday night.
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A group of people involved with various civic and faith organizations oppose Nashville’s Taxpayer Protection Act and have formed their own group to fight the people who introduced the referendum — people whom they call “radical extremists.” Members of this group, Save Nashville Now, have a website where they urge Davidson County residents to vote no on July 27.
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Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan declaring this week that he won’t seek a second term prompted conservative activist Debbie Dooley and her friends to celebrate and, she said, to convey a message of “good riddance.” Republican Jeanne Seaver, who hopes to replace Duncan next year, said the outgoing politician couldn’t even declare his future plans without taking a cheap shot at supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and 18 other state attorneys general on Tuesday called on U.S. President Joe Biden to support additional energy infrastructure – including the Keystone XL pipeline. This, following the Colonial pipeline shutdown that caused price spikes and fuel shortages at gas stations across the southern and eastern parts of the nation.
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