Author: Chris Butler

Tennessee Sports Wagering Advisory Council Likely to Oversee Sports Wagering as Questions Arise About Rebecca Paul Hargrove

Chris Butler

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) on Monday endorsed Rebecca Paul Hargrove’s tenure as Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL) president. This, on the same day members of the Tennessee General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Bill Lee’s office that proposes to grant more powers over sports wagering to an entity other than the TEL Board of Directors. Instead, legislators want to give those powers to the Tennessee Lottery Corporation’s Sports Wagering Advisory Council.

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Greater Georgia Launches Voter Registration Effort for June 15 Special Election to Replace State Rep. Bert Reeves

Chris Butler
Kelly Loeffler speaks at a Greater Georgia event

Members of the group Greater Georgia announced this week they have launched a voter registration and mobilization effort in Marietta ahead of the scheduled June 15 election for the open State House District 34 seat. Greater Georgia members told followers in an emailed newsletter this week they are deploying staff members, volunteers, and organizers to register conservative-leaning voters ahead of the deadline. They said they also want to get out the vote via door-to-door canvassing, phone-banking, texting, and handwritten mail.

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Despite COVID-19, New Report Credits Georgia Policies for Improved Economic Outlook Ranking

Chris Butler

Cutting taxes, paying down debt and maintaining free market policies this past year helped Georgia and other states improve their rankings for economic competitiveness, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. An Arlington, Virginia-based organization this week released a report that praised Georgia, among other states, for its economic policies. Members of that group, The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published the report, which they titled Rich States, Poor States. This is the report’s 14th edition.

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Atlanta Republican Fed up with GOP Establishment Says ‘The Old Guard is Cornered’

Chris Butler

One Atlanta conservative unsettled by the behavior of the Fulton County Republican leadership at their party’s convention last month said too many members of the old GOP establishment resist change — and put the party in peril. Rob Cunningham told The Georgia Star News this week that “the call to get engaged [among the grassroots] is being heeded.”

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Tennessee Education Lottery Says Action 24/7 Operates in Line with State Law

Chris Butler

Members of the Tennessee Education Lottery Association have formally asserted they are not investigating the online sports-betting website Action 24/7 and that the company’s internal controls meet state requirements. This, according to a letter that Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL) Executive Vice President and General Counsel Alonda W. McCutcheon distributed this week.

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Witness Says Fulton County GOP Officials Behaved Dishonorably at Recent Convention

Chris Butler

Witnesses who attended April’s Fulton County GOP convention — already unhappy with how the convention played out — have complained of additional shenanigans that establishment members pulled to preserve their power and keep grassroots Trump supporters at bay. Fulton County GOP members held their convention April 17 at The Metropolitan Club in Alpharetta.

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Chatham County GOP Members Accuse Georgia Republican Party of Overreach in Local Party Elections

Chris Butler

State-level officials within the Georgia Republican Party recently used — or, depending upon whom you ask, abused — their authority to select members of the Chatham County Executive Board. Chatham County GOP members had an unsuccessful convention last month in Savannah. Witnesses described a rift between pro-Trumpers and the party establishment that provoked a shouting match that ended business prematurely before anyone could elect Executive Board members.

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Tennessee General Assembly Demands Answers from State Agency Over its Diversity and Equity Program

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) has formally asked Tennessee Department of Human Resources (DOHR) Commissioner Juan Williams to explain the diversity and equity council program he wants state agencies to enforce. In his letter, Ragan requested that Williams justify his actions — in a timely manner — and explain how much it will cost taxpayers.

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Voters Will Decide Fate of Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act

Chris Butler

Members of the Davidson County Election Commission voted 3-2 Monday to allow voters the right to vote yes or no to the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. “The panel’s approval, along party lines, came after commissioners obtained a legal opinion from Vanderbilt University Professor Jim Blumstein, who was recently retained as the commission’s legal counsel. The opinion states it is the commission’s ‘duty’ to place the initiative on the ballot in 75 to 90 days,” according to The Tennessean.

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Barry Loudermilk Says Major League Baseball’s Sudden Decision to Move All-Star Game Has Left Atlanta Business Owners Bewildered

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA-11) said this month that many Atlanta business owners realized controversy surrounded Georgia’s voter integrity law Senate Bill 202, but Major League Baseball’s ultimate reaction to it still astonished them. MLB officials pulled their scheduled All-Star Game out of Atlanta.

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Rogue Staff at Tennessee Department of Human Resources Goes Woke

Chris Butler

Without telling anybody, at least not in a straightforward matter, the Tennessee Department of Human Resources’ (DOHR) leadership staff this year snuck in a diversity and equity council program that they want state agencies to enforce. Gov. Bill Lee, according to the DOHR’s 2020 Annual Report, told Commissioner Juan Williams in June of last year “to build a framework for strengthening efforts around the employee experience in our workplace.”

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Cookeville Fire Chiefs Double-Dipped, Stole $30,000 from Taxpayers, Audit Reveals

Chris Butler

Authorities have indicted a Cookeville fire captain as well as a current one for allegedly taking money to which they weren’t entitled. Tennessee Comptrollers released an investigative report this week identifying those two men as former Fire Captain Marvin Montgomery and current Cookeville Fire Captain Shawn Roberson. Both men worked at the Cookeville Fire Department and also instructed part-time at the Tennessee Fire and Codes Enforcement Academy in Bell Buckle, according to the Comptroller’s report.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green Introduces Bill to Block Critical Race Theory Training in U.S. Military Service Academies

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced Wednesday that he has introduced a bill that would, if enacted into law, fight back against Critical Race Theory (CRT) training in U.S. Military Service Academies. “Critical Race Theory is based on a massive and purposeful misunderstanding of the American founding, American history, and America as it exists today. This is a Marxist ideology created to tear American institutions down,” Green said in a press release.

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson Insists Packing U.S. Supreme Court Will Attract More Public Support

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) said members of the public should prepare for several Congressional hearings where he and other elected officials will make their case for increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices. Johnson chairs the U.S. House of Representatives’ Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Staff at the Decatur-based website Decaturish.cominterviewed Johnson this week in a question-and-answer-style format. The congressman said expanding the number of seats on the U.S. Supreme Court “will…gather support as we make the case for reform in the justice system.”

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Williamson County School System in Tennessee Won’t Comment on Texas Cultural Competency Plan That Preaches All Whites Are Racist

Chris Butler

Officials at one public school system in Texas use a cultural competency plan that teaches that all whites are racist, and it was unclear Tuesday if those ideas have made their way to Tennessee. Officials at the Williamson County School System in Tennessee wouldn’t say Tuesday if their own cultural competency plan mirrors the one that teachers use in Texas’ Southlake Carroll Independent School District. The Federalist describes the Texas curriculum in a report this week.

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Tennessee Officials Say TANF-Funded Social Service Program Does Not Support Refugees or Illegal Immigrants

Chris Butler

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and members of the state’s Department of Human Services last year granted millions of dollars for social services, and on Monday TDHS officials said they won’t give any to refugees or illegal immigrants. The Nashville-based Catholic Charities of Tennessee last year received $7.3 million in state grant funds to expand social services to 10 Middle Tennessee counties. Part of the organization’s model is based on liberal services performed in Nashville.

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Williamson County School Board Member Denies Elementary Schools Teach Critical Race Theory

Chris Butler

A member of the Williamson County School Board this week spoke out against a group of parents who believe the school system requires their children to read books that indoctrinate them into Critical Race Theory (CRT). This, as members of that group Moms for Liberty — Williamson County (ML-WC) continue to criticize readings within a curriculum called “Wit and Wisdom.”

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Local Williamson County Group Describes Required Elementary School Readings That Allegedly Push Critical Race Theory

Chris Butler

Members of the group Moms for Liberty — Williamson County (ML-WC) have detailed examples of books that elementary students within the Williamson County School System must read that allegedly perpetuate Critical Race Theory (CRT).

ML-WC said last week they want to alert parents about this curriculum called, “Wit and Wisdom.” They have published a website detailing examples of CRT within the school system.

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National GOP Targets Black-Owned Georgia Media, Describes How Major League Baseball Decision Hurt the State

Chris Butler

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel this month said her organization will hold U.S. President Joe Biden and other Democrats accountable putting out false narratives about Georgia’s voter integrity law. McDaniel, in a press release, said Democrats’ distortions cost Georgia business from Major League Baseball and, subsequently, millions of dollars.

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Georgia Secretary of State Official, Despite Flaws with His Own State’s Procedures, Criticizes Arizona Audit

Chris Butler

Georgia Secretary of State Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling this week publicly denigrated an audit of votes collected during last year’s presidential election in Arizona. This, even though officials within the Georgia Secretary of States’ Office have failed to provide chain-of-custody documents from their respective state.

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Greater Georgia Group Chair Kelly Loeffler Asks AG Chris Carr to Investigate Brad Raffensperger

Chris Butler

Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Wednesday wrote a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and asked that Carr investigate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and whether Raffensperger abused his office during recent elections. Loeffler, in her letter, also said Raffensperger violated the state constitution to further his own political self-interests.

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Williamson County Parents Alarm Community About Dark, Inappropriate Reading Material for Elementary Students

Chris Butler

THOMPSON’S STATION — Several hundred people gathered Tuesday night to complain that a particular curriculum, Wit and Wisdom, is dark and divisive and, overall, robs Williamson County elementary students of their innocence. WCS Board Member Dan Cash presided over Tuesday’s meeting, which he held at Thompson’s Station Church.

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