Tennessee legislative leaders, as well as Gov. Bill Lee, plan to stage a number of bus stops around the state for much of the rest of October to get out the vote.
The statewide Road to Victory bus tour is meant to encourage citizens to vote and to elect Republican candidates, according to a press release from the Tennessee Republican Party.
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The U.S. Supreme Court said this week it will not hear Tennessee’s challenge of the federal refugee resettlement program, which claimed it violated the 10th Amendment.
Tennessee’s Republican-led government had asked for the review, The Associated Press reported. The court filed its denial earlier, letting a lower court ruling stand.
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Democrats are “trying to create a panic” and turn Americans against Judge Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn said during opening statements Monday at the Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
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Citizens opposing Mayor John Cooper’s property tax hike and war against bars and restaurants filed a petition to recall him and seven Metro Council members Monday.
Restore Nashville and Re-open Nashville, were among the groups that held the “Recall Mayor Cooper Petition Kickoff Rally” Monday at Public Square Nashville.
Stop Mayor Cooper was another group on Facebook organizing the rally.
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Tennessee’s Republican leaders are voicing their support for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court.
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State Sen. Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) is reportedly recovering from an aneurysm.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally on Friday night tweeted, “My thoughts and prayers are with Senator @kerryeroberts tonight. Senator Roberts was taken to the hospital this afternoon after suffering an aneurysm. He is currently stable and alert. He will be kept at the hospital for observation as he recovers.”
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The Nashville Metro Council on Tuesday gave Mayor John Cooper the authority to deputize certain city workers to issue citations against bars and restaurants that violate his coronavirus restrictions, The Tennessean reported.
Metro Health Department employees are overworked in trying to combat businesses, the newspaper said. Only workers who already have citation powers will be authorized to serve as restaurant police, according to the bill that passed on third reading. The mayor must still given written permission to workers to use this new power.
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Black Lives Matter organizers plan to paint a street mural in Nashville on Saturday.
Muralist Thaxton Waters II and other artists plan to paint the mural along Woodland Avenue, the same day as the Women’s March in Nashville, Fox 17 News reported. Organizers say they soon will announce events for that day, and they expect over 10,000 to attend.
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Informants reportedly helped Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s restaurant police cite two downtown bars over the weekend.
WSMV reported that a task force cited Dogwood and Rebar, both on Division Street, on Saturday for having too many patrons, including on the patio. The task force had members from Metro Public Health Department, the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Metro Beer Board. The task force checked on Dogwood again on Sunday.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) appeared on Fox Business’ Morning with Maria on Thursday and asked how former FBI director Jim Comey and others could have been so oblivious about details on Crossfire Hurricane.
Crossfire Hurricane refers to the FBI investigation of alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with Russia.
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Dennis Ferrier of Fox News 17 continues his reporting on Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s overreach in closing restaurants and bars, which account for only a fraction of coronavirus cases even as that industry continues to suffer.
Ferrier has been digging into the story for some time to gain the actual number of cases.
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Interim Ohio Health Director Lance Himes succeeded in requesting that a lawsuit to overturn the use of masks in public schools be moved out of Putnam County Common Pleas Court and into his home turf, The Lima News reported.
The case has moved to Franklin County. The plaintiffs live largely in Northwest Ohio, in communities including Leipsic, Berkey and Perrysburg.
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U.S. Reps. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN-07) and Denver Riggleman (R-VA-05) said they want to make sure that neither political party can ever pack the Supreme Court.
In a bipartisan joint press release issued Thursday, the representatives said they introduced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to permanently set the number of U.S. Supreme Court Justices at nine.
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A new poll shows Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump by only 5 points, nearly at the margin of error of 3.9 percent, but the president’s delegation chairman says that does not factor in Trump’s grassroots effort.
The Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University released the poll, which is available here.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is sounding the alarm about Netflix over the streaming service’s plans to adapt and promote a Chinese sci-fi book series written by an author who expresses support for the Communist government’s “re-education” camps for Muslim Uyghurs.
On Wednesday, Blackburn and U.S. Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) signed a letter to Ted Sarandos Jr., co-CEO and chief content officer for Netflix.
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One barbecue restaurant says Nashville Mayor John Cooper does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to his cover-up of low COVID-19 case numbers in bars and restaurants and his 34-37 percent tax increase.
Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porker, located in the Gulch, posted on Facebook Saturday that he would not retract a public letter to Nashvillians he had written which referenced a story by Dennis Ferrier. Peg Leg Porker’s Facebook page, with both letters, is here.
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When Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference that he was shutting down all the city’s bars for 14 days, reducing restaurant capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent, and temporarily closing event venues and entertainment venues, all due to “record” cases of COVID-19 traceable to restaurants and bars, he apparently knew that his own Metro Health Department said less than two dozen cases of COVID-19 could be traced to those establishments. But he failed to disclose that the “record” of bar and restaurant traceable cases to which he referred to was about one tenth of one percent of Davidson County’s 20,000 cases of COVID-19.
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Guess who does not want Newt Gingrich to talk about George Soros? Fox News, that’s who.
Fox News personnel’s reaction to Gingrich’s use of the “Soros” word drew notice on Twitter, a platform on which the former House speaker is currently blocked.
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The Conservative Clergy of Color wants businesses to know they have an alternative to the racist rhetoric being thrown around for diversity training.
The organization this week announced the “Getting to All Lives Matter,” a fact-based, six-step training program that operates on the assumption all Americans want to build a better society. This is an alternative to the rhetoric pushed by Black Lives Matter, which attempts to scare businesses, they said.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she cosponsored two bills this week to support law enforcement officers and other first responders. The bills follow an increase in violence against police which coincides with protests and riots.
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The Daily Wire is moving to Nashville, with one of the founders citing lawlessness in Los Angeles as one reason.
The conservative media outlet is moving from Los Angeles, Deadline reported Tuesday.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) applauded the signing Tuesday of the Abraham Accords, calling it a “paradigm shift.”
Blackburn on Tuesday tweeted, “Today, we are witnessing history at the @WhiteHouse. 27 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain have achieved monumental peace. This deal brings great potential and opportunity to the region and is a paradigm shift in Israel-Gulf state relations.”
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More than 30 players from the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans knelt in protest during the national anthem prior to their Monday Night Football game, Breitbart reported.
Eighteen Broncos and 13 Titans took a knee and/or raised fists, the outlet said.
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Four mothers have filed a lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his coronavirus education plan, claiming adverse effects including anxiety over poor grades and lack of special education access.
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 10 in Shasta County Superior Court by the Freedom Foundation on behalf of the northern California families. The complaint is available here.
The plaintiffs allege the plan that requires students to be in classes part-time denies them their constitutional right to a quality education as enshrined in the California Constitution.
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Has Ohio’s statewide mask mandate affected the coronavirus case counts in counties? Data show 40 percent of counties saw a net increase during a 21-day period, despite claims by Gov. Mike DeWine and the CDC.
The Ohio Star examined the state health department’s historic case counts. The summary data is available in a CSV file from a link on the Ohio Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard here.
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Nashvillians now likely will have input on the city’s 34 to 37 percent property tax hike, a conservative activist said in reaction to the verification of a ballot initiative.
The Davidson County Election Commission on Monday verified the referendum effort for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, WSMV said. That could limit the property tax increase to 2 percent. The effort now goes to the Metro Clerk’s Office and potentially to the Dec. 5 ballot.
Tori Venable, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN), lauded the initiative’s progress in a statement.
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Illinois high school student athletes and their parents who are tired of COVID-19 delays in sports are taking matters into their own hands — some are protesting, while others are moving out of state to play elsewhere.
Student athletes, coaches and students’ parents rallied in the dozens in McCook on Sunday to demand fall sports to resume, ABC 7 reported. Only golf, cross country, girls’ tennis and girls’ swimming and diving are playing for now.
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A state board is meeting today to decide if Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose can spend up to $3 million to pay for absentee ballot postage for the November elections.
The Ohio Controlling Board will consider LaRose’s request today. Their agenda is here, and more information about LaRose’s request is here.
This appropriation of state funds will be used by the Ohio Secretary of State to pay the cost of returning absentee ballots on behalf of any Ohio voter who opts to use that manner of voting in the November 3, 2020 General Election. This will not expand Ohio’s existing absentee voting opportunities and will not permit universal vote by mail. There will still be in-person voting at polling locations on Election Day, November 3, 2020.
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America’s biblical founding values can peacefully resolve the racial strife present in today’s culture, Bishop Aubrey Shines, chairman of Conservative Clergy of Color, said Saturday.
Shine delivered his remarks at the inaugural Get Louder Faith Summit at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. The summit addressed the issues dividing the nation and how to fight back based on America’s founding Judeo-Christian values.
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The lawsuit against former Metro Nashville Public Schools superintendent Dr. Shawn Joseph and the Metro government is still pending, one of the plaintiffs, a school board member, says.
Fran Bush is one of three MNPS school board members who are suing Joseph and the Metro government. The other plaintiffs are board members Jill Speering and Amy Frogge.
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Metro Nashville reportedly sent nearly 6,000 truancy letters to the parents of students doing virtual learning, and one school board member says that is wrong and the letters should be “thrown in the trash.”
School Board member Fran Bush made the comment to The Tennessee Star on Sunday.
MNPS sent the truancy letters because of poor student attendance in distance learning, NewsChannel 5 said. The letters threaten legal action against parents or guardians of students who have five or more unexcused absences.
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Ohio’s reported coronavirus cases and hospitalizations dropped significantly on Sunday from the 21-day average.
The Ohio Department of Health on Sunday reported 773 more coronavirus infections, increasing the number of cases to 130,558. That is below the 21-day average of 1,061 newly reported cases a day.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his administration provided a “Week in Review” for the past week, with actions ranging from providing free books to kids to requiring schools to report coronavirus cases to local health departments.
The week started off Monday with DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announcing assistance for five projects to create 574 new jobs and retain 1,058 jobs statewide. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority (TCA) reviewed economic development proposals brought to the board by JobsOhio and its regional partners. Collectively, the projects are expected to result in more than $23 million in new payroll and spur more than $68 million in investments across Ohio.
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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is applauding a federal initiative to grow the availability of telehealth for rural areas.
The Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services and the U.S. Department Of Agriculture last week announced they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the Rural Telehealth Initiative.
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University of Tennesse at Knoxville (UTK) Law Professor Glenn Reynolds on Thursday spoke to members of the Tennessee General Assembly about various topics, including a governor’s use of executive orders and the reasoning behind him having such power.
His appearance was before the Legislature’s Ad Hoc Committee to Study Emergency Powers.
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When is a COVID-19 patient not a COVID-19 patient? When the person has been dead for six months, as has reportedly happened in Memphis.
Media reports have carried the story, including coverage here by KVUE.
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Liberty University says it is conducting a forensic investigation of Jerry Falwell Jr. a week after he resigned as president.
Falwell resigned last Tuesday after amid conflicting claims about a sexual relationship his wife Becki Falwell had with a business partner, The Associated Press reported. Falwell reportedly participated in some of the liaisons as a voyeur.
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President Donald Trump’s campaign issued a statement addressing Joe Biden’s reluctance to take on violent leftist rioters.
“Joe Biden just yesterday indicated he would not send the National Guard into cities and states where left-wing mobs are rioting – in Portland’s case, for more than three months. Last month he issued a written statement specifically about Portland, in which he called the rioters ‘peaceful protestors’ and accused federal law enforcement officers of ‘stoking the fires of division’ while the mob was literally setting fire to the federal courthouse. …”
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A poll from Roanoke College would have you believe President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Gade are in trouble in Virginia’s November election.
The chairman of the Virginia Trump delegation refutes the findings.
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A Sterling man was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and for inducing aliens to come to the United States using fraudulently obtained H-1B visas, the Department of Justice said.
According to court documents, Ashish Sawhney, 48, allegedly used four corporations to orchestrate the improper submission of fraudulent applications for H-1B specialty-occupation work visas, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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A coalition filed two lawsuits in Michigan on Monday, a federal case against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allegedly silencing political speech, and a state suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for reportedly circumventing state law protecting the right of Michiganders to have their vote properly counted.
The lawsuits were announced on a new website launched by the coalition: Got Freedom? The website is available here.
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Mt. Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church was vandalized, possibly because Roger Stone is to speak on Sunday, Aug. 30, WSMV said.
Pastor Greg Locke on Sunday posted photos of the damage, available here. The church shared his post on its Facebook page, available here.
One graffiti tag read, “Locke & Stone will burn in h***.” Another tag read, “Fascists beware.”
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Election integrity advocates believe something fishy is going on in Wayne County with absentee ballots, and they say Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is undermining the security of the process there and across Michigan.
Glen Sitek of the Election Integrity Fund provided an exclusive statement to The Michigan Star.
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U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) assembled a special project for the Smithsonian Institution to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification giving women the right to vote.
They recruited 22 of their female colleagues to write essays about what the centennial means to them and the challenges they faced on their path to the U.S. Senate, Blackburn said in a press release. The exhibit is titled “Senators on Suffrage” and is available online here. It is part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s “Creating Icons: How We Remember Woman Suffrage” exhibit.
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John Pence will be stumping across Virginia today and tomorrow for the Trump Victory campaign.
Pence, a senior advisor for the campaign and the nephew of Vice President Pence, will speak at three Trump Victory rallies. He will be joined by Tommy Hicks, co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
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FirstEnergy donated generously to Mike DeWine, his son Patrick DeWine, Larry Householder, who wanted to become House speaker for the second time in his life, as well as the Ohio Republican Party, as our special series shows.
FirstEnergy, as well as Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken, helped Householder achieve his dream in January 2019. His first time as speaker was 2001-2004.
Householder, according to a story by cleveland.com, recruited a group of candidates for the House’s 2018 election who would need his help to gain office, the newspaper said, citing a federal charging document.
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Even as rioting damages large sections of Richmond and the Virginia General Assembly convenes in a special session, Mayor Levar Stoney wants lawmakers to take action — not on fighting lawlessness, but to help people get stoned.
Stoney used his bully pulpit to call for the Assembly to legalize marijuana.
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The Dayton Daily News in January 2014 reported on allegations of pay-to-play in Attorney General DeWine’s office concerning an advisory panel.
His calendar shows he met frequently with (now deceased) Alex Arshinkoff, a lobbyist and the chairman of Summit County Republican Party who represented four companies doing business with DeWine’s office.
DeWine was not the only Ohio Republican engaging in pay-to-play. Indeed, previous news reports and public records show the Ohio Republican Party funneled money to DeWine and now disgraced former House Speaker Larry Householder from such donors as FirstEnergy.
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Mike DeWine, as former Ohio attorney general, often awarded no-bid contracts to lawyers and collections agencies to do state work. Many of those chosen vendors also happened to be his campaign donors.
The Dayton Daily News in July 2014 reported on the connections between Attorney General DeWine’s awarding of collections contracts to vendors who also just happened to be campaign donors.
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U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green wants the governing board of the Federal Reserve to resume meeting in public to comply with the Sunshine Act.
The CARES Act has allowed the board of governors to meet in secret for the most part, Green said. So, he and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI-02) this week introduced the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, HR 8007, to make the board transparent once again.
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