Federal Grand Jury Indicts Nashville Man Accused of Shooting 18-Year-Old at WeGo Bus Station

Kenneth Johnson

A federal grand jury indicted a Nashville man accused of shooting an 18-year-old six times on the steps of a WeGo bus station in May, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Kenneth Johnson, 31, was arrested by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers on May 16 after he allegedly shot the 18-year-old six times at the WeGo bus station located at the intersection of Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd.

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Murfreesboro Man Accused of Easter Sunday Shooting at Nashville Restaurant Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

Anton Rucker

A federal grand jury indicted a Murfreesboro man accused of opening fire inside a restaurant in the Salemtown neighborhood of Nashville on Easter Sunday, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Anton Rucker, 47, was arrested in Princeton, Kentucky by TITANS (The Investigative Team Addressing Neighborhood Shootings) detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department two days following the Easter Sunday shooting which killed one – a 33-year old man named Allen Beachem – and injured multiple others.

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Tennessee Lottery Raises More than $519 Million for Education in Fiscal Year 2024

The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation announced Tuesday that it raised $519,322,000 for education in the Volunteer State during Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), setting a new Fiscal Year record for the amount generated for education.

FY23, which spanned from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, surpassed Fiscal Year 2023’s proceeds – the previous fiscal year record – by more than $4 million.

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Metro Council Member Who Blocked Resolution Condemning Assassination Attempt of Trump said Former President ‘Called’ for the Shooting

Ginny Welsch

Metro Nashville Council Member Ginny Welsch (District 16) said former President Donald Trump “called for” the July 13 assassination attempt he survived during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump was grazed by a single bullet in his upper right ear in what is formally being investigated as a failed assassination attempt during the rally last week.

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John Deere Commits to Ending Controversial DEI Policies Including ‘Pronoun Identification’ and ‘Diversity Quotas’

John Deere

John Deere, the American manufacturing company of agricultural machinery and other heavy equipment, announced its commitment to end a number of its DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies for employees after a number of the company’s controversial policies were investigated and exposed by Tennessee political commentator and documentary filmmaker Robby Starbuck.

The company posted a statement explaining changes to a number of its internal policies on socia

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Viral Video Shows Children in Uganda Recreating Assassination Attempt of Former President Donald Trump

Uganda Children Role Play Trump Assassination Attempt

A video of a group of Ugandan children recreating the moment former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt over the weekend has gone viral on social media.

The video, first shared by TikTok user @bloodoffical0, shows a group of school-aged children recreating the moment shots rang out at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, July 13.

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Former U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands Discusses Trump Era Talks on Greenland Acquisition

Carla Sands

Carla Sands, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark during the Trump administration, confirmed during an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy that she was involved in the talks during the Trump administration for the U.S. to purchase the territory of Greenland, explaining how such a move would be a valuable American security interest.

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Incumbent U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Trounces Democrat Challenger Gloria Johnson in Fundraising Battle with over $7.1 Million More Cash on Hand: FEC Data

Marsha Blackburn and Gloria Johnson

Data recently published by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) shows Tennessee incumbent U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sitting on more than $7.1 million cash on hand than her leading Democratic challenger, Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville).

Blackburn’s cash on hand as of June 30 is reported to be $9,227,961.41 while Johnson’s reported amount is $2,050,627.43 – a total difference of $7,177,333.98.

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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Joins Push for Senate Judiciary Committee to Hold Hearing on Assassination Attempt of Former President Donald Trump

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) was among the Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans who sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) requesting that he organize a committee hearing on the circumstances leading up to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend.

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Federal Court Upholds Tennessee Policy Preventing Transgender Individuals from Changing Sex on Birth Certificate

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled 2-1 to uphold a decades-long Tennessee policy that prohibits changes to a person’s sex on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity instead of their biological sex at birth.

The policy treats the sex listed on a birth certificate as a historical fact unchangeable by an individual’s transition to a different gender identity.

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Corey DeAngelis: ‘Great News’ Universal School Choice Is Included in 2024 Republican Party Platform

Corey DeAngelis

Corey DeAngelis, a school choice activist and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, applauded the 2024 Republican Party Platform for including universal school choice in its 20-point agenda released earlier this week.

On Monday, the Republican Party unveiled its 2024 platform, which consists of 20 promises Republicans intend to deliver on if Trump is elected back to the White House and Republicans obtain majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.

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Steve Cortes Reveals Three Points GOP Should Focus on If Joe Biden Remains in Presidential Race

Steve Cortes

Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, said Republicans should focus on three specific key points leading up to the November 5 presidential election if President Joe Biden remains the Democratic Party’s nominee and refuses to be pushed from his post as commander in chief.

While some Democrats have called on Biden to step aside and not run for reelection, it appears the president is adamant about staying in the race to serve another four years.

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Reporter Tom Pappert: Vanderbilt University Medical Center May Have Made Financial Arrangements to Avoid Revelations About Its Connection to Audrey Hale

Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes attorneys for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) may have reached a financial arrangement with multiple entities involved in the Covenant School killer case in order to “protect” the medical institution’s reputation amid shocking revelations connecting VUMC to the killer, Audrey Elizabeth Hale.

On June 7, The Star was the first to report that Hale was a 22-year patient of VUMC from 2001 until the time of the horrific school shooting on March 27, 2023.

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Robby Starbuck Exposes John Deere’s Corporate DEI Policies: ‘You Need a Massive Overhaul There’

John Deere

Tennessee political commentator and documentary filmmaker Robby Starbuck shared an update into his work exposing John Deere, the American manufacturing company of agricultural machinery and other heavy equipment, for its woke policies, saying how “hundreds” of upset employees have come forward about the drastic changes under the company’s new leadership.

Starbuck said John Deere essentially turned into a “trojan horse for leftism” once its CEO, John May, was named head of the company in 2019 and implemented “drastic” changes to the company’s policies.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Introduces the Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2024

Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill this week to protect surrogate mothers from being forced to have abortions as part of terms set in surrogacy contracts.

Ogles’ Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2024 would prohibit federal courts from enforcing any part of a surrogacy contract that requires a surrogate mother to get an abortion.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Says the GOP’s 2024 Platform Unites Party Ahead of Presidential Election

Marsha Blackburn and Donald Trump

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said the 2024 Republican Party Platform is an “aspirational,” “modern” agenda that Republicans can unite behind ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The Republican Party Platform Committee overwhelmingly approved former President Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform on Monday.

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Clint Brewer: Democrats Will Not Replace Biden via 25th Amendment

Clint Brewer and MPL

Recovering journalist and Nashville-area public policy expert Clint Brewer said it is unlikely that President Joe Biden will be pushed out of the presidency via the 25th Amendment or be replaced by another candidate on this year’s presidential ticket.

Last month, during a 90-minute televised debate hosted by CNN, Biden appeared absent-minded and confused, stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought multiple times.

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Shaun Kenney: Virginia ‘Most Certainly is in Play’ for November Presidential Election

Joe Biden and Donald Trump

Shaun Kenney, the senior editor for Virginia-based news outlet The Republican Standard, said Virginia “most certainly” is in play for the 2024 presidential election in November, given President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month and Democrats’ reluctance to address Biden’s apparent decline.

Real Clear Politics’ 2024 RCP Electoral College Map lists Virginia as a toss up state for this year’s election despite Democrats’ wins in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections against former President Donald Trump.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Proposes Amendment to Prevent D.C. Statehood

Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) reportedly proposed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act on Tuesday that would squash efforts to grant Washington, D.C., statehood.

Ogles’ proposal, according to a report by The Hill, “called for the prohibition of funds for the New Columbia Statehood Commission — which coordinates the district’s efforts to become the 51st state — and to prohibit funds being used to conduct an election for a senator for the District of Columbia.”

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Matt Kittle: Wisconsin’s Democrat Stronghold Cities Will Be ‘Littered’ with Unmanned Ballot Drop Boxes This Presidential Election

ballot dropbox

Matt Kittle, a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist, said Wisconsin’s five largest Democrat-controlled cities will be “littered” with unmanned ballot drop boxes for this year’s presidential election amid the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s recent 4-3 ruling in Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to reverse a previous court ruling, endorsing the widespread use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the November 5 election.

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Cheryl Fritze: Gretchen Whitmer’s Final Term as Michigan Governor ‘Not the End of Her in Politics’

Gretchen Whitmer

Cheryl Fritze, director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, said there’s no doubt that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has presidential ambitions, pointing to her new book published by Simon & Schuster called “True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between.”

Whitmer began serving as Michigan’s governor in 2019. She was elected to a second final term in 2022, which ends in 2027.

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