Category: Justice

Texas Supreme Court Ends Texas State Bar’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Against AG Ken Paxton’s Top Deputy over His Efforts to Secure Elections

Rachel Alexander

The Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday dismissing the State Bar of Texas’s (SBT) four-year-long attempt to discipline Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, calling it an “egregious invasion of the attorney general’s authority.” Webster assisted Paxton with combating election wrongdoing in the 2020 election, which included filing the lawsuit Texas v. Pennsylvania over the election irregularities in four states in 2020, which was joined by 21 other states.

Paxton, who is facing similar charges from the SBT, posted on X, “After four years of lawfare and political retaliation, the Texas Supreme Court has ended this witch hunt against the leadership of my office. The Texas State Bar attempted to punish us for fighting to secure our national elections, but we did not and will not ever back down from doing what is right. We have seen this playbook used against President Trump and other effective fighters for the American people and I am pleased that this attempt to stop our work has been defeated.”

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Tennessee State Sen. Brent Taylor Celebrates Following Resignation of Judge Who ‘Detests’ State Bail System

Tom Pappert
State Senator Brent Taylor, Judge Bill Anderson

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) celebrated on Thursday after Shelby County General Session Court Bill Anderson announced his resignation, confirming he will leave the judicial bench on March 1.

Anderson was previously the subject of complaints by Taylor to the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (BJC), initially for declaring his “detest” for the Volunteer State’s bond and bail system, and more recently for releasing a man from jail despite the defendant being accused of firing a gun at a Memphis FedEx facility, citing the defendant’s ability to pay bail, despite Tennessee legislation that specifically prohibits judges from considering the financial circumstances of a suspect.

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New Orleans Police Chief Admits She ‘Didn’t Know’ City Had Barriers to Stop Vehicles Driving on Sidewalks Before Terrorist Attack

Tom Pappert
NOLA Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said in a brief Thursday press conference that she was unaware New Orleans had “yellow archer” obstacles designed to prevent vehicles from driving on sidewalks.

Kirkpatrick’s remarks come after video was posted to the social media platform X showing the white Ford truck authorities say was used by terrorist Shasmud Din Jabbar to kill 14 people was able to evade a police vehicle and commit the attack after driving on the sidewalk.

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FBI Silent on Whether Videos Recorded by Terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar Before New Orleans Attack are ‘Legacy Tokens’ Unfit for Release

Tom Pappert
Shamsud Din Jabbar

The FBI did not immediately respond to a Thursday press inquiry from The Tennessee Star asking whether the agency will release the videos allegedly recorded by Shamsud Din Jabbar, who authorities say committed the January 1 terrorist attack in New Orleans that claimed the lives of at least 14 people.

According to CNN, with the outlet citing law enforcement sources, Jabbar recorded and posted to Facebook a series of videos during his drive from his modular home community the outskirts of Houston, Texas to New Orleans.

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Trump’s Former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Has Oral Argument Appealing Recommendation to Suspend His Law License

Rachel Alexander
Jeffery Clark

Oral arguments took place last month in the appeal by Donald Trump’s former Department of Justice Jeffrey Clark over a recommendation suspending his law license for two years due to his efforts advising Trump on 2020 election irregularities. A three-member committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility (BPR) found him culpable on August 1 of violating attorney ethics rules due to drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options in dealing with the irregularities. 

The Washington D.C. Bar’s counsel, Hamilton Fox, who is pressing to disbar Clark as a “threat to democracy,” gave the argument for the bar to eight members of the BPR. Fox referred to the letter Clark drafted as a “false letter,” since the officials above him decided not to send it. One of the attorney members on the BPR responded that attorney ethics rules don’t prohibit attorneys from disagreeing with their superiors.

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Violent Venezuelan Gang Reportedly Attacked Border Crossings as Concerns Mount About More Possible Violence

Daily Caller News Foundation

Tren de Aragua gang members armed with weapons attacked crossings along the Texas-Mexico border, according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Post.

Earlier in December, 20 members of the notorious Venezuelan prison gang attempted to force their way into the country at a border checkpoint near El Paso, Texas, while armed with blades, broken liquor bottles and tire irons, according to a leaked Texas Department of Public Safety memo obtained by the Post. Another attempt to bust into the U.S. is expected on New Year’s Day.

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New Orleans Police Chief Teaches FBI Course on ‘Bias and Diversity,’ Helped DOJ Gain Oversight of Chicago P.D.

Tom Pappert
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick

Anne Kirkpatrick, the chief of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), instructs executive members of law enforcement agencies on “bias and diversity” as a National Instructor for the Leadership Training Program at the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Association.

Kirkpatrick, who leads the NOPD as it responds to the early in the morning terrorist attack allegedly committed by Shamsud Din Jabbar on January 1, was described as an instructor for the FBI program by the National Press Foundation (NFP) in 2024. She was a panelist for the foundation in January 2024, when the group said Kirkpatrick recommended police increase their engagement with journalists.

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New Orleans Bought Retractable Bollards to Prevent Terrorist Attacks in 2017, but Announced Four-Month Replacement in November

Tom Pappert
Moments after New Orleans New Year's Eve truck attack

The City of New Orleans spent $40 million on a public safety plan in 2017, including retractable bollards placed on Bourbon Street that were designed specifically to prevent terrorists from using their vehicles to strike pedestrians.

Seven years later, the New Orleans Department of Public Works announced in November that the bollards would be removed and replaced over a four-month project that was originally estimated to conclude in February 2025.

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Gun-Toting Driver Plows into New Orleans Crowd, Killing at Least 10

Just the News
New Orleans residents post images from the NOLA New Year's Eve truck attack

A gun-toting driver plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter and opened fire on officers, killing 10 and injuring at least 35.

Authorities said they also found explosive devices on the truck in what they called an “intentional act.” But the city’s mayor and the FBI differed on whether the event was a terrorist attack.

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Voters Balked on Natural Gas Bans, but Climate Advocates Are Hoping to Withstand Court Challenges

Just the News
Natural Gas Plant

When a Consumer Project Safety commissioner suggested in 2023 that the federal government would consider banning gas stoves over safety concerns, it set off fierce nationwide backlash. While the Energy Department finalized stove efficiency standards, they were watered down from the original proposal and no outright ban ever materialized. 

No federal ban on gas stoves materialized, but climate advocates seeking to stop consumers from accessing natural gas have tried a number of state and local efforts to achieve their goals – all with similar results as that on the federal level. Despite more recent losses, they’re looking at trying some other strategies. 

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Judicial Watch Alleges Collusion Between Fulton County DA Fani Willis and the January 6 Committee to Prosecute Trump, Republicans

Rachel Alexander
Fani Willis and Nathan Wade

The legal integrity organization Judicial Watch (JW) announced on December 10 that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was prosecuting Donald Trump and several prominent Republicans over their concerns about election fraud in Georgia’s 2020 election until she was removed earlier this month for “impropriety,” colluded with the Biden administration to conduct the prosecutions. The group has been repeatedly stonewalled in its attempts, including litigation, to obtain public records from Willis’ office revealing any coordination.

“Judicial Watch and a state court forced Fani Willis to confirm additional documents exist about her collusion with the partisan Pelosi January 6 Committee to ‘get Trump,’” JW President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “But Willis, citing legal exemptions for a prosecution that’s essentially dead in the water, now wants to hide these records from the American public. Judicial Watch plans to push back in court against this disingenuous secrecy.”

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Jack Smith Drops Appeal of Classified Docs Case Against Trump’s Co-Defendants

Just the News
Jack Smith

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday withdrew his appeals request for his Florida classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump’s co-defendants.

The attorney dropped his appeal against Trump last month after Trump won reelection to the White House, citing a Justice Department policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. Trump will be sworn in next month. 

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Tennessee Law Allowing Blended Sentences for Minor Criminal Offenders Becomes Active in 2025

Tom Pappert
ICE Arrest

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) on Tuesday described 2024 as “an amazing year” marked, in part, by the passing of “tough-on-crime legislation” that became active earlier this year.

Taylor wrote in a post to the social media platform X, “2024 was an amazing year as you and I worked to #MakeMemphisMatter by restoring law and order to our community through holding our local elected officials accountable and passing tough-on-crime legislation,” referring to his public safety bills aimed at lowering crime in Memphis.

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Metro Nashville Police Department Seemingly Ignores Law Demanding Agency Notify ICE When Arresting Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Metro Nashville Police Department

A frequently asked questions web page for the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) indicates the police force does not report immigration status of criminal offenders to federal police in apparent defiance of a law passed earlier this year.

Governor Bill Lee signed legislation in April that made a one-word change in Tennessee law in order to mandate every law enforcement agency in Tennessee must, “communicate with the appropriate official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.”

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Reporter Tom Pappert: Legal Challenge to Corporate Transparency Act Will Be ‘Early Test’ for Trump AG Nominee Pam Bondi

Kaitlin Housler
Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the way President-elect Doanld Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, handles the Department of Justice’s legal fight to keep the Corporate Transparency Act in place will be one of the first “early tests” for Bondi in the role.

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Georgia AG Chris Carr Urges State Supreme Court Not to Accept Appeal from Fani Willis in Trump Case

Tom Pappert
Chris Carr

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr urged the Georgia Supreme Court not to accept the appeal launched by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she was disqualified from prosecuting the state’s 2020 election case against President-elect Donald Trump.

The attorney general, who recently became the first Republican to launch a 2026 gubernatorial campaign, posted a statement to the social media platform X that accused Willis of creating “her own conflict” in the Trump case, alluding to the district attorney’s romantic relationship with her former special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.

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Virginia AG Jason Miyares Asks Supreme Court to Uphold TikTok Ban as January Deadline Looms

Tom Pappert
Jason Miyares

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain the law requiring for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the social media platform TikTok, to sell its American operations or face a ban in the country.

After Congress raised concerns about TikTok’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that gave ByteDance until January 19, 2025 to sell its American operations. ByteDance sued to block the legislation, but the federal government obtained rulings allowing the law in place from lower courts, leading to the Supreme Court deciding to take the case on January 10, 2025.

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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell Touts ‘Years’ of ‘Collaboration’ with Group Biden-Harris Admin Asked to Help Release Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Sunday touted his “years” of “successful collaboration” with the Tennessee Immigrant Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a nonprofit that was asked by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to help facilitate the release of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from a Louisiana detention facility into Tennessee.

After The Tennessean asked O’Connell about his disappointment following the decision by the Metro Nashville Council not to approve a contract for a private company to install license plate readers in the city’s streets in its Sunday interview, the mayor pivoted to public safety concerns raised by a “segment” of Nashville’s immigrant community, before referencing another “segment” that is concerned about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

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Beacon Center of Tennessee Sues Nashville over Stormwater Ordinance

Kaitlin Housler
Wen Fa

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County has been hit with a class action lawsuit filed over a city ordinance that created a stormwater capacity fee to fund improvements to the city’s stormwater system.

The stormwater fee, passed by the Metro Nashville Council in 2023 and implemented at the beginning of 2024, charges individuals seeking a development permit a fee to fund capital improvements to the city’s stormwater system.

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Top 2024 Covenant School Shooting Revelations Include Killer’s Therapy, Use of Pell Grants to Buy Guns, and Release of 2023 Manifesto

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

In 2024, The Tennessee Star reported multiple revelations about Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after obtaining the killer’s journal and a selection of documents related to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case from a source familiar with the investigation in June 2024.

The Star first shared on June 4 that a retired MNPD lieutenant said police knew Hale was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center immediately after searching her family’s home in March 2023, and on June 19, confirmed it obtained an internal police document labeled “Vandy Psych” that appeared to include investigative notes about the killer’s time as a mental health patient.

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Tennessee Resumes Executions with New Lethal Injection Protocol After Gov. Bill Lee Announced Pause in 2022

Tom Pappert
Inmate

The Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) announced on Friday that the Volunteer State will resume executions by lethal injection more than two years after Governor Bill Lee announced a pause and reevaluation on the state’s method of lethal injection.

A press release by TDOC announced the state government will resume executions using the drug pentobarbital under a revised lethal injection protocol, with Commissioner Frank Strata stating, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.”

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Article III Project’s Mike Davis Suggests Attorney General Kris Mayes Could Go to Prison

Rachel Alexander
Mike Davis, AG Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes, who is prosecuting the alternate electors for Donald Trump from 2020 as well as Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby for delaying the canvassing of that election due to election irregularities, may find herself on the other side of prosecution. Founder Mike Davis of the Article III Project, which defends constitutionalist judges and the rule of law, posted on X that Mayes could go to prison due to obstructing the incoming president.

He said, “Dear @AZAGMayes: You disenfranchised AZ voters and stole your election from @AbrahamHamadeh. Now you’re plotting to overturn the will of American voters and illegally obstruct President Trump’s immigration mandate? Want to go to prison? 8 U.S.C. § 132.” 

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Appeals Court Reinstates Doctor’s First Amendment Retaliation Suit for Challenging Critical Race Theory, BLM

Just the News
Tara Gustilo, M.D.

“Can a workplace demand ideological conformity from employees, especially when those employees are expected to represent certain racialized or gendered perspectives?”

That’s the core issue in a reinstated lawsuit by a Filipina-American doctor with black children who alleges a witch hunt by her former Minneapolis public hospital for criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement and critical race theory, calling COVID-19 the “China virus” and categorizing protests against George Floyd’s death as “riots,” according to her lawyer.

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Violent Venezuelan Prison Gang Members Expand Operations in Western States

The Center Square
Arrest

Members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), continue to expand criminal operations in western states, including in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

As the border crisis escalated, a record number of illegal border crossers from Venezuela were released into the country by the Biden administration and TdA violence expanded nationwide.

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Trump Asks Supreme Court to Halt January 19 TikTok Ban Until He Takes Office

Tom Pappert
Tiktok

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting the justices halt the January 19 ban of the short-form video application TikTok until after he takes office.

The push by Trump to delay the TikTok ban comes as a result of President Joe Biden signing legislation in April 2024 that required TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S.-based TikTok operations by January 19, 2025, over concerns of the Chinese Communist Party influencing or monitoring Americans through the app.

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Federal Court Pauses ‘Corporate Transparency Act’ Requiring Small Business Owners Reveal Ownership or Face Prison

Tom Pappert
Keeping up with Paperwork

The Fifth District Court of Appeals on Thursday issued a stay for the controversial “Corporate Transparency Act,” which would require 33 million small business owners file “beneficial ownership reports” with the federal government by January 1, 2025, under penalty of up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison.

The order by the Fifth District reversed the previous decision from a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit, who on Monday reversed the December 3 preliminary injunction imposed by District Judge Amos Mazzant in Texas, which blocked enforcement of the law until the courts reached their final decision.

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Ohio Correctional Officer Andrew Lansing Dies After Fatal Inmate Attack at Ross Facility

Christina Botteri
Andrew Lansing, Ross Correctional Institution

Correction Officer Andrew Lansing died on Christmas Day at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, Ohio, allegedly at the hands of inmate. Lansing, a long-time and well-respected employee at the facility, succumbed to his injuries following the early morning assault. His death has sent shockwaves through the correctional community, as well as his family and colleagues.

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Appeals Court Reverses Obama-Appointed Trial Court Judge Who Ruled That Phoenix Police Used Excessive Force Against Trump Protesters

Rachel Alexander
Judge John J. Tuchi

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by an Obama-appointed judge which found that the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) used “excessive force” dealing with violent protesters outside of a Donald Trump rally in 2017. The court’s opinion, issued last Thursday, found that U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi incorrectly applied Fourth Amendment law to analyze claims from three protesters who were hit with projectiles.

Trump held a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center on August 22, 2017. A “Free Speech Zone” was set up for protesters, but the PPD was forced to intervene when they became violent. The opinion said the police used “tear gas, other chemical irritants, and flash-bang grenades” to deter the rioters. 

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Tennessee Judge Reportedly Says Nashville Referendum Lawsuit Plaintiffs Cannot Argue Plan Illegal Under IMPROVE Act

Tom Pappert
Judge Anne Martin

A Tennessee judge reportedly said Friday that those behind a lawsuit claiming the Nashville Choose How You Move transit referendum illegally uses money raised under the 2017 IMPROVE Act for items unrelated to transit will not be able to challenge the spending in court, stating that such objections should have been brought to Mayor Freddie O’Connell and public officials during the city’s public comment period.

O’Connell, the Metro Nashville government, and Davidson County Election Commission were sued in November by Emily Evans and her organization, the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax, who argued in their lawsuit that O’Connell’s referendum was illegal, noting the 2017 IMPROVE Act used under the referendum specifies that cities may levy additional taxes specifically to pay for transit improvements.

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DOJ Finds That Tennessee Attorney Regulatory Boards Discriminated Against Lawyers for Using Opioid Disorder Medications

Rachel Alexander
Tennessee Supreme Court

The Department of Justice issued a Letter of Findings to the Tennessee Supreme Court determining that two attorney regulatory agencies in Tennessee discriminated against lawyers applying to be admitted to the practice of law for undergoing treatment for opioid addiction. The DOJ found that the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (TBLE) and the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) violated Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act. 

The DOJ conducted the investigation in response to complaints from two attorney applicants, known as D.S. and C.B. D.S. has since identified himself to the press as Derek Scott, who passed the Tennessee State Bar exam in 2021. The DOJ concluded that two aspects of the agencies’ conduct violated the ADA:  “(1) subjecting bar applicants to burdensome supplemental investigations triggered by their status or treatment for a substance use disorder; and (2) excluding them or implementing burdensome, intrusive, and unnecessary conditions on admission that are improperly based on individuals’ diagnosis of or treatment for a substance use or mental health disorder.” 

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The Trump Administration May Prosecute Liz Cheney Based on the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee’s J6 Report

Rachel Alexander
Liz Cheney

Former Congressional Republican Liz Cheney pursued conservatives during her work with Democrats on their J6 committee, but now the tables may be turning. The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee issued a report about the J6 committee last week, calling for the FBI to investigate Cheney and accusing her of two crimes. Cheney communicated with J6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson without going through Hutchinson’s attorney, and the report accused Cheney, who campaigned for Kamala Harris this past year after being soundly defeated for reelection in her primary race, of engaging in “procuring another person to commit perjury” and “witness tampering’.”

Donald Trump hinted at prosecuting Cheney after the report came out. He posted on TruthSocial, “Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that ‘numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI.”

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Arizona AG Kris Mayes Contracted Group Run by Anti-Trump Lawyer to Prosecute Alternate Electors: Document

Tom Pappert
Kris mayes

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes reportedly entered into a contract with a partisan group run by a man considered a media expert on the legal challenges faced by President-elect Donald Trump to organize its case against the alternative electors who helped Trump contest the 2020 election in Arizona.

The documents were shared to the social media platform X on Sunday by pro-Trump attorney Jeff Clark, who Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged for his role in Trump’s 2020 election contest in that state.

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From Venezuela to Dallas to the Dakotas, Gang Members Involved in ATM Theft Ring

The Center Square
Pete Nielsen

Illegal border crossers from Venezuela with confirmed ties to the violent prison gang Tren de Aragua have been connected to an ATM theft ring in multiple states. The latest arrests occurred in North and South Dakota.

One recent arrest was made by West Fargo police of a 25-year-old man outside of a Gate City Bank branch. He was initially pulled over for a broken taillight but was arrested for felony theft after police discovered he was allegedly involved with bank ATM thefts in the Red River Valley.

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Tennessee AG Slams President Biden’s Commutation of Murderer Convicted in Chattanooga’s First Federal Death Penalty Case

Kaitlin Housler
Skrmetti and Biden

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti slammed President Joe Biden for commuting the sentence of federal death row inmate Rejon Taylor, who was convicted in the eastern district of Tennessee’s first federal death penalty case.

Taylor was charged in the August 6, 2003 abduction and killing of Atlanta restaurant owner Guy Luck, who was found shot to death on a rural roadside in Collegedale after being abducted in his van from his home in Georgia.

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Matt Gaetz Uses Social Media to Robustly Challenge Conclusions of House Ethics Report

Just the News
Matt Gaetz

Former Congressman Matt Gaetz challenged the conclusions of a House Ethics Committee investigation on Monday, specifically disputing allegations he paid women for sex. 

The probe into his conduct by the committee found that he paid multiple women for sex, including a 17-year-old high school junior, used illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy and obstructed efforts by Congress to investigate his conduct, according to a draft of its findings obtained by Just the News. 

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Arizona Court Strikes Troubling Provisions in Secretary of State’s 2023 Elections Manual

Christina Botteri
Arizona A.G. Adrian Fontes

A Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday invalidated key provisions of the embattled 2023 Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, siding with Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen in their legal challenge, declaring that the Secretary overstepped his authority and infringed on the exclusive lawmaking powers of the Arizona Legislature.

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Intelligence Officials Claim Virginia Casino Could Help Spies ‘Blackmail’ Government Employees

Tom Pappert
Blackjack Table

A letter signed by more than 100 current and former intelligence or national security officials urged a northern Virginia county against allowing a the construction of a casino, was published Thursday, with the officials arguing the casino would pose threats to recruitment and national security.

Sent to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the letter was sent by a group called the National Security Leaders for Fairfax, and contains more than 100 signatures from, “a diverse group of retirees who worked for national security agencies, their contractors, or the U.S. military in and around Fairfax County.”

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South American Theft Group Active in Tennessee, Uses Jammers and Fake License Plates to Evade Capture: Nolensville Police

Tom Pappert
ICE / HSI Investigators

Lieutenant Josh Combs of the Nolensville Police Department (NPD) confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Friday that South American Theft Groups (SATGs) remain active in Williamson County and other parts Tennessee as local law enforcement continues to pursue open cases related to thefts in the area.

According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, such groups are “sophisticated criminal organizations that profit from illegally obtaining goods,” either by targeting wealthy homes or businesses, with frequently targeted goods including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and high-end clothing. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicates some SATG members enter the country illegally, while prosecutors have stated that others entered on a legal tourism visa.

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Convicted Homicide Rate Among ‘Non-Detained’ Illegal Migrants 13 Times Higher Than U.S. Average, Costing Americans $166 Billion: Report

Kaitlin Housler
CBP arrests

A new report written by Crime Prevention Research Center President Dr. John R. Lott based on data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) suggests that not only have the crimes committed by illegal migrants cost U.S. taxpayers at least $166.5 billion, but the severity of those crimes is much higher than American norms.

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Virginia State Police Confirm 150 Reported Drone Sightings in December, Urge Public to Send Tips

Tom Pappert
Virginia State Police Drone

The Virginia State Police (VSP) on Thursday confirmed citizens have reported 150 drone sightings throughout the commonwealth during the month of December in a statement that urged the public to notify authorities if they see drones flying over sensitive areas.

A VSP press release shared to the social media platform X confirms the Virginia Fusion Center (VFC), part of the VSP’s Homeland Security Division, “has received more than 150 tips involving drone activity,” since the beginning of the month. It also confirmed these reports were made amid “reports of drones flying in other areas of the country, including New Jersey.”

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