Tennessee ranked No. 6 nationally with a grade of B in the ALEC Index of State Education Freedom.
Grades were scored overall from tabulating funding and financing programs; charter schools; homeschooling; virtual schooling; and open enrollment. The overall score was 71.5 points, which trailed only Florida (95), Arkansas (92), Indiana (86.6), Arizona (84) and Iowa (78)
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) responded to a tweet by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticizing Florida U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL-01) “suicidal efforts to cripple the House GOP.”
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The Tennessee Titans recently announced an outreach event for individuals and businesses interested in becoming part of the team’s new stadium project is set to take place on Thursday, October 19.
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is investigating after a fatal officer-involved shooting in Knox County Sunday night that left a deputy “seriously wounded.”
“TBI special agents are investigating the circumstances surrounding a Sunday night fatal officer-involved shooting in Knox County, which also left a deputy seriously wounded,” TBI said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the Nashville Fire Department (NFD) are teaming up with the city’s Office of Family Safety (OFS) for a food drive that began Monday.
“Metro Nashville Police Department and Metro Nashville Fire Department partner with the Office of Family Safety to provide food for Davidson County residents experiencing interpersonal violence,” says an announcement on OFS’ website.
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President Joe Biden is losing substantial ground with minority voters while former President Donald Trump is gaining significantly, according to a poll released on Monday.
Biden’s support among black, Latino and Asian voters fell from 63 percent in July to 47 percent, according to the Monmouth University Poll. Trump’s support among these demographics rose from 23 percent to 33 percent during the same time period.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom has tapped Laphonza Butler, a far left abortion-on-demand activist, to fill the Senate seat long held by Democrat Diane Feinstein, who died Friday.
There’s one very big problem. Butler, a lesbian who fits Newsom’s identity politics-driven pledge to pick a black woman to serve out Feinstein’s current term, isn’t a resident of California.
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President Joe Biden said Arizona’s newest political party, No Labels, will help his eventual Republican opponent in the 2024 presidential election during a Sunday interview with ProPublica.
Biden said No Labels will harm his electoral prospects during an interview with reporter John Harwood, asserting its organizer Joe Lieberman is making a “mistake” by abandoning the Democratic Party for a third party effort.
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Asserting the current crowded GOP presidential primary debate stage is too cluttered, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is asking the Republican National Committee to trim the number of contestants for the next debate in November.
Ben Yoho, CEO of the Ohio businessman’s presidential campaign, proposed revised criteria for candidates to make next month’s debate stage in Miami.
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An Atlanta-based venture capital firm’s grant program that is exclusively available to businesses owned by black women was blocked by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in a Saturday injunction that prevents funds being dispersed for the “racially exclusionary” grant program.
The 11th Circuit voted 2-1 to grant the injunction requested by the non-profit American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a project of conservative legal strategist Edward Blum, which is suing the venture capital Fearless Fund over its race-based Fearless Strivers Grant.
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Eleven Michigan Republican lawmakers filed a federal lawsuit challenging election changes voters approved in 2018 and 2022.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, the plaintiffs say election officials violated state legislators’ rights because the U.S. Constitution and the Michigan Constitution require state legislatures to regulate the times, places, and manner of federal elections.
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Old Dominion residents go into the commonwealth’s Nov. 7 legislative elections equally split between Democrats and Republicans, with 42 percent of voters telling the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies poll of 1,000 Virginia adults conducted Sept. 5 through Sept. 11.
“Virginia has rapidly returned to its purple state status,” said Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, and the center’s director. The poll included 833 registered voters, 771 likely voters, and carries a 3-percentage point margin of error.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill last week into the Ohio House of Representatives to address critical staffing issues in Ohio’s nursing workforce.
The Safe Patient Care Act, introduced by State Representatives Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) and Elgin Rogers (D-Toledo), would ensure that patients in the state of Ohio receive the highest quality care and that nurses receive reasonable workplace protections.
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Connecticut is one of the last states in the nation to hold a presidential primary, but that would change under a proposal awaiting action by Gov. Ned Lamont.
A proposal approved by the state Legislature last week during a special session would change the presidential primary date to the first Tuesday in April, which in the next nominating cycle would be April 2. Under the current law, the primary is held on the last Tuesday, which would be April 30. Lamont, who backs the move, is expected to sign the bill into law.
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To save America, first save the court system. Because it may be the last institution in the country doing its job — repelling progressive insanity. Four sound, sage judgments last Friday battered the Left all the way up from a local school district to the White House. Two of them made it a very bad day for the trans movement. But all stress the urgency of voting conservative to maintain righteous normalcy, far more than political circuses like last Wednesday’s Fox Business/Univision/RNC-mounted Republican Primary Debate.
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The state’s largest police association sent a letter to its members last week saying a “legislative fix” is the only way to address concerns with a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).
This comes after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter Wednesday to the police chiefs in her county that reignited confusion with the new law.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) subpoenaed Bernie Kerik, demanding he testify in her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election. A lawyer for Kerik reportedly replied to Willis on Monday, declaring the former New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner and alleged unindicted co-conspirator would not testify under oath without assurances he will not be prosecuted.
Kerik was previously identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Trump and his allies by CNN, and the outlet now claims to have reviewed a Monday letter from lawyer Tim Parlatore, who represents Kerik, that rebukes Willis’s demands.
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The League of Women Voters in Wisconsin is taking a stand on the fight between Republican lawmakers and the University of Wisconsin over diversity, equity and inclusion money.
The League encouraged Republicans to release $32 million that’s being held in an effort to get the university to move away from diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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The beginning of Wisconsin’s new task force on human trafficking is coming with a warning.
Lawmakers on Wednesday held the first meeting of House Speaker Robin Vos’ Task Force On Human Trafficking, and while the group said the focus will be on victims, it will also delve into the details of the trafficking of children and other young people.
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Gov. Katie Hobbs expressed frustration with the federal government on its handling of the border crisis in a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week.
On Monday morning, Hobbs went into her conversation with the immigration head, in which she asked for increased federal support. When The Center Square asked about issues at Arizona ports of entry, Hobbs said it was part of the conversation.
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Rising country artist, Tiera Kennedy, delivers a song from her upcoming debut album, “Jesus, My Mama, My Therapist,” to country radio, a tune that is as gutsy as it is fun.
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Low-enrollment degrees at Miami University need to adapt or die, according to a memo from school officials.
Majors in “social justice, “critical race and ethnic studies” and “art history” are among those that must adapt their offerings in order to survive. The Oxford, Ohio university is facing a $36 million budget deficit.
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A security expert says Congress should reduce food stamp fraud as it faces a Saturday deadline to renew the Farm Bill.
Haywood Talcove is the CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Government Group, which provides fraud prevention tools to 26 state unemployment programs and 50 U.S. banks.
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The Southern Poverty Law Center is notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian organizations, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom and Moms for Liberty “hate groups” or “antigovernment extremist groups,” placing them on a map alongside chapters of the Ku Klux Klan.
Many of the SPLC’s targets have sued for defamation, but almost every lawsuit has failed. Earlier this year, however, a judge allowed one defamation lawsuit against the SPLC to move forward.
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In our lives of technology, distraction, and immediacy, silence is often lost. Our minds and bodies need some quiet time, some space to rest. Without this, we become burned-out, stressed, and exhausted. But our lives are busy, and we have responsibilities, jobs, and families. How do we daily make room for silence? Here are some suggestions.
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Two Republican lawmakers are questioning whether a Marine Corps program created to attract minorities to apply as officers may discriminate based on applicants’ race or gender, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The “Diversity Aimed Officer Program” (DAOP) takes enlisted Marines and exposes them to senior leaders and the officer training environment near Washington, D.C., with hopes the exposure will convince them to seek careers as officers, according to the program page. But, Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Mark Alford of Missouri allege the program appears structured to prioritize female and non-white applicants, contradicting the service’s legal obligation to a merit-based recruiting and promotion process, according to a letter addressed to Dr. Michael Strobl, the Marine Corps human resources chief, dated Oct 2.
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Our schools are the bedrock of our communities, serving not only as centers of education but also as places of refuge and safety for our children. In an era of heightened concerns about school safety, it is essential that we leave no stone unturned in ensuring our schools are secure environments. One critical aspect of this is the requirement for substitute teachers to be adequately trained on lockdown procedures and safety protocols. It’s a seemingly small detail, but it plays a pivotal role in keeping our schools safe and our students protected.
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Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday introduced a privileged resolution to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy amid frustrations with the California lawmaker’s handling of budget negotiations.
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Investors bet on the U.S. entering an era of sustained high inflation as Treasury yields spike, according to Reuters.
The bond market has seen a surge in interest rates for 10-year Treasury yields, reaching 4.59 percent, the highest point since September 2007 before the country was sent into a recession just months later, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The state of the bond market indicates that investors believe that the age of low inflation and interest rates is over as the country enters a “high-pressure equilibrium,” driving inflation higher than what was previously considered normal, according to Reuters.
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While former Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake continues with election-related lawsuits regarding irregularities in Maricopa County, there were also other issues during the 2022 midterm elections that occurred across the country.
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The Hobbs administration suggests that Treasurer Kimberly Yee violated state law by refusing to recognize agency-based board members at a State Board of Investment meeting on Tuesday.
Yee did not acknowledge the employees from two departments in response to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ decision to pull all of her agency director picks from Senate consideration in order to avoid dealing with the Arizona Senate Committee on Director Nominations, which the governor dubbed hyper-partisan in nature, The Center Square reported.
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Eventbrite has canceled an event speaking out against the treatments and surgeries being done to transitioning minors, citing that it violates a policy on “hateful, violent, and dangerous events.”
The event will be hosted by the Palmetto Family Council in South Carolina and will feature de-transitioner Chloe Cole. It’s set to take place on Nov. 7.
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The United Auto Worker’s Union has reached a “tentative agreement” on a new five-year agreement with the Volvo-Group-owned Mack Trucks in three states. The union posted on social media that nearly 4,000 UAW members at Mack Trucks in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida (UAW Region 8 & Region 9) have a tentative agreement.
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The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) is urging Tennesseans to report and destroy any encountered spotted lanternfly and their eggs after the insect was confirmed to be detected in Davidson County.
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The former president of the American Library Association (ALA) said the organization helped “develop” legislation intended to combat attempts to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Right To Read Act, reintroduced by Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Democratic Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva in April, ensures students can access “culturally diverse and inclusive materials,” including sexually explicit books, as well as granting liability protections for librarians who curate these materials. The bill is explicitly intended to rebuff efforts by parents and Republican lawmakers to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries, according to a press release from the lawmakers.
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Trade across the U.S.-Mexico border is being severely hampered due to an ongoing migrant crisis that is threatening businesses’ supply chains, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The southern border is facing a massive influx of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally, with the U.S. Border Patrol reporting that a record high of 22,000 illegal migrants were being held in custody on Tuesday as opposed to just 7,696 on June 8. Trade that U.S. companies rely on for their supply chains is being hampered due to delays at points of entry that are being shut down by Border Patro to address the surge, according to the WSJ.
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Fourteen U.S. energy groups have called on the Biden administration to prioritize U.S. energy production and American’s energy needs by developing fair and consistent federal leasing regulations.
They submitted comments to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over a newly proposed Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule. The rule implements changes related to royalty rates, rentals, and minimum bids for BLM-issued oil and gas leases and updates bonding requirements for leasing, development and production.
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Over the past few months, China has escalated its efforts to exert control over American technology companies by implementing new requirements, bans and restrictions.
The Chinese government is clamping down on American technology companies by throttling their already limited access to the country’s massive economy, according to new requirements, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The country has also challenged American technology dominance by developing rivals to the latest smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as announcing export limits to key metals in July.
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Food brands owned by tobacco companies produce foods that are more hyperpalatable than those produced by non-tobacco companies, new research from the University of Kansas shows.
The research found that they are more likely to feature “purposely tempting combinations of salts, fats, and sugars,” according to a press release from the University of Kansas.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has implemented automatic voter registration, triggering new legal and election integrity concerns over voter roll maintenance as nearly half of U.S. states now follow such a policy.
Shapiro announced last Tuesday that the commonwealth would implement automatic voter registration, which means that residents obtaining state ID cards and driver’s licenses at Department of Transportation (PennDOT) centers will be automatically registered to vote.
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As those who have ever served in the military know, the United States Armed Forces is one of the most culturally and socioeconomically diverse institutions in America. It is full of patriotic Americans from all walks of life who come together to serve their country, fight for it, and ultimately die for it if called to. To have served in the military in any form is to be a member of an exclusive club in this country. Although there are some barriers to entry, race is not among them.
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SK Battery announced layoffs for its Jackson County, Georgia plant this week despite previously expanding rapidly in Georgia. The layoffs came just months after a local business owner blamed the company for a fire that destroyed his recycling company and launched a lawsuit.
The battery company announced layoffs last Tuesday, with a spokesman describing them as “job reductions” when speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The spokesman stressed the company is “not disclosing the number” of cut jobs, and the plant still employs 3,000 Georgians.
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Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) blasted the passage of the 45 day Continuing Resolution that included no spending cuts and failed to properly increase funding for U.S. border security.
The bill passed the House on Saturday in a 335 to 91 vote, then passed the Senate in an 88 to 9 vote, and was signed into law by President Biden just hours before the midnight deadline on Saturday, when funding for the 2022-2023 federal fiscal year. The bill continues funding the government at 2022-2023 levels until November 15.
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As concerns mount about alleged Biden family pay-to-play schemes, U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher is introducing the Deterring Attempts at Dirty Deals by Youngsters — or DADDY — Act.
The bill bans immediate family members of the president, vice president, and cabinet officials from working for certain foreign companies while their family members are in office.
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by Roger Kimball So it looks as if Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is just about to turn up the volume. It was bad enough for the Democratic establishment when he announced he was going to run for President on the Democratic ticket. Didn’t he know that The Committee already…
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A report from the Arizona Auditor General is making five recommendations for the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System after finding a business deal between an administrator and former board members could have jeopardized fiduciary obligations.
The report found that the former system administrator and two board members had business-related conflicts of interest that they failed to properly disclose.
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A nonprofit organization’s analysis of government data estimates drug overdose deaths increased 1.7% in 2023 to reach a new record high.
The CDC estimates that more than 111,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period that ended in April. More than 77,000 of those deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids other than methadone. Both are record highs and increases over the prior year, according to Families Against Fentanyl.
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California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a measure that will require most fast-food workers to be paid a minimum $20 an hour.
The minimum-wage law is set to go into effect next year.
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Congressional Democrats are coming to the defense of their demonstrably unhinged colleague, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York. Bowman, last seen attempting to assault Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.), pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House office building as debate over a continuing resolution to fund the federal government intensified Saturday afternoon.
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Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz declared Sunday he will seek to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker after a drama-filled scramble to pass a federal budget forced a last-minute temporary spending bill that required Democrat votes to pass.
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