Tennessee Coalition for Open Government’s Executive Director Deborah Fisher joined all-star panelist and author Carol Swain in-studio on Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the provisions in current law that would make the Covenant Killer Manifesto available for review by Tennessee lawmakers.
Read the full story
The first bills for the upcoming special session of the General Assembly, officially scheduled Tuesday by Gov. Bill Lee (R), have been filed.
The special session begins on August 21, but according to the General Assembly’s website, legislation is already in the works.
Read the full story
Governor Bill Lee has issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to take up gun-control measures, including a controversial “red flag” bill that many of his GOP allies in the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly say is a non-starter.
The long-expected proclamation was apparently leaked to the liberal Tennessee Lookout late Thursday afternoon before it’s official release.
Read the full story
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy held a press conference at the Davidson County Courthouse on Wednesday to call for releasing the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto.
“I’m here as a father and as an American. We can’t fix the past, but we can prevent tragedies in the future, and the only way to do it is to learn from those mistakes of the past,” Ramaswamy said. “When an airplane crashes, we recover the black box for a reason – we never want to make that same mistake twice. We have a tradition in this country as law enforcement to do the same thing when there’s a mass shooting…We have to learn from tragedy to prevent it in the future.”
Read the full story
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is calling for the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto to be released to the public.
Read the full storyFox News Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the 28-year-old trans artist killed by police after opening fire on a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, covered her clothes in handwritten messages before her deadly assault in late March, according to an autopsy report. However, the report included new details about the attack — including the revelation that Hale’s clothes were covered in handwritten notes, drawings and numbers. The report also noted that Hale wore a plastic anklet inscribed with “508407.” It’s unclear what was written on her clothes, and the revelation comes as the city faces public records lawsuits to demand the release of Hale’s manifesto and other writings, which were recovered at the crime scene and at her parents’ home. READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full story
Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association John Harris and Professional Educators of Tennessee CEO JC Bowman continue their in-studio discussion of school safety on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with host Michael Patrick Leahy.
Read the full story
While the Federal Bureau of Investigation is fighting any release of the Covenant killer’s manifesto in federal court, an official with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department says the local law enforcement agency would not object to a redacted release of some of the documents.
The problem could be just how law enforcement officials define “redactions.”
Read the full story
A new nonprofit that has set its sights on gun control in Tennessee is run by wealthy Republican and Democrat political insiders, The Tennessee Star has found.
Voices for a Safer Tennessee pitches itself as an upstart group comprised of both Democrats and Republicans that spontaneously formed in the wake of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville on March 27.
Read the full story
An inside source Friday provided The Tennessee Star with more details from a June 28 meeting hosted by radical members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Nashville.
Earlier this week, The Star reported on the event, where an inside source provided secretly obtained audio recordings from a portion of the meeting. But what was not caught on audio, the source explained, was far more radical than what was caught on audio.
Read the full story
Travis Lamb was a couple hours into his first day as Youth Activities director at Stephens Valley Church, getting the “dime tour,” when he started getting text messages about a shooter in the Covenant Presbyterian School neighborhood.
It was March 27.
Read the full story
Parents of two of the children murdered in the Covenant School massacre are joining others in asking Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles to keep the Covenant killer’s manifesto and related documents locked from public view.
The mother of William Kinney and the parents of Evelyn Dieckhaus, two of three 9-year-olds fatally shot in the March 27 mass shootings, issued declaration letters to the court detailing the pain they’ve suffered and lambasting the news outlets and other organizations suing to have the records released.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) told The Tennessee Star Thursday that he has spoken directly to Gov. Bill Lee (R) and that he will not be supporting Lee’s agenda to implement red flag laws during the upcoming special session of the General Assembly.
“There is no red flag proposal from Gov. Lee to consider as our caucus will not support the destruction of our citizens’ constitutional rights,” said Garrett. “I have been in contact with the governor and have expressed the desire to address mental illness through treatment and resources for those who may be a threat to themselves and others. These conversations will continue, and we’ll determine the best ways we can help these individuals in crisis while improving public safety in communities across our state.”
Read the full story
Researchers at Vanderbilt University have been granted $3.2 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research children’s mental health, according to the university.
“A four-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support the research of Carolyn Heinrich, University Distinguished Professor of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and Melinda Buntin, University Distinguished Professor of Health Policy, into how school-based health interventions affect children’s mental health and education outcomes,” Vanderbilt announced last month. “Schools are serving children with ever-increasing mental health needs, which were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. public schools serve as the primary entry point to mental health services for children, and school-based health centers, or SBHCs, increasingly are a ‘medical home’ for vulnerable children.”
Read the full story
Four Nashville private schools are seeking entry into a nationally watched public records lawsuit that demands the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents.
Attorneys for Franklin Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School, and St. Paul Christian Academy filed a motion on Monday asking Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles for permission to file an amicus — friend of the court — brief in the lawsuit.
Read the full story
Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk filed an amicus — friend of the court — brief on Monday in the nationally watched public records lawsuit over the Covenant killer’s manifesto and related documents. Funk, as attorneys for the parents of students at the Covenant Presbyterian School do, argues that the parents are victims and entitled to certain rights.
Attorneys for family members of the students and staff argue those rights allow them to keep the documents locked from the public, a controversial legal theory that plaintiffs in the lawsuit say could have a chilling effect on Tennessee’s public records laws.
Read the full story
According to a poll published by co/efficient, the vast majority of Tennesseans would prefer that dangerous people are removed from society, rather than removing guns from the hands of potentially dangerous people.
“In the poll, Tennessee voters dramatically retreat from their soft support of proposed Red Flag Laws and do not see this as the solution to their safety concerns when informed that Red Flag Laws merely take guns away from dangerous individuals but do nothing to prevent them from causing harm by some other means. Red Flag Law support erodes even further when informed that there are existing laws to take threatening individuals out of the community right now,” the poll said. “Tennesseans largely support recently passed legislation that puts police officers in schools and believe enforcing the current laws on the books is an effective solution to keeping their families, communities, and state safe.”
Read the full story
A Christian group organized with the far-left anti-gun group “March for Our Lives” last week to advocate for gun control in Franklin.
The Southern Christian Coalition partnered with the David Hogg founded group to host the rally, which was dubbed “Protect Kids Not Guns,” according to The Williamson Herald.
Read the full story
In a new court filing, attorneys for Star News Digital Media, parent company of The Tennessee Star, argue that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davison County and intervenors in a public records lawsuit have no right to keep the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related records from the public.
The memorandum of law, filed with Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles, asserts the Metro Nashville Police Department cannot “play ‘hide the ball’ with the reason for denial and come in later, raising wholly new and unrelated denial reasons.”
Read the full story
According to a memo from Republican Governor Bill Lee’s office on the subject of gun control, those in Lee’s camp believe that attempting it is not possible to contain mental illness, and thus his proposal for red flag laws should be implemented.
One of the memos, obtained via public records request by The Associated Press, claims that Lee accused the National Rifle Association (NRA) of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties.”
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) broke ground on the city’s ninth precinct this week, which will be located in Southeast Nashville.
“We need a police station here and this is going to help a lot,” said MNPD Police Chief John Drake reportedly said.
Read the full story
Asking the court to “shield” Covenant Presbyterian School students from a “lifetime of abuse and harassment by the shooter from beyond the grave,” a new court filing lays out why parents of the children don’t want the Covenant killer’s manifesto and other writings made public.
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles last week ruled that the Covenant Presbyterian Church, its private elementary school and the parents of the schoolchildren may intervene in a lawsuit seeking the manifesto and related writings of mass shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star and other plaintiffs in a closely watched public records lawsuit are appealing Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles’ decision last week to allow the Covenant Presbyterian Church, the school and parents of students to intervene in the case.
Filed in the Tennessee Court of Appeals-Middle Section, the appeal could soon be consolidated with those of the other plaintiffs in the case — The Tennessean with State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), the Tennessee Firearms Association, and the National Police Association with private investigator Clata Renee Brewer — should the court grant it.
Read the full story
In the wake of The Covenant School shooting, a far-left reverend from Seattle has been working in Nashville to teach students how to protest.
“Reverend Osagyefo Sekou came to Nashville to work with the Dores Worker Solidarity Network [DWSN] on April 13,” according to Vanderbilt University’s website.
Read the full story
More than two months after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale shot and killed three children and three staff members at the Covenant Presbyterian School, Nashville’s Metropolitan Council is planning to hold hearings on gun violence as a “public health issue.”
The Public Health and Safety Committee will conduct the first special meeting on gun safety, co-hosted with Education Committee Chair Zulfat Suara, on June 14, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 pm.
Read the full story
In the days following the horrifying shootings at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School, police said the killer, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, acted “totally alone.”
Hale, a 28-year-old woman who identified as a transgender man named “Aiden,” was killed by police 14 minutes after her deadly rampage began. Before she was neutralized, Hale had taken the lives of three 9-year-olds and three staff members at the private Christian school she once attended as a child.
Read the full story
According to State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), also a candidate for mayor of Nashville, Gov. Bill Lee (R) met with Campbell before he announced his August special session of the General Assembly, which will focus on gun control.
“I met with the Governor prior to his announcement of the special session but have not heard from him about this bill package,” Campbell told The Tennessee Star Friday. “My office would welcome the opportunity.”
Read the full story
The Star News Network asked a federal court on Thursday to issue summary judgment declaring the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated the law and must immediately turn over the Covenant Killer’s manifesto and related records.
Star News and its parent company, Star News Digital Media Inc., earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI demanding it release the relevant writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the mass murderer who in late March shot dead three 9-year-olds and three staff members at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School.
Read the full story
After The Tennessee Star exposed the far-left’s plan to disrupt and commit acts of violence during the August special session of the Tennessee General Assembly, Gov. Bill Lee’s office could not even be reached for comment.
The Star followed up with Lee’s office on its series of exclusive reporting of audio obtained from inside a far-left gathering hosted by Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, but the phone number for Lee’s spokesperson goes directly to a voicemail box that is full, and cannot take new messages.
Read the full story
We learned this week that Metro Nashville’s lawyers deliberately attempted to slow down court proceedings on the lawsuit seeking the release of the Covenant Killer’s manifesto and related documents.
Such delay tactics raise an important question: Is the city government colluding with the Covenant Presbyterian School and families of the private Christian elementary school to keep the records from the public?
Read the full story
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles heard plenty of opinions Monday — many of them dripping with emotion — on a consolidated lawsuit seeking the release of the Covenant School Killer’s manifesto and related writings.
Myles is expected to issue an order on Wednesday deciding whether Covenant Presbyterian School parents, the private Christian school and the Covenant Presbyterian Church can intervene in the lawsuit.
Read the full story
A former Nashville Public Radio reporter spoke at a far-left activist planning session as left-wing agitators plan to disrupt August’s special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Star received secret audio recordings of the meeting, and has reported extensively on the contents of those recordings.
Read the full story
Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed recovering journalist Clint Brewer in studio to discuss the motion to intervene in the case of releasing the Covenant Killer Manifesto.
Read the full story
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Assistant Chief Mike Hagar claims there is an “active” investigation into the Covenant Presbyterian School shootings and that releasing the Covenant killer’s manifesto and related writings would be harmful. A lieutenant with the police department says it could take up to a year to complete said invetigation.
In a sworn declaration, Hagar said he is not opposed to the release of a redacted version of the documents.
Read the full story
Parents of the three children killed in the Covenant Presbyterian School shootings are now seeking to intervene in lawsuits demanding the release of the Covenant killer’s manifesto and related documents.
And The Tennessee Star learned Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles rescheduled Thursday’s conference status meeting on the lawsuits for 1 p.m. Monday. It’s yet another delay in an increasingly complex web of lawsuits, consolidations, and interventions over the mass shooter’s writings.
Read the full story
The Tennessean on Wednesday followed The Tennessee Star and other organizations in filing a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County demanding the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents.
The Nashville-based newspaper’s lawsuit comes nearly two months after Audrey Elizabeth Hale shot her way into the Covenant Presbyterian Scho
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star’s state lawsuit demanding the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents is being transferred to Chancery Court.
Tennessee First Circuit Court Judge David Briley this week granted the transfer, requested by attorneys for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, defendants in the case.
Read the full story
Sixty six Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives have sent a letter to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake asking for the release of writings and medical records of the Covenant School killer.
Read the full story
Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not respond to The Tennessee Star’s Monday inquiries seeking clarification on whether Lee met with Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and a group of students to discuss gun control last week.
Friday, the far-left Tennessee Holler posted a video to Twitter claiming that he was marching to Lee’s office with students to stress the urgency of implementing gun control measures during the upcoming August special legislative session.
Read the full story
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles is reviewing the unredacted and proposed redacted journal and other writings of the Covenant School killer ahead of Thursday’s scheduled status conference meeting, sources with knowledge of the case tell The Tennessee Star.
Myles has scheduled a Show Cause hearing for June 8 on the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s refusal to turnover what has commonly been referred to as the “manifesto” of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who stormed into Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School on March 27 and fatally killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members.
Read the full story
Ahead of August’s special session wherein Gov. Bill Lee (R) is expect to push for “Order of Protection” (red flag) laws, the governor has signed into law a bill that provides financial resources for school security measures.
Namely, HB 0322 allocates $30 million for the state to hire homeland security agents in each county to serve both public and private schools. The new law also provides $140 million for one full-time, armed School Resource Officer (SRO) for every public school in the state.
Read the full story
The Star News Network is suing the Federal Bureau of Investigation alleging the law enforcement agency has broken a critical First Amendment guard in repeatedly denying Freedom of Information Act requests seeking the Covenant School killer’s manifesto.
Filed Wednesday, the federal lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee to order the FBI to release Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s manifesto and related documents and to issue a declaration that the agency violated FOIA in denying the request for the information.
Read the full story
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) honored five Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers on Friday evening during one of the university’s spring commencement ceremonies.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced Wednesday that it was investigating a series of hoax phone calls made to schools around the state alerting them to potential school shootings.
“DEVELOPING: TBI is currently working with state and federal partners to determine the source of several hoax calls, placed to local law enforcement agencies, reporting an active shooter at several high schools in the state,” TBI said Wednesday on Twitter.
Read the full story
The judge hearing lawsuits demanding the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto has pushed back a show cause hearing on the litigation as MNPD attempts to maneuver around Tennessee’s public record laws.
It appears the police department and its attorneys are going to try to bury the plaintiffs — and the court — in paper.
Read the full story
In a legal twist, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) now says it will not release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents because of pending litigation — lawsuits demanding the department turn over the records.
“Covenant investigation update: Due to pending litigation filed this week, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has been advised by counsel to hold in abeyance the release of records related to the shooting at The Covenant School pending orders or direction of the court,” MNPD stated in a tweet Wednesday morning.
Read the full story
Governor Bill Lee said Saturday that the special session he called for on April 21 in the wake of the Covenant Presbyterian School shooting to push through a package of gun control measures dubbed “red flag laws” will likely convene after the July 4th holiday.
“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” he said in his original April statement.
Read the full story
The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) at the end of last week that a teenage suspect was in custody after accidentally discharging a firearm inside a high school.
“An investigation is underway after a gun possessed by a student at West High School discharged in a classroom. Preliminarily appears that the gun was in the student’s backpack,” KPD said on Twitter. “A teacher was grazed either by the bullet or bullet fragment. No serious injuries were reported. The student is in custody and the gun is accounted for.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Firearms Association is asking a state court to order the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to turn over the Covenant School killer’s manifesto — documents law enforcement have kept from the public more than a month after Audrey Elizabeth Hale stormed into the private Covenant Presbyterian School and killed three 9-year-olds and three adults.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the TFA and former Hamilton County Sheriff James Hammond request the 20th Judicial District, Chancery Court, in Davidson County to grant the organization access to the manifesto. The complaint also seeks an order from the court finding the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s denial of TFA’s records requests is unlawful.
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced the Teachers Empowered Against Classroom Harm (TEACH) Act on Friday.
Read the full story