Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office announced $41 million in grants to 23 projects to invest in vocational education in rural counties.
The Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education grants, capped at $2 million apiece, are intended to expand regional partnerships between Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, community colleges and local industries.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing new COVID-19 boosters, claiming that people who don’t stay “up to date” with shots – regardless of how many they’ve already taken – “are more likely to get very sick” while those who take them annually are “much less likely to get very ill, be hospitalized, or even die” from COVID.
The Democratic nominee for president is so committed to staying up to date on jabs that Vice President Kamala Harris made COVID boosting a requirement to work on her campaign, “unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law.” They can also ask the human resources department for a “reasonable accommodation … prior to reporting to an office location.”
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The Biden administration proposed to open up tens of millions of acres of public lands to solar development on Thursday after cementing restrictions on oil and gas activity across large swaths of Alaska.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rolled out its proposed “Western Solar Plan,” which would put approximately 31 million acres across 11 western states on the table for possible solar development. The agency’s solar plan comes on the heels of its Tuesday announcement that it had finalized protections for 28 million acres of public land in Alaska that will effectively prohibit oil and gas activity on that acreage.
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Nationally, the disappearance of independent pharmacies creates access deserts in rural areas and Pennsylvania has not been spared.
An analysis by the Rural Policy Research Institute found that 10 rural independent pharmacies have closed their doors in Pennsylvania and only one opened from 2018 to 2023.
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$40,000.
That’s how much Kate Zerby has spent trying to put herself back together after the Moderna COVID vaccine wreaked havoc on her body.
As Intellectual Takeout reported back in 2022, Kate Zerby of St. Paul, Minnesota, suffered a serious adverse reaction to her Moderna shot, beginning the night after she got it, February 16, 2021. At 3:30 a.m., she awoke, gripped by a pervading sense of gloom and foreboding and the unsettling sensation that something strange was slithering through her system. At the same time, an interior voice seemed to tell her, “If you get the vaccine again, you will die.”
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Republican lawmakers are urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to bar a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer from receiving U.S. military contracts and deter the company’s U.S. clients from using its services.
Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Pentagon Wednesday requesting EV battery-maker CATL be added to its 1260H list that identifies company’s “involved in bolstering Beijing’s military ambitions” and prohibits them from being awarded defense contracts. The lawmakers accused CATL of being controlled by China due to “subsidies, tax incentives [and] favorable procurement deals” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and of furthering the interests of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by supporting its battery infrastructure.
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The City of Carlsbad near San Diego, banned smoking from multifamily buildings with three or more units to reduce risk of secondhand smoke. The one city councilmember to vote against the measure called it an overreach, saying landlords and property managers should be able to make their own choices about their properties.
The ordinance bans smoking and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products both inside and outside buildings, including common areas, with use only permissible in designated smoking zones. The bill does not generally apply to single-family homes, though it does apply to townhomes, which tend not to share air systems with neighboring units.
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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared to suggest that she supports amnesty for illegal migrants during a Friday interview on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Host Bill Maher asked Pelosi about her thoughts on California’s AB 1840, a bill passed by the state’s legislature on Wednesday that would make some illegal migrants eligible for up to $150,000 in cash assistance to become first-time homebuyers, according to Politico. During their exchange, Pelosi told Maher that she would like to move “undocumented” migrants to “documented” status, appearing to suggest that she supports providing amnesty to migrants living in the U.S. illegally.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin held a ceremonial signing for legislation adding ethnicity to the protected classes under the Virginia Human Rights Act and ratcheting up penalties for people committing crimes motivated by bigotry.
The bipartisan House and Senate legislation was inspired by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Gaza, which led to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, sparking anti-Israeli protests around the globe, including Virginia.
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Wisconsin is going to look and see if the money that hunters and fisherman spend to hunt and fish is actually going for hunting and fishing.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Thursday ordered an audit of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Account.
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As part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Make it in Michigan” plan, a state board has approved millions in subsidies for development projects in Grand Rapids, Northville and Greenville.
The Michigan Strategic Fund board authorized a $252.3 million Transformational Brownfield Plan incentive package for mixed-use development projects in Grand Rapids that include construction of the 12,000-seat Acrisure Amphitheater, an 8,500-seat soccer stadium, a riverwalk, and a 21-story mixed-use building with 475 rental apartments, 3,660 square feet of retail and 475 parking garage spaces.
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Georgia lawmakers could take control of the power to set policy for transgender athletes competing in women’s sports at Georgia high schools, removing the authority from a statewide association.
The revelation, which could potentially extend to publicly funded colleges and universities, came during the first hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants the Legislature to allow him to require proof of citizenship on voter registration forms following a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Both state and federal laws already make it illegal for noncitizens to vote to vote in federal and state elections.
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Wednesday said the 2018 transit referendum, which was rejected by 64 percent of the city’s voters and supported by just 36 percent, would have been “pretty useful” for Nashville’s residents.
O’Connell spoke about the failed, 2018 referendum in an appearance on The Nashville Scene Podcast, where he compared the long-term benefits of mass transit to planting trees.
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Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he would either force insurance companies or the U.S. government to cover In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments if he returns to the White House next year.
Abortion and IVF treatments have been controversial topics for Republicans this election cycle. The recent interest in IVF treatments stem from an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos from IVF were children.
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Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner this week demanding answers after a recent report revealed that ICE has lost track of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children over the last five years.
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The U.S. Department of Defense is under scrutiny for refusing to release records about exactly how spending on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion helps with national security.
The Center to Advance Security in America in May filed with the DOD a Freedom of Information Act Request, the legal pathway to obtain government documents. The FOIA sought to find out what DOD officials estimate is the real impact on national security of DEI spending, for which Congress approved $86.5 million in fiscal year 2023.
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A bill passed by the California state legislature on Wednesday that would make some illegal immigrants in California eligible for generous cash assistance to buy homes has been sent to the desk for consideration of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to Politico.
Under AB 1840, illegal immigrants with social security or taxpayer-identification numbers would qualify for a program called California Dream for All that gives first-time home buyers up to $150,000, with recipients only having to pay interest if they sell the property, Politico reported. Newsom has declined to comment on whether or not he will sign the bill after some moderate Democrats joined Republicans in the California Senate in an attempt to block the legislation.
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Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz signed a law in May 2023 as Minnesota governor that will require schools to offer “ethnic studies” courses that may include lessons on “resistance” and discussions on “social identities.”
The law requires elementary and middle schools to teach ethnic studies classes by the 2027 to 2028 school year, while high schools must offer a course on the topic starting in the 2026 to 2027 school year, though some districts have already begun implementing ethnic studies programs. The program is described as an “interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity” and says it will emphasize “perspectives of people of color” and analyze “the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces.”
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The Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police (TACP) recently awarded State Representative Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) its 2024 Legislative Award at the organization’s 54th Annual Awards Banquet.
TACP’s Legislative Award recognizes state lawmakers who are “champions for public safety and the law enforcement profession.”
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At least nine states will have pro-abortion constitutional amendment proposals on ballots in November, during a presidential election with high voter turnout, with some states facing lawsuits from conservatives and pro-life groups.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the question of abortion legalization back to the states, some states are facing ballot measures over whether to ensure that abortion is codified in state constitutions.
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California has finally arrived. A female former California attorney general and U.S. senator is at the top of the Democrat presidential ticket. This is the culmination of generations of California politicians who have heavily influenced American politics and culture and are now, once again, on the verge of taking the top political office in the Free World.
“California is having a moment,” said Don Sipple, a California political strategist. To be more accurate, on a nationwide political basis, California has been having a lot of moments for decades.
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A newly released report from the Arizona Auditor General has unveiled what appears to be a massive financial fraud allegedly orchestrated by former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr, who is accused of embezzling over $39 million from county funds over a ten-year period. The report details a series of unauthorized transactions, falsified documents, and systemic failures in financial oversight that allowed the fraud to continue unchecked.
Republican State Senator Matt Gress told The Arizona Sun Times, “The level of deception involved is staggering.”
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Tennessee’s Secretary of State and Legislative leaders pushed back against a Memphis referendum regarding firearms regulations.
Secretary of State Tre Hargett told media outlets he would not allow the measures to reach the Nov. 5 ballot and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins reportedly sent a letter to Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Mark Luttrell saying the same.
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It seems reasonable that a program designed to assist those with low incomes should go only to low-income households. But the Biden-Harris administration is using a dubious mechanism to get around that expectation in a program designed to help low-income families pay for broadband internet service.
Congress created the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide broadband internet assistance to low-income households.
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A faith-based foster care initiative started by former Gov. Bill Haslam (R) and continued by Gov. Bill Lee (R) will be implemented in 95 Tennessee counties, according to the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS).
The program is called Every Child TN, and is the next iteration of Haslam’s Tennessee Fosters and Lee’s Tennessee Fosters Hope.
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The Secret Service failures at last month’s Trump rally were foreshadowed in once-redacted passages from a Jan. 6 after-action report that was shared with agency brass weeks before the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt and exposed harrowing blunders that may have put the lives of Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in jeopardy.
The redacted sections from a recently released Homeland Security inspector general report, obtained by Just the News, chronicle how Pence’s escape vehicle left its post without explicit permission and left him stranded at an increasingly violent scene at the Capitol.
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Georgia Democrats have sued the state Election Board, arguing new measures implemented by the agency regarding the election-certification process are illegal.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday in state court, local election officials are now able to “hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind, potentially delaying certification and displacing longstanding (and court-supervised) processes for addressing fraud.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris has reversed her position on spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build a wall along the southern border, Axios reported Tuesday.
Harris is now in favor of building a wall after being attacked repeatedly by former President Donald Trump for presiding over an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration to the U.S. as the Biden administration’s unofficial “border czar,” according to Axios. Prior to her second run for the presidency, Harris had called the border wall “un-American,” a “stupid waste of money” and Trump’s “medieval vanity project.”
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For the first time in a half-century, Democrats are poised to win statewide control in Arizona. Early ballots for the upcoming elections will be mailed out on October 7 as the state braces for some of the most competitive races in recent years.
The Arizona State Legislature is currently divided and under Republican control by a narrow margin. Republicans hold a 2-seat majority in the State Senate, while in the State House of Representatives, the Republicans maintain a single-seat edge, meaning Democrats need to flip just one seat in each chamber to achieve a tie and two to take the gavel.
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The state of California could soon pass a law that will make illegal aliens eligible to receive as much as $150,000 in taxpayer-funded loans to purchase new homes.
According to Fox News, the “California Dream for All” act is likely to pass through the overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled state legislature. The bill would implement a statewide program that provides 20% in down payment assistance, as high as $150,000, for illegals who seek to buy homes in the state. The only requirements to apply are that one must be a first-time homebuyer and a first-generation homebuyer; the program will also require income levels to be below a certain limit relevant to the county where the applicant lives.
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Recent data on school district spending gathered by the Virginia Public Access Project appear to support the conclusion of a late-February Reason Foundation study assessing the relationship between state K-12 education spending and student outcomes.
The foundation concluded that increased spending does not always correlate with higher test scores, and less spending doesn’t always mean poorer outcomes.
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A series of potential additions to the Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance are under consideration in Minnesota’s largest city. Should these additions be authorized, illegal immigrants, the homeless, and so-called “justice impacted” persons could receive new protections.
Last week, the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission held a meeting to discuss potential changes to the Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance. At that meeting, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez outlined what he referred to as “our plan” to add “homeless status, immigration status, and justice impacted status as protected classes” in the city’s civil rights ordinance.
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China is planning to restrict exports of a key mineral needed to make weapons while a U.S. company that could be reducing America’s reliance on foreign suppliers is languishing in red tape, energy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Chinese government announced on August 15 that it will restrict exports of antimony, a critical mineral that dominates the production of weapons globally and is essential for producing equipment like munitions, night vision goggles and bullets that are essential to national security, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Perpetua Resources, an American mining company, has been navigating red tape for years to develop a mine in Valley County, Idaho, that could decrease reliance on the Chinese supply of antimony, but the slow permitting process is getting in the way, energy experts told the DCNF.
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The Tennessee Titans continued to upgrade areas of the current Nissan Stadium heading into the NFL season, spending on everything from escalator repairs to electrical upgrades to stadium lighting and step repairs to a perimeter sidewalk.
Those repairs are funded through public funds in the stadium Capital Fund, capped at $42 million in expenses starting when the amended lease agreement was signed to build a new stadium and ending when the current Nissan Stadium is no longer used and demolished.
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Critics of the Biden administration’s energy policies have often pointed out the lack of forethought that goes into the challenges in bringing President Joe Biden’s vision to fruition. Whether it’s the misguided effort to build out charging stations to support its EV mandate, or the impacts of its offshore wind goals on marine wildlife, the administration has seemed more interested in goals than thoughtful planning and analysis of impacts.
A pair of analysts have been conducting research on federal and state green energy policies on the grid and finding what they call short-sighted thinking when it comes to the policies’ impacts on energy reliability and affordability. The business they’ve founded offering these services, Always On Energy Research, had so much demand, they didn’t start advertising until a few months after they opened their doors.
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A Georgia Senate subcommittee looking into the Fulton County Jail has issued a report with 17 recommendations for improving the facility’s conditions, including a suggestion that Fulton County Superior Court judges should carry full dockets.
The report caps a months-long review by the Senate Public Safety Subcommittee on the Fulton County Jail. The recommendations could guide legislative action when lawmakers return to Atlanta next year.
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The Pentagon’s chief spokesman has long insisted there was no “chaos” during the bungled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but his own email correspondence shows senior officials were acutely aware that conditions in the country were chaotic and spiraling into deadly violence, according to newly obtained government documents.
These memos and emails chronicle political efforts by the Biden/Harris administration to soft-pedal the truth to the American people about its first major foreign crisis. The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the nonprofit watchdog Functional Government Initiative.
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Family members of those killed by violent foreign nationals released into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration have endorsed President Donald Trump for president.
They joined Trump at a news conference in Montezuma Pass at the Arizona-Mexico border in Cochise County on Thursday, where Trump described the types of crimes being committed against Americans by what he described as some of the most dangerous people in the world.
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The Tennessee Valley Authority will begin a 5.25 percent base rate increase Oct. 1, something the energy supplier says will equate to a $4.35 per month increase on the average $138 residential bill.
The increase comes after a 4.5 percent increase a year ago.
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In the wake of widespread fears of climate change, an entire new field of psychotherapy has sprung up to treat what is being called “climate anxiety.”
Climate-aware therapists are specialists who treat people whose anxiety about climate change interferes with their enjoyment of life. These specialists are now available in just about every major city across the United States.
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While former President Donald Trump has yet to release an updated list of potential Supreme Court nominees, conservatives hope a second term would secure more originalist judges on the bench.
Trump’s appointments to both the Supreme Court and the lower courts have been frequently cited as his greatest accomplishment as president. He’s promised on multiple occasions to release a new list of possible nominees ahead of the election, but the names to be included remain up in the air, though many in the conservative legal world believe his appointees to the federal appeals courts are among the likely choices.
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Cobb County commissioners are expected to vote Tuesday on a measure that the board’s District 2 seat “is deemed vacant” following a judge’s ruling this week.
Last month, Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill ruled that the map of commission districts that county leaders created in October 2022 was unconstitutional and outside the home rule powers.
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An article published by the spokesperson for the group of Arizona activists who successfully gathered signatures for an abortion referendum, Prop. 139, explained the group sued to remove the phrase “unborn human being” from the November ballot because they view it as unscientific and “tinged with anti-abortion sentiment.”
The Louisiana Illuminator reported on Sunday that Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson Chris Love told the outlet on August 16 they sought to replace the phrase “unborn human being” with “fetus,” describing it as “the scientific, medically-accurate language.”
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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell released details of a public safety proposal he plans to put before the Metro Nashville Council, revealing the mayor seeks to impose restrictions on face masks and other face coverings in public spaces.
In a Friday statement from the mayor’s office, O’Connell confirmed four piece of legislation he said would “boost public safety” but recognize “First Amendment rights to peacefully gather and speak.”
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In 2014, Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Guatemala by President Barack Obama to implore Latin American countries and their citizens to stop smuggling unaccompanied children into the United States.
“These smugglers routinely engage in physical and sexual abuse and extortion of these innocent, young women and men, by and large,” Biden said in a speech in Guatemala City.
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Nashville’s Metro Council is on board and a new East Bank Development Authority will be created after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill creating the board in May.
The East Bank area is the land between Interstate 24, I-65 and the Cumberland River.
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Immigration policy think tank the Center for Immigration Studies released its updated map of American sanctuary locations on Thursday, revealing a surge in Virginia localities adopting sanctuary status.
The center added 36 Virginia localities to its map for a total of 84.
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Some Arizona leaders are hoping cell phones will be banned throughout the school day as part of state law in next legislative session.
“This is a real emergency, the problem of cell phones in the classroom,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said at a news conference on Thursday, arguing that the issue of students being distracted in classes continues to worsen.
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Indiana’s state securities regulator issued a cease and desist order against BlackRock Thursday, accusing the investment giant of fraudulent actions related to its ESG products and offerings. The company denies the allegations.
According to the Indiana Securities Division, BlackRock has repeatedly made false and misleading statements to Indiana investors with regards to the company’s ESG products. Indiana accuses BlackRock of pushing ESG factors on portfolio companies and informing clients they would see better long-term returns on their investments through ESG-backed funds. Though, according to the order, there was little to no evidence to substantiate the claim.
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