Tag: Chattanooga

‘Chattanooga Youth Pride’ to Host Drag Shows at Seed Theatre

Peter D'Abrosca

To kick off Pride Month on June 1, a group called “Chattanooga Youth Pride” will host drag shows for children at the Seed Theatre in the Scenic City.

“The highlight of the event, there’s a stage set up for live performances by talented LGBTQ+ youth artists, including singers, dancers, poets, and drag performers,” says an online invite to the event. “The performances showcase the diversity and creativity of the community, while spreading messages of love, acceptance, and pride.”

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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee Joins Group of Governors in Opposing UAW’s Unionization Campaign

Kaitlin Housler
Bill Lee Volkswagen

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee joined the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas in issuing a joint statement in opposition of the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) unionization campaign.

The coalition of governors said it is “highly concerned” about the unionization campaign, adding such efforts are “driven by misinformation and scare tactics.”

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United Auto Workers’ Push for Unionization in Tennessee Sets Up Industry Disruption, Expert Says

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Volkswagen Plant Chattanooga

After recent wins, the United Auto Workers (UAW) looks poised to take on the non-unionized automakers and, if successful, could disrupt the whole industry.

The UAW recently filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which employs around 4,000 autoworkers, as it looks to expand its reach to other automakers. A successful union vote in Chattanooga could be a key stepping stone in the UAW’s effort to break into the currently non-unionized auto plants, especially in the south, which has historically been less receptive to unions, all the while the UAW is being emboldened by labor-friendly regulators from the Biden administration, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Vinnie Vernuccio Says New Attempt to Unionize the Chattanooga Volkswagen Plant Seems to be ‘Failing’

Kaitlin Housler

Vinnie Vernuccio, president of the Institute for the American Worker, said workers’ latest attempts to unionize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga appear to be “failing.”

On Monday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced that a group of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the labor union.

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Gun Thefts from Nashville Vehicles Down 43 Percent for First Six Weeks of 2024

Matthew Giffin

The number of gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville for the first six weeks of the year decreased 43% from 2023, according to a press release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

So far, 90 guns have been stolen from Nashville cars compared to last year’s 158. Gun thefts from cars comprise 72% of all gun thefts in Nashville so far for 2024.

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UAW Says Majority of Workers at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant Have Voted to Unionize

Peter D'Abrosca

According to a statement from United Auto Workers (UAW), more than half of the employees at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant have voted to unionize. 

“A majority of workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant have signed cards to join the UAW, less than sixty days after the workers announced their campaign to form a union at the German automaker’s only US assembly plant,” according to a UAW press release.

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Former Trump Campaign Spokesman Steve Cortes: Chattanooga is Trying to Implement Policy ‘Straight from the World Economic Forum’

Kaitlin Housler

Steve Cortes, former Senior Spokesman and Strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and National Spokesman of the Ron DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy where he discussed the city of Chattanooga’s embracement of the 15-Minute City concept.

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Chattanooga Mayor’s ‘Hate’ Council Strategized with Far-Left Group Demonizing Moms for Liberty

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Tennessee’s third-largest city launched a council to oppose “hate” and “extremism” in 2018, and that council has repeatedly collaborated with the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, which is notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits “hate groups,” putting them on a “hate map” alongside the Ku Klux Klan.

Then-Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, a Democrat, launched the Council Against Hate in 2018. In doing so, he referenced a July 2015 shooting in the Tennessee city.

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Report Shows Massive Growth in Tennessee Charter Schools

Peter D'Abrosca

A public policy group in Tennessee released a report this week showing a massive uptick in charter school growth in the Volunteer State. 

According the report by The Beacon Center of Tennessee, charter schools in Tennessee have increased in number from fewer than 20 in 2010 to more than 110 in 2019. Such schools have only become more popular since 2019, and more than 44,000 students in the state are enrolled in a charter school.

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Chattanooga Church Network Given Grant to Build Affordable Housing

Peter D'Abrosca

Following the news that a large Pentecostal church organization held a ribbon cutting ceremony on 20 new affordable housing units in Memphis, the city of Chattanooga has struck a similar deal with a network of churches. 

“Kingdom Partners housing development group was selected by the city of Chattanooga for a grant of more than a million dollars to develop affordable housing units in Chattanooga,” according to reports. “The goal is push out 30 units over a two-year span with the help of churches and nonprofits in the area.”

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The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Urges Nashville Citizens to Secure Firearms After 1,163 Thefts from Vehicles This Year

Kaitlyn Osteen

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department continues to plead with the citizens of Nashville to lock their car doors and secure their guns as the number of firearms stolen from vehicles climbs to 1,163 this year.

“It’s become a disturbing trend, and it needs to stop; guns being stolen from vehicles. Criminals are continuously checking door handles, ready to steal, and it guns are left visible, they will do whatever it takes to break in. It takes just seconds for someone to grab your gun and go. Stats from this year shows a tremendous increase in guns being stolen from vehicles,” Chief of Police John Drake said in a video posted by MNPD in September.

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Some in Hamilton County Fear Civil Service System Will Go Too Far in Protecting Bureaucrats

Bradley Vasoli

Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp (R) and others argue that the civil service measure recently passed by county commissioners bestows excessive protections on bureaucrats. 

The legislative body approved the policy and another resolution extending County Attorney Rheubin Taylor’s contract, which Wamp tried to terminate earlier this month. The civil-service resolution would require a dismissal of a protected county staffer to undergo review by a special commission. 

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Hamilton County School Board Member Not Backing Down Despite Calls for Her Resignation

Peter D'Abrosca

A Hamilton County School Board member has fired back after a left-wing Hispanic group called for her job over comments she made regarding the explosion in growth in the school district’s Hispanic population. 

“We had about 8,000 Hispanic students last school year, and at last count the number was 8,671 this year,” Rhonda Thurman told The Chattanoogan in August, sparking the controversy. “They arrive every day at schools like Howard in groups of five or more. It is mind-boggling to me the burden it puts on the schools, the teachers and the taxpayers.”

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Hispanic Group Demands Resignation of Hamilton County School Board Member over ‘Attacks on Marginalized Communities’

Peter D'Abrosca

A left-wing Hispanic group is calling for the resignation of a member of the Hamilton County School Board after that school board member noted a vast increase in the number of Hispanic students enrolled in county schools.

“We had about 8,000 Hispanic students last school year, and at last count the number was 8,671 this year,” Peggy Thurman told The Chattanoogan in August. “They arrive every day at schools like Howard in groups of five or more. It is mind-boggling to me the burden it puts on the schools, the teachers and the taxpayers.”

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Tennessee State Comptroller Jason Mumpower Signs Off on $100 Million Development Plan Centered Around Chattanooga Lookouts Stadium: Report

Kaitlyn Osteen

Tennessee State Comptroller Jason Mumpower gave his conditional approval for the plan to build the new South Broad District in Chattanooga, which includes the Chattanooga Lookouts’ new stadium.

In a letter to Attorney Mamantov, Comptroller Mumpower stated that the final contract is in the best interest of the city if it includes a commitment to make annual lease payments of at least one million dollars for the next 30 years and if all excess tax revenues will be used for eligible purposes.

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Woke Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Head Leaving for Oklahoma City

Peter D'Abrosca

The president and CEO of Chattanooga’s Chamber of Commerce, credited with spreading woke ideology during her time as the chamber’s leader, is leaving Chattanooga to take the same role in Oklahoma City.

Christy Gillenwater’s work “led to hiring a newly established Vice President of Diversity and Inclusive Growth as well as establishing the CEO Pledge for Racial Equity, a commitment by CEOs to intentionally enhance their efforts to achieve equity of opportunity within organizations and the broader Chattanooga community,” according to The Chattanoogan. 

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Hamilton County Conservatives Start Petition to Ban All-Ages Drag Shows

Peter D'Abrosca

A conservative non-profit in Hamilton County has launched a petition to bar anyone under 18 years old from attending a drag show. 

“We the people of Tennessee sign below petitioning the legislature of our state to pass a law that requires all drag performances be for persons who have reached the age of 18 and above only,” says a petition page on the group’s website. “Children under the age of 18 shall not be permitted to attend, even if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.”

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Chattanooga Brewery Responds After Video Shows Child Touching Groin of Drag Queen

Peter D'Abrosca

The brewery where a child touched the groin of a drag queen at a “family friendly” drag show claims it is the victim of Republican smears. 

“We hosted Chattanooga Pride on Saturday September 24 as one of their locations to hold a Family Friendly Pride Event as part of Chattanooga Pride Week,” said Wanderlinger Brewing Company Co-Owner Chris Dial. “We have hosted a few of these events over the last few years for them with one of the more recent even including local politicians. The video that was taken by a supporter of Robby Starbuck [and] was a targeted attack against our business and more specifically the LGBQT community as seen with similar events they targeted at [Tennessee] Tech, Memphis and calling for action against more. If you look at his social media he is very strongly targeting this kind of activity across the state, whether you agree or not that is the fact.”

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Massive Volkswagen Plant in Chattanooga Begins Producing Electric Vehicles

Peter D'Abrosca

A German automobile manufacturer with a plant in Chattanooga Wednesday announced that that location has become the first company’s first site in the United States to solely produce electric vehicles. 

“We’re just starting to write a new chapter for Volkswagen in America, and it is very much an American story,” said Thomas Schäfer, global  Chairman of the Volkswagen. “When we promised to bring Volkswagen EVs to the millions, it always included American workers building those EVs right there in Chattanooga. We couldn’t be prouder to see that vision realized today with our ID.4 electric flagship rolling off the lines. This is another milestone in Volkswagen’s ambitious electrification strategy for the U.S. market and globally.”

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Study: One in Five New Tennesseans from California

Peter D'Abrosca

As Tennessee experiences a massive influx of new residents from across the country, a study found that one state in particular is a popular feeder for the Volunteer State. 

“Our 2022 data shows that California is the largest contributor to Tennessee’s population increase,” according to a MoveBuddha study. “Nearly a quarter (22.14%) of all search queries for moves into Tennessee are from the Golden State.”

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Chattanooga Will Spend $80 Million on New Stadium for Minor League Baseball Team

Peter D'Abrosca

The city of Chattanooga will spend tens of millions of dollars to build a new baseball stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor league affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds.

“For more than two decades, this 140 acres around us have sat vacant as a sad, rusting reminder of our wasted potential,” Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly said in a press conference from what used to be the US Pipe site near I-24. “There have been no less than eight studies conducted on this site since 2003, but despite that, our western gateway has remained a blighted brownfield doing absolutely nothing to increase jobs, tourism or quality of life for our residents.”

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Chattanooga Department of Public Works Announces 90 Percent of Potholes Have Been Filled Through Mayor Kelly’s ‘One Chattanooga’ Initiative

Kaitlin Housler

Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works has inspected more than 95 percent of all streets and filled in 90 percent of all potholes, according to a report delivered to the Chattanooga City Council.  

Along with filling potholes, Public Works has created work orders for issues that require more than a patch, such as utility trench settlement, base failure, lack of base, and slope failure, according to the report.

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Shelby and Hamilton Counties Use Same Bail Calculation Tool That Left-Leaning Philanthropist Designed for Waukesha, Wisconsin

Chris Butler

Officials in two Tennessee counties, Shelby and Hamilton, use a bail calculation tool for criminal defendants that is also used in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Waukesha is where suspect Darrell Brooks Jr. faces homicide charges for using his car to kill six people at a recent holiday gathering. Prosecutors handling a previous case of physical abuse and vehicular assault involving Brooks asked a court to set bail bond for the defendant at a mere $1,000. Court officials agreed.

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TBI Sting Nets a Dozen Alleged Human Traffickers in Chattanooga

Morgan Nicole Veysey

Eleven men were arrested in Chattanooga this week for seeking illicit sex from minors, and one woman was charged with promoting prostitution.

The arrests were made during a two-day undercover Human Trafficking Operation run by Chattanooga Police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Homeland Security Investigations, and the Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force.

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Several City Council Districts in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee Likely to Shift

Bradley Vasoli

Metropolitan Nashville’s (MetroNashville) Council, the legislature for the city of Nashville and Davidson County, is currently preparing to consider a second draft of the its newly revised Council-district map.

A number of Nashville Council’s 35 districts stand to change dramatically, particularly with districts losing land mass in the city’s northeast, as population growth there has not kept pace with the city’s southern area.

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New Construction Career School Breaks Ground in Hamilton County

Kaitlin Housler

A new construction vocational facility for high school students and adults broke ground in Hamilton County on Thursday. Next week, workers will officially begin the building process of the Construction Career Center in Chattanooga’s Avondale neighborhood.

The old, vacant Mary Ann Garber School at 2225 Roanoke Avenue in Chattanooga is being renovated in order to house the new college-level vocational training center for 11th and 12th-grade students as well as adults in the community.

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This Fall and Winter, Redistricting Will Occupy Minds of Tennessee Politicians and Activists on the State and Local Levels

Bradley Vasoli
Tennessee State Capitol at night in winter

After the finalization of the U.S. Census every ten years, state and local governments set about redrawing their lawmakers’ and school directors’ district lines.

Throughout this fall and winter, legislators across the state will toil over this process sure to directly impact many of their futures. Although political considerations inevitably loom large in redistricting, the proceedings are theoretically intended to make districts as compact and contiguous as possible—i.e. to ensure that they don’t look like irregular puzzle pieces.

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Mayors of Tennessee’s Largest Cities Refuse to Say Whether They Support Critical Race Theory in K-12 Public Schools

Chris Butler

The mayors of Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville declined to say Monday whether they support public schools teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT). This, even though those four mayors — Jim Cooper, Jim Strickland, Tim Kelly, and Indya Kincannon — belong to the United States Conference of Mayors, which recently adopted a resolution supporting CRT in K-12 public schools.

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State Expects Chattanooga Migrant Children Shelter’s License to Be Suspended into Fall

The Center Square

A closed shelter in Chattanooga again was the focus Thursday for much of the Tennessee Legislature’s Study Committee on Refugee Issues meeting.

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Jennifer Nichols said the home, run by the Georgia-based Baptiste Group, remains under suspension as the Baptiste Group appeals its license suspension in chancery court.

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Tennessee Labor Department Offering English Literacy, Civics Education Grant for Hamilton County Immigrants – No Proof of Legal Status Required

Corinne Murdock

Tennessee’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) is offering grants to educate Hamilton County immigrants in English literacy and civics. However, TDLWD confirmed with The Tennessee Star that it won’t be requiring proof of legal status for participation. TDLWD hasn’t required proof for nearly two years. The department explained that its Adult Education Division made the change to align with federal regulations concerning the program. The only requirements for immigrants who participate in the program are that they are over 16 years old, not enrolled in secondary school, and classified as an English language learner.

Hamilton County drew significant attention over the last few months after it was discovered that the Biden Administration was driving and flying unaccompanied migrant children into Chattanooga. Several weeks ago, followup reports emerged that these children were potentially enduring abuse at their holding facilities. Around the same time, one teenage boy went missing from the Chattanooga facility.

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NOVONIX Plans $160 Million Expansion in Chattanooga, Expected to Add 290 Jobs

The Center Square
At NREL future research should focus on understanding consumer driving and charging behavior and the nuances determining the choice of residential charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). Shown is in the Power Systems Lab in the Energy systems Integration Facility (ESIF)

Tennessee’s role as a center for creating electric vehicles continues to expand.

On Tuesday, NOVONIX announced a $160 million expansion that is expected to create 290 new jobs at its Chattanooga manufacturing facility.

Since March 2017, NOVONIX has made anodes through its PUREgraphite brand. Anodes are a negative electrode used in creating lithium-ion batteries, specifically those used in electric vehicles.

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Feds Bust More Tennessee Felons Possessing Firearms

Chris Butler

Federal officials in Tennessee reported that two more convicted felons in the state have run afoul of the law for owning firearms even though the law forbids it. After a two-day trial, a federal jury in Memphis convicted Carl Clarke, 31, already a convicted felon, for possessing a firearm. This, according to a press release that Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr., published this week.

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