The Democrats’ desperate gamble that by holding up the coronavirus relief bill they can extort political concessions that will guarantee them victory in the November 2020 election must not be allowed to succeed.
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The 2020 Olympics have been delayed for about a year after an agreement was reached between Japan and the International Olympic Committee.
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U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Tuesday that the current coronavirus emergency has frightened the state’s small business owners — and Congressional Democrats’ actions this week did not help matters.
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Members of one organization are warning sheriffs throughout Tennessee not to release inmates from their jails unless they notify the inmates’ alleged victims.
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The Maryland Department of Health told The Tennessee Star earlier this week that it is working to provide “timely testing number data.”
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Live from Music Row on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast live Tuesday morning on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Dr. John R. Lott, Jr. founder and president of the Crime Prevention and Research Center (CPRC) to the newsmakers line. Lott is also an economist and a world-recognized expert on guns and crime and a former professor at Yale, Stanford and the University of Chicago.
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The shortage of N95 respirator masks in America today is the result of the Obama-Biden Administration’s failure to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile after the H1N1 swine flu pandemic depleted supplies, according to multiple reports.
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Tennessee announced Tuesday that it has a total of 667 people diagnosed with the coronavirus. Even though the number of cases has increased, the percentage of people who have tested positive remains low.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-TN-07) announced that he will host a series of Facebook and Tele-Town Halls about COVID-19 starting Thursday.
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Governor Mike DeWine’s press secretary Daniel Tierney said that Ohio “is in and has been in full compliance” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) reporting standards, even though the state altered it’s reporting of COVID-19 test result on March 15 to exclude negative test results.
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As Michigan hospitals face potential shortages of medical supplies, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is asking Michigan residents and businesses to donate face masks, personal protective equipment and other essential medical supplies.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a Monday press briefing that he predicts 40 to 80 percent of the state’s population will be infected with the coronavirus.
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A fundraiser for AIDS and HIV awareness has rescheduled to be an online event due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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A doctor in the Minnesota Senate warned leaders Monday that the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic could be more harmful than the virus itself.
Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska), a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and founder of Catalyst Medical Clinic, said that the disruption to everyday routines could have devastating consequences for people with underlying medical conditions.
“Scaring people to death isn’t helping us. We are going to in short order, if not already now, have supply chains get interrupted and some of these are critical supply chains. We need to be careful,” Jensen said in a video posted to Facebook.
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School food services will be considered critical infrastructure under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order, according to an announcement from the governor’s office on Monday.
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Democrats in the Tennessee Senate asked Gov. Bill Lee to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order Monday to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
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In all the gloom and doom, and media-driven nihilism, there is actually an array of good news. As many predicted, as testing spreads, and we get a better idea of the actual number and nature of cases, the death rate from coronavirus slowly but also seems to steadily decline.
Early estimates from the World Health Organization and the modeling of pessimists of a constant 4 percent death rate for those infected with the virus are for now proving exaggerated for the United States. More likely, as testing spreads, our fatality rates could descend to near 1 percent.
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Officials at the Goodlettsville-based Dollar General stores announced Monday that they will nearly double their normal hiring rate and add up to 50,000 employees by end of April.
This, during heightened demand for household essentials that the store offers during the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“We are proud to serve as one of America’s essential retailers, and we believe our customers are relying on us now more than ever to provide an affordable, convenient retail option,” said Kathy Reardon, Dollar General’s senior vice president and chief people officer, in the press release.
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Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris on Monday announced that county and other local officials will enforce a stay-at-home order for residents because of the coronavirus emergency.
Harris announced this at a press conference Monday.
“The coronavirus is a major disruption to our way of life,” Harris said.
“And we have to expect that it could be a long-lasting effect on our way or life.”
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A new policy brief lays out actions that Ohio policymakers can immediately implement so Ohio can fight and yet recover from the coronavirus pandemic, and it doesn’t involve unilaterally moving primaries or shutting down businesses.
The Buckeye Institute released the brief on Monday.
The brief, Policy Solutions for the Pandemic: How Ohio Can Fight the Impact of Coronavirus, is available here.
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Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies Don Barnett joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Monday morning on the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Barnett detailed his recent trip to and from Russia and how he was discouraged to see no special treatment for coronavirus temperature screening upon arrival at US customs.
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CVS Health plans on hiring 50,000 employees to fill full-time, part-time and temporary positions as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the United States, the company announced on Monday.
Available roles include store associates, home delivery drivers, distribution center employees and customer service employees. CVS said many roles will be filled by employees from current CVS Health clients that have had to furlough workers, such as Hilton and Marriott.
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by Peter Hasson World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus won his post after China backed him in the May 2017 election. Now, Tedros is leading the WHO, an arm of the United Nations, in providing cover for China’s oppressive regime as it attempts to shirk responsibility for the global coronavirus pandemic. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Chinese authorities are weaving a false counternarrative in which China was actually the victim of a foreign virus that it quickly moved to contain. And the WHO is helping them do it. Tedros has praised China’s “transparency” and held up the country as a model response — even though the communist regime covered and then concealed the severity of the outbreak. Chinese authorities forced scientists who discovered the virus in December to destroy proof of the virus, U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times reported. The Chinese regime also punished doctors who tried to warn the public in the outbreak’s early stages and suppressed information about the virus online. A Chinese real estate mogul who criticized his government’s response has since gone missing. Approximately seven million people left Wuhan in January, spreading the virus all over China and all over the world, before China restricted travel to Wuhan on Jan. 22, The…
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Michigan residents have been ordered to stay inside their homes as part of a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Monday.
The order, effective at 12:01 a.m. on March 24, prohibits people leaving their home unless they are engaged in an outdoor activity, performing necessary tasks like going to a hospital or grocery store, or are part of an industry deemed essential. The lockdown will be in place for three weeks.
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Alabama is now providing aggregated data for the coronavirus pandemic, state officials told The Michigan Star earlier this week.
Per Section 1702 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires states to provide “aggregated data on testing and results from State and local public health departments.” Aggregated data includes both positive and negative test results.
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Abortion clinics across Ohio are continuing to schedule surgical abortions during the coronavirus pandemic despite being told not to by state government officials.
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In his daily press briefing Monday, Governor Mike DeWine declared a hiring freeze for State of Ohio employees to, in part, deal with the revenues shortfall caused by the statewide “Stay at Home” shutdown due to the Chinese Virus outbreak.
“State revenue will continue to go down dramatically and it’s important as governor that we take action now and not wait,” DeWine said.
In addition to new hires, the governor halted pay increases and promotions for state of Ohio unclassified and exempt staff and a freeze on new contract services for the state of Ohio – with the exception for those services that are necessary for the emergency response.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday morning that he is in self-quarantine at the Governor’s Residence after contacting someone with the coronavirus. “After learning I had contact with someone who has COVID-19, I plan to lead by example and work from home. I currently have no symptoms and will continue working tirelessly to combat the spread of COVID-19,” Walz said on Twitter. After learning I had contact with someone who has COVID-19, I plan to lead by example and work from home. I currently have no symptoms and will continue working tirelessly to combat the spread of COVID-19. #StayHomeMN — Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) March 23, 2020 He later revealed that a member of his “dedicated” security detail tested positive for COVID-19 late Sunday night. “He did everything exactly right. I had been with him a few days prior, so according to the CDC and Minnesota Department of Health regulations, I am self-quarantined with my family here. We are operating everything as normal,” the governor said in a video message later in the day. This isn’t a typical Monday morning but we’re still hard at work to combat the #COVIDー19 crisis. Minnesotans have been through long winters before, we’ll get…
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Tennessee’s second confirmed COVID-19 death was the brother of Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, according to a statement Flanagan posted to Instagram Sunday night.
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Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Monday that her husband (pictured right) has been hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Klobuchar said her family received the test results early Monday morning and said her husband, John, is currently “cut off from all visitors.”
He started to feel sick when the senator was in Minnesota and he was in Washington, D.C. for his teaching job. According to Klobuchar, her husband was “checked into a hospital in Virginia” after he “started coughing up blood.”
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Bill Hagerty, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Tennessee, announced that he will be hosting a telephone town hall Wednesday with Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s director for the National Economic Council.
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Speaking on NBC Monday morning, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Americans should expect for a “bad” week when it comes to developments surrounding the coronavirus.
“I want America to understand. This week, it’s going to get bad,” Adams told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
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President Trump’s policies have brought this country historic levels of prosperity, but Democrats have been predicting an imminent economic crisis from virtually the moment he was elected. Now, as the novel coronavirus sows panic in the markets, the president’s opponents are hoping they’ve finally found a way to hamstring the strong and growing American economy.
The Democratic presidential candidates, for instance, quickly began stoking fears of a possible recession caused by the coronavirus, preemptively asserting that it would be the president’s fault.
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Tennessee had more than 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday night, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website.
Davidson County continued to have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases by far at 179. But, as of Sunday night, Shelby County overtook Williamson County and ranked as having the second highest number of confirmed cases, according to TDH.
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Mayo Clinic announced last week that it can now test up to 4,000 clinical samples for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on a daily basis.
Mayo officials said they now have the capacity to process COVID-19 test samples at all Mayo Clinic sites and have started processing test samples from their clients across the state, including eight major health systems.
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A coalition of computer coders and medical experts is looking for volunteers — including from the Volunteer State — to help provide better information on COVID-19 coronavirus testing sites.
TechCrunch reported on the one-week-old Coders Against Covid project, which is building a database of testing sites. The team of about 15 developers includes Andrew Kemendo of KesselRun, an Air Force software developer, and Dr. Jorge A. Caballero, a clinical instructor of Anesthesia at Stanford University. The goal is to inform officials tracking the disease and to better distribute the tests where they are needed.
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Despite a massive media outcry, President Trump has continued to go out of his way to pin the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic on communist China.
A photo of the president’s notes taken during Thursday’s press briefing with the coronavirus task force, underscores that effort.
“Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out ‘Corona’ and replaced it with ‘Chinese’ Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House,” Jabin Botsford, a staff photographer at The Washington Post, tweeted.
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Ohio Democrats called Attorney General Dave Yost “opportunistic” for urging abortion clinics to close during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health issued an executive order Tuesday that required health providers to cancel all non-essential or elective surgeries that utilize personal protective equipment (PPE).
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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement his staff released on his social media accounts Sunday afternoon.
“He is feeling fine and is in quarantine. He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person,” according to the statement.
“He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time. Ten days ago, our D.C. office began operating remotely, hence virtually no staff has had contact with Senator Rand Paul.”
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Governor Mike DeWine – through Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton – announced Sunday that a two-week, statewide ‘Stay at Home’ order will be in effect beginning 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 23 and will last through April 6 at 11:59pm:
On Sunday, March 22th, under the direction of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH issued a director’s order to require all Ohioans to stay in their homes to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 beginning at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 23, 2020 until 11:59 p.m. on April 6, 2020. This order prohibits holding gatherings of any size and closes all nonessential businesses. It does NOT prohibit essential activities like going to the grocery store, receiving medical care, or taking your pet for a walk. Residents can return home from out of state and can leave the state.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive action Sunday ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created both an economic and a health crisis and our response must continue to address both aspects,” Lee said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep the public, especially vulnerable populations, safe while doing everything possible to keep Tennesseans in a financially stable position.”
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A California-based molecular diagnostics company announced Saturday they will ship a point-of-care test next week that they say can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19 in 45 minutes.
Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave that company, Cepheid, Emergency Use Authorization to do so, company officials said in a press release.
Called the Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2, the test is designed to operate on any of Cepheid’s more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide, with a detection time of less than one hour.
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Tennessee had 371 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website Saturday evening.
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With every passing moment, nations are establishing precedents for how to contain and ultimately stop a global pandemic. Because the novel coronavirus apparently originated in Wuhan and was immediately covered up by the Chinese Communist Party, the health and welfare of the Chinese people and all other affected populations have suffered from this lethal malfeasance.
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The State of Connecticut has gotten on board with the CDC to report negative test results to help the agency better track the spread of the coronavirus, leaving Ohio and Maryland as the only holdouts in complying with federal law.
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U.S. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida on Saturday released what he described as a 30-Day Plan to help America get back to normal following the spread of the coronavirus.
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Ventilators across the world are in scarce supply as the number of coronavirus patients continues to rise, but a Detroit doctor has provided health care workers with an ingenious solution.
To make sure his hospital is prepared, Dr. Alain Gauthier, an anesthetist at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in Canada, rigged a single ventilator to treat up to as many as nine people at once.
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Three states out of the total 50 being tracked by the COVID Tracking Project have been given the letter grade of “D” for data tracking quality.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has ordered abortion clinics to stop performing surgical abortions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Gov. Tim Walz has issued 12 executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Senate Republicans think some of his actions aren’t within his constitutional authority.
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