Davidson County Sheriff Reduces Jail Population During Coronavirus Emergency

Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall announced he has initiated plans to reduce the number of inmates in sheriff’s office custody as the coronavirus emergency continues.

This, according to a press release Hall put out this week.

Those plans include expanding pre-trial release criteria and eliminating the work release program. PTR participants are expected to double over the next few days and all work release inmates are being furloughed immediately, the press release said.

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Judge Warren Commentary: Electronic Learning During the Times of the Coronavirus

With the coronavirus, schools across America are scrambling to put together a hodgepodge of solutions to continue teaching for learning while their buildings are closed.  Many are valiantly attempting to leverage technology to create on-line and virtual learning opportunities. Unfortunately, weaknesses in technological infrastructure, teacher preparation shortfalls, inequities among students, and ill-equipped students and parents are barriers to success.  The information highway has more than one virtual flat tire.

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Number of Confirmed Coronavirus Cases in Tennessee Surpasses 200

Tennessee had 228 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Friday evening, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website, although Friday’s news brought cause for some optimism, at least in Davidson County.

Davidson County continued to have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, 101, according to the TDH website. This, even though Alex Jahangir, who chairs that county’s Metro Coronavirus Task Force, said the number was higher at a press conference Friday morning.

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New American Populist Founder Jeff Webb Proposes the ‘Temporary Income Replacement Act’ as a Bold Solution to Help Bolster American Families and the Economy

Live from Nashville, Tennessee Friday morning on 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. Jeff Webb, founder, and chairman of The New American Populist (TNAP) joined Leahy on the newsmakers line.

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ACLU, Other Activist Groups Demand Voter Registration Deadline in Ohio Be Moved with New Primary Election Date

early voting

A collective of activist groups submitted a letter to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose demanding that the changes to the primary election also follow the National Voter Registration Act and the Ohio Constitution.

The letter from League of Women Voters of Ohio, A. Philip Randolph Institute Ohio, ACLU of Ohio, Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, and Demos reminded La Rose that the deadline for voter registration must be no more than 30 days before a federal election.

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DeWine to Business Owners: ‘The Reckless Behavior Must Stop’

Gov. Mike DeWine, during Friday’s press conference on the coronavirus, told business owners that if they don’t follow social distance rules and keep their employees safe there could be consequences.

“Let me make it very clear: I will err on the side of protecting people,” DeWine said at the press conference. “The bad behavior, the reckless behavior, must stop. The protection of life is the most important obligation that I have.”

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22 Percent of New York State Residents Tested for Coronavirus are Positive, Ohio Refuses to Release Negative Test Data So No One Knows Rate in State

How many people have tested negative for the coronavirus in Ohio? That’s on a need to know basis, and Gov. Mike DeWine has decided you don’t need to know.

Meanwhile, in New York State, 22 percent of people who took the test were positive, according to The COVID Tracking Project, so residents there at least know what they’re facing.

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Gov. Lee Says Churches Are ‘Risking People’s Lives’ By Continuing to Hold Services

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said during a Friday press conference that churches that continue to hold services are putting people’s lives at risk.

“Churches that continue to meet and gather with elderly and putting groups of people in the same setting, quite frankly, they’re risking people’s lives,” Lee said during an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. “There are ways to worship and there are ways to serve without congregating people, and I’m urging and challenging churches to do just that.”

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Tennessee Applies for Economic Injury Disaster Loan Assistance

Tennessee has submitted a request for Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday.

The assistance allows small businesses and nonprofit organizations negatively impacted by the coronavirus to apply for loans of up to $2 million.

“For most of my life, I’ve been a small business owner and understand the unique challenges each of you face,” Lee said in a statement. “While I am pleased with our progress on targeted relief for small businesses, we know this is just a first step from our federal partners to provide liquidity to our businesses. We are in constant dialogue with our delegation members to ensure that federal aid is responsive to our concerns and needs.”

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Is the Ohio Department of Health Refusing to Release Coronavirus Test Data to Conceal Lower Than National Average Percentage of Positive Tests?

  During the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Amy Acton have taken a number of actions, some controversial, designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Just in the last ten days, DeWine has closed bars and schools, postponed primaries and banned mass gatherings. Even more controversially, on Monday Acton defied the order of an Ohio court and ordered the cancellation of the Ohio primary election, a usurpation of the Ohio General Assembly’s constitutional authority to set election dates. Gov. DeWine clearly orchestrated this controversial decision. Despite these dramatic and controversial actions by DeWine and Acton, Ohio has lagged behind every other state in the country in reporting the number of negative coronavirus tests in the state. It stopped releasing that data on Monday. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) said Thursday that every state must report aggregated data of coronavirus testing to it. Currently, ODH only shows the number of confirmed cases, number of counties in Ohio with a case and the number of hospitalizations. This causes concern because last week, Acton and DeWine said they were operating as if 100,000 Ohioans had the virus. “Just the fact of community spread says at…

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Bill Hagerty Says We Must Hold China Accountable for Coronavirus

Republican senatorial candidate Bill Hagerty said this week that China should be held accountable for the Wuhan Coronavirus.

“The Wuhan coronavirus is officially a pandemic, and yet China continues to work overtime to conceal the origins and deflect any and all blame for this deadly illness — at the expense of the world’s health and our economy. While China withheld valuable, lifesaving information, President Trump endured partisan criticism as he took decisive action that helped slow the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus to the United States,” Hagerty said in a new column on Breitbart.com.

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President Trump Says FDA Has Approved Testing of Anti-Malaria Drug Chloroquine for Treating Coronavirus

President Donald Trump announced during a Thursday press briefing that the anti-malarial drug chloroquine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.

The announcement comes the day after Breitbart News reported that the medical establishment has known about chloroquine’s effectiveness in treating the virus since at least the 2005 SARS coronavirus outbreak.

“Clinical trials are already underway for many new therapies and we’re working on scaling these to allow many more Americans to access different drugs that have shown really good promise,” President Trump said.

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Commentary: After the Coronavirus Outbreak, We Don’t Need Universal Income, We Need a Rehiring Tax Credit to Get Back to Work

Congress is passing plans to provide for long-term paid sick leave and family medical leave to tens of millions of Americans, actively encouraging people to stay home, and essentially telling employers to lay off employees while brick and mortar businesses, schools and government offices are all closed, all in a bid to slow down the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.

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Crom Carmichael Expresses His Concern for Small Business Owners and How the Federally Proposed Stimulus Will Still Keep Things Tight for Families

Live from Nashville, Tennessee Wednesday morning on 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.– Leahy and Carmichael discussed the economy and its effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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COVID-19: Rep. Mark Green Sends Letter to Department of Education Asking for Recognition of Schools’ Ability to Administer Statewide Assessments

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Michael Patrick Leahy spoke to U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-7) regarding his recent letter to the United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

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