Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Carol Swain in studio to discuss her recent op-ed which tackles the truth about teachers’ unions greed, DEI, and induced suffering of America’s students.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Metro Nashville Public School District Eight Independent candidate Amy Pate in studio to discuss why she’s decided to run for school board and the motivation behind it.
Read the full story
Lisa Hanson, a small business owner who was jailed for violating COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Governor Tim Walz, will run for a Minnesota Senate seat.
She will campaign in a new district that covers Freeborn County and parts of Mower, Faribault, Waseca, and Steele counties.
Read the full story
The real pandemic in this country is one of growing fascism from our so-called political Left.
The far-Left Democratic Party doesn’t care about your essential freedoms—from speech and the free flow of ideas to freedom of assembly—particularly when those freedoms stand in the way of their pursuit of power.
This is the party, after all, who opposed Abraham Lincoln and stood in the way of integration well into the 1960s. Where Democratic hatred of freedom has become glaringly apparent in recent times is with their obsession with COVID vaccine mandates and mask mandates, most especially for school-aged children. This “pandemic” has exposed what is truly afoot here, fascist authoritarianism at its most potent and dangerous.
Read the full story
Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) on Monday issued a report on the state’s economy indicating COVID-era restrictions continue to make a negative impact.
The IFO composed the report to inform lawmakers as they begin a series of state budget hearings this week. The agency observes that the Keystone State’s labor-force-participation rate is at its lowest in 37 years and forecasts that jobs numbers won’t return to their December-2019 apex for at least another three years.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden unveiled a new set of executive actions to address the Omicron variant Thursday, though how serious the threat of the variant will be remains unclear.
Biden gave an address from the White House Thursday where he urged a nationwide effort to up vaccinations and booster shots for Americans. The administration said it will extend the mask requirement for domestic flights to March 18 while increasing restrictions on inbound international travelers, requiring they receive a negative COVID test within 24 hours of departure.
Read the full story
Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Gary Humble of Tennessee Stands to the newsmakers line to discuss the importance of election integrity in Tennessee and what conservative Tennesseans want from their state.
Read the full story
Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to weigh in on OSHA vaccine mandate and its relation to the Omnibus Bill from last weeks special session in the General Assembly.
Read the full story
Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Misrule of Law Blog Creator and attorney Mark Pulliam to the newsmakers line to discuss his recent piece at American Greatness.
Read the full story
Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed State Representative (R-73) Chris Todd to the newsmakers line to break down what happened in last week’s special session.
Read the full story
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that Democrats should take an even more aggressive approach in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to his recent recall election win as evidence that such a strategy was popular.
“We need to stiffen our spines and lean in to keeping people safe and healthy,” Newsom told CBS News in an interview. “We shouldn’t be timid in trying to protect people’s lives and mitigate the spread and transmission of this disease.”
Read the full story
Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the Owner of Refined Men’s Salon in Franklin, Tennessee, Julie White to reflect upon the onset of coronavirus restrictions.
Read the full story
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order Thursday that blocks local governments from mandating COVID-19 restrictions on businesses.
Private sector businesses and sports teams can follow local COVID-19 requirements if they chose, but Kemp’s order stops them from being required to do so.
Read the full story
Second-term Michigan State Rep. Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Township) this week became the first Republican to announce a 2022 run for state attorney general.
Whoever the GOP nominates at its state convention next year will likely face incumbent Democrat Dana Nessel.
Read the full story
Facebook has been courting partnerships with religious groups in hopes of becoming their virtual home, the New York Times reported in late July. Experts and religious leaders told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the social media platform’s interest in shaping the future of religious experience should be closely monitored to protect religious freedom.
Though it is unlikely that a virtual religious experience will replace in-person religious services, the Times acknowledged, Facebook’s partnerships with religious groups expose Facebook’s plans to shape the future of the religious experience — as it has done with both political and social life.
“I just want people to know that Facebook is a place where, when they do feel discouraged or depressed or isolated, that they could go to Facebook and they could immediately connect with a group of people that care about them,” Nona Jones, a nondenominational minister and Facebook’s director for global faith partnerships, told the Times.
Read the full story
Joining a growing and bipartisan list of governors, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Sunday that he will not bring back lockdowns and mask mandates as cases of COVID-19 once again rise.
“We are seeing the virus go up,” DeWine told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We think the delta variant is certainly the dominant one in Ohio yet, but the whole game today is vaccinations, and we have room to grow. We think that we can get more people vaccinated.”
Read the full story
Joe Biden’s Justice Department notched another victory last week in the agency’s sprawling investigation into the January 6 protest on Capitol Hill against Biden’s presidency.
On Wednesday, Michael Curzio pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building. The government offered the plea deal to Curzio’s court-appointed attorney in June; Curzio faced four misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and disorderly conduct, for his role in the Capitol breach.
Curzio will pay the government “restitution” in the amount of $500 to help pay for the nearly $1.5 million in damages the building reportedly sustained. (The Architect of the Capitol initially said the protest caused $30 million in damages but prosecutors have set the figure far lower.)
Read the full story
After a lengthy court battle, the government of the state of California backed down in its efforts to enforce coronavirus restrictions on a church that continued hosting in-person worship services, and has now agreed in a settlement to pay the church’s $2 million worth of legal fees, Breitbart reports.
When the state repeatedly attempted to enforce strict capacity limits, mask mandates, and other “social distancing” requirements on the San Diego-based Pentecostal church, the church’s lawyers filed suit with the United States Supreme Court, winning all three suits. This ultimately led to lawyers on behalf of the state of California agreeing to the settlement, which was approved by a federal judge.
Responding to the settlement, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, a legal group that represents churches facing suppression of their First Amendment rights, pointed out that while businesses such as Costco were limited to 50 percent capacity, while churches were forced to stay as low as 25 percent, and sometimes even lower.
Read the full story
Many lawmakers who have ordered or urged citizens not to leave their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic have not followed their own advice.
The Daily Caller News Foundation has kept track of those politicians or local lawmakers who spurned their own COVID-19 rules to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration and the lawmakers who flouted their own advice and then excused their behavior as essential, compiling lists of the biggest offenders such as Democrats New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many more.
The DCNF searched for, but did not find, examples of prominent Republicans who urged citizens to stay home due to COVID-19 and then did not follow their own advice. Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, sparked a backlash when he traveled to Cancun in February as Texans struggled without power under heavy ice storms.
Read the full story
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) sent a letter on Thursday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to end the current COVID-19 regulations that are in place for the House of Representatives.
The letter from Burchett comes in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing that vaccinated individuals no longer have to wear a mask indoors. As cases continue to decline, COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted in each state across the country.
Read the full story
COVID’s grip on America is relaxing, not so the Left’s. The Left seized COVID as an unprecedented statist opportunity to advance their agenda. Unsurprisingly, they now resist relinquishing it. Since the Left refuse to let go of America, America must let go of the Left.
Last week the CDC relaxed its guidelines for outdoor mask-wearing by those fully vaccinated against COVID. It was more a rearguard action than a vanguard one, but at least it was a start. Several states are well ahead in their return to normalcy.
America’s virus statistics demonstrate the remission of the virus and validate accelerating relaxation of the lockdowns. On a seven-day moving average, active cases, daily new cases, and daily deaths have been plummeting since the beginning of the year.
On the ledger’s other side, vaccinations began in the U.S. in December, averaging over two million a day since February; as a result, around 31 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated at this writing.
Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam amended a previous executive order to ease up on COVID-19 restrictions, effective on April 1, allowing up to 50 people to gather for indoor events and up to 100 people to gather for outdoor events. However, Virginia Polytechnic Institute announced it would not follow these guidelines but maintain previous restrictions that limit indoor gathering to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 50 people.
Alyssa Jones, president of the Turning Point USA chapter at Virginia Tech, contacted her school following Northam’s announcement that he would ease COVID-19 restrictions.
In a March 23 email obtained by Campus Reform, Student Engagement and Campus Life told Jones that “after April 1st groups are permitted to have up to 50 people in attendance for indoor events.”
Read the full story
by Scott McClallen The state has arrested a business owner for violating the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, including operating her restaurant nearly two months after the state suspended her food license. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday morning that Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, owner of Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria in Holland, continually violated the state’s food laws, public health orders and a court-ordered temporary restraining order. The Michigan State Police (MSP) arrested Pavlos-Hackney, 55, Holland, at 5:45 a.m. Friday morning following a traffic stop on an outstanding Ingham County civil warrant for contempt of court, for failing to comply in a civil case filed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). “Governor Whitmer got a free pass for flouting her own COVID rules and her deadly nursing home policy while Attorney General Nessel is arresting a restaurant owner trying to save her livelihood,” Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action, said in a statement. Sachs was referring to the attorney general’s decision previously this week that she would not investigate the governor’s role in placing COVID-19 patients in Michigan’s long-term residential facilities. MDARD suspended Marlena’s food establishment license on Jan. 20, but Pavlos-Hackney refused to close, posting her decision to…
Read the full story
When Governor Mike DeWine announced March 4 that Ohio’s COVID related restrictions would be lifted based on a specific case rate, it didn’t take long to get people talking.
The announcement came on the same day that Connecticut set a date to lift capacity requirements on most businesses and organizations. Two days prior, Texas and Mississippi had announced an ending plan to mask mandates, as well as opening businesses without capacity restrictions. And the Friday after DeWine’s announcement, West Virginia and Arizona declared they are reopening all businesses.
Read the full story
Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Metro Councilmember Steve Glover to the newsmakers line to weigh in on the new capital spending plan and working with left-wing council members.
Read the full story
The majority of U.S. cities were ill-prepared for any financial crisis last year, let alone the one brought about by their respective state shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report published by the nonprofit Truth in Accounting (TIA) concludes.
The annual assessment surveys the fiscal health of the 75 largest municipalities in the U.S. based on fiscal year 2019 data. TIA reviewed audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports filed by city halls across the country and concluded that even the fiscally healthiest cities are projected to lose millions of dollars in revenue as a result of state shutdowns on top of their previously existing poor fiscal health.
Read the full story
A California sheriff on Saturday joined a growing list of law enforcement leaders in the state who refuse to enforce recent coronavirus orders.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes tweeted an announcement vowing not to send his deputies to enforce mask violations, “social gatherings or stay-at-home” violations. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom had issued a state-wide quarantine order for localities where intensive care unit capacity drops below 15%, according to the New York Times.
Read the full story
This is the sixth story in and eight-part series on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System (OPHAS). The system assigns one of four colors to each of Ohio’s 88 counties based on the level of COVID exposure and spread.
OPHAS is a supplement to the numerous statewide COVID mandates and is supposed to be a data-driven framework that gives local leaders a tool for use in deciding local and county school, business and other public policies.
Read the full story
Ohio state Representative John Becker (R-Union Township/Clermont County) on Tuesday filed a writ of mandamus with the Twelfth District Court of Appeals in Middletown, Ohio – as a private citizen, using his own resources.
This comes after Becker turned in a Private Client Affidavit (PCA) on September 28 that was rejected by Clermont County Prosecuting Attorney D. Vincent Faris.
Read the full story
Richland County is teetering on the verge of becoming the first Ohio county to reach code purple on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System (OPHAS). According to OPHAS, purple means that the county is experiencing “severe exposure and spread” and residents are to leave home for only “supplies and services.” The Ohio Star discussed the county’s numbers with Richland Public Health Commissioner Sarah Humphrey. The health commissioner anticipates that five of seven indicators will be triggered – technically keeping Richland County in code red. During the phone interview with The Star, Humphries anticipates that Richland County will trigger indicators: 1,2,3,4 and 6 – and not triggering indicators 5 and 7. Whether staying in red or moving to purple matters from a policy perspective is now in question. During a press conference on Tuesday, Governor Mike DeWine said “going purple has no consequences or sanctions from the state of Ohio. And that’s the same way as being red.” Consequently, Humphrey said, “Knowing that he will give some latitude will give us some workarounds. Let’s see how we can continue in-person learning.” “Given what the governor said today during the press conference – businesses, schools, everyone can stay open. Richland County…
Read the full story
OPHAS has seven indicators and each of Ohio’s 88 counties is assigned a color based on the number of indicators that are triggered.
Indicator five measures the sustained increase in outpatient visits for COVID-like illness.
According to the state website, the indicator “provides information on the health care seeking behavior of the population and a sense of how concerned residents are about their current health status and the virus.”
Read the full story