Shelby County District Attorney Drops Diversion Plan for Felons in Possession of Firearms When Threatened to Be Removed from Office

Steve Mulroy and Brent Taylor

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced his office would not pursue a previous diversion plan for felons in possession of firearms after Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said that he intends to file a Senate Joint Resolution immediately following the November election requiring the removal of Mulroy.

Last week, Mulroy announced that his office was considering an “alternative approach” for felons charged with unlawful possession of a weapon by offering diversion to such defendants.

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Rule of Lawfare: Jury Instructions from NY Judge to Manhattan Jurors in Trump ‘Hush Money’ Case Contained Made-up and Selectively Chosen Language

NY Judge Juan Merchan

A New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 criminal counts related to falsifying business records last week, prompting outcry that New York Judge Juan Merchan, who was handpicked to handle the case and who donated to Joe Biden, committed misconduct during the trial, including how he handled the jury instructions. A CNN senior legal analyst reported that the case was full of so many legal stretches that employees of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office referred to it as the “zombie case.”

Daniel Street, an attorney in Louisiana who writes about lawfare, told The Tennessee Star the jury instructions were “terrible.”

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Reporter Tom Pappert: ‘Bone-Chilling’ to See 15-Year-Old Alleged Bellevue Killer Smiling After Crime

Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, the lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the photograph released by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) that shows the 15-year-old arrested for the fatal Wednesday night shooting in Bellevue smiling after the incident is “bone-chilling.”

On Thursday, Pappert reported that MNPD confirmed the arrest of 15-year-old De’Anthony Osasosifo and named him as a suspect in the Wednesday night shooting in the parking lot of the Red Caboose Park in Bellevue that left a 13-year-old dead and his 16-year-old sister hospitalized.

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Jury Convicts Memphis Man of Child Abuse and Murder in Death of Two-Year Old Son

Antonio First

After just one hour of deliberations, a jury delivered guilty verdicts last week against Memphis father Antonio First for Aggravated Child Abuse, Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse, Aggravated Child Neglect, and Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Neglect, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

The charges stem from the death of First’s two-year-old son, Brayton Brooks, who was found unresponsive and cold to the touch by paramedics on June 24, 2020.

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House Republicans Forcing Tough and Defining Votes on Democrats Ahead of November Election

Committee on House Administration chairman Bryan Steil

Ahead of the November election, Republicans have forced tough votes on Democrats that may hurt their chances at the polls. From election security to law enforcement to illegal immigration, House Republicans have passed bills that most House Democrats have voted against, despite Americans’ prevalent concerns about those issues.

According to the Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted with Noble Predictive Insights in March, when given a range of top concerns, 45 percent of likely voters said inflation/price increases, 44 percent said illegal immigration, and 24 percent said the economy/jobs.

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Inside Nashville Metro Council’s Decision to Deny Morgan Wallen Sign over ‘Aerial Encroachment’ and Past Remarks

Morgan Wallen

Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick provided an inside look of the council’s decision to deny a sign from being displayed on the exterior of country music artist Morgan Wallen’s downtown bar, explaining how the ordinance to deny such display dealt with “aerial encroachment” and was a “standard operating procedure” before members personally smeared the artist for his past actions.

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Los Angeles’ Troubling Crime Stats Stemming from Public Transit Offers Glimpse into Nashville’s Future with Mayor O’Connell’s Transit Plan

Los Angeles Buses

A report out of Los Angeles regarding the city’s crime rates on its public transportation services is being flagged by a local watchdog in Nashville as a glimpse of what Music City’s future may look like if Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi-billion-dollar transit plan is implemented.

O’Connell’s transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” would be funded by a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals around Nashville.

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State Senator Brent Taylor Says Memphis Will Be ‘Hollowed Out’ If Crime is Not Addressed

Brent Taylor

State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) warned that Memphis will be ‘hollowed out’ if its crime problem is not addressed.

Taylor, who sponsored several crime-related bills in the recently-adjourned legislative session of the General Assembly, said the response he has received from the community in Memphis for his work to crackdown on crime has been positive.

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Memphis Man Released on Bail Hunts Down, Shoots Witness from Trial

Tavious Wilson

A Memphis man out on bond for his alleged involvement in a shooting earlier this year is behind bars once again after being accused of hunting down and shooting a witness who testified at trial for the earlier shooting case.

On Monday, ABC24 News reported that it had obtained an affidavit from Shelby County court records showing that officers with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) responded to an aggravated assault on May 2 in the area of James Road and Raleigh-Millington Road.

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Tennessee Legislature Approves Bills to Report on Immigration, Crime

Ferrell Haile

The Tennessee Legislature passed a pair of bills intended to fight illegal immigration in the state.

The bill will require the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference to collect and compile the data on the costs related to illegal immigrants in the state who are charged or convicted of a criminal offense. The report will be sent to the governor and both the House and Senate speaker.

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Shelby County Sheriff Makes Plea to Parents as Youth Justice and Education Center Nears Capacity

Floyd Bonner

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. is pleading with parents to provide their children with guidance and involvement as the Youth Justice and Education Center nears capacity.

The Youth Justice and Education Center is a 146-bed, single-occupancy secure detention center designed for youth “identified to be a danger to themselves, a danger to the community, or a flight risk.”

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Biden to Commute Sentences of Tennessee Drug Dealers

Joe Biden

The White House Wednesday announced commutations for five major drug dealers, three of whom are Tennessee residents.

Daequon Charles Davis of Johnson City was convicted of conspiracy to distribute or to possess with intent to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine and was serving an almost 22-year sentence with a subsequent 10 years of supervised release, which began in 2017. Biden commuted for a period of 10 years, leaving intact 10 years of supervised release.

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Conservative Candidate Brad Miller Running Against Election Fraud Denying Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkner

Brad Miller

Republican Brad Miller, a longtime prosecutor who served as Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marines, where he still works as a prosecutor, is challenging incumbent Pinal County Attorney Republican Kent Volkmer, an election fraud denier, for the office. Miller points to a long list of problems with the office, including mishandling criminal issues and election integrity, as reasons change is needed. 

Miller, who also practices civil law, states his principles on his website, “We must protect our borders, we must stand by and support our police, and we must safeguard our way of life.” He champions the Second Amendment, “I will protect your right to own a gun!” He said he will keep “woke policies” like ESG, “anti-American indoctrination,” and “dubious sexual education” pushed by “extreme leftist ideologies” out of education. He will “stand tall and provide a voice for parents and elected officials, allowing them to make informed decisions based on unbiased information.”

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One Memphis Police Officer Killed, Two Others Shot While Responding to Suspicious Vehicle Occupied by Known Criminal

Memphis Police Department

Reactions have poured in after Memphis police officer Joseph McKinney was shot and killed early Friday morning while he and other officers were responding to a suspicious vehicle call.

On Friday approximately 2:00 a.m., officers responded to a suspicious vehicle call at Horn Lake Road and Charter Avenue, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD).

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Poll Finds Biden Hemorrhaging Support Among Crucial Voting Block — Even as They Trend Democrat on Key Issues

President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden is losing support among Latinos ahead of the 2024 election despite the crucial voting block moving toward the Democratic Party on key issues, a Tuesday poll found.

Support for Biden among Latino Americans has steadily declined since the last time the question was asked in June 2023, and he now holds only a nine-point favorability lead over former President Donald Trump, according to an Axios/Ipsos survey. The poll also found that Latinos are backing Democrats on the issues of abortion and immigration, and are trending toward the party on the economy and crime.

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Commentary: Rethinking Tennessee Justice to Put Us on a Path to Public Safety and Fiscal Responsibility

Police Officer

At its core, conservativism holds that America is at its best when families are strong, communities are safe, and the economy is booming. But in recent years, in certain parts of Tennessee, violent crime has risen even though the state has increased spending to keep more of its citizens incarcerated for longer. It’s only prudent to ask whether the current approach is working.

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Sen. Brent Taylor Continues Fight Against Memphis Crime with Two New Bills

State Senator Brent Taylor

The Tennessee State Senate on Monday passed two bills sponsored by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) that focused on his continued efforts to fight crime in Memphis.

SB 2659, called the Juvenile Organized Retail Theft Act (JORTA), according to the General Assembly’s website, is a bill that “allows a juvenile court to transfer a child 15 years of age or older to be tried as an adult in criminal court for the offense of organized retail crime, theft of a firearm, or an attempt to commit such offense.”

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Trump Pays Tribute to Laken Riley, Blasts Biden Border Policies as ‘Crime Against Humanity’

Donald Trump met with Laken Riley’s family and unleashed a blistering attack Saturday on President Joe Biden’s border policies as a “crime against humanity” as the two likely general candidates staged dueling events in the battleground state of Georgia. “Joe Biden has no remorse, no regret, no empathy, no compassion, and worst of all, he has no intention of stopping the deadly invasion that stole precious Laken’s beautiful American life,” Trump told a rally in Rome, Ga., the home district of close ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

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Two Ohio Women Arrested for Using Dead Man’s Corpse to Withdraw Money from Bank

Feralo Casbohm

Two women in Ashtabula, Ohio, have been arrested and charged for their alleged transport of an elderly man’s corpse to a bank for the illegal withdrawal of cash.

On Thursday, the Ashtabula Police Department (APD) announced that it received a call from the Ashtabula County Medical Center (ACMC) on Monday concerning a deceased elderly man who was dropped off at their facility by two unidentified females.

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Williamson County Sheriff Candidate Jeff Hughes Addresses Opposition to Permitless Carry Bill in 2022

Williamson County Sheriff candidate Jeff Hughes

Former chief of Brentwood Police Jeff Hughes, who is running for Williamson County Sheriff, addressed controversy surrounding his stance in 2022 against a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly allowing for the permitless carry of firearms.

Hughes said his stance against the bill was coming from a matter of “public safety and officer safety,” specifically regarding the bill’s lack of training requirement for gun owners.

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Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian: There’s Very Little Screening of Incoming Illegal Aliens for Health Problems or Criminal Behavior

Illegal Immigrants

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said migrants who are crossing illegally into the U.S. are not being thoroughly screened for illnesses or criminal backgrounds.

“They often screen them before they go to detention, but they’re not being detained,” Krikorian explained on Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy. “As far as criminal behavior, they do run their names through some databases before they let them go, but that only works if we have records of them having committed crimes in the United States. The problem always with vetting is garbage in, garbage out. Do you think that the Somalia DMV or the medical records office or whatever in Venezuela is going to tell us anything about people? Of course not. So, yes, there is some kind of pro forma screening but it doesn’t really screen very much.”

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Rampant Crime Takes Toll on America’s Small Businesses, New Survey Reveals

Small Business

Nearly one-third of small business employers in January said that crime has raised everyday business costs, according to a Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF) poll obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Around 31% of small businesses surveyed in January said that neighborhood crime has increased business costs through added expenses associated with extra security or stolen inventory, with employers in the western U.S. being the most likely to say they were affected at 35%, according to the poll. Businesses with $100,000 to $250,000 in revenue in a year were the most likely to say that neighborhood crime has increased business costs, with 53% saying yes, followed by businesses with less than $100,000 in revenue at 47%.

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Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor Sponsors Several Crime-Related Bills in Effort to ‘Make Memphis Matter’

State Senator Brent Taylor

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) announced he is sponsoring several crime-related bills this legislative session in an effort to fight crime and “Make Memphis Matter.”

In a letter to his colleagues in the Tennessee State Senate, Taylor detailed 13 pieces of legislation he is sponsoring and asked his colleagues to consider sponsoring the bills as well.

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Gina Godbehere Jumps into Maricopa County Attorney Primary Race Against Incumbent Rachel Mitchell

Gina Godbehere

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell will face the same challenger in the Republican primary this year as she did in the 2022 special election Gina Godbehere.

Godbehere announced her campaign last week. The Maricopa County Supervisors chose Mitchell in early 2022 to replace the previous county attorney, Alistar Adel, who resigned from office due to health issues. Adel passed away in 2022. Mitchell has accumulated considerable criticism from Republicans for actions such as representing the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) twice, asking for sanctions against Kari Lake’s election attorneys.

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State Senator Brent Taylor: ‘If We Don’t Get It Turned Around,’ Memphis will Become the ‘Example of a Failed City’

Brent Taylor

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said Memphis will become the “butt of every joke” and the “example of a failed city” if its bail system and crime crisis are not addressed.

Noting how Detroit was once an example of a “failed city” and a “shell of its former self,” Taylor explained what steps the city has taken to reduce crime and how Memphis should follow its lead.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Do Leftists Now Believe Leftism Doesn’t Work?

It is hard to destroy a naturally beautiful city like San Francisco, with ideal weather and stunning infrastructure inherited from far better earlier generations.

Yet San Francisco continues its much-publicized and self-inflicted doom loop. The productive classes still flee the increasingly crime-ridden city and its self-induced pathologies. The city is eroding not because of the doomsayers and not because of what people say about San Francisco, but because of what San Franciscans have done to San Francisco.

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Poll Finds Americans Worried About National Debt

Congress Spending

Americans are worried about the national debt, according to the results of a new poll.

Americans have the national debt crisis as one of their top concerns along with war, inflation and crime. Those polled think the overspending has a direct impact on their personal security and also has an impact on the security of the United States, according to a recent study commissioned by Main Street Economics, a nonprofit group designed to educate Americans on the nation’s debt crisis.

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Commentary: President Trump’s Plan to Save America’s Cities

Trump NYC

With all the devastating news about urban crime, drug overdoses, illegal immigration, rampant homelessness, out-of-control budgets, and educational failures, it is encouraging that President Donald Trump has committed his next administration to a saving America’s cities.

As Just the News reported, “With the nation’s first primary state as a backdrop, former President Donald Trump took aim Saturday at Democrats’ urban strongholds, vowing to both secure and revitalize blue cities weary from years of violence and economic decay.”

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