As “pride month” kicks off across the country, Tennessee’s Democrats took to social media to show their support for the gay pride agenda.
State Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-District 29) retweeted a tweet by Sesame Street – a supposed children’s show – celebrating gay pride.
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According to State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), also a candidate for mayor of Nashville, Gov. Bill Lee (R) met with Campbell before he announced his August special session of the General Assembly, which will focus on gun control.
“I met with the Governor prior to his announcement of the special session but have not heard from him about this bill package,” Campbell told The Tennessee Star Friday. “My office would welcome the opportunity.”
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After The Tennessee Star exposed the far-left’s plan to disrupt and commit acts of violence during the August special session of the Tennessee General Assembly, Gov. Bill Lee’s office could not even be reached for comment.
The Star followed up with Lee’s office on its series of exclusive reporting of audio obtained from inside a far-left gathering hosted by Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, but the phone number for Lee’s spokesperson goes directly to a voicemail box that is full, and cannot take new messages.
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Gov. Bill Lee (R) has earned high praise from Democrats in the state after announcing his August special session that will be dedicated to gun control.
According to NBC, the governor has some new allies, including Democrat elected officials and members of anti-Second Amendment groups.
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Tennessee polling places will now be required to post signs on partisan primary election days warning voters to only vote in a primary for a party that they are a bona fide member.
Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill to add the notice to polling places this week.
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A former Nashville Public Radio reporter spoke at a far-left activist planning session as left-wing agitators plan to disrupt August’s special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Star received secret audio recordings of the meeting, and has reported extensively on the contents of those recordings.
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After obtaining a secret audio recording from a far-left Saturday activist planning session in Nashville, The Tennessee Star can reveal locations wherein left-wing agitators plan to wreak havoc during August’s special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Those locations include Amazon’s Nashville office, the Lee Company, owned by Gov. Bill Lee (R), and the Metro Council.
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After obtaining secret recordings from an activism planning session held by Planned Parenthood’s political advocacy arm in Tennessee, The Tennessee Star learned that far-left agitators are planning to disable U.S. Customs and Immigration (ICE) vehicles during August’s special session of the General Assembly.
During the day-long training, which was held Saturday at 50 Vantage Way in Nashville, where Planned Parenthood has an office, the will-be protestors surveyed the danger levels of protesting at various places in the city.
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In secretly recorded audio files from a Saturday planning session among far-leftists in Nashville obtained by The Tennessee Star, left-wing agitators say they plan to “bird dog” Republican lawmakers during August’s special session of the General Assembly.
Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood held a training session for activists in Nashville, which was run by Julie Edwards, the organization’s advocacy & organizing manager, along with the organization’s Executive Director Francie Hunt.
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Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not respond to The Tennessee Star’s Monday inquiries seeking clarification on whether Lee met with Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and a group of students to discuss gun control last week.
Friday, the far-left Tennessee Holler posted a video to Twitter claiming that he was marching to Lee’s office with students to stress the urgency of implementing gun control measures during the upcoming August special legislative session.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will be facing a decision on whether to sign several key pieces of legislation this week that were sent to him May 9, following the end of the legislative session.
That legislation includes a change to the way the state’s sportsbooks are taxed, how the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority board members are appointed, an increase in teacher pay in the state, lowering the airplane corporate fuel tax cap and a bill related to posting rules related to partisan primary Election Days.
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In his first time speaking with reporters after his controversial calls for “order of protection” (red flag) laws, Gov. Bill Lee (R) defended his position, as well as the upcoming special legislative session that will be focused on gun control.
“It is a very important conversation that I think Tennesseans want us to have,” said Lee, according to WTVF. “We oughta find a way to separate those who are a threat to others and a threat to themselves from having access to weapons.”
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Ahead of August’s special session wherein Gov. Bill Lee (R) is expect to push for “Order of Protection” (red flag) laws, the governor has signed into law a bill that provides financial resources for school security measures.
Namely, HB 0322 allocates $30 million for the state to hire homeland security agents in each county to serve both public and private schools. The new law also provides $140 million for one full-time, armed School Resource Officer (SRO) for every public school in the state.
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Governor Bill Lee signed a slew of legislation into law last week, including SB0269/HB0317, which makes June 19, or “Juneteenth,” a statewide paid holiday.
The law was sponsored by State Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) and State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and passed through the General Assembly in mid-April.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill to block Metro Nashville’s requirement for a council supermajority vote on demolition at the Fairgrounds Speedway.
Nashville’s council is expected to soon hear a proposal on Bristol Motor Speedway rebuilding the grandstand and track at the Fairgrounds Speedway in order to bring a NASCAR race back to the fairgrounds.
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Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law on Friday that expands the state’s pilot educational savings account program to Hamilton County, which includes the Chattanooga area.
The Legislature approved the deal April 21 after removing Knox County and then passed the bill along to Lee on April 24.
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After the successful passage of SB038 by the Tennessee Senate, which establishes guidelines for regulating hemp-based products, including hemp seeds, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, and salts, is headed to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee (R) for review, and possibly a signature that would make the bill a law.
Aside from barring those under the age of 21 from purchasing hemp-derived cannabinoid, also known as CBD, SB038 tightens regulations to ensure that CBD products are safe for consumption.
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A flurry of legislative action before Tennessee closed its session April 21 has left a stack of passed bills either on Gov. Bill Lee’s desk or headed there.
Once a bill is passed, it needs to be signed by both House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally before it heads to Lee’s desk. Then Lee has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to either sign or veto a bill or it will become law without his signature. Since the Legislature is not in session, bills are then sent to the Tennessee’s Secretary of State.
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In a shift from what has widely been called a “manifesto,” the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Friday told The Tennessee Star that it will release “dated journals” left behind by the mass shooter who killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville one month ago.
“The writings are essentially dated journals,” Don Aaron, an MNPD spokesman, told The Tennessee Star. “While the word manifesto was used on the first day, we have since referred to these as ‘writings’ or ‘journals.'”
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According to the Tennessee Department of Revenue (TDOR), the state will soon begin implementing a $400 million tax cut law recently passed by the Tennessee General Assembly.
“Decades of smart fiscal stewardship have enabled Tennessee to maintain a balanced budget while cutting taxes for Tennessee families and businesses,” said Governor Bill Lee in a TDOR release. “We are proud to continue that legacy this year by putting dollars back in the pockets of Tennesseans and supporting future economic growth across Tennessee, and I thank the General Assembly for its partnership to promote future growth and opportunity for our state.”
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Late Thursday night Gov. Bill Lee tweeted that he expects documents and information related to the Covenant Presbyterian murders will be released soon.
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The CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Star News Network Thursday filed an open records request with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), seeking the release of a toxicology report of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the person who shot and killed six people at The Covenant School a month ago, at the time of Hale’s rampage.
Hale identified as transgender, and a toxicology report would identify what, if any, drugs were in Hale’s system at the time of the mass killing.
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Gov. Bill Lee (R) this week signed into law a bill that streamlines the adoption process in Tennessee.
“I signed the Forever Homes Act, legislation that will provide critical support to TN foster & adoptive families to accelerate child placement,” Lee said after the Tuesday bill signing in Chattanooga. “Great to meet with [Tennessee Department of Children’s Services] caseworkers & adoptive parents in Chattanooga who are giving TN children a loving, permanent home.”
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Tennessee Republicans are demanding a the release of a manifesto written by the person who killed six at The Covenant School on March 27, before entering into a special legislative session that will be focused on gun control.
State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has filed a public records request with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) in order to obtain information about the manifesto left behind by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as transgender, after Hale’s rampage at The Covenant School in Nashville.
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After Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) called for Reg Flag laws, bending to pressure from far-left activists, in the wake of the shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Republican legislators said they will not introduce legislation to that end.
“Any red flag law is a non-starter for House Republicans,” the House majority party said on Twitter. “Our caucus is focused on finding solutions that prevent dangerous individuals from harming the public and preserve the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. We have always been open to working with Governor Lee on measures that fit within that framework.”
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Two notable recording artists have joined a chorus of calls for the state of Tennessee to implement stricter gun control measures.
“We’re Nashvillians. We’re also moms,” Sheryl Crow told News Channel 5. “And I think what happened at Covenant has touched everyone, including Gov. Lee on a very deep and personal level. We just want to see something that we can all agree on.”
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The Southern Baptist Convention is now using its massive sway to call for gun control in Tennessee.
Brent Leatherwood, the Southern Baptist Convention’s president of the church’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), demanded gun control in a letter published by The Tennesseean.
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Tennessee’s governor Monday signed into law a bipartisan bill that will provide billions of taxpayer dollars to fix roads, address traffic congestion and help meet transportation needs for rural Tennesseeans.
The Transportation Modernization Act will “invest $3.3 billion to accommodate Tennessee’s record growth,” according to Gov. Bill Lee’s office.
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Tennessee’s attorney general will not appeal a three-judge panel decision last week to block a bill intended to reduce Metro Nashville’s council from 40 to 20 members and will allow it to become law in 2027.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced on Monday that he would not appeal the injunction and attempt to have the law go into effect sooner. While the law applies to all metropolitan forms of government in the state, only Metro Nashville has a metropolitan council with more than 20 members.
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The Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms association said Friday that Gov. Bill Lee (R), who has asked the legislature to deliver him a proposed”Red Flag Law,” which he calls an “Order of Protection” law, is treading on dangerous Constitutional grounds.
“It is not clear why Governor Bill Lee, who claims to support the Second Amendment, would propose a Red Flag law at this time. The circumstances indicate potentially two reasons,” John Harris told The Tennessee Star. “First, the Covenant School shooting fatalities have generated a public emotional response – something that he referenced in his April 11 statement. Second, activists Democrat state legislators are making a demand that more gun control be enacted now.”
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A three-judge panel in Tennessee Chancery Court has blocked a law that would have required Metro Nashville’s Council to be reduced from 40 to 20 members.
The panel ruled Nashville would likely prevail in its argument related to the Local Legislation Clause, stating the law was local in effect but did not provide Metro Nashville with the right to approve the measure.
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In a Monday press conference, Gov. Bill Lee (R) suggested that some people labeled as “threats” should not be able to own firearms.
“What I expect is that there will be an opportunity to look at legislation [from] around the country, at ways that we can in fact do that very thing, which is mak[ing] sure that those who are a threat to our people, to our children, do not have access to weapons, protecting the constitutional rights of Tennesseans at the same time,” said Lee.
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Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee plans this week to propose placing armed guards at every school in his state, and he indicated that he is open to some gun reform measures in the wake of the shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville that left six dead.
While it still needs legislative approval, Lee’s plan would expand a proposal to station armed guards at all public schools in Tennessee and give grant funding to allow private schools to also hire armed guards, The Tennessean reported Friday. The state cannot require private schools to hire armed guards, but it can require the guards hired by private schools to have the same level of training as those in public schools.
That means the new plan could apply to Covenant School, a private Presbyterian school where 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale killed three nine-year-olds and three staffers in their 60s last week.
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Tennessee’s Senate voted to approve Gov. Bill Lee’s Transportation Modernization Act late Monday with a 26-5 vote.
The bill would put $3.3 billion into the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Transportation Modernization Fund and send it in equal portions to the state’s three Grand Divisions for road work, which the state says there is a $26 billion backlog that needs to be completed.
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A Tennessee Senate committee will be looking at bills to extend tax deals for the Memphis Grizzlies’ FedExForum through 2059 on Tuesday.
The tax proposal comes up as Gov. Bill Lee has proposed sending $350 million to Memphis for renovations at the Grizzlies’ FedExForum and Memphis’ Liberty Stadium. That is part of $684 million in planned renovations to Memphis sports facilities.
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A bill to both raise the minimum Tennessee teacher salary to $50,000 by 2026-27 and eliminate the option of districts collecting Tennessee Education Association dues from paychecks passed the Senate Education Committee this week.
The bill is sponsored by State Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, but was termed an administration bill supported by Gov. Bill Lee. When asked why the two topics were combined by both a Republican and Democratic member of the committee, representatives from the Tennessee Department of Education said that was the choice of Lee.
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A Tennessee bill barring sex change procedures for minors passed in the state Senate Thursday and is headed to Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s desk, a spokesman for the state’s Senate Republican Caucus told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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As of January 3, 2023, the Republicans were supposed to control the United States House of Representatives by a slim majority. On that date, many expected that the task of electing a new Speaker and moving forward with the business of “the people” in the House would start under Republican party control. But as of January 6, 2023, those elected to serve in the House have not selected a Speaker and so the House has not been organized nor undertaken regular operations. National news reports indicate that the presumptive Republican Speaker so far has fallen short in getting the required number of votes in part because approximately 20 Republicans who were elected in November have refused to vote for McCarty and no other individual has demonstrated enough votes to get the position.
One of the issues that is being discussed is whether any of those who have refused to support McCarthy in the 11 votes taken as of January 5th have broken a promise, perhaps a campaign promise, to do so. It is an active discussion over what was promised and whether there are any valid justifications for withholding support if a promise was made. Indeed, at least in Nashville, the talk radio shows are expending a great amount of time reviewing this issue because there is a Congressman-elect from Tennessee who is part of the story.
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A cathode manufacturer is set to make the largest foreign investment in Tennessee in the Volunteer State’s history, according to the Department of Economic and Community Development (TDECD).
“LG Chem’s anticipated investment of approximately $3.2 billion represents the single largest announced foreign direct investment in Tennessee’s history. The project is expected to create 860 new jobs in Montgomery County,” according to a TDECD press release. “The Clarksville facility will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. and is expected to produce roughly 120,000 tons of cathode material annually by 2027, which is enough to power batteries in 1.2 million electric vehicles with a range of 310 miles per charge.”
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Americans are still recovering from COVID lockdowns – by far one of the worst examples of chaos created by government intrusion. Career bureaucrats wreaked havoc on the economy and education system from their offices in Washington, D.C. Americans were left to fend for themselves while their businesses and savings accounts were depleted. Despite all these measures taken to safeguard the healthcare system, hospitals across the country were still overrun during the height of the pandemic.
The deregulation that occurred at the federal and state level to spur the economy and ensure the healthcare system was able to quickly respond to the ever-changing environment showed the power of regulatory reform without forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. Tennessee’s deregulation of some of the provisions of Certificate of Need (CON) during the pandemic was a shining example.
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A significant number of new jobs are coming to Williamson County after a large addiction recovery center, headquartered in Franklin, announced that it will be expanding its operations in the Volunteer State.
Just a year after moving from Arizona, Landmark Recovery will invest $7.5 million to expand in Franklin, a move that will bring approximately 1300 new jobs to the area.
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In keeping with a recent theme of proactive public safety measures, Tennessee Tuesday announced that it will provide $5 million in grants to volunteer firefighting brigades across the state.
Through what is called the Volunteer Firefighter Equipment and Training Grant Program, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) and the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) are inviting local volunteer firefighting organizations to apply for the grants, according to a release.
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Tennessee’s governor Thursday announced another addition to the Volunteer State’s newly upgraded school safety plans.
“Tennessee has done a lot of work this year to make our schools safer,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R). “And today I want to speak directly to parents about a new tool just for them.”
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As part of a wave of new crime prevention and response strategies in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee (R) joined Fox News to tout his new Violent Crime Intervention Fund.
“We have a crime problem in this country, there’s no doubt about it, and Tennessee hasn’t escaped that problem,” Lee told former host and former U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy on the channel’s “Sunday Night in America.”
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Unemployment remained near record lows in Tennessee during September, according to new data released this week.
“The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September came in at 3.4% and is just 0.2 of a percentage point away from Tennessee’s all-time low rate of 3.2%,” according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD).
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In what has been a banner week for funding of local law enforcement in Tennessee, the Volunteer State’s governor pledged $54 million to assist law enforcement agencies in their recruiting efforts.
“To stay ahead of the nationwide spike in crime, Tennessee is taking every step to recruit, train and retain highly-qualified law enforcement officers to keep our communities safe,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) in a Friday press release. “I commend police departments and sheriff’s offices for their continued partnership, and I’m confident these additional measures will strengthen public safety and relieve financial burdens for local law enforcement agencies.”
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Tennessee’s governor Tuesday announced that the state would give local law enforcement $100 million to fight violent crime.
“As Americans face rising crime nationwide, TN is launching the $100 million Violent Crime Intervention Fund to equip local law enforcement with tools to keep every community safe,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Twitter. “I invite all TN police departments & sheriff’s offices to apply today.”
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Tennessee’s Governor on Wednesday touted the state’s new Education Savings Account (ESA) program.
“When TN families can choose the right school for their child, that student has an even greater shot at success in life,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Twitter. “That’s what our Education Savings Account program is all about. Nearly 1,000 families have applied. 350+ are already approved. And we’re just getting started.”
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The governor of Tennessee has announced that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TB) will hire 25 new forensic analysts in order to assist with processing Sexual Assault Kits (SAKs).
“Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally and Speaker Cameron Sexton announced a decisive step to accelerate the hiring process for 25 additional forensic lab positions at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI),” said a press release from the governor’s office. “Taking this action ahead of the regular budget process will expedite the TBI’s efforts to expand testing capacity and reduce the turnaround time for sexual assault kits (SAKs).”
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The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) plans to send support to Florida as expected Category 3 Hurricane Ian bears down on the Sunshine State.
“As Florida braces for the impact of Hurricane Ian, Tennessee emergency service professionals are traveling to the area to help the state prepare and to provide support after the storm,” said Gov. Bill Lee (R) in a press release. “We are proud of men and women who have stepped up to represent the Volunteer State and provide critical, life-saving services to Floridians in need.”
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