host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist, Dr. Carol Swain, in studio to advise of her upcoming in-store appearance at Puffy Muffin where she will be signing her new book Black Eye for America this Saturday, and governor Lee’s lack of Republican leadership.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in studio to examine the Tennessee state constitution relating to whether or not Governor Bill Lee has the authority to extend emergency powers.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Professor Carol Swain in studio to discuss her upcoming event this Saturday at Puffy Muffin in Brentwood and losing trust in familiar institutions.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to weigh in on his current letter to Governor Bill Lee requesting a special session to debate COVID mandates in the state.
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Henry County Schools on Tuesday followed a trend of Tennessee schools that will require students and staff to wear a mask during the upcoming school year.
Metro Nashville Public Schools, Shelby County Schools, Hancock County, and Williamson County Schools have implemented similar measures.
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FRANKLIN, Tennessee – Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he put the nation’s state governors on notice, in an exclusive interview with The Star News Network on Saturday, because they are a real point of influence for the Chinese Communist Party.
The reason, Pompeo explained, is because it is where so much of the commercial activity takes place.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to reiterate Monday’s press conference as Tennessee stands united on COVID and education.
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The standardized testing scores of students across the state of Tennessee heavily declined in the past year, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The results released by Governor Bill Lee and the Department of Education revealed that scores showed a 5% decrease in proficiency since the year prior.
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LOUDON, Tennessee – Natalie Winters, Senior Reporter at The National Pulse warned a group of at least 300 attendees at a Tellico Village Conservative Club meeting Wednesday of an “axis of evil” between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and American elites.
Winters, while her title may be senior reporter, is anything but. Rather, she is a very articulate, engaging and credible 20-year old University of Chicago student originally from Santa Monica, California. In addition to reporting for Raheem Kassam’s The National Pulse, Winters is also a contributor to Steve Bannon’s War Room.
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LOUDON, Tennessee – Tennessee Stands Executive Director Gary Humble told a group of at least 300 attendees at a Tellico Village Conservative Club meeting Wednesday that the state’s constitution gives Tennesseans the duty to resist arbitrary power.
Humble was referring to the doctrine of nonresistance contained within the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, which reads in Article I, Section 2:
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LOUDON, Tennessee – Andy Ogles, the outspoken Mayor of Maury County, told a group of at least 300 attendees at a Tellico Village Conservative Club meeting Wednesday that while Tennessee is one of the most conservative states in the country it is also “a state of half measures.”
Ogles said that if asked what the greatest threat to the country is, the response would have been China, the border or the Department of Education. That is, until after the election, when he realized that we are in a cultural and spiritual war.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Friday extended the Limited State of Emergency, which has been in effect for more than a year, allowing a continuation of his emergency powers.
Further, the order from the governor allows National Guard troops to continue to assist in vaccination efforts and other “certain health care” functions throughout the state. The order also allows the state to maintain federal compliance.
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Kaiser Aluminum on Thursday joined a growing list of companies that are moving their business from California to Tennessee when they detailed that its new corporate headquarters will be located in Franklin.
In the move to Williamson County, the company, which frequently supplies Boeing with various supplies, will invest a total of approximately $3 million and create 80 jobs.
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Nashville doctor and former Meharry Medical College professor Jason Martin is considering launching a campaign for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Governor Bill Lee.
Martin has centered himself as an outspoken critic against Lee and the policies implemented throughout the course of coronavirus pandemic.
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Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey announced on Friday that more than 1,000 individuals throughout the safe have tested positive for the coronavirus after being fully vaccinated.
Of the fully vaccinated individuals who have suffered these numerous “breakthrough” cases, 195 have been hospitalized, with 27 patients passing away.
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While speaking to state lawmakers at a committee hearing on Wednesday, commissioner for the Department of Tourist Development Mark Ezell apologized for the sudden rollout of the ‘Tennessee on Me’ tourism initiative.
The program, introduced by Governor Bill Lee, awards $250 of taxpayer funds to out-of-state visitors who book a two-night stay in one of Tennessee’s five largest cities.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee hauled in approximately $685,000 in the first half of 2021, as the incumbent governor seeks to build his arsenal heading into 2022.
Lee’s campaign has a total of $2.4 million on hand to spend — after using $357,000 during the course of this financial filing period.
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A federal judge in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a Virginia federal judge’s ruling upholding the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.
The decision by the judge strikes down the law that prevents federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to adults under the age of 21 — allowing 18-year-olds to purchase handguns.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee visited the Southern border over the weekend and toured various sections of the area. Upon examining the situation, Lee called the state of affairs a “national security crisis.”
“What I saw at the border is unsustainable for our country and should be number one priority for national security. Tennessee will always step up and serve, but we need immediate reinforcements, like a finished border wall, to ensure our men and women in uniform have the tools they need to do their job,” Lee said.
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In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA) called for a hearing into the ongoing crisis at the country’s Southern border.
Both governors urged the hearing largely due to reports of the Biden administration relocating unaccompanied migrant children to the states. In Tennessee, multiple planes carrying unaccompanied minors landed in Chattanooga under the cover of darkness. Similarly, Gov. Reynolds has received no answers from the Biden administration after migrants were flown from California to Iowa.
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Tennessee is considering giving over $40 million in additional COVID relief funds to businesses, as the state’s economy continues to recover.
The Financial Accountability Stimulus Group proposed utilizing the funds from the federal government, enabled by this year’s COVID-19 relief package. The goal of the funds is to increase the size of payouts businesses can receive for their losses throughout the pandemic.
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Tennessee announced that it received an additional $53 million in federal funds for COVID-19-related mental health and substance abuse treatments. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) will rely on that funding for the next four years. $27 million of those funds will go to mental health services, and almost $26 million will go to substance abuse services.
The funds come from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Biden allocated $3 billion for mental health and substance abuse services nationwide.
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The Volunteer State celebrated 225 years of statehood on Tuesday and kicked off a series of events to honor the milestone with the theme of “Untold Tennessee.”
The initial events took place at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and Knoxville’s Blount Mansion. At Bicentennial Capitol Mall, the Tennessee State Museum opened a new exhibit representing the state. Additionally, three original state constitutions are on display at the new Tennessee State Library and Archives. At Blount Mansion, a short parade honored many of the individuals who fought for Tennessee’s statehood. The night was capped with a music performance from the Oak Ridge Boys in downtown Jonesborough.
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Governor Bill Lee claimed that he’s been against masking kids, but his executive order last July contradicts his remarks. Lee made that claim during a special panel interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Lee was featured alongside fellow Republican Governors Kristi Noem (South Dakota), Ron DeSantis (Florida), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), and Christopher Sununu (New Hampshire). Near the very end of Executive Order No. 55, Lee “strongly encouraged” schools to impose mask mandates.
Local education agencies, schools, and institutions of higher education are strongly encouraged to implement a policy requiring the use of face coverings by students and staff, with appropriate exemptions, and consistent with any policies issued by the Tennessee Department of Education. No policy, local order, or official may prohibit a student, teachers, school employee, or visitor from voluntarily wearing a face covering except to the extent that such face covering presents a safety or security risk. (emphasis added)
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Tennessee legislators will draft legislation to increase transparency and establish protective measures for the sponsorship of unaccompanied migrant children. The federal government says that sponsors are “almost always a parent or close relative” – but that’s not always the case. Lawmakers’ urgency to increase transparency and establish protective measures for sponsorship heightened after it was revealed that Governor Bill Lee’s administration has continued licensing for a Chattanooga shelter without apparent provisions in place to protect the housed migrant children from traffickers and cartels.
The Chattanooga shelter is run by the Baptiste Group, a Georgia-based national group that provides emergency shelter services for unaccompanied migrant children – usually for up to 30 days, excepting complications. Last May, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families contracted with the Baptiste Group for a conditional Residential Child Care Agency License in Chattanooga. The three-year contract, set to expire last August, anticipated nearly $7.5 million in costs to house up to 100 children.
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The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced that it will invest an additional $4.2 billion for K-12 schools. The federal funds will be allocated to Tennessee schools over the next 4 years, according to the TDOE press release. The funding is a combination of different types of federal emergency relief funding.
TDOE clarified that the funding will be allotted to specific programs and initiatives. $120.7 million will go toward the Tennessee Literacy Success Act and Reading 360, $170.5 million for the Tennessee Learning Loss and Student Acceleration Act, $35 million for the 2022-23 math textbook adoption process, $32 million for online resources, $32.6 million for Innovating High Schools and Advanced Courses, $17.8 million for mental health supports, $56.5 million for K-12 open-source readiness coursework and statewide professional development, and $21 million to support the educator pipeline.
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A new Tennessee law makes outside funding to state and local election officials an exception to the rule. Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law last week – it ensures that select elected officials review all outside funding, if any. It would also enable the public to access information on those outside funds through open records.
This law will apply to both the state and county-level election commissions, the secretary of state, county administrators of elections, and the coordinator of elections. Only combined approval from the state House and Senate speakers would enable state election officials to accept funding from private individuals, corporations, organizations, or political parties. As for county election commissions and administrators of elections, outside funding must be approved by the secretary of state or one of their designees.
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The State of Tennessee is partnering with multiple organizations to help combat human trafficking, Governor Bill Lee announced on Thursday.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s project, ItHasToStop.com, this form of modern-day slavery is one of the fastest growing crimes throughout the state and country as a whole. Further, cases of human trafficking have been reported in every county in Tennessee.
“I’m excited to invest in and partner with these remarkable organizations that are at the forefront of this important fight. Human trafficking has no place in our state, and I’m proud to support our law enforcement and non-profit partners,” Governor Lee said.
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Tennessee will allow its college athletes to be compensated for any use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), beginning next January. Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law on Tuesday.
Current NCAA rules don’t allow college athletes to receive NIL compensation from opportunities like sponsorships or endorsements. That’s because the NCAA requires college athletes to maintain “amateur athletic status.” In addition to prohibiting compensation based on NIL, college athletes are prohibited from receiving additional compensation for competition, training expense funds, or prize money from competing. The NCAA also doesn’t allow college athletes to be represented or marketed by agents or other professionals.
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Tennessee will cease all federally funded unemployment on the eve of Independence Day, Governor Bill Lee announced Tuesday. The governor asserted that work opportunities are abundant – meaning, people can and should get back to work.
“We will no longer participate in the federal pandemic unemployment programs because Tennesseans have access to more than 250,000 jobs in our state. Families, businesses & our economy thrive when we focus on meaningful employment & move on from short-term, federal fixes,” wrote Lee.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in studio to weigh in on the recent discovery that the Tennessee Department of Human Resources has quietly implemented state agency diversity and inclusion training among its employees.
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The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) is suing the state of Tennessee to challenge the constitutionality of its new permitless carry law. The coalition filed on behalf of three Tennessean men ages 18, 19, and 20 – they argue that the law excludes an entire class of law-abiding adults because it doesn’t apply to adults under 21 years old.
“[T]he State completely denies the right to bear arms to all law-abiding adults under age 21, prohibiting the plaintiffs, and those similarly situated to them, from carrying loaded, operable handguns outside their home for self-defense, in violation of their Second Amendment rights,” asserted FPC’s press release.
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Two of Governor Bill Lee’s criminal justice reform initiatives were passed unanimously by the Tennessee Senate on Wednesday. Once approved by the governor, the bills will expand community-based incarceration alternatives and parole eligibility, respectively.
The sponsors on the legislation were State Senators John Stevens (R-Huntington) for the former bill and Ken Yager (R-Kingston) for the latter. State Representative Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) was the House sponsor for both.
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The Tennessee General Assembly determined that local governments can’t classify workers as “nonessential” – but the governor and state still can. The House passed an amended version of a bill, the “The Essential Workers Act,” on Tuesday that struck original language prohibiting the governor and state entities from classifying workers as “nonessential.”
Under the modified act, the governor and state may impose an executive order, ordinance, or resolution that identifies essential and nonessential businesses, trades, professions, or industries for the purpose of closing them. The Tennessee Star inquired with the sponsor, State Representative Brendan Ogles (R-Franklin) as to why they decided the governor and state entities should retain that authority. They didn’t respond by press time. The amendment also struck language that prohibited calling certain workers “essential.”
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed All-Star panelist Roger Simon to the studio to weigh in on his recent article at The Epoch Times and whether or not Tennessee will refuse the federal bribe money to implement critical race theory in its public school curriculum.
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The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is one step closer to contracting with local governments or outside entities and organizations to create community-based incarceration alternatives. These alternatives would include drug treatment and mental health programs.
The House passed a bill encompassing those provisions on Thursday, 89-1. Only State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) voted against the bill. State Representative Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) and State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) sponsored the bill.
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The Tennessee General Assembly unanimously passed a bill allowing counties to create centers focused on transitioning inmates from incarceration to society. The bill also authorizes these facilities, referred to as “transition centers,” to partner with nonprofit organizations with programs to reduce recidivism. The Senate passed the bill without discussion on Thursday.
This bill is one of several proposed by Governor Bill Lee as part of his crime reform initiatives. The overall goal of this legislation was focused on reducing recidivism rates and increasing successful reintegration rates.
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Following Governor Bill Lee’s approval, the state of Tennessee will require surgically aborted children to be put to rest humanely, through either burial or cremation. The Unborn Child Dignity Act would only extend to “ambulatory surgical treatment centers,” private offices, or other in-person facilities describe in the Tennessee Code. Meaning, the act wouldn’t cover children aborted through at-home procedures like the pill.
State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) introduced the bill first, and it was picked up by State Representative Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro) in the House. The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, 27-6 along party lines.
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Tuesday, Governor Bill Lee announced that Tennessee will have an additional $580 million invested into various budget initiatives. The amended budget will cover investments in K-12 and higher education, rural communities, safety initiatives, economic development, transportation, and additional tax cuts.
In a press release, the governor’s office shared that this was made possible through “fiscal prudence.” The Tennessee Star inquired with Lee’s office as to what those measures were that allowed these available funds to accrue. Their spokespersons didn’t respond to request for comment by press time.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former (D) State Rep. John DeBerry to the newsmakers line to talk about how his new role as Sr. Advisor to Governor Lee, his pastorship, and establishing lines of communication with state lawmakers, officials, and the Biden administration.
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Governor Bill Lee hosted a roundtable to discuss criminal justice reform on Wednesday, as part of a national conservative campaign called “Right on Crime.” The discussion centered on the general agreement that rehabilitation should be emphasized more for prisoners. No specifics were offered during the roundtable.
On the call were Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Speaker of the House; Pat Nolan, Director Emeritus of the American Conservative Union Foundation Nolan Center for Justice; Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas and former Trump Administration U.S. Secretary of Energy; Brook Rollins, former Trump Administration acting director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council and former president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation; and Josh Smith, a member of Lee’s Criminal Justice Reinvestment Task Force.
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The Tennessee House passed the bill allowing permitless open or concealed carry, dubbed the “constitutional carry bill.” It will head to Governor Bill Lee’s desk, where it’s expected to be signed.
Under the bill, anyone 21 and older could lawfully carry without a permit, for both open and concealed carry. These provisions would only apply to handguns. A slew of House amendments proposed to the bill were withdrawn.
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The Educational Media Foundation (EMF) announced it would be moving its global headquarters from Rocklin, California to Nashville, Tennessee. EMF is the parent company to popular contemporary Christian radio networks K-LOVE and Air1, as well as Christian content producers AccessMore podcasts and WTA Media.
EMF stated that the transition would take about three years’ time. In its announcement, EMF clarified that it had also made small preparations for this move in advance, such as the expansion of broadcast studios and offices for the companies already based in the state.
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For about a year now, both the Tennessee National Guard and Tennessee State Guard (TNSG) have been mobilized for COVID-19 efforts – which now includes vaccinations. The Tennessee National Guard began assisting with COVID-19 testing on April 1 following the tornado cleanup efforts, while TNSG joined in nearly a week later. Since December, both of the guards began transitioning to begin assistance with vaccine administration throughout the state.
Established by the General Assembly in 1887, The Tennessee National Guard differs from the TNSG in that the latter is composed of volunteers underneath the state. That means that TNSG answers to Governor Bill Lee. Unlike the Tennessee National Guard, TNSG can’t be federalized or deployed outside of the state. The Tennessee National Guard can because it’s part of the U.S. Army and National Guard. Both are branches of the Tennessee Military Department.
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Governor Bill Lee’s newly-proposed legislation wants to prohibit Confucius Institutes in Tennessee – but what if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rebrands and repackages it? A new report surfaced detailing the Confucius Institute’s quiet rebranding of their K-12 Confucius Classrooms under the name “Chinese Language Partner Network.” The change occurred around August or September of last year, according to archived screenshots of the affiliated Asia Society webpage. It coincided with previous President Donald Trump’s policy for Confucius Institute transparency – which President Joe Biden revoked quietly days after inauguration. As of this report, the webpage still lists the existing Confucius classrooms under the rebranded name.
Lee’s proposed legislation, the Transparency in Foreign Investment Act, only deals with Hanban – an abbreviation for the CCP Ministry of Education’s Office of Chinese Language Council International, also known as the Confucius Institute Headquarters. The act doesn’t address Hanban’s close affiliation and, arguably, biggest assistant in expanding their reach: the Asia Society, a New York-based nonprofit that works with both the CCP and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to expand Chinese language courses in American schools. Since establishing its Confucius Classroom Network in 2010, the Asia Society has worked with Hanban to expand Confucius Classrooms.
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A maskless Governor Bill Lee visited downtown Nashville to encourage tourism and support the local businesses. Lee didn’t acknowledge the Metro government’s ongoing mask mandate, which has been in effect since last June.
“Hey everybody, Governor Bill Lee here down on Broadway in downtown Nashville,” said Lee. “I’m glad that you are here for the SCC tournament or whether you’re a spring breaker just about to be here, or someone looking for a place to come this summer – Tennessee is open for business! I’m about to go down to some of my favorite businesses, get me a pair of boots, might get me something to eat. I hope that you will come down and get you some boots and you something to eat in downtown Nashville soon!”
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Tens of thousands more Tennesseans will be getting expanded broadband access soon, thanks to nearly $15 million in grants. Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Bob Rolfe announced this latest funding through the Broadband Accessibility Grant program in a joint press release on Friday.
The press release indicated that the grants would cover over 7,000 homes and businesses, which would impact just under 18,000 citizens. 13 providers were issued the grants in total. Counties impacted by the grants are Grainger, Coffee, Bledsoe, Roane, Obion, Lawrence, Benton, Hancock, Lauderdale, Bedford, Marshall, Meigs, Cumberland, and Weakley. TNECD has allocated nearly $60 million in broadband expansion grants to date.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Carol Swain to the newsmakers line to discuss several of President Trump’s refugee resettlement executive order and suggests how Tennessee should respond.
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If local officials decide on emergency school closures in the future, Tennessee’s governor may have the power to override them. This, according to a bill recommended for passage by the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. Its companion bill in the House was passed on first consideration on Monday, gaining a little progress since its filing last month.
The bill would also grant all local education authorities (LEAs) with the sole power to open or close schools during an emergency as defined by the Tennessee Code. However, if the governor, local health board, or public health official were to issue orders to the contrary, then the LEA’s decision would be nullified. The bill also noted that the governor’s authority would supersede the authority of local health boards and public health officials.
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Several state representatives and senators have proposed a bill to review the constitutionality of presidential executive orders. According to the bills, if Congress doesn’t affirm an executive order and isn’t signed into law, then the joint government operations committee of Tennessee’s General Assembly would review whether the order overextends its scope of authority. Upon concluding their review, the committee would decide whether to recommend the Tennessee Attorney General and Governor to reexamine or seek an exemption from the order.
Additionally, the bill proposed that no state agency, political subdivision, elected officials, or government employees could enforce the order if the Tennessee Attorney General determines it is unconstitutional. That portion of the proposed bill would specifically apply to orders concerning pandemics or public health emergencies; natural resource regulations; agricultural industry regulations; land use regulations; financial regulations concerning environmental, social, or governance standards; and Second Amendment regulations.
Additionally, the bill proposed that no state agency, political subdivision, elected officials, or government employees could enforce the order if the Tennessee Attorney General determines it is unconstitutional. That portion of the proposed bill would specifically apply to orders concerning pandemics or public health emergencies; natural resource regulations; agricultural industry regulations; land use regulations; financial regulations concerning environmental, social, or governance standards; and Second Amendment regulations.
Additionally, the bill proposed that no state agency, political subdivision, elected officials, or government employees could enforce the order if the Tennessee Attorney General determines it is unconstitutional. That portion of the proposed bill would specifically apply to orders concerning pandemics or public health emergencies; natural resource regulations; agricultural industry regulations; land use regulations; financial regulations concerning environmental, social, or governance standards; and Second Amendment regulations.