Two members of the Metro Nashville Council blocked a resolution condemning the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump and all political violence from being discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
Read the full story
A Tennessee State Representative is celebrating this week as a bill that he sponsored enacting harsher penalties for violence against police officers took effect Monday.
The law, called The Back the Blue Act, which was sponsored by State Representative Kip Capley (R-Summertown) makes assault on a police officer a Class E felony. Previously, it was a Class A misdemeanor.
Read the full story
The Canary Mission’s deep dive into the hateful messaging being pushed by educators across the nation and in Pennsylvania comes at a time when lawmakers of the Keystone State are attempting to revive a school voucher program which would award scholarships to low-income students attending underperforming public schools.
Read the full story
Tennessee State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) suggested his bill that strengthened the state’s duty to report law may have prevented the Covenant School shooting on March 27, 2023 in Nashville if implemented before the shooting took place.
Over the weekend, The Tennessee Star reported it was provided the name of the psychologist who was reportedly part of the care team for Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led a letter signed by eight other members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers regarding the immigration status of a 23-year old illegal alien who allegedly followed a woman into a bathroom at the Nashville Sundae Club and groped her
Read the full story
Tennessee National Guard troops, local first responders, and personnel of other state entities participated in the Tennessee Maneuvers 2024 training exercises last week in 15 counties across the Volunteer State.
Tennessee Maneuvers is a series of disaster simulation training exercises that test the joint response capabilities of participating personnel. The exercises occurred in Bradley, Coffee, Davidson, Gibson, Hamilton, Hawkins, Knox, Loudon, Madison, Maury, McMinn, Rhea, Rutherford, Sullivan, and Wilson counties.
Read the full story
There were 60 officers killed in the line of duty in 2023, the report said, one less than in 2022. But the total officers killed in the line of duty in the past three years were higher than any other three year period in the past two decades.
An FBI report released Tuesday revealed that fewer law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty last year, but the number of attacks on officers has risen.
Read the full story
Silent panic alarms may become the next line of defense for schools in Pennsylvania.
A bipartisan plan introduced in the Senate on Monday would mandate installing devices in buildings to speed up law enforcement response during an emergency. Five other states have implemented similar legislation, dubbed “Alyssa’s Law.”
Read the full story
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.
Read the full story
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill this week that bans judges in the state from using “ability to pay” bail systems.
“Ability to pay” bail systems are bail calculators that determine a defendant’s bail based on the amount of money immediately available to them. The system was recently implemented in Memphis.
Read the full story
The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) released the body cam footage of an officer who shot a man armed with two knives outside the Exxon gas station at 5306 N. Broadway last month.
On April 17, just before 5:30 p.m., Officer Seth Beeler arrived at the Exxon on a report that a man, who has since been identified as William Charles McBride Jr., was “acting erratically and potentially violently inside of the store,” according to KPD.
Read the full story
A shooting that unfolded at Orange Mound Park in Memphis Saturday evening has left two dead and six others wounded, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
Read the full story
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced his office is pursuing new charges against the 17-year old involved in last week’s shootout that killed Memphis Police Officer Joseph McKinney.
Read the full story
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).
Read the full story
The self-described “world’s leading liberal voice” news outlet The Guardian published an attack-style article denouncing the Republican supermajority in Tennessee politics on Friday, claiming such a political makeup has “imprisoned our democracy.”
Read the full story
Shaquille Taylor, the man accused of shooting and killing Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig last year, is set to appear in court next month for a competency hearing, according to WKRN.
The hearing is scheduled for May 1, according to the outlet.
Read the full story
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill prohibiting local governments from limiting the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct routine traffic stops on Thursday.
The bill, SB 2572/HB 1931, was sponsored by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis).
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) said the Department of Justice’s new National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center in an “unauthorized attack” on the Second Amendment.
Read the full story
Nolensville Police Lieutenant Stephen Hale recently graduated from the 289th session of the FBI National Academy, marking the first time in Nolensville Police Department history that an officer has completed the program.
Read the full story
Law enforcement agencies in Ohio can now be certified in the state’s new standards for professional excellence by meeting nearly three dozen standards established to entrust public confidence, accountability and integrity.
Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed an executive order for the new Law Enforcement Accreditation Program established by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board.
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick said the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has “room for improvement” in regards to keeping the streets of Music City “safe” and “clean.”
Eslick made the comments during a recent episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show as he and host Michael Patrick Leahy were discussing the disappearance of college student Riley Strain, who has been missing since March 8 after being asked to leave Luke Bryan’s bar in downtown Nashville.
Read the full story
A 30-year old man from Clarksville has been sentenced to serve 25 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl while on bond for state murder charges, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read the full story
A bill that would prohibit local governments from limiting the ability of a law enforcement agency to conduct routine traffic stops passed the Tennessee Senate on Thursday.
Read the full story
A Memphis Police officer is in stable condition after he was shot in the line of duty early Friday morning, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
“At 4:19 am, officers conducted a traffic stop at 240 southbound near South Parkway. During the stop, an officer notified dispatch he had been shot,” said MPD on X. “The unknown motorist fled the scene. The officer was transported to Regional One critical. This is an ongoing investigation.”
Read the full story
The right to serve as law enforcement shouldn’t belong solely to U.S. citizens, but also to individuals who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to Senate Bill 69.
The legislation passed the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate.
Read the full story
A federal judge blocked a Texas law Thursday that allows local police to arrest migrants who cross into the state illegally.
U.S. District Court Judge David Alan Ezra, a Reagan appointee, said in a 114-page ruling that the law, SB 4, “threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice.” He issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from taking effect while the case proceeds, finding Texas was “unlikely to succeed on the merits” and noting the government would “suffer grave irreparable harm” if the law took effect.
Read the full story
Mark Elrod, who is currently serving as interim sheriff of Williamson County amid former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades’ retirement, said the biggest issues affecting the county in regards to crime are drugs and fentanyl.
“I would say that probably one of our biggest issues is drugs, narcotics, fentanyl. We’ve had an uptick in that as well as heroin over the last several years. With Williamson County, we’re a transient community where a lot of the drugs and other crimes come in from other areas into Williamson County. It’s not so much your next door neighbor or the people down the street, although there is some of that, but most of it is coming from other places…Davidson County, out of Nashville, out of the city of Columbia. We have four interstates that come through the county, so it could be, you know, really coming from anywhere, everywhere,” Elrod said on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.
Read the full story
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said a number of steps would have to be taken for a “mass deportation” strategy to be implemented on day one of a second Trump presidency.
Read the full story
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, explained different ways the Metro Nashville City Council’s new Immigrant Caucus may aid illegal aliens in Music City.
Read the full story
The Arizona House Rules Committee is scheduled to discuss legislation on Monday that would prevent cities from decreasing funding to their local police departments.
Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, is the sponsor of House Bill 2120, and it has already passed the House Military Affairs & Public Safety committee in an 8-7 party-line vote this past Monday.
Read the full story
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.
Read the full story
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.
Read the full story
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones called on state lawmakers to pass legislation focused on curbing terrorism threats posed by illegal immigration and insufficient cybersecurity based on information he learned at last month’s National Sheriff’s Association’s annual winter conference in Washington D.C.
Read the full story
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost led a bipartisan coalition of 41 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to congressional leaders urging the authorization of bridge funding for the federal Crime Victims Fund, also known as the VOCA Fund.
Created by Congress in 1984, the VOCA Fund provides federal support to state and local programs that assist victims of crime.
Read the full story
Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) recently filed legislation to make blocking a highway a Class D felony.
Under current law, it is classified as a Class A misdemeanor when a defendant “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” obstructs a public highway, street, sidewalk, railway, waterway, elevator, aisle, or hallway.
Read the full story
A bill to limit and expand law enforcement’s use of license plate readers passed out of a Virginia House subcommittee, sparking questions during a debate about the age-old dance between government overreach and public safety.
House Bill 775 from Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, would institute statewide regulations governing the use of the technology and enable law enforcement to use them on highways managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Read the full story
Arizona State Representative Selina Bliss (R-Prescott) and Senator Shawnna LM Bolick (R-San Miguel) have joined forces to introduce legislation that addresses the “urgent need for stronger measures against individuals who engage in child sex trafficking.”
Read the full story
A total of 108 law enforcement agencies across Ohio have been awarded grant funds to cover costs associated with body cam programs, according to Governor Mike DeWine’s office.
Read the full story
The District of Columbia experienced a 39% increase in violent crime in 2023, according to data published by its Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
The District has long experienced issues with crime and property theft, despite having the most police officers per capitaof any jurisdiction in the country, due to the significant presence of federal law enforcement to protect the seat of the government of the United States. In 2023, overall crime increased by 26% over 2022, with 34,414 instances of violent and property crime reported to police, with property crime alone rising by 24%.
Read the full story
The family of Tyre Nichols, who five black Memphis police officers beat following a traffic stop and foot chase last year, will hold two candlelight vigils on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of his death.
Nichols’ family, who is being represented by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, will hold a vigil in Memphis at the intersection of Castlegate Lane and Ross Road at 7 p.m. CT and in Nichols’ hometown of Sacramento, California, at the Tyre Nichols Skate Park at 5 p.m. PST.
Read the full story
Ten officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) have been reassigned duties following an investigation into the November 6 leak of the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, according to reports.
Read the full story
A study published this week by Center for Justice Research, a partnership between the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University, revealed gun crime decreased in six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the implementation of the Constitutional Carry law.
Read the full story
Drug task forces organized under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC) across the state confiscated more than $63 million in illegal drugs in 2023, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
Read the full story
Four Ohio officials were targeted over the past week in a nationwide swatting operation, according to reports.
Read the full story
A recent study conducted by Vivint, a smart-home security company, shows Atlanta, Georgia as one of the top ten most “unsafe” U.S. cities during the holidays.
Read the full story
A Gallatin man has been convicted of multiple armed robbery and firearms offenses stemming from a three-week crime spree in 2019, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In December 2019, Lazavion Kern, 22, robbed four convenience stores in Gallatin and Portland, where he took thousands of dollars from the clerks, according to information cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read the full story
The Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge No. 69 elected Ken Kober as its new president this week.
Kober succeeds Dan Hils, who has served as president of the Cincinnati FOP since 2016.
Read the full story
Eleven Georgia men have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles as members of a drug trafficking organization in the metro-Atlanta area, according to the Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Read the full story
The Nashville Metro Police Department (MNPD) will offer a “Safe Surrender” event this week for people with outstanding warrants to turn themselves in as “a special one-time opportunity toward a second chance.”
Read the full story
A law legalizing recreational marijuana will take effect in Ohio beginning Thursday, meaning adults over 21 will be allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and up to 15 grams of marijuana concentrate.
Read the full story