Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed listeners to call in and weigh in on whether or not Mayor Cooper should be recalled or not.
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Informants reportedly helped Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s restaurant police cite two downtown bars over the weekend.
WSMV reported that a task force cited Dogwood and Rebar, both on Division Street, on Saturday for having too many patrons, including on the patio. The task force had members from Metro Public Health Department, the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Metro Beer Board. The task force checked on Dogwood again on Sunday.
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Davidson County Sheriff’s Office (DCOS) officially assumed management of the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility (MDCDF) early Sunday morning.
Sheriff Daron Hall oversaw the swearing in of 118 CoreCivic employees to DCOS employees. Hall compared the new merger to newlyweds.
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The 2004 Tennessee Supreme Court decision in City of Memphis v. Shelby County Election Commission that found the “Commission exceeded its authority by refusing to place Referendum Ordinance No. 5072 on the November 2, 2004, ballot based upon the State Election Coordinator’s opinion that the Ordinance is unconstitutional,” may blow a major hole in Metro Nashville Legal Director Bob Cooper’s argument made to to the Davidson County Election Commission at its September 25 meeting that “the commission’s role here is not purely ministerial,” and that a 2004 Tennessee Supreme Court decision “said that the commission can consider the form of a referendum petition and suggested that it could review the petition’s facial or procedural legality.”
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Nashville based attorney Jim Roberts to the show to update listeners on the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act getting on the ballot in December.
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Dennis Ferrier of Fox News 17 continues his reporting on Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s overreach in closing restaurants and bars, which account for only a fraction of coronavirus cases even as that industry continues to suffer.
Ferrier has been digging into the story for some time to gain the actual number of cases.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles who discussed his plea to Governor Lee to open up Tennessee now.
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The Davidson County Election Commission has recruited a legal team to sue the citizens’ group Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN) for its December ballot tax cut petition.
Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Bill Koch will serve as lead council, and Junaid Odubeko the co-council.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Monday that Metro Human Resources members have finalized a review committee to find the city’s next police chief.
Cooper said this in a press release that his staff published on the Metro Nashville website.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, former Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson vacated his position much sooner than he previously stated he would — without explaining. Left-wing activists and Metro Council members pushed for either Anderson to resign or for Cooper to fire him.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss due process and institutional constraints on government.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the politicization of COVID in Metro Nashville.
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As The Tennessee Star reported on Monday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference he was turning the city back to Phase Two from Phase Three, shutting all bars down for 14 days, temporarily shutting down all entertainment and event venues, and reducing restaurant capacity from to 75 percent to 50 percent due to “record numbers” of COVID-19 cases traceable back to bars and restaurants.
Mayor Cooper did not provide any specific details to substantiate his assertion of “record numbers.”
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One barbecue restaurant says Nashville Mayor John Cooper does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to his cover-up of low COVID-19 case numbers in bars and restaurants and his 34-37 percent tax increase.
Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porker, located in the Gulch, posted on Facebook Saturday that he would not retract a public letter to Nashvillians he had written which referenced a story by Dennis Ferrier. Peg Leg Porker’s Facebook page, with both letters, is here.
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Mayor John Cooper today saying it’s fake news that Nashville is hiding information about its COVID clusters in bars.
Did Nashville’s mayor deliberately overstate the number of coveted cases tied to Nashville bars when he shut them down July 2nd?
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Here are Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s exact words, delivered at his July 2, 2020 press conference, beginning at 3:01 mark in the video of that press conference.
It’s worth noting the Nashville rate of confirmed cases did decline while bars and restaurants operated at 50 percent capacity in May. The Metro Parks facilities opened in phase three will remain open including dog parks, skate parks, basketball courts, and playgrounds. And recreational leagues and pools will still be permitted as outbreaks have not been traced back to these venues or activities.
Now, of course, we urge you to practice safe social distancing around swimming pools this weekend. Additionally, all bars in Davidson County known as limited-service restaurants that derive the majority of their revenue from alcohol sales will close for a minimum of 14 days beginning tomorrow which is equal to one incubation cycle of the coronavirus.
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When Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference that he was shutting down all the city’s bars for 14 days, reducing restaurant capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent, and temporarily closing event venues and entertainment venues, all due to “record” cases of COVID-19 traceable to restaurants and bars, he apparently knew that his own Metro Health Department said less than two dozen cases of COVID-19 could be traced to those establishments. But he failed to disclose that the “record” of bar and restaurant traceable cases to which he referred to was about one tenth of one percent of Davidson County’s 20,000 cases of COVID-19.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the cronyism that resides in Nashville.
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Governor Bill Lee responded in writing Thursday denying Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s request for an additional $82.6 million in coronavirus relief funding.
In addition to the letter, Lee addressed the issue during a press conference Thursday, saying “I have to believe the strategy that I’m investing in is one that is consistent and aligned with the state’s strategy and Nashville’s are not.”
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s Press Secretary Chris Song attacked the character of the reporter who broke the story about keeping information about COVID-19 cases secret during a press conference Thursday.
WZTV’s Fox 17 reporter Dennis Ferrier was the first to report on the “disturbing revelation” Wednesday based on emails he received from the Nashville mayor’s office.
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On the heels of the stunning revelations by Nashville journalist Dennis Ferrier that the Mayor John Cooper’s office suppressed the report of improving coronavirus case numbers, City Council Steve Glover appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight Thursday.
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Nashvillians now likely will have input on the city’s 34 to 37 percent property tax hike, a conservative activist said in reaction to the verification of a ballot initiative.
The Davidson County Election Commission on Monday verified the referendum effort for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, WSMV said. That could limit the property tax increase to 2 percent. The effort now goes to the Metro Clerk’s Office and potentially to the Dec. 5 ballot.
Tori Venable, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee (AFP-TN), lauded the initiative’s progress in a statement.
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Only 112 of Nashville’s 27,009 cases of COVID-19 can be linked through contact tracing to the city’s bars, according to data from the Metro Public Health Department, with 109 of the 112 cases linked to bars downtown.
Despite bars accounting for less than half of one percent of the city’s COVID-19 cases, bars have faced some of the most stringent restrictions under public health orders since pandemic-related shutdowns began in March.
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At the conclusion of the Republican National Convention watch party and protest Thursday evening, Metro Councilman-At-Large Steve Glover said of Republicans, “We want to build up America, not tear down America.”
Glover was referring to the hundreds of attendees at the event that was his brainchild on the grounds of Barbara Mandrell’s former estate, Fontanel, in Nashville.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Attorney Jim Roberts to the studio to discuss the irresponsible spending by Mayor John Cooper in Nashville.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Jim Roberts to weigh in on Mayor John Cooper’s comments about the Taxpayer Protection Act.
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Tomi Lahren of FOX Nation will join the Trump Republican National Convention acceptance speech watch party in Nashville on Thursday evening.
Lahren, who moved to Nashville several months ago from Los Angeles, recently referred to Mayor John Cooper as a “little tyrant” in a near five-minute rant during her Final Thoughts segment that called out the orders, arbitrary mandates, closures and curfews handed down by the Democrat.
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Metro Nashville At-Large Council Member Sharon Hurt said Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the Joint Public Safety and Health Committee that there should be stronger legislation for those not wearing masks and suggested they be charged with murder or attempted murder.
Hurt said that she works for an organization that, “If they pass the virus, then they are tried for murder or attempted murder.”
Hurt thinks the same standard should apply to the general public.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Nashville attorney Jim Roberts to talk about the number of petitions he’s received for the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act and how it will appear on the ballot.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Michelle Foreman who gave updates on the NoTax4Nash petitions adding that there was a plan B in place should it fail.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Dan Cook owner of Boutique Venues to the newsmakers line to discuss the modified reversion back to Phase Two and what that means for his private event business in Davidson County.
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Davidson County has a plan for reopening the city from COVID-19. This plan uses a number of data points including the status of transmission rate, 14-day new case trend, public health capacity, testing capacity, and the number of regular hospital beds and ICU beds.
However, a key metric that is missing from the county’s reopening plan is mortality rate.
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One board member of nonprofit Healthy Tennessee, founded by Dr. Manny Sethi, has taken positions excusing protestors for spreading the coronavirus, and he and another director have attacked U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
Alex Jahangir and Jesse Ehrenfeld were listed as directors of Healthy Tennessee on the nonprofit’s 2018 Form 990EZ, available here.
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Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Dr. Carol Swain to the studio.
At the end of the second hour, Swain questioned the science behind Governor Lee and Mayor Cooper’s mask mandates suggesting that it appears that conservatives are the target of citations.
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A legal complaint brought by a local bar owner against Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for violating constitutional rights with their respective orders related to COVID-19 has since expanded due to more recent retaliatory events.
The original complaint was filed in late May, The Tennessee Star reported, with an amended version filed with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee about a month later.
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Metro Nashville Police say they arrested a man in connection with an assault on influential real estate developer Tony Giarratana during the May 30 protests.
Nicholas Barrett, 25, on Wednesday was charged with felony aggravated assault for allegedly striking Giarratana from behind with a skateboard outside 505 Church St. during the protest.
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A Chancery Court judge ruled that Metro Nashville’s contract to build the Major League Soccer stadium on The Fairgrounds Nashville is invalid because the meeting approving it violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, WSMV reported.
The Sports Authority gave only 48 hours’ notice before holding a special meeting to sign off on the $192 million contract with M.A. Mortenson Co./Messer Construction Co. on November 1, 2018.
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Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the owner of Nashville Boutique Venues Dan Cook to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Cook explained how his business comes into play with the mayor allowing Phase Three to open next Monday. He described the phase openings as an unequal application of the law by way of the equations of “capacity” being used by the Metro government.
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Mayor John Cooper said this week that he has asked the Metro Nashville Police Department to strengthen its policies to “explicitly prohibit the use of chokeholds and to further clarify officers’ duty to intervene.”
However, as the statement from Cooper’s office notes, chokeholds are already prohibited under Tennessee law in most circumstances. Additionally, since the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) doesn’t train officers on the technique, chokeholds are “not allowed per Nashville police policy and have not been allowed for decades,” said the statement.
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During another lengthy meeting that began Tuesday night and went into Wednesday morning, by a 32 to 8 vote the Nashville Metro Council passed a budget that includes a record 34 percent property tax increase, increased funding for police, cost-of-living raises to city employees, increases funding to the school district as well as funding for a school district minimum wage of $15 per hour.
The Council-approved property tax increase is even higher than the 32 percent increase that Mayor John Cooper called for in his budget proposal.
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Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined in studio by Tennessee state Senator Kerry Roberts.
During the third hour, Leahy and Roberts talked about how Mayor Cooper made it difficult for the Republican National Convention to come to Nashville even though it would have helped many suffering businesses. Roberts added that in order to fix this world people need to know Jesus.
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The Nashville grassroots group NoTax4Nash announced that it and other like-minded groups pledge to recall Mayor John Cooper and any members of the Metro Nashville Council who vote for a property tax increase without an audit to determine if there is need for one.
The NoTax4Nash pledge comes as the Metro Council is scheduled to vote on Mayor John Cooper’s proposed budget Tuesday, June 16.
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The most charitable thing anyone can say about Nashville right now is that the city is a dumpster fire. It isn’t just a small dumpster fire. It is a stinking, raging fire that is going to get out of hand if nothing is done about it.
Part of Nashville’s problems are not its own doing. No one could control the tornado that struck Nashville in March and no one could see, at least initially, what would happen with the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper is directing $24 million in funding from the federal CARES Act to provide every public school student in Nashville-Davidson County with a laptop.
And students who need internet connectivity will get it.
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Metro Councilman-at-Large Steve Glover and owner of Peg Leg Porker, Carey Bringle, called for at least another week to review the city’s budget for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year.
Glover has been outspoken about Mayor Cooper’s 32 percent proposed property tax increase, and native Nashvillian Pringle made news when he shared his scathing letter to Mayor Cooper and the Metro Council about the proposed property tax increase.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper says the city has no money to host the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Nashville during his COVID-19 news conference Thursday.
The issue of hosting the RNC came up earlier this week when the host state of North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper expressed public safety concerns about holding such a large-scale event during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, reported The Washington Times.
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Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles asked Gov. Bill Lee to lift the COVID-19 restrictions in the county because they “are doing more harm than good.”
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The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce wants Davidson County residents’ property taxes to be hiked 32 percent.
The chamber is urging the Metro Council to vote for Mayor John Cooper’s budget that includes a 32 percent property tax increase, the Nashville Business Journal reported.
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Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist and Tennessee state Senator Kerry Roberts to the studio.
During the second hour, Leahy and Roberts discussed Saturday’s rally where Mayor Cooper sat and listened to local left-wing social justice warrior Justin Jones advocate for overcoming oppressors and de-funding the police department. They noted that it was at that point Cooper should have left the rally but instead stayed and was followed by violence in downtown Nashville.
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On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the Tennessee Star Senior Reporter Laura Baigert to the newsmakers line.
During the second hour, Baigert discussed the two grassroots groups opposing Mayor John Cooper’s 32% property tax increase and how that will affect Davidson County homeowners and renters.
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Live from Nashville, Tennessee Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.– Leahy was joined on the newsmakers line by Nashville Smart’s Lonnie Spivak.
At the top of the second hour, Spivak reviewed recent Triton Polling data which showed that almost a third of Davidson County registered voters disapproved of Mayor John Cooper’s 32% property tax increase. He was certain that with such unfavorable polling results that Mayor John Cooper should definitely rethink his direction.
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