Phil Williams and NewsChannel 5 Refuse to Answer Questions About Legality of Recorded Phone Call Broadcast in Anti-School Choice Report

NewsChannel5 news Director Sandy Boonstra and reporter Phil Williams

NewsChannel 5 and investigative journalist Phil Williams have so far refused to answer questions about the suspicious origin of a phone call recording Williams obtained and broadcast in a Monday report attacking a school choice advocacy group.

The recording captured a phone conversation between Executive Director Tori Venable of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee and State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), who currently opposes Governor Bill Lee’s pending school choice legislation.

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Tennessee House Education Committee Advances Bill for School Choice Expansion

School Work

Lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to advance legislation to expand school choice, moving forward the proposal announced by Governor Bill Lee in November.

Designed to create 20,000 new Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) for Tennessee students next school year, HB 1183 passed the House Education Administration Committee with 12 votes in favor and seven votes against.

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Tennessee Lawmakers Propose Legislation Banning Banks, Credit Card Companies from Tracking Purchases of Guns and Ammo

State Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and State Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions from tracking purchases of firearms.

Warner filed HB 1784 and Hensley filed SB 1702 to make it “an unfair or deceptive trade practice” for any “financial institution to require a firearms retailer to use firearms-specific transaction codes” after the industry began creating a new credit card merchant category code for purchases of firearms and ammunition, which they claimed would help identify dangerous gun owners or suspicious transactions. 

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