The Tennesse General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting banks from de-banking and closing consumer accounts based on “social credit score” systems.
SB 2148 “prohibits financial institutions and insurers from denying or canceling services to a person, or otherwise discriminating against a person, based upon the use of a social credit score or other factors,” according to the bill’s summary.
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
State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) said a bill that would prohibit individuals from transporting illegal aliens into the Volunteer State failed in committee because its language was not “exact.”
The bill, SB 2802, would increase the penalty fine for transporting an illegal alien from $1,000 to $5,000.
Read the full story
Matt Boyle, the national political editor at Breitbart News, said Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives need to “put the heat directly on” President Joe Biden from now until the November 5 General Election in order to “save America.”
Read the full story
Matthew Giffin, a reporter for The Tennessee Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Star, questioned the legality of News Channel 5’s airing of a so-called secret recording of a call between Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable.
On Monday, the news outlet ran investigative reporter Phil Williams’ 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece focused on AFP-TN’s push for state lawmakers to advance the governor’s bill.
Read the full story
Steve Baker, a current opinion contributor for Blaze News and an investigative journalist, said he is being treated as a “terrorist” by the weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ) for covering the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, as an independent journalist.
Baker has been charged with four misdemeanors for being present at the Capitol on January 6.
Read the full story
Four Vanderbilt University students were arrested and charged on Wednesday following a pro-Palestine sit-in event which saw students breach Kirkland Hall and assault a Community Service Officer.
Read the full story
Students at Vanderbilt University staged a sit-in that led to arrests on Tuesday amid unrest over the institution’s refusal to allow the Student Government Senate to consider joining the anti-Zionist Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement that seeks to isolate Israel.
Vanderbilt University graduate assistant Amar Latif Qazi told The Tennessee Star that the First Amendment rights of the university’s students were infringed after Vanderbilt refused to allow a vote following a petition, reportedly signed by 600 students, which sought to amend the Vanderbilt Student Government Constitution in order to join the BDS movement.
Read the full story
A “non-partisan” political activism group that calls for gun control held a rally in Nashville Wednesday night on the year anniversary of the mass shooting at The Covenant School.
“Together, we will wear red and link arms as we mark the anniversary of one of our community’s darkest days and honor the memory of the hundreds of Tennessee lives lost to preventable firearm tragedies over the last year,” Voices for a Safer Tennessee said on its website. “Our goal is to form a chain of 13,000 people from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt through Centennial Park and up Charlotte Avenue to our state capitol.”
Read the full story
Tennessee’s lawmakers at the state and federal level Wednesday marked the year anniversary of the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which claimed six lives.
Tennessee’s House Republicans shared the following message on X.
Read the full story
A California judge has recommended disbarring attorney John Eastman, determining that he violated ethics rules by pushing former President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division is reminding Tennesseans that burn permits are required through the middle of May.
“Fire prevention starts with each of us practicing safe burning and only burning when it’s safe. The burn permit process communicates to residents the safe locations and times for open burning,” State Forester Heather Slayton said in press release. “During hazardous fire conditions like high winds or extreme drought, permit issuance pauses temporarily until safe conditions return. Our aim is to safeguard Tennessee’s people, communities, and natural resources. Together, we can conserve our state’s beauty and prevent wildland fires.”
Read the full story
Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden explained why the Republican National Committee (RNC) and state Republican parties are pushing voters to vote early in this year’s November general election when the time comes.
Read the full story
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide almost $12 million to the Tipton County Board of Education to rebuild Crestview Elementary School, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) announced Tuesday.
Cohen represents Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, which covers approximately half of Tipton County.
Read the full story
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Friday issued a statement celebrating the recent distribution of nearly $81 million accrued through lawsuit settlements against opioid manufacturers.
A press release explained the funding is available as a result of years of litigation against “opioid manufacturers and distributors” by the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.
Read the full story
Discussions on a nearly $1.6 billion franchise tax refund and $400 million annual franchise tax cut are set to begin in Tennessee’s House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Bill sponsors have termed the $1.55 billion franchise tax refund fund as necessary for the state to avoid litigation. But the Lee administration proposal has not included which businesses will get those refunds nor if threats of litigation have been received.
Read the full story
The Tennessee House of Representatives Tuesday passed a bill that would significantly increase the penalty for making violent threats against schools.
HB 2198 “increases the penalty for the offense of threatening to commit an act of mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony.”
Read the full story
Tom Pappert, reporter for The Georgia Star News and lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, said the conduct of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, specifically amid the aftermath of her decision to appoint her former lover, Nathan Wade, as the special prosecutor overseeing her case against former President Donald Trump, is a “disgrace to the legal profession.”
Read the full story
Tuesday afternoon on the Matt Murphy Show, broadcast weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, host Murphy interviewed Tori Venable, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, about AFP’s support for Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill currently under consideration in The Tennessee General Assembly. During the interview, Venable criticized the reporting of Phil Williams in Monday evening’s broadcast on NewsChannel 5, which featured an interview with State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), as well as a recording of a phone call between Williams and Venable that was obtained without Venable’s consent.
Read the full story
A bill that would allow Tennessee’s Department of Tourism to hide negotiated contracts for a potential Super Bowl and other events for up to 10 years was amended and passed the Tennessee Senate.
This means the legislation will go back to the House for approval before it can be sent to Gov. Bill Lee for approval.
Read the full story
Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable responded to News Channel 5’s investigative segment on Monday accusing the conservative political advocacy group of threatening Tennessee state lawmakers to advance Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill.
Read the full story
A container ship slammed into a Baltimore bridge early Tuesday, causing it to collapse and send vehicles and road crew members into a river in what authorities declared “a dire emergency.”
The incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, prompting an emergency search-and-rescue operation in the frigid waters of the Patapsco River.
Read the full story
A U.S. District Court judge ruled on Monday that the Mexican government can proceed with a lawsuit alleging that five Arizona gun dealers were involved in trafficking weapons and ammunition to drug cartels across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) recently picked up endorsements from four of his colleagues serving the Volunteer State in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Read the full story
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (T-TN) Monday announced on her X account that she will be traveling to Eagle Pass, TX this week to survey what has become ground zero for illegal alien border crossings.
Blackburn said in a statement from her office:
Read the full story
Vanderbilt University announced Monday it is establishing a new college dedicated to computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and related fields.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will halt interstate construction beginning Thursday as travelers head to their Easter destinations.
“TDOT crews and contractors will stop all road construction work that requires lane closures beginning Thursday, March 28, at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 1 at 6:00 a.m.,” a release from the department says. “This will provide maximum roadway capacity to motorists expected to travel across the state this upcoming holiday weekend.”
Read the full story
As crime continues to plague the cities of Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee’s U.S. Attorneys have deemphasized prosecuting those who violate our criminal laws. In the first year of office for President Biden’s U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, criminal case filings declined by over 25 percent compared to the previous year.
Read the full story
Corey DeAngelis, a school choice activist and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, said it’s time for Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) to be voted out of office amid his anti-school choice stunts, including his recent work with News Channel 5’s Phil Williams.
Read the full story
Tennessee Never Trump political operators Blake Harris and Kim Kaegi are pushing Metro Nashville Councilwoman Courtney Johnston to challenge Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) for his seat in the U.S. House, multiple sources familiar with the Metro Council and Tennessee Republican politics confirmed to The Tennessee Star.
Johnston recently confirmed reports she is considering a challenge to Ogles, stating to the media, “The people of Middle Tennessee deserve better than Andy Ogles.” The councilwoman confirmed, “I am taking a very close look at the district and am talking to voters. If I run, I intend to win.”
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is calling on Senate leadership to take “immediate action” on a bill that would force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to divest within six months or face being banned in the U.S.
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
The U.S. Senate failed to pass an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Saturday that would stop taxpayer dollars from funding charter flights being used to secretly fly illegal aliens from other nations directly into states across the country for resettlement.
Read the full story
A former Franklin youth soccer coach has been indicted on child sex crimes and immigration crimes, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The indictment, returned yesterday by a federal grand jury, charges Camilo Campos-Hurtado, 63, with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, one count of using or possessing fraudulent immigration documents, and one count of possessing an identification document or authentication feature which was stolen or produced without lawful authority,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said in a March 21 press release.
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
Bridgetown Natural Foods is receiving $1.3 million through incenctives for its $78.3 million manufacturing and distribution facility in Tennessee.
The project in Lebanon is being awarded a FastTrack Job Training Assistance Grant that was not disclosed Wednesday and was first listed without a project name by the State Funding Board.
Read the full story
Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that while he does have almost half a billion dollars in cash, he doesn’t want to spend it on the recent $454 million New York civil fraud judgment.
Read the full story
Peter Schweizer, author of Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans, said a majority of U.S. leaders are silent on China’s role in inciting American issues due to their personal, financial entanglement with the foreign nation.
Schweizer said his book focuses on a multitude of American issues – including crime and drugs – and details the “overwhelming evidence” connecting China to such issues.
Read the full story
Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham warned that the half-cent sales tax increase being considered to fund Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit reform plan will be “just a small down payment” from Nashvillians.
Cunningham posted to X, formerly Twitter, in response to a piece by Tennessean reporter Cassandra Stephenson.
Read the full story
Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the mainstream media’s refusal to acknowledge how the Biden administration’s compliance in scuttling Haiti’s elections back in 2021 contributes to the chaos currently unfolding in the Caribbean country stems from the fact that the backstory is a “terrible” look for President Joe Biden.
Read the full story
U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) slammed the passage of a “minibus” $1.2 trillion spending bill on Friday that would fund six of the 12 appropriations divisions for Fiscal Year 2024.
Moments before the House passed the bill by a 286-134 vote, Ogles, along with other members of the Freedom Caucus, held a press conference where he said the American people had been “sold out.”
Read the full story
The executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport died Thursday after a shootout with federal agents who were investigating the potentially illegal sale of firearms.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) attempted to serve a warrant at the Little Rock home of Bryan Malinowski, 53, at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, ATF and Arkansas State Police told NBC. Malinowski’s family has sought legal counsel and claims the ATF’s actions were not justified.
Read the full story
According to report from the Federation on American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the President Joe Biden’s administration paroled more illegal aliens into the United States during the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2023 than it accepted legal immigrants through visa programs.
Parole for illegal aliens entails a government acknowledgement that a person is present in the country illegally, but that they have permission to stay here for various reasons.
Read the full story
Jeremy Boreing, co-founder of The Daily Wire, announced Friday morning that the media publication has cut ties with one of its contributors, Candace Owens.
Read the full story
The body of Riley Strain, the 22-year old college student who had gone missing after being asked to leave Luke Bryan’s bar on the night of March 8, has been recovered in the Cumberland River in West Nashville, approximately 8 miles from downtown.
Read the full story
Tennessee has joined a multi-state antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which claims that the Silicon Valley company is monopolizing the smartphone market.
“Apple, the most valuable company in the world, stifled competition in the smartphone market at the expense of consumers,” said Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti in a press release. “When companies win by innovating, consumers benefit. When companies win by kneecapping their competition, consumers suffer.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office announced on Thursday that it resolved a number of “mistakes” made by Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert just three weeks after beginning an audit.
In February, Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower announced a “deep concern and lack of confidence” in Halbert’s office after she failed to submit regular revenue reports for the county, and said auditors with his office would seek to remedy the failures allegedly caused by “incompetence and willful neglect” by Halbert.
Read the full story
Volkswagen employees at a plant in Chattanooga have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote on whether workers will join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
“The milestone marks the first non-union auto plant to file for a union election among the dozens of auto plants where workers have been organizing in recent months,” UAW said in a press release. “The grassroots effort sprang up in the wake of the record victories for Big Three autoworkers in the UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike win.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Senate passed a bill that would end a franchise tax on business property in the state along with refunding as much as $1.6 billion to businesses that previously paid the tax.
Senate Bill 2103 passed with a 25-6 vote in the Senate and companion House Bill 1893 is set to be heard onWednesday in the House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee.
Read the full story
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of Texas’s illegal alien removal law, SB4, being challenged in the case United States v. Texas.
Read the full story