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Tennessee Republicans are already advancing legislation aimed at addressing affordability ahead of the 2027 legislative session, following Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn’s pledge to make lowering the cost of living a priority for her incoming administration, according to The Tennessee Star’s lead reporter Tom Pappert.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Governor-elect Marsha Blackburn’s selection of a successor to her U.S. Senate seat could have significant implications for the future of Tennessee Republicans, particularly as potential candidates begin positioning themselves for the 2028 election.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Nashville officials could face additional action from the Tennessee General Assembly if they try to delay implementing a state law that would reduce Metro Nashville’s 40-member council to 20 following a recent Tennessee Supreme Court ruling upholding the legislation.
Appearing Monday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert discussed last week’s ruling and a report published Monday morning by Axios detailing the legal and logistical questions Metro officials must resolve before implementing the reduction ahead of the August 2027 Metro elections.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Democrat Victoria Broderick’s narrow victory over incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) could provide a campaign template for Democrats moving forward.
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Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections largely because voters were dissatisfied with the Iran war and the economy, public affairs specialist Clint Brewer said Wednesday during an appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, criticized Tennessee media outlets for what he described as their failure to report on his recent investigation into a 2020 911 call involving independent gubernatorial candidate David Hatley, suggesting financial and ideological considerations may be influencing their coverage ahead of Election Day.
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EJ Haust, official guest host of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, said she found independent Tennessee gubernatorial candidate David Hatley “clearly untrustworthy,” “completely inadequate,” and “woefully naive” on state issues after personally meeting with him at a campaign event earlier this week.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, warned that serious leadership and accountability problems are plaguing the state’s correctional system, raising questions about the management and security of Tennessee’s prisons amid a series of recent incidents involving a failed execution, an inmate escape, and an alleged cartel-linked drug operation.
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Republican gubernatorial nominee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she is the only conservative choice in Tennessee’s November 3 gubernatorial election, warning that voters who support her opponents would back higher taxes, fewer freedoms, and the end of key Republican-backed policies.
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U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN-07) defended his congressional work ethic and highlighted his perfect voting record during an exclusive sit-down interview Tuesday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, as the freshman congressman campaigns for reelection ahead of the November 3 general election.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, slammed independent Tennessee gubernatorial candidate David Hatley as a “blithering idiot,” questioning the candidate’s policy proposals on education, transportation, government spending, and public safety.
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Tennessee State Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), the Republican nominee for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, urged voters to support Republicans up and down the ballot in the November 3 general election, outlining his concerns about the potential consequences of Democrats regaining control of Congress.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, warned Thursday that the United States could face a constitutional crisis following the November midterm elections, citing claims from researcher DataRepublican that former government officials and activist organizations are preparing to challenge the legitimacy of the Trump administration.
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Veteran journalist and public affairs specialist Clint Brewer said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) claim that the Trump administration is “running scared” may reveal more about the Minnesota Democrat’s own position as she faces a federal criminal investigation than about her political opponents.
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U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, joined Tennessee Republican congressional nominee Charlie Hatcher for an exclusive sit-down interview Tuesday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, where Jordan warned that a Democratic takeover of the House could lead to renewed efforts to impeach President Donald Trump and weaponize congressional oversight against his administration.
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Jeff Clark, head of the Oversight Project Law Firm, said the organization is working to defend conservative attorneys facing disciplinary proceedings he characterizes as politically motivated, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to review California’s disbarment of constitutional attorney John Eastman.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said independent gubernatorial candidate David Hatley has not explained why he omitted a Virginia misdemeanor conviction from his autobiography, Tested in Tennessee, despite detailing a separate federal fraud conviction in the book.
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Tea Party Nation founder and former prosecutor Judson Phillips said the White House failed to properly vet press secretary Katie Zacharia after she acknowledged she never passed a state bar exam, arguing that the controversy has undermined her credibility and could become a lasting problem for President Donald Trump’s administration.
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Tennessee State Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) warned that independent gubernatorial candidate David Hatley’s candidacy could help Democrat Jerri Green surge in the governor’s race by siphoning votes from Republican nominee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), arguing that Hatley’s past record makes him unfit to lead the state.
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U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN-07) touted his legislative accomplishments as a freshman congressman and his efforts to strengthen national security during an exclusive sit-down with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy ahead of Tennessee’s November 3 general election.
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Republican gubernatorial nominee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) made her case to Tennessee voters in an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy this week as early voting approaches, declaring she is the race’s “only conservative Republican” and warning her opponents would raise taxes, drive up prices, and make the state less safe.
“The campaign is going great; we are working hard,” Blackburn said Monday during an appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, detailed new developments in The Star’s ongoing legal fight to obtain records related to the 2023 Covenant School shooting, including a table of contents identifying documents Metro Nashville officials may soon release and correspondence between the police department and the FBI concerning a memo about mass shooters’ writings.
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As the U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term and takes on major questions about government power and the limits of federal agencies, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is warning that the American constitutional republic faces mounting threats from powerful institutions and unelected officials.
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Tea Party Nation founder and former prosecutor Judson Phillips said the legal fallout from Christa Pike’s failed execution could keep the convicted murderer in court for years, as her attorneys pursue challenges following the botched lethal injection.
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Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher discussed his Republican primary upset of Trump-endorsed U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), his relationship with the defeated incumbent, and the issues he said will shape his campaign for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
Hatcher defeated Ogles by 6.45 percentage points in the August Republican primary, despite Ogles having received President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Trump later endorsed Hatcher for the November general election.
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U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN-07) highlighted his efforts to strengthen congressional oversight of terrorist threats in countries designated as major non-NATO allies during an exclusive interview Monday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
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State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), the Republican nominee for Tennessee’s newly redrawn 9th Congressional District, joined Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show where he discussed his business background, experience in elected office, views on crime and the challenges facing Tennessee, while also explaining why he believes he can enter Washington without succumbing to the temptations of D.C.
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The Tennessee Star has been named a finalist for the 2026 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism for Best Local Reporting, marking its second consecutive year being recognized as a finalist for the award.
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Tennessee has seen more than 18,500 illegal aliens removed since President Donald Trump began his second term, with The Tennessee Star’s lead reporter Tom Pappert reporting that the number of departures from the state could climb as high as 80,000 when voluntary departures are included.
Pappert discussed the figures during Tuesday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show following a release from the Tennessee House Republican Caucus that ICE has removed more than 18,500 illegal aliens from the Volunteer State since January 2025.
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Legal analyst and retired attorney Mark Pulliam, who endorsed former federal prosecutor TJ Harker’s forthcoming book American Scapegoat: How a Corrupt Justice System Sacrificed Derek Chauvin to the Mob after reading its galley proofs, previewed the book and its central arguments during Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Harker’s book, scheduled for publication December 1 by Passage Press, argues that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was wrongfully convicted in the 2020 death of George Floyd and that political pressure, public outrage, and failures within the criminal justice system influenced the case.
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Brian Gaffney, author of School of Hard Knucks: My Three Sons and Baseball’s Wildest Pitch, joined The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy for an exclusive interview to discuss his family’s years-long journey to master one of baseball’s rarest pitches.
Gaffney said the idea for the book began in 2012 after he returned home during R.A. Dickey’s “spectacular” season with the New York Mets and discovered his young sons throwing knuckleballs in the backyard.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) could eventually serve as a decision-maker in legal disputes under a contract-based arbitration system being developed by Arbitrus, a company founded by recent Harvard Law School graduates
Jack Kieffaber, Harvard Law School Class of 2023, who serves as general counsel for the company, discussed the technology during a Friday appearance on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, where he described a product from Arbitrus Corporation designed to use AI to interpret contracts and potentially resolve disputes.
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Michael Pack, documentary filmmaker and former CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), joined The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy for an exclusive interview Thursday to discuss his new documentary, The Path to Zero, and the decisions surrounding the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden administration.
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Carla Sands, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, called the newly signed U.S.-Greenland-Denmark security agreement an “absolute amazing deal” during an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
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JC Bowman, founder and president of Professional Educators of Tennessee, said an audit of Metro Nashville Public Schools is likely forthcoming as more allegations of grade manipulation and retaliation from former district educators come forward.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, and The Star’s lead reporter Tom Pappert discussed a potential probate court action to obtain the purported will of Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, which the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has identified as a will but has continued to withhold.
During Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Leahy explained how The Star has sought records related to Hale under the Tennessee Public Records Act for approximately three and a half years.
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Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, warned that calls from artificial intelligence (AI) companies for government regulation could create a powerful new system of regulatory capture while acknowledging that increasingly capable AI systems pose legitimate risks.
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Andrea Wilson, head of Loam Technologies, discussed the upcoming official launch of Uplift: Bible Chat, a Bible-based artificial intelligence platform designed to provide users with AI assistance grounded in a biblical worldview, during an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
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Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), said legislation requiring AM radio access in new vehicles could soon reach the president’s desk, highlighting the medium’s continued role in emergency communications and local broadcasting.
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Legal commentator and retired attorney Mark Pulliam said the U.S. Supreme Court could have an opportunity to address the First Amendment rights of attorneys as it considers former Trump attorney John Eastman’s challenge to his California disbarment.
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Brent Hamachek, a New York Times bestselling author, reflected on his 12-year relationship with Charlie Kirk and the development of his new book, The Intellect of Charlie Kirk, during an exclusive interview Thursday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, one year after Kirk was assassinated in Utah.
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Former Nixon White House attorney and longtime Watergate researcher Geoff Shepard said the Watergate prosecutions involved a series of secret communications and coordination between members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, arguing that the conduct violated the separation of powers guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
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Legal analyst and retired attorney Mark Pulliam criticized the Southeastern Conference’s (SEC) legal strategy in its escalating dispute with Louisiana State University (LSU), arguing the conference is relying on a weak First Amendment theory to prevent LSU from challenging its possible expulsion.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star, has announced an expansion of The Star News Network, outlining plans to expand the network’s coverage to include sports alongside its existing focus on politics and law.
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Former Nixon White House attorney and longtime Watergate researcher Geoff Shepard said the Watergate defendants were denied the fair trials guaranteed to them under the U.S. Constitution, arguing documents he uncovered show prosecutors and federal judges engaged in improper conduct during the proceedings.
Shepard detailed his research during an appearance Wednesday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show about Leahy’s new eBook and documentary, How the Deep State Took Down Richard Nixon.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement operation at a Memphis nightclub could ultimately “expose a whole lot more,” raising questions about the establishment’s ownership, permits, and roughly $70,000 in federal Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans.
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Longtime political reporter Neil W. McCabe, a U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army veteran, said President Donald Trump’s decision to establish a commission to design a proposed U.S. Space Academy reflects the growing importance of space operations to America’s military.
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Eagle Forum President Kris Ullman announced the organization’s 54th annual Eagle Council will be held in Nashville next month.
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Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon White House attorney and longtime Watergate researcher, detailed what he says were significant due process violations surrounding the Watergate prosecutions during an exclusive interview this week with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
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Williamson County School Board Vice Chair Dr. Claire Reeves, who holds a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology and previously worked in biomedical research, is calling for stronger protections for children online following Tennessee’s $17.1 billion settlement with Meta.
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