The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recognized the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Division of Elections as a recipient of the National Clearing House Awards for the division’s American Sign Language video project.
The EAC awarded the state in the category “Improving Accessibility for Voters with Disabilities.”
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Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Tuesday signed a bill into law that will penalize adults who take minors across state lines to obtain abortions or sex change surgeries.
HB 1895 “creates the criminal offense of abortion trafficking of a minor; provides for a civil action against a person committing the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor for the wrongful death of an unborn child that was aborted.”
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Lenny Magill, founder and CEO of the GlockStore, said the store’s fourth annual open house event will be held this Saturday to celebrate the company’s move from San Diego, California, to the Volunteer State.
“Our open house is this Saturday at 10 a.m. This is our fourth year of celebrating the move from California to Nashville. We love Nashville. At the event this weekend, we’ll have two shooting competitions. We’ve got a lot of fun. Excellent prices on guns. Gun prices that you never see again. They’re super low. Of course, all of our parts and pieces that we manufacture here in Nashville are going to be on sale as well. We’ve got free ice cream. We’ve got food trucks. We’ve got the shooting competitions, which I said, which is a low light competition and a speed competition and we are going to be raffling off a full fledged Glock 17 custom gun,” Magill said on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
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State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) penned an open letter to Governor Bill Lee asking him to consider his administration contracting with a consulting firm to fight Memphis crime.
Taylor requested a meeting with Gov. Lee “to discuss the possibility of your administration contracting with a credible, high-profile, public safety consulting firm to serve as the state’s expert consultant in Memphis to provide a comprehensive plan to reduce crime,” Taylor posted on X.
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The presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump on Tuesday released its official delegate committee slate for Tennessee delegates to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
With the slate, the Trump campaign is encouraging its Tennessee delegates to vote for candidates National Delegate Selection Director John Findlay “extensively vetted” for “very specific roles” on committees at the Republican Party convention in July, according to an email by Findlay reviewed by The Tennessee Star.
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After just one hour of deliberations, a jury delivered guilty verdicts last week against Memphis father Antonio First for Aggravated Child Abuse, Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse, Aggravated Child Neglect, and Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Neglect, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
The charges stem from the death of First’s two-year-old son, Brayton Brooks, who was found unresponsive and cold to the touch by paramedics on June 24, 2020.
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Governor Bill Lee confirmed in a Monday press conference that he is “engaged” with Republican candidates to determine their stance on school choice following the defeat of his Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which would have provided 20,000 Education Savings Accounts for Tennessee students.
Lee said he has “met with several candidates, some who are in open seats; some who are incumbents,” with the governor specifically asking the candidates for their stances on “what I’m talking about is education freedom and choice for parents.”
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U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, commemorated the U.S. Border Patrol’s 100th anniversary on Tuesday by introducing a resolution in honor of the agency.
Congress established The Border Patrol under former President Calvin Coolidge on May 28, 1924.
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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
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U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) declared Biden administration Department of Energy Secretary Granholm either “ignorant” or “a liar” during a Sunday interview after previously sparring with her in a U.S. House Oversight committee meeting over the Biden administration’s decision to release part of the country’s strategic oil supply.
Burchett previously confronted Granholm on May 23 over the Biden administration’s oil and energy policies, as well as its recent decision to release part of its strategic oil supply ahead of the Independence Day holiday on July 4, and told Katie Smith of One America News Network (OANN) that Granholm is “either ignorant or she’s a liar.”
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Former President Donald Trump reaffirmed his support for six members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation on Sunday in a series of posts on Truth Social.
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The man police arrested for an alleged May 11 sexual assault of a woman outside a Vanderbilt Medical Center parking garage is a sex offender and a repeat felon, according to MNPD and court records about the suspect.
The suspect is Daniel Revette, 39. Before he was arrested, he already had outstanding warrants for attempted rape, sexual battery, and kidnapping, MNPD posted to X. Officers arrested Revette after he tried to be admission to a Nashville hospital for an evaluation.
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Tennessee has handed out $21.7 million in FastTrack business incentive grants so far this year through April to a total of 21 businesses.
The Department of Economic and Community Development’s FastTrack grant program are state grants sent to companies to help offset the costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.
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Eighty-three percent of people who answered a Fox 17 News online survey said they do not feel safe on Metro Nashville’s WeGo public buses.
Fox 17 posted the survey to X after a recent string of violent incidents at WeGo locations in Nashville and criticism of Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s efforts to invest in the city’s public buses.
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Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick provided an inside look of the council’s decision to deny a sign from being displayed on the exterior of country music artist Morgan Wallen’s downtown bar, explaining how the ordinance to deny such display dealt with “aerial encroachment” and was a “standard operating procedure” before members personally smeared the artist for his past actions.
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Former National Basketball Association player Bill Walton passed away on Monday after a battle with cancer at 71 years old.
“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement posted on the social media platform, X.
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), a decorated combat veteran, endorsed the new “Veterans and Military Families for Trump” coalition organized by former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
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Country music artist Morgan Wallen postponed the opening day of This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen, his Nashville establishment that was originally slated to open in time for Memorial Day.
Though neither Wallen nor the bar offered a reason for their decision to postpone the launch, the decision follows a vote by the Nashville Metro Council to deny the sign the establishment sought to place on the exterior of its building.
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Former President Donald Trump on Saturday asked that Libertarian voters at the Libertarian National Convention vote for him in order to defeat President Joe Biden in the upcoming election.
“The fact is we should not be fighting each other,” Trump said. “If Joe Biden gets back in there will be no more liberty for anyone in our country. Combine with us in a partnership. We’re asking that of the Libertarians. We have to work together. Combine with us…..we cannot give crooked Joe Biden four more years.”
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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.
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Several Nashville business leaders have publicly allied themselves with Nashville Metro Council Member Courtney Johnston, the Republican challenger to Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), since she announced her campaign in April.
Bobby Joslin, owner of Joslin and Son Sign Company, which has provided signs to many Nashville businesses, welcomed Johnston at an annual fish fry event on Thursday by gifting her a prominent sign, The Nashville Banner reported. Prominent Nashville and Tennessee political figures attended the event, including former Governor Bill Haslam, former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, and several current and former candidates for office representing both parties.
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A state senator visited with a new Republican club in a majority-black Memphis area to discuss solutions to rampant crime in the city.
The Whitehaven Republican Club, which formed last year, reportedly invited State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) to speak at the Whitehaven YMCA.
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Tennessee State Legislature candidates revealed their positions on possible Second Amendment-related legislation in a survey of the candidates conducted by the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA).
The TFA’s candidate survey consisted of 24 “yes” or “no” questions, asking candidates up for election whether they would vote for hypothetical legislation. Most of the hypothetical bills in question dealt with repealing restrictions on Tennesseans to own and carry firearms. The TFA posted the results on Monday.
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Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, said the controversy surrounding Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles’ (R-TN-05) campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is “real,” however, believes it is not of much concern for the average voter.
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A man was shot three times at a WeGo bus stop in Nashville on Friday, marking the third violent crime related to the city’s bus system in under 10 days.
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed the shooting and arrest of 19-year-old Dejuan Prime in a post to the social media platform X, explaining the crime happened on the steps of 4th Avenue North.
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Federal agents gathered evidence during the 2016 election that Hunter Biden had used access to his father on an official government trip to Beijing aboard Air Force Two to connect prospective Chinese business partners with then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to a massive cache of documents recently turned over to Congress and obtained by Just the News.
“They got to meet Dad. All very good. Talk later,” Hunter Biden wrote in a December 2013 email confirming how he connected his Chinese associates with his father in a Beijing hotel after the vice president had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Thursday that his office is “looking into” a private investment company’s attempt to foreclose on Elvis Presley’s iconic Graceland home in Memphis.
Graceland became the target of Nausanny Investments and Private Lending, LLC after the company claimed that the singer’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died in 2023, didn’t repay a loan that used the home as collateral.
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Democrat members of the U.S. Senate unanimously moved to block Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) bill that would require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal immigrants and any accompanying children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Blackburn introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act last year after the Biden administration ended all DNA familial testing at the border.
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A Palestinian father and son have confessed to murdering, abducting, and raping Israeli civilians in a Jewish community near Gaza during the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
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A poll released Wednesday shows Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) continuing to hold a double-digit lead over her likely Democratic challenger, State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), a member of the Tennessee Three.
The spring edition of the Vanderbilt University poll of Tennessee voters found Blackburn has the support of 51 percent of Tennesseans, placing her 11 points ahead of Johnson, who polled at 40 percent.
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Gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville have decreased compared to this time last year, according to numbers released by Metro Nashville Police Department on Wednesday. The fall in thefts came after MNPD started an initiative to combat car theft and related crimes.
MNPD said 305 guns have been stolen from Nashville vehicles so far in 2024, according to a Wednesday press release. Numbers from around this time last year recorded 477 gun thefts from vehicles, making for a 36 percent decrease.
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Two U.S. Senators have filed a bill to require President Joe Biden’s administration to follow current immigration law.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) along with counterparts from other states introduced the Reshape Alternatives to Detention (ATD) Act, which is designed to monitor potentially dangerous of illegal aliens with a GPS ankle bracelet.
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The new I-65 Interchange at Buckner Road in Spring Hill is expected to open on May 31 after being under construction for more than two years, according to a report by Williamson Source.
On its website, Spring Hill called the new interchange a “game-changer” for the area, as there is currently only one I-65 access point to the city through the Saturn Parkway Exit.
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The latest Vanderbilt Poll paints a picture of a politically divided Tennessee, but the poll’s methodology reveals its creators prioritized registered voters in the Nashville area.
The Vanderbilt Poll, launched by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in an attempt to provide a nonpartisan reading of public opinion, portrayed Tennesseans as overall politically conservative but starkly divided over certain issues.
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A Vanderbilt University poll that measured Tennesseans’ sentiments on abortion among other political issues found that Republicans who identify more closely with former President Donald Trump are more pro-life than Republicans who do not.
Vanderbilt Poll Co-Director Josh Clinton explained the distinction between what the pollsters term “MAGA Republicans” and other Republicans.
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Ron Shultis, the Director of Policy and Research for both the Beacon Center and Beacon Impact, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan is subject to major changes if approved by voters on the November ballot.
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A report out of Los Angeles regarding the city’s crime rates on its public transportation services is being flagged by a local watchdog in Nashville as a glimpse of what Music City’s future may look like if Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi-billion-dollar transit plan is implemented.
O’Connell’s transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” would be funded by a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals around Nashville.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, is speaking out about multiple concerns with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s multi billion-dollar transit plan unveiled last month.
O’Connell unveiled his billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
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Mayor Freddie O’Connell relaunched the Nashville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) on Tuesday. An agenda posted to the city’s website reveals that committee members received a “Transit Referendum Briefing” during their recent meeting.
A Wednesday press release by O’Connell’s office explained the mayor “released a new map related to his Choose How You Move transportation improvement program” and revealed a map of “35 miles of new and improved bicycle facilities that would be covered” under his referendum.
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U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) submitted a total of 11 amended campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday. The new details provided by Ogles reveal his campaign originally misstated its cash-on-hand in June 2022 by more than $290,000.
Ogles’ 11 amended reports are for reporting periods between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2024. The first amended filing, which includes the $290,000 discrepancy, covers the period when Ogles previously reported a $320,000 personal loan to his campaign.
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A woman found deceased inside a Clarksville residence over the weekend has been identified as 23-year-old Katia Duenas-Aguilar of Mesquite, Texas who was a soldier stationed at Ft. Campbell located on the Kentucky–Tennessee border.
Private First Class Duenas-Aguilar was a member of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
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A Tennessee judge on Wednesday ruled to block the auction of Elvis Presley’s (pictured above) home, Graceland, by a company that alleged the singer’s daughter didn’t repay a loan that used the home as collateral.
The auction had been slated for this week, though Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued the temporary injunction, according to The Associated Press.
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Nashville suffered 30 combined overdose incidents across Sunday and Monday, Metro Nashville Police Department told The Tennessee Star about a recent spike in overdose activity in Nashville.
MNPD announced the recent overdose spike in a Tuesday press release, detailing the department’s efforts to fight overdoses in Nashville in response to the rise in overdose activity. For example, MNPD highlighted its detectives distributing kits of Narcan, a medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless individuals.
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Nashville’s Metro Council voted to reject a sign for Morgan Wallen’s new downtown bar, raising questions about the council’s compliance with the First Amendment.
Wallen, a country music star, is set to open This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen in Nashville over Memorial Day weekend. However, the bar’s main sign, which was planned to hang over the public walkway outside the building, will not be installed because of a 30-3 Metro Council vote.
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Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) did not respond to a Wednesday inquiry from The Tennessee Star seeking more information to corroborate her previous claim that she and 17 students suffered a “series of hate crimes” on the Rhodes College campus in 2002.
Rhodes College Campus Safety similarly has yet to respond to requests for comment about the alleged hate crimes, nor have they supplied any documentary evidence including police reports, after Crockett claimed she and the other students were sent racist letters to their campus mailboxes.
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An 18-year-old man wanted for a deadly shooting and robbery that took place in an apartment complex in the Raleigh area of Memphis last month was captured on Tuesday by U.S. Marshals and Memphis Police Department (MPD) officers.
The suspect, Demario Wilson, was taken into custody at a residence in the 2200 block of Eldridge Avenue in Memphis, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
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Tennessee’s District Attorneys General Conference will collect and compile data on the costs related to illegal immigrants in the state who are charged or convicted of a criminal offense through at least 2032 after the immigration bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee.
The report will be sent to the governor and both the House and Senate speaker.
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The University of Tennessee Police Department (UTPD) confirmed on Tuesday that it is investigating a complaint filed by one of the 11 pro-Palestine protestors arrested on the university’s campus on May 15 during an anti-Israel demonstration.
Yassin Terou confirmed he filed the complaint in a post to the social media platform X, where he appeared to claim his efforts are aimed at changing how UTPD treat protestors.
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A viral video has emerged of a shootout outside a Nashville bar that took place two weeks ago, during which three people were injured and more than 50 shots were fired.
The video, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on X alone, was reposted by conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong.
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A new law that will take effect on July 1 could put school bullies behind bars.
HB 2590, which was sponsored by State Representative Lowell Russell (R-Vonore), “makes bullying and cyber-bullying offenses subject to the same penalties as harassment; requires an officer to make a report of bullying and notify a parent or guardian when victim is a minor,” according to its summary.
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