Category: Tennessee

Sen. Brent Taylor Continues Fight Against Memphis Crime with Two New Bills

Peter D'Abrosca
State Senator Brent Taylor

The Tennessee State Senate on Monday passed two bills sponsored by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) that focused on his continued efforts to fight crime in Memphis.

SB 2659, called the Juvenile Organized Retail Theft Act (JORTA), according to the General Assembly’s website, is a bill that “allows a juvenile court to transfer a child 15 years of age or older to be tried as an adult in criminal court for the offense of organized retail crime, theft of a firearm, or an attempt to commit such offense.”

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East Tennessee Schools Sue Major Social Media Companies

Peter D'Abrosca
Kids on tablets

More than 30 school districts in East Tennessee have joined a lawsuit first filed by Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) against social media companies, claiming that those companies are harming children.

According to WBIR, Knox, Anderson, Blount, Claiborne, Fentress, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Lenoir City, Loudon, Maryville, Oak Ridge, Oneida, and Sevier counties have joined the suit, which names eta, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Google, YouTube and WhatsApp as defendants.

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Vinnie Vernuccio Says New Attempt to Unionize the Chattanooga Volkswagen Plant Seems to be ‘Failing’

Kaitlin Housler

Vinnie Vernuccio, president of the Institute for the American Worker, said workers’ latest attempts to unionize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga appear to be “failing.”

On Monday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced that a group of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the labor union.

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Peter Navarro to Serve Sentence at Wing of Minimum Security Prison Camp for Inmates over 60

Tom Pappert
Peter Navarro

Federal prison consultant Sam Mangel confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that former Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro will serve just 90 days of his four-month sentence, and will complete the prison term at part of the minimum security satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Miami reserved for older inmates.

In a Tuesday phone conversation, Mangel contradicted previous reporting by The New York Times that claimed Mangel “said he was working to get Mr. Navarro into a unit devised for inmates over age 60 in a minimum-security satellite camp in the prison.”

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Nashville Metro Councilman Jeff Eslick Says There’s ‘Room for Improvement’ for Keeping Nashville ‘Safe’ and ‘Clean’ amid Missing College Student Case

Kaitlin Housler
Jeff Eslick Nashville

Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick said the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has “room for improvement” in regards to keeping the streets of Music City “safe” and “clean.”

Eslick made the comments during a recent episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show as he and host Michael Patrick Leahy were discussing the disappearance of college student Riley Strain, who has been missing since March 8 after being asked to leave Luke Bryan’s bar in downtown Nashville.

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Wife of Unjustly Imprisoned J6 Defendant and Former Williamson County Deputy Sheriff Ronald McAbee Incarcerated Since 2021 Says Tennessee Congressional Delegation Is Ignoring His Case

Kaitlin Housler
Ronald McAbee

Sarah McAbee, the wife of J6 defendant Ronald Colton McAbee, said her husband has undergone unfair treatment both while incarcerated awaiting trial and during his jury trial for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

D.C. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Ronald McAbee last month to almost six years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $32,165 in restitution after being convicted and pleading guilty to six felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.

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Biden Border Policy Critics Lament ‘Migrant Crime Wave’

The Center Square
Congressman Mark Green at U.S. border

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green blasted President Joe Biden for the wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., saying a “migrant crime wave” is sweeping the country.

Green’s office said “President Biden and now-impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ refusal to secure the border has helped unleash a new wave of crime across the nation.”

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Lawmakers React to Arrests of Illegal Aliens in ‘Multinational’ Human Trafficking Ring

Peter D'Abrosca
Senator Marsha Blackburn, State Rep. Gino Bulso

Tennessee lawmakers are reacting to Monday’s Tennessee Star report that two illegal aliens living in Tennessee have been arrested in what the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) calls an ongoing criminal investigation into a multinational human sex trafficking ring. 

“Two illegal aliens caught & arrested in Tennessee have been linked to a multinational human trafficking ring,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on X. “Under Joe Biden, every town is a border town. We must close the border.”

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Retailer Joann Fabrics Files for Bankruptcy as Americans Cut Back on Creature Comforts

Admin
Joann Fabrics store

Major fabric and craft retailer Joann announced Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy as consumers pull back on spending due to harsh economic conditions.

The retailer recently reached an agreement with a majority of its financial stakeholders as well as other financing parties, giving the company around $132 million in new financing while also reducing the debt on the company’s balance sheet by around $505 million, according to an announcement from Joann. Retail sales across the U.S. economy have continued to slump in recent months, growing just 0.6 percent month-to-month in February, not including inflation, and declining 1.1 percent in January as consumers pull back on non-essentials as prices rise.

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Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote: Victoria Nuland and the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Cut the 2021 Deal with Now Deposed Haiti Strongman Ariel Henry to Repatriate Del Rio Camp Migrants in Return for Scuttled Elections

Kaitlin Housler
Former Ambassador to Haiti Dan Foote

Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison “teed up” the deal with unelected leader of Haiti Ariel Henry to delay elections in the country.

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Trump Unable to Secure $454 Million Appeal Bond in New York Civil Fraud Case, his Attorneys Say

Just the News
Donald Trump, courtroom

Former President Donald Trump has been unable to secure the $454 million bond, the full amount of the civil fraud judgment against him, which he must post in order to appeal, his attorneys said in a filing Monday.

Trump offered last month to post a $100 million appeal bond rather than the full amount as the process plays out in court, but the judge denied the proposal.

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Exclusive: Two Individuals Arrested in Connection with ‘Multinational’ Human Trafficking Ring Are Illegal Aliens

Peter D'Abrosca
Yilibeth Rivero De Caldera

Two men arrested in connection with a “multinational criminal organization linked to human trafficking” are illegal aliens, The Tennessee Star has learned. 

In the fall of 2023, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Human Trafficking Unit arrested Yilibeth Rivero De Caldera on nine counts of Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act. His victims, the agency said, were Central and South American female migrants who were forced into sex slavery to pay off debts owed to Rivero De Caldera in exchange for Rivero De Caldera smuggling them into the United States. 

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Nashville Police Created Lactation Rooms, Changed Physical Requirements in Effort to Recruit Female Officers for 2030 Deadline

Tom Pappert
Commander Tiffany Gibson

Metro Nashville Police Department on Tuesday announced the department made new changes in a bid to recruit more female officers, including lactation rooms for nursing police officers, flexible schedules to better accommodate families and new physical requirements for officers that are more accommodating to women.

The department is driving up its recruitment of women in a bid to comply with the 30×30 initiative joined by Police Chief John Drake in 2021. The effort, which is tied to Hungarian-American financier George Soros, seeks to compel police departments to ensure 30 percent of officers are female by 2030.

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Nashville Chief Development Officer Addresses Proposed ‘East Bank Authority,’ Prioritizes Residential Buildings for East Bank Development

Matthew Giffin
Bob Mendes East Bank

Metro Nashville Chief Development Officer Bob Mendes addressed the proposed “East Bank Development Authority” that would oversee the East Bank development project at a Friday press conference. Mendes also detailed some restrictions he said are intended to create a “neighborhood” in a 30-acre area of the East Bank.

Mendes said he was hopeful that the Tennessee General Assembly would pass the necessary legislation to create an East Bank Development Authority, which he added would also need to be approved by the Nashville Metro Council.

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Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee Sue SEC to Stop New Climate Rule

The Center Square
Dave Yost

Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee sued the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission to stop a rule that requires publicly traded companies to report climate-related information.

The suit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati to stop the SEC from “overstepping its authority by meddling in environmental policy,” according to a news release.

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Tennessee House Passes Bill Requiring Law Enforcement to Notify Federal Agencies of Illegal Alien Arrests

Peter D'Abrosca
ICE Arrest

After a short debate, a bill requiring law enforcement to follow standard procedure and notify relevant federal law enforcement entities of illegal alien arrests has passed the Tennessee House.

HB 2124 “requires, rather than authorizes, law enforcement agencies to communicate with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.”

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Claiborne Thornton Says Governor Lee Did Not Consult with Homeschoolers While Crafting School Choice Bill

Kaitlin Housler

Claiborne Thornton, president of the Tennessee Home Education Association, said Governor Bill Lee did not consult with homeschool families before crafting his universal school choice bill, which is currently undergoing debate in the Tennessee General Assembly.

“The bill, the way it was written, the way it was crafted, was without any consultation from any homeschoolers,” Thornton explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

Thornton said particular objections to the bill surround the Tennessee Department of Education’s role in facilitating the program.

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Republican Liberty Caucus Endorses Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles for Reelection

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

The Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed U.S. Representative Andy Ogles’ (R-TN-05) reelection bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.

“The Republican Liberty Caucus proudly endorses Andrew Ogles in TN-5,” the political organization wrote in an X post on Thursday. “[Ogles] has become one of the top defenders of liberty in the House. An unwavering voice for freedom and smaller government, he scored a 95 on our Liberty Index during his first year in Congress.”

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How the Bureau of Prisons Incorrectly Classified Unjustly Imprisoned J6 Defendant Stewart Parks

Tom Pappert
Stewart Parks

An investigation into the federal prison designation process for convicted inmates offered few answers as to how the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) determined unjustly imprisoned January 6 defendant Stewart Parks should spend his eight-month sentence in FCI Memphis, a medium security facility with a minimum security satellite camp.

The BOP on Wednesday refused to comply with a request by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) for FCI Memphis Warden F.J. Bowers to move Parks to the minimum security camp, with BOP Legislative Affairs Chief David Mapp asserting Parks is “housed at an appropriate facility for his security, programming, and care needs” which also complies with the 2018 First Step Act.

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Federal Judge Orders FBI to Turn over Covenant Killer Documents for In-Camera Review

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to turn over all documents related to Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, including the killer’s manifesto, for a private review of materials.

The FBI was ordered to turn over the materials as part of the nationally watched lawsuit brought by plaintiffs Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Tennessee Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, a resident of Tennessee and CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Star News Digital Media and journalist Matt Kittle. The plaintiffs are seeking the release of Hale’s manifesto.

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Report: 89 Incarcerated Prisoners in Tennessee Dept of Corrections’ Care Receiving Gender Hormone Therapy

Michael Patrick Leahy

Sources tell The Tennessee Star that 89 prisoners currently incarcerated in the Tennessee Dept of Corrections are receiving gender hormone therapy.

The program apparently began as an unpublicized policy under the Haslam administration. The policy was not available on any public website nor did it follow the normal course of action to become a regulation, which would have required public hearings.

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Beijing’s Military Hacked U.S. Nuclear Firm Before Hunter Biden Aided Chinese Bid to Acquire It

Just the News

U.S. officials were acutely aware that Beijing was trying to obtain America’s premiere nuclear reactor technology, including through illicit hacking, months before Hunter Biden and his business partners sought to arrange a quiet sale of an iconic U.S. reactor company to a Chinese firm, according to court records and national security experts.

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Tennessee Star Reporter Tom Pappert ‘Very Skeptical’ of Federal Bureau of Prisons Refusal to Move Unjustly Imprisoned J6 Defendant Stewart Parks to Minimum Security Camp Based on Original Security Classification

Kaitlin Housler

Tom Pappert, lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, said he is “very skeptical of the federal officials at the Bureau of Prisons” after an official with the bureau formally refused a written request by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) to move unjustly imprisoned January 6 defendant Stewart Parks to the minimum security satellite camp located at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis.

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Democrat State Rep. Justin Jones Admitted He Walked ‘Across the Border’ with an Illegal Alien

Kaitlin Housler
Justin Jones

State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) admitted on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday that he walked “across the border” with an illegal alien named Javier after visiting a migrant caravan camp in Mexico last week.

Jones made the admission while speaking in opposition to a bill, HB 2124, on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

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Immigration Expert Warns: There Will Be a ‘Marine Mass Migration’ if First Boat of Haitian Migrants are Welcomed with Open Arms

Kaitlin Housler
Haiti refugees rescued by US Coast Guard, 1999

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the way the Biden administration handles the first boat of Haitian migrants en route to the Florida Keys amid the Caribbean country’s current state of emergency will determine whether or not another mass migration crisis will rock the U.S. in addition to the one unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Hunter Biden, Partners Aided Chinese Bid to Corner Nuclear Energy Market with U.S. Tech, Memos Show

Just the News
Hunter Biden

While his father was still vice president, Hunter Biden and his business partners tried unsuccessfully to help a Chinese energy firm acquire one of the United States’ premier nuclear technology companies in a secret attempt to “control” the global market, according to new evidence turned over to Congress in President Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry.

The evidence, which includes a detailed strategy memo, shows Hunter Biden was directly involved in emails and correspondence on the project in 2016 and that the goal was to exploit the future first son’s access to power and his family reputation to make Washington and Beijing comfortable with a potentially controversial deal and then to shield the acquisition of Westinghouse by China CEFC Energy behind intermediaries.

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Tennessee Senate Kills Bill That Would Have Seen Driver’s Licenses Issued to Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Illegal Immigration TN Driver License

A Tennessee Senate committee on Wednesday voted down a bill that would have required the state to provide a form of driver’s license to illegal immigrants which would have conferred the same rights and privileges as official licenses issued to United States citizens.

State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) called the identification documents “driver privilege cards” during Wednesday’s Senate Transportation and Safety Committee meeting, arguing her bill would have made roads safer in Tennessee.

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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skmretti Calls on U.S. Senate to Pass the Laken Riley Act

Kaitlin Housler
TN AG

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 25 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to leaders in the U.S. Senate urging the immediate passage of the Laken Riley Act.

Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, was allegedly killed at the hands of an illegal Venezuelan immigrant while on a jog near campus.

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Bureau of Prisons Tells Rep. Andy Ogles It Refuses to Transfer Unjustly Imprisoned J6 Defendant Stewart Parks to Minimum Security Satellite Camp

Tom Pappert
Stewart Parks FBI

A Federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) official on Wednesday formally refused the written request by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) to move unjustly imprisoned January 6 defendant Stewart Parks to the minimum security satellite camp located at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis.

Despite Parks being a nonviolent, first-time offender convicted after he merely entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, the letter by BOP Legislative Affairs Chief David Mapp claims the medium security prison is an “appropriate facility” for the Tennessee entrepreneur and former congressional candidate.

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Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga Will Receive Federal Funds Through Bloomberg’s American Sustainable Cities Initiative to Lobby for Billions from Biden’s Federal Slush Fund

Matthew Giffin
Mike Bloomberg

Bloomberg Philanthropies announced on Tuesday that three Tennessee cities will take part in an initiative that would use federal funds provided by the Biden administration.

Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga were selected for the organization’s American Sustainable Cities Initiative, which stated its focus would be on creating economic equity and green energy jobs, according to a Tuesday news release from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Mike Bloomberg, the former Democratic New York Mayor, founded Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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State Senator Mark Pody Explains Why He Believes Not Many Illegal Alien Families Will Take Advantage of the School Vouchers Program

Kaitlin Housler
Class Work

Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) confirmed that Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice voucher program would be forced by a Supreme Court ruling to distribute scholarships to illegal alien students. However, he said he believes that not many will take advantage of the program because its application requires parents to provide their children’s social security numbers.

“Everybody has to fill out the form, including a social security number and so forth. If you don’t have a social security number, then anybody that doesn’t have one, we want to make sure that those authorities are aware that these students don’t have a social security number,” Pody said on Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

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