Category: Tennessee

Tennessee State Sen. Brent Taylor Celebrates Following Resignation of Judge Who ‘Detests’ State Bail System

Tom Pappert
State Senator Brent Taylor, Judge Bill Anderson

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) celebrated on Thursday after Shelby County General Session Court Bill Anderson announced his resignation, confirming he will leave the judicial bench on March 1.

Anderson was previously the subject of complaints by Taylor to the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (BJC), initially for declaring his “detest” for the Volunteer State’s bond and bail system, and more recently for releasing a man from jail despite the defendant being accused of firing a gun at a Memphis FedEx facility, citing the defendant’s ability to pay bail, despite Tennessee legislation that specifically prohibits judges from considering the financial circumstances of a suspect.

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New Orleans Police Chief Admits She ‘Didn’t Know’ City Had Barriers to Stop Vehicles Driving on Sidewalks Before Terrorist Attack

Tom Pappert
NOLA Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said in a brief Thursday press conference that she was unaware New Orleans had “yellow archer” obstacles designed to prevent vehicles from driving on sidewalks.

Kirkpatrick’s remarks come after video was posted to the social media platform X showing the white Ford truck authorities say was used by terrorist Shasmud Din Jabbar to kill 14 people was able to evade a police vehicle and commit the attack after driving on the sidewalk.

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FBI Silent on Whether Videos Recorded by Terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar Before New Orleans Attack are ‘Legacy Tokens’ Unfit for Release

Tom Pappert
Shamsud Din Jabbar

The FBI did not immediately respond to a Thursday press inquiry from The Tennessee Star asking whether the agency will release the videos allegedly recorded by Shamsud Din Jabbar, who authorities say committed the January 1 terrorist attack in New Orleans that claimed the lives of at least 14 people.

According to CNN, with the outlet citing law enforcement sources, Jabbar recorded and posted to Facebook a series of videos during his drive from his modular home community the outskirts of Houston, Texas to New Orleans.

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Trump’s Former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Has Oral Argument Appealing Recommendation to Suspend His Law License

Rachel Alexander
Jeffery Clark

Oral arguments took place last month in the appeal by Donald Trump’s former Department of Justice Jeffrey Clark over a recommendation suspending his law license for two years due to his efforts advising Trump on 2020 election irregularities. A three-member committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility (BPR) found him culpable on August 1 of violating attorney ethics rules due to drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options in dealing with the irregularities. 

The Washington D.C. Bar’s counsel, Hamilton Fox, who is pressing to disbar Clark as a “threat to democracy,” gave the argument for the bar to eight members of the BPR. Fox referred to the letter Clark drafted as a “false letter,” since the officials above him decided not to send it. One of the attorney members on the BPR responded that attorney ethics rules don’t prohibit attorneys from disagreeing with their superiors.

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New Orleans Police Chief Teaches FBI Course on ‘Bias and Diversity,’ Helped DOJ Gain Oversight of Chicago P.D.

Tom Pappert
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick

Anne Kirkpatrick, the chief of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), instructs executive members of law enforcement agencies on “bias and diversity” as a National Instructor for the Leadership Training Program at the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Association.

Kirkpatrick, who leads the NOPD as it responds to the early in the morning terrorist attack allegedly committed by Shamsud Din Jabbar on January 1, was described as an instructor for the FBI program by the National Press Foundation (NFP) in 2024. She was a panelist for the foundation in January 2024, when the group said Kirkpatrick recommended police increase their engagement with journalists.

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New Orleans Bought Retractable Bollards to Prevent Terrorist Attacks in 2017, but Announced Four-Month Replacement in November

Tom Pappert
Moments after New Orleans New Year's Eve truck attack

The City of New Orleans spent $40 million on a public safety plan in 2017, including retractable bollards placed on Bourbon Street that were designed specifically to prevent terrorists from using their vehicles to strike pedestrians.

Seven years later, the New Orleans Department of Public Works announced in November that the bollards would be removed and replaced over a four-month project that was originally estimated to conclude in February 2025.

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Gun-Toting Driver Plows into New Orleans Crowd, Killing at Least 10

Just the News
New Orleans residents post images from the NOLA New Year's Eve truck attack

A gun-toting driver plowed his pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter and opened fire on officers, killing 10 and injuring at least 35.

Authorities said they also found explosive devices on the truck in what they called an “intentional act.” But the city’s mayor and the FBI differed on whether the event was a terrorist attack.

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Tennessee Law Allowing Blended Sentences for Minor Criminal Offenders Becomes Active in 2025

Tom Pappert
ICE Arrest

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) on Tuesday described 2024 as “an amazing year” marked, in part, by the passing of “tough-on-crime legislation” that became active earlier this year.

Taylor wrote in a post to the social media platform X, “2024 was an amazing year as you and I worked to #MakeMemphisMatter by restoring law and order to our community through holding our local elected officials accountable and passing tough-on-crime legislation,” referring to his public safety bills aimed at lowering crime in Memphis.

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Metro Nashville Police Department Seemingly Ignores Law Demanding Agency Notify ICE When Arresting Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Metro Nashville Police Department

A frequently asked questions web page for the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) indicates the police force does not report immigration status of criminal offenders to federal police in apparent defiance of a law passed earlier this year.

Governor Bill Lee signed legislation in April that made a one-word change in Tennessee law in order to mandate every law enforcement agency in Tennessee must, “communicate with the appropriate 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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Reporter Tom Pappert: Legal Challenge to Corporate Transparency Act Will Be ‘Early Test’ for Trump AG Nominee Pam Bondi

Kaitlin Housler
Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the way President-elect Doanld Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, if she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, handles the Department of Justice’s legal fight to keep the Corporate Transparency Act in place will be one of the first “early tests” for Bondi in the role.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett Expects House Speaker Mike Johnson to Be Reelected and Work to Fulfill the Trump Agenda ‘As Best He Can’

Kaitlin Housler
Donald Trump

Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) said he expects that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) will be reelected in his role as Speaker next month and work to fulfill President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda “as best he can” given Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House.

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Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell Touts ‘Years’ of ‘Collaboration’ with Group Biden-Harris Admin Asked to Help Release Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Sunday touted his “years” of “successful collaboration” with the Tennessee Immigrant Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a nonprofit that was asked by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to help facilitate the release of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from a Louisiana detention facility into Tennessee.

After The Tennessean asked O’Connell about his disappointment following the decision by the Metro Nashville Council not to approve a contract for a private company to install license plate readers in the city’s streets in its Sunday interview, the mayor pivoted to public safety concerns raised by a “segment” of Nashville’s immigrant community, before referencing another “segment” that is concerned about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

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Beacon Center of Tennessee Sues Nashville over Stormwater Ordinance

Kaitlin Housler
Wen Fa

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County has been hit with a class action lawsuit filed over a city ordinance that created a stormwater capacity fee to fund improvements to the city’s stormwater system.

The stormwater fee, passed by the Metro Nashville Council in 2023 and implemented at the beginning of 2024, charges individuals seeking a development permit a fee to fund capital improvements to the city’s stormwater system.

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Tennessee Bill Would Encourage Schools to Display Ten Commandments, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution in Classrooms

Tom Pappert
Classroom with US Flag

Legislation submitted to the Tennessee State House of Representatives on December 19 would allow Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and public school charters to adopt policies allowing the display of the Ten Commandments, the U.S. Constitution, and Declaration of Independence in classrooms.

According to its summary, House Bill 47 by State Representative Michael Hale would give entities governing Tennessee’s schools the opportunity to publicly display, “the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of Tennessee, the Bill of Rights,” and other historical documents at a “prominent location in each school building.”

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Top 2024 Covenant School Shooting Revelations Include Killer’s Therapy, Use of Pell Grants to Buy Guns, and Release of 2023 Manifesto

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

In 2024, The Tennessee Star reported multiple revelations about Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after obtaining the killer’s journal and a selection of documents related to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case from a source familiar with the investigation in June 2024.

The Star first shared on June 4 that a retired MNPD lieutenant said police knew Hale was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center immediately after searching her family’s home in March 2023, and on June 19, confirmed it obtained an internal police document labeled “Vandy Psych” that appeared to include investigative notes about the killer’s time as a mental health patient.

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Tennessee Resumes Executions with New Lethal Injection Protocol After Gov. Bill Lee Announced Pause in 2022

Tom Pappert
Inmate

The Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) announced on Friday that the Volunteer State will resume executions by lethal injection more than two years after Governor Bill Lee announced a pause and reevaluation on the state’s method of lethal injection.

A press release by TDOC announced the state government will resume executions using the drug pentobarbital under a revised lethal injection protocol, with Commissioner Frank Strata stating, “I am confident the lethal injection process can proceed in compliance with departmental policy and state laws.”

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Trump Asks Supreme Court to Halt January 19 TikTok Ban Until He Takes Office

Tom Pappert
Tiktok

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting the justices halt the January 19 ban of the short-form video application TikTok until after he takes office.

The push by Trump to delay the TikTok ban comes as a result of President Joe Biden signing legislation in April 2024 that required TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S.-based TikTok operations by January 19, 2025, over concerns of the Chinese Communist Party influencing or monitoring Americans through the app.

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Tennessee High School Band Selected to Perform at Presidential Inaugural Parade in D.C.

Kaitlin Housler
High School Band

The Stewarts Creek High School band is set to perform at next month’s inauguration of 47th U.S. President Donald Trump and the 50th U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Washington, D.C.

The high school band was selected by the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee to perform at the 60th Presidential Inaugural Parade on January 20, 2025 shortly after Trump and Vance are officially sworn into office.

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U.S. Navy Sailor from Nashville Recognized as Sailor of the Year

Kaitlin Housler
John Thompson

Petty Officer 1st Class John Thompson was named Sailor of the Year for fiscal year 2024, the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO) announced.

Thompson, a Nashville native who graduated from Whites Creek High School in 2002, was awarded for his “sustained superior performance, leadership and professionalism” while serving at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Beaufort.

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Federal Court Pauses ‘Corporate Transparency Act’ Requiring Small Business Owners Reveal Ownership or Face Prison

Tom Pappert
Keeping up with Paperwork

The Fifth District Court of Appeals on Thursday issued a stay for the controversial “Corporate Transparency Act,” which would require 33 million small business owners file “beneficial ownership reports” with the federal government by January 1, 2025, under penalty of up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison.

The order by the Fifth District reversed the previous decision from a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit, who on Monday reversed the December 3 preliminary injunction imposed by District Judge Amos Mazzant in Texas, which blocked enforcement of the law until the courts reached their final decision.

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Tennessee Congressman Files ‘Grown in America Act’ to Incentivize Buying from U.S. Farmers

Tom Pappert

Tennessee U.S. Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-08) on Monday announced that he filed the Grown in America Act of 2024 with four cosponsors, Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA-21), David Rouzer (R-NC-07), Mike Carey (R-OH-05), and Mark Alford (R-MO-04).

If passed, the legislation would incentivize corporations to buy farm commodities grown in the United States through a tax credit accounting for 25 percent of the total cost of such items, with major companies able to save up to $100 million per year by buying American.

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Tennessee Judge Reportedly Says Nashville Referendum Lawsuit Plaintiffs Cannot Argue Plan Illegal Under IMPROVE Act

Tom Pappert
Judge Anne Martin

A Tennessee judge reportedly said Friday that those behind a lawsuit claiming the Nashville Choose How You Move transit referendum illegally uses money raised under the 2017 IMPROVE Act for items unrelated to transit will not be able to challenge the spending in court, stating that such objections should have been brought to Mayor Freddie O’Connell and public officials during the city’s public comment period.

O’Connell, the Metro Nashville government, and Davidson County Election Commission were sued in November by Emily Evans and her organization, the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax, who argued in their lawsuit that O’Connell’s referendum was illegal, noting the 2017 IMPROVE Act used under the referendum specifies that cities may levy additional taxes specifically to pay for transit improvements.

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DOJ Finds That Tennessee Attorney Regulatory Boards Discriminated Against Lawyers for Using Opioid Disorder Medications

Rachel Alexander
Tennessee Supreme Court

The Department of Justice issued a Letter of Findings to the Tennessee Supreme Court determining that two attorney regulatory agencies in Tennessee discriminated against lawyers applying to be admitted to the practice of law for undergoing treatment for opioid addiction. The DOJ found that the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners (TBLE) and the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) violated Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act. 

The DOJ conducted the investigation in response to complaints from two attorney applicants, known as D.S. and C.B. D.S. has since identified himself to the press as Derek Scott, who passed the Tennessee State Bar exam in 2021. The DOJ concluded that two aspects of the agencies’ conduct violated the ADA:  “(1) subjecting bar applicants to burdensome supplemental investigations triggered by their status or treatment for a substance use disorder; and (2) excluding them or implementing burdensome, intrusive, and unnecessary conditions on admission that are improperly based on individuals’ diagnosis of or treatment for a substance use or mental health disorder.” 

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Bill Would Make Tennessee’s Disabled Vets Exempt to Property and Vehicles Taxes, Plus Licenses for Hunting, Fishing

Tom Pappert
Disabled Veteran

Tennessee State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) filed the Veterans Assistance for Livelihood, Opportunity, and Relief (VALOR) Act on Monday.

Otherwise known as HB 52, the legislation would exempt U.S. veterans determined by Veterans Affairs (VA) to be 100 percent disabled from a service-related injury from vehicle taxes, refund them for property taxes, and allow them to apply for lifetime licenses to hunt and fish in Tennessee.

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Tennessee AG Skrmetti Celebrates as Biden Admin Ditches Title IX Changes to Promote Trans Athletes

Tom Pappert
College Field Hockey

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti celebrated on Monday after the Biden-Harris administration withdrew its proposed changes to Title IX, which would have prohibited school and athletic organizations from prohibiting transgender athletes from playing on teams reserved for biological females.

The White House quietly withdrew the proposed change on Friday, according to National Review, which reported the Department of Education (DOE) received more than 150,000 public comments on the proposal before it was shelved.

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President-Elect Trump Unveils Plan to Improve American Education and Prepare Students for Careers

Kaitlin Housler
Donald Trump

President-elect Donald Trump unveiled a 10-part plan to refocus schools on preparing children for careers rather than pushing “inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material.”

In a video published by his presidential campaign in September 2023, Trump laid out his plan to revolutionize U.S. education to help students “succeed in the world of work and life” and “grow up to be happy, prosperous, and independent citizens.”

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Tennesseans Expected to Travel in Near-Record Numbers This Christmas: Report

Kaitlin Housler

A near-record number of Tennesseans are expected to travel for Christmas this year, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

AAA forecasts that more than 2.7 million Tennesseans will travel 50 miles or more for the year-end holiday from Saturday, December 21 to Wednesday, January 1 , which is 62,000 more travelers than last year and 62,000 travelers shy of the record high set in 2019.

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Analysis: Abolishing the Debt Limit Would Enable Politicians to Avoid Accountability

James Agresti
US Capitol awash in cash

With the national debt at its worst level in U.S. history, both Donald Trump and far-left Democrats like Ilhan Omar are pushing to eliminate the debt limit.

This would reduce transparency and responsibility for politicians who run up debt and make it easier for them to pass the buck to future officeholders and younger generations of Americans.

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Tennessee AG Slams President Biden’s Commutation of Murderer Convicted in Chattanooga’s First Federal Death Penalty Case

Kaitlin Housler
Skrmetti and Biden

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti slammed President Joe Biden for commuting the sentence of federal death row inmate Rejon Taylor, who was convicted in the eastern district of Tennessee’s first federal death penalty case.

Taylor was charged in the August 6, 2003 abduction and killing of Atlanta restaurant owner Guy Luck, who was found shot to death on a rural roadside in Collegedale after being abducted in his van from his home in Georgia.

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Commentary: The Coming ‘Trump Bump’ Will Uplift Tennessee

Star News Contributor
Bill Lee

Tennessee’s State Funding Board approved a tax growth rate of 1.25 to 2.15 percent for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. However, this estimation did not consider that the Trump administration will assume control of the federal government in 2025, and Tennessee stands poised to reap significant economic benefits from the anticipated policy shifts. The state’s diverse economy — encompassing manufacturing, agriculture, and a burgeoning tech sector — is well-positioned to thrive under the incoming administration’s pro-freedom agenda.

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Tennessee State Rep. Introduces Bill to Increase Criminal Penalty for Abusing Children

Kaitlin Housler
Jake McCalmon

Tennessee State Representative Jake McCalmon (R-Franklin) introduced a bill last week that would increase the criminal penalty for abusing a child aged 9-17.

McCalmon’s bill, filed as HB 0045, would “increase the penalty from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony for a person who commits child abuse by knowingly treating a child between the ages of nine and 17 in such a manner as to inflict injury.”

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Adopt-A-Sailor Program Ensures Navy Recruits Stay Connected with Families on Christmas

Christina Botteri
Soldier calls home

On Christmas Day, U.S. Navy recruits from the Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, will be able to connect with their families, thanks to a new partnership between Patriot Mobile and Cell Phones for Soldiers. The two organizations are working together to provide cell phone service for recruits participating in the Adopt-A-Sailor program, a nationwide initiative designed to support sailors who are away from home during the holiday season.

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Sen. Bill Hagerty Says Elon Musk Stopped ‘Conspiracy Between Government and Twitter’ to Pass Bills Without Feedback

Tom Pappert
Sen Bill Hagerty on CNN

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Sunday praised Elon Musk, the incoming co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, for buying Twitter, rebranding it as X, and spearheading Republican opposition to the 1,547-page Continuing Resolution (CR) that was replaced with slimmed-down legislation.

Hagerty made the remarks to CNN’s “State of the Union,” praising the influence of citizens on X over public policy.

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South American Theft Group Active in Tennessee, Uses Jammers and Fake License Plates to Evade Capture: Nolensville Police

Tom Pappert
ICE / HSI Investigators

Lieutenant Josh Combs of the Nolensville Police Department (NPD) confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Friday that South American Theft Groups (SATGs) remain active in Williamson County and other parts Tennessee as local law enforcement continues to pursue open cases related to thefts in the area.

According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, such groups are “sophisticated criminal organizations that profit from illegally obtaining goods,” either by targeting wealthy homes or businesses, with frequently targeted goods including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and high-end clothing. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicates some SATG members enter the country illegally, while prosecutors have stated that others entered on a legal tourism visa.

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