Category: Tennessee

Tennessee Bill Would Prohibit Financial De-Banking for Political, Religious Beliefs

Tom Pappert
Jason Zachary Jack Johnson

Tennessee State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) have proposed legislation that would prohibit America’s largest financial institutions from discriminating against customers based on their religious or political beliefs.

Their bills, HB 2100 and SB 2148, would specifically prohibit banks, insurers and other financial institutions 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.”

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Immigration Expert: ‘There Is Mass Immigration Asylum Fraud Underway Here’

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman with the Center for Immigration Studies warned there is “mass immigration asylum fraud” taking place in the U.S.

Bensman, who has interviewed thousands of migrants over the years, explained on Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy how migrants, specifically from Venezuela and Haiti, often live in other more stable countries – including Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador – for years before making their way to the United States to work and live a prosperous life.

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Free Speech Expert: 2020 Election and COVID-19 Pandemic Most Censored Events in Human History

Peter D'Abrosca
Mike Benz Tucker Carlson

An expert in online free speech told Tucker Carlson in a wide-ranging interview that he believes the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election were the two most censored events in human history.

“The two most censored events in human history, I would argue to date, are the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic, and I’ll explained how I arrived there,” Mike Benz, founder and executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) told Carlson.

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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti Details Consumer Protection Lawsuit Against BlackRock’s ESG Investing

Kaitlin Housler
TN AG Courtroom

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said his consumer protection lawsuit against BlackRock’s Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing will force the company to disclose if it is mixing ESG factors when making investment decisions instead of focusing on financial factors relative to the rate of return.

Skrmetti filed his lawsuit against BlackRock in December 2023, alleging that the hedge fund has misled consumers in Tennessee about the scale and impacts of its ESG initiatives for several years.

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Immigration Experts Outline Steps Congress Could Immediately Take to Ease Border Crisis

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman, and Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies said Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives could immediately use their slim-margin majority to help correct the nation’s border crisis by cutting funding for programs and entities that fuel illegal immigration.

One idea the trio discussed during Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – other than impeaching and convicting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – was lawmakers’ ability to cut funding for the United Nations (UN), which has been providing illegal immigrants with cash cards as they make their journey to North America.

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State Representative Jason Zachary Says Gavin Newsom Should ‘Mind His Own Business’ After Attacking Tennessee with Super-Pac Ad

Matthew Giffin
State Rep Jason Zachary

Tennessee State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said California Governor Gavin Newsom should pay more attention to his state’s problems after Newsom’s super PAC released an advertisement attacking Tennessee for proposing a parental rights bill.

Zachary made his comments in a phone interview on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Monday.

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Tennessee AG Skrmetti Joins 24-State Amicus Brief Supporting Texas, Warns Federal Immigration Showdown Threatens State Sovereignty

Tom Pappert

Tennessee Attorney General Jonthan Skrmetti was among the 22 attorneys general who joined the amicus brief filed by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Friday in support of Texas and Governor Greg Abbott in their in its legal fight with the federal government over the governor’s decision to protect the southern border.

The amicus brief argues that individual states “have a constitutional right to defend themselves that federal law cannot override absent” a declaration from U.S. Congress, and Skrmetti told The Tennessee Star the question ultimately relates to the sovereignty of states.

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Bannon Rallies CPAC for ‘Crusade of Righteousness’ to Elect ‘Dissident’ Trump in ‘Greatest Political Comeback in American History’

Tom Pappert
Stephen K. Bannon at CPAC 2024

War Room host Steve Bannon rallied Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday to vote for former President Donald Trump in November to accomplish what the former member of the Trump administration predicted will be the “greatest political comeback in American history.”

In just under 10 minutes, Bannon argued Trump’s “fate and destiny” are “intertwined” with the United States, lambasted President Joe Biden as an “illegitimate regime head” in the process of being cast out, and urged Americans to join a “crusade of righteousness” by voting for Trump on November 5.

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State Rep. Jason Zachary Challenges Newsom to Debate After California Governor Targets Tennessee with Super PAC

Tom Pappert
California Gov. Gavin Newsom

State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) challenged California Governor Gavin Newsom to a debate after the Democrat targeted Tennessee for its pro-life legislation to protect unborn children using funds from a Super PAC that some speculate could lay the foundations of a campaign to oust President Joe Biden.

In a Sunday post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the California governor falsely claimed Tennessee’s pro-life legislation offers no exceptions, including for rape or incest, and asserted that “Republicans in Tennessee are trying to punish young women” who travel to abort their children. 

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Tennessee Bill Would Create New Misdemeanor Crime for Defendants Caught Violating Bail

Tom Pappert

Bills advancing through the Tennessee General Assembly would make it a misdemeanor crime for a defendant to violate the conditions of their bail.

The legislation seeks to create a new Class A misdemeanor offense to charge defendants who violate the terms of release secured by paying a bond. Lawmakers specifically want to amend the existing Tennessee Code that mandates arrest warrants be filed for those who violate their release terms to also include the criminal offense.

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EPA Finalizes Air Pollution Standards That Critics Say Will Cost Jobs, Hurt the Economy

Just the News
Factory Smoke Stacks

The EPA finalized air pollution standards that create more stringent limits for soot exposure, as it is called. This despite a 42% decrease in the national average over the last 22 years, according to the agency’s own data.

“It’s going to hurt economies. It’s going to hurt manufacturing. It’s a real problem,” Daren Bakst, senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), told Just The News.

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U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Stands Firm on ‘Death to Hamas’ Comment, Says ‘These Terrorists Deserve to Die’

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) is standing firm on comments he issued in response to an activist who pressed him on the situation unfolding in the Middle East between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza.

Footage shared on social media shows the activist pressing Ogles while walking through a corridor in the U.S. Capitol.

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Roger Simon Says Trump Is a ‘Force of Nature’ Following Nashville Speech

Kaitlin Housler
Donald Trump Speaking

Roger Simon, the co-founder of PJMedia and current columnist for The Epoch Times, attended former President Donald Trump’s speech at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention in Nashville on Thursday,

Simon, noting how Trump was nearly two hours late to the event after having delivered a speech at an earlier fundraiser event, said the former president was a “force of nature,” proving those who believe he has “lost a step” wrong.

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Neil W. McCabe: ‘Trump is Flourishing in a Political Era That Should Have Been Dominated by Democrats’

Kaitlin Housler
Donald Trump

National political reporter Neil W. McCabe said the tone of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is “completely Trump,” noting how the “Trump-hating corporate conservative establishment” is not present this time around.

“It’s completely Trump,” McCabe explained on Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy. “In the past you would kind of have sort of the Trump-hating corporate conservative establishment, but they’re not here.”

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U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Sends Four Letters to the House Appropriations Committee

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) sent four letters to the House Appropriations Committee on Friday advocating for the defunding of “America-last directives” as the committee works on funding accounts for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2024.

In one letter to the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Ogles requests that a provision be added to any upcoming spending legislation prohibiting President Joe Biden’s recent executive order granting Deferred Enforced Departure to Palestinians in the U.S. for 18 months.

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Center for Immigration Studies Senior Fellow Todd Bensman Says the ‘Entire World’ Knows of the Biden Administration’s Catch and Release Policy

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the U.S. is on track to encounter more than 600,000 illegal aliens that have traveled through the Darién Gap, which is the only land path connecting Central America and South America, to get to the U.S.-Mexico border this year.

The Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama consists of more than 60 miles of dense rainforest, steep mountains, and vast swamps. Illegal immigrants from South America and other parts of the world use the land path as a passageway to get to North America.

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Federal Court Bars NCAA from Enforcing NIL-Recruitment Ban After Legal Challenge by AGs of TN and VA

Kaitlin Housler
Skrmetti UT

The Eastern District Court of Tennessee granted Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s preliminary injunction request in his lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) illegal name, image, and likeness (NIL)-recruitment ban on Friday.

Through its NIL recruitment ban, the NCAA prohibits prospective student-athletes from discussing potential NIL opportunities with schools and collectives prior to enrolling. Specifically, the ban prohibits student-athletes from negotiating with collectives, reviewing NIL offers before making enrollment decisions, and adequately considering the full scope of NIL-related services a school might offer upon enrollment.

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Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian: There’s Very Little Screening of Incoming Illegal Aliens for Health Problems or Criminal Behavior

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said migrants who are crossing illegally into the U.S. are not being thoroughly screened for illnesses or criminal backgrounds.

“They often screen them before they go to detention, but they’re not being detained,” Krikorian explained on Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy. “As far as criminal behavior, they do run their names through some databases before they let them go, but that only works if we have records of them having committed crimes in the United States. The problem always with vetting is garbage in, garbage out. Do you think that the Somalia DMV or the medical records office or whatever in Venezuela is going to tell us anything about people? Of course not. So, yes, there is some kind of pro forma screening but it doesn’t really screen very much.”

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Tennessee House Advances Bill Banning Local Governments from Returning Expelled Lawmakers

Tom Pappert

A bill advancing in the Tennessee House of Representatives would prohibit local governments from returning lawmakers to the General Assembly after they have been successfully expelled from office.

HB 2716 by State Representative Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) seeks to amend Tennessee law to mandate that any local government body must “elect a successor to fill a vacant seat” in the General Assembly due to a vacancy caused “due to the expulsion of a member for disorderly behavior, then the local legislative body shall not elect the expelled legislator to be the successor to fill the vacant seat.”

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Tennessee Senate Passes Bill Banning Politicians from Running in Multiple Elections at the Same Time

Tom Pappert
Richard Briggs

The Tennessee State Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would ban politicians in the state from seeking more than one elected office simultaneously.

SB 1968 passed the Tennessee Senate on Thursday with 17 votes in favor and 15 votes against. The bill, introduced by Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), would prohibit an individual from holding multiple elected offices in Tennessee, and would also ban any politician in the state from actively campaigning for more than one elected position.

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Governor Lee Signs Marriage Bill Protecting Religious Convictions

Matthew Giffin

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill that protects the religious convictions of people approached to solemnize or officiate a marriage.

“A person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage if the person has an objection to solemnizing the marriage based on the person’s conscience or religious beliefs,” reads the new law which took effect on Wednesday.

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Nashville Transgender Shooter Not a Left-Wing Extremist Because She Called Victims ‘F****ts,’ ADL Says

Admin

The Anti-Defamation League claimed that right-wing extremists committed “all” the extremist-related murders in 2023, discounting the apparent extremism of Audrey Hale, the transgender shooter who killed three adults and three students in March at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Conservative commentator Steven Crowder released three pages of the shooter’s manifesto, which police confirmed were legitimate, in November.

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Tennessee State Rep. Scott Cepicky Says Full Text of Governor Lee’s Universal School Choice Bill Expected to be Unveiled Next Week

Kaitlin Housler
Scott Cepicky

Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka), who chairs the Education Instruction Subcommittee, said Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill, known as the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, will likely be revealed next week.

Cepicky said there was a meeting on Wednesday for the committee chairs and caucus members to go over the bill’s language, making tweaks to ensure the bill will “function properly” and is “constitutional.”

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Tennessee State Senator Bill Powers Passes on Bid for TN-07 U.S. House Seat

Kaitlin Housler
Bill Powers

Tennessee State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) has announced he has “no plans” to run for Congress in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District amid the announcement of incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Green’s (R-TN-07) retirement.

“For me, family is more important than any congressional title in Washington DC. I’m honored to be your state senator and have no plans to run for congress,” Powers wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

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U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Says J6 Defendant Stewart Parks’ Case ‘Should Trouble Everyone’

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

Tennessee U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) said he has received a response from the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis in regards to his request for inmate Stewart Parks, who is serving his eight month sentence for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to be moved to the prison’s minimum security satellite camp.

On February 13, Ogles sent a letter to Warden F.J. Bowers of the FCI in Memphis requesting that Parks be moved to the satellite camp for the duration of his incarceration, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.

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Tennessee Bill to Allow Cities, Counties to Cut Taxes on Food Comes amid Nationwide Push Fueled by Inflation

Tom Pappert
Family Grocery Shopping

Legislation that would allow Tennessee counties and cities to reduce or eliminate the state sales tax on groceries is advancing through the Tennessee General Assembly as more states look for opportunities to defray the effects of inflation on citizens.

The bill would allow all “counties and municipalities, by resolution or ordinance” set the “tax on the retail sale of food and food ingredients” at any “rate less than” the state’s sales tax rate.

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Memphis Judge Paula Skahan Reprimanded After She Illegally Freed Prisoner Serving 162-Year Sentence

Tom Pappert
Paula Skahan

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan was publicly reprimanded in a disciplinary action by the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (TBJC) on Wednesday as a result of her actions that led to Tennessee briefly freeing a man in 2022 after he was previously sentenced to a 162-year prison sentence.

Skahan in 2022 arranged for the release of Courtney Anderson, who spent months outside of prison before Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge J. Ross Dyer ruled Skahan “illegally” released him and ordered Anderson remanded back into the state’s custody.

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Nashville-Based Beacon Center of Tennessee Sues the U.S. Department of Labor

Kaitlin Housler

The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a lawsuit on behalf of two freelance journalists against the U.S. Department of Labor’s Independent Contractor Rule on Wednesday.

The think tank is representing Tennessee freelance journalists Margaret Littman and Jennifer Chesak in the suit, arguing that the department’s updated rule “threatens to destroy the livelihoods of freelancers” by “forcing freelancers into employment relationships that they neither want nor need.”

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Head of School at Rutherford Classical Academy Phillip Schwenk Announces New Charter School Will Be Located in La Vergne

Kaitlin Housler
Phillip Schwenk

Phillip Schwenk, the founding head of school at Rutherford Classical Academy, announced that the charter school will be located in La Vergne on Ingram Boulevard, close to I-24, and will accept 340 students the first school year.

The Rutherford County School Board voted last April to approve the building of the charter school by a vote of 5-2.

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Tennessee State Rep. William Lamberth Files Resolution Condemning Neo-Nazism

Kaitlin Housler
William Lamberth

Tennessee State Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) filed a resolution on Tuesday condemning neo-Nazism and the National Socialist Movement in the Volunteer State.

“God is the creator of all humans and races,” the resolution reads. “Racism and hatred in any form are repugnant and sinful…There is an intentional effort by neo-Nazis to ignite racial animosity and divide neighbors, friends, and communities by promoting a message of hatred and ethnic cleansing…Neo-Nazis wish to further spread a dangerous ideology rooted in Holocaust Era fascist movements and socialism through their affiliation with the National Socialist Movement.”

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Tennessee Comptroller Claims Nashville Nonprofit Misspent over 10 Percent of State Grant, Including $29,000 to Executive Director

Tom Pappert
Curtis Bryant

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office published a report on Tuesday asserting a Nashville nonprofit misspent over $40,000 from a state grant, with the majority of the diverted money allegedly going to the group’s executive director or the church where he is a pastor. The office referred the matter to Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk.

According to the investigators in a press release, the Successful Survivors nonprofit that claims to assist individuals with mental illness and substance abuse issues received $299,670 in grant funds from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (MHSAS) to purchase and renovate a Nashville home for use as a “rehabilitation house.”

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Mysterious Email Supporting Property Assessor Rob Mitchell Sent to Rutherford County Employees

Matthew Giffin
Rob Mitchell

Several Rutherford County officials received a mysterious email message cautioning them to support incumbent property assessor candidate Rob Mitchell following a Tennessee Star report about his hiring practices, according to an email obtained by The Star.

Ahead of Mitchell’s bid for reelection, he hired the son of two Rutherford County officials, Michael Maxwell, for a position in the property assessor’s office created for Maxwell after determining he was unqualified for the original job posting, The Star previously reported.

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U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty Travels to the U.S.-Mexico Border

Kaitlin Housler
Senator Bill Hagerty at Southern Border

Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday with Tennessee sheriffs and mayors to meet with law enforcement and property owners.

“I’m back at the southern border here in Texas,” Hagerty said in a video message posted to X. “We’re just in the outskirts of Eagle Pass right now. I brought another delegation of sheriffs and mayors and law enforcement from Tennessee just like I did two years ago. What we’re seeing is even worse than it was two year ago.”

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Memphis Prison Warden Ignores Request from Rep. Ogles to Move Unjustly Imprisoned J6 Defendant to Minimum Security Camp

Tom Pappert

Warden F.J. Bowers of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis ignored the request made by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last week to move unjustly imprisoned J6 defendant Stewart Parks to the prison’s minimum security satellite camp, where Parks was originally told he would spend his eight month sentence.

Citing reporting by The Tennessee Star exposing the conditions inside FCI Memphis as relayed by Parks, Ogles demanded in a February 12 letter to Bowers for Parks to be moved from the primary prison facility to its minimum security satellite campus. Ogles gave Bowers until February 17 to respond, and Bowers did not return a press inquiry from The Star sent prior to Ogles’ deadline.

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