Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy joined Steve Bannon’s WarRoom on Monday to discuss the launch of his radio show on Nashville’s newest conservative talk station 760 AM WENO “The Flame,” the Music City’s only America First newstalk station.
Read the full story
Over 500 Harvard University faculty members signed a letter Sunday following a scheduled meeting of the Harvard Corporation, calling on the board not to remove Harvard President Claudine Gay from her position, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Gay spoke at a hearing on December 5 alongside other elite university presidents and dodged questions about genocidal anti-Jewish chants, refusing to say if they violated the university’s code of conduct, which led to a massive uproar and calls for her resignation. Following the hearing, Gay apologized publicly for her remarks, and some Harvard faculty called for Gay not to be fired, citing “a culture of free inquiry,” the university news outlet reported.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Friday it won’t expedite an appeal of a ruling against Tennessee’s Republican-drawn Senate maps, meaning the current maps will likely remain in place for the 2024 elections.
The maps were ruled unconstitutional by a Tennessee court November 22.
Read the full story
Dr. Carol M. Swain has responded to alleged documentation obtained by writer and political activist Christopher Rufo accusing Harvard University President Claudine Gay of plagiarizing “multiple sections” of her Ph.D. thesis from 1997.
Read the full story
Even though Congress has already allocated over $7 billion for the building of electric vehicle (EV) chargers all across the United States, there still has not been a single new charger built anywhere.
As reported by Breitbart, $7.5 billion was designated solely for the construction of EV charging stations as part of the infrastructure bill that was passed in 2021 and signed into law by Joe Biden. The bill received some Republican support, with 13 Republicans in the House and 19 in the Senate voting in favor of the bill.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, the radio show produced by the state’s leading conservative media company, begins broadcasting Monday, December 11 on Nashville’s newest conservative talk station 760 AM WENO “The Flame,” Nashville’s only America First newstalk station.
The Tennessee Star Report moves to its new home after a five-year run on TalkRadio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC. The show is produced by Star News Digital Media, the parent company of The Tennessee Star conservative news website.
Read the full story
A linebacker for the Tennessee Titans is supporting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund through the National Football League’s (NFL) My Cause My Cleats campaign.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Student Solidarity Network (TSSN) urged activists to “disrupt” a number of Nashville businesses on Saturday over their purported pro-Israel stance as part of the controversial Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Community organizing group Nour Nashville distributed a flyer on social media revealing a “BDS Direct Action” event scheduled for December 9. The group explained the post is a “call for action to disrupt businesses in support of genocide,” and urged its followers to message the TSSN “for details.” Neither Nour Nashville nor TSSN posted updates about their planned disruptions by press time.
Read the full story
Amid an intense recruiting effort spearheaded by Gov. Bill Lee (R), Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) announced Thursday that nearly 40 cadets graduated from training and will join THP.
The 38 graduates participated in either the regular 17-week trooper cadet class or an 11-week lateral trooper cadet class.
Read the full story
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill is resigning from her position, according to multiple reports on Saturday.
Read the full story
Nick Leonardo, who is a legal analyst for NewsChannel 5, is the subject of an order of protection filed with Davidson County General Sessions Court, a court official confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Friday.
The chief clerk for the General Sessions Court told The Star that the release of the order of protection filed against Leonardo was pending “clearance from Metro Legal,” as there is “a juvenile involved in this case,” which he stated meant the clerk’s office had “to make sure that this is not going to be placed under seal.”
The Chief Clerk for the General Sessions Clerk told The Star that release of the order of protection filed against Leonardo was pending “clearance from Metro Legal,” as there is “a juvenile involved in this case,” which he stated meant the clerk’s office had “to make sure that this is not going to be placed under seal.”
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake said in an official announcement on Friday that the department had “exhausted” its investigative options to discover the identity of the law enforcement professional who leaked images of the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, leading to their publication.
Drake announced in the media release that his department “has exhausted all available investigative avenues” to identify the person who leaked the images, but offered new information about how the images were taken, and revealed that a former MNPD detective has opted against cooperating with his former employers’ investigation.
Read the full story
The state of Tennessee, via Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, announced Thursday that it is joining six other states in an antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The lawsuit, according to Skrmetti’s office, challenges the NCAA’s student-athlete transfer eligibility rule, which currently states that athletes who transfer from one Division I school to another must sit out of competition for one season before they can resume playing.
Read the full story
Special Counsel David Weiss on Thursday secured a federal grand jury indictment charging Hunter Biden with multiple crimes alleging he engaged in a four-year scheme to evade paying federal taxes, adding serious new legal jeopardy for the first son on the eve of a presidential primary season where his father hopes to win four more years in the White House.
Read the full story
U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) introduced a bill this week that would discourage countries that receive U.S. foreign aid from sending money to the Taliban.
Burchett’s No Tax Dollars for the Taliban Act (H.R.6586) would require the Secretary of State to report on countries that have “provided the Taliban with assistance, the amount of assistance, and how the Taliban has used that assistance.”
Read the full story
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was elected to serve as the next chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA).
Read the full story
Tennessee U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) delivered remarks at a Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance hearing on housing affordability, which included discussion surrounding his Expansion of Attainable Homeownership Through Manufactured Housing Act of 2023.
Read the full story
On behalf of the juvenile court judges and magistrates of Tennessee’s 98 juvenile courts, the executive committee of the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges announced this week its “full support” of the current efforts to increase the state’s judicial system’s budget for it to increase the compensation rate for court-appointed attorneys.
“Juvenile court is where the many problems facing our state’s children are addressed… Private attorneys are crucial for abused or unwanted children. Unfortunately, many attorneys do not accept appointments in juvenile court due to the inadequacy of the reimbursement,” the council said in a statement. “Simply stated, many court-appointed attorneys lose money taking these cases. They are hard cases and often last for years. There is absolutely no financial incentive for lawyers to take these cases.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) claimed in court on Wednesday that it could not release records of the agency’s actions prior to the starvation death of a 14-year-old in 2021.
A former Memphis reporter’s 2021 attempt to learn more about actions taken by DCS prior to the death of 14-year-old Brandon Gray, who was allegedly starved to death by his family members while being forced to live in what News Channel 3 called “a filthy, cold garage with a mattress, portable toilet, and bleach jug for a urinal,” quoting official documents the outlet obtained.
Read the full story
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) released a new Human Trafficking Statistical Report last week, revealing a sharp increase in human trafficking of minors in Tennessee in a five-year period.
The report, which was the first of its kind released in more than a decade, revealed there were 518 minor sex trafficking reports by November 5, and the agency notes that reports of minor sex trafficking “dramatically increased from 66 in 2016 to over 600 by 2021,” which is an increase of 809 percent. Similar numbers were reported in 2022 and 2023.
Read the full story
Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) requested investigations on Wednesday into Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan and Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s Office to determine if they orchestrated the “illegal” release of a Memphis man serving a 162-year prison sentence and the decision to move double murderer off death row.
In a Wednesday press release, Taylor noted Skahan and Mulroy worked together to secure the 2022 release of Courtney Anderson, who they claimed received an unjust sentence of 162 years, by reducing his sentence to 15 years. That decision was overturned by the Tennessee Court of Appeals this year, with Judge J. Ross Dyer writing in his October 18 opinion that Skahan “illegally” granted clemency for Anderson by essentially commuting his sentence, a power which the state constitution solely grants to the Governor of Tennessee.
Read the full story
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) this week in introducing the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act.
The bill, according to Blackburn’s office, would “bring much needed transparency, accountability, and clarity to foreign gift reporting requirements for American colleges and universities.”
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville City Council voted against a new contract to purchase the latest model of Tasers for the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Tuesday, declining what proponents claimed was the opportunity to save money on new technology that will be more expensive to taxpayers when its purchase is eventually required.
Council Member Courtney Johnston (District 26) sponsored the resolution to expand the city’s ongoing contract with Axon, the company that manufactures and supports Taser devices, to upgrade to the company’s latest model.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office announced it certified the names of nine Republicans and one Democratic presidential candidate for the Super Tuesday Presidential Preference Primary and County Primary Election.
The 2024 Tennessee presidential primary will be held on the same day as primaries in 14 other states on March 5, 2024, known as Super Tuesday.
Read the full story
Tennessee Tech University announced this week that it has secured the largest grant in its 108 year history, which will be used to help bolster the electric grid in Appalachia.
“The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) – an economic development partnership between the federal government and 13 states across Appalachia – awarded Tech a $10 million grant to lead a four-state consortium that will help rural electric utilities and energy supply companies deploy smart grid technologies to better serve their communities and address challenges such as the rolling blackouts that have impacted consumers across the country during times of peak energy usage,” according to the school.
Read the full story
Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry launched her campaign for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district on Wednesday.
Read the full story
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday that he will resign from Congress at the end of the year.
Read the full story
The Libertarian Party of Tennessee sued the state, claiming that a law requiring its candidates to get more than 40,000 signatures in order to be listed on general election ballots is “unduly burdensome.”
A lawsuit filed at the end of last week in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee names Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Elections Coordinator Mark Goins.
Read the full story
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led seven of her Republican colleagues this week in introducing the Iran China Accountability Act, which would place certain conditions and limitations on any nuclear deals relating to Iran.
Read the full story
During a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) grilled the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, about what she said she believes is a lack of thorough investigation into an alleged high-profile sex trafficking ring run by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
“The last few weeks I’ve been demanding some answers on Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, and trying to get these flight records,” said Blackburn. “I’ve offered amendments to the subpoena. I’ve kind of been stonewalled on it but I think having transparency around Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct and this massive sex trafficking ring is important. And of course you’ve had the Chairman, Sen. [Mazie] Hirono, Sen. [Jon] Ossoff, all who have mentioned our concerns with what is happening with sex trafficking.”
Read the full story
The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct issued a public reprimand of Knoxville Municipal Court Judge John R. Rosson, 75, which was published Monday. It reveals that he used a Knoxville courtroom for a campaign press conference before losing his recent re-election bid after more than three decades in office.
In the public reprimand, the board revealed Rosson “held a campaign event” in his courtroom, inviting the media to attend, in which he stood in front of the bench and “accepted an endorsement from a lawyer,” then announced a second endorsement before making what he specifically referred to as a “campaign speech.” Local media reported that both endorsements came from former opponents.
Read the full story
Three Metro Nashville Police (MNPD) officers remain on administrative assignment as the agency investigates the leak of three photographs showing manifesto pages written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, which were published by conservative comedian and commentator Steven Crowder in November, according to a Tuesday report.
The police department confirmed three officers remain on administrative assignment to Fox 17, which reported that an additional four officers returned to their normal duties in mid-November. MNPD confirmed seven officers were placed on administrative assignment on November 7.
Read the full story
Another pro-Palestine rally is scheduled to be held this weekend in downtown Nashville, the organization Nashville Youth for Palestine announced on social media.
Read the full story
McKinney Wright of Memphis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in the 2018 shooting of businessman Phil Trenary on Monday, accepting the lower charge in a plea agreement that saw additional charges against him dropped.
Wright entered his guilty plea on Monday morning, with local media reporting his agreement saw prosecutors drop drug charges against him. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but already spent five years in a Memphis jail that will count toward his sentence.
Read the full story
The Nashville Metro Police Department (MNPD) will offer a “Safe Surrender” event this week for people with outstanding warrants to turn themselves in as “a special one-time opportunity toward a second chance.”
Read the full story
Tennessee tax collections released on Friday afternoon were $62.1 million lower than the budgeted estimate and $50.9 million lower than last October.
For the first three months of the fiscal year, done on an accrual basis, Tennessee has collected $108.9 million less than its budgeted estimates.
Read the full story
The number of Tennessee citizens behind bars increased in 2022, coinciding with a drop in violent crime, according to data released this week by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and numbers tracked by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
Tennessee saw a 7.9 percent increase in the state’s prison population in 2023, according to the report. The new prisoners include 1,615 men and 125 women. Additionally, the DOJ data release notes that Tennessee is one of only four states that saw more than 1,500 new prisoners during 2022, joined by Texas, Florida, Mississippi.
Read the full story
Middle Tennessee State University is trying again to remove the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate lieutenant general and former Klan leader. His name is on the school’s Army ROTC building.
This is the university’s second attempt, as it unsuccessfully filed a similar petition in 2018.
Read the full story
The University of Memphis (UM) would not say Saturday whether it plans to allow Mikey Williams, a star basketball player, to return to the team after he pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony gun charge in order to avoid prison time.
According to several reports, Williams pleaded guilty to one felony count of making a criminal threat stemming from am April shooting outside his California home.
Read the full story
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that the enforcement of a Tennessee law meant to prevent the knowing spread of HIV violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law is outdated, has no basis in science, discourages testing and further marginalizes people living with HIV,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to a DOJ press release. “People living with HIV should not be treated as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives solely because of their HIV status. The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are protected from discrimination.”
Read the full story
Tennessee has two of the four among the largest 50 metro cities that doesn’t have set tax funding for transit agencies, according to a new report.
ThinkTennessee found Nashville and Memphis join Orlando and Hartford as the only four that don’t have dedicated transit funding. The report showed that 39 of those cities collect sales tax to fund transit with those taxes ranging from 0.375% to 2% bringing in an average $394 million annually.
Read the full story
Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson responded to criticism over his decision to release alleged murder Edio White, 18, with zero bond, in a media appearance on Thursday. During the interview, Anderson held a stack of notebook papers toward the camera and called them “essays” about gun ownership that he requires defendants to write before they are granted bond.
“These are my essays that I get from every single defendant,” said Anderson. The judge requires defendants to write essays explaining why a young person in Memphis would desire to carry a weapon, the outlet reported.
Read the full story
Jackson Mayor Scott Conger questioned the utility of the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which would offer universal school choice in Tennessee, in a post on social media, even as Tennessee state data reveals the vast majority of students in his city are failing to meet the state’s education standards.
Conger wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that “average annual tuition for private schools” in Jackson “is $9,227,” and questioned, “How is a $7,000 voucher going to help economically disadvantaged student?” Conger claimed lawmakers instead should “[f]und early childhood education” to “change educational outcomes.”
Read the full story
Tennessee State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) sat down with the Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy in the latest episode of The Tennessee Star Extra to discuss his recent overseas trip to Israel following the terrorist group Hamas’ October 7 attack on the country that left around 1,200 Israelis dead.
Read the full story
A Tennessee State Senator joined “Fox & Friends First” Friday morning to discuss violent crime in Memphis, which has been the subject of national news and viral videos in recent weeks.
“It’s really bad here, Todd,” State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) told Fox News’ Todd Piro. “The crime is really out of control here in Memphis. Matter of fact, just last week I sent a letter to the governor asking him to send in additional state troopers to Shelby County. Just in a weekend, Todd, we had 21 shootings, five murders, four smash-and-grabs, we had a FedEx truck stopped in traffic by a group of people that then opened up the back of the truck and looted the back of the FedEx truck.”
Read the full story
Another pro-Palestine, anti-Israel rally will be held in downtown Nashville this Saturday after the sun goes down, according to the new self-described “abolitionist” group Palestine Hurra Collective Nashville.
The “Shut It Down For Palestine” march will be held at 5:00 p.m. at the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Nashville, according to the group, which said the demonstration will be part of a “global mobilization for Palestine.”
Read the full story
U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined 22 of his colleagues this week in penning a letter to President Joe Biden demanding his administration come clean on his executive order instructing federal agencies to roll out voter mobilization plans.
The White House has refused to respond to the senators’ previous demands for transparency on Executive Order 14019, which appears to violate federal law prohibiting agencies from expending federal funds without congressional authorization.
Read the full story
The Memphis teenager who allegedly murdered a pastor during an attempted carjacking will remain out on bond after his family retained a new lawyer last week, just days before prosecutors expected him to accept a plea agreement.
Miguel Andrade, 16, who allegedly murdered a popular pastor Rev. Dr. Autura Eason-Williams during an attempted carjacking, will remain out on bond until January 30 after Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula L. Skahan granted a delay following the Andrade family’s decision to hire a new lawyer, according to Daily Memphian.
Read the full story
The Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) Horse Mounted Patrol Division will hold a toy drive this weekend at the Nashville Zoo as part of the department’s annual Christmas Basket Program.
“We need your help!!! This weekend we will be hosting our annual toy drive at the Nashville Zoo! These toys will be delivered by our fellow MNPD Officers to families and children across Nashville on Christmas Eve. Please help us fill our horse trailers for the kids,” MNPD’s Horse Mounted Patrol Division wrote in a Facebook post.
Read the full story
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a notice of appeal to the injunction issued by a three-judge panel in October which determined the Tennessee General Assembly violated the state Constitution with its new law changing how the Metro Nashville Airport Authority board is selected.
Under the new law, two board members would be selected by the Nashville mayor, Tennessee governor, and top two lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly, respectively. When the injunction was filed, the board went back to its previous selection process, by which members are picked by Nashville’s mayor and approved by the Metro Nashville Council.
Read the full story