Category: Tennessee

Covenant Killer’s Father Confirmed Vanderbilt University Medical Center ‘Didn’t Tell Us’ About Daughter’s Interest in Columbine

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Ronald Hale, the father of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, confirmed to investigators that Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) did not inform his daughter developed an interest in the April 20, 1999 shooting at the Columbine High School in Colorado, according to a transcript of a July 12, 2023 police interview obtained by The Tennessee Star. 

Police documents obtained by The Star previously established that Audrey Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at VUMC, and Ronald and Norma Hale confirmed their daughter was evaluated for commitment for mental health reasons during three separate incidents, including two at VUMC for suicidal ideation.

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Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Won’t Appeal Court Loss in ‘Open Fields’ Doctrine Case

Peter D'Abrosca
Hunter Hollingsworth

After losing an appeal in May, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has decided it will not take its case on the “open fields” doctrine to the Tennessee Supreme Court. 

The case began when Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth found hidden cameras on their property, placed there by TWRA, according to the Institute of Justice, which took on the case. 

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Attorneys for Parents of Covenant Killer Silent on Possible Will with Potential Instructions for Release of Documents

Tom Pappert
Jeff Mobley and David Raybin

Attorneys who represent Ronald Hale and Norma Hale, the parents of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, did not respond to The Tennessee Star when asked about the killer’s suicide note and a probate court filing, which both appear to suggest the killer left a last will and testament prior to her devastating attack on March 27, 2023.

Neither attorney David Raybin, who represented Ronald Hale and Norma Hale in matters related to the Covenant investigation, nor attorney Jeff Mobley, who represents the killer’s parents in the intestate probate case for Audrey Hale’s estate, replied to a press inquiry from The Star which sought to establish whether the killer left behind a document called a will.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Introduces the Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2024

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill this week to protect surrogate mothers from being forced to have abortions as part of terms set in surrogacy contracts.

Ogles’ Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2024 would prohibit federal courts from enforcing any part of a surrogacy contract that requires a surrogate mother to get an abortion.

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Covenant Killer’s Childhood Friends Changed Phone Numbers to Cut Contact, Her Mother Told Police

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The parents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators during a July 12, 2023 interview that two of their daughter’s childhood friends changed their phone numbers to cut contact with the killer in the years prior to her attack on the Covenant School, where she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star. 

Last month, The Star confirmed it obtained approximately 80 pages of writings left in a journal by Audrey Hale from a source familiar with the investigation, and reported the killer wrote extensively about the death of her middle school basketball teammate Sydney Sims.

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Far-Left Nonprofit That Inspired Shooting at Family Research Council Claims ‘Hate Groups’ are Growing in Number in Tennessee

Peter D'Abrosca
Tennessee Welcome Sign

A far-left Alabama nonprofit best known for inspiring a shooting at the conservative Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., claims that “Hate Groups” are on the rise in Tennessee. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which inspires violence itself by labeling conservative nonprofits as “Hate Groups,” claimed in its 2023 annual report that the number of “Hate Groups” in Tennessee increased from 33 in 2022 to 37 in 2023. 

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Memphis Police Department Asks for Help Identifying Woman Who Allegedly Shot, Killed Fast Food Employee After Drive-Thru Argument

Peter D'Abrosca
Memphis Drive Thru Crime

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) is asking the public to help identifying a suspect in year another violent crime, this time carried after an argument at a drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant. 

According to MPD:

On July 8, 2024, at approximately 9:10 p.m., officers responded to a shooting at Church’s Chicken at 2963 Park Avenue. A female victim was located and transported to Regional One Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. The victim was working in the business when a female with purple hair driving a teal-colored compact SUV drove through the drive-thru and argued with the victim. The teal-colored SUV drove off the lot, and the victim walked outside of the business to get some air. A few moments later, a gunshot was heard, and the teal-colored SUV was seen on video speeding off the parking lot. The victim was located outside of the business.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Says the GOP’s 2024 Platform Unites Party Ahead of Presidential Election

Kaitlin Housler
Marsha Blackburn and Donald Trump

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said the 2024 Republican Party Platform is an “aspirational,” “modern” agenda that Republicans can unite behind ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The Republican Party Platform Committee overwhelmingly approved former President Donald Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform on Monday.

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Group Claiming Copyright to Covenant Killer Documents ‘Not Able to Comment’ on Possible Financial Arrangement with Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Tom Pappert
Ed Yarbrough

An attorney who represents The Covenant Children’s Trust, which claims it owns the copyright to the works of Covenant School attacker Audrey Elizabeth Hale, told The Tennessee Star on Wednesday he could not comment on whether his client received any type of financial compensation from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), which treated the killer over 22 years.

The Star contacted attorney Ed Yarbrough, who works at the Spencer Fane firm and represented the Covenant Children’s Trust in the Tennessee lawsuit which sought to compel Metro Nashville to release Hale’s documents, to ask whether his client, the Covenant School, or Covenant Presbyterian Church were approached by VUMC to discuss its potential civil liability over its treatment of Hale.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Proposes Amendment to Prevent D.C. Statehood

Kaitlin Housler
Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) reportedly proposed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act on Tuesday that would squash efforts to grant Washington, D.C., statehood.

Ogles’ proposal, according to a report by The Hill, “called for the prohibition of funds for the New Columbia Statehood Commission — which coordinates the district’s efforts to become the 51st state — and to prohibit funds being used to conduct an election for a senator for the District of Columbia.”

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Treasurer for Group Behind Attacks on Rep. Andy Ogles Is Former Tennessee Republican Party Director Who Endorsed Democrat in 2022

Tom Pappert
Randy Stamps

Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents confirm Randy Stamps is the treasurer for the Conservatives with Character super PAC, which so far has reportedly spent at least $140,000 on ads targeting Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).

Stamps’ involvement in an effort which could benefit the only Republican to challenge Ogles, Metro Nashville Councilwoman Courtney Johnston, comes after he backed Ogles’ previous political opponent, former Tennessee House Representative Beth Harwell, in 2022.

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Illegal Alien Who Killed Tennessee Man While Drunk Driving Sentenced to Only Two Years in Prison

Peter D'Abrosca
Israel Martin-Alonzo

An illegal alien from Guatemala who killed a Tennessee man while drunk driving has been sentenced to prison for causing the man’s death.

Israel Martin-Alonzo who was 18 at the time and was driving drunk, struck and killed Hixson man Donald Rackley on July 30, 2018. He was sentenced Tuesday to only two years in prison after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, failure to maintain lane, and DUI.

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Silent on Possible Liability, Settlements After Treating Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Prior to Attack

Tom Pappert

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) did not respond to a Monday inquiry from The Tennessee Star that sought to establish whether VUMC took any actions to mitigate any possible financial liabilities that may have resulted from its 22-year treatment of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.

The Star contacted VUMC about what actions it may have taken to address possible legal liability after publishing the MNPD document, “Vandy Psych,” which contains notes written by an MNPD investigator who secured at least 75 pages of documents about Hale’s treatment at VUMC after obtaining a search warrant.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Created Duplicate Materials Because ‘She Wanted Us to Have Those,’ Nashville Police Told Her Parents

Tom Pappert

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale created duplicates of materials she wanted to be discovered by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), a detective told the killer’s parents in a June 12, 2023 interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Tennessee Star.

The interview was conducted by three MNPD detectives, who were investigating the Covenant case, and included both Ronald and Norma Hale, the parents of Audrey Hale, and their attorney David Raybin.

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Nashville Police Point to Judge I’Ashea Myles When Questioned over Will Mentioned by Covenant Killer Audrey Hale in Suicide Note

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) referred The Tennessee Star to the court of Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles when asked if the department provided specific documents to Judge Myles before she declared in her decision that not one page of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released, citing the copyright allegedly held by the parents of Covenant School children.

The Star asked MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron whether investigators provided Judge Myles with the document titled “Vandy Psych.” The document contains notes written by an MNPD investigator who received at least 75 pages of documents from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where Hale was a 22-year mental health patient, after obtaining a search warrant in the wake of her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of six.

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Local Regime Media in Nashville Promote False Flag Marchers as ‘White Nationalists’

Peter D'Abrosca
'Patriot Front' March in Nashville

The leftwing media and the mayor of Nashville Sunday slammed a group of “white nationalists,” long suspected as being false flag operators, for marching in Nashville. 

“Yesterday, a number of people shockingly comfortable publicly identifying themselves as white nationalists marched through Nashville.   My first priority in this moment—as always—was the safety of Nashvillians,” said Mayor Freddie O’Connell on X, referencing a group called Patriot Front. “I refuse to platform hate actors, so I have no interest in giving any group or member the attention they seek.”

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Covenant Killer’s Parents Claimed She Left No Will, but Suicide Note Audrey Hale Wrote Demands ‘PLEASE READ MY WILL’

Tom Pappert

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles last Thursday ruled that not one page of the materials written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released to the public, citing the copyright claims raised by parents of minor students who claim to own the copyright to the killer’s works.

The parents of Covenant School students successfully claimed before Myles that they were assigned the intellectual property rights of the materials left by Audrey Hale before to her attack, and a probate court filing reveals Ronald and Norma Hale appear to have transferred the copyright to the parents of in June 2023.

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Tennessee Courts Will Look to Put Filings Online

The Center Square

Tennessee’s Advisory Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure decided to start a committee looking into rules to make court briefs available online moving forward.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Dwight Tarwater will chair the committee, which will include commission Chairman Gino Bulso, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz, former Solicitor General Andree Blumstein and attorney Tim Mickel.

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Clint Brewer: Courtney Johnston Has ‘Some Real Support’ Among Nashville Voters But Lags Behind in Williamson, Maury, Wilson, Marshall, and Lewis Counties

Kaitlin Housler
Courtney Johnston

Recovering journalist and Nashville-area public policy expert Clint Brewer said Metro Nashville Council Member Courtney Johnston, who is running in the August 1 Republican primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, has some “real support” among voters in Davidson County.

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Tennessee Star to ‘Absolutely Appeal’ Judge’s Decision Not to Release One Single Page of Covenant School Killer Writings

Tom Pappert
Judge I'Ashea Myles, Michael Patrick Leahy

The Thursday ruling by Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles, when she decided not one single page of the writings of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale would be released, will “absolutely” be appealed, stated Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and the CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), on Friday.

Leahy declared in his Friday statement, “The judge has erroneously accepted a dubious copyright claim made by intervenors who should not have been allowed to intervene in this case in the first place.”

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Far-Left Group to Spend $10 Million on Anti-Supreme Court Campaign

Admin
Skye Perryman

The far-left advocacy group Demand Justice announced its intentions to spend as much as $10 million on a messaging campaign smearing the Supreme Court after its ruling in favor of President Donald Trump on the question of presidential immunity.

According to Politico, Demand Justice’s goals for the $10 million spending spree include opposition research on potential future Supreme Court justices and suggestions for ethics reforms within the court. The group also plans to target such demographics as women and younger voters, falsely claiming that these groups have been “attacked” by the Supreme Court’s recent rulings. Demand Justice also intends to attack right-wing judicial groups that played a role in shaping the court’s conservative majority under the Trump Administration.

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Tennessee Judge Rules Not One Page of Covenant Killer Writings Shall be Released, Cites Dubious Copyright Claims of Intervenors

Tom Pappert

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled in a decision released at 11:58 pm on Thursday that none of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale shall be released to the multiple parties who sued Metro Nashville to secure their release, citing the copyright claims of the parents she earlier allowed to intervene in the lawsuit.

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U.S. District Court Hands Down Victory in Tennessee-Led Case Challenging HHS Rule on Gender Identity Under the Affordable Care Act

Kaitlin Housler

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi has halted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing its final rule which redefines the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on “sex” to include “gender identity” at the request of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Told Unknown Physician She ‘Felt Close’ to Columbine Massacre, Nashville Police Revealed in 2023 Recording

Tom Pappert
Columbine Shooters

Police investigators told the parents of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale their daughter “felt close” to those who perpetrated the Columbine High School attack in 1999 and created her own version of the Columbine Tapes.

The investigators told the killer’s parents, Ronald Hale and Norma Hale, that their daughter divulged the information to an unknown physician, according to the transcript of a July 12, 2023, interview The Tennessee Star obtained last month.

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Covenant School Killer Had Violent Outburst Prior to Attack Called Emotional ‘Leakage’ by Police During Interview with Parents

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

After the parents of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale described a violent outburst during a police interview, a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigator referred to the incident as “leakage” of “anger,” in a possible reference to the “leakage of intent” researchers say is commonly displayed by mass killers.

The Tennessee Star confirmed last month it obtained the transcript of an MNPD interview with Ronald and Norma Hale, the parents of Audrey Hale, which was recorded on July 12, 2023.

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Tennessee Woman Awarded Settlement from Blue Cross Blue Shield After Refusal to Take COVID-19 Vaccine

Peter D'Abrosca
Vaccine COVID

A Tennessee woman who was fired from her job at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine was awarded nearly $700,000 by a jury.

“The jury found that Plaintiff, TANJA BENTON, proved by a preponderance of the evidence that her refusal to receive the Covid vaccination was based upon a sincerely held religious belief,” said a Judgement Order written by Judge Charles Atchley of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

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Tennessee State Representative Celebrates New Law Enhancing Penalties for Assaulting Police Officers

Peter D'Abrosca
Kip Capley

A Tennessee State Representative is celebrating this week as a bill that he sponsored enacting harsher penalties for violence against police officers took effect Monday. 

The law, called The Back the Blue Act, which was sponsored by State Representative Kip Capley (R-Summertown) makes assault on a police officer a Class E felony. Previously, it was a Class A misdemeanor.

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Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Was Diagnosed with Five Mental Disorders, Parents Told Nashville Police

Tom Pappert
Covenant School Shooter Hale

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale received medical diagnoses for five mental disorders, her parents Ronald and Norma Hale told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators on July 12, 2023, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the investigation.

Ronald and Norma Hale, with the assistance of their attorney, provided the list of mental disorders after MNPD investigators questioned whether Audrey Hale was formally diagnosed with autism.

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Steve Bannon Makes Phone Call from Prison, Urges Everyone ‘to GET TO WORK!’

Kaitlin Housler
Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to former President Donald Trump and host of the popular show War Room, made contact for the first time from inside the Federal Correctional Institution Danbury in Danbury, Connecticut, where he is currently serving his four-month prison sentence.

Bannon communicated his message through a 5-minute phone call to Grace Chong, who is the CFO and COO of War Room, on Tuesday. Like all federal prisoners incarcerated at FCI Danbury, Bannon is allowed to make 320 minutes of phone calls each month.

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Mother of Covenant Killer Told Police She Slept in Sleeping Bag to Block Killer’s Bedroom After Prozac Caused Suicidal Thoughts

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The mother of Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale told police investigators her daughter first experienced suicidal thoughts when prescribed the antidepressant Prozac as a high school student, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the investigation.

Last month, The Star reported that police documents confirmed Audrey Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Another portion of the transcript of the police interview with Ronald and Norma Hale revealed their daughter avoided inpatient commitment during three separate mental crises.

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Tennessee Sees $4.7 Billion Individual Income Increase From In-Migration

The Center Square
Bill Lee

Tennessee saw the fifth-largest population increase from other states between 2021 and 2022, according to new data released by the Internal Revenue Service.

Tennessee saw a net increase of nearly 60,600 during that calendar year, a population increase of 0.87% during the year, with a net increase of nearly $4.7 billion in adjusted gross income on individual tax returns.

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