Tennessee Democrats in Shelby County held a “Black Men for Kamala” event on Monday in response to the push by former President Barack Obama for black men to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
The event was described by the Shelby County Democratic Party as an “emergency press conference” held “in Response to President Barack Obama’s Call” in a press release that referenced the former president’s speech in Pennsylvania last week.
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An activist who was arrested for her alleged participation in an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) in May is now suing Knox County, Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler, as well as Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KNSO) Sergeant Jonathan Burgess.
The lawsuit filed by Layla Soliz explains that she is Muslim and wears a hijab, but after her May 2024 arrest, “Knox County Sheriff’s Office employees demanded that Mrs. Soliz remove her hijab and be photographed without it for her booking photo,” then published it online.
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The first day of early in-person voting and absentee voting by mail for the November 5 general election in Tennessee is Wednesday, October 16.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares have vowed Virginia will fight the lawsuit launched by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) over the commonwealth’s recent effort to remove non-citizens from its voter rolls, with both noting it was filed less than one month before Election Day.
The DOJ on Friday launched litigation against Virginia after the commonwealth removed non-citizens from its voter rolls, with the federal government alleging the commonwealth violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which it argued prohibits canceling voter registrations within 90 days of an election, even if those voters were illegally registered.
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Memphis Mayor Paul Young on Friday fired all nine members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) Board of Commissioners following the release of a third-party report that claimed the members were responsible for creating a “culture of poor accountability” for the troubled transit service.
Young reportedly called his decision an effort to create “a clean-slate environment,” according to NewsChannel 3, who revealed the mayor directly cited the third-party report completed by TransPro and sent to the city last week.
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One person was killed and at least nine were wounded in a shooting Saturday evening near Tennessee State University in Nashville as students celebrated homecoming, police said.
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Latinos For Tennessee PAC announced this week its endorsement of Wyatt Rampy, the Republican nominee for Tennessee State Senate District 20.
Rampy, the Republican nominee, is running against incumbent State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) for the District 20 seat in the November 5 general election.
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The Georgia State Election Board has faced backlash and lawsuits over the last few months, especially after passing a number of election rules just weeks before Election Day.
The Republican-majority board had a win this week though when a Fulton County judge dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday put forward by Democrats.
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Senator Bill Hagerty on Friday said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been “far too slow” in providing relief to those in East Tennessee who were in the path of Hurricane Helene last month.
Hagerty told News Channel 11 the federal agency “has been far too slow to step up to the plate,” and its response plagued with “serious” issues with management and staffing problems.
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Four Democrats in the U.S. House sent a letter to Big Tech executives on Friday demanding increased censorship and scrutiny on their platforms after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, arguing they must censor posts to protect users from potential scams and “misinformation” about federal agencies.
Representatives Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC-13) urged tech executives to “do substantially more” to combat social media “misinformation” that purportedly began in the wake of Hurricane Helene, in a letter first reported by Axios.
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Governor Bill Lee’s Office announced Thursday that $100 million in state funds have been made available for 13 Tennessee counties impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington counties are eligible to request immediate financial assistance through the new Helene Emergency Assistance Loans (HEAL) Program.
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Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that $100 million in state-funded loans are available to help counties affected by Hurricane Helene.
The program, dubbed Helene Emergency Assistance Loans, or HEAL, is funded by TennCare Shared Savings, the governor said. Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington counties can opt-in to the no-interest loans.
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A teacher who educates students receiving English as a Second Language (ESL) lessons in Middle Tennessee told Fox 17 Nashville on Wednesday that the number of students who do not speak English is straining the state’s resources.
The outlet reported an anonymous teacher reported 1,000 ESL students in one district, with 120 in kindergarten alone, and that many of the foreign-born students are years behind their American counterparts.
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National political reporter Neil W. McCabe reported live from the beach in Destin, Florida on Thursday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show where he discussed the destruction Hurricane Milton left in the state just hours after the storm officially retreated out into the Atlantic Ocean.
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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green sent a letter Thursday to the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, following a report from Just the News about the recent arrests of two Afghanistan nationals who were charged with planning an election day terror plot.
One of the suspects, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested by the FBI on Monday and charged with multiple crimes including conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to the Justice Department announcement.
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Residents in six East Tennessee counties affected by Hurricane Helene will be able to vote absentee or in person, but some of the polling places may be different, according to Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett.
Early voting begins next week for the Nov. 5 election.
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Mobilization for hurricane is larger for Milton than any previous in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said from Lake City on Wednesday.
State officials say 6,000 Florida National Guard soldiers and 3,000 from other states await storm rescue and recovery efforts, along with 34 search and rescue aircraft and 500 tactical vehicles. Hurricane Milton is forecast for landfall Wednesday night into Thursday.
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The Georgia State Election Board voted to subpoena Fulton County’s 2020 election records amid a legal fight over election monitors.
The board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to subpoena all election records from the 2020 election in Fulton County, the Associated Press reported. The vote came a day after Fulton County filed a lawsuit claiming that the board does not have the authority to make the county “accept, and Fulton County to pay for, additional monitors for the 2024 election that have been hand-picked by certain State Election Board members.”
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Former Fulton County special counsel Nathan Wade is reportedly scheduled to testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on next week, narrowly affording the Congress the opportunity to hear from Wade prior to Election Day.
Wade will be deposed, offering closed-door testimony to the committee led by Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) on October 15, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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Former Trump administration White House Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney released an op-ed last Thursday, skewering the Biden-Harris administration for its “extralegal” regulatory overreach, offering specific examples of how the White House forced illegal regulations on Americans.
Mulvaney cited regulatory overreach as a key contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, offering examples from the Biden-Harris administration that indicate the types of regulation Harris would seek to impose on Americans if elected in November.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a response brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday defending a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors – including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries.
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The Tennessee Prayer Breakfast Committee is honoring Winfield Dunn, the Volunteer State’s 43rd governor who passed away on September 28 at the age of 97.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a motion on Tuesday in the Twentieth Judicial District of Tennessee as part of his office’s ongoing investigation into the social media platform TikTok.
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Five members of Tennessee’s delegation to the U.S. House and both of its U.S. Senators voted earlier this year against legislation that provided additional funding to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to provide for the welfare of millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border under the Biden-Harris administration.
The realization that FEMA was tasked with managing illegal immigrant populations inside the United States came after Hurricane Helene, when Republicans revealed FEMA has directed $640.9 million in federal grants to nonprofits who support illegal immigrants.
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Florida’s Tampa Bay area could face record storm surge flooding from Hurricane Milton as officials try to clean up debris from Hurricane Helene before Milton makes landfall late Wednesday night.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said crews will continue to work 24 hours a day to pick up debris in affected areas from Helene until Wednesday when it is no longer safe to continue. A record 15-foot storm surge is forecast in Tampa Bay.
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Stoppage of Georgia’s abortion law banning abortion after six weeks has been stayed by the state Supreme Court, giving time for the attorney general’s appeal to be heard.
The General Assembly passed a ban on abortion after six weeks, or when a fetal heartbeat is detected, in 2019. Once the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, returning authority to the states, the law took effect.
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During difficult times, Tennesseans come together. And in the wake of Hurricane Helene, our state is showing what Volunteer Spirit truly means.
Across Tennessee, neighbors, local officials, and first responders have jumped into action to rescue victims, repair homes and businesses, and help our state get on the path to recovery.
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Tennessee leaders from the state and federal level toured the Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief Center at Bristol Motor Speedway and met with personnel from the Tennessee Department of Transportation to receive an update about the work being done to repair I-40 in Cocke County on Monday.
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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has set up pop-up offices across eight counties in East Tennessee this week to assist victims of flash flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
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State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) explained he is actively campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris because she “fought” for him and other controversially anti-gun members of the Tennessee House of Representatives during a visit to Nashville last year.
Both Pearson and Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) were expelled from the General Assembly for their role in an anti-gun riot at the Tennessee Capitol in the wake of the Covenant School shooting last year, while Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) avoided expulsion.
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The University of Memphis should make up for its past failures and allow Kyle Rittenhouse to speak on campus, the Alliance Defending Freedom says.
The Christian legal group recently sent a demand letter to school officials, asking them to let Rittenhouse speak this fall semester, improve security, and fix past problems with the ticketing system.
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The former leader of a nonprofit named Black Lives Matter (BLM) of Greater Atlanta was sentenced to over three years in prison on Thursday after he was found guilty of financial crimes for using his charity’s money to live a luxurious lifestyle after raising more than $400,000 following the death of George Floyd.
Tyree Conyers-Page, who used the name Sir Maejor Page when representing BLM of Greater Atlanta, was sentenced in Ohio on Thursday to 42 months in federal prison, or three-and-a-half years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, over what prosecutors successfully argued was a scheme to defraud donors to Black Lives Matter.
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Tennessee State House candidate Allie Phillips uploaded a video to TikTok where she crudely joked and gestured with a root she called a “ground penis” found in her back yard.
Phillips uploaded the video to her account on TikTok, the controversial video sharing platform tied to China, in May 2023.
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A week after Hurricane Helene devastated eastern Tennessee, state officials say they are still following leads on 27 missing persons reports.
The latest update from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says more than 500 calls were fielded by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations missing persons hotline. At least 27 of those are still active leads, but the number does not represent the number of unaccounted individuals, the agency said.
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International airline Aer Lingus will make its debut at Nashville International Airport (BNA) next year by offering nonstop flight routes to Dublin, Ireland.
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Tennessee State Representative and House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) said Starlink units being delivered and installed in areas of East Tennessee decimated by flash flooding from Hurricane Helene have been a “lifeline” for residents who remain without a connection to the outside world.
On Monday, Faison began collaborating with Tennessee political commentator Robby Starbuck, who has purchased and donated more than 20 Starlink units, to connect those in East Tennessee stranded in rural areas left without power.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) twice denied to The Tennessee Star that it is confiscating hurricane relief supplies in Tennessee, North Carolina, or any area recovering from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene.
The denials come despite Elon Musk, the owner of Space X, reporting that one of his company’s engineers said supplies were confiscated by the federal agency in Asheville, North Carolina, where the world’s richest man is supplying volunteers with Starlink devices to restore Internet connectivity to the rural communities.
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U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner on Thursday requesting accurate data regarding crimes committed by juvenile illegal immigrants.
As of July 21, 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories were on ICE’s national docket, which includes both those detained by ICE and those on the agency’s non-detained docket.
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The teen accused of killing four at Apalachee High School on September 4 reportedly used a rifle to force his mother out of his bedroom just three weeks before the devastating attack, his grandmother said in a report published Thursday.
Just weeks before authorities say 14-year-old Colt Gray attacked Apalachee High School, the teen apparently used a rifle to force his mother out of a bedroom during a fight, his grandmother Debbie Polhamus told The Washington Post.
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Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) described the scene in areas impacted by flash flooding from Hurricane Helene in East Tennessee as “truly catastrophic” after two days of traveling to the area to meet with residents and survey the storm damage.
One week ago, flash flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated areas of East Tennessee, which has since left 11 dead, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
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Founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association and Second Amendment expert John Harris is bringing attention to Tennessee’s law prohibiting the use of deadly force to protect real or personal property.
Harris’ criticism of the statute, Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 39-11-611; 39-11-614, comes as residents in East Tennessee impacted by devastating flash flooding from Hurricane Helene are being warned of an increased possibility that looters may trespass on properties in areas affected by the weather looking for valuable property or essential supplies.
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Eight migrant workers were arrested and charged over the weekend for allegedly looting properties in Washington County, Tennessee in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced Sunday that the group of eight men were taken into custody the day prior after deputies were patrolling the region impacted by the hurricane and arrested the men for allegedly looting properties in the 107 area of Washington County.
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Vice President Kamala Harris described controversial State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) as a prominent leader for young people during an interview with progressive social media publisher NowThis Impact released on Tuesday.
In the interview, Harris was asked by the liberal news organization to name five “ideal dinner guests,” and the vice president said Jones would have the fifth seat at a table largely seated with civil rights icons.
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by Tommy Vallejos Most of you are probably reading this very article using the power of broadband internet, which attests to the importance of high-speed internet in connecting us, sharing ideas and gathering as communities. Access to reliable internet is powering every aspect of our lives, now starting from the earliest years of childhood – better connecting students to their education in urban and rural communities alike. Broadband gives rural entrepreneurs and small business owners the chance to connect with new customers, suppliers and business opportunities. Millions of Tennesseans are reaping the benefits of the internet on a daily basis, including many who don’t stop to give it a second thought. However, 200,000 of our neighbors in Tennessee still don’t have reliable access to high-speed internet. And many of those impacted tend to be Latinos in sparsely populated towns across our state. The good news is that additional federal resources have been allocated to states to help meet these broadband gaps, most of which are occurring in rural communities. We have Governor Bill Lee to thank for deploying these important funds. But we have to be careful because the federal government is prone to solutions that spend a lot…
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Former President Donald Trump has widened his lead in Georgia over Vice President Kamala Harris, according to data released by Quinnipiac pollsters on Wednesday that also shows more Georgians now hold a favorable view of the Republican than his Democratic opponent.
The Quinnipiac University Poll data for Georgia found Trump now leads with the support of 50 percent of likely voters in the Peach State, while Harris trailed at 44 percent, with an additional 3 percent supporting other candidates.
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A survey published this Tuesday shows how Cuban-American voters in Florida would become a key support for Republican candidate Donald Trump a few weeks before the general elections in the United States.
The revelation came to light after a survey conducted by Telemundo Station Group and Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. in the Sunshine State, revealing the decisions Latino voters would make in this year’s presidential election.
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The Harris-Walz campaign reportedly drew more than 100 black farmers and supporters in Byromville, Georgia on Sunday as it targets rural voters in the Peach State in a bid to repeat the party’s 2020 victory.
Huffington Post deputy editor Philip Lewis reported the Harris-Walz occurred at Jibb’s Vineyard, which he described as a black-owned vineyard, and said it focused “on rural Black farmers.”
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) has been on the ground meeting with East Tennessee residents impacted by Hurricane Helene and working to gather and distribute supplies to those in need in the aftermath of the storm.
Harshbarger, whose district stretches from the far northeastern point of the state down to the Gatlinburg area, and her staff have deployed to multiple counties impacted by the hurricane since flood waters devastated areas to assess each community’s needs and help distribute supplies.
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Recovering journalist and Nashville-area public policy expert Clint Brewer said the response from Tennesseans to help residents of East Tennessee who Hurricane Helene impacted is a testament to the Volunteer spirit.
On September 26 and September 27, flash flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated buildings and roads in East Tennessee, which has since left eight dead, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
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A 19-year-old Memphis man who was arrested after he allegedly brought a stolen gun to Hamilton High School was arrested again on Monday and remains behind bars after reportedly being charged with aggravated battery and possession of controlled substances.
Shelby County Sheriff’s Office records confirm Javarious Sistrunk is back in jail on Monday, where he is held on a $80,000 bond, after Action News 5 reported police accused him of robbing a woman and possessing a controlled substance on Monday night.
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