U.S. Attorney Who Secured Search Warrant for Rep. Andy Ogles Was Previously Partner at Law Firm ‘100% Committed’ to DEI

United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis

Henry Leventis, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, was previously a partner at a law firm which claims to be “100 [percent] committed” to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the controversial practices conservatives complain reward individuals based on their gender, skin color or other immutable characteristics rather than character or capability.

Leventis worked as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 2015 until 2020, when he left the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a private sector job.

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Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones Featured at ‘Critical Race Theory Summer School’ at Vanderbilt University

Rep. Justin Jones at CRT Summer School event at Vanderbilt University

Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) was among the 40 speakers at the Critical Race Theory Summer School 2024 event held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville from July 28 until August 2.

Jones is one of the three members who controversially became known as the Tennessee Three for their role in a pro-gun control riot last year, and Nashville Scene reported he “helped bring the event to Vanderbilt” when it began in 2020.

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Lee Creates Tennessee Office of Outdoor Recreation

Tennessee Office of Outdoor Recreation

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is starting a state Office of Outdoor Recreation after putting $207 million for state parks, blueways development, farmland conservation and outdoor recreation in this year’s budget.

Lee announced the department, within the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, will work on conservation to provide Tennessee residents and visitors have more access to the outdoors.

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Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Pour Into Georgia’s House District 53 Race

Susie Greenberg and Deborah Silcox in front of the Georgia State Capitol Building (composite image)

While many of Georgia’s 180 state House of Representative seats are not competitive, District 53 is where Democrat Susie Greenberg hopes to flip the “most flippable” seat back blue.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Deborah Silcox was first elected in 2022 by a margin of less than 1,500 votes, after many years of Democrat representatives. She previously was a representative in District 52, before losing that seat in 2020.

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Security Resource Officers Reported Called to Step Back from Memphis Shelby County Schools over Public Safety, Pay

The company which provides Security Resources Officers (SROs) to Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) has reportedly warned it will step back from its duties unless Shelby County changes its overtime policies, with the company’s owner claiming in a letter that SROs in the school district have already been told not to provide security for upcoming football events.

Bennie Cobb, who owns the Eagle Eye Security and Training company which provides SROs for the district, reportedly sent a letter to the MSCS Safety and Security division which warned its 128 SROs were told “[n]ot to report for duty on Friday, August 16, 2014 – and not to participate in the [football] jamboree that following night and following day.”

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Former Trump DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Appeals D.C. Disciplinary Panel’s Recommendation to Suspend His Law License for Two Years

Jeffery Clark

Donald Trump’s former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is appealing the recommendation of a disciplinary panel to suspend his law license for two years over his role assisting Trump in dealing with 2020 election irregularities. A three-member committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility found on August 1 that he breached broad and vague attorneys ethics rules by drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options for handling the 2020 election problems. 

In response, Clark filed a Petition for Review with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on August 7, requesting consideration of his interlocutory appeals. Interlocutory appeals are appeals conducted while other proceedings are still ongoing. 

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Piedmont Lithium Abandons Nearly $600 Million Investment Planned for Southeast Tennessee

Piedmont Lithium

Piedmont Lithium announced Thursday that the company abandoned its plan to invest $582 million to establish a lithium hydroxide processing, refining, and manufacturing facility in Etowah and instead build the proposed plant in North Carolina.

The company currently operates a plant in Gaston County, North Carolina, called Carolina Lithium, which will be expanded with the addition of the facility originally expected to be built in Etowah.

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Georgia Tries Navigating 2024 Election While Investigating Unresolved Disputes of 2020 Election

Chris Carr

As Georgia prepares for the 2024 presidential election with implementing new rules and procedures, some unresolved 2020 election disputes remain, with the State Election Board opening an investigation into an issue it previously closed.

Heading into this year’s presidential election cycle, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is implementing election security measures as the Georgia State Election Board is enacting new rules that could impact the November election and investigating 2020 presidential election issues.

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Virginia Revitalization Commission to Pilot Workforce Housing Development

Building Home

The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission recently approved a pilot workforce housing program to make the region more attractive to new businesses and job seekers.

The commission was founded to foster economic growth and opportunity in 34 counties and six independent cities comprising Southwest and Southern Virginia –  a region where tobacco farming was once integral to the economy. It’s funded entirely by proceeds from a major 1990s tobacco lawsuit settlement.

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Fani Willis Says Resignation of Nathan Wade Was ‘Boon’ to Trump’s Defense, Urges Court to Toss Disqualification Appeal

Nathan Wade Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a court filing published Friday argued the forced resignation of former Special Counsel Nathan Wade was a “boon” to former President Donald Trump and the other defendants in her Georgia racketeering case against the former president and his allies over their contest of the 2020 election results.

In a filing submitted on August 5, the district attorney’s office argued the victory for the defendants, though ultimately unnecessary, provides the necessary appearance of impropriety to dismiss their appeal.

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DeSantis Grants $8 Million for Infrastructure at Miami Soccer Complex

Miami Freedom Park

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that he is against using state money to fund the construction of sports stadiums.

DeSantis, however, announced Thursday that he and the state will grant $8 million from the Governors’ Job Growth Grant Fund toward road infrastructure around the new construction of Miami Freedom Park by the Inter Miami soccer club’s ownership.

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Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti Joins Lawsuit Challenging the Biden Administration’s Plan to Extend Full Health Care Benefits to Illegal Immigrants

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a federal lawsuit on Thursday challenging the Biden administration’s plan of extending Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, benefits to more than 200,000 illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota Western Division.

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Drug Dealer with Long Criminal History Charged with Murder in Death of Customer Under Tennessee’s ‘Death by Distribution’ Law

A fentanyl dealer from Crossville has been arrested and charged with Second Degree Murder after one of her customers overdosed and died.

“On September 14, 2021, officers with the Crossville Police Department responded to a 911 call at a home on Willow Street in Crossville. Samuel Mashburn … was found deceased in the driveway,” according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). “An autopsy determined Mashburn died from acute combined multiple drug intoxication.”

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Kamala Harris Lobbied for Gun Control in Tennessee After Covenant School Shooting

Kamala Harris and Tennessee Three

In the wake of the Covenant School shooting in 2023, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, held a rally in Tennessee in support of the infamous “Tennessee Three” and to push gun control.

“We are here because [The Tennessee Three] and their colleagues, the Democratic caucus of the state legislature — and I’d ask you to stand as well, please, because they chose to show courage in the face of an extreme tragedy, which is that 11 days ago, six people, three educators and three babies, nine years old, were murdered senselessly due to gun violence,” she told students at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville.

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Virginia U.S. Senate Nominee Hung Cao Slams VP Nominee Tim Walz over ‘Disqualifying’ Stolen Valor Allegations

Hung Cao and Tim Walz

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, himself a decorated veteran of the U.S. Navy, on Wednesday said the allegations of stolen valor levied at Democratic vice presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz are “disqualifying” and reveal “hypocrisy” on behalf of the media.

Cao first noted the questions he faced over his military experience, apparently referencing a USA Today article that claimed the Republican incorrectly described his time in combat.

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Georgia Election Board Seeks New Investigation into Fulton County’s Handling of 2020 Election

Sherri Allen

A Georgia State election board on Wednesday night voted to request that state Attorney General Chris Carr reopen an investigation into Fulton County’s counting of the results of the 2020 election.

The request comes after the board closed the matter in May, but voted to install an independent election monitor for the 2024 election, after an independent investigation found that the county likely scanned thousands of ballots twice in a recount of the 2020 election.

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Chief Judge Silent on Apparent Leak of Sealed Info About FBI Search Warrant for Rep. Andy Ogles

Andy Ogles

Chief District Judge William Campbell, who oversees the Middle District of Tennessee for the U.S. District Court, did not respond to a Thursday inquiry from The Tennessee Star that sought information about the apparent leak of information related to the FBI search warrant executed on Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).

Ogles confirmed on Tuesday the FBI executed a search warrant at his Maury County, Tennessee home to obtain his personal cell phone last Friday, less than 24 hours after he won the Tennessee Republican primary in a victory over his Never Trump-backed opponent.

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Judge Restores Freedoms to Alleged Cyberstalker McKenzie McClure, Who Visited Nashville School and Wrote About Gov. Bill Lee

McKenzie McClure

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ruled on July 29 that alleged cyberstalker McKenzie McClure, the transgender person who wrote publicly about Governor Bill Lee and left an unsettling voicemail before visiting the campus of the Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) elementary school in Nashville, will be allowed greater freedom at the East Tennessee psychiatric treatment center where she remains.

A student of CPA from 1999 until 2003, McClure was arrested in May on charges of cyberstalking after she wrote posts claiming Lee would not take action to undermine pro-Palestine protests because the governor “knows if he makes one wrong move it’s Joever for him and my 4th grade teacher… i.e., his WIFE.”

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Exclusive: Sen. Blackburn Releases Kids Online Safety Guide Ahead of New School Year

Kid on tablet

After the resounding success of Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, she has exclusively released to The Tennessee Star a guide for parents to keep their children safe online as they head back to school. 

“When children are online, they are the product, and Big Tech is trying every method possible to keep them scrolling, clicking ads, and sharing every detail of their lives,” the guide says. “Social media platforms put children at risk of being exposed to eating disorders, suicidal ideation, sexual exploitation, and advertisements for illegal substances. Now is the perfect time to study up on how you can keep your kids safe online.”

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Youngkin Issues Executive Order Codifying Election Security Measures

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R, signed an executive order Wednesday, codifying election security measures and listing procedures to prevent non-citizens from voting in elections.

The executive order directs the Commissioner of the Department of Elections to annually certify that election security measures are in place regarding ballot security, testing and certification of ballot counting machines, triple-checking the accuracy of election results, and daily updating of voter rolls.

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Former Atlanta Jail Guard Who Identifies as Transgender Man Sentenced to Prison for Strangling Female Inmate

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia confirmed on Wednesday that Former Fulton County Jail guard Monique Clark was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release after she strangled an inmate who was in handcuffs until the inmate lost consciousness.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Georgia Star News in September 2023 that Clark is a biological female, and was housed in a female unit of the Fulton County Jail, but government officials with the FBI and Department of Justice exclusively used masculine pronouns while describing her crimes in a press release.

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Planned Parenthood Says It Has a Plan to Break Tennessee General Assembly Supermajority

The leaders of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood (TAPP), Planned Parenthood’s electioneering arm, held a press conference at the Tennessee Capitol saying that it has a plan to break the Republican supermajority in the state’s general assembly, thus making it easier to accomplish its pro-abortion work. 

“Stopping the supermajority in Tennessee is not going to be easy,” TAPP CEO Ashley Coffield said during the press conference. “We have a plan this year to flip four seats and three after that so we break the supermajority before redistricting in 2030.”

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U.S. Attorney Who Oversaw FBI Search Warrant Served on Rep. Andy Ogles Previously Served Under Jack Smith

Henry Leventis, Jack Smith

Henry Leventis, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee who oversaw the FBI search warrant served on Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last Friday, previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney under special prosecutor Jack Smith.

Leventis supervised the FBI search warrant executed at Ogles’ Maury County home. In a statement, Ogles said the warrant was issued to obtain his personal cell phone due to well-reported issues with his initial campaign filings. Ogles filed amendments earlier this year that he claims corrected what were honest mistakes.

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Tennessee Democrat Challenging Rep. Andy Ogles Blamed ‘White Patriarchy’ After Lawmakers Denied Gun Control Push in 2023

Maryam Abolfazli and Andy Ogles

The Tennessee Democrat who received the nomination to challenge Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) in November blamed the state’s “white patriarchy” last year after the General Assembly did not pass gun control legislation during a special session in the wake of the March 27, 2023, attack on the Covenant School.

Maryam Abolfazli, the Democratic nominee for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, wrote in an August 2023 article published by Tennessee Lookout that the “white patriarchy” was responsible for the failure of gun control legislation to materialize during the special session called by Governor Bill Lee in the wake the Covenant School attack.

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Tennessee TennCare and CoverKids Members to Begin Receiving Free Diapers for Children Under Two

Diapers

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that TennCare and CoverKids members under age two will be eligible to receive up to 100 diapers per month as part of the TennCare Diaper Benefit beginning Wednesday.

TennCare is Tennessee’s Medicaid program, while CoverKids offers free health coverage for pregnant women and children who do not have insurance and do not qualify for TennCare.

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Miyares Joins 20 Other AGs in Support of Federal TikTok Ban

Jason Miyares

Republican attorneys general from 21 states, led by the attorneys general of Montana and Virginia, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia defending the federal law banning TikTok in the U.S.

President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law in April due to concerns that through Chinese-owned parent company Bytedance, the Chinese Communist Party might be able to gain access to users’ private data or influence American youth toward communism. The law threatens to prohibit the app in the U.S. if Bytedance does not sell its shares in the social media company by Jan. 19, 2025.

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Georgia Public Service Commission Weighing Railroad’s Land Condemnation Request

Sanderville Train

The Georgia Public Service Commission could soon decide whether a railroad can seize private land for a proposed 4.5-mile-long spur after hearing oral arguments in the case on Tuesday.

The Sandersville Railroad, a Class III short-line railroad, initially petitioned the PSC in March 2023 to condemn land for the spur and subsequently moved to condemn additional land. The railroad’s existing tracks are about 25 miles from Sparta, and the spur would connect a rock quarry southeast of the city with a CSX Transportation rail line but not existing Sandersville Railroad tracks.

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Report: Florida Receives Nation’s Second-Highest Grade for Religious Liberty

People Praying

by Andrew Powell   The Sunshine State ranks second in the nation for the protection of religious liberty, according to a new report from the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy. The report, “Religious Liberty in the States,” is a project that measures legal safeguards for religious liberty across the U.S. During a panel discussion on the report, Jordan Ballor, director of research at CRCD, was joined by project director Mark David Hall and associate director Paul Mueller. A list of safeguards was used to measure and compare each state – including a state’s policies on absentee voting, general conscience, abortion refusal, sterilization refusal, contraception refusal, health insurance mandates, non-participation by clergy, religious entity refusal, public office recusal, for-profit business nonparticipation, clergy as mandatory reporters, houses of worship protected from closing, ceremonial use of alcohol by minors, religious freedom restoration act, childhood immunization requirements and excused absences for religious reasons. “Florida improved from number eight in the nation in 2023 to number two in 2024 because it passed general conscience and hospital protections,” Hall told The Center Square. “These laws ensure that medical professionals and institutions are not compelled to participate in medical procedures to which they have religious objections.”…

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KamaLawfare: Politicized FBI Executes Search Warrant on GOP Rep. Andy Ogles, Who Leads Impeachment of VP Harris

Andy Ogles and FBI

The Tennessee Star learned the controversial and allegedly politicized FBI on Friday executed a search warrant at the Maury County, Tennessee, home of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).

Ogles confirmed in a statement provided to The Star that the FBI executed a search warrant for his personal cell phone in an apparent investigation of his campaign filings.

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X Sues Global Alliance for Responsible Media over ‘Illegal Boycott’

Linda Yaccarino Madrazo

Linda Yaccarino, the Chief Executive Officer of Elon Musk-owned X, announced Tuesday that the company is filing a lawsuit against a group called Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).

“After a career in media and advertising, I thought I had seen everything. Then I read the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s report entitled ‘GARM’s (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) Harm’ last month. The report disclosed that their investigation had found evidence of an illegal boycott against many companies, including X,” Yaccarino said. 

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Nashville Police Replace Internal Affairs Director Months After Retired Officer’s Complaint Sparked Investigation

Kathy Morante, Nashville City Hall

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Monday reportedly replaced the head of its internal affairs office in a decision that came months after retired Lieutenant Garet Davidson submitted a 61-page complaint naming the former official, prompting an investigation.

It was reported on Monday by Nashville Banner that Kathy Morante, the head of the MNPD Office of Professional Accountability since 2013, was replaced.

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