Category: The Tennessee Star

Virginia Gubernatorial Race: Youngkin Pounces After McAuliffe ‘Abruptly’ Cuts, Runs from TV Interview

Neil W. McCabe

  Two weeks before Virginia’s bellwether election, Republican Glenn A. Youngkin‘s campaign is banging the pots and pans to draw attention to Democrat Terence R. “Terry” McAuliffe’s sudden end to his interview with WJLA-TV’s Nick Minock. Three times, a McAuliffe staffer interrupted the interview, which ended with this exchange: McAuliffe Staffer: “Alright Nick we are already over time.” Terry McAuliffe: “Alright, we are over. That’s it. That’s it. Hey I gave you extra time. C’mon man. You should have asked better questions early on. You should have asked questions your viewers care about.” Nick Minock: “Well, we did.” WJLA-TV anchor Jonathan Elias introduced the paired interviews with an explanation for why McAuliffe’s segment was roughly 10 minutes, compared with Youngkin’s 20-minute segment. “We do want to point out that the Terry McAuliffe interview is shorter than our interview with Glenn Youngkin, that was not by our doing,” Elias said. “Nick offered both candidates 20 minutes exactly to be fair, for the interviews. McAuliffe abruptly ended 7 News’ interview after just 10 minutes and told Nick that he should have asked better questions.” The Youngkin campaign quickly tweeted out what happened– the candidate held a rally for 10,000 supporters in the…

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Tennessee Valley Authority and United States Wildlife Service Continue Trout Stocking Program

Morgan Nicole Veysey
Trout swimming in water

In Bristol, Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the United States Wildlife Services have agreed to continue the popular trout stocking program. The program focuses on funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have been providing both the state of Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout. 

The programs funding for the hatcheries began in 2013, witch have been managed by “the Service,” consisting of Dale Hollow and Erwin in Tennessee, and Chattahoochee Forest in Georgia. After the Service, the fish are then put into these main rivers and reservoirs: Apalachia (Hiwassee River), Blue Ridge, Boone, Cherokee, Fort Patrick Henry, Normandy, Norris, South Holston, Tims Ford and Wilbur. Trout-stocked reservoirs in the plan include Fort Patrick Henry, South Holston, Parksville, Watauga and Wilbur reservoirs.

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Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Meets to Discuss the Danger of Fake Prescription Medication

Morgan Nicole Veysey

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) met Monday morning to discuss the dangers of drug addiction and counterfeit medication. Director David Rausch said in the meeting, “let me be clear, if you’re buying pills on the street, in our state, you’re gambling.” Rausch gave a presentation showing examples of drugs like oxycodone, and compared them to the fake pills that people have been dying from. Most fake prescription pills contain fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. In 2017, fentanyl had attributed to 59 percent of drug overdose deaths. In 2019, Tennessee lost over two thousand people to drug overdoses, and of those over a thousand were fentanyl related. 

Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Commissioner Marie Williams said, “Our state doesn’t just have a counterfeit pill problem, or an opioid problem, or a methamphetamine problem, we have an addiction problem. Just like every other state in this country.”

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