The Supreme Court on Friday announced it would hear former President Donald Trump’s appeal of a Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify him from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
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Memphis had the highest murder rate of 2023 in a comparison of 10 major cities identified as “homicide hubs” within the United States, according to an analysis published Wednesday.
The only Tennessee city tracked for the Wirepoints report, Memphis had a murder rate of 63.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2023. A total of 397 homicides were reported in the city last year, up by 38 percent from 2022, when the city saw 288 homicides.
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Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Mark Green (R-TN-07) traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday where he announced a full Committee hearing to initiate impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
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Tennessee State Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) plans to introduce a bill that would expand abortion access in Tennessee. He claims his bill would allow mothers to have an abortion if it is believed carrying their child to term would later result in the mother becoming “sterile and unable to bear children” in the future.
In a Tuesday interview with WKRN News 2, Briggs revealed he seeks to create a new legislation enabling pregnancies “where either the child cannot survive outside of the womb, or it’s a condition where, if the woman is not treated properly, that she could end up unable to have children” to be aborted. Briggs argued the bill is necessary because of Tennessee’s 2019 abortion law, which became active in 2022 when the Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade.
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Tennessee Black Lives Matter activist and former Memphis mayoral candidate Pamela Moses is running for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate. She will seek to challenge Senator Marsha Blackburn (R) and the Democratic Party nominee.
A Facebook page for Moses’ campaign has been active since November 20, and on December 30 she appeared in a live stream to confirm her candidacy. Federal filings reveal she filed paperwork for her Senate run in 2023.
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A 20-page complaint was submitted on Thursday against Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert, detailing an alleged pattern of paranoia and workplace incompetence that has resulted in a severe backlog in vehicle registrations and a working environment reportedly described as “hell” by an employee.
Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright promised the formal complaint against Halbert was forthcoming in a social media post on Wednesday, which responded to a letter from Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp (R), which explained the need for a formal letter of complaint about Halbert. Wamp’s office began investigating Halbert after District Attorney Steve Mulroy recused himself.
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One of Tennessee’s most wanted fugitives, who escaped from prison in 1990, remains on the lam 30 years after being placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Most Wanted list.
Robert Houston Sanders, serving an 81-year sentence for kidnapping and armed robbery, escaped from the Tennessee State Prison on April 20, 1990 and disappeared. Sanders has been on TBI’s Most Wanted list since its inception in 1993. He is the only most wanted fugitive in the state with that distinction and is still considered “armed and dangerous.”
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Tennessee State Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) claimed the new letter grades assigned to every Tennessee school are “flawed.” Akbari represents Memphis, where more than 40 percent of schools did not receive passing grades.
Akbari released a statement on Thursday declaring the “flawed letter grades will never define a school, their students and families, or their teachers and staff.” She asserted the grades instead reflect what she claimed is inadequate state funding for education.
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In an emotional interview on Thursday’s episode of The John Fredericks Show, Tennessean Sarah McAbee joined guest-host Michael Patrick Leahy to share the disturbing journey of her husband, J6er and former Williamson County Deputy Sheriff Ronald McAbee.
In this in-studio interview, Sarah McAbee reveals new details about her husband Ronald McAbee’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment and discusses the daunting legal battle, the possibility of a 17-year prison term, and the devastating toll the prosecution has had on the couple.
Her experience inspired Sarah McAbee to found a nonprofit foundation aiding January 6 defendants and their families called Stand in the Gap.
Despite facing political reluctance, she remains steadfast in her pursuit of justice for her husband and others and urges all Americans to consider the ongoing human cost and broader implications for civil liberties in the United States caught in the aftermath of January 6.
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Video captured pro-Palestine protesters waving flags in Collierville, Tennessee on December 24, where they reportedly interfered with Christmas shoppers.
Newsmax host and author Todd Starnes wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the crowd was “mostly Muslim” in a post seen more than 300,000 times. Video of the incident shows protesters drive through a parking lot, then stop. Though words appear to be exchanged between the protesters and Christmas Eve shoppers, their words are unintelligible in the video due to the number of horns honking. Individuals with Palestinian flags are seen running on the sidewalk as the vehicles bearing Palestine’s flag are stopped in the parking lot.
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The city-appointed Metro Nashville Airport Authority board voted unanimously on Wednesday to ratify 19 actions taken during the tenure of the previous board, which state officials appointed some of its members in accordance with a new Tennessee law.
After the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law in June, the Nashville mayor, Tennessee governor, and top two lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly would each select two members for the board. The board was selected and began operating, but a ruling by a panel of three judges at the Tennessee Chancery Court agreed with Metro Nashville’s argument that the law violates the Tennessee Constitution because it only applied to one Tennessee city.
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The wife of a former Tennessee sheriff’s deputy who was convicted for on charges related to January 6 told The Tennessee Star that families and friends of those defendants often experience survivor’s guilt, especially as many of those accused of crimes spend their third Christmas in jails or prisons.
Sarah McAbee, the executive director of Stand in the Gap and wife of January 6 prisoner Ronald McAbee, explained, “Wives are waking up without their husbands, children are waking up without their fathers. Even in the federal prison system, they only get a 15 minute phone call per day.” She told The Star that January 6 have “have to decide, am I going to call my spouse? Am I going to call my parents? Am I going to call my child?”
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A former Tennessee official and her husbanded pleaded guilty on Thursday to illegally producing “hundreds” Tennessee driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.
Cheryl Huff and husband Mario Paz-Mejia, both of Knoxville, pleaded guilty to one “count of conspiracy to produce, without lawful authority, identification documents or false identification documents,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which revealed in a press release that Huff abused her position at the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDSHS) to create the illicit documents.
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Stewart Parks, a former congressional candidate from Tennessee’s 5th District, finds himself in the crosshairs of a harrowing legal battle following his participation in the January 6 events at the Capitol. Convicted in a bench trial by Judge Amit Mehta, Parks disputes charges of misdemeanor trespassing, disorderly conduct, and theft and is in the early stages of pursuing an appeal.
Parks updated listeners on Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on the latest developments in his plight and he details his concerns about potential prejudice against those with conservative ideologies and the need for a fair legal defense.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti revealed on Wednesday that a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general announced a $700 million agreement with Google to settle their lawsuit alleging the technology company engaged in anticompetitive practices to stifle competitors to its Google Play Store.
Skrmetti stated that “Google will no longer profit from the inflated app costs it forced through its abuse of market power,” and said the settlement “will reduce app prices and increase consumer choices on the Android platform. Our office is proud to protect consumers, secure $700 million in financial relief, and be a part of this bipartisan effort to ensure one of the most powerful companies in the world follows the law.”
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Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti appeared in-studio on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, where he laid out the reasons why BlackRock’s alleged double standards that they are pushing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives that effectively force companies to shift their priorities are not just afoul consumer protection laws.
If left unchecked, Skrmetti argues, the opaque and unaccountable nature of corporate policymaking threatens the foundational principles of self-governance.
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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy (D) responded on Thursday to calls by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) for Mulroy to provide agreements between his office and three restorative justice organizations that seek to lower Shelby County’s number of prosecutions or eliminate bail, and face investigation for his role in arranging the “illegal” release of a prisoner who was sentenced to more than 100 years behind bars.
Taylor issued a formal request with the Tennessee District Attorneys Conference (TDAC) seeking the agreements between
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Republican Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti filed a consumer protection lawsuit Monday against BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and a leading proponent of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing.
The consumer protection suit alleges that BlackRock has misled Tennessean consumers about the scale and impacts of its ESG initiatives for several years. The suit further alleges that BlackRock’s own policies and corporate voting records demonstrate that its ESG push bleeds into financial products that are marketed as non-ESG funds, despite the company’s statements that it allocates capital where its clients request as a fiduciary.
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A paroled felon found himself back behind bars for the second time this year after he was picked up for a litany of crimes early Thursday morning, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).
An MNPD release says that 43-year-old Chance Mongeon was behaving strangely after wrecking his Audi Q5 on I-40 east.
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) reported Friday the arrest of Yilibeth “Yibi” Rivero De Caldera in Murfreesboro, who they claim trafficked at least a dozen women from Central and South America to Tennessee, where she then forced them to perform “commercial sex acts” to repay their debt.
A press release reveals authorities allege “De Caldera provided financial assistance” for her “female Hispanic immigrants,” but after they arrived in Tennessee, they claim she “levied the victims with a large debt and forced them to engage in commercial sex acts at local hostels to pay back the debt.”
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Another pro-Palestine rally is scheduled to be held this weekend in downtown Nashville, the organization Nashville Youth for Palestine announced on social media.
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Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Thursday to detail his discoveries into the precipitous drop in law enforcement and its effect on the state of public safety downtown on the heels of the city announcing the Hermitage homeless encampment will be taken down in January.
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Chimneyrock Elementary School in Memphis issued a statement after an “After School Satan Club” organized by the Satanic Temple and Reason Alliance is scheduled to take place on school grounds next month.
On its website, the Satanic Temple – the primary religious Satanic organization in the world – says its mission is to “encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.”
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The Covenant School delayed the return of students and faculty to its Burton Hills campus until April 15 in a letter sent to parents that was published by Nashville media on Monday. Though not referenced in the letter, the delay follows the November publication of three leaked pages from the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, which were cited in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to compel the release of Hale’s full manifesto.
In the letter Covenant School officials sent to parents, reported by NewsChannel 5, officials cited concerns over safety and security, learning disruption, and teacher and student readiness. They also cited a desire to reopen the campus after the March 27 anniversary of the Covenant School shooting, during which Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male, fatally shot three 9-year-old students and three faculty.
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In this intriguing installment of the Tennessee Star Report, renowned all-star panelist, Carol Swain engages in an eye-opening discussion about the alleged plagiarism by Harvard’s President, Claudine Gay. Get insight into Swain’s views on academic accountability, the true origin of research ideas, and the integrity of the tenure system. Swain breaks down who she believes is responsible and why; and lays out what she is (and is not!) willing to do to help Harvard find their way out of this growing academic scandal. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: And welcome back to The Tennessee Star Report in studio original all star panelist Crom Carmichael on the newsmaker line right now our very good friend all star panelist Carol Swain. Good morning, Carol. How are you? Well, you are at the center of a storm here, aren’t you? Carol Swain: I am. It just seems to follow me around. I don’t ask for this stuff. Michael Patrick Leahy: So just to set the stage on this. So the president of Harvard, my alma mater, Claudine Gay was under pressure because she refused to condemn antisemitism on campus. And then Christopher Rufo reported yesterday that Claudine Gay had plagiarized a number of other scholars, including Our own Carol Swain. Take it from…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry launched her campaign for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district on Wednesday.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in Nashville on Thursday that a group of parents can intervene in the lawsuit seeking to compel the release of the manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, affirming a lower court’s ruling. The parents wish to prevent the manifesto’s release.
In a 17-page order released Thursday afternoon, the appeals court ruled to “affirm the trial court’s judgement allowing intervention,” and sent the case back to the Davidson County Chancery Court for further proceedings. That court’s previous decision to allow the parents to intervene prompted the appeal.
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U.S. Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-08) joined Representative Max Miller (R-OH-07) this week in introducing a resolution condemning and denouncing antisemitism in the United States and around the world.
Kustoff and Miller, the only Republican Jewish members of the House, said it’s time to stand up to surging antisemitism infecting communities and institutions, including Congress.
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Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Bill Anderson released alleged Thanksgiving Day murderer Edio White with zero bond, even after police said White admitted to driving the getaway car after the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old. In a newly resurfaced video, Anderson is seen railing against the “bond system” in Shelby County and Tennessee.
Anderson critiqued cash bail in Tennessee during a September 18 meeting of the Shelby County Commission, extending his condemnation to bail bonding companies, claiming “they don’t do anything but collect money from poor people.”
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An 18-year-old man accused of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old on Thanksgiving was released from a Shelby County jail on his own recognizance Monday, forfeiting zero bond despite allegedly confessing to his role in the crime.
Police said Edio White admitted to driving his co-defendant Conner Tucker, 15, to the Binghampton home of Anthony Mason on November 23, under the guise of Tucker trading firearms with Mason, News Channel 3 reported. When the two teens arrived at Mason’s home, police said Tucker exited the vehicle and shot Mason once in the head, killing him.
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The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office increased its presence in shopping areas on Friday in what the law enforcement body calls Operation Jingle Bells, an effort to deter crime in public spaces during the busy holiday shopping season.
A press release posted to social media explained a “high concentration” of law enforcement will focus on primary shopping areas to “deter car break-ins, shop lifting,” and to keep traffic flowing and parking lots safe for shoppers.
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The move to expand Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program statewide is expected to have a very powerful ally in the General Assembly’s next session, sources told The Tennessee Star.
State Representative Bryan Richey (R-Maryville) said Governor Bill Lee is planning a press conference on Tuesday to discuss a bill to expand ESA beyond Metro Nashville, Memphis, and Hamilton County into all of Tennessee’s 95 counties.
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A biological man who identifies as a transgender woman has been charged with 14 felony counts of Interstate Communication of a Threat to Injure after allegedly threatening to shoot, rape, and infect children in school with HIV.
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A pro-Palestine, anti-Israel rally will occur on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s (UTK) campus next week, according to the group Students for Justice in Palestine at UTK.
On Instagram, the group announced its plans to hold an art installation and rally for Palestine at the Pedestrian Walkway in the heart of the UT Knoxville campus on December 1 at 11:00 a.m.
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) revealed that agents with its Human Trafficking Unit worked with local law enforcement in Williamson County and Spring Hill to arrest 10 men who allegedly solicited minors for sex.
In a press release, TBI explains that on November 16 and November 17, undercover officers placed “several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex.” The portrayed themselves to be minor children, and the agency reported that “ten men were charged with patronizing prostitution of a minor” and were booked into the Williamson County Jail.
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Earlier this month, attorneys for Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Star and The Star News Network, filed a motion after the leak of three pages of Covenant Presbyterian School mass murderer Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s writings. The motion asserts the leak proves, “assuming the three pages’ authenticity,” that the FBI “could have selectively released” redacted portions of the manifesto without jeopardizing ongoing investigations.
The FBI has yet to confirm the authenticity of the manifesto pages shared online, but the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has confirmed they are Hale’s writings. Prior to that admission, The Star was among the first outlets to independently verify the pages were part of Hale’s manifesto.
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A Chattanooga trucking company will be forced to pay the federal government $700,000 for what the government says were discriminatory hiring practices.
“The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a $700,000 agreement with Covenant Transport Inc. (Covenant), as well as the affiliated entity Transport Management Services LLC (Transport), two transportation logistics and long-haul trucking companies headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee,” said a press release from the Department of Justice. “The agreement resolves the department’s determination that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by routinely discriminating against non-U.S. citizen workers when checking their permission to work in the United States.”
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One of the men arrested in connection to the weekend “street racing takeover” near the Nashville airport, which police say involved more than 60 vehicles, was previously arrested and released on low bonds in March and June.
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said in a press release that officers found more than 60 vehicles engaged in “dangerous driving stunts” at about 1 a.m. at the intersection of McGavock Pike at Century Boulevard. Media reports indicate that while other vehicles blocked traffic, a white Dodge Charger was “doing donuts and burnouts” when officers witnessed a man fire a gunshot into the air from the vehicle.
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Stewart Parks is now looking at eight months in federal prison for, among other things, being in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He is marked by the Left as an “insurrectionist” on a conviction of five federal charges.
The 30-year-old Nashville man was sentenced on Wednesday by, according to Parks, a vindictive U.S. district court judge who helped the prosecution work out its case against him in the trial.
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A Republican state senator penned a two-page letter to Gov. Bill Lee (R) asking for state assistance to deal with Memphis’ recent crime surge.
Recounting recent spates of violence, many of which have been reported by The Tennessee Star, State Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) said:
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Memphis Mayor-elect Paul Young (D) warned that a small population of criminals are “terrorizing” the rest of the city’s residents during an appearance on News Channel 3 on Tuesday after the death of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital employee Alexander Bulakhov.
Police told local media Bulakhov was walking with his wife and two-year-old child on November 12 when a man wearing a hoodie pointed a gun at him and demanded his belongings. They report that he complied, but attempted to wrestle the gun away from the assailant after it was pointed at his wife. He was shot in the struggle and died from the shooting.
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As Tennessee lawmakers investigate the possibility of just saying no to federal education funds and the ties that come with them, the state’s Federal Funding Working Group co-chair told The Tennessee Star that completely letting go probably isn’t going to happen.
“No, I don’t think that’s feasible,” said State Senator Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) in an interview this week with The Star.
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The editorial board for the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) student newspaper issued a statement Wednesday in defense of the newspaper’s faculty adviser following the publication’s apology for running a story on an MTSU student worried about his friends in Israel.
But Matthew Giffin, the former editor-in-chief of Sidelines who wrote the profile piece, told The Tennessee Star that associate professor Stephen Leon Alligood was “in the room” when the editor’s note was crafted.
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