News

Nashville Electric Service (NES) has installed more than 6,000 LED streetlights throughout Music City this year as a result of a contract between the utility company and the city.

The Leadership Institute will hold its 2024 Learn Right National Education Summit in Nashville on Friday and Saturday at the JW Marriott.

When Dexter Reed died in a shootout with Chicago police on March 21, the incident was quickly grafted onto a narrative that began in 2014 after a policeman killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. – namely, that the U.S. faces an epidemic of violence by unbridled cops who do not believe black lives matter. "Killing of Dexter Reed raises questions about Chicago police reform. 'The message is, go in guns blazing,'" blared a headline in the Chicago Sun-Times. Reed’s death joins a long list of police shootings that have received wide media coverage and political scrutiny – especially those involving African Americans. Over the years, many police departments embraced reforms, including the use of bodycams, to document incidents – an effort bolstered by a public eager to use smartphones to record the behavior of cops. In 2015, the Washington Post created a database logging every person shot dead by police in the U.S.

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Rivian announced its second round of layoffs just this year on Wednesday as consumer demand for EVs stalls. The layoffs at Rivian will affect around 1 percent of the company's staff as they continue to look for ways to cut costs to bolster struggling profits due to less-than-expected EV sales, the company confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Rivian announced in February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce after it released its 2024 production forecast, which was well below analyst expectations, according to Reuters.

One thing I have learned about TV singing shows is that the finalists are nearly always as good (if not better) as the actual winner. So, I try to interview as many country singers from these shows as possible. Presley Tennant is a powerhouse singer from Norco, California, a horse town that is 35 miles east of Los Angeles. She was a finalist on Season 16 of NBC’s The Voice in 2019 when she was just 16. She has often been compared to Whitney Houston and Carrie Underwood.

Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family are set to support President Joe Biden's 2024 campaign on Thursday rather than endorsing the independent candidate, according to multiple outlets. The endorsements follow Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ramping up efforts to combat what they view as the threat Kennedy and other third-party candidates could have on the president’s reelection bid. Kennedy's siblings — Kerry, Rory, Joseph, Kathleen, Christopher and Maxwell — will throw their support behind Biden at a campaign event in Philadelphia alongside nine of their other family members, multiple outlets reported.

Over at Compact magazine on Tuesday, Nina Power wrote "The Trans Reckoning Is Here," and, as evidence, she cited a report by a British pediatrician named Hilary Cass written for the National Health Service that upturned the faux-scientific basis on which that country has embarked on normalizing "gender-affirming care."

A Scottish gender clinic for minors announced Thursday that they would no longer be prescribing puberty blockers for patients under the age of 18. The Sandyford Sexual Health Services to Paediatric Endocrinology, which is the only clinic in Scotland that prescribes puberty blockers for minors, said that it would not be accepting new 16 and 17-year-old patients for hormone therapy until they turn 18, according to the announcement. The clinic cited the National Health Service (NHS) of England's decision in March to ban puberty blockers for minors and the publication of the Cass Review on April 10, which found “weak evidence” for giving puberty blockers to children.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been secretly attempting to lobby members of Congress over recent proposals to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. As reported by Breitbart, employees of the Chinese Embassy have been meeting with congressional staffers to try to persuade members to vote against the bill that would force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok, or else face an indefinite ban on the app’s use in the United States. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in March with bipartisan support, and is now being reviewed by the Senate.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed on Tuesday her office will not enforce the 19th century abortion law recently upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court until at least June. Mayes said in a video posted to the attorney general's account on X clarifying that the law is slated to go into effect on June 8. Calling the ruling "outrageous," Mayes also confirmed she is "working on a plan to fight back" against the abortion ban.

The Democrat challenging Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is reportedly under investigation by a Georgia watchdog over campaign materials that referred to him as an elected judge. Robert Patillo is under investigation by a panel at the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) over "campaign conduct" involving his former campaign website and current campaign email, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.

A nonpartisan elections analysis announced two rating changes on Wednesday that endanger Republicans for competitive races in the battleground state of Arizona following a ruling that imposed a near-total abortion ban. The Arizona Supreme Court decided on April 9 that an 1864 law, which allows for abortion only when the life of the mother is at risk and makes performing or helping procure the procedure a crime, can take effect. The ruling, which has supercharged the issue of abortion in the swing state, prompted Sabato's Crystal Ball to move the expected Senate matchup between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake to "Leans Democratic," as well as shifting GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s reelection bid to "Toss-Up."

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced on Tuesday the receipt of more than $100 million in opioid settlement payments from drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies who agreed to the financial compensation for their role in the opioid crisis. The press release by Miyares' office explained the latest round of payments totaled about $108.4 million of the $1.1 billion secured by Virginia in opioid settlements.

At least 23 government offices throughout Ohio have been affected by scams associated with redirecting payments from public accounts in the past year. Ohio Auditor Keith Faber said the scams have hit at least 23 government offices in cities, villages, townships and school districts, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses of public funds.

Many American wheat farmers may face losses in 2024 due to a glut of foreign supply coupled with soaring equipment and labor costs amid high inflation, Reuters reported Wednesday. Wheat prices are near their lowest point in nearly four years as supply from the Black Sea and Europe has unexpectedly flooded the market after three years of droughts draining reserves, hitting winter wheat farmers in the Great Plains particularly hard, according to Reuters. Costs for transporting and producing American wheat have soared compared to foreign wheat suppliers, with high inflation increasing costs for farm equipment, repairs and labor for farmers.