State and Local News That Matters
Former congressman Jim Renacci will serve as the Chairman for American Greatness PAC, according to a release from the former gubernatorial candidate.
According to Renacci and the organization’s website, the group will work to advance policies introduced under former President Donald Trump’s administration.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3 opinion the expressions of a high school football coach who prayed by himself at midfield after games are protected by both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that coach Joseph Kennedy was fired “because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks.”
Vulnerable House Democrat Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08), who is now running in the state’s newly-drawn 7th Congressional District, may be in political jeopardy, according to a new poll.
The survey, commissioned by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), demonstrated that Republican Tom Barrett holds a 2-point lead over Slotkin.
Some of country music’s largest stars and personalities have spoken out against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the days after the decision was made.
“Today, I hold my two year old son with tears streaming down my face because all my love and planning still wasn’t enough to protect him from being born in a country who could do this to women. Women, the ones who gave each Supreme Court Justice on the bench the right to be here, the dexterity of their pen hand,” Maren Morris, known for her hit song “The Middle,” said. “Tomorrow I will fight, but today I am grieving.”
Stacey Abrams, who is running to replace Republican Governor Brian Kemp, claimed that companies that choose to do business in the state and their female employees face a “danger” for the decision.
The comments follow a decision from the Supreme Court that reversed the decision in Roe v. Wade, which could allow a six-week abortion ban to be enacted in the state.
Tennessee Speaker of the House of Representatives Cameron Sexton, in a statement issued to The Tennessee Star, expressed his support for the Tennessee National Guard members who are scheduled to lose their jobs on June 30 due to their refusal to comply with a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Sexton additionally had sharp criticism for the Biden administration’s handling of COVID-19 policies and mandates.
Radio Host Dave Ramsey endorsed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat on Monday.
The Ogles campaign issued a statement in response to the endorsement.
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist in studio to speculate what the aftermath of the Roe v Wade decision would mean for the state of Tennessee and the proper course of action by the attorney general.
The chorus of Tennessee legislators calling on Governor Bill Lee to take action to help save the jobs of Tennessee National Guard members continues to grow.
Several additional Tennessee legislators have come forward to The Tennessee Star, issuing statements in solidarity with the Tennessee National Guardsmen who are about to lose their jobs due to noncompliance with the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Nashville Metro Council will begin the legislative process on approving a contract with the Republican National Committee, considering a bill on first reading sponsored by Councilman Robert Swope on July 5.
Bills or ordinances must pass three readings in order to take effect. Bills will typically pass on first reading and without much discussion, although this one may generate more than usual, given the partisan nature of the event.
Two women at the end of last week escaped from a Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) facility in Chattanooga.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction is asking for the public’s help in locating two inmates who walked away from the Chattanooga Release Center Friday night and are now listed as absconders,” according to TDOC.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk issued a statement on Friday in which he vowed to violate Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act in the wake of the SCOTUS decision returning the power to regulate abortion to the states.
In a statement reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Funk said, “Today’s Dobbs decision joins Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson to create an unholy triumvirate of the most hateful and hurtful Supreme Court decisions that will forever stain the Court and this nation.”‘
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Lt. Governor Randy McNally issued a statement to The Tennessee Star in support of saving the jobs of the Tennessee National Guard members who are scheduled to lose their jobs on June 30 due to their refusal to comply with the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
“The mission of our National Guard is the defense of our state and our homeland, not political correctness. The Biden administration is once again putting left-wing woke politics ahead of our national interest. While COVID-19 is still with us, it has moved past the pandemic phase and become endemic,” he said.
Protests erupted across America Friday night as abortion rights activists objected to the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision, creating a particularly tense stand-off in Arizona’s Capitol where lawmakers reported being trapped by an angry mob that had to be dispersed with tear gas.
“We are currently there being held hostage inside the Senate building due to members of the public trying to breach our security,” Arizona state Sen. Kelly Townsend tweeted Friday night. “We smell teargas and the children of one of the members are in the office sobbing with fear.”
The Supreme Court released a decision Friday that strikes down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which, for nearly half-a-century has offered a constitutional protection to a woman’s right to an abortion.
The majority opinion, which was issued in the Mississippi case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, was written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett.
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Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko recently took action in an attempt to protect threatened pregnancy centers in Arizona.
“Radical pro-abortion activists are planning attacks on Choices Pregnancy Centers [Choices] in Arizona in the wake of the anticipated Dobbs v. Jackson decision. I am demanding that the Department of Justice take swift action to prevent these attacks,” Lesko said in her newsletter.
Two Virginia governors gave Juneteenth speeches over the weekend: Governor Glenn Youngkin spoke at Fort Monroe on Sunday, and former governor, current U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) gave the keynote speech at a Loudoun NAACP Juneteenth event Monday. Both men highlighted the role of Virginia as the site where African slaves first arrived in 1619. Youngkin focused more on the contrast between those actions and the U.S.’ ideals, which the country is still striving for, while Kaine focused on the history of slavery and emancipation in America while referring to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s educational policy without directly naming the governor.
June 14 marked the 247th birthday of the United States Army and Flag Day, and Tennessee’s politicians posted messages on social media marking both observances.
U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) shared the following message on Tuesday, “Our Nation has remained free, secure, and prosperous because of 247 years of great bravery, service, and sacrifice by our U.S. Army and its generations of selfless troops. Happy Birthday, @USArmy!”
The Equity Subcommittee of Maine Governor Janet Mills’ (D) Climate Council is recommending a plan to pay “disadvantaged” and “overburdened” state residents to attend its meetings because, according to its ideology, victims of systemic discrimination suffer greater impact from climate change than average Maine residents.
The Equity Subcommittee’s report, released in February, claims that some individuals in Maine, particularly those who are victims of “historical and systemic discrimination, underrepresentation, and isolation” are “more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than others.”
Former President Donald Trump endorsed businessman Blake Masters in the GOP race to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate.
Trump pointed to the candidate’s successful business record and his stance on election integrity as reason for his endorsement.
Neil W. McCabe, the national political director of The Star News Network, interviewed GOP state Rep. Jake Hoffman (AZ-12), the founder of the Arizona Freedom Caucus and a candidate for state Senate, about his bill to prevent teachers from sexualizing instruction and grooming students into non-mainstream lifestyles.
Dora Ortega knew her teenage son was hiding something when he arrived home at 2 a.m. He was wearing expensive new clothes that she knew he couldn’t afford with his warehouse job.
But it wasn’t until Ortega’s son finally admitted what he’d really been up to that she realized the gravity of the situation.
After NBC published a Friday story citing anonymous sources who said former President Donald Trump had given up his support of former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), now running for governor, Trump himself dispelled the rumor.
“The Kemp Campaign, together with Fake News NBC, has put out a phony narrative that I have given up on David Perdue in Georgia,” Trump said on his social media outlet Truth Social. “That is completely FALSE.”
Following the leak of a draft United States Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the country and our Commonwealth have seen Democrat extremism on full display. They have seen the release of a draft, pre-decisional document, which is itself a threat to the judicial process. They have also seen extreme pro-abortion activists gather outside the private residences of Supreme Court Justices in Virginia, threatening their safety and that of their families. These blatant acts of intimidation go far beyond legitimate political protest and should be condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Since Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1973, legal scholars on both the right and the left have held that the decision has no basis in Constitutional law and was wrongly decided. For liberals, Roe is merely a mechanism for leveraging the power of the federal judiciary to produce a preferred policy outcome. For conservatives, Roe is an affront to both an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and basic human decency.
Sixty percent of respondents blame their state and local elected officials for not protecting the 2020 election from voter fraud in The Star News Network-Kaplan Strategies poll of 431 likely Georgia Republican voters executed May 7 through May 13.
“This poll shows that the handling of the 2020 election is still very present for a majority of Georgia Republicans,” said Doug Kaplan, the founder and president of Kaplan Strategies, the Florida-based firm that conducted the poll. The poll carries a 4.7 percent margin of error.
A small group of Republican attorneys general have announced that they’re withdrawing from the National Association of Attorneys General(NAAG), but Virginia AG Jason Miyares’ office hasn’t responded to questions asking if he is also planning to withdraw from the NAAG.
“While we have been a driving force for NAAG’s success – both financially and on key issues – the Associations leftward shift over the past half decade has become intolerable,” states a letter signed last week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
A scandal is brewing in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary, with candidate and former Sen. David Perdue accusing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp of engaging in shady backroom deals and lining the pockets of liberal megadonor George Soros as part of a massive new economic development project in the Peach State.
“This may be the worst deal I’ve seen in my business career, honestly,” Perdue told the “Just the News, Not Noise” television program on Friday. “This was just done the wrong way. And I’ve called the governor out on that, and we’ve had no response.”
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, reports on how during the 2006 confirmation hearings for then-Judge Samuel Alito, then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., suggested to Alito that he would be in his rights to engineer the overturn of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, regardless of concerns for precedence–if he had the votes.
Former Phoenix news anchor and mother of two, Kari Lake, gave high praise to filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary film, “2000 Mules”, which highlights the ballot-stuffing operations that occurred across multiples states during the 2020 presidential election.
“We just saw Dinesh D’Souza’s movie. It’s outrageous. It’s called 2000 Mules. I think every man and woman in this country should see it,” Lake declared Friday at a campaign stop to support David Perdue’s run against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at the Appalachian Gun & Range.
Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Georgia Star News Friday she maintains confidence in Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, despite some doubts in her ability to adequately complete the 2020 election audit.
“I do have confidence in Karen,” Lake told The Star News. “I’ve seen a few things that have made me pause a bit, but don’t forget, she’s the one who got things going.”