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NASHVILLE -- A Tennessee lawmaker plans to ask Gov. Bill Haslam this week to work to "suspend all efforts" to settle Syrian refugees in the state following last Friday's terror attacks in Paris. Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, is asking colleagues in an email to sign a letter in an effort to persuade fellow Republican Haslam to agree in the wake of the attacks which according to news accounts killed at least 129 people. The self-proclaimed Islamic State has claimed credit for the coordinated assaults. In her email, Butt said "Tennesseans are mourning this week with the people of Paris." She...

<p>A devout Muslim open fire on a US Naval and Marine Reserve Center in Tennessee, and FBI Director James Comey said he will not release a report on the motive: “We don’t want to smear people.” What he means is that he doesn’t want to smear or insult Muhammad or Islam. Sharia in America.</p>

Supporters of Al Gore have begun a round of conversations among themselves and with the former vice president about his running for president in 2016, the latest sign that top Democrats have serious doubts that Hillary Clinton is a sure thing. Gore, 67, won the popular vote in the 2000 election, and has been mentioned as a possible candidate in every contested Democratic primary since then. He instead spent much of the 2000s focused on environmental campaigning and business ventures. He has largely slipped out of public view more recent years. But in recent days, “they’re getting the old gang...

PARIS (AP) — Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is hosting a 24-hour live webcast from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to drum up attention for this month's international climate summit in Paris. Gore, who helped negotiate the 1997 climate treaty that failed to control global warming, will host the round-the-clock event that includes musical performances by Elton John, Duran Duran and others. Other concerts will be broadcast from locations around the globe, from Rio de Janeiro to Miami, Sydney and Cape Town.

At this point we could probably use a second blog to do nothing but stories about college campuses and the activities of the special snowflakes who are going to create safe space homes for themselves there. The story coming out of Vanderbilt this week might have been shocking in years past, but by now it’s just a footnote to the daily rap sheet. The students at this esteemed university, having seen the “success” of their fellow seekers of knowledge at Mizzou, are looking to give the boot to one of their professors. Her crime? Penning an editorial many months ago...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Facebook is supposed to be a place to connect with friends, but it’s also a platform to start fights. In two recent cases involving teenagers, fights started online and ended in murder. Row'Neshia Overton Gwynnwood Drive shooting Row’Neshia Overton (Courtesy: Facebook/Family) In May, 15-year-old Row’neshia Overton was killed in the 3000 block of Greggwood Drive. In a search warrant obtained by News 2, it reads one of Row’neshia’s friends was fighting online with a 20-year-old and “the two females exchanged dialogue on Facebook regarding the fight.” When the two girls planned to meet up, Row’neshia was...

KNOXVILLE - Donald Trump, polling as one of the front-runners for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is booked for a rally at 7 p.m. Monday at the Knoxville Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee made profitable short-term trades in a Chattanooga real estate firm, but didn't properly disclose the deals until challenged by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor who is now chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, bought between $1 million and $5 million in shares of CBL & Associates Properties Inc. 2011, and sold them again five months later at a 42 percent gain. Earlier purchases in the names of his daughters in 2009 likely netted more than $1 million, though the paper says the exact gain isn't...

Former U.S. Senator and actor Fred Thompson has died at the age of 73, after a recurrence of lymphoma, according to a statement from his family. Thompson, who served eight years as a U.S. Senator for Tennessee, was also a GOP presidential candidate, an attorney during President Nixon's Watergate scandal and an accomplished actor. "Very few people can light up the room the way Fred Thompson did," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander said in a statement. "He used his magic as a lawyer, actor, Watergate counsel, and United States senator to become one of our country's most principled and effective public...

Mary Matalin, former counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, is joining likely presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s team and will serve as an unpaid adviser. Matalin, who served as treasurer for Sen. George Allen’s unsuccessful re-election campaign last year, is a friend of Thompson and his wife Jeri, Politico.com reports. Also joining the Thompson team is Lawrence Lindsey, President George Bush’s first economic adviser and a proponent of his tax cuts. He will serve as chief architect of Thompson’s economic policy. Meanwhile, President Bush’s nephew George P. Bush – son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush – has contributed to Thompson’s...

Actor and former Republican senator Fred Thompson has died aged 73, his family have said. Thompson, who starred in Law & Order and Die Hard II as well as being a senator in Tennessee, died on Sunday in Nashville after a battle with lymphoma. 'It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, father and grandfather who died peacefully Nashville surrounded by his family,' a statement from his family said.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/01/former-us-sen-fred-thompson-dies-73/74752142/

Civil War historian Dr. Brian Steel Wills will present a thought-provoking lecture entitled “Flying in the Face of History, The Confederate Flag Controversy” Nov. 5 at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Kingsport Center for Higher Education. The Civil War conflict was arguably the most important and influential event in the history of the United States. The bitter harvest of the ordeal lingers regarding the banner that is generally referred to as the Confederate flag – one of many different flags used by the Southern armies during the Civil War. The use of the flag and its changing meanings...

(CNSNews.com) – Following an investigation by its inspector general, the Department of Energy has issued a new rule advising its workers to refrain from putting highly enriched uranium in their pockets.“After interviewing chemical operators and reviewing revised Y-12 procedures, we confirmed that chemical operators are no longer allowed to place samples in their pockets and must check their pockets before removing their coveralls,” said a report issued by the DOE Office of Inspector General.The report, released in September, described a safety violation that occured last year at the DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn."We received allegations that special...

Two weeks ago we reported that in what at the time was still a rather isolated incident, Colorado's largest nonprofit health insurer (aka co-op), Colorado HealthOP is abruptly shutting down, forcing 80,000 Coloradans to find a new insurer for 2016. At the time, we said that the health insurer had been decertified by the Division of Insurance as an eligible insurance company because the cooperative relied on federal support, and federal authorities announced last month they wouldn't be able to pay most of what they owed in a program designed to help health insurance co-ops get established. In other words,...

Senator Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) 48% says he’s not concerned with the vetting of the 10,000 Syrian refugees coming to the United States. “Are you concerned with the refugees coming here in the next 12 months? Are you concerned about the vetting process?” talk show host Dan Mandis asked Corker on Nashville’s WWTN radio Wednesday. “Well, I’m not, because we are going to vet them,” Corker said. Corker’s claims that the 10,000 Syrian refugees the State Department plans to grant entry to the United States in Fiscal Year 2016 are being properly vetted is in direct conflict with FBI Director...

Then again, how could they not. Otherwise the only senator they could fundraise for would be Tom Cotton. AIPAC backed the Corker bill. So did most Republicans. Everything else was political theater. AIPAC played its part to get publicity, and then it's back to business as usual, fundraising for people who voted to let Iran go nuclear. Steve Rosen, a former foreign policy director for Aipac, told me his former organization will be inclined to work with Democrats rather than turn them into enemies. "There is no question Aipac lay leaders will in the future be holding fundraisers for Democrats...

NASHVILLE -- Police were seeking three suspects early Wednesday after three college students were shot across the street from the Tennessee State University campus. Authorities told CBS Nashville affiliate WTVF-TV gunfire rang out shortly after the suspects weren't allowed into a massive house party. The victims were taken to area hospitals. Police said one was in very critical condition after being shot in the head. The wounds to the others were described as non-life threatening. As many as 200 people were at the party at the time of the shooting. The victims attend TSU, Nashville State and Middle Tennessee State...

HOUSTON, Texas – Presidential candidate Ted Cruz today announced the expansion of his Tennessee Leadership Team, with new endorsements from nine state legislators and 48 pastors, grassroots leaders, and elected officials. These new additions join 27 leaders previously announced, bringing the campaign’s state leadership team to a total of 84 members.“Our Tennessee team continues to grow and demonstrate the commitment to fighting for conservative principles,” said Cruz. “I’m encouraged by the new members of the team who have passionately defended liberty and will help us compete and win the state of Tennessee.”New endorsements include former House Speaker Pro-Tempore Judd Matheny,...

Two couples walking in Rhodes Park in Kensington, east of Johannesburg were accosted by a gang of 12 savages. The women were gang-raped, while their husbands, who were tied up, were forced to watch. After the ordeal, the savages hurled the two men, who were still bound, into the park’s lake. The women were forced to watch their spouses drown. The suspects are still at large.