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U.S. Fire that destroyed historic Clayborn Temple in Memphis was intentionally set, investigators say By Updated on: May 21, 2025 / 6:11 PM EDT / CBS/AP The fire that destroyed the Clayborn Temple, a historic Black church in downtown Memphis that was the organizing point for Martin Luther King Jr.'s final campaign in 1968, was intentionally set, investigators said Wednesday. The Memphis Fire Department said the fire on April 28 was started on the interior of the church, and authorities are searching for a person of interest. Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat last month described the inside of the church...

WASHINGTON - Fatherhood and ambition. In Fred Thompson's life, they rise and fall together, a recurring couplet in the nostalgic story of a Tennessee fella who's guided more by life's surprises and others' expectations than he is by any master plan. Consider: * The small-town jock called "Freddie" and "Moose," who, at 17, upon getting his high school girlfriend pregnant, married her, heeded her politically connected family and made something of himself. * The divorced U.S. senator, lawyer, lobbyist and actor who dropped out of politics when one of his three grown children died from a prescription drug overdose. *...

A former Tennessee governor's administration helped fund a contract murder of a key federal witness decades ago while embroiled in the state's largest political scandal, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday. The new details revealed for the first time Wednesday have elements that ring of a movie: a trusted ally of union boss Jimmy Hoffa gunned down after testifying about a corrupt governor selling prison pardons and a gunman who donned a wig and blackface to throw authorities off the scent. Investigators in Hamilton County, which encompasses Chattanooga, have been chipping away at the 42-year-old cold case of Samuel Pettyjohn since...

Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett has alleged that staffers in Joe Biden’s administration engaged in a “cash for clemency” scheme, using an autopen to issue pardons in exchange for financial payoffs. An autopen is a device that mechanically reproduces signatures. On Tuesday, Rep. Burchett appeared on “The Benny Johnson Show” and stated, “You are gonna find staffers that were able to take forms, get them and run them through some sort of bogus legal system, then they auto-penned them.” Burchett said he believes there was a pay-for-pardon scheme happening, and pointed to a historical scandal involving former Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton,...

1:36 VIDEO AT LINK.............. https://x.com/i/status/1924973995696296323 4 bullets!...............

An autopen is a device that mechanically reproduces signatures. On Tuesday, Rep. Burchett appeared on “The Benny Johnson Show” and stated, “You are gonna find staffers that were able to take forms, get them and run them through some sort of bogus legal system, then they auto-penned them.” Burchett said he believes there was a pay-for-pardon scheme happening, and pointed to a historical scandal involving former Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton, who was implicated in selling pardons in the 1970s. “Tennessee has had a history of this; we had a governor … he sold pardons,” Burchett said. “You can look it...

On January 23, 2023, Tennessee was required by court order to allow individuals aged 18-20 to carry handguns under the Tennessee permitless carry (Constitutional Carry) law, and to obtain carry permits under the law governing the issue of handgun carry permits. On May 8, 2025, the government of Tennessee reduced the age requirement to obtain a handgun carry permit from 21 to 18. HB1332 became Public Chapter No. 356.SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1351(b), is amended by deleting the language and substituting:(b) Except as provided in subsection (r), any resident of Tennessee who is a United States citizen or...

On a rugged bluff overlooking the Ohio River, known locally as "Devil's Backbone," centuries of overgrowth obscures a secret of history... In 1799, early settlers found six skeletons clad in breastplates bearing a Welsh coat of arms. Indian legends told of "yellow-haired giants" who settled in Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Ohio and Tennessee -- a region they called "the Dark and Forbidden Land." Archeologists debunk the legend. They say that evidence indicates that the natives of the region once conducted a vigorous trading network nearby and buried their dead on the bluff... Upstream about 14 miles from Louisville, Ky., the...

A newly enacted Tennessee law prohibits schools from punishing employees and teachers for referring to trans-identified students by their given name and pronouns, as public school staff in other states have faced professional repercussions for declining to use trans-identified students' preferred names and pronouns. Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 1270 into law Friday. Lee's approval of the legislation follows its passage by the Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives in a 77-18 vote and the Republican-controlled Tennessee Senate in a 27-6 vote. The vote in the Senate fell along party lines, with all support for the measure coming...

Sheriff's Office in Press Release 5/11/2025, Two teenagers from Tehama County were arrested after allegedly plotting an attack on Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, authorities said. The investigation began on May 9, 2025, when a Tennessee resident contacted the Tehama County Sheriff's Office. The individual reported concerns after engaging in online gaming with one of the teens, who discussed school violence and shared a manifesto and plans targeting the school.... The suspect also sent photographs of himself and an accomplice posing in attire similar to the Columbine school shooters, according to the sheriff's office. Allegedly, the attack was initially planned...

Does the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms apply to fully automatic machine guns? The US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee is poised to rule on the matter. Jaquan Bridges pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun after engaging in a 2023 shootout with police officers on a Tennessee highway. Courthouse News reported that Bridges “was arrested with a Glock .40 caliber pistol with an attachment that converted the handgun into a machine gun, but fought to dismiss the charge on constitutional grounds.” He claimed the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York State...

On July 7, 1846, a contingent of Marines raised the American flag over Monterey, California, to mark a proclamation by U.S. consul Thomas Larkin that the territory was being annexed as a consequence of the war with Mexico. Much of the future state had already been taken from Mexico's nominal control by an uprising of American settlers under the Bear Flag. Victory in the Mexican War meant that the country gained Texas, California, and everything in between, comprising most of what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Next to the War of Independence and the Civil...

More than 100 people have been taken into custody by federal immigration officials in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried. “None of us have ever seen anything like this,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said Friday. The operation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a reminder of how local and state law enforcement jurisdictions are critical to President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations. Last week, Florida officials touted a joint operation with ICE that resulted in 1,120 immigration arrests....

A Mag 4.1 earthquake just a few miles south of Knoxville TN at 9:00 EDT 10 May 2025 shook the geological region around between Knoxville and Atlanta GA this morning. No nationally reported reports of damage or injuries, but a low magnitude earthquake less than 5.0 seldom causes much damage. Hillside rock falls and tree falls in the already wet soil after several days of rain are likely the closer to the epicenter one goes. Unlike California's very broken earth and rocks, where small magnitude earthquakes are not felt very distance from the epicenter, the very large, very rigid Eastern...

2025-05-10 13:04:20 (UTC)... 25.0 km depth

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted operations in Nashville this week, resulting in the arrests of a convicted child sex predator and an alleged gang member, but the mayor of the city said the arrests were not focused on making the city safer. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared Democratic Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s letter to the city about the ICE arrests. “Our top priority is keeping people safe, and we’re deeply concerned that what appear to be federal actions are making that harder,” O’Connell wrote. “Overnight, we understand that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents detained people...

The NCAA is coming to ready to adjudicate the case of the century. The NCAA has the most important case in their history. Already they have lost on NIL and paying players, but they still have rules for cheating, lying, and advanced scouting (stealing). Michigan is beging to realize with the notice(s) of allegations, and the upcoming hearings, that their PR machine is beginning to crack. The National Media is beginning to clue in on what was going on. In part there was a FBI investigation that gave the university cover, because the NCAA could not move forward until they...

What did the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation do though? They arrest the man who exposed it. Leaked documents reveal that health “professionals” at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center knew that Audrey Hale, the disturbed “trans” individual who slaughtered six innocent people during a school shooting rampage in 2023, had “suicidal” and “homicidal” ideations years before the killing spree. Who knows how long Hale had been receiving mental health care by 2019, but that was four years before the shooting. Mental health “professionals” noticed Hale’s evident “anger” grow with “greater frequency,” and she admitted she had thoughts of killing herself and...

The Tennessee Star confirmed Tuesday that Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes—an already convicted human smuggler and repeat border violator—has admitted under immunity to hiring El Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia for a string of human trafficking operations across the United States. The revelation follows a controversial 2022 Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) traffic stop where Abrego Garcia was caught transporting nine illegal immigrants through Tennessee without a license. The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) pulled over Abrego-Garcia on November 30, 2022, for speeding and swerving. When troopers approached his vehicle, they were shocked to discover eight male passengers packed inside.

The footage appeared to show highway patrol troopers being concerned that the illegal migrant was involved in human trafficking because he had eight other people in his car. He also kept changing his story, and possessed $1,400 in cash. The Tennessee Highway Patrol on Thursday released its bodycam footage of a traffic stop interaction it had with alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in 2022. Abrego Garcia was deported by the Trump administration earlier this year, but has become the face of one of the biggest deportation cases in recent history. Democrats have argued that Abrego Garcia was a...