Free Republic

Bobby Dodge, a Tennessee small‑business owner, is running in the special election for the state’s 7th Congressional District, seeking to become the first member of Congress associated with Elon Musk’s America Party, despite the group not having ballot access in Tennessee or any other state. Dodge announced his candidacy on Thursday, August 14, stating in a press release that he wants to be a voice for Americans frustrated with partisan gridlock and will focus on fiscal discipline, government accountability, and pragmatic reforms. His background includes studies in political science, an internship on Capitol Hill, and volunteer work at the Reagan...

A progressive Chicago politician is facing backlash for galavanting around Nashville as her district was “devastated” by severe storms and heavy flooding. Alderwoman Stephanie D. Coleman (D) showed off in a glamorous yellow dress, gold jewelry, a bulky watch and an expensive Chanel vanity bag during her trip to the 40th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards. Coleman, 37, flaunted the dazzling ensemble in multiple social media posts, several including her twirling her dress around on the street and strutting through a hallway like a runway model. As she “pranced” around Music City, the Windy City was ravaged by multiple thunderstorms...

What we know: According to a Facebook post by the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, 51-year-old Decarlo Pitchford pulled the trigger on his wife last month. The victim told authorities that she was being blocked from leaving, and when her husband shot her, he said, "I told you to stop playing with me."

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn launched her long-awaited campaign for governor Wednesday, becoming the second Republican from the state’s congressional delegation to enter the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Bill Lee. Blackburn, who hopes to become the Volunteer State’s first female governor, starts out as the front-runner after more than 20 years on Capitol Hill in both the House and Senate. She has tied herself closely to President Donald Trump, who won the deep-red state by 30 points last year. “In his first six months, President Trump has made historic strides in Making America Great Again, but as he sends...

Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) nascent gubernatorial bid has kicked off a shadow race for her Senate seat in the event she wins, with Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) each eyeing the seat. Burchett confirmed to The Hill that he would be interested in the Senate seat if Blackburn was elected governor. CNN first reported Burchett’s interest in the seat. Ogles, too, said he would be interested in the Senate seat. “Definitely interested in it. I’ve expressed my interest,” Ogles told The Hill. Ogles joked about going up against Burchett for the position: “We’ll probably do some sort...

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday opened an investigation into the University of Iowa after an official there was video recorded saying she and others at the school continue to advance diversity, equity and inclusion despite policies and a state law prohibiting it. A 2024 state law prohibits public funding for DEI programs. The Iowa Board of Regents in November 2023 also directed universities to abolish all “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives at public universities. But an undercover video obtained by Fox News shows Drea Tinoco, assistant director for Leadership and Student Organization Development at the University of Iowa,...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has privately discussed the idea of running for political office next year in Tennessee, according to two people who have spoken directly with him about it. If Hegseth were to follow through on the discussions, it would amount to a major leadership shake-up at the department that oversees the American military and millions of federal employees. The Defense Department bars civilian employees from running for political office, meaning Hegseth would have to resign to do so. In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said, “Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump.” One...

Billionaire In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder stirred up a storm of online controversy over the weekend when she revealed that she planned to move her family out of California to Tennessee. The news comes as In-N-Out begins to expand heavily into the South, launching a new joint headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville — where Snyder will also now be based. Snyder revealed the coming move on a recent podcast appearance, saying, “There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here.” The clip, from a new episode of...

MARK GREEN has resigned from the House. He hasnt voted in a few weeks. . House is now: 219 - R 212- D 4 vacancies ... How/when do these vacancies get filled? By whom? ... They trigger special elections but often governors play games with when to schedule them depending on whose party the vacancy favors ... Special election for Tennessee - not an appointment. So usually several months from governor declaring the writ and the election ... Two Dem elections are in September. One in Virginia and the other in Arizona 7th. .... 3 of those are D vacancies...

2024, prices jumped 800% at PJM Interconnection, a “traffic controller” part of the grid that provides service in 13 states as well as D.C. .. PJM operates the largest power grid in the U.S., with around 67 million customers—that’s more than 20% of the American population. ... amid a dwindling supply and an increase in demand, “Prices for power plants landed at $269.92 per megawatt-day, compared to $28.92 per megawatt-day” in 2023. ... prices are set to spike again, and the projection for this year is around 20%. If you live in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey,...

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday he believes a client list associated with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein once existed but was “destroyed” by the Biden administration. “I think the files existed at one time,” Burchett said in an interview on NewsNation’s “On Balance” with host Leland Vittert. “I think they were destroyed in the previous administration.” The Justice Department (DOJ) released a memo earlier this week concluding that Epstein did not keep such a list that was allegedly used to blackmail high-profile individuals — contradicting conspiracy theories circulating for years that suggested otherwise.

Tennessee Rep. Mark Green announced that he has resigned from Congress to take a mysterious new job — narrowing Republicans’ already ultra-slim majority by one seat ahead of messy fights such as the looming government shutdown battle in the fall. The retired US Army officer had revealed his intention to step down last month after passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but had refrained from giving an exact date. On Friday, he tendered his resignation, which is effective July 20, per his letter to GOP leadership.

The Department of Justice on Monday unveiled a record-shattering crackdown on the corrupt underbelly of America’s health care system. A jaw-dropping 324 defendants — including 96 medical professionals — have been charged in 50 federal districts and 12 states for orchestrating over $14.6 billion in intended fraud, largely targeting Medicare, Medicaid, and federal health programs meant to serve the elderly, disabled, and the poor. The takedown, spearheaded by the DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Unit in coordination with HHS-OIG, the FBI, the DEA, and over a dozen state attorney general offices, marks the largest health care fraud bust in U.S. history....

A Republican lawmaker is demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi direct the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani— a socialist Muslim who wants government-run grocery stores and to shift the tax burden to homes in “whiter neighborhoods.” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) urged Bondi to probe Mamdani and initiate denaturalization proceedings, claiming he made false statements during his citizenship application. The lawmaker accused Mamdani of joining a communist group at the same time he was filling out his U.S. citizenship forms in 2018. “At the same time, he's filling out these...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge in Tennessee plans to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But Abrego Garcia is not expected to go free because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him. In a ruling on Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the U.S. government’s motion to keep Abrego Garcia in detention before his trial. She scheduled a hearing for...

A Democratic mayor is defending the public release of names of federal immigration officers involved in mass migrant round ups, claiming that the real concern isn't their safety, but that masked agents are 'whisking people' away. Names of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were posted to online by the City of Nashville, as part of a public records request that mandates information about immigration be posted online to a city website. Mayor Freddie O'Connell is currently under investigation by two Congressional committees for allegedly helping illegal immigrants in Music City evade deportations. 'I understand the concerns but it's...

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday seeks to end a program designed to funnel tens of millions of dollars to colleges and universities with a large percentage of Hispanic students, charging it is racist and unconstitutional. The suit was filed by the state of Tennessee and advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions against the U.S. Department of Education. In 2023, the advocates’ suit against Harvard University led to the Supreme Court ruling it unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions. A federal funding program designates schools as “Hispanic-Serving Institutions” if they have at least 25% Hispanic-student...

House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., announced Monday he will resign from the lower chamber once it votes on the reconciliation package again to take a job in the private sector. Green, who was first elected to the chamber in 2018, has been serving in the lead post on the Homeland Security committee since 2023. He helped orchestrate the impeachment of former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024. The chairman, who previously expected to resign from Congress last year, did not state who he supported to replace him. He also did not state what the private sector job...

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., is departing Capitol Hill early, he announced on Monday. Green said he is leaving Congress for the private sector after the House votes again on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in the coming weeks, in a statement first obtained by Fox News Digital. "It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress. Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up. As a result, today I notified the Speaker and the House of Representatives that I will resign from...

MEMPHIS — For decades, this storied American city has watched companies come but mostly go, its vacant storefronts and blighted buildings a reminder of its days as a thriving manufacturing hub and the painful decline that followed as those jobs vanished.As Paul Young, the city’s mayor, puts it, Memphis has been “the city people forgot about.”Then last summer, Memphis landed what Young and local business leaders called the city’s largest corporate investment in a generation — a “transformative” development for a place that has struggled to convince outsiders of its continued potential.The project was something every city dreams of, Young...