
Homeland Security looks to buy a new $50M jet for secretary and Coast Guard officials
The Department of Homeland Security wants to spend about $50 million to buy a new long-range Gulfstream jet to replace an aging one used by Secretary Kristi Noem and top Coast Guard and DHS officials.
The request for funding, to come from the Coast Guard's 2025 fiscal year budget, came up during a House appropriations subcommittee meeting on Wednesday. Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois said she was 'horrified' to receive a 'last-minute addition' to the service's budget proposal for the jet, noting Noem has another Gulfstream to use.
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Toronto Star
17 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Tennessee court upholds law from Republican legislators to cut blue Nashville's council in half
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee appeals court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a law passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature to punish the Democratic-leaning city of Nashville by slashing the size of its council. The 2023 law aims to cut Nashville's consolidated city-county governing council in half, from 40 members to 20. Although it was written to apply broadly statewide to both city and consolidated city-county governments, Nashville is the only Tennessee city meeting that definition with a council of more than 20 members.


Winnipeg Free Press
22 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Tennessee court upholds law from Republican legislators to cut blue Nashville's council in half
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee appeals court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a law passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature to punish the Democratic-leaning city of Nashville by slashing the size of its council. The 2023 law aims to cut Nashville's consolidated city-county governing council in half, from 40 members to 20. Although it was written to apply broadly statewide to both city and consolidated city-county governments, Nashville is the only Tennessee city meeting that definition with a council of more than 20 members. The law was one of several targeting Nashville after the council's rejection of efforts to host the 2024 Republican National Convention in Music City. The Tennessee Court of Appeals 2-1 ruling on Tuesday overturns an earlier split decision by a panel of judges at the trial court level that ruled in favor of the city. The law has been on hold pending appeals. Nashville attorneys argued that the law is unconstitutional because a provision of the Tennessee Constitution that limits local legislative bodies to 25 members explicitly exempts municipalities organized under a consolidated city-county government. The city also argued the law violates another section of the Tennessee Constitution known as the Home Rule Amendment that prevents the General Assembly from making laws that apply to a single county or municipality. In ruling against the city, the majority wrote that nothing in the Constitution explicitly prevents the General Assembly from 'imposing its own limit on the voting membership of a metropolitan council.' Given the fact that the judges must start from the assumption that state statutes are constitutional 'we cannot condone interpreting the Tennessee Constitution's silence such that the legislature's power is curtailed in this manner.' In his dissent, Judge Kenny Armstrong argued his colleagues are misinterpreting the word 'exempt.' 'While the Article contains no language to enjoin the General Assembly from limiting Metro's legislative body to any number over 25, the Article clearly precludes the General Assembly from limiting Metro's membership to any number less than 25,' he wrote. Armstrong did not address the Home Rule Amendment. The majority there found that even though Nashville is the only city that the law actually effects, it was written as a law of general application. Nashville has been mostly successful in challenging some of the other state laws taking aim at the city, although many of the cases are still in appeals. In one, a judicial panel ruled the state cannot enforce a law making it easier to pass changes through the metro council to the local fairgrounds speedway, which is being considered for upgrades in hopes of drawing a NASCAR race. A court panel likewise ruled it was unconstitutional for Tennessee lawmakers to pass a state takeover of Nashville International Airport's board. Judges also temporarily blocked a law that would reconfigure the group overseeing professional sports facilities in Nashville by letting state leaders pick six of its 13 board members. Republcan House Majority Leader William Lamberth issued a statement on Tuesday praising the court's ruling on the size of Nashville's council. 'I applaud the court's decision today affirming the constitutionality of the Small Government Efficiency Act. This action reins in excessive government growth while ensuring local municipalities across the Volunteer State remain accountable and responsive to their constituents,' he wrote. Nashville Vice Mayor Angie E. Henderson said in a statement that the decision fails to respect the will of Nashville voters, who created a 'highly representative, local legislative branch.' Henderson said they will discuss next steps with the city's attorneys.


Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Georgia state Rep. Derrick Jackson to join 3 other Democrats in run for governor
ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) — Georgia state Rep. Derrick Jackson said Tuesday that he's running for governor next year, joining three other Democrats in a race without a clear frontrunner after two high-profile candidates decided not to run. The metro Atlanta Democrat said he will launch his campaign Friday, emphasizing his work in business and politics and his 22 years of military service. The U.S. Navy veteran was elected to the state House in 2016 and worked as a marketing executive with General Electric. As governor, Jackson said he would 'put Georgia families first,' in part by expanding access to medical care and economic opportunities in rural areas. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'My Republican friends love to tout Georgia as the number one state to do business, but I'm going to campaign on making Georgia the number one place to work, to play, to have a family and for young professionals to realize that regardless of which of the 159 counties they live in, there's going to be opportunity there,' Jackson said in an interview with the Associated Press. He plans to push for stricter gun regulations and to repeal Georgia's abortion law, which took effect in 2022 and effectively prohibited abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy. Jackson will join former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta state Sen. Jason Esteves and Atlanta pastor Olu Brown in the Democratic primary. They will compete for the Democratic nomination in the race to replace the state's popular term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Democrat Stacey Abrams, who ran and lost to Kemp in 2018 and 2022, has not closed the door on a third run. Jackson finished sixth in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2022. After losing, he was reelected to the House in 2023 following the death of state Rep. Tish Naghise. He was defeated last year by Rep. Carolyn Hugley after running for House minority leader. Despite past losses, Jackson said his experience campaigning for statewide office will help him pull ahead of his competitors. Inspired by civil rights icon John Lewis, Jackson said he has a 'moral obligation' to run because he saw state and federal policies that were 'not right, not fair, not just.' He wants to help Georgians who could be impacted by President Donald Trump's sweeping bill that Jackson said 'will devastate a lot of families' with provisions such as cuts to Medicaid funds. U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, once the expected frontrunner known for her gun control advocacy, announced in March she wasn't running because she needed to focus on her husband's health after complications from cancer surgery. Former state Sen. Jason Carter, former President Jimmy Carter's moderate grandson and the Democrats' 2014 nominee for governor, said he would not run because his wife was diagnosed with cancer. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon. Read more on the U.S. Election at