WSU Researcher Discovers Oldest Tattoo Tool in Western North America
Washington State University archaeologists have discovered the oldest tattooing artifact in western North America. With a handle of skunkbush and a cactus-spine business end, the tool was made around 2,000 years ago by the Ancestral Pueblo people of the Basketmaker II period in what is now southeastern Utah. Andrew Gillreath-Brown, an anthropology PhD candidate, chanced […]
United States Supreme Court Incorporates Eighth Amendment to the States in Civil Forfeiture Case
Property rights advocates have watched the Timbs v. Indiana case with great interest because it promises to have nationwide implications on excessive fines and property forfeitures. Today, the United States Supreme Court rendered its unanimous decision in Timbs. Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg states that “Indiana argues that the Excessive Fines Clause […]
House Passes Bipartisan Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act of 2019
Friday, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 840, the bipartisan Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act of 2019: “I have always been an advocate for reducing barriers to care for our veterans, as it is imperative that they […]
Announcement of Maximum Effective Rate of Interest on Home Loans
The Federal National Mortgage Association has discontinued its free market auction system for commitments to purchase conventional home mortgages. Therefore, the Commissioner of Financial Institutions hereby announces that the maximum effective rate of interest per annum for home loans as set by the General Assembly in 1987, Public Chapter 291, for the month of March, 2019 is 7.03 […]
Pre-Medicare Years Bring Health Insurance Worries for Many, U-M/AARP Poll Finds
With the dawn of a new year, most Americans have just started a new health insurance coverage period — whether they receive their coverage through a job, buy it themselves or have a government plan. But a new national poll suggests that many people in their 50s and early 60s harbor serious worries about their […]
U.S. Supreme Court sides with the States in WOTUS Decision
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III applauds the United States Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to reverse the Sixth Circuit ruling in Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The Supreme Court’s decision to require the rule be challenged in federal district courts, a more local and direct route than being limited to the U.S. Court of Appeals, helps […]
Protecting the Civil Liberties of All Americans is Our Constitutional Duty
Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.) released the following statement after voting against S. 139 – FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act: “Protecting American citizens is among my top priorities, but security does not have to come at the expense of Americans’ Constitutional rights. I have long held concerns that intelligence operations have not prioritized civil liberties, […]
APA Stress in America Survey: US at ‘Lowest Point We Can Remember’
Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) say the future of the nation is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, slightly more than perennial stressors like money (62 percent) and work (61 percent), according to the American Psychological Association’s report, Stress in America™: The State of Our Nation. More than half of Americans (59 […]
Senator Corker Announces Plans To Leave Senate
U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement. “After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018. “When I ran for the Senate in 2006, I told people that […]
President Donald J. Trump Approves Texas And Louisiana Emergency Declaration
Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Harvey beginning on August 27, 2017, and continuing. The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency […]
Representative Phil Roe’s Thoughts on Strengthening the Nation’s Energy Security
This week, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) to roll back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) misguided, job-killing Clean Power Plan (CPP), a key component of the Obama administration’s war on coal. I was pleased with the president’s action because these regulations have been hugely detrimental to our region’s economy – from southwestern Virginia’s […]
Alexander, Corker Introduce Bill to Rescue Americans with Zero Options for Insurance on the Affordable Care Act Exchanges
Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) today introduced legislation to rescue Americans with Affordable Care Act subsidies who have zero options for health insurance on the exchanges for the 2018 plan year. “There are 34,000 Knoxville area residents who rely on an Affordable Care Act subsidy to purchase insurance, and after the one […]
Representative Phill Roe’s Thoughts on Improving The VA
The men and women who served our country, who risked their lives in the line of duty to protect our freedom and defend our liberties, should be honored, revered and treated with respect. As Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and a veteran myself, I feel a duty to help ensure veterans receive […]
Senators Introduce Comprehensive Legislation to Hold Iran Accountable
U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) today led a group of more than a dozen senators in introducing bipartisan legislation to hold Iran accountable. The legislation, cosponsored by Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), James E. Risch (R-Idaho), Chris […]
Representative Roe’s Thoughts About The American Health Care Act
The American Health Care Act: Patient-Centered, 21st Century Health Care Every day I hear stories from folks across East Tennessee who are being forced to choose between paying their monthly insurance premium or buying other essentials for their families. With health care premiums skyrocketing and competition among providers eliminated, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also […]
NASA’s GPM Sees Increasingly Organized Tropical Storm Hermine
Tropical Depression Nine was upgraded to Tropical Storm Hermine on Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 UTC). The GPM core observatory satellite passed directly above newly designated Tropical Storm Hermine at 4:06 p.m. EDT (20:06 UTC). Rainfall data derived from GPM’s Microwave (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that precipitation intensity […]