On April 23, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing the training teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns on school campuses. HB1202/SB1321 also doesn’t allow parents or other teachers to determine exactly who’s armed. The bill will go to Governor Bill Lee’s desk to be signed into law.

As reported by the Associated Press, the bill passed the Tennessee House by a 68-28 vote, largely along party lines. All but 4 members of the Tennessee Republican House voted in favor of the bill, which didn’t go down well with members of the state Democratic Party or members of the general public who chanted “Blood on your hands” as Republicans voted for the bill.

The bill is a pointy turn from the response to the Covenant School shooting in 2023. After that incident, Governor Lee expressed his desire to keep guns away from individuals who could pose a threat to themselves or others. State Republicans also refused to add a lot of Democratic amendments, including parental consent, notice when a teacher is armed and college district civil liability for injuries, damages or deaths suffered by staff carrying weapons.

Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones told the AP that he thinks Republicans within the state are too attached to money from gun lobbyists. “My Republican colleagues continue to hold our state hostage, holding our state at gunpoint to appeal to their gun industry donors,” said Jones, a Republican. “It’s morally crazy.”

After the vote, the House voted to reprimand Jones for recording on his phone, leading to him barring him from speaking on the ground until April 24. It is value noting that the Republican response to the shooting was not to introduce gun control. This have to be fought, even when the proposal to restrict gun sales got here directly from Governor Lee himself. Shortly after the shooting, Republicans actually passed a bill giving gun manufacturers, dealers and sellers more protections, in addition to allowing teachers in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms to carry handguns on those campuses.

Meanwhile, parents too protested against the potential law in a letter which was presented to Republican Jones by Sarah Shoop Newman, with the support of his adviser. The letter, which collected over 5,300 signatures, expressed concerns that the weapon posed a threat to children. “Anyone who has not received extensive training resembling that provided to law enforcement officers is probably going to be psychologically unprepared to take their very own life, especially the lifetime of a student aggressor.

Such training should include many elements, resembling threat assessment, de-escalation, how to work with students with disabilities, school law, trauma-informed practice and, most significantly, specific responses to an armed attacker. Many of those requirements were specifically rejected within the proposed amendments to SB1325, contrary to the recommendations of NASRO and the FBI.

The letter continues: “We must ensure that every student in every school has adequate protection so that they are truly safe when their parents walk them off each morning, rather than inadequate security measures that could put students and staff at risk. Ultimately, we need preventative measures against gun violence to ensure that no other community in our state experiences the tragedy that occurred at Covenant School on March 27, 2023.”

The mother of a Kansas City Chiefs fan found dead after attending a friend’s party still believes there are unanswered questions.

Jennifer Marquez recently spoke to Fox News months after her son, David Harrington, 37, and his friends, Clayton McGeeney, 36, and Ricky Johnson, 38, were mysteriously found dead on Jordan Willis’ front porch. backyard in early January.

“I think Jordan still has too much to tell. I think there should be some charges filed,” Marquez he told the outlet. “If you throw a party and serve an excessive amount of alcohol and someone drives away out of your house, has an accident and kills themselves or others, you can be charged with an overdose. He organized a party that resulted in the death of three people – he should be charged.”

The three went to Willis’ rental property in Missouri to watch the Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers football game on January 7. Two days later, their bodies were found when McGeeney’s fiancée gained access to the property. Willis’ attorney, John Piecerno, previously said his client had no idea how his longtime friends died or that their families were looking for them. He also claimed that he fell asleep during the meeting.

“He was sleeping. He was sleeping on the couch. The last memory he has is of them going (outside) the front door. He doesn’t know what happened to them until he finds out when the police came to his house on Tuesday night.” Picerno told The Post.

A fifth person also reportedly got here forward, and his account was inconsistent with Picerno’s story. The unidentified man said that when he left the house around midnight, the group was awake and watching television. His lawyer, Andrew Talge, emphasized that he was not the last person to see the men alive.

Disputing Picerno’s claims, Talge said the man texted Willis after Johnson’s mother and McGeeney’s fiancée contacted him about the man’s whereabouts. Different versions of what happened that night left families confused.

“It has lots of holes, like the last time he saw them they were leaving the house but he didn’t know they left; it doesn’t make much sense” – McGeeney’s cousin he said in an interview on Fox 4 in January.

Willis reportedly moved out of his home and checked into a rehabilitation facility to overcome his addiction. After conducting toxicology tests, authorities released the results to the family.

As relations speculated, the results showed the presence of fentanyl and cocaine of their systems. Police are treating the case as a death investigation, but no foul play is suspected at this time. No charges have been filed against Willis yet.

“I wish that the person or persons responsible for supplying the substance that caused the deaths of Ricky, Clayton and my son David would be brought to justice,” Marquez told Fox News.

She continued: “Jordan is just living his life while the rest of us have to deal with the loss of family members. Did they check his computer, did he ever use it in the two days he didn’t answer… and he never received a single text or anything from the man’s family or friends, or even his job? You would think he was checking his work so he wouldn’t get in trouble or behind, and that would prove he was lying about not knowing (the men were dead or dying in his yard).”

A source close to Willis called the families’ comments “unacceptable” and added that they need to “accept the possibility that their sons participated in conduct that cost them their lives,” Fox News reports.

April is National Fair Housing Month and as the month comes to an in depth, it is crucial that we reflect on the work that continues to be to ensure fair housing for . This is much more vital as we proceed to take a look at a worsening housing and homelessness crisis that disproportionately affects people of color, families with children, women, individuals with disabilities and other members of protected classes. To truly deliver on the promise of fair housing, we must make equitable, long-overdue investments in housing and community development.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act on April 11, 1968, only one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The country was still scuffling with this incalculable loss. Just two years earlier, Dr. King had founded the Chicago Freedom Movement to fight housing and economic inequality. It was this movement activity that led to the passage and subsequent passage of the Fair Housing Act.

The Fair Housing Act, as amended, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), national origin, religion, disability and familial status. Unfortunately, as a nation, because we’ve failed to fully fund and implement this law, systemic and blatant discrimination and inequality proceed to plague every aspect of American life.

The passage of the Fair Housing Act also got here after President Johnson famously created the law Kerner Commission examining the dynamics of the race riots that broke out across the country in 1967. The commission’s report confirmed that housing discrimination and institutionalized racism create racial tensions and contribute to the creation of “two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal.” The commission made several key recommendations on housing, including significantly increasing the supply of inexpensive housing for low-income families and opening up access to white neighborhoods for people of all races, something we’ve not yet achieved. It is not any wonder that persistent housing discrimination and unequal community development remain the cause of many racial and economic injustices in America.

Over the years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and native fair organizations received housing record levels housing discrimination complaints reported every year, including greater than 33,000 in 2022 alone. But we all know that discrimination is woefully underestimated. At least in 2018 1 in 4 peopleor 68 million, felt they were treated in a different way when searching for housing because of their status as a member of a protected class under the Fair Housing Act.

Other barriers, e.g redlining, exclusion zone and land use ordinances proceed to prevent members of protected classes from accessing decent housing. It’s the same in lots of communities across the country more segregated today than in 1990, further widening racial and ethnic gaps in poverty, wealth and residential ownership. Actually, Black and Latino renters are twice as likely to be evicted compared to white tenants they usually are overrepresented amongst the homeless population. Our nation also faces widening racial wealth and homeownership gaps, with the average net value of homeowners – who’re more likely to be white – being 40 times greater than that of renters. Meanwhile, in the case of disabled people, the possibilities of integration and housing availability are severely limited, including: data showing that lower than 1% of U.S. homes are wheelchair accessible and only 5% are accessible to individuals with moderate disabilities. We even saw it some local governments proceed to use federal housing and community funds in discriminatory ways in which violate the Fair Housing Act.

While the Fair Housing Act has undoubtedly expanded housing and economic opportunities for tens of millions of families across the United States, President Johnson said it best himself: “We’ve come some way, not almost all of it. There is still a lot to do.” That’s why I proceed to work closely with my colleagues in the House to fight for historic investments that can make this goal a reality. While Democrats secured greater than $20 million in fair housing enforcement investments through the American Rescue Plan Act, rather more is required.

Last 12 months, I reintroduced my historic housing package to proceed our efforts, including the Housing Crisis Response Act, the Ending Homelessness Act, and the Home Equity Downpayment Act. Together, these bills represent the largest and most comprehensive investment in fair and inexpensive housing in U.S. history. I call on our nation’s leaders to work with me to help address the urgent need to end the U.S. housing crisis and fulfill the promise of fair housing for all.