The Daily Populous

Tuesday April 11st, 2023 evening edition

image for Tennessee move to cut Nashville council in half blocked by judges

The Democratic-leaning city of Nashville's Metropolitan Council will get to keep all 40 of its seats for now, under a temporary decision issued Monday by three state judges.

The ruling stymies an effort by state Republican lawmakers to cut the council in half after it blocked the the 2024 Republican National Convention from coming to the Music City.

The new statute at issue would require Nashville to craft new council districts by May 1, a deadline city officials say is unreasonable.

Three state court trial judges — one from Nashville, one from Shelby County and one in Athens, Tennessee — agreed, saying there is a "compelling public interest in preserving the integrity of the Metro election process that is already underway.".

The state law, which only applies to city or city-county governments, would cut Nashville's combined council to 20 people.

A quarter of Nashville's council seats are held by Black members, half by women and five members who identify as LGBTQ+.

One bill would have renamed a portion of Nashville Rep. John Lewis Way to Trump Boulevard. »

Taiwan: jump in sales for air force badges showing bear punching Winnie-the-Pooh

Authored by theguardian.com
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Chinese censors have long targeted representations of Winnie-the-Pooh due to internet memes that compare the fictional bear to China’s president.

“I wanted to boost the morale of our troops through designing this patch,” said Hsu, who owns Wings Fan Goods Shop.

The patch shows an angry Formosan black bear holding Taiwan’s flag and punching Winnie-the-Pooh, with the slogan “Scramble!” »

Portal writer says he’s joking about making Portal 3, doesn’t want to cause strife at Valve

Authored by videogameschronicle.com
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The co-writer of the Portal games has said he’s mainly joking when he says he wants to make Portal 3, because he doesn’t want to cause strife at Valve.

“But the real reason is that in a flat structure like Valve, there is an opportunity cost to doing anything.

And whatever is going on at Valve right now requires the dedication and participation of the people working on it, and it’s voluntary. »

Washington Post: Leaked US documents indicate Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia

Authored by kyivindependent.com

Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi recently ordered subordinates to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, according to a document exclusively obtained by the Washington Post.

A portion of a top secret document, dated Feb. 17, summarizes alleged conversations between Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials and also highlights plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.

"In the document, Sisi instructs the officials to keep the production and shipment of the rockets secret 'to avoid problems with the West,'" the Washington Post reports. »

Justin Jones: Reinstated Tennessee lawmaker says he'll continue to call for gun reform

Authored by edition.cnn.com
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After being sworn back into the Tennessee House of Representatives, a lawmaker who was expelled just days ago over a gun control demonstration on the chamber floor said he’ll continue to call for gun reform.

He’ll be working on gun reform legislation as soon as he returns Tuesday, he told CNN on Monday evening.

Regarding Jones’ reinstatement, the Tennessee House Republicans released a statement on Monday, saying, “Tennessee’s constitution provides a pathway back from expulsion. »