LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, April 28 -- Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following news release on April 27, 2023: Attorney General Tim Griffin today led a 22-state coalition filing an amicus brief with the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that the First Amendment protects Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop, Inc. from being required to create a cake expressing a message contrary to his beliefs. Griffin issued the following statement: "For 11 years, Jack Phillips has been in court   more

WASHINGTON, April 27 -- The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division issued the following news brief: * * * Employer: Dyersburg Grecian Steakhouse Inc., operating as Grecian Steakhouse, 2265 St. John Ave., Dyersburg, TN 38024 Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor investigators found Grecian Steakhouse paid some employees straight-time rates for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay the employees the time-and-a-half rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, a   more

WASHINGTON, April 28 (TNSrpt) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service issued the following Economic Information Bulletin (No. TB-1962): * * * The USDA, Economic Research Service's Food Expenditure Series (FES) is a comprehensive measure of the total value of food acquired in the United States over time. FES provides users with data to evaluate changes in food spending and its composition at the national level. This report presents methodology and source data used to g  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release on April 27, 2023: * * * This investment illustrates the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to changing the odds for underserved communities * * * Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $41 million in new technical assistance funding under America's Water Infrastructure Act to help communities address urgent wastewater challenges. The new funding, awarded to nine techni  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 28 -- The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development issued the following news: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter and Leclerc Foods Tennessee LLC officials announced today the company will expand manufacturing operations at its U.S. headquarters in Kingsport, Tennessee. Leclerc Foods will invest $3.4 million and create 48 new jobs in Sullivan County. In addition to job creation, t  more

EAST ST. LOUIS, Illinois, April 28 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Rachelle Aud Crowe, issued the following news release: A U.S. District Court judge sentenced an East St. Louis man to 198 months after he pled guilty to several drug charges for his involvement in a national trafficking ring as the local, Metro East leader. Jeffrey Taylor, 40, pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, Distribution of Cocaine, Distribution of Methamphetamine, Possession  more

WASHINGTON, April 27 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release on April 26, 2023: The Justice Department today filed a complaint challenging Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a recently enacted law that denies necessary medical care to youth based solely on who they are. The complaint alleges that SB 1's ban on providing certain medically necessary care to transgender minors violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The department is also asking the co  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, April 28 (TNSper) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Xiao-Ying Yu, a distinguished scientist in the Materials Science and Technology Division of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has recently been chosen for several prominent editorial roles. She was appointed to a three-year term on the editorial board of Results in Engineering, an open-access Elsevier journal, and as the guest editor  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, April 28 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: On the grounds of the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center sits the nation's first additively manufactured home made entirely from biobased materials - BioHome3D. The 600-square-foot home, the result of a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and UMaine, is serving as a testbed to see how well the materials perform over time   more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 28 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Henry C. Leventis, issued the following news release on April 27, 2023: A Maury County, Tennessee corrections officer was convicted today by a federal jury of obstruction of justice, announced U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis. James Justice, aka James Stewart Thomas, 32, of Columbia, Tenn., a corrections officer with the Maury County Sheriff's Office, was indicted in May 2022 and charged with falsifying re  more

TAMPA, Florida, April 28 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida issued the following news release: U.S. District Judge Charlene E. Honeywell has sentenced Brian Carroll (47, New Market, Tennessee) to 15 months in federal prison for wire fraud. The court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $42,000, representing the proceeds of the wire fraud scheme. Carroll had pleaded guilty on January 5, 2023. According to court documents, at the time of the com  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- Vice President Kamala Harris issued the following remarks on April 27, 2023, at a State Department luncheon for Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Kim Keon Hee: * * * VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you, Secretary Blinken, Ms. Evan Ryan, for hosting us here at the State Department. And to the members of Congress who are here including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Chairman Menendez -- (applause) --  more

WASHINGTON, April 28 -- The White House issued the following transcript of a news briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on April 27, 2023: * * * MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Good afternoon, everybody. Q: Good afternoon. Q: Good afternoon. MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of an executive order that codified the Lavender Scare, a dark chapter in our nation's history when thousands of LGBTQI+ federal employees were invest  more