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Tennessee Passed a Slate of Immigration Bills. Here’s What They Do.

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Tennessee Passed a Slate of Immigration Bills. Here’s What They Do.

The Tennessee General Assembly wrapped up its annual session this week, with the Republican supermajority signing off on a slate of bills codifying some of the party’s priorities on education and other issues.

Lawmakers expanded the number of school vouchers. They established new state power over the Memphis-area school district, and they put in place additional oversight of the state’s largest airport authorities.

But a central focus of the legislature’s work this year was undocumented immigrants.

Ahead of this year’s legislative session, Republican leaders worked closely with Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser, to craft another round of bills that are viewed as a way to enforce President Trump’s immigration crackdown at the state level.

Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, has already signed some of the bills, which will go into effect on July 1. He is widely expected to sign the others.

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Here’s what some of those bills aim to do.

Despite pushback from Democrats and several immigrant organizations, tests for a drivers license will now effectively have an English language requirement.

If an applicant does not speak English, the person can still take the initial written exam in another language. But the applicant will be able to receive only a nonrenewable, restricted license that expires after 18 months. At the end of that period, the driver will have to take a written exam in English to obtain a permanent license.

Under a bill approved this month, local and state employees would be required to report to the state, including the General Assembly, instances in which any undocumented person receives services at public hospitals or government social service agencies.

State and local agencies, including health-related ones, are mandated to maintain copies of documentation verifying citizenship, such as a drivers license or passport. They would also be required to report undocumented immigrants to a centralized immigration authority established last year.

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Mr. Miller and other Republicans have scrutinized fraud and waste across the country, and targeted undocumented immigrants as part of that campaign.

State and local government agencies are already required to verify whether a prospective employee is a U.S. citizen or has authorization to work in the United States. Another bill, recently signed into law by Mr. Lee, adds the threat of withholding funding if a government entity is found to have violated that process.

Some states have sought to criminalize certain violations of immigration law, and Tennessee is joining that push. Mr. Lee signed a law that makes it a misdemeanor if an immigrant facing an order of removal fails to leave Tennessee within 90 days, or if an undocumented immigrant has entered the state while facing a deportation order. Similar efforts have encountered legal challenges, including in Iowa under the Biden administration.

Under one bill, all Tennessee sheriffs would have to enter into formal cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

If they did not by Jan. 1, they would risk losing state funding.

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Who will be the new ’60 Minutes’ correspondents?

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Who will be the new ’60 Minutes’ correspondents?

While the smoke has begun to clear at “60 Minutes” after three correspondents were fired, CBS News leadership now faces the challenge of finding journalists who can fill their shoes just three months before a new season starts.

The venerable news magazine was plunged into crisis last week as longtime correspondent Scott Pelley confronted management about the May 28 firings of his colleagues Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega along with the program’s executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich.

Pelley, who also accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the program, was terminated June 2 after a 37-year career at the network. He later gave an interview to The New York Times, accusing Weiss of “putting her thumb on the scale” for the Trump administration when guiding the editorial direction of stories.

(CBS News denied Pelley’s accusations. But Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison, who has given Weiss a free hand in disrupting the CBS News hierarchy, found the turbulent situation concerning enough to personally reach out to veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl, according to The New York Times. He assured Stahl that he will respect the editorial independence of the program, a message she passed along to the staff.)

Lesley Stahl in the 2022 film “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.”

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(A24)

The recent personnel bloodbath followed the already announced departure of Anderson Cooper, and leaves CBS News with four correspondent roles to fill and a far less experienced executive producer — former tech journalist Nick Bilton in place to keep the program on track.

Remaining staffers were encouraged that Maria Gavrilovic, a 19-year veteran of CBS News who worked closely with Pelley, was promoted to senior producer under Bilton. They are also relieved that correspondents Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker chose to remain with the program rather than leave in solidarity with Pelley.

Norah O'Donnell's interview with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2021.

Norah O’Donnell’s interview with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2021.

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But “60 Minutes” is under pressure to get a new team in place as newcomers will have little time to learn the program’s formula that gives it the comforting consistency its viewers seek. The 13-minute pieces on “60 Minutes” are filmed, written and voice-tracked in a distinctive narrative style that takes time to master, according to people who have gone through the process.

Weiss has told people internally that “60 Minutes” is the most important platform within the news division and if a major story comes from outside its corps of correspondents, it will find a place on the program.

Here are the leading contenders for full-time roles based on interviews with several sources at CBS News who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. A CBS News representative declined comment.

Holly Williams: Williams has been a foreign correspondent working out of Istanbul since 2012. The Australian journalist has reported extensively from war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Gaza and Ukraine. When covering Syria’s civil war from inside the country, she and her team gained access to a prison where alleged ISIS terrorists were being held.

Williams has contributed reports to “60 Minutes” over the years. Before joining CBS, she was a Beijing-based correspondent for Sky News.

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CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams,

CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams,

(Michele Crowe / CBS News)

Tony Dokoupil: The anchor of “CBS Evening News” is expected to be added as a contributor to “60 Minutes,” a role also given to his predecessors at the newscast including Dan Rather, Katie Couric, Scott Pelley and Norah O’Donnell.

Dokoupil has done longer interviews and segments for “CBS Sunday Morning” over his 11 years at the network. The additional exposure to a Sunday night audience of more than 9 million who tune into “60 Minutes” could also help boost his nightly newscast. The program has struggled in the ratings since he took over in January when, during his inaugural week, he awkwardly saluted Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the close of one episode.

"CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil and the network's chief national correspondent Matt Gutman.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil and the network’s chief national correspondent Matt Gutman.

(CBS News)

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Matt Gutman: The network’s national correspondent was Weiss’ first significant on-air talent hire when he joined from ABC News in December. Gutman has been a frequent presence on big stories and breaking coverage for “CBS Evening News” since he arrived.

Mariana van Zeller at the Ultimate Disney Fan Event at the Anaheim Convention Center in September 2022.

Mariana van Zeller at the Ultimate Disney Fan Event at the Anaheim Convention Center in September 2022.

(Image Group LA / Walt Disney Co.)

Mariana van Zeller: The multilingual journalist is best known for her documentary series “Trafficked,” which airs on the National Geographic Channel. Van Zeller, 50, has won dozens of awards for the program that has taken her around the world to report on black market activities and human trafficking.

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Norah O’Donnell: Currently a contributor to “60 Minutes” who already appears on the program’s trademark open, O’Donnell’s role is expected to expand. After CBS settled a $16-million lawsuit filed by President Trump against the program for what he claimed was deceptive editing of an interview, O’Donnell helped the program by stepping up to interview the president twice, subjecting him to tough questions. Her recent joint interview with three U.S. cardinals about Pope Leo XIV and his church’s opposition to the Iran war and Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown became a major story in April.

Major Garrett: The network’s chief Washington correspondent recently appeared on “60 Minutes” to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The assignment caused internal tension as Stahl was pursuing a sit-down with the leader. But Weiss handled the booking and gave Netanyahu the option to select Garrett.

While the decision faced some criticism, the program regularly agreed to former President Obama’s preference for now-retired “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft to interview him even though other journalists on the team wanted a chance.

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Trump’s Plaques on the Presidential ‘Walk of Fame,’ Fact-Checked and Annotated by Historians

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Trump’s Plaques on the Presidential ‘Walk of Fame,’ Fact-Checked and Annotated by Historians

In a well-trafficked walkway linking the West Wing to the White House residence, President Trump has recast history with gold-lettered plaques that summarize each of the 47 U.S. presidencies.

They are peppered with falsehoods, misrepresentations, insults, praise, self-promotion and erratic capitalizations.

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Attendees at a Rose Garden dinner mingled near the plaques in May. Doug Mills/The New York Times

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The Times photographed each plaque and asked eight historians who have studied and written about both Democratic and Republican presidents to examine and annotate the exhibit, which spans 5,400 words.

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  • Nicole Anslover

    Florida Atlantic University

  • Portrait of Douglas Brinkley

    Douglas Brinkley

    Rice University

  • Portrait of David Greenberg

    David Greenberg

    Rutgers University

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  • Portrait of Timothy Naftali

    Timothy Naftali

    Columbia University

  • Portrait of Larry Sabato

    Larry Sabato

    University of Virginia

  • Portrait of Daryl Scott

    Daryl Scott

    Morgan State University

  • Portrait of Marc Selverstone

    Marc Selverstone

    University of Virginia

  • Portrait of Sean Wilentz

    Sean Wilentz

    Princeton University

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The historians noted that the plaques are not a dispassionate museum display. Rather, they said, they are a skewed narrative of history by Mr. Trump, with him as the protagonist. The plaques are written in Mr. Trump’s signature hyperbolic style, as seen in his social media posts.

Asked about the plaques, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, ​said, “As a student of history, many were written directly by the president himself.” The Times shared the historians’ observations with the White House, which declined to comment on the specific points in the annotations. It also declined to provide details on the sources Mr. Trump and others used to write the plaques.

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Mr. Trump showed the plaques to New York Times reporters in January. Doug Mills/The New York Times

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The commentary surrounding more recent presidents — like Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama — adopts a sharper and more partisan tone. While entries for earlier presidents are less combative, they recast history in a way that favors Mr. Trump’s priorities and the unprecedented actions of his administration. The exhibit “is not so much bad history as it is anti-historical,” said Sean Wilentz, an American history professor at Princeton University.

Tariffs are mentioned 18 times. Major scandals are left out (Teapot Dome), or not explained (Watergate). The Monroe Doctrine — which Mr. Trump has misinterpreted, historians say, and used to justify U.S. interventions in the Western Hemisphere — is repeatedly lauded.

The White House ballroom project — which is still under construction and caught in a legal battle — is described as already built. Mr. Trump himself appears in the capsules of six predecessors. And the description of the first year of his second term takes up more space than the summaries for the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt combined.

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Below is the full, unedited text of the plaques, along with a selection of historians’ comments that has been edited for clarity. While the annotations offer insight across the plaques, they are not meant to be comprehensive. Unannotated copy may also include falsehoods or misrepresentations.

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Explore the plaques, with  annotations from historians

To choose a presidency, click on a numbered box or search by name. To see a historian’s annotation, click on a highlighted phrase.

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House Dem lashes out at GOP efforts to probe foreign donations with stunning claim on motive

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House Dem lashes out at GOP efforts to probe foreign donations with stunning claim on motive

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., lashed out at Republican efforts to investigate a Democratic fundraising apparatus on Wednesday afternoon, characterizing the ongoing fraud probe as the most recent instance of GOP retribution against Black women in power.

“Over and over again, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has harassed Black women with bogus lawsuits,” Sewell said on Wednesday morning.

Sewell’s criticisms come as as Republican lawmakers probe ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising and campaign organization, and its CEO and president, Regina Wallace-Jones, for potentially accepting illegal donations.

In particular, House Republicans are demanding that ActBlue turn over international communications, probing whether the organization knowingly misled lawmakers and dodged subpoenas to hide weaknesses in its screening process to weed out illegal, overseas donations.

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DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT IN THE HOT SEAT AS GOP LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS OVER DODGED SUBPOENA

Ranking Member Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala. speaks during a House Administration Subcommittee on Elections hearing on Capitol Hill on May 20, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The review by lawmakers coincides with an April request from President Donald Trump to investigate the group.

“There is evidence to suggest that foreign nationals are seeking to misuse online fundraising platforms to improperly influence American elections,” the White House said in a press release.

Wallace-Jones has called the investigation baseless, maintaining that ActBlue applies high scrutiny for its donations processing.

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JASMINE CROCKETT CLAIMS TRUMP IS ‘TERRIFIED OF SMART, BOLD BLACK WOMEN’ AFTER PRESIDENT’S ‘LOW IQ’ JAB

Regina Wallace-Jones of Palo Alto soaks up the first evening of the DNC Convention at the United Center in Chicago, IL on Monday, August 19, 2024. (Photo by Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

“Our approach is multilayered, with checks and confirmations occurring throughout the donation process to verify donors and donor information,” she told Fox News Digital in a statement earlier this year.

Among other safeguards, Wallace-Jones said the organization requires Card Verification Values (CVVs) for credit card donations, uses IP addresses, a kind of digital footprint, to identify foreign-sourced contributions, applies an industry-standard Address Verification System (AVS) and manually reviews donations.

To Sewell, the investigation into ActBlue and Wallace-Jones is tainted by other investigations into black women who have crossed Trump in the past.

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“This investigation is just one more example of Republicans and President Trump using power of his office to harass and intimidate anyone willing to challenge him. The Trump Department of Justice has used its power to intimidate and victimize communities of color, especially Black Americans,” Sewell said.

ACTBLUE CHIEF HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL HOT SEAT AS DONOR FRAUD PROBE INTENSIFIES

A banner featuring an image of President Donald Trump is displayed on the facade of the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 20, 2026. (Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Image)

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“We should not forget the harassment of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, the harassment of the New York Attorney General, Tish James and the harassment of our colleague Congresswoman LaMonica McIver,” Sewell said, listing off a number of similar cases.

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“It is not surprising that this Republican-led committee is now attacking ActBlue and its CEO, Ms. Wallace-Jones,” Sewell said.

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