Excuse me ma'am, can we please have all your jewelry?
I'm Daniel Wagner from the Patriot Punk Network, giving you the latest Tennessee news in 3 minutes or less.
This is our Today in Tennessee Segment brought to you by Estate of Creative. Local, ready-to-go furniture restored and ready for you
Let's go!
Round 1
Memphis just discovered two “convenience” stores that were a little too convenient. The West Tennessee Violent Crime and Drug Task Force hit Shell Food and Fuel and Yale Tobacco Discount after complaints that the real business model was slots, drugs, and cash-under-the-counter payouts.
At Shell, undercover agents played the house, watched staff pay out illegal winnings straight from the register, then rolled out with three slot machines and about $4,975 in gambling proceeds.
Over at Yale Tobacco, they say they found five more machines, two ounces of khat, two guns, drug paraphernalia, and $2,255 in gambling and drug cash—again, with the “jackpots” allegedly coming right from the till.
And the trail didn’t stop at the counter.
Agents traced everything back to a house on Pepper Hollow Court in Cordova, where they seized another kilo of khat, a money counter, and $91,096 in suspected drug and gambling proceeds.
Director Johnie Carter described khat as a rare, Schedule I stimulant “similar to cocaine or meth,” which is not exactly what you expect to find between the scratch-offs and the vape juice.
I'm just now eagerly learning everything about Khat myself.
Only in Memphis do you stop for gas and accidentally enter a live episode of ‘Narcos: Convenience Store Edition.
Round 2
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s new budget sets aside $735,000 for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a group Senator Marsha Blackburn is blasting as a “pro-illegal alien nonprofit”.
The money is described as a “grant” to fund “accessible, high-quality legal services, education, and information” for immigrants working to “adjust or maintain their lawful immigration status” in Davidson County.
In other words, City Hall says it’s about helping people stay compliant with immigration law, while critics say it’s taxpayer-funded activism for people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.
A spokesperson from O’Connell’s office says, “These funds are intended to support TIRRC’s work to provide accessible, high-quality legal services, education, and information to support people working to maintain compliance with applicable immigration laws and policies.”
Then again, we all know what government officials really mean when they say "it intends" to do something.
Blackburn and others see it differently, framing it as Nashville handing over three-quarters of a million dollars to a political nonprofit with a long history of pushing sanctuary-style policies.
So Metro’s out here cutting checks to TIRRC while regular Nashvillians are still trying to figure out why basic city services move slower than federal immigration court.
That's 2 rounds dwn 1 tg, today's mission is to tag a friend in the comments who YOU think might like our TITS
Round 3
While were on the subject of Nashville, Metro Nashville PD issued a warning yesterday, advising citizens to be on the lookout for two men who have been pretending to do jobs that Americans just wont do to take advantage of elderly residents.
The men have been spotted dressed as landscapers offering theor services, and while one lures their victim to the back yard, the other rushes inside and robs them blind.
If you see these men or their dark grey Ford F150 with tinted windows, be sure to report them to Metro PD.
That was your daily Tennessee news roundup.
For more deep dives into local stories, watch the Patriot Punkcast on Rumble every Sunday and Wednesday at 7pm CST. Thanks for checking out our TITS — see you Monday!
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