Heartbreaking. Earlier this month, country music singer Conner Smith was involved in a fatal accident on the last day of CMA Fest when he struck a pedestrian near downtown Nashville. According to law enforcement, Smith was heading north on 3rd Avenue in his Chevy Silverado as 77-year-old Dorothy Dobbins was attempting to cross the street. Nashville authorities have reported that Dobbins – who was a local resident of Nashville – was in a marked crosswalk when she was tragically hit around 7:30 PM. First responders rushed to the scene following the incident, and the 77-year-old Nashvillian was transported to the nearby Vanderbilt Medical Center. She unfortunately succumbed to her injuries and was officially pronounced dead at the hospital. Early reports suggest that Dorothy Dobbins had the right of way in the crosswalk, and that Smith failed to yield to her. Importantly, the police say that Conner Smith did not show any signs of impairment immediately after the crash, nor was he using his cell phone as he was driving. As of right now, a search of Davidson County court records show that no criminal charges have been filed, but authorities report that the investigation into the crash is still ongoing. Smith’s attorney Worrick Robinson (who also represented Morgan Wallen last year in his charges related to his chair-throwing arrest) released a statement after the accident expressing his sympathy for Dobbins: “On June 8th, Mr. Smith was involved in a car accident that tragically claimed a life. His heart goes out to Ms. Dobbins’ family during this incredibly difficult time. Mr. Smith continues to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation.” And now, TMZ has obtained the 911 calls made in the aftermath of the incident. There were several calls made by witnesses immediately after the accident, with dispatchers telling callers that they were aware of the situation and already had first responders en route. Several of the calls refer to the victim as a male, and one reports that Dobbins was sitting up against Smith’s truck: “They have them sitting up in the street now in front of the truck.” Callers confirmed that the vehicle involved was a black Chevy truck, and one reported that they weren’t sure of the status of the victim: “There was an individual that just got hit by a car, [she’s] down, I don’t know that [she’s] responsive or anything.” Just a tragic situation all around. Smith, who is signed to Big Machine Records, is most prominently known as an artist who rose in the country music ranks thanks to TikTok. His song “I Hate Alabama” went viral a couple of years ago, and fans might also recognize his hit song “Creek Will Rise,” or his Tennessee anthem “Orange and White.” He also released his debut album Smoky Mountains in January 2024, and he’s since made plenty of appearances at various country music festivals. Days prior to his performance at CMA Fest in Music City earlier this month, Smith had played at the Carolina Country Music Fest. Following that, he returned home to Nashville and performed on the Chevy Riverfront Stage the Saturday afternoon of CMA Fest weekend. The tragic accident occurred just 24 hours after he stepped off the stage. Heartbreaking for everybody involved. @tmz ConnerSmith’s car accident in #Nashville sparked a flurry of 911 calls … and, in one, a caller says the person who was hit was actually sitting up in the street after the crash. #Exclusive story in bio! : Nashville DEC ♬ original sound – TMZ – TMZ The post 911 Calls Released From Conner Smith Accident: “They Have Them Sitting Up In Front Of The Truck Now” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

University of Virginia President James E. Ryan is resigning from his role following demands to do so by the Trump administration. The move, first reported by the New York Times on Friday afternoon, comes after officials with the Justice Department informed the school that hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding were at risk because of the school’s alleged failure to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.  Ryan had been under mounting pressure from Trump’s DOJ, which says the university systematically made admissions decisions based on race.  Trump’s second term has been marked by high-profile skirmishes with Cornell, Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Princeton, and Brown. The president has threatened to pull billions in federal funding from the schools if they don’t commit to abolishing DEI policies and programs. The post University of Virginia President Resigns appeared first on The American Conservative.

In an opinion released Friday morning, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that lower courts do not have the authority to issue universal injunctions. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson dissented. The ruling was made in the case Trump v. CASA, Inc., in which the plaintiffs sued to prevent President Donald Trump’s executive order No. 14160 (“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”) from altering the federal government’s definition of birthright citizenship. Lower courts agreed with the plaintiffs and imposed universal injunctions, preventing the executive order from going into effect anywhere in the U.S. In response, the government filed emergency petitions to the Supreme Court arguing that the lower courts lacked the authority to implement universal preliminary injunctions. The Supreme Court, in the opinion written by Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, agreed with the government. “Federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them. When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too,” Barrett wrote. Noting that “universal injunctions were not a feature of federal court litigation until sometime in the 20th century,” the court ruled that federal district and appeals courts must limit their preliminary injunctions to providing complete relief to the parties of the case. The ruling is a major victory for the Trump administration, which has had its actions stymied by a large number of universal injunctions placed on it since his inauguration. Federal district and appellate courts will now be much more limited in their ability to constrain actions by the president. The ruling will also have an immediate effect on a number of cases currently on appeal. Trump called the ruling a “GIANT WIN” in a post on his Truth Social account Friday. The post Supreme Court Kills Universal Injunction in Birthright Citizenship Case appeared first on The American Conservative.

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