Trump nominates 4 to Tennessee Valley Authority board after firing Biden picks
TVA is the nation's largest public utility and provides power to more than 10 million people across seven southern states.
The White House said Trump's nominees for the federal utility are Tennesseans Lee Beaman, Mitch Graves and Jeff Hagood; and Randall Jones of Alabama.
The selections follow Trump's firing of three Biden-nominated board members since late March. The board normally has nine members and requires five to make a quorum. It currently has three. Trump's picks would not be seated until the U.S. Senate confirms them.
Without a quorum, TVA's board can take actions needed for ongoing operations but cannot jump into new areas of activity, start new programs or change the utility's existing direction.
Beaman is a businessman who sold his Nashville-area fleet of car dealerships. He is also a prominent Republican political fundraiser.
Graves is the CEO of West Cancer Center & Research Institute in Germantown, Tennessee, and he sits on the board of Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
Hagood is a Knoxville attorney and sits on the Knoxville Sports Authority Board. He was helping fundraising efforts for Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, the former WWE wrestler who had been flirting with a run for governor.
Jones is an insurance agent and sits on the Jacksonville State University board, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame board and the city of Guntersville Electric Board.
In a March 20 guest column, Tennessee's two Republican U.S. senators urged TVA officials to opt for 'an interim CEO trusted by the president' before hiring someone long-term. They wrote that studies and hurdles under the TVA board were bogging down a project that seeks to build a small modular nuclear reactor.
Monday Mornings
The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
Then, Trump fired board member Michelle Moore on March 27.
On March 31, the five remaining board members picked TVA's executive vice president and chief operating officer Don Moul to become the new CEO. Moul has since called for reevaluating the lifespan of TVA's fleet of coal plants. The utility has been planning to retire the last of them by 2035. But Trump has signed executive orders aimed at boosting the coal industry.
On April 1, Trump fired board member Joe Ritch, leaving the board without a quorum. Months later, he fired Beth Geer from the board on June 10.
This weekend, a guest column by Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee called for a 'a new board and a clear, aggressive mission' to further Trump's goal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years. Trump signed executive orders in May to speed up the development.
Blackburn and Hagerty called for the new nominees' quick confirmation in the Senate.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
27 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
New Trump portrait hangs in Colorado Capitol after he called previous one 'the worst'
A presidential portrait with Donald Trump's approval now hangs in the Colorado Capitol after his complaints got a previous one of him taken down. The new portrait by Tempe, Arizona, artist Vanessa Horabuena is a sterner, crisper image than Sarah Boardman's painting of Trump that had hung since 2019. Last spring, Trump posted on social media that Boardman 'must have lost her talent as she got older' and 'purposely distorted' him, criticisms the Colorado Springs artist denied. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The next day, lawmakers announced they would remove the portrait from a wall of past presidents. By the day after that, Boardman's painting was gone, put into museum storage. The Horabuena portrait donated by the White House a month or so ago went up this week after a Thursday decision by Lois Court, a former state lawmaker who chairs the Capitol Building Advisory Committee that helps select artwork for the Capitol in downtown Denver. 'There was a blank on the wall. It seemed inappropriate. We knew that the White House had sent us this replacement and it simply made sense to put it up,' Court said. The White House donated the Horabuena portrait a month or so ago, said Court. Horabuena is a 'Christian worship artist' who has done several other depictions of Trump as well as Abraham Lincoln, Mount Rushmore and Jesus Christ, according to her website. On Tuesday, the Colorado statehouse was sleepy with lawmakers out of session and no schoolchildren visiting the historic building. A smattering of tourists took photos of the new portrait. Horabuena did not return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment. ( @realDonaldTrump - Truth Social Post ) ( Donald J. Trump - Jul 01, 2025, 3:06 PM ET ) Thank you to the Highly Talented Artist, Vanessa Horabuena, and the incredible people of Colorado — Now on display in the Colorado State Capitol! 'Thank you to the Highly Talented Artist, Vanessa Horabuena, and the incredible people of Colorado,' Trump posted Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social. The portrait and others of past presidents might not remain up for long. The advisory committee is considering whether to replace them with portraits of past governors to mark the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood next year. ___ AP videojournalist Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Canada News.Net
29 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Trump administration escalates feud with judges on immigration policy
WASHINGTON, D.C.: In a striking escalation of tensions between the executive and judicial branches, the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and all 15 of its federal judges, challenging a recent order that temporarily blocks migrant deportations in the state. The lawsuit, filed late June 24 by the Justice Department in a Baltimore federal court, targets a standing court order issued last month that imposes an automatic two-business-day delay on deporting any migrant in Maryland who files a new habeas corpus petition challenging their detention. The Justice Department argues that the order exceeds judicial authority and violates Supreme Court precedent on injunctions. It contends that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, federal courts are barred from interfering with active deportation proceedings. Calling the Maryland court's action an "egregious example of judicial overreach," the administration is seeking a ruling to invalidate the order and an injunction to prevent its enforcement. The lawsuit also requests that all Maryland judges recuse themselves and ask that a judge from another jurisdiction handle the case instead. A representative for the Maryland court declined to comment. Chief U.S. District Judge George Russell, an appointee of a Democratic president, signed the court's order. It cited a "recent influx of habeas petitions" involving detained migrants at risk of imminent removal. It noted that many of these filings occurred during evenings, weekends, or holidays, resulting in rushed hearings where judges struggled to get clear information on detainees' locations and legal status. The two-day pause was intended to give judges time to review such cases before deportations proceeded—an effort at judicial due process amid the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement. The issue gained national attention after the 2023 deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had lived in Maryland with his American wife and child. Though an immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Abrego should not be deported due to the risk of gang violence, he was nonetheless removed in March of this year. He was returned to the U.S. on June 6, after a Maryland court ordered his return. That only happened, however, after the Justice Department filed criminal charges against him for migrant smuggling—a charge he has denied. He is now awaiting a court ruling in Tennessee on the conditions of his release. The Justice Department's lawsuit frames the Maryland court's order as part of a broader pattern of judicial resistance to the president's immigration policies. "Every unlawful order entered by the district courts robs the Executive Branch of its most scarce resource: time to put its policies into effect," the lawsuit stated. "In the process, such orders diminish the votes of the citizens who elected the head of the Executive Branch." While the Maryland judges have not responded publicly, the legal battle could have major implications for how courts nationwide handle emergency immigration filings and how far the executive branch is willing to go to counter them.
Edmonton Journal
30 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
New Trump portrait hangs in Colorado Capitol after he called previous one 'the worst'
Article content A presidential portrait with Donald Trump's approval now hangs in the Colorado Capitol after his complaints got a previous one of him taken down. The new portrait by Tempe, Arizona, artist Vanessa Horabuena is a sterner, crisper image than Sarah Boardman's painting of Trump that had hung since 2019. Last spring, Trump posted on social media that Boardman 'must have lost her talent as she got older' and 'purposely distorted' him, criticisms the Colorado Springs artist denied. Article content Trump portrait that he called 'truly the worst' is being taken down 'immediately' The next day, lawmakers announced they would remove the portrait from a wall of past presidents. By the day after that, Boardman's painting was gone, put into museum storage. The Horabuena portrait donated by the White House a month or so ago went up this week after a Thursday decision by Lois Court, a former state lawmaker who chairs the Capitol Building Advisory Committee that helps select artwork for the Capitol in downtown Denver. 'There was a blank on the wall. It seemed inappropriate. We knew that the White House had sent us this replacement and it simply made sense to put it up,' Court said. The White House donated the Horabuena portrait a month or so ago, said Court. Horabuena is a 'Christian worship artist' who has done several other depictions of Trump as well as Abraham Lincoln, Mount Rushmore and Jesus Christ, according to her website. On Tuesday, the Colorado statehouse was sleepy with lawmakers out of session and no schoolchildren visiting the historic building. A smattering of tourists took photos of the new portrait. Horabuena did not return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment. Article content Latest National Stories
