Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposes renaming Nashville airport after Dolly Parton
The Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tenn., March 11, 2024. (Joe Hendrickson/Getty Images)
(NASHVILLE) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants to honor Dolly Parton in a big way.
Lee said he spoke with Parton’s team about renaming Nashville International Airport in honor of Dolly, which would create “a lasting tribute to her indelible legacy and the generations of people she inspired across Tennessee and around the world.”
Parton’s team “expressed their appreciation for the extraordinary outpouring of support to honor Dolly,” according to Lee, and they are “touched by the idea and open to continuing the conversation.”
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Gov. Lee said in a statement. “From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her. At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”
Lee’s proposal will be addressed at the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s meeting on Sept. 17.
MNAA President Doug Kreulen said in a statement, “Dolly’s remarkable legacy reminds us that what makes Nashville special is our ability to welcome people from every walk of life. She understood that dignity, kindness and opportunity should never be defined by where you come from or your socioeconomic status.”
Kreulen added, “At BNA, we share that commitment. Whether you are boarding a private aircraft or taking your first flight, you deserve to be welcomed, respected and served with the same level of care. That spirit is what defines BNA and it is a fitting reflection of the values Dolly shared with Tennessee and the world.”
A change.org petition created by Lydia Popovich and Dan Dion in January 2025 to rename the airport after Parton has received tens of thousands of additional supporters since her death on Aug. 25. Since it was created, it has received more than 155,000 signatures.
The petition calls on Lee and Tennessee lawmakers Todd Warner, Bob Freeman and Fred Atchley to make the change.
Warner shared a response to the petition on Wednesday, writing, “Yes I will definitely introduce legislation to rename the BNA airport Dolly Parton International Airport! Thanks, TW.”
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in a photo released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. (New York State Sex Offender Registry)
(NEW YORK) — Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff told the House Oversight Committee Tuesday that the convicted sex offender was a “master manipulator” and that she was unaware of his crimes, according to multiple sources familiar with her closed-door testimony.
Groff is appearing as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.
Groff, who worked for Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”
Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein. She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007.
According to federal prosecutors, “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused.”
Groff told lawmakers Tuesday that she never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Epstein and said the message appointments she scheduled for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, source said. Groff could not recall scheduling massages for anyone other than Epstein and former Goldman Sachs chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler at a spa, and said the masseuses were both male and female, sources said. She testified that she would receive the names of the massage therapists from Epstein, and that he instructed her to schedule the massages.
Sources said Groff told lawmakers that she scheduled most of the massages for Epstein’s New York residence. Groff testified that she never witnessed or knew of any sexual abuse.
Groff testified that she never met a single massage therapist in person and believes that Epstein — or Bella Klein, a one-time Epstein associate — would pay them with “petty cash,” sources said. Groff told lawmakers that she would occasionally send cash via couriers, said sources.
Groff testified that when Epstein was arrested in 2006, he told Groff that he was blackmailed, sources said. She told lawmakers that she did not know she was tied to the 2008 non-prosecution agreement as a listed co-conspirator, which she described that as a “scarlet letter” she wears to this day, according to sources.
Groff said Epstein told her again after the 2008 plea deal that he was blackmailed. Groff said she resigned in 2019 when Epstein was arrested again, sources said.
She described to lawmakers that her relationship with Epstein was strictly business, sources said. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell told Groff that she should not associate with their friends or colleagues, and insisted their business was none of her business, sources added.
She told lawmakers that Epstein had a lot of people in his circle, and she did not find it odd that he had a “large” massage list for individuals across the world, sources said.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believed Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”
“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.
The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”
“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.
Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.
Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.
Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.
“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”
Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”
“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.
After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.
Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.
Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”
“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.
Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.
The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.
“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.
Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”
When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.
“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.
According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.
Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.
“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said.
Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.
“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — The parents of a 5-year-old girl who was found dead after being reported missing in South Carolina have been arrested in connection with her death, with arrest warrants alleging they misled authorities during the search for their autistic child.
Saylor Hayes of Virginia went missing on Sunday after wandering away from a rental home in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, according to local authorities.
During an extensive search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies, her body was found the following day in waters near where she was last seen, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.
Her parents — John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia — were arrested on Tuesday. They have been charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child “for their actions in the disappearance and subsequent death of their child,” the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said.
The couple were arrested in Carter County, Tennessee, and are awaiting extradition proceedings to be brought back to Georgetown County to face their charges, authorities said.
Arrest warrants for the parents allege that they placed Saylor “at an unreasonable risk of harm affecting her life and safety by failing to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for a severely nonverbal, autistic five-year-old child with known affinity to water and history of elopement.”
The girl had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024, though the device was removed prior to the family leaving Virginia, according to the warrants.
“After the child was discovered missing, the defendant encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of tracking technology, despite knowing that the child was not wearing the monitoring device,” the warrant for each parent stated.
The parents are also accused of directing search efforts away from a body of water near where they had allegedly left Saylor unsupervised, according to the warrants.
“The death of Saylor Hayes is a heartbreaking tragedy that has deeply affected our community and everyone who worked so hard to find her,” Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said in a statement. “From the beginning, our responsibility has been to follow the evidence wherever it led. Following an extensive investigation, Saylor’s parents have been arrested and charged under South Carolina law relating to unlawfully placing a child at risk of or causing harm, or willfully abandoning a child.”
“Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection,” he added. “She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”
The parents remain in custody in the Carter County Detention Center, online jail records show. It is unclear if they have an attorney at this time.
The sheriff’s office in Washington County, Virginia, where Saylor lived, said the child had been enrolled in its monitoring program, Project Lifesaver, since June 2024. In the program, individuals who are at risk of wandering wear a transmitter that emits an individualized radio frequency, “allowing specially trained personnel to track and locate them if they become missing,” the office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it provided authorities in Georgetown County with Saylor’s assigned frequency after they requested it on Sunday, though search personnel were unable to detect it.
Washington County authorities subsequently tracked her transmitter to a vehicle at her residence in Bristol, the sheriff’s office said. The transmitter can only be removed by physically cutting the band it’s attached to, the office noted.
“Project Lifesaver works, and we believe strongly in this program,” Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis said in a statement. “When our personnel searched for Saylor’s assigned frequency, the equipment did exactly what it was designed to do. It detected her transmitter and led our personnel to its location.”
“What makes this situation especially heartbreaking is that Saylor did not have her transmitter with her when she went missing,” he continued. “Had Saylor been wearing her Project Lifesaver transmitter, we believe the technology could have assisted search teams in locating her much sooner.”
Zohran Mamdani announces at a news conference that he is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over its policies that he says will drive immigrants and mixed-status families away from public benefits they can legally receive on Sept. 14, 2026, in New York City. The announcement at City Hall included local politicians and immigrant advocates. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a coalition of Democratic-led cities and states across the country have filed a lawsuit challenging a new rule issued by the Trump administration that’s set to go into effect on Friday. The rule would give immigration officers wider discretion to deny green cards to some applicants.
Immigration officers would be able to deny green cards to people who are “likely at any time to become a public charge,” according to a policy notice published on the US. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.
The Trump administration announced the new rule in July.
Under current law, the government can deny a green card to those who become primarily dependent on government cash assistance or long-term medical care paid for by federal agencies. The Trump administration expanded the list to include non-cash, temporary programs like SNAP and WIC.
The government could now prevent someone from gaining permanent legal status if officials believe they’re likely at any point to require such programs.
Opponents say it could prevent U.S. citizens and their family members from obtaining certain benefits. For instance, federal officers could count a child’s participation in a school’s free lunch program against their parent’s application for citizenship.
“This is an undisguised effort to strip New Yorkers of the services they rely on,” Mamdani told reporters. “People could die.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James and 21 other states announced a separate lawsuit challenging the public charge rule.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the cities and states argued the new rule will lead to an increase of homelessness, untreated illnesses, lack of access to education and food insecurity.
USCIS said certain groups would not be affected, such as asylum seekers, refugees, human trafficking victims and others.
At the press conference, James said she and others were filing the lawsuit because “New Yorkers should not have to choose between putting food on the table, getting the health care they need, and pursuing a future in this country.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News, “Let’s get this straight, sanctuary states are terrified they will lose federal funds because hundreds of thousands of illegals and noncitizens might remove themselves from American welfare programs. We’re shaking in our boots over this supposedly terrible outcome.”
