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What is going on at Metro Nashville’s homeless division?
Over the last year, Nashville has sharply changed its direction in dealing with the city’s unhoused population, leading to pushback and concerns from several local homeless services providers previously at the forefront of tackling the problem. The new approach of Metro Homeless Impact Division, or MHID, is to close longtime encampments, like those at the […]
House Speaker’s proposal to block TennCare contracts over trans health stopped in the Senate
Legislation seeking to block Tennessee’s Medicaid program from contracting with any insurance company that covers gender transition health care in another state has stalled in the Senate. House Bill 1215, sponsored by House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, would eliminate all of TennCare’s contracts with managed care organizations covering gender affirming care in other […]
Lieutenant governor captures vote of confidence amid Instagram scandal
Barely two weeks after revelations that he posted comments next to risque photos on young gay men’s Instagram sites, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally won a vote of confidence from his peers. The Senate Republican Caucus, in a vote that took hours to cast Monday, supported the veteran lawmaker instead of handing him a vote of […]
Senate Republicans to hold a vote of no confidence in Lt. Gov. McNally today
The Senate Republican Caucus will hold a vote of no confidence in Lt. Gov. Randy McNally Monday, nearly two weeks after revelations that he frequently commented on racy photos on young gay men’s Instagram sites. McNally, the Republican-appointed speaker of the Senate from Oak Ridge, has weathered the criticism of these comments by stating he […]
House committee moves forward a bill to allow narrow exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion law
A bill to allow very specific exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion ban passed a key House committee Wednesday. The legislation would allow doctors to perform an abortion in the case of an ectopic and molar pregnancies — a rare, noncancerous tumor that develops as the result of a non-viable pregnancy — or when a doctor determines […]
Bill to allow public access to lethal injection records on the rocks after state lobbies against it
Legislation to allow the public to understand how Tennessee buys lethal injection drugs is floundering as the state correction department lobbies against it behind the scenes. The legislation — House Bill 870 — would remove an exemption in Tennessee public record law, which allows the state to hide how it procures drugs for lethal injection. The […]
Tootsie’s Honky Tonk owner pushes bill to exempt Lower Broadway bars from Nashville oversight
Tootsie’s Entertainment LLC, the company behind several honky tonks on Lower Broadway, is pushing legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly to remove all bars from oversight by Nashville’s beer board. The legislation, filed last week, would block Metro Nashville’s authority to regulate all bars in the downtown tourism development zone and instead give oversight to […]
Nashville files lawsuit over state’s law to cut the council’s size in half
Metro Nashville has filed a lawsuit to stop the state from implementing a law to cut the size of its council from 40 to 20. Last week, lawmakers passed and Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation that capped all city and metro council sizes at 20. The bill effectively targeted Nashville, the only city or metro […]
After slashing the council, lawmakers will have to decide if they want to run Nashville
State Republicans cut the size of the Metro Nashville Council in half last week, kicking off a process that should reveal how serious lawmakers are about taking over various aspects of the city’s government. GOP state lawmakers passed, and Gov. Bill Lee signed, the legislation into law Thursday, with metro officials expected to file a […]
The origins of Tennessee’s drag show restriction: From rural West Tennesse to the state capital
In fall of 2022, nearly a dozen political and religious leaders met with Pride festival organizers in a back room of Jackson City Hall in West Tennessee. The shared goal? Hash out a deal over a drag show. Jackson’s third annual LGBTQ Pride festival was scheduled for the following month, and unlike the previous years, […]
U.S. Secretary of Transportation: Amtrak rail in Tennessee could ‘unlock’ economic activity
While in Nashville last week, the federal transportation secretary signaled his support for expanding Amtrak rail in Tennessee. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said connecting Nashville by rail lines to places like Memphis, Louisville and Atlanta has enormous potential. “Those connections could unlock a lot of economic activity,” Buttigieg said while attending a grant […]
Nashville Black clergy group could file lawsuit against the state if Metro Council cut
A prominent group representing Nashville’s black clergy delivered a letter Friday asking state Republican leaders to halt their efforts to shrink the size of the Metro Council and other proposals targeting the city. Davie Tucker, the President of the Nashville Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship, signed the letter. In it, he implied the group could file a […]