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Lawsuit: US Olympic fencing organization failed to prevent sexual abuse of Nashville athlete
Officials with USA Fencing, the national governing body for the sport, knew that Nashville’s premier swordsmanship coach was engaging in sexually inappropriate and abusive behavior, yet failed to act before the sought-after instructor went on to sexually abuse a 13-year-old girl over a two-year period, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges. The coach, Robert […]
A month after abortion ruling, closed clinics and uncertainty in Tennessee
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal guarantee to an abortion, at least two Tennessee clinics have announced they will close, other providers are directing patients out of state and advocates are gearing up for upcoming battles at the state Capitol. Currently, Tennessee has a 6-week abortion ban, which outlaws abortions […]
DCS chief is replaced — the latest departure from Gov. Bill Lee’s cabinet
Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Jennifer Nichols has been replaced — the latest among Gov. Bill Lee’s cabinet to leave state government. Nichols’ tenure — Lee appointed her to the job in 2019 — was marked by controversies that included a Tennessee Lookout report last year of children sleeping in state office buildings and news […]
Study: state should not restrict local government authority over development
In Tennessee local governments have long required developers to dedicate portions of their land for public use — to widen roads or add sidewalks, for example — often over the developers’ objections. Last year, Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, and Rep. Ryan Williams, D-Cookeville, introduced a bill to try and limit local government’s authority over such […]
24 Tennessee counties newly at “high risk” for COVID, as infections rise across the state
If it seems like more people in your orbit have been coming down with COVID recently, it’s not your imagination. COVID is spreading again, not yet at the same high levels of last spring, but the disease is experiencing a noticeable spike in Tennessee and across the country. One in four Tennessee counties is now […]
Early voting is underway: Here’s what you need to know about how to cast your ballot in Tennessee
Tennessee’s early voting season is underway ahead of the August 4 primary election, which features each party’s candidates for governor, the state Legislature and Congress — along with five open seats on the Tennessee Supreme Court. The midterm elections in some of Tennessee’s 95 counties also include races for district attorney, local judges and ballot […]
U.S. Supreme Court’s recent environmental ruling renews spotlight on TVA
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions that cause climate change has renewed the spotlight on the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility and Tennessee’s primary source of electricity. The case involved EPA efforts to implement a key provision of the Clean Air […]
Abortion ruling adds urgency to need for uninsured Tennesseans to gain coverage
In the decade since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling left Medicaid expansion decisions to individual states, healthcare advocates have tried — and failed — to get Tennessee’s GOP-led General Assembly and Republican governors on board. The court’s decision last month ending the Constitutional right to abortion creates an even greater need for urgent action to […]
Tennessee Right to Life savors victory and looks to next legislative goals
For decades, Tennessee Right to Life has helped set the anti-abortion agenda in Tennessee, providing lawmakers with the bill language and backing to successfully enact abortion restrictions. In recent years, restrictions have included waiting periods, layers of added regulations on abortion clinics, required cremation or burial of fetal remains and prohibitions on prescribing abortion medications […]
Molotov device, vandalism found at Nashville pregnancy center
Federal and local authorities are investigating an overnight attack Thursday on a pregnancy counseling center in Nashville, where a window was left smashed with an un-ignited Molotov cocktail device found inside, according to Metro Nashville police who called it the “first act of vandalism seen as related to the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision.” The […]
Court denies Memphis TV reporter access to DCS file in teen’s starvation death
A Davidson County Chancellor has denied a Memphis TV reporter access to the full Department of Children’s Services case file on a 14-year-old Bartlett boy, found dead from starvation in 2020, because the criminal case against his mother and six other adults remains ongoing. WREG journalist Stacy Jacobson filed suit in May seeking access to […]
6th Circuit lifts injunction on Tennessee’s 6-week abortion ban
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a block on Tennessee’s 6-week abortion ban Tuesday, allowing the 2020 near-total ban on abortions to take effect and effectively ending access to the nearly all abortions in Tennessee. “In light of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization… and with the parties’ consent, we vacate the district court’s […]