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Lawsuit: Cookeville discharged millions of gallons of untreated sewage into creeks and streams
The city of Cookeville is illegally discharging sewage into streams and creeks that feed into the Cumberland River, diminishing aquatic life and contaminating waterways used for boating, fishing, swimming and other recreational uses, a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit environmental group, Tennessee Riverkeeper, claims. The city’s sewage treatment plant has cited for violations more than […]
Lawmakers demand town hall meeting on plans for Maury County mega waste site
Two Republican lawmakers are asking state environmental regulators to halt approvals for a large-scale trash recycling and incineration plant in Maury County on a federally designated superfund site where chemical weapons agents were once manufactured. State Sen. Joey Hensley and Rep. Scott Cepicky, who each represent portions of Maury County, said they were concerned about […]
Democratic leaders push back on calls for Vanderbilt transgender clinic investigation
A day after Gov. Bill Lee and state Republican leaders called for an investigation into transgender care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Democratic leaders pushed back, saying that “hate” was being used “for political purposes.” “Parents should be able to make decisions in regard to their children’s health. That is something Republicans claim to fight […]
Republican lawmakers plan to strip Vanderbilt Hospital of child transgender surgeries
Fueled by a Twitter report, Republican lawmakers are planning to pass legislation in 2023 to stop Vanderbilt University Medical Center from performing pediatric transgender surgeries. Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Lee requested an investigation, and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s Office said he will use the “full scope” of his authority to make sure state law is being […]
Injunction prevents Operation Save America protesters from interfering at clinic
A federal judge in Nashville has granted a preliminary injunction barring protestors affiliated with the anti-abortion group Operation Save America from the grounds of a Mt. Juliet reproductive health clinic. On July 26, about 150 members and associates of Operation Save America gathered on streets and sidewalks outside an office building that houses carafem, which […]
Maury County Superfund site eyed as destination for Middle Tennessee trash
As Middle Tennessee rapidly runs out of places to dump its trash, one company is eyeing a possible alternative in Maury County, just outside the city limits of Columbia, Tenn. The proposal by Trinity Business Group would bring a massive set of operations to the rural area: a tire shredding facility, construction and municipal waste […]
‘Waiting for the test case’: lawyers say prosecutions inevitable under Tennessee abortion ban
Dr. Tracy Coffey routinely provides emergency care to pregnant women. Last week, on a Saturday, she performed surgery on a patient to remove an ectopic pregnancy — a procedure doctors at her Clarksville hospital perform about once a month. But among the many questions about Tennessee’s new abortion ban for which Coffey can find no […]
‘A bold step for me’: local officials take stands against Tennessee’s strict abortion ban
Knoxville City Councilwoman Lynne Fugate had never before supported a resolution directed to the state legislature, much less one about abortion. It’s up to citizens, not city leaders, to advocate before those elected representatives, she said. But last week the longtime Republican took what she characterized as a “bold step for me.” Fugate backed a […]
Tennessee Judges Philip Smith, John Everett Williams die over Labor Day weekend
Tennessee courts lost two longtime judges over the Labor Day weekend with the unexpected deaths of Fourth Circuit Court Judge Philip Smith and Judge John Everett Williams, the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals Smith served since 2009 as one of two Nashville judges who preside over divorce and domestic violence cases. He […]
Tennessee Comptroller tells Town of Mason that oversight will continue
The Town of Mason — a majority Black community in rural west Tennessee adjacent to the site of a future multi-billion-dollar Ford auto plant — will remain under the financial oversight of the state’s Comptroller, despite an agreed-upon goal that oversight would end August 31. The dispute involving Mason gained widespread public attention this spring, […]
Tennessee AG Herbert Slatery joins lawsuit defending Idaho no-exceptions abortion ban
Herbert Slatery III joined 16 other states’ attorneys general in defending Idaho’s abortion ban against a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which claimed the measure violates federal rules that require hospitals receiving Medicare funding to provide lifesaving care, including abortions. Idaho’s law is similar to Tennessee’s trigger ban; instead of outright exceptions for […]
Amid uncertainty and anger, Tennessee’s abortion ban takes effect
Tennessee on Thursday became the latest state in the nation to ban abortion, implementing a strict new law with no exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal anomalies while subjecting doctors who choose to perform lifesaving abortions to the risk of criminal prosecution. The state’s Human Life Protection Act is among the toughest abortion bans […]