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Appeals court rules against Waste Management, Inc. in Nashville landfill expansion
A publicly-traded company’s bid to expand its landfill in a historically Black Nashville neighborhood has suffered another — and perhaps fatal — legal setback. The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision to deny the proposed expansion of the Southern Service Landfill in the Bordeaux neighborhood. The landfill’s corporate owner is […]
State of Tennessee seeks to dismiss challenge to suit over the banning of protest signs
State lawyers are seeking to dismiss a legal challenge to a Tennessee House of Representatives rule banning protest signs at the Legislature, arguing that since the rules applied only to a special session that has now ended the case is moot. “The special session has now adjourned,” the motion, filed Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery […]
Tennessee board ruling on Sumner County historic property bodes well for Bridal House
A bid by the Sumner County Commission to transfer ownership of a historic log cabin into private hands must first gain state approval, the Tennessee Historical Commission concluded last week. Located on five acres of public lands, the 19th-century cabin known as the Bridal House became an unlikely flashpoint in local politics after the 2022 […]
House Republicans lose decision on sign bans
(Editor’s note: This story has been updated.) Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Anne Martin has ruled that the holding of small signs in House of Representatives’ galleries and committee meeting rooms is likely protected by the First Amendment, keeping in place a temporary restraining order allowing members of the public to carry signs. “Although the […]
Emergency hearing over House sign ban set for Monday
A Davidson County Chancery Court judge has set an expedited hearing for Monday in a legal dispute over a decision by the Tennessee House of Representatives to ban protest signs during a specially called session on public safety. In the order issued Friday, Chancellor Anne Martin said a temporary restraining order will remain in place, […]
Dispute over Murfreesboro’s Middle Point Landfill goes to court
A years-long dispute over the future of Middle Point Landfill landed in a Nashville courtroom on Thursday, where lawyers for the Murfreesboro mega-dump are appealing a regional board’s decision to deny its expansion plans. The fate of the landfill has implications far beyond Rutherford County. The 207-acre site currently accepts trash from one-third of all […]
Tennessee House Speaker Sexton challenges free speech ruling on signs
House Speaker Cameron Sexton is seeking a hearing within 24 hours to challenge a court’s temporary order allowing members of the public to display signs of protest in the Tennessee House of Representatives during the special legislative session on public safety this week. Lawyers for Sexton and other defendants argue the court overstepped its authority […]
Judge issues injunction against Tennessee House, barring enforcement of sign ban
Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Anne Martin issued a restraining order on Wednesday, barring the Tennessee House of Representatives from enforcing a rule banning signs during the special session on public safety. A temporary injunction hearing has been set to hear the ACLU lawsuit on Sept. 5. The ACLU of Tennessee, representing three women ejected […]
Tennessee youth advocates concerned about bill to criminalize threats of mass violence
Among the bills Tennessee lawmakers will consider this week during a special session on public safety is one that would create a new felony offense for making a threat of mass violence. “We’re looking for someone serious about blowing up Second Avenue. We’re talking about a patient making threats to kill a physician. We’re talking […]
Gallatin’s Bledsoe Academy reported by New Hampshire officials for alleged abuse
New Hampshire child advocates grew alarmed last month during a visit to Tennessee, where they toured a privately-run facility to check on the well-being of two boys in state custody who had been sent for residential treatment. What they saw and heard inside the Bledsoe Youth Academy in Gallatin were instances of alleged abuse and […]
Tennessee on the hook for legal fees from 2021 COVID masking suit
An executive order issued by Gov. Bill Lee during the height of the COVID pandemic will now cost Tennessee taxpayers at least $129,000, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision appears to bring to a close a case that began with Lee signing an executive order in August […]
Report: Firearms are leading cause of death in Tennessee kids
Children are dying at higher rates from gun violence in Tennessee than the rest of the nation, an ongoing geographic disparity that has only widened in recent years and one that most gravely impacts the state’s Black families, whose children and teens are being killed by firearms at twice the rate as white kids. The […]