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Nashville women’s shelter under quarantine amid COVID outbreak
About 150 residents of the Nashville Rescue Mission’s women’s campus are now under quarantine after an outbreak of COVID-19, according to the Metro health department. “The Metro Public Health Department has been working with Nashville Rescue Mission officials on a cluster (fewer than 20) of cases,” an email from spokesman Brian Todd said. “We have […]
Two legal defeats in one week for Tennessee attorneys seeking to uphold restrictive abortion laws
A federal judge has shot down efforts by state attorneys to kickstart one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws while a legal challenge that will likely take months or years is underway. Tennessee’s so-called “heartbeat” abortion law, enacted by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Bill Lee in May, bans abortions once a fetal […]
Report ranks Tennessee one of top five for kids in state custody with COVID-19
More than 1,800 children and teens involved in juvenile justice systems across the nation and in Puerto Rico have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, a report released Wednesday by The Sentencing Project has found. Tennessee is one of five states with the highest number of positive cases among kids in custody: 146 […]
Federal judge temporary halts Tennessee’s so-called “abortion reversal” law, set to go into effect Oct. 1
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Tennessee law requiring abortion providers to tell women a medication abortion can be reversed — a claim that providers have called “scientifically unsupported and misleading information.” The law, enacted earlier this year by Tennessee lawmakers, was set to go into effect October 1. It makes it a […]
Taxpayer funded corporate incentives fail to produce promised jobs
When Canadian entrepreneurs touting a healthy new snack product scouted Kingsport, Tenn. as their new headquarters in 2015, local economic development officials like Clay Walker were enthusiastic. They sampled the gluten-free, non-GMO fruit and vegetable bars and worked to seal a deal that would bring 273 jobs to the northeast Tennessee town of 54,000 in […]
Nashville’s COVID hotspots include facilities for kids in DCS custody
Among the Nashville COVID-19 hotspots disclosed by the city’s health department on Monday are three facilities in or near downtown where the majority of positive cases have been found not among honky tonk patrons or nursing home residents but in children in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services. At Hermitage Hall, an Eighth […]
Audit critical of Tennesee’s economic incentive program after companies failed to create promised jobs
Nine companies lured to do business in Tennessee with generous economic incentive packages have been referred to the Tennessee Attorney General for possible legal action after failing to live up to their end of the bargain, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe told lawmakers this week in response to a critical audit of the […]
Comptroller: Two Memphis nonprofits who received thousands in federal dollars lied about feeding low-income kids
In 2018, suspicion had grown about a Memphis child care organization that was supposed to be distributing food to low-income children who were out of school for the summer — food paid for by taxpayer funds in a program overseen in Tennessee by the state’s Department of Human Services. Red Robin’s Academy of Learning had […]
As Tennessee prepares to distribute $61M in broadband grants, an audit questions fairness of the grant application process
Over three years, state officials have awarded more than $45 million in grants to municipalities and private companies to expand broadband internet access in rural Tennessee. An audit released Tuesday by the Tennessee Comptroller is now raising questions about how the Department of Economic and Community Development selected who was awarded the highly competitive grants. […]
State senator proposes court for “harassing” open records requests
A proposal by Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, would allow state and local authorities to take individuals seeking public records to court if their repeated requests for government information is found to constitute “harassment.” Haile sought input on his proposed legislation Wednesday from the the Advisory Committee on Open Government, which works with the Tennessee Office of […]
Gov. Bill Lee administration defends emergency powers used to combat COVID-19
Members of the administration of Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday provided testimony justifying the sweeping emergency powers adopted by the governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the onset of the pandemic in Tennessee, Lee has drawn on the state’s 20-year-old Emergency Powers Act to issue 44 executive orders that have had direct impact […]
Nashville attorney makes cameo appearance in Senate Russian interference report
Deep within the 966-page Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Russian interference in the U.S. political process, released August 18, a Nashville lawyer who formerly served as attorney to the campaign of U.S. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn makes several cameo appearances. Kline Preston, IV is a long-time Nashville attorney — a graduate of the Nashville School of […]