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Nashville lays out plan to reach Latino residents
Immigrants and refugees comprised 67% of Nashville’s total COVID-19 positive cases in a one-month period ending in late June — the latest data point highlighting the disproportionate impact of the virus on Nashville’s Latino residents. After repeated complaints by alarmed councilmembers and immigrant advocates, city health officials have begun the rollout of a community education, […]
Disabled individuals in state care die of COVID
Five adults living in facilities that are under the oversight of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities have died from COVID-19. Two of the individuals lived in the same home, where a total of four persons who lived there and five staff tested positive for the virus. Two others lived in facilities that also […]
COVID-19 cases spike in Department of Children’s Services facilities
At least 164 children living in facilities operated or licensed by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services have tested positive for COVID-19 — the biggest outbreak in the nation linked to a single child welfare agency. The children, both boys and girls, tested positive inside county juvenile detention centers licensed by DCS, in 49 residential […]
Finance director accuses Hospital Authority of hiding $9.4M in federal funding
The Hospital Authority failed to disclose $9.4 million in federal CARES Act funding to Mayor John Cooper’s administration in fear that its operating subsidy could be reduced, according to documents obtained by the Tennessee Lookout. Finance Director Kevin Crumbo, one of Cooper’s top aides, blasted the Hospital Authority for not keeping the administration in the […]
Ruling on ‘heartbeat bill’ will come after Lee signs
A federal judge in Nashville on Wednesday said he will wait to rule on a request by Tennessee’s abortion providers to temporarily halt a new ‘heartbeat’ abortion measure until it is signed by Gov. Bill Lee. The measure, approved by state lawmakers last week, bans most abortions after the point a fetal heartbeat is detected, […]
Latino-serving organizations to Lee: We need a robust plan
A coalition of Latino-serving organizations from across Tennessee is urging Gov. Bill Lee and local government leaders to take specific and immediate steps to address the increasing spread of COVID-19 among the state’s Hispanic residents. In an open letter to Gov. Lee, 18 groups, among them the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee […]
Abortion clinics file for restraining order in federal court
In new filings in federal court on Monday, eight Tennessee abortion clinics challenging a heartbeat abortion ban outlined the consequences on patients and asked for an immediate temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to prevent the measure from ever taking effect. The measure, one of the most restrictive abortion policies in the nation, was approved […]
House approves measure allowing nurses to prescribe opioid care
A measure to widely expand the number of healthcare providers legally allowed to prescribe medications used to treat individuals with opioid addiction in Tennessee has landed on the desk of Gov. Bill Lee. Tennessee, thus far, has been the only state in the nation that has barred nurse practitioners or physician assistance from providing medication-assisted […]
More Nashville restaurants sue insurance carriers
In the past week, four more Nashville restaurants have entered into legal battles with their insurance companies over failing to pay pandemic-related business losses. Acme Feed & Seed, The Southern Steak & Oyster, Bajo Sexto Taco and The 404 kitchen (the latter two owned by the same management company, LGW) have each filed separate lawsuits […]
Tennessee’s Hispanic community absorbs a third of COVID cases
Manuel Caló, a 56-year-old Nashville construction worker from Guatemala, fell so ill so quickly that, although he took the test for COVID-19, he couldn’t wait for the results. Friends took him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was placed on oxygen and hospitalized for four days. Even feeling so sick, Caló had to overcome […]
State House committee advances bill criminalizing abortion after heartbeat detected
A bill criminalizing abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected was approved by members of a House health committee on Tuesday, even as some lawmakers voting in favor of it said they had not read it in its final form, including one of the bill’s sponsors. The bill was amended by Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, […]
COVID fears reduce jail populations
COVID-19 may be succeeding where criminal justice reform advocates have long tried — and failed — in reducing overcrowding in many of Tennessee’s county jails. Jailers freed more than 9,200 women and men from local lockups across Tennessee between February and May, a 31 percent reduction in average daily inmate populations, according to a report […]