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Rural Tennessee mayors feeling the squeeze as Gov. Bill Lee delegates mask rules to them
Two more Tennessee county mayors enacted first-time mask mandates on Friday afternoon ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, citing rising COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations. Grainger and Claiborne County mayors are getting considerable community blowback after instituting mask mandates. “Mayor Mike Byrd take your so called mandate and stick it. Free people live free you […]
Gun company under investigation in California given taxpayer funded incentives to relocate to Tennessee
A firearms manufacturer lured to do business in Nashville with a $165,000 state job creation grant is currently under investigation by the California Attorney General over allegations it engaged in illegal or deceptive advertising in its sales of gun kits, which allow consumers to assemble their own firearms from parts and bypass gun purchase laws. […]
Bill would allow parents religious exemptions in getting children COVID vaccine
A Tennessee lawmaker has filed a bill that would give parents a greater right to refuse vaccines for their children during a pandemic based on religious objections or “by right of conscience.” Current Tennessee law gives parents the legal right to refuse vaccinations for their children in order to enroll them in school in most […]
Nashville health director under Human Resources investigation
Metro Department of Public Health Director Dr. Michael Caldwell is the subject of multiple human resources complaints, which are currently under investigation. Complaints to the Metro Human Resources Department are not a public record until an investigation is completed. Multiple sources told the Tennessee Lookout the complaints are serious in nature. Caldwell could not immediately […]
Tennessee faces shaky landscape for jobs and public aid to low income residents
Despite a pandemic that has hit Tennessee particularly hard, crippling many businesses, taxing healthcare resources and devastating the loved ones of more than 3,800 Tennesseans who have died, the state’s measures of economic growth are showing some unexpected bright spots. Sales tax collections for October are almost $47 million above the same month last year, […]
Trio of U.S. Senators call for more COVID transparency in psychiatric facilities, homes for people with disabilities
Three U.S. senators are asking federal officials to require psychiatric institutions, group homes for people with disabilities and other treatment facilities for children and adults to report COVID-19 data and make it available to the public. Nursing homes have been asked since the onset of the pandemic to report coronavirus cases, testing and deaths to […]
TennCare adds more than 83,000 as pandemic drives more Tennesseans into poverty
More than 83,000 Tennesseans have been added to the TennCare rolls since March in one sign of a marked slide into poverty experienced by many individuals, especially children, as a result of the economic fallout of the pandemic. Children’s enrollment increased the fastest, with upwards of 34,000 added to the state’s health insurance program for […]
SCOTUS hears oral arguments Tuesday in pivotal Obamacare challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a closely-watched challenge to the Affordable Care Act brought by the Trump Administration and Attorneys General from 20 states, including Tennessee. Should the challenge prevail — and in the absence of any Congressional or executive action to replace Obamacare before the court is expected to […]
Workers compensation elusive for many Tennessee workers stricken by coronavirus
Since the onset of the pandemic, thousands of Tennesseans have filed claims for workers compensation tied to COVID-19, seeking help with lost wages and medical bills due to illness. As of mid-October, more than 44% of initial claims were denied, illuminating the challenges for some ill employees of connecting their illness with their workplaces. The […]
Politics is still local: a look at the local referenda and races impacting small towns across Tennessee
While all eyes remain on the as-yet undecided presidential race, voters in small towns across Tennessee went to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots focused on hyperlocal issues and candidates and achieved historic results in some instances. Here’s a look at some of those election outcomes and what they mean for Tennessee communities: Liquor […]
Some Tennessee residents hunker down on Election Day, worried about strife
Miranda McDonald headed to an East Nashville Kroger store Monday to stock up on two weeks’ worth of groceries for herself and her mother, topped up the car’s gas tank and prepared — if need be — to hunker down at home in the days and weeks to follow one of the most volatile elections […]
Rural jail populations surge again posing new risks as coronavirus cases spike
After an initial reduction in jail populations at the start of the epidemic, thousands of men and women have been newly incarcerated in local lockups across Tennessee — creating overcrowded conditions in rural counties even as the state experiences record levels of death and infection as COVID-19 continues its spread outside urban areas. Data from […]