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Tennessee Democrats wade into nonpartisan elections
The Tennessee Democratic Party announced on Thursday it will begin taking an active role in nonpartisan elections and will endorse candidates who run as independents in partisan races. “In the 2022 cycle, we had a lot of candidates running in nonpartisan races or running as independents we couldn’t support,” said TNDP Chair Hendrell Remus. “We […]
Nashville Mayor John Cooper declines second run for top city office
Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Tuesday morning he will not run for reelection, surprising political insiders and likely opening the floodgates for candidates. Cooper termed his announcement a “very happy” one, and reviewed the promises he made when he ran in 2019 and how his administration has addressed challenges. He touted his accomplishments, including paid […]
Fair criticism does not equal incivility
In 1910, one year after leaving the presidency, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt delivered a speech at the University of Paris — better known as the Sorbonne — titled “Citizenship in a Republic.” The speech is better known as the “Man in the Arena” speech, and you may be familiar with it as one portion is oft-quoted […]
Bill Lee sworn into second term as Tennessee’s 50th governor
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was sworn into his second term of office in Nashville on Saturday, touting his first term achievements in education, health care and rural economic development while calling out critics for “toxic incivility.” “Tennessee is leading the nation, and it’s good that we reflect on that and celebrate it,” said Lee early […]
Legislation introduced January 16-20, 2023
Each week during the legislative session, the Tennessee Lookout will provide a rundown of bills filed during the prior week. Hundreds of bills are filed each session and our list won’t include every bill but rather is intended to provide an overview of legislation most likely to have an impact on Tennesseans. Senate bills Senate […]
Know better, do better: a civil rights reading list
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated two months before my fourth birthday in 1968 and Robert Kennedy, former U.S. attorney general and Democratic presidential candidate, was assassinated the day after I turned four. I remember Kennedy’s death, although not King’s, despite that King’s occurred in Memphis, just a couple of hundred miles west of […]
A Nashville institution closes
Visitors to Nashville seeking favorite restaurants among locals have for 40 years been directed to a modest brick and cinderblock building, from which plates of roast beef and fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, turnip greens and whipped potatoes, banana pudding and improbably delicious hot pepper chocolate pie have issued by numbers uncountable. But on Saturday, […]
U.S. House GOP backs McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War. The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel on the 15th ballot by […]
Rep. Mark Green, the West Point officer who opposed certifying the results of a U.S. election
The walls of the Old Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point are adorned with plaques honoring America’s Revolutionary War generals, with George Washington’s featured most prominently. One plaque hangs apart from the rest and differs by only having the words, “Major General. Born 1740.” The nameless plaque denotes the wartime service […]
Pork and green: Beacon Center report lists examples of government waste
Government tax subsidies to build new professional sports facilities topped the annual Pork Report, a list of the most egregious examples of government money considered wasteful in Tennessee during the last year. “From pickleball courts in Bristol to unused homeless pods in Nashville, there continues to be plenty of material for the Pork Report,” said […]
Tennessee Tech professors lose First Amendment case against university
A federal judge has denied a request by two Tennessee Tech professors to overturn disciplinary action levied against them after the pair posted fliers on campus calling a fellow professor a ‘racist.’ Julia Gruber, Ph.D. a tenured professor of German at the Cookeville university, and Andrew Smith, a tenured instructor in the English department, alleged […]