Author

Jamie McGee

Jamie McGee

Jamie McGee covered economic issues for The Tennessean and prior to that, was a reporter for the Nashville Business Journal. Her stories have been featured regularly by USA Today, and she received a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting grant. She has written for Bloomberg News and The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., and has a Masters in journalism from Columbia University.

"It kind of wears you down after a while, having to constantly see patients not be able to access care they desire and care that they need," says Dr. Grace Mead, who is serving her residency as an OB-GYN physician in post-Roe v. Wade Tennessee. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Part One: Residency programs and medical practices drew them to Tennessee. Then came Dobbs.

By: - June 24, 2023

(This is the first in a two-part series on how Tennessee’s abortion ban has affected the training, recruitment and retention of OB-GYN doctors in Tennessee. It was originally published on April 25.) When Dr. Grace Meade matched with a Tennessee medical program for her OB-GYN residency in 2021, Roe v. Wade was still intact. She and her […]

"I don't want to abandon women who are in need," says Dr. Jessie Rizzuto. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Part Two: Residency programs and medical practices drew them to Tennessee. Then came Dobbs.

By: - June 24, 2023

(This is the second in a two part series on how Tennessee’s abortion ban has affected the training, recruitment and retention of OB-GYN doctors in Tennessee. This story was originally published on April 26.) Recruiting residents to Tennessee is critical to the state’s health care workforce. In Tennessee, 46% of residents training in the state stayed […]

Lockeland Elementary School in Nashville. Metro Nashville Public Schools will get Title 1 funds for low-income students slashed, but got boosts from other funding sources. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Tennessee school leaders prepare for new literacy law amid teacher shortages and a tight timeline

By: - March 13, 2023

As Jacob Sorrells winds down his seventh year as director of Marshall County Schools, located south of Nashville, he is doing his best to plan for a new Tennessee law focused on third grade literacy.  The test used to measure reading levels will be given this spring, with results released as the school year ends […]

Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, photographed by John Partipilo.

The NASCAR race next door

By: - February 22, 2023

On days when the racetrack is in use at the Fairgrounds Nashville, Nicole Trammel braces for the ongoing, loud hum of the circling race cars. And, when Nashville Soccer Club fans flock to the new Geodis Park just a block from her house for game nights, gridlocked traffic can add 30 minutes to her drive […]

Beechwood Hall, just south of Franklin in Williamson County, was built in 1856 and is the center of a land use dispute. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Historic Beechwood Hall stirs preservation activism in rural Williamson

By: - January 9, 2023

On an expansive pasture in Franklin, Tenn., at the end of a lengthy driveway, prominently stands a tall, two-story, columned house that dates back to the 1850s. Known as Beechwood Hall, the home has long served as a connection to Williamson County’s storied past to those driving along the area’s rural roads. “It is the […]

Fuad Suleman emigrated from Iraq with his family in 2017. Now a U.S. citizen, he assists other immigrants with the resettlement process. (Photo: John Partipilo)

In Tennessee, need for immigration legal help far outweighs supply

By: - January 3, 2023

On Super Bowl Sunday in 2017, Fuad Suleman, his wife and three children were greeted in the Nashville International Airport by a crowd of hundreds who welcomed them to their new city after an exhausting journey from Iraq. The family had been caught in what was known as the Trump administration’s “Muslim ban” and had […]

Cardboard cutouts of fans and celebrities are placed in seats at Nissan Stadium, current home of the Tennessee Titans. (Photo by John Partipilo.)

How to pay for a football team

By: - November 16, 2022

(Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misstated the condition of a sales tax related to sales outside the stadium.)  To economists, a $2 billion deal for a new Titans stadium is another egregious example of subsidizing privately-owned teams at taxpayer expense. But to Nashville officials, it’s the way out of an eye-popping renovation bill […]

Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care physician, speaking outside the Tennessee Capitol on Wednesday about the state's "trigger law" that bans abortions. The law took effect at midnight. (Photo: John Partipilo)

‘Chilling effect’: Doctors face new legal quandaries under Tennessee’s abortion ban

By: - September 7, 2022

Knoxville obstetrics and gynecology doctor Nikki Zite has treated two ectopic pregnancies since Roe v. Wade was overturned June 24. Now that the Tennessee abortion ban is in effect, the pregnancy complication, which presents life-threatening risks to mothers, prompts new worries for her. “I hope that I am brave enough to move past that worry […]

(Photo: Getty Images)

$200M TNInvestco program winds down, serving as a cautionary tale for some Tennessee lawmakers

By: - January 4, 2022

Steve Berneman began working on a gaming startup in Austin, Texas. In 2012, he moved to Nashville, where he could access investment capital for the company through a new $200 million program funded by the state of Tennessee called TNInvestco.  His company, Overdog, grew to about 15 employees before it was acquired by a New […]

(BW Images/Getty Images)

Controversial New Markets tax credit program proposed in Tennessee

By: - April 10, 2021

In 2017, two University of Tennessee economists were hired by Alabama’s Department of Revenue to evaluate a tax credit program underway in Alabama that was meant to support economic growth in low-income areas. Five years after Alabama’s “New Markets Development Program” was approved and after $234 million in state tax credits were awarded, the economists […]

Aspiring opera singer Grady Hayden put his performance plans on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He's working at a signage company and pursuing and advanced degree. (Photo: John Partipilo)

As COVID-19 weakens Tennessee job market, young adults face new career hurdles

By: - March 18, 2021

In March 2020, music graduate student Grady Hayden was planning to audition for the Nashville Opera’s chorus. He hoped to perform with an opera after graduation and eventually become a voice professor. When COVID-19 halted the entertainment industry, Hayden, 24, chose to extend his studies at Belmont University and work towards a doctorate. He also […]

James Burroughs, 84, and other patients wait to get vaccinated at Neighborhood Health in Madison. (Photo: John Partipilo)

U.S. mishandling of Covid response costs tens of thousands of lives, Hildreth says

By: - March 7, 2021

Dr. James Hildreth, CEO of Meharry Medical College and a member of the new U.S. COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, offered a pointed assessment of the nation’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, criticizing a lack of coordination among its 50 states and missed opportunities to protect the country’s most vulnerable populations that led to […]