Author

Jamie Satterfield

Jamie Satterfield

Jamie Satterfield is an investigative journalist with more than 33 years of experience, specializing in legal affairs, policing, public corruption, environmental crime and civil rights violations. Her journalism has been honored as some of the best in the nation, earning recognition from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Awards, the Green Eyeshade Awards, the Tennessee Press Association, the Tennessee Managing Editors Association, the First Amendment Center and many other industry organizations. Her work has led to criminal charges against wrongdoers, changes in state law and citations in legal opinions and journals. She was married to the love of her life for 28 years and is now a widow and proud mother of two successful children of good character and work ethic.

Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse in Grainger County. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons)

$1.2M settlement reached in feds’ slaughterhouse raid targeting Grainger Co. immigrant workers

By: - October 13, 2022

A $1.175 million settlement has been reached in a lawsuit over federal agents’ treatment of Latino workers at a Grainger County slaughterhouse, court records show. The proposed settlement agreement was filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court. It still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough. According to the settlement, the seven Latino workers […]

A partially submerged Ford F-150 sits in Trace Creek on August 23, 2021 in Waverly, Tennessee. Heavy rains caused flash flooding in the area. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

In lawsuit response, CSX Transportation denies role in Waverly 2021 flood deaths

By: - October 11, 2022

Blame the record-setting rainfall, not us. That’s the response by CSX Transportation, a national railroad company, to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the families of eight of the 22 victims who died in flash flooding in Waverly, Tenn., in August 2021. “This lawsuit seeks to turn a natural disaster of historic proportions into a […]

A hopper car on a train filled with coal to be delivered to a TVA coal-fired plant.(Photo: John Partipilo)

TVA sued in worker electrocution death at Bull Run plant; report warned of safety concerns

By: - October 10, 2022

The Tennessee Valley Authority is being blamed in the electrocution death of a contract laborer at its Bull Run Fossil Plant in Anderson County. A lawsuit on behalf of the estate of Seth Black, a 29-year-old Spring City, Tenn., man who died at the plant in September 2021, has been filed in U.S. District Court […]

(Photo: Getty Images)

Gucci bags, crypto & Vegas vacations: COVID relief scams land public employees in legal trouble

By: - October 7, 2022

Rhea County’s longest serving executive is headed to federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $650,000 in government COVID relief funding and using the cash to buy cryptocurrency. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. on Thursday sentenced former Rhea County Executive George Thacker, 59, to 33 months in federal prison for wire fraud. Thacker served […]

Now-shuttered Sullivan Central High School, at which Jeremy McLaughlin taught prior to his resignation. (Photo: Facebook, Sullivan Central High School))

Jury shoots down First Amendment claims of former Sullivan County teacher

By: - October 5, 2022

A federal jury has rejected the free-speech claims of a Sullivan County teacher suspended after parents complained about his expletive-laced social media posts on topics ranging from masking during the COVID pandemic to former President Donald Trump. In what was the first test case of a U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision granting First Amendment speech […]

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Suits against East Ridge cops over excessive force and false charges pile up

By: - October 3, 2022

Allegations against East Ridge, Tenn., police officers of excessive force, retaliatory arrests of bystanders and filing false charges — buttressed by body camera and bystander footage — are mounting, a review of police and court records by the Tennessee Lookout shows. When a 70-year-old bystander questioned East Ridge police officers about their treatment of a […]

Thousands of President Donald Trump's supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building following a "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. The protesters stormed the historic building, breaking windows and clashing with police. Trump supporters had gathered in the nation's capital to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over Trump in the 2020 election. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Shelby County man pleads guilty for role in U.S. Capitol insurrection

By: - October 2, 2022

A Tennessee man who breached the U.S. Capitol in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, told law enforcers they were “going to die,” assaulted two officers, smoked marijuana inside the building in celebration, stole a book from a Senate office as a souvenir and made plans to sell footage of his attack after his arrest pleaded […]

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Walgreens ignored warnings about overprescribing opioids, Tennessee suit shows

By: - September 28, 2022

When every pharmacy in Southwest Tennessee refused to fill prescriptions from a McMinnville doctor under probe by federal authorities for peddling opioids to street dealers and addicts, Walgreens barred its pharmacists from rejecting them, records contained in a lawsuit reveal. When Walgreens learned a Dayton, Tenn., prescriber was shelling out opioids and other dangerous drugs […]

Evelyn Boswell. (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)

Judge rules on trial use of photos in case of Sullivan County toddler Evelyn Boswell

By: - September 26, 2022

After weeks of wild goose chases in the 2020 search for missing Sullivan County toddler Evelyn Boswell, authorities finally had a solid lead. It came on March 6, 2020, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Fraley testified Friday at a hearing in Sullivan County Criminal Court, from Evelyn’s grandfather, Tommy Boswell Sr. “We received a […]

Evelyn Boswell. (Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)

Testimony reveals Sullivan County toddler died after being placed in trash can

By: - September 23, 2022

A Sullivan County toddler whose disappearance more than two years ago drew international attention was “tightly wound” in a blanket and aluminum foil, placed in a trash bag and stuffed — alive — inside a trash can, testimony Friday revealed. Testimony in Sullivan County Criminal Court Friday revealed 18-month-old Evelyn Boswell suffocated inside a trash […]

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Christian schools association intervenes in suit against U.S. Department of Education

By: - September 23, 2022

The nation’s largest Protestant association of Christian schools is joining forces with Tennessee and 19 other Republican states to try to block a Biden administration executive order that seeks to protect LGBTQ students in public schools from discrimination. The Association of Christian Schools International, whose members include 2,000 schools and 60 colleges across the country, […]

Hardeman County Correctional Facility. (Photo: Tennessee Department of Corrections)

Private prison contractor CoreCivic hit with two new lawsuits over inmate deaths

By: - September 21, 2022

The parents of three inmates who died behind bars in a span of just four months in 2021 are accusing private prison operator CoreCivic of Tennessee of repeatedly placing profits over safety and failing to police its own guards. “CoreCivic needs to be held accountable, and the (parents) intend to do just that,” attorney Janet […]