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Knox County Schools declines questions about officer assault of middle schooler
A Knoxville Police Department officer slammed the face of a handcuffed middle school student onto a table—causing a gash on the boy’s chin—in a search for marijuana that didn’t exist, court records and video obtained by the Tennessee Lookout show. “I had no choice,” KPD School Resource Officer David Lee told the restrained, slightly-built Northwest […]
Hatch Act complaints snag East Tennessee law enforcement officials
Two East Tennessee police chiefs and a police lieutenant are facing complaints they violated federal law when using departmental letterhead to endorse a judicial candidate and posing in uniform alongside the candidate for endorsement photographs. Tazewell Police Department Chief Jeremy Myers, New Tazewell Police Department Chief Ben Evans and New Tazewell Lt. Gary Ruszhowski are […]
Tennessee court rules educators not due emotional distress claims after bus crash
Should a school bus contractor that ignored 1,000 speeding complaints against a driver who went on to cause a crash that killed six students at a tiny Chattanooga Elementary School have known educators there might well suffer “emotional distress” as a result? The Tennessee Court of Appeals says no. Durham School Services knew driver Johnthony […]
Judge barred from opioid trial after using case to boost his reelection bid
An appellate court is barring a Tennessee judge from presiding over a governmental lawsuit against opioid makers, distributors and pharmacies for billing himself on Facebook as a warrior against the drugs and using the case to bolster his own reelection campaign. The Tennessee Court of Appeals is removing 13th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Jonathan […]
Trio of suits against Hamilton County Sheriff allege violent attacks in jail
More than a year after the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office took over a privately-run detention center, violent attacks within the facility are continuing unabated, lawsuits filed this week allege. Three former detainees at the Silverdale Detention Center filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court against Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond and county government. In each […]
Court finds Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance guilty of contempt
A judge on Monday deemed the Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance guilty of “willfully” violating a court order barring the collection of registration fees from nonpartisan political action committees. Senior Judge Thomas J. Wright ruled the state agency defied his injunction—issued in 2018 and upheld by the Tennessee Court of Appeals a year […]
Judge shoots down Knox County gum-chewing lawsuit
Parents of a Knox County high school freshman with a rare hearing disorder are seeking an emergency appeal after a federal judge refused to force the Board of Education to ban eating and gum chewing in classrooms, court records show. U.S. District Judge Katherine Crytzer on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the parents of […]
Suit alleges female detainees forced to put on “sex shows” in Grainger County Jail
Female detainees at the Grainger County Jail were forced to put on “sex shows” for a male correction officer, who climbed atop milk crates in a control room for a better view and masturbated, a proposed class-action lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Tenn., alleges former Grainger County Sheriff’s […]
Tennessee Health Department, TDEC, confirm toxic waste at Anderson County playground
State regulators have confirmed the presence of Tennessee Valley Authority radioactive coal ash waste at a playground in Anderson County — confirming the findings last year of a Duke University study that first revealed the threat to children playing there. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Department of Health issued a […]
OSHA officials admit to shredding documents in Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash case
For two months, teams of workers had been toiling around the clock to clean up a colossal spill of toxic coal ash unleashed in East Tennessee when a containment wall buckled, loosing millions of tons of the sludge across the landscape. They were working unprotected, secure in the knowledge they were safe because the Tennessee […]
Knox County taxpayers off the hook for bill from San Francisco law firm
Knox County taxpayers were at risk of footing the legal bills of a San Francisco law firm their elected leaders didn’t hire or approve to fight a judicial mask mandate their own government is already fighting on their dime — until the Tennessee Lookout asked their mayor about it. The Tennessee Lookout on Thursday morning […]
Tennessee court strikes conviction of former DCS worker who solicited teen for sex
A Tennessee appellate court has struck down the conviction of a former foster parent and Department of Children’s Services case worker who propositioned a teenager for sex and got robbed instead. Jeremiah McDaniel was entrusted with the protection of children through both his job as a social worker for DCS and as a foster parent […]