Healthcare
State asks judge to lift injunction on Tennessee’s heartbeat abortion law
Attorneys for the state are asking a federal judge to set aside a preliminary injunction barring a “heartbeat” abortion law from taking in effect. In a Friday legal filing, state attorneys notified U.S. District Judge William Campbell they plan to appeal his July 24 order temporarily halting Tennessee’ controversial abortion law from being enforced. They […]
How Nashville will play a critical role in developing the COVID-19 vaccine
In the national race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, officially dubbed “Operation Warp Speed,” Nashville residents are at the starting gate. Two major Phase III vaccine trials are separately getting underway at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College. A Nashville research firm is tentatively partnering with the Metro Health Department on two […]
Lawmakers begin review of sweeping emergency powers granted to governor
Since the onset of the pandemic in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee has drawn on sweeping emergency powers granted under state law to issue 44 executive orders, including stay-at-home orders, business closures and limits on nursing home visitors. On Thursday, state lawmakers met to consider whether those powers should be reigned in going forward. “Does (the […]
Tennessee now only state to pursue plan for Medicaid block grant
Tennessee remains the only state actively pursuing a controversial Medicaid block grant touted by the Trump Administration in January as a “game-changer” that would radically rejigger financing for the federal-state public health insurance program that covers 1 in 5 Americans. Last week, Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Gov. Kevin Stitt, informed federal officials he was scrapping plans […]
Show Me The Democracy
What do you do when your elected representatives ignore the people’s wants and decline to do the people’s business? I’m talking here about simple and direct refusal to enact measures that clear majorities of the voting public want. The good people of the great state of Missouri showed me an excellent answer just last week: […]
A snapshot of July’s rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Nashville by zip code
Densely populated neighborhoods in South Nashville, Madison and Nashville’s downtown core continue to see the largest number of COVID-19 positive cases, but case counts have sharply increased in other parts of the city as well as coronavirus cases continue to spike in the state’s capitol. Here is a snapshot of COVID-19 positive cases by zip […]
COVID cases climb among Tennessee children as schools seek to resume instruction
A football player at a Knox County Catholic high school tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks after team practice got underway in early July. Practice was suspended for another two weeks as a precaution. In Oak Ridge, a band student and an instructor tested positive for the virus at the public high school’s band camp, […]
Senate Republicans pursue benefits pay cut for jobless; adjourn without action
WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders slammed Republicans Friday for leaving in the lurch millions of jobless Americans who are relying on enhanced unemployment benefits to stay financially afloat amid ongoing public health and economic crises. Republicans in Congress and the White House were engaged in heated negotiations this week over the details of their party’s proposal […]
Nashville-based HCA reports $1 billion in profits in second quarter of this year
HCA, the Nashville-based chain of 186 hospitals, reported more than $1 billion in profits in the second quarter of the year, a span from April to June that saw cutbacks in elective surgeries and other inpatient services as the U.S. healthcare system was hit hard by the growing novel coronavirus pandemic. Revenues were down 12% […]
Border officials did not follow guidelines on migrant children’s health care, government investigators find
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not consistently followed new guidelines for medical care of migrant children and spent some of the agency’s money designated for “medical care” on unrelated items like printers, speakers and its canine program, according to a new federal investigation. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent “congressional watchdog,” found gaps […]
Vanderbilt Child Health Policy poll: One third of Tennessee kids with mental health conditions
The Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy released today an analysis today of a poll focused on child mental health. Researchers polled 1,100 Tennessee parents before the pandemic began and found respondents reported roughly 30% of children between the ages of six and 17 have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, such as ADHD, […]
Foster care organization for LGBTQ youth launches
Just months after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a new bill prohibiting gay couples from adopting, the state is getting a new foster care organization exclusively serving LGBTQ+ homeless youth. True You TN is in the beginning stages of opening, having just acquired their 501(c)3 and preparing to fundraise. The group, founded by Executive Director […]