Investigates
A rural county’s choice: use opioid funds to pay off debt, or pay them forward to curb crisis
Over the past two years, rural Greene County in northeastern Tennessee has collected more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. But instead of helping people harmed by addiction, county officials are finding other ways to spend it. They have put $2.4 million toward paying off the county’s debt […]
After top departure, an interim director leads Tennessee’s domestic violence nonprofit
The Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence has a new, interim head, following the abrupt departure last month of its longtime leader. Jennifer Escue joined the nonprofit two years ago, as director of programs. Before that, she spent nearly two decades with Catholic Charities of Tennessee, overseeing programs for refugees resettling to the state. […]
Longtime Tennessee domestic violence leader is out following critical federal investigation
This story was jointly reported by WPLN News and the Tennessee Lookout. The longtime leader of the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence has left the organization. The change comes less than a week after WPLN News and the Tennessee Lookout reported on federal findings of whistleblower retaliation at the nonprofit. Kathy Walsh […]
Investigation finds Tennessee domestic violence nonprofit retaliated against employee
This story was jointly reported by WPLN News and the Tennessee Lookout. A federal watchdog has found that the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence unlawfully retaliated against and then forced out an employee who blew the whistle about potential misuse of federal funding. The investigation by the Department of Health and Human […]
TVA sued in worker electrocution death at Bull Run plant; report warned of safety concerns
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 […]
Judge rules to unseal videos in 2018 Tennessee slaughterhouse raid
A federal magistrate judge says the public has a right to see a video that purportedly shows an agent of the U.S. government engaged in excessive force in a raid at a Grainger County slaughterhouse. U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Steger has shot down a bid by attorneys for a slew of federal agents to keep […]
FBI charges Tennessee man who attended insurrection with shooting at Knoxville federal building
The FBI has charged a Tennessee man who traveled to the Capitol Building during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection with shooting at a federal building in downtown Knoxville earlier this month. Mark Thomas Reno is charged in an FBI warrant unsealed this week in U.S. District Court with damaging federal property for allegedly firing upon […]
Federal agents fight release of video in Grainger County slaughterhouse raid
Federal agents accused of targeting, mocking and, in some instances, brutalizing Latino workers at a Grainger County slaughterhouse claim their lives will be endangered by the public release of video from the controversial raid, court records show. Although the video is currently under seal, an investigation by the Tennessee Lookout reveals the footage appears to […]
State appeals ruling that warrantless searches by wildlife officers are unconstitutional
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will appeal a judicial panel’s ruling that warrantless searches on private lands to enforce hunting, fishing and wildlife laws are unconstitutional. The ruling last month by the three-judge panel concluded that TWRA’s searches without permission or notice to property owners — and without appearing before a judge to show probable […]
Murfreesboro mortuary settles suit in corpse “abuse” case
A Murfreesboro funeral home named in a federal lawsuit for allegedly abusing the bodies of deceased immigrants has settled with the victim’s family. On April 6, Nelson and Sons Memorial Chapel settled with the family of Freddy Aroldo Cristotomo, who died in October 2019. Nelson was one of five funeral homes named by multiple families […]
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 […]