Politics

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, photographed in February 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Lieutenant governor captures vote of confidence amid Instagram scandal

BY: and - March 20, 2023

Barely two weeks after revelations that he posted comments next to risque photos on young gay men’s Instagram sites, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally won a vote of confidence from his peers. The Senate Republican Caucus, in a vote that took hours to cast Monday, supported the veteran lawmaker instead of handing him a vote of […]

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, faces a vote of no confidence from the Senate Republican Caucus. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Senate Republicans to hold a vote of no confidence in Lt. Gov. McNally today

BY: and - March 20, 2023

The Senate Republican Caucus will hold a vote of no confidence in Lt. Gov. Randy McNally Monday, nearly two weeks after revelations that he frequently commented on racy photos on young gay men’s Instagram sites.  McNally, the Republican-appointed speaker of the Senate from Oak Ridge, has weathered the criticism of these comments by stating he […]

Former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey exits the federal courthouse in Nashville after pleading guilty on two federal counts on Nov. 22. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Kelsey sentencing shifted for March 28 hearing

BY: - March 17, 2023

Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey’s sentencing hearing on a federal campaign finance conviction is being shifted ahead of co-conspirator Joshua Smith’s hearing on March 28. At the request of prosecutors, Kelsey’s hearing was flipped to 1 p.m. and Smith’s was moved to 3:30 p.m. The move enables federal attorneys to call Smith to the stand […]

COMMENTARY
Fox guarding the henhouse: Margie Quin, center, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. A bill to dissolve an independent commission providing oversight of DCS hit snags this week. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Stockard on the Stump: Killing the Commission on Children and Youth won’t be easy

BY: - March 17, 2023

The Lee Administration’s plan to dissolve the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth— apparently for reporting the state’s foster care system is the nation’s worst — is running into trouble. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson had to postpone the governor’s legislation for a week after commission backers packed the Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting […]

Tennessee House of Representatives (Photo: John Partipilo)

House committee moves forward a bill to allow narrow exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion law

BY: and - March 15, 2023

A bill to allow very specific exceptions to Tennessee’s abortion ban passed a key House committee Wednesday. The legislation would allow doctors to perform an abortion in the case of an ectopic and molar pregnancies — a rare, noncancerous tumor that develops as the result of a non-viable pregnancy — or when a doctor determines […]

Tennessee State Capitol (Photo: John Partipilo)

Bill to allow public access to lethal injection records on the rocks after state lobbies against it

BY: - March 15, 2023

Legislation to allow the public to understand how Tennessee buys lethal injection drugs is floundering as the state correction department lobbies against it behind the scenes.  The legislation — House Bill 870 — would remove an exemption in Tennessee public record law, which allows the state to hide how it procures drugs for lethal injection. The […]

Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, is sponsoring a bill to dissolve the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Governor’s Office pushes to dissolve Commission on Children and Youth amid foster care woes

BY: - March 14, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is updated. Despite a state crisis in which foster children are staying in worker’s offices, Gov. Bill Lee’s office wants to dissolve the independent Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson confirmed he would be presenting Senate Bill 282 Wednesday in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee […]

A restaurant on Lower Broadway in mid-April. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Tootsie’s Honky Tonk owner pushes bill to exempt Lower Broadway bars from Nashville oversight

BY: - March 14, 2023

Tootsie’s Entertainment LLC, the company behind several honky tonks on Lower Broadway, is pushing legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly to remove all bars from oversight by Nashville’s beer board.   The legislation, filed last week, would block Metro Nashville’s authority to regulate all bars in the downtown tourism development zone and instead give oversight to […]

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, photographed by John Partipilo on Nov, 7, 2022.

Lieutenant governor suspending social media activity amid questions about posts

BY: - March 14, 2023

Two days after being skewered on Saturday Night Live, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally is stopping his social media activity amid questions about his posts on the Instagram pictures of a young, scantily-clad gay man. Asked earlier Monday if he would resign, McNally said he serves “at the pleasure of the members of the Senate and […]

Metro Nashville Courthouse. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Nashville files lawsuit over state’s law to cut the council’s size in half

BY: - March 13, 2023

Metro Nashville has filed a lawsuit to stop the state from implementing a law to cut the size of its council from 40 to 20. Last week, lawmakers passed and Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation that capped all city and metro council sizes at 20. The bill effectively targeted Nashville, the only city or metro […]

Dr. Tracy Coffee of Clarksville, Tenn. regularly provides emergency care to pregnant women. Her job is now complicated by Tennessee's abortion ban. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Support grows for abortion law changes to save life of the mother

BY: - March 13, 2023

Nashville resident Mathilde Stubblefield wanted to stay alive for her 2-year-old when she decided to end a dangerous pregnancy amid Tennessee’s restrictive abortion law. Faced with death or a hysterectomy that would end her chances to have children, Stubblefield elected to end a Caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy that could have killed her. “I never wanted […]

Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives greeting each other on opening day of session. Jan. 9, 2023.(Photo: John Partipilo)

After slashing the council, lawmakers will have to decide if they want to run Nashville

BY: - March 13, 2023

State Republicans cut the size of the Metro Nashville Council in half last week, kicking off a process that should reveal how serious lawmakers are about taking over various aspects of the city’s government.  GOP state lawmakers passed, and Gov. Bill Lee signed, the legislation into law Thursday, with metro officials expected to file a […]