Politics

Metro Nashville Council and School Board Districts. (Nashville Planning Department)

Metro Nashville to redraw council and school board district lines in 2021

BY: - December 3, 2020

The Metro Nashville Planning Department will soon embark on redrawing the Metro Council and school board district boundaries although the process likely won’t come with the political fanfare or controversy of state redistricting. The Metro Charter requires the district lines to be redrawn every 10 years. Each of the council’s 35 districts must contain an […]

Tennessee House of Representatives Chambers (iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

Legislators could undercut governor’s emergency orders

BY: - December 1, 2020

Amid questions about Tennessee’s elongated response to the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators are planning to cut drastically into a future governor’s ability to declare extended states of emergency. “If this state of emergency we’re in right now were a pregnancy, we would be diapering the baby,” state Rep. John Ragan said Tuesday, contending the virus is […]

Cardboard cutouts of fans and celebrities, including singer Tim McGraw, are placed in seats at mostly empty Nissan Stadium during the pandemic season of 2020. (Photo: John Partipilo)

How Nashville will pay for its sports venues amid pandemic

BY: - November 30, 2020

Bridgestone Arena entered 2020 as one of the preeminent sports and entertainment venues in the nation, routinely nominated for the prestigious Pollstar Award for best arena in North America and generating in excess of $500 million in economic impact. Nissan Stadium was poised for its biggest year ever in 2020, thanks to a growing concert […]

Chelsea Crowell and Erin McAnally of the Artists Rights Alliance in East Nashville's 5 Spot, shuttered since March. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Metro won’t approve microgrant for out-of-work musicians

BY: - November 25, 2020

Metro will not move forward in the near future with funding a proposal to provide small cash grants to musicians and music industry professionals out of work due to the pandemic. The Artist Rights Alliance, in partnership with MusiCares, asked the city’s CARES Act oversight committee for $1 million for the microgrant program earlier this […]

(Photo: Getty Images)

Rural Tennessee mayors feeling the squeeze as Gov. Bill Lee delegates mask rules to them

BY: - November 24, 2020

Two more Tennessee county mayors enacted first-time mask mandates on Friday afternoon ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, citing rising COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations. Grainger and Claiborne County mayors are getting considerable community blowback after instituting mask mandates. “Mayor Mike Byrd take your so called mandate and stick it. Free people live free you […]

(Photo courtesy of the Daily Post Athenian)

1946 Tennessee election parallels 2020

BY: - November 24, 2020

Election season in Tennessee has been a microcosm of the nation’s problems: social media videos of voter intimidation in Knoxville, massive protests led by teens, alleged hate crimes by right-wing instigators and implications of voter fraud by the president, but voters’ memories are short: they may have forgotten that in at least one rural Tennessee town, violence […]

A man draws his Glock .45-caliber pistol. (Ron Bailey/Getty Images)

Gun company under investigation in California given taxpayer funded incentives to relocate to Tennessee

BY: - November 23, 2020

A firearms manufacturer lured to do business in Nashville with a $165,000 state job creation grant is currently under investigation by the California Attorney General over allegations it engaged in illegal or deceptive advertising in its sales of gun kits, which allow consumers to assemble their own firearms from parts and bypass gun purchase laws. […]

COMMENTARY
U.S. President Donald Trump participates in the final presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Oct. 22, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The End of Stupid?

BY: - November 23, 2020

President Toddler’s post-election tantrum slash adventure—a third-rate legal team flooding the courts with fourth-rate filings, with a few feeble attempts to intimidate local election officials tossed in for effect—is going nowhere fast. Or it would be going nowhere fast if it was fast, but almost three weeks after the election it’s more accurate to say […]

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berkeleys (Photo: Chattanooga.gov)

Berke tells League of Cities COVID-19 worsens education inequality

BY: - November 21, 2020

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke told city leaders from across the country how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minority communities and created a growing education inequality.  On Friday, Berke met with members of the National League of Cities to discuss the pandemic-related crisis associated with employment, housing and neighborhood design. “The pandemic didn’t create inequality in American […]

Knox County Department of Health (Photo: Knox County)

COVID-19 decisions could shift to county mayors from public health boards

BY: - November 20, 2020

Spurred by fears that appointed public health boards hold too much power in the COVID-19 pandemic, a state legislator is trying to change Tennessee law to put crucial decisions in the hands of county mayors in six large counties. State Rep. Jason Zachary, a Knoxville Republican, has filed House Bill 0007 in advance of the […]

The House Democratic Caucus honors National Go Red Day for Women’s Health in Feb. 2019. (Photo: Facebook)

Tennessee Democratic officials, professionals weigh on needed structural change

BY: - November 20, 2020

It’s a Tennessee political tradition unlike any other over the last decade. Democrats suffer election losses, and stakeholders conduct a post mortem to figure out what went wrong and what can be done differently next time. Since, 2008, the losses have rained down on Democrats in legislative races and in statewide battles for governor and […]

(Photo: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Bill would allow parents religious exemptions in getting children COVID vaccine

BY: - November 19, 2020

A Tennessee lawmaker has filed a bill that would give parents a greater right to refuse vaccines for their children during a pandemic based on religious objections or “by right of conscience.” Current Tennessee law gives parents the legal right to refuse vaccinations for their children in order to enroll them in school in most […]