Politics
Metro Nashville to redraw council and school board district lines in 2021
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 […]
Legislators could undercut governor’s emergency orders
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 […]
How Nashville will pay for its sports venues amid pandemic
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 […]
Metro won’t approve microgrant for out-of-work musicians
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 […]
Rural Tennessee mayors feeling the squeeze as Gov. Bill Lee delegates mask rules to them
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 […]
1946 Tennessee election parallels 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 […]
Gun company under investigation in California given taxpayer funded incentives to relocate to Tennessee
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. […]
The End of Stupid?
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 […]
Berke tells League of Cities COVID-19 worsens education inequality
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 […]
COVID-19 decisions could shift to county mayors from public health boards
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 […]
Tennessee Democratic officials, professionals weigh on needed structural change
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 […]
Bill would allow parents religious exemptions in getting children COVID vaccine
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 […]