Commentary
Stockard on the Stump: Ogles rides super PAC ads in 5th District win
Despite reports of tardy tax payments, a late federal campaign filing and potential illegal coordination with a super PAC, Maury County Mayor Ogles rolled to victory Thursday in the newly-drawn 5th Congressional District Republican primary. Buoyed by dark money groups that hammered former House Speaker Beth Harwell and retired Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead, Ogles collected […]
Birth control is the next right Republicans plan to eliminate
Many Americans hoped that Roe v. Wade’s reversal and the subsequent criminalization of medical abortion in over half the nation would satisfy the “pro-fetus” extremists driving today’s Republican Party. Sadly, that is not to be. In Republican-dominated states, lawmakers are already searching for ways to prevent women from obtaining out-of-state abortions. The Thomas More Society, […]
Nearing Election Day, the thrill is gone
Election Day used to feel like Christmas Day to me. As far back as I can remember, the day was an exciting one. My parents voted religiously, my dad in the brief window between arriving home from work and the 7 p.m. poll closures. Mom, who didn’t work in my early childhood years, had no […]
Teachers on the front-line
In 1987 I began my teaching career. The classroom that I taught in then is now a vestige of the past and we are continuously redefining what the modern school or classroom should look like. Student discipline is a complicated and often uneven process in our schools, with board policies and state laws often failing […]
Stockard on the Stump: Lawmakers predict new funding formula will change voucher costs – maybe
The new K-12 funding formula approved by the Legislature could change the cost of Tennessee’s voucher program, initially set at $25 million three years ago, as well as funding for charter schools. But lawmakers’ understanding of the relationship between the funding plan and the voucher program varies widely. Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg acknowledges […]
Blackburn and Hagerty owe Tennesseans answers about their place on Giuliani’s call list
Televised hearings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol have produced some shocking moments. Testimony Thursday revealed that members of then-Vice President Mike Pence’s security detail made personal calls to family members at the height of the attack to tell them goodbye, so worried were they for their […]
Beth Harwell touts Trump’s influence in comeback attempt
We knew back in the cooler times of early 2022 that the state legislature’s crusade to kill Davidson County’s blue congressional district by splitting it into three red districts would torpedo meaningful representation in Washington for much of Nashville. Two of the seats that have now gobbled up big chunks of Davidson—the 6th and 7th […]
Neither Tennessee, nor 10-year-olds, are equipped for childhood pregnancies
A case that made headlines across the U.S. recently has stuck with me. By now, most people in America have heard about the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who had to travel across state lines to receive necessary healthcare in Indiana, the closest state where a legal abortion was available. This case has affected me deeply. […]
John Cole’s Tennessee: “And now, for my latest statement. . . “
The ‘silly season’ in politics has arrived, when candidates pull out all the stops before the primary election to woo voters and direct attention away from their opponents. In the case of Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, who is also running for Congress in the 5th Congressional District, that meant posting a video of himself […]
Stockard on the Stump: State jumps on vouchers after court lifts injunction
Gov. Bill Lee finally got to say something besides “I love teachers” this week when a three-judge panel vacated an injunction against the governor’s Education Savings Account program. No pesky reporters asking questions such as, “Are you going to disavow the idiotic statements of Hillsdale President Larry Arnn?” The college president who wants to start […]
Career educator: Tennessee Gov. Lee fooled me into thinking he cares about public education
In September, I accepted a position as the Chief Communications Officer for Haywood County Schools in Brownsville, Tenn. For anyone unfamiliar, Brownsville is the home of singer Tina Turner, the Hatchie River, and is about 30 miles east of Memphis. Since last fall, though, its identity has been found as the new home of Ford’s […]