Commentary

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Keep arbitration an option for older Americans

BY: - September 20, 2023

Thanks to the arbitration process in Tennessee, countless employees have negotiated reasonable settlements with businesses regarding many types of  disputes. As a student at the University of Tennessee studying this very issue, I know that this system has proven to be an efficient process that saves everyone thousands of dollars and wastes little time. Still, […]

Freddie O'Connell laughs at something Councilmember Courtney Johnson tells him. Former councilmember Zach Young is in the foreground. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Even a landslide doesn’t equal a mandate

BY: - September 18, 2023

Mayor-elect Freddie O’Connell won in a landslide last Thursday.   He secured nearly two-thirds of the vote against a quality candidate, Alice Rolli. He ran an impressive campaign from start to finish and his speeches and response to countless questions showed what he wanted to accomplish as mayor, while demonstrating a deep understanding of our city. […]

Editor’s notebook: Democracy requires the media to hold candidates, officials accountable

BY: - September 15, 2023

Even as three of Nashville’s major cities — Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville — have either recently elected or will soon elect mayors, I’m already looking ahead to the next election cycle.  Today is International Day of Democracy, established in 2007 by the United Nations to promote and uphold principles of democracy, and there’s no better […]

Tennessee Senate leaders, including Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Majority Leader Jack Johnson, photographed on Aug. 29, the final day of a special legislative session on public safety. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Stockard on the Stump: Demise of autopsy bill helped bring special session to close

BY: - September 15, 2023

The “autopsy bill” was supposed to be a victory of sorts for Covenant School parents who, along with their children, are coping with the horror of a mass shooting. Since Republican lawmakers refused to take up Gov. Bill Lee’s extreme risk protection order bill, it would be one way to make them feel the Legislature […]

Jennifer Watson holds up a sign of the type that was banned during an Aug. 2021 special legislative session. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Silently holding signs at legislative hearings is protected political speech

BY: - September 14, 2023

During the Tennessee General Assembly’s August special session on public safety at a House Civil Justice Subcommittee meeting, police escorted protestors out of the hearing for holding signs that read “1 KID > ALL THE GUNS.”  Before the subcommittee chair called attention to them, the women were not shouting or being disruptive and were simply […]

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Getting to the root of the ‘conspiracy industrial complex’

BY: - September 12, 2023

“Societies develop social structures, or institutions, that persist because they play a part in helping society survive. If anything adverse happens to one of these institutions or parts, all other parts are affected and the system no longer functions properly.” – Diana Kendall, author of Sociology in Our Times When humans organize into societies, the foundational […]

The Nashville mayoral end game

BY: - September 11, 2023

(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story attributed a quote in the last paragraph to Alice Rolli instead of Freddie.) There are two ways to foreshadow how things will go down Thursday night when Nashville’s aeonic mayoral election saga finally streams its series finale. Most likely is the conventional wisdom prediction (it’s not called […]

Participants in prayer ceremony encircle the Tennessee Capitol prior to the start of a special legislative session on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Stockard on the Stump: Moderation becoming extinct in Tennessee politics

BY: - September 8, 2023

Young Democrats in the state House are riding a wave of Republican blunders that could reshape the state’s political landscape, eventually leaving moderates without a home. Republicans forced middle-of-the-roaders out last year when they defeated GOP Rep. Bob Ramsey of Maryville and redrew the district of independent Rep. John Mark Windle, who had already dropped […]

Warner Elementary School in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Fighting for the schools our children deserve

BY: - September 8, 2023

Our children have returned to school and many parents felt the effects of inflation while shopping for school supplies. For education workers across the country, the lack of respect, pay, benefits and job stability to support their own families is not new. In Tennessee, support staff have a chronic issue of short paychecks when school […]