Commentary
Stockard on the Stump: Lee Administration walking tightrope on license plate readers
With questions about privacy and compelling public interest, Gov. Bill Lee’s administration appears to be treading lightly – if not reversing – on policy surrounding automated license plate readers and the state’s new blue license tags, which some cameras can’t read at night. The Tennessee Department of Transportation in late March turned down a request […]
Commentary: Ignorance is bliss for those who can’t acknowledge roots of racism
Tennessee has recently been engaging in a crusade against so-called “critical race theory” in primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools. This follows a national trend. A recent study published by PEN America found that 1,586 books were banned from July 31, 2021, to March 31 of this year. This follows the trend we’ve been seeing of […]
Editor’s column: Normalize abortion conversations
Like many women across the U.S., I’ve been reeling from the news that broke last week about the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft decision that would reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1971 ruling that legalized abortion at the federal level. As soon as I tweeted, “Looks like the Supreme Court has given me my next […]
Stockard on the Stump: Vendor protests prison communications contract
A company beaten out of a Tennessee prisons communications contract is challenging the state’s decision, claiming it is awarding the deal to a competitor that will charge inmates and families about $7 million more. Securus Technologies LLC lost an initial protest after the state gave the contract for inmate communications and technology services to Global […]
Commentary: The road we travel, from the way it is to the way it was
It’s election time in Tennessee. Like dandelions, campaign posters have sprung up across the state. Many of these signs advertise “Conservative” prominently. Some even state “Conservative Republican” as if there were currently any other Republican species. “Conservative” is obviously seen as a virtue. The basis of these campaign appeals is less obvious. […]
Editor’s column: After 100 years, a look at a father’s life
My dad would have been 100 on Sunday. He died 25 years ago, shortly after his 75th birthday, and I find it hard to wrap my mind around both facts, but he lives in my mind as he did when I last saw him, freshly shaved and looking younger than he had a right to […]
Commentary: Threatening voters in open primaries is anti-democratic
My first active experience in the election process was voting in the presidential election in 2000 when George W. Bush was running against Al Gore. I was a senior at Union University — a highly conservative, Southern Baptist university in Jackson, Tenn. I didn’t really do any research on the candidates because as a good […]
Stockard on the Stump: So long, farewell
Despite great grinding and gnashing of teeth, the Legislature adopted an ethics reform bill on the final day of the 112th session, one designed to shed more light on so-called dark money. Nonprofit groups that have been raising Cain about the bill, claiming it will require them to file reports for something as innocuous as […]
Commentary: Legislators are mini-Pharaohs treating the state’s servants shamefully
As a special education advocate and former high school teacher, the mother of two sons who have attended public school, private school, and homeschool, and the wife of a high school teacher, I am a strong defender of our public school libraries. Unfortunately, it seems Speaker of the Tennessee House Cameron Sexton and his Republican […]