Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday that fear of catching COVID-19 is not reason enough to vote by mail in the coming elections.
“I think that what we want to do in this state is remove the reason to have fear about going to the polling booths. We have worked really really hard to set up businesses in a way that people can feel safe to go into them, and we’re going to do the same thing with our elections,” Lee said at a press conference Tuesday.
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The Tennessee government is providing the names and addresses of COVID-19 patients to law enforcement agencies and other first responders, documents obtained by the Associated Press reveal.
According to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) obtained by the outlet, the Tennessee Department of Health is “disclosing” the information to the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board, which in turn passes the information along to first responders.
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Gov. Bill Lee said more than 23,000 Tennesseans have received a free COVID-19 test at one of 67 drive-through testing sites over the past three weekends.
“Testing remains one of the most important tools for gaining more information in our fight against COVID-19, and the 23,000 tests we’ve completed over the last three weekends have provided incredibly valuable data,” Lee said in a statement. “We’re grateful to the thousands who came out to receive a test this weekend and we continue to remind Tennesseans: when in doubt, get a test.”
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The Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus called for no-excuse absentee voting in a recent letter to Gov. Bill Lee and Secretary of State Tre Hargett.
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GOP officials from eight Tennessee counties sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee Monday pleading with him to repeal all restrictions on businesses and gatherings of any kind after the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the letter, they also asked Lee to end the state legislature’s current recess.
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Exactly 1,349 inmates and staff at the Hartsville-based Trousdale Turner Correctional Center tested positive for COVID-19 this week, according to press releases from both Gov. Bill Lee and CoreCivic, which operates the facility.
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Coffee County District Attorney General Craig Northcott said this week he will not prosecute anyone engaging in otherwise lawful activity just because it violates Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s executive orders on COVID-19.
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President Donald Trump commended Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and said he has done a “fantastic job” during a Thursday press conference.
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The district attorney in Cleveland, Tennessee, says he will not prosecute violations of Gov. Bill Lee’s “unconstitutional” executive orders, aka the inconsistent reopening of close-contact businesses like barbershops in some areas but not others.
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Restaurants throughout 89 Tennessee counties reopened their doors to dine-in customers Monday with some regulations to increase sanitation and promote social distancing in accordance with Gov. Bill Lee’s Tennessee Pledge.
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Members of the Memphis Restaurant Association want to go back to work after COVID-19 forced them to close down.
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Governor Bill Lee said Monday that the state shutdown of restaurants to protect against the COVID-19 pandemic was necessary, even if members of the Memphis Restaurant Association reportedly described it as unconstitutional. A member of the media pressed Lee at a press conference Monday as to whether the shutdown could pass constitutional muster. Lee did not seem to answer, at least not directly. “What is most important is that these shutdowns occurred in order to save people’s lives. Tennesseans have done what Tennesseans needed to do. That was to put in place measures and to follow those measures to do just what was necessary to stop the spread of a deadly virus. They have done that,” Lee said at Monday’s press conference. “We certainly cannot entirely stop it, but we can slow it to a point that we can manage that spread and have the capacity in our health care system to take care of it and allow Tennesseans to operate and run their businesses at the same time. That is the goal, and I am grateful that Tennesseans have done what they have done to get us to the place where we are. We are encouraged to move…
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that the state’s order for Tennesseans to remain at home due to COVID-19 will expire April 30.
Lee also said the vast majority of businesses in 89 counties are allowed to re-open May 1.
“Our Economic Recovery Group is working with industry leaders around the clock so that some businesses can open as soon as Monday, April 27,” Lee said Monday.
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Gov. Bill Lee announced on Thursday a new economic recovery group aimed at getting Tennessee’s economy going again. “COVID-19 has not only created a public health crisis, it has hurt thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of hardworking Tennesseans,” said Gov. Lee. “As we work to safely open Tennessee’s economy, this group will provide guidance to industries across the state on the best ways to get Tennesseans back to work.” Over the last four weeks, over 324,000 Tennesseans have filed for unemployment benefits, according to WSMV. The group of 30, which is made up of business leaders, state legislators and state officials, is led by Tennessee Department of Tourism Development Commissioner Mark Ezell, according to the governor’s press release. “This public-private partnership will prioritize connection, collaboration, and communication across industries, the medical community and state government,” Ezell said. “We’re grateful to these leaders for serving at a critical time in our state’s history.” This new economic group comes on the same day, President Donald Trump announced his three-step plan to re-open America. In his plan, Trump has given state governors to power to open individually rather than all at once. “All of American society is engaged and mobilized…
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said at a press conference Wednesday that, per his recommendation, the state’s public schools will remain closed through the end of this current school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Tennessee Department of Health said 633 residents have been hospitalized with COVID-19, but that figure is a cumulative – not current – number.
“This number indicates the number of patients that were ever hospitalized during their illness, it does not indicate the number of patients currently hospitalized,” the Department of Health notes in its daily COVID-19 briefing.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that Tennessee had exactly 5,610 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and that 109 state residents had died after contracting the virus.
But Lee also said exactly 1,671 Tennesseans had recovered from the illness.
At a press conference Monday, Lee said there were reasons for optimism — but he still preached caution.
“It is encouraging as Tennessee has now had more than 10 days of single digit percentage case growth,” Lee said.
“Our aggressive testing of more than 76,195 tests has uncovered an average positivity rate between 6 percent to 8 percent consistently. Our hospitalization rate continues to be stable with 579 hospitalizations to date.”
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday he will extend the state’s stay-at-home order through April 30, but he also said government and private-sector officials are working to reopen the state’s economy in May.
Lee said this at a televised press conference, adding “we are not out of the woods yet, and it could be some time [before we are].”
“Until a vaccine or a therapy is widely available to Tennesseans, this virus will be a present reality to us to manage and consider whenever we are making decisions,” Lee said.
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While Kentucky’s governor threatened to take down the license plate numbers of residents who dared to go to church on Easter, Gov. Bill Lee said he was contemplating how involved the government should be during a pandemic.
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The Tennessee State Board of Education made substantial changes to graduation requirements and grading protocols during a special meeting Thursday.
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Tennessee saw 112,438 people file for unemployment benefits last week, according to the state’s department of labor.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) said Thursday he has contacted Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and suggested he now restore to doctors their previously-held right to perform non-emergency medical procedures.
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This is a transcript of the interview Nashville’s Morning News with Brian Wilson – 99.7 WTN did with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
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Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said in a video response on Twitter that although he appreciated Gov. Lee living up to the courage of his convictions, he “cannot applaud government monitoring the movements of its people” and that with this economic crisis as a result of Tennessee’s statewide shutdown, a mental health crisis will follow.
As The Tennessee Star reported, Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 23, which requires Tennesseans to stay home through April 14th unless they engage in essential activities to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chair Mike Stewart (D-Nashville) called on Gov. Bill Lee to create a “statewide system to trace the steps of those testing positive for COVID-19.”
“I call on Gov. Lee to use state resources to create a statewide contact tracing system including testing where necessary,” Stewart said in an interview with WKRN.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed several election-related bills into law last week, which were passed by the General Assembly before it took a two-month recess caused by the coronavirus.
The most controversial bill signed by Lee scales back restrictions on community voter registration efforts that were put in place in 2019 by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The new bill removes “misdemeanor penalties for not completing certain administrative requirements” and eliminates fines for submitting an abundance of incomplete voter registration forms.
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Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday that he will sign an executive order requiring Tennesseans to stay home unless they are engaging in essential activities.
Lee issued an executive order Monday that urged, but didn’t require, residents to stay at home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Under his new order, staying at home isn’t “an option – it’s a requirement for the swift defeat of COVID-19,” said Lee.
The governor said data from the Tennessee Department of Transportation indicated that travel started trending upwards again on March 30 after traffic patterns showed a steep drop-off in vehicle movement between March 13 and 29.
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The federal government has granted more flexibility to TennCare – Tennessee’s state Medicaid program – to help the state handle the COVID-19 outbreak.
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More than 100 residents and staff of a nursing home in Sumner County, Tennessee have tested positive for the coronavirus, Gov. Bill Lee’s office said Sunday.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Monday issued an executive order telling state residents to stay home unless they are engaging in essential activities.
According to the order, businesses or organizations that do not perform essential services cannot remain open for public access. Lee’s order encourages those businesses to provide delivery, including curbside delivery, to the greatest extent possible. Lee also ordered that Tennesseans limit their essential activity to the greatest extent possible.
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The Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) sent a letter to every mayor in the state Friday asking them to request authority from Gov. Bill Lee to issue shelter-in-place orders for their communities.
Lee has thus far declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order, which prompted more than 2,000 health care workers to sign a petition asking him to change course, The Tennessee Star reported. As of Sunday, 26 states had issued stay-at-home orders, including the neighboring states of North Carolina and Kentucky.
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Your pending vehicle emissions test can wait.
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At least 2,000 health care workers have signed a petition asking Gov. Bill Lee to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
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Tennessee has had an unprecedented spike in new initial unemployment claims according to data the United States Department of Labor released Thursday.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday that it is his “hope and expectation” that abortion clinics would cancel elective procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lee issued an executive order Monday that requires all hospitals and surgical outpatient facilities to cancel or postpone all “non-essential procedures” through April 13. The intent of the order is to free up personal protective equipment for health care professionals on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
His executive order asks “non-hospital health care providers,” such as abortion facilities, to deliver any personal protective equipment in their possession to the nearest Tennessee National Guard Armory.
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Tennessee announced Tuesday that it has a total of 667 people diagnosed with the coronavirus. Even though the number of cases has increased, the percentage of people who have tested positive remains low.
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Democrats in the Tennessee Senate asked Gov. Bill Lee to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order Monday to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive action Sunday ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created both an economic and a health crisis and our response must continue to address both aspects,” Lee said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep the public, especially vulnerable populations, safe while doing everything possible to keep Tennesseans in a financially stable position.”
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The State of Connecticut has gotten on board with the CDC to report negative test results to help the agency better track the spread of the coronavirus, leaving Ohio and Maryland as the only holdouts in complying with federal law.
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Health officials in Nashville reported Tennessee’s first coronavirus death Friday evening.
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said during a Friday press conference that churches that continue to hold services are putting people’s lives at risk.
“Churches that continue to meet and gather with elderly and putting groups of people in the same setting, quite frankly, they’re risking people’s lives,” Lee said during an update on the COVID-19 outbreak in Tennessee. “There are ways to worship and there are ways to serve without congregating people, and I’m urging and challenging churches to do just that.”
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A new study ranked Tennessee as having one of the least aggressive responses in the country to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that he wants all school districts in the state to close as soon as possible and to remain closed until the end of this month.
“As the response to COVID-19 evolves, I urge every school district in Tennessee to close as soon as practically possible, with all schools expected to close by Friday, March 20, 2020 at the latest. Schools should remain closed through March 31, 2020 to further mitigate the spread of this infectious disease and we will issue further guidance prior to March 31,” Lee said in a statement.
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Members of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission say they formally oppose Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s Constitutional Carry bill.
This, according to the Memphis-based WREG, which said this came about after members took a vote.
“The Crime Commission says 39 out of 49 participating members voted to oppose the governor’s gun plan,” the station reported.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – President Donald Trump arrived in Nashville Friday morning to see, first-hand, the devastation from this week’s tornadoes that claimed 25 lives in Middle Tennessee.
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A 44-year-old Williamson County man and his household contacts remain quarantined at home after he tested positive for the Coronavirus.
This is the first confirmed case of the Coronavirus in Tennessee, according to state officials.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee — People on the left side of the political spectrum warned Thursday that more Tennesseans will die if Republican Gov. Bill Lee gets his way on his proposed Constitutional Carry Law.
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On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) in the studio to talk about “caption bills” and Governor Bill Lee’s recent press conference about the new Heartbeat Bill.
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LEBANON, Tennessee – A majority of Wilson County commissioners voted Monday night to indefinitely postpone voting on a resolution that would have opposed Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee on the issue of refugee resettlement.
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This week Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn awarded 21 Governor’s Civics Seal mini-grants promoting life-long civic engagement in schools and districts across the state.
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