State Representative Jeremy Faison Tweets Apology After Dispute with School Coach

Tennessee House Representative Jeremy Faison (R-11) tweeted an apology following a dispute with a school basketball referee. Faison’s apology was posted after videos of the fight, recorded at Providence Academy, circulated news outlets. 

“I acted the fool tonight. I’m hoping to be able to make it right.” Faison captioned the screenshot of the apology he posted on his Facebook page.

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Tennessee Senate Republicans Return McNally as Lieutenant Governor, Johnson as Majority Leader

The Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus on Thursday voted unanimously to renominate Lt. Governor Randy McNally to a third term, among other leadership votes.

The caucus also announced that Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and Senator Ken Yager (R-Kingston) will return to their top leadership roles as Majority Leader and Republican Caucus Chairman, respectively. Others elected to caucus leadership positions include Senator Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) as Treasurer, Senator Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro) as Secretary and Senator Shane Reeves (R-Murfreesboro) as Chaplain.

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State Reps. Hawk, Tillis and Whitson Silent on Whether They Invited The Tennessean to Participate in Private GOP Conference Call

  Three State Representatives who have called on Speaker Glen Casada to resign following the release of sexually explicit text messages are silent on whether they invited reporters from The Tennessean to participate in a confidential conference call of the House Republican Caucus on Wednesday. As was reported Wednesday, “The Tennessean listened to the business-like phone call after being invited to by multiple lawmakers.” State Representatives David Hawk (R-Greeneville), Sam Whitson (R-Franklin) and Rick Tillis (R-Lewisburg), all of whom have called for Casada to step down from his role as Speaker, did not respond to an emailed question by The Tennessee Star on Thursday as to whether they were among the lawmakers who invited The Tennessean to the conference call held by Speaker Casada on Wednesday. Two other state lawmakers who have weighed in on the recent controversy were asked the same question and both responded promptly to The Star. State Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), who made a very clear statement about Casada resigning to News Channel 5, emphatically denied that he invited the Tennessean to the conference call, responding, “Absolutely not.” Faison went on to explain, “My GOP caucus means to (sic) much to me than to betray their…

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State House Committee Denies Tennessee Voters The Ability To Register With a Political Party

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A bill that would allow Tennessee voters the ability to register with either of the two major political parties or as unaffiliated failed in the House Local Committee. The effort, sponsored by Representative Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro) as HB 1398, was amended to eliminate requiring a party affiliation and eliminate closing the party primaries, as it was felt “having closed primaries would disenfranchise Independents and Democrats and Republicans who wanted to vote in each others’ primary,” according to Rudd as he presented the bill. A measure to actually close the primaries sponsored by Representative Andy Holt (R-Dresden) under HB 1273, in accordance with a December 2018 overwhelming vote by the State Executive Committee of the Tennessee Republican Party, failed in the same Committee late last month as The Tennessee Star reported. Representative Rudd made the point that, “The one group of people that are disenfranchised right now, both Democrat and Republican, are party members and activists that actually want to be registered.” Representative London Lamar (D-Memphis) questioned Representative Rudd, as she did with Representative Holt on his closed primary bill, as to whether he had consulted with both political parties in writing the bill. Rudd responded that he…

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