Tag: Tennessee

Tennessee Bill that Allows Partisan Elections for School Board Members Passes Both Chambers, Now Heads To Lee’s Desk for Signing

Kaitlin Housler

On Monday, a bill that would allow Tennessee counties to decide if school board elections can be partisan passed both chambers and now heads to the Governor’s desk.

The bill, HB 9072 – SB 9009, “requires elections of school board members to be conducted on a partisan basis.” The legislation also “removes prohibition for a person seeking a position on a school board to campaign as the nominee of a political party and authorizes political parties to nominate candidates for school board membership by any method authorized under the rules of the party or by primary election.”

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Ford Company Displeased with Tennessee GOP-Led Legislature Fighting Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Chris Butler

Officials with the Ford Motor Company reportedly dislike plans that the Republican-led Tennessee General Assembly have made to block President Joe Biden’s COVD-19 vaccine mandates for private employers. This, according to the Nashville-based FOX 17, which reported the news and quoted a spokeswoman for Governor Bill Lee on Friday.

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Legislation Permitting Tennessee’s School Board Members to Run by Party Has Strengths and Weaknesses, Elected Official Says

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) has filed legislation that would, if enacted into law, permit school board candidates in the state to campaign as the nominee or representative of a political party. Cepicky filed the bill for the Tennessee General Assembly’s current special session. The Tennessee Star’s attempts to reach Cepicky on Thursday were unsuccessful.

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Knox County Sheriff Tells President Biden He Will Not Enforce Mask Mandate

Morgan Nicole Veysey

A local sheriff has responded to President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. Sheriff Tom Spangler, of Knoxville, Tennessee sent Biden a letter telling the President that he would not be enforcing the mandate on his staff.

Spangler said in his letter that enforcing the mandate was unconstitutional and was putting the lives of the people of Knoxville at risk.

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New Details Emerge About Tennessee State Sen. Brian Kelsey’s Federal Indictment

Chris Butler

More details emerged Tuesday about the circumstances that led to the federal indictment of Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) as well as details about a federal prosecutor — a former Obama appointee — involved with the case. ABC News reported that the allegations against Kelsey “resemble a complaint against Kelsey’s campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice in 2017 by the Campaign Legal Center.”

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Tennessee Education Officials Schedule Eight Town Halls to Offer Input on Public Education Funding

Chris Butler

Staff at the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) have invited all state residents to eight regional public town halls later this month and throughout next month to discuss the state’s public education funding strategy.“These public town halls will spark localized conversations about student-based funding for public education in Tennessee and how to create a new strategy to best serve our students and ensure they are prepared for future success,” according to a TDOE press release.

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Tennessee Representative Scott DesJarlais Sends Letter to President Biden Warning Him of Result of Vaccine Mandates for Tennessee Valley Authority Employees

Kaitlin Housler

On Thursday in a press release, Tennessee Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) announced that he sent a letter to President Joe Biden regarding his executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccines for federal workers and the effects it will have on Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) employees.

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Tennessee’s GOP Congressional Delegation React, Discuss Next Steps After Learning Anthony Fauci Lied to Congress

Chris Butler

News that the Bethesda, Maryland-based National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Gain-of-Function research in Wuhan, China has prompted certain members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation to condemn Anthony Fauci as a liar and to demand drastic changes. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) tweeted about the matter on Thursday.

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Former Tennessee County Mayor Allegedly Falsified Unemployment Documents

Chris Butler

Grand jurors this month indicted former Houston County Mayor George Clark and charged him with one count of official misconduct and one count of tampering with government records. Tennessee Comptrollers released a report Wednesday that accused Clark of falsifying documents to help two former county employees. Those employees allegedly received unauthorized unemployment benefits that totaled more than $9,000.

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Tennessee Department of Education Ready for Online Student Assessment Tests, Despite Warnings in New Comptrollers’ Report

Chris Butler

Tennessee Comptrollers Jason Mumpower this week released a report warning Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) officials to take additional steps to make sure they can recover assessment tests that students take online. But TDOE officials told The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that they have already addressed the Comptrollers’ concerns.

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Tennessee Stands Releases Priorities for Special Legislative Session

Chris Butler

Members of the Williamson County-based Tennessee Stands on Sunday published their priorities for a presumed special session of the state’s general assembly, and certain priorities address government overreach in the age of COVID-19. “There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed ranging from mandates to education to elections, immigration and the list goes on. But we have to be realistic,” said Tennessee Stands spokesman Gary Humble, in an email to supporters.

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Former Tennessee Attorney General Urges Keeping U.S. Supreme Court Limited to Nine Justices

Chris Butler

A bipartisan coalition of 17 former state attorneys general, including one from Tennessee, this week urged the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court to preserve the current number of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices. In a letter, these attorneys general proposed accomplishing that through a “Keep Nine” amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment simply states that “the Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.” The former attorneys general said this will protect the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence Travels to Tennessee to Meet with Governor Bill Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton

Kaitlin Housler

On Wednesday, former Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, traveled to Tennessee to meet with Governor Bill Lee and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton. During the former Vice President’s visit, he complimented the state for having a “fiscally conservative approach” and its commitment to automotive manufacturing, according to House Speaker Sexton.

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Tennessee State Rep. Bruce Griffey Blasts Threats from ‘Medical Nazis’ and Financial Elite over COVID-19 Mandates

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) said this week that “history (and Tennessee voters) will not be kind (and will have harsh ridicule) for those in favor of [COVID-19] vaccine mandates.” Griffey, in an emailed statement to the press, said, in his opinion, COVID-19 vaccines do not stop the spread of the virus. But also said state officials must give Tennesseans a choice and educate them about the vaccine’s effectiveness.

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For the Third Time, Nashville Man Convicted of Being a Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm

Chris Butler

A federal jury this week convicted a Nashville man on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and this is not this man’s first experience with this. That man, Davian M. Greenlee, is 40-years-old, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee published Thursday.

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During COVID-19, Tennessee Teachers Say In-Person Learning Poses Fewer Challenges Than Remote Learning

Chris Butler

Some of the Tennessee’s educators said in a new survey that they worried about students missing class time during the time of COVID-19. Officials with the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and the Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA) on Sunday released what they said were key findings and responses from the 2021 Tennessee Educator Survey from 40,000 educators.

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This Fall and Winter, Redistricting Will Occupy Minds of Tennessee Politicians and Activists on the State and Local Levels

Bradley Vasoli
Tennessee State Capitol at night in winter

After the finalization of the U.S. Census every ten years, state and local governments set about redrawing their lawmakers’ and school directors’ district lines.

Throughout this fall and winter, legislators across the state will toil over this process sure to directly impact many of their futures. Although political considerations inevitably loom large in redistricting, the proceedings are theoretically intended to make districts as compact and contiguous as possible—i.e. to ensure that they don’t look like irregular puzzle pieces.

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