Tag Archives: Tennessee

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee protesters will face harsher penalties, including losing the right to vote, for breaking certain laws during demonstrations under a new law enacted by Gov. Bill Lee. The Republican quietly signed off on the bill Thursday. Lee has previously conceded there were portions of the bill he “would have done differently” but ultimately agreed to sign …

The Tennessean reports: A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper accused of ripping a face mask off a bystander filming a traffic stop has been terminated. A THP spokesman confirmed Trooper Harvey Briggs’ termination Friday evening after an internal investigation by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Briggs was found to have violated a department policy and was terminated for …

Knoxville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Anderson County will welcome their students back starting on August 10, but that will not be the same starting date for every school and grade. Ryan Sutton, Anderson County Schools communications/public relations coordinator says it will be a staggered start for various grade levels. Social distancing efforts will be in place for classrooms, hallways and …

These stories have become so routine that I almost only need to swap out the names of the pastor and the church. A Tennessee pastor has apologized to his congregation as the coronavirus has infected countless church members — including himself and his family members — weeks after the church resumed indoor worship services and also hosted a state convention …

NBC News reports: An Elizabethton woman has been fired after yelling racial and homophobic slurs at a Black Lives Matter rally this weekend. Keith Family Vision Clinic in Johnson City confirms Sonya Holt is no longer an employee there. She is the subject of a video that went viral over the weekend. In the video, Holt is seen chanting, “White …

The Tennessean reports: The Tennessean is investigating how a paid advertisement from a fringe religious group was published on Sunday in violation of the newspaper’s long-established standards. The ad featured a bizarre, pseudo-religious “prophecy,” including the declaration of an impending nuclear attack in Nashville by “Islam.” The ad was immediately ordered to be pulled from future editions by sales executives …

Mediaite reports: Tennessee’s state House on Friday passed a resolution congratulating residents of the state for seeing through what it described as the media’s “sensationalism” of the coronavirus. “We congratulate the people of Tennessee for clearly seeing that the mainstream media has sensationalized the reporting on COVID-19 in the service of political agendas,” said House Resolution 340, which passed the …

Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: The Tennessee legislature passed a bill yesterday, House Bill 2542/Senate Bill 2473, that would force public schools to allow kids to miss class for up to one hour each day in order to attend church. (They would also allow school buses to transport those kids, as long as the churches paid for it.) …

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports: Tennessee must give all of its 4.1 million registered voters the option to cast ballots by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, a judge ruled Thursday. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled that the state’s limits on absentee voting during the pandemic constitute “an unreasonable burden on the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by …

The Nashville Business Journal reports: Republicans are looking for a place to hold a party, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says Nashville is open for business. Lee’s office is in “early” talks with the GOP about moving the 2020 Republican National Convention from Charlotte to Nashville, Lee said Tuesday. RNC officials are expected to visit Music City on Thursday. “Nashville …

USA Today reports: With a global pandemic threatening to hit the United States earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe made hundreds of financial transactions, buying stocks in companies now working on vaccines and selling other shares before a historic market plunge in March. While it’s unclear if the stock trades were based on information unavailable to the public, Roe’s …

The Tennessean reports: Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that his stay-at-home order will not be extended past April 30, and that some businesses around the state will begin reopening next week. “For the good of our state, social distancing must continue, but our economic shutdown cannot,” Lee said at his Monday afternoon briefing. A governor-appointed, 30-member economic recovery group is …

The Tennessean reports: Days after issuing an executive order urging Tennesseans to stay at home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Bill Lee will now mandate the action. The governor’s office said in a news release he would be signing an executive order on Thursday. The order will be effective immediately, said Gillum Ferguson, the governor’s spokesman. It will last …

NBC News reports: NBC News is projecting former Vice President Joe Biden has won the Democratic primary in the State of Tennessee. With 24 percent of the vote in, Biden has 31 percent of the vote, a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders with 24 percent of the vote. At that point, Mike Bloomberg had 20 percent of the vote and …

Knoxville’s NBC News affiliate reports: Two Tennessee representatives introduced a bill that would make the Holy Bible Tennessee’s official state book. Sen. Mark Pody and Rep. Jerry Sexton introduced HB2778/SB2696 on Feb. 5. This isn’t the first time Tennessee has seen such a proposal — Former Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed a similar bill in April 2016. At the time, Haslam …

The Tennessean reports: The Tennessee state Senate started the 2020 legislative session passing its first bill of the year: a controversial measure that protects religious adoption agencies if they choose to discriminate against same-sex couples. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, declares that no licensed adoption agency would be required to participate in a child placement if doing …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Nearly five years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for same-sex marriage nationwide, all 95 county clerks in Tennessee received a letter this week informing them they should be operating instead under the state constitution law that makes “void and unenforceable” any policy or law “purporting to define marriage as anything other than …

Roll Call reports: Tennessee Rep. Phil Roe, the ranking Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, will not run for reelection in 2020, opening up a solidly Republican seat. “As someone who practiced medicine for over 30 years, I said I would serve five or six terms because I never intended this job to be a second career,” Roe said …

Nashville’s Fox News affiliate reports: Eleven Christian ministers and the Tennessee Independent Baptists for Religious Liberty (TIBRL) are challenging the legality of marriage certificates issued to same-sex couples. The group filed a Declaratory Order with the Tennessee Department of Health on Thursday, arguing while the state is following a federal order allowing same-sex couples to wed in the state, there …

Knoxville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says if residents pray to God to favor the state, God will answer those prayers. Lee said he prays that Tennessee does not experience a school shooting, that the state’s opioid epidemic will diminish and that Tennessee’s educational outcomes improve. If thousands of people offer similar prayers, he believes God will …