Tag Archives: Tennessee

Nashville’s Fox affiliate reports: The principal and secretary of a small Christian school in McMinn County engaged in improper sexual activity in front of an underage teen and former student at the pastor’s home, according to 2 arrest reports from the McMinn County Sheriff’s Department. 47-year-old Jason Kennedy is principal, teacher and pastor of Liberty Christian School in Riceville. 28-year-old …

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering with federal funds. Their indictments come months after Republican Rep. Robin Smith abruptly resigned when faced with federal wire fraud charges involving Casada. While Casada was not directly named at …

The Associated Press reports: Andy Ogles, a far-right county mayor, won Tennessee’s crowded Republican primary on Thursday in a reconfigured congressional district in left-leaning Nashville that the party is hoping to flip in November. In a warning ahead of the general election, he said, “Liberals, we’re coming for you.” Ogles, the Maury County mayor and onetime leader of the Koch-backed …

Changing America reports: The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ rights groups, is suing the Tennessee Department of Education and its commissioner over the enforcement of a state law barring transgender students from using school facilities like restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court alleges that the …

Memphis’s NBC News affiliate reports: Two pastors and a child’s mother were indicted on charges of child abuse years after it was reported. The alleged abuse was reported in October 2018. At the time, the then-8-year-old girl was taken to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and examined. The results found severe bruising and swelling as well as scars and whip marks. …

The Associated Press reports: Nearly four years ago, Bill Lee startled political insiders when the first-time political candidate survived a bruising and crowded $45 million GOP primary for Tennessee governor. He cruised to win the top elected state seat a few months later. Now, the Republican businessman is enjoying a drastically different race for reelection, with much more breathing room. …

The Hill reports: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) is pressing the Department of Defense to approve requests for exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate made by his state’s National Guard. In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin obtained by The Hill, Lee says his state’s Guard has recommended approval for Guard members and are awaiting final decisions from Army …

Nashville’s NBC News affiliate reports: Tennessee judges have dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Knoxville couple who alleged that a state-sponsored Christian adoption agency refused to help them because they are Jewish. The lawsuit challenged a 2020 state law that installed legal protections for private adoption agencies to reject state-funded placement of children to parents based on religious beliefs. The …

Nashville’s NBC affiliate reports: Two different protest groups were asked to leave downtown Franklin Saturday after attempting to disrupt the Juneteenth celebration.  Members of each group were also reportedly handling out pamphlets saying they are protesting because “the anti-white system is committed to our physical genocide” to festival attendees before police arrived. Read the full article. Police asked armed protestors …

The Tennessean reports: This year, CMA Fest joins a growing list of major country music events to ban attendees from displaying Confederate imagery. The four-day Nashville festival – considered one of the largest country music gatherings in the world – lists “Confederate flag imagery of any kind” under prohibited items for the 2022 event. “This year’s CMA Fest is our …

From the campaign Facebook page of Stewart Parks: If you elect me, this month will be the last National Gay Pride month ever celebrated. We need to elect people into US congress that will stand up and say Homosexuality and Transgenderism are evil. I will push to have the 2015 Obergefel vs Hodges ruling overturned which legalized same sex marriage. …

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee will soon strictly regulate the dispensing of abortion pills, including imposing harsh penalties on doctors who violate them, under legislation recently signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. The measure, which Lee signed on Thursday, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2023. Once enacted, a medical clinician will be required to be physically present …

Via press release from hate group leader Mat Staver: Governor Bill Lee has signed SB 2188 that allows Ivermectin, an award-winning antiviral drug, to be available for the treatment of COVID-19 without a prescription in Tennessee. The state’s Senate overwhelmingly voted 66-20, and the House voted 22-6 in favor of the bill. The bill states that a pharmacist can provide …

Nashville’s CBS News reports: A former Franklin CEO of a health care company filed suit in federal court this week against comedian Kathy Griffin, alleging she doxed him on Twitter and caused him to lose his job. The suit comes as a result of Samuel Johnson losing his job with VisuWell in 2021 hours after Griffin posted a tweet about …

The Tennessean reports: A last-minute amendment to give a politically appointed textbook commission final approval over books in Tennessee school libraries sparked a Capitol protest and heated debate in the General Assembly on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, Rep. Jerry Sexton, R-Bean Station, withdrew the controversial amendment requiring the commission to issue its own list of approved materials, but submitted a …

The Guardian reports: A Memphis prosecutor has dropped all criminal charges against Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote. Moses was convicted last year and sentenced in January. She was granted a new trial in February after the Guardian published a document showing that had not been given …

Nashville’s NBC News affiliate reports: A bill that would lower the age to carry a handgun in Tennessee from 21 to 18 passed the House on Thursday. Bill sponsor Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County [photo], said that House Bill 1735 is about protecting the constitutional rights of 18-year-olds who can vote and enlist in the military. The bill passed by …

The Tennessean reports: Morgan Ortagus, Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck were voted off the primary ballot by the party’s executive committee, Tennessee Republican Chairman Scott Golden confirmed Tuesday Republican officials last week confirmed official challenges had been filed against the three, which triggered a technical removal from the ballot per party bylaws. Ortagus, a former State Department spokesperson who nabbed …

The Tennessean reports: A Tennessee General Assembly bill to create a legal marriage pathway available only to straight couples will not advance this year following public outcry over the initial version of the legislation. After a tough line of questions from Republican colleagues last week, sponsor Rep. Tom Leatherwood on Wednesday said he wanted to send the bill to summer …

Nashville’s Fox News affiliate reports: A Tennessee lawmaker who voted in favor of a bill to cut down on homeless camps spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday, referencing Adolph Hitler as an example of how there is still hope for the homeless. State Senator Frank S. Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains-D8) took to the floor on Wednesday to voice his support for …