Tennessee
Appeals court temporarily reinstates Tennessee ban on transgender youth care
A federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated Tennessee’s law barring gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, allowing a recently enacted ban on treatments that include puberty blockers and surgery to take immediate effect. In a divided opinion, the three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to reverse a Nashville federal […]
Federal court temporarily halts Tennessee ban on transgender care for minors
In a partial victory for transgender Tennesseans, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday on portions of new law prohibiting trans minors from obtaining gender affirming care, ruling the law likely violates the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Eli Richardson granted the injunction to the plaintiffs — among them, parents […]
Feds charge Memphis man in connection to illegal importation and sale of airbags
A federal grand jury has indicted a Memphis man on allegations of illegally importing counterfeit airbag parts, assembling them and selling them on eBay to automotive repair shops. U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz of Tennessee’s Western District announced Wednesday the indictment and arrest of Mohammed Al-Abadi, 51, for one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods and […]
With expulsion of Tennessee Black lawmakers, Republicans lost GenZ. Here’s how
(*This column was updated at 7:22 a.m. on Tuesday, April 11 2023 to reflect that Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones was reappointed to his state House seat). Following a school shooting in Nashville last month, hundreds of protesters gathered in the Tennessee capital demanding lawmakers act to address the out of control gun violence that […]
The GOP won on Thursday in Tennessee. They’ll lose the fight on gun safety | John L. Micek
In the annals of brazenly destructive attacks on democracy, Thursday’s vote by Tennessee’s Republican-controlled state House to expel two Democratic lawmakers who led a decorum-busting protest over the cold-blooded murders of children is right up there. The hard reality that both of the expelled lawmakers were young Black men, while another lawmaker who avoided expulsion […]
3 kids, 3 adults killed in shooting at Nashville private elementary school
Three children and three adult staff members are dead after a mass shooting event Monday at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood. Among the victims are three 9-year-old children: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. The adult victims are Cynthia Peak, 61, Mike Hill, 61, and Katherine Koonce, […]
Some Arkansas high school athletes would profit from fame under proposed legislation
A bill filed in the Arkansas Legislature focused on student athletes’ publicity rights looks like a win-win for all involved on the surface. But student-athlete advocates call foul on it. House Bill 1649 by House Speaker Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado and Rep. RJ Hawk (R-Benton) would allow high school athletes who have been admitted […]
Federal prisons ‘riddled with mismanagement’ probed by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in a Thursday hearing grilled the top leader of federal prisons on how the agency would address staffing shortages and reports of abuse of incarcerated people. “The Bureau (of Prisons) has been riddled with mismanagement and, sadly, with scandal,” said the chair of the committee, Illinois […]
Louisiana attorney general gets other GOP AGs to oppose energy permit reforms
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is leading a group of 18 Republican attorneys general in opposition to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposed Energy Independence and Security Act — a bill that would reform the federal permitting process for major energy infrastructure projects. Manchin (D-West Virginia) released the text of his legislation last week following weeks […]
A tale of two missing Memphis women
I took last week off as a vacation with the intent of clearing my mind. I largely stayed off social media and limited my exposure to news, for even those of us in the news business need a ‘‘timeline cleanser,’’ to use a popular phrase. But no vacation caused me to miss the tragic events […]
Confronting history, Congress studies addition of lynching sites to national park system
The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent racial history. A bill from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, […]
Former Tennessee House Speaker, aide indicted on bribery, kickback charges
Former Tennessee House Speaker Rep. Glen Casada and his chief of staff were arrested at their homes by FBI agents Tuesday morning after a federal grand jury on Monday issued an indictment on 20-counts involving bribery, theft from programs receiving federal funds, kickbacks, conspiracy to commit money laundering and other charges, according to a news […]