Justin in: Tennessee Rep.
@brotherjones_
has filed a police report against Republican Rep. Justin Lafferty for grabbing Jones phone and shoving him on the House floor Monday might.
ICYMI: Black farmers in a west Tennessee community are engaged in the latest fight for their land, as
@myTDOT
exercise's eminent domain for Ford Blue Oval City.
BREAKING: More than one dozen residents of House Speaker Cameron Sexton's Crossville district have filed a complaint with
@AGTennessee
, asking for a civil investigation of Sexton's reimbursements.
@friedmanadam5
reports.
Sarah Neumann, who has a child at Covenant School--the site of last week's shooting that killed six, including three 9-year-olds--watching House proceedings.
Just in: Denny Loudermilk, the Kansas City-area man accused by U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee of being the perpetrator of a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chief's Super Bowl parade, has filed a defamation suit against Burchett. Stand by for story.
Two former Democratic lawmakers, both attorneys, will represent
@VoteGloriaJ
in her expulsion hearing in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday,
@stockard_sam
reports.
Confirmed: First Lady Jill Biden will be in Franklin on Friday to attend an event at country music star Brad and Kim Paisley's home to join country music influencers before potential endorsements of President Biden.
As the national media spotlight focuses on Tennessee Republicans,
@CSexton25
has drawn attention from journalist
@JuddLegum
for using his per diem expenses for a Nashville house, reports
@friedmanadam5
.
Confirming months of speculation, Tennessee Rep.
@VoteGloriaJ
announced Tuesday morning outside the Knoxville high school at which she taught that she will run for U.S. Senate.
From
@anitawadhwani
: The
@aclutn
has filed suit against Tennessee House leaders on behalf of three women ejected from a committee meeting Tuesday for holding 8.5- x 11-inch signs, alleging a violation of the First Amendment.
A new ad from
@ProjectLincoln
titled "Bullies," highlights the recent expulsion of two young, Black Tennessee lawmakers and will run at the State Capitol for two days through digital geofencing. We spoke with
@TheRickWilson
about the ad.
"We do not endorse using the media as an excuse to prevent the public from watching their representatives at work." Bravo to our colleagues.
#SpecialSession
From House Minority Leader
@KarenDCamper
“I am appalled by what occurred today in a committee room at the State Capitol during the extraordinary session. Citizens were removed from the room for sitting quietly, and then the entire room was cleared -(1)
Just in:
@RepMikeStewart
has sent letters to U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty asking them to provide “specific examples of violations of law or other actions that you believe justify your refusal to respect the Electoral College vote.”
On Monday morning, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally announced the formation of a group to consider rejecting $1.9 billion in federal funds for public schools.
@stockard_sam
reports.
This afternoon,
@FLOTUS
spoke at
@nashvillepride
: "We know there are those who wish to undo the hard-won progress that this community has made and tomorrow we will brave those battles together once more,” she said.
@PartipiloJ
with the photos.
It is a basic, maybe the most basic, human request: Please save my child. Yet,
@maryack
writes in an opinion piece, despite years of seeing Tennessee lawmakers change rules, the recent special session made clear white patriarchy doesn't care.
Now, writes Editor
@jhollymc
, America can see Tennessee not as a benignly pleasant state with Dolly Parton but one governed by petty and small-minded lawmakers on a path of unforced errors.
"Republican Voters Against Trump" has posted 15 billboards around Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention will be held. Two feature Tennesseans, according to a spokesman for the group.
A nonprofit watchdog group has asked
@DavidsonCoDA
and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee to investigate House Speaker Cameron Sexton for cleaning $79,000 in per diem expenses, reports
@friedmanadam5
.
Tennessee's 5th Congressional District Rep. Andy Ogles is in hot water with the Federal Election Commission again, as the agency writes it could audit his campaign for violations.
As some TN legislators call legitimate questions from independent journalists "uncivil" and respond with personal attacks,
@jhollymc
writes, "I’ll take righteous incivility over sweet-talking and useless platitudes that redress no wrongs."
The news we've been dreading:
@tnnaterau
tweeted last night and follows with a full story today, that
@EXIT_IN
, Nashville's oldest rock club, is under contract to be sold.
Lookout photojournalist
@PartipiloJ
captured the moment an altercation broke out on the Tennessee House floor Thursday between Nashville Democrat John Ray Clemmons, right, and Republican Scott Cepicky, over Cepicky's alleged disparaging comments about Metro Nashville Schools.
Special elections to fill three seats in the Tennessee Legislature could cost taxpayers up to $570,000 after one resignation and two expulsions, reports
@stockard_sam
.
The state's court of appeals has ruled state game wardens cannot enter private property in Tennessee without a warrant, reports
@anitawadhwani
, comparing actions by
@tnwildlife
to those that led to the Revolutionary War.
Gloria Johnson, who rose to national fame last year as a member of the “Tennessee Three” that protested gun violence on the state House floor, wins U.S. Senate Democratic Primary, and will face Blackburn in November. From
@friedmanadam5
.
JUST IN: A federal judge has given the greenlight to a class action lawsuit against Johnson City and its police force that makes allegations coos took bribes & looked the other way while serial rapist assaulted scores of women, reports
@anitawadhwani
.
Editor's notebook: The Nazis among us. Not all white nationalism is as obvious as a swastika and not all will be as clumsy as Franklin mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson has been about revealing their politics, writes
@jhollymc
.
Statement from
@TNDemocrats
on GOP resolutions of expulsion for three Democratic lawmakers: "The Tennessee House Democratic Caucus stands firmly united with its members, Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson." (1)
Tennessee Republicans didn't care about decorum when members were indicted or were accused of sexual assault, writes Editor
@jhollymc
. Now, they use coded language to discredit those who disagree with their gun policies.
Privately, several Republicans say Gov. Bill Lee is forcing them to "walk the plank" on school vouchers, forcing them to choose between pressure from education leaders in their districts and school choice groups. From
@stockard_sam
.
Can you hate what the state is doing to Nashville and still love the $2.1 billion
@TitansStadium
deal? No way, writes
@brucebarry
: Tennessee’s GOP-controlled state government has flatly disqualified itself as a morally acceptable partner
5th Congressional District Rep. Andy Ogles recently attacked a measure updating standards for water heaters as ‘woke,’ apparently not realizing Congress first passed water heater standards in 1987.
@Harmon4Congress
asks: is this stupidity?
"This is on you all. It shouldn't be this hard to vote in Tennessee." --
@CharlaneOliver
, democratic Senate nominee at a press conference to address the snafu in Davidson county in which voters were given the wrong ballots. Video by
@PartipiloJ
.
Photojournalist
@PartipiloJ
got a shot today of the destruction on Second Avenue with a wide angle lens. This shows the east side of Second where Old Spaghetti Factory, Laser Quest and other businesses are located.
BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a peliminary injunction to plaintiffs in a suit against Tennessee, preventing a new law banning gender-affirming care for minors. Story to follow.
Unpacking the TSU audit:
@stockard_sam
reports the audit of HBCU Tennessee State used to justify dissolution of the board found no fraud and less than $4,000 in questionable expenses.
This morning, Tennessee Democratic House candidate
@allie4tn
is addressing a U.S. Senate Budget hearing on "the economic harms of restricting reproductive freedom:"
State
@VoteGloriaJ
announces she raised more than $1 million in the third quartet of 2023 for a total of $2.3 million raised since declaring her candidacy for U.S. Senate in September.
Republican lawmakers sponsored resolutions Monday to expel Democrats
@Justinjpearson
,
@VoteGloriaJ
and
@brotherjones_
who led a protest on the House floor last week as hundreds of people rallied outside the chamber for tighter gun laws.
“I want people to know what they’re doing to Black people in these small towns behind closed doors,” said
@courtneyteasley
, after
@TN_DCS
filed to prosecute her and a Black family for talking to the Tennessee Lookout.
Just in: GOP Rep. Todd Warner of Lewisburg accuses
@ltgovmcnally
of being a "predator" and of "sexually grooming" a young gay man, calls for resignation.
Columnist
@JimOHara6
doesn't bury the lede: "Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and the GOP supermajority of the General Assembly have failed a critical test of leadership in the wake of the Covenant School massacre: They have failed to exhibit moral imagination."
Confirmed:
@KiranSreepada
will run as a Democrat against Fifth District Congressman Andy Ogles. Sreepada, a Williamson County resident, ran against Mark Green in CD 7 in 2020 but has since been redistricted to the fifth.
Photojournalist
@PartipiloJ
is out and about on Nashville's election day and caught
@Oliviafornash
at a poll. If Hill wins her at-large race, she will become the first transgender person elected to office in Tennessee.
A new report from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth finds that nearly one in five children in the state are living in poverty -- a statistic found in urban and rural areas, reports
@anitawadhwani
. cc:
@tccy
The Metro Nashville Council voted unanimously to send former Rep. Justin Jones back to the Tennessee House, less than four days after he was expelled by the Republicans super majority.
@friedmanadam5
reports.
Tennessee Republican lawmakers like to shame unemployed Tennesseans for relying on federal benefits, but turns out many GOP legislators have relied on federal PPP funds. Who are the real "welfare queens," asks editor
@jhollymc
in her column.
On Monday, Metro Nashville filed suit against Tennessee's top political leaders, including
@GovBillLee
.
@stockard_sam
reports the suit alleges the group violated the Tennessee Constitution in a move to take over the Nashville Airport Authority.
Just in:
@GovBillLee
and Commissioner Jeff McCord of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development are being sued in a class action suit for ending COVID-era federal unemployment benefits.
A three-judge panel Wednesday found a Republican-drawn Tennessee Senate district map drawn unconstitutional and ordered a new map to be redrawn by Jan. 31, reports
@stockard_sam
.
Knoxville columnist
@Harmon4Congress
writes with personal thoughts on the "Tennessee Three," and particular
@VoteGloriaJ
: "Hundreds, if not thousands, of people in East Tennessee have 'Gloria Stories.'"
Well, hello. Today is our six month anniversary, and it almost slipped by with all the electoral excitement. Thanks to all 8,725 of you for following us. (And getting to 9,000 would be a great six month gift!)
Columnist
@JimOHara6
was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1990 for covering corruption in the Tennessee Legislature. He shares a history lesson for current leaders on how locking out the public and media worked the last time it was tried.
Statement from
@JRClemmons
on the firing of Dr. Michelle "Shelley" Fiscus from
@TNDeptofHealth
: "It is disturbing to think the governor would terminate someone of Dr. Fiscus's expertise and experience. . . just to appease a cabal of science denying extremists."
In a reference to a recent altercation in Montgomery, Ala.,
@CharlaneOliver
is wearing miniature folding chair earrings to the start of the special legislative session.
Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, organized an event to protest the rise of white nationalism after members of a neo-Nazi group marched in Nashville over the weekend. In addition Metro Councilmembers Sherri Weiner,
@JacobKupin4D19
&
@zulfat4council
spoke. Photos by
@PartipiloJ
.
We've got a little hardware rolling in from today's
@TennesseePress
awards. First up: first place for best single feature story to
@stockard_sam
for his work on the state's Community Corrections program.
As some Republican-led states reject federal funds for a summer food program, Tennessee will participate in a Biden Administration program designed to give parents extra cash to buy food for their children during the summer months, reports
@anitawadhwani
.
Senior Reporter
@anitawadhwani
reports a Davidson County judge has ruled a ban on signs in the legislature by Tennessee House Republicans violates the First Amendment.
In the span of about five minutes, the Shelby County Commission voted 7-0 to reappoint
@Justinjpearson
to the House District 86 seat from which he was expelled less than a week ago. From
@friedmanadam5
.
A source confirms to the Lookout's
@stockard_sam
that Gov. Bill Lee's statewide school voucher plan is unlikely to pass the House Finance Ways and Means subcommittee Tuesday, all but dooming it this legislative session.
For the second week in a row, members of a neo-Nazi group -- the Goyim Defense League -- massed in downtown Nashville, harassing tourists and yelling anti-semitic epithets. All photos from
@PartipiloJ
.
Congressional Democrats reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would guarantee access to birth control regardless of any future Supreme Court rulings.
@JenniferShutt
reports.
The Tennessee Lookout is pleased to announce we have been selected to be a host newsroom for
@Report4America
, and we will be adding another full-time reporter to our staff to cover rural West Tennessee.
BREAKING: Metro Nashville Legal Director Wally Dietz announces the city has, as expected, filed a lawsuit against the State of Tennessee over law cutting Metro Council.
@friedmanadam5
reports.
". . . because some people clapped during the meeting. This is outrageous. I cannot believe how petty this was. . . For a committee chairperson to use their position to banish grieving Tennesseans from the committee room is beyond the pale."
Breaking from
@friedmanadam5
: In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel struck down the state takeover of the Metro Nashville Airport Authority, returning authority to Metro.
A state agency reported in January Tennessee needs a minimum of $58.6 billion to fix failing infrastructure over the next few years, but all seven Tennessee GOP congressmen voted against
@POTUS
' infrastructure plan. Editor
@jhollymc
writes they blew it.
Photojournalist
@PartipiloJ
caught spontaneous celebrations breaking out in East Nashville after
@JoeBiden
was declared 46th President of the United States.
After the
@HRC
published a full page ad in Tuesday's
@Tennessean
featuring a photo of
@GovBillLee
in cheerleader drag, a spokeswoman for the organization confirmed it will have a presence at the upcoming SEC basketball tournament in Nashville.
Just in:
@NaacpTn
,
@EquityAlliance1
,
@lwvtn
, the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee and several individual voters have filed a federal lawsuit challenging portions of Tennessee's redistricting plan as intentionally discriminatory against Black voters.
Tennessee Republican lawmakers sure talk a big game about the Constitution, but as Editor Holly McCall writes in her column, the unconstitutional bills they pass show they are more interested in bending it to their purposes.
Just in: A Georgia woman whose five small kids were taken from her during a routine traffic stop is suing the
@TN_DCS
and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers, alleging violation of her constitutional rights.
@anitawadhwani
reports.
The Tennessee Democratic Caucus is demanding the release of five children taken from their parents by
@TN_DCS
after a February traffic stop in Coffee County. From
@anitawadhwani
.
@MarkWarner
, Democratic senator from Virgiania, tried to pass three election security bills.
@MarshaBlackburn
opposed them all. Columnist Mark Harmon on how Blackburn aids Russian election meddling.
Tennessee's Legislature is slashing and burning Nashville into oblivion, and what are city "leaders" doing, asks Editor
@jhollymc
? Playing their tiny fiddles while Rome on the Cumberland burns.