Ian Round is The Daily Memphian’s state government reporter based in Nashville. He came to Tennessee from Maryland, where he reported on local politics for Baltimore Brew. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland in December 2019.
There are 432 articles by Ian Round :
The public won’t be able to inspect the contracts until they’re finalized, prompting criticism among transparency advocates that the Megasite Authority will be able to spend millions of dollars with little oversight. Related story:
Additional bill considered during special legislative session for Ford incentives.
State lawmakers are set to begin a special legislative session Monday, Oct. 18.
Lawmakers are considering reforms to the registry law following a judge’s decision earlier this year that the state applied the law unconstitutionally.
More low-income people have government healthcare now that TennCare has been effectively prohibited from taking away coverage. It’s a big shift from before the pandemic when the agency frequently took people off the rolls.
Lee and Schwinn gave few details about whether or how much the state would increase funding for schools. But Lee said he suspects the state will increase funding, and will have the proposal ready for the state legislature when it meets in January.
Two Memphis organizations providing meals to children in the summer of 2020 billed the state for meals they didn’t serve. Federally funded food programs have been susceptible to fraud for years.
Gov. Bill Lee will call a special session of the General Assembly on Oct. 18, he announced in a tweet Thursday, Sept. 30. COVID-related legislation may also be on the table.
From its founding in 1809, to the Civil War and through the 1980s, fewer than 1,000 people lived in rural Spring Hill. Then, in 1985, General Motors came to town.
Ford Motor Company has selected the Memphis Regional Megasite for an electric vehicle and battery manufacturing campus, investing $5.6 billion and creating 5,800 jobs. Gov. Bill Lee said it was “the largest single investment in this state’s history.”
Some groups may get a booster dose, while other groups should get it, state health officials said.
Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn announced good news last week — new summer literacy and math programs were a statewide success, with students seeing significant progress. But, some teachers and Democrats questioned the results, saying it’s too early to celebrate the data.
While some say anonymity provides safety for those at risk of retaliation, the witnesses told emotional stories of the state taking their children away, based on false, anonymous reports.
The Biden administration’s recent announcements regarding COVID-19 vaccines have set up a challenge with conservative states like Tennessee and raise legal questions.
A bill that some fear could have a chilling effect on reporting child abuse is back in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) Friday, Sept. 17, appointed seven senators to an ad-hoc committee on redistricting. State Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) is one of two Democrats and will serve as one of two co-chairs.
Days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a restrictive abortion ban, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to intervene, an important decision came down from another court that invalidated a similar law signed last year by Gov. Bill Lee.
Prosecutors, sheriffs, judges, criminal justice reform advocates and others testified to a General Assembly committee on the money bail system Monday, Sept. 13. But lawmakers leaned more to small changes than sweeping reform.
In a high-poverty “eviction capital,” Memphians are at greater risk of homelessness and housing instability than most Americans.
The redistricting process formally began Wednesday, Sept. 8, with a bipartisan state House committee hearing public input and approving guidelines. Memphis is likely to lose seats in the General Assembly.
The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has spent less than 5% of its federal rental assistance money. In Memphis and Shelby County, where high poverty and low homeownership make the need much more urgent, that number is more than 60%.
As more than a third of new COVID cases are among children, Lee says, “We’re doing what we believe is the best way forward.”
SCS and Nashville schools were remote for longer than all other districts. State leaders withdrew the flexibility for districts to keep all students at home, stressing the impact of “learning loss.”
A class-action lawsuit filed today alleges disabled students can’t get a proper education without universal masking to slow the spread of COVID-19, and therefore that Lee’s order is unlawful.
The opt-out order on masks is one of many times in recent years that the state government has preempted local governments, negating laws passed by mayors and city and county councils.