Reporter
Sam Stockard is a Nashville-based reporter with more than 30 years of journalism experience as a writer, editor and columnist covering the state Legislature and Tennessee politics for The Daily Memphian.
546 articles by Sam Stockard :
House District 97 Republican candidates Brandon Weise and John Gillespie are taking different stands on education vouchers, with Weise opposing them and Gillespie declining to say exactly where he stands on the governor’s initiative.
State Rep. Kevin Vaughan is set to sponsor legislation enabling active-duty soldiers such as Army Maj. Trevor Joseph of Collierville, a decorated soldier killed this fall in a Black Hawk crash at Fort Polk in Louisiana, to be buried on weekends at Tennessee Veterans Cemeteries.
The race to replace Republican state Rep. Jim Coley in House District 97 is shaping up with a Democrat and another Republican joining the fray.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s commission will consider providing funds, possibly up to $1 million, for a Fayette County incinerator just east of Collierville to dispose of deer carcasses infected with chronic wasting disease, according to state officials.
State Rep. Mark White believes non-tuition items paid for with education savings accounts could be taxed under the state's new voucher program. But even as questions are raised about the governor's initiative, the Department of Education still hasn't firmed up the rules.
Former House Speaker Glen Casada says he reached out to Gov. Bill Lee’s office to request creation of a $4 million rural grants fund that received wide support by the Legislature, noting there was “nothing secret” about the money. But some Republican leaders didn't know the grant fund existed, including state Rep. Ron Gant of Fayette County.
State Sen. Brian Kelsey, under FBI investigation for alleged federal campaign finance violations, is representing an Illinois organization in a lawsuit against Montana’s governor to bolster the cause of "dark money" groups.
A legislative move by Republican state Rep. Ron Gant to rename the Cordell Hull Building in Nashville for former Gov. Winfield Dunn might have to go through the state's Heritage Protection Act but is drawing little attention from key Memphis Democrats.
State Rep. Ron Gant is to meet with state officials Wednesday to seek $1 million in emergency funds for Fayette County to dispose of contaminated deer carcasses infected with chronic wasting disease. Some fear the problem could affect the Wolf River watershed east of Collierville.
State Sen. Raumesh Akbari says legislators won’t be precluded from coming up with a plan to spend some $732 million in reserve funds even though the Department of Human Services unveiled its own proposal.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper is delving into a rural grants fund to find out whether a list of “earmarked” projects or legislative requests exists.
Seeking a seventh House term representing Shelby County’s District 83, state Rep. Mark White stands on his record of “education reform” and defends support of the governor’s education savings account legislation, which is set to take effect in 2020.
The chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Government Operations Committee is refusing to hold hearings about a $4 million rural grants pool some lawmakers are calling a “slush fund” designed to reward legislators who voted for the governor’s voucher bill.
State House members criticized Department of Human Services Commissioner Danielle Barnes this week for letting a reserve fund for needy services build up to $732 million and for putting out a plan to spend it without asking permission.
Gov. Bill Lee hopes to add people and services to TennCare through the state’s Medicaid “modified” block grant proposal to the federal government, but admits he has no idea how negotiations will turn out.
House Minority Leader Karen Camper will ask the Department of Finance & Administration about 50 to 60 “commitments” for rural grants to be awarded from a $4 million pool criticized as a “slush fund” to reward lawmakers for their voucher votes.
State education vouchers worth $7,300 that Shelby County parents can use to send their children to private schools will count as federally taxable income, according to Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn.
A House member confirmed Tuesday being questioned in the past two months by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents looking into allegations former House Speaker Glen Casada offered lawmakers favors in return for votes on the voucher bill this spring.
State Rep. G.A. Hardaway is insisting House leaders live up to a commitment to investigate allegations of misconduct made against state Rep. David Byrd as a high school girls basketball coach 30 years ago.
The trial will be a legal battle between the state and voter registration advocates over new requirements and penalties approved this year but on hold because of a federal court ruling.
With Memphis in an uproar over the eligibility of University of Memphis star James Wiseman, state Rep. G.A. Hardaway says he plans to push for a probe of the “business aspect” of the NCAA.
Memphis product Jerri Green might be a mother of three, but she’s ready to fight for the House District 83 seat in a 2020 race with Republican state Rep. Mark White.
Gov. Bill Lee admits he's not following James Wiseman’s case against the NCAA and said the state should take a limited position in the matter.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton is following the advice of Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and declining to call for an immediate investigation into embattled state Rep. David Byrd. But hearings still could be held in January 2020 in the House Judiciary Committee.
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