The Tennessee Department of Education released a draft of its new education funding framework Tuesday, Jan. 11, the same day lawmakers began this year’s regular legislative session.

State lawmakers have descended on Nashville for three months of committee hearings, debates and vote-wrangling over how to spend taxpayer dollars.

Residency requirements, reckless driving and Germantown’s namesake schools are among the issues lawmakers plan to address at the upcoming General Assembly session. School funding reform might have to wait until next year.

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency begins taking applications online Monday, Jan. 10, for $168 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for those behind on their mortgage payments specifically because of the pandemic.

With local motorists driving ‘as if they are in video games,’ city and state law enforcement are at odds over who bears more responsibility for enforcing highway speeding laws.

A federal judge granted an acquittal on two wire fraud charges against state Sen. Katrina Robinson but denied acquittal or a new trial on two remaining counts of wire fraud.

State Rep. Mark White confirmed he’ll file another bill in the upcoming legislative session that could determine who controls Germantown Elementary, Germantown Middle School and Germantown High. The bill could also affect Lucy Elementary in Millington.

Before lawmakers approved $138 million in October, costs had already risen from $60 million to $136 million. On Dec. 20, with no discussion, the State Building Commission approved a budget revision to $274 million.

“(The BEP) needs to change,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “We are due for a strategy that is money well-spent, not just more money.”

State Sen. Brian Kelsey’s trial for campaign finance charges has been delayed by more than a year, until after the 2022 elections.

Prosecutors in a federal case have dropped charges against Sen. Katrina Robinson, D-Memphis, and two codefendants in a plea deal.

The proposed political map, which was unveiled Friday, Dec., 17, takes one seat away from Shelby County, while adding three to Middle Tennessee. 

“Licensure of liars should not be allowed,” one Nashville physician told the state legislature’s Joint Government Operations Committee.

Gov. Bill Lee bumped up the starting annual salary for corrections officers from $32,500 to $44,500.

State Rep. Torrey Harris said the boundaries of state Rep. London Lamar’s district were extended by several blocks, just enough to include his home at South McLean Boulevard and Union Avenue, according to a tentative map House Republicans allowed him to see.

The Tennessee Department of Education would be prohibited from providing funding for undocumented students under a new Republican proposal, the legality of which was immediately questioned by immigrant advocates.

The decision doesn’t declare a statewide mask mandate, nor does it force school districts to require universal masking. But it does prevent students from opting out of mask mandates if their schools have them.

“(Dozens of) other states don’t have to do a single thing for FedEx, and yet we’re doing almost $150 million worth of tax breaks,” state Sen. Todd Gardenhire said Tuesday.

The coronavirus Omicron variant isn’t in Tennessee yet — or, at least, no cases have been identified — but state Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said Monday, Dec. 6, that she expects it to arrive within a few weeks.

Andre Mathis spends a great deal of time on service, much of it to the Memphis neighborhoods where he was raised. He could be the first Black man from Tennessee confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Jeffrey Wayne Hughes’ hearing signals the likely end to his case against the Board of Parole, since a hearing is what he wanted. The board won’t be able to win similar cases in the future with the Nashville judge’s decision on the books.

Chancellor Anne Martin of the Davidson County Chancery Court ordered the Board of Parole to redetermine one man’s release eligibility date, writing the board’s actions were “inconsistent with all principles of due process.”

Early reaction among the city’s representatives in Washington the day of the House vote approving the $2 trillion Biden adminstration domestic agenda focused on a provision that would expand TennCare coverage that the Tennessee Legislature has refused to expand.

Gov. Bill Lee tweeted at 8:30 this morning he would not renew Tennessee’s state of emergency after it expires tonight.

Germantown Municipal School District reverses course, returns to masking Tuesday.