About a third of Tennessee foster children are placed in three or more homes in their first year in state custody, according to a Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth report, putting children at greater risk of compounding trauma.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community show concern as proposed Tennessee legislation targets drag shows and transgender issues.
State lawmakers have arrived in Nashville for the start of the annual legislative session at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 10, and they are expected to focus on a big, car-centric infrastructure package, penalties for violent crimes and transgender people’s rights.
Once again, state dollars didn’t flow to Shelby County. But this time it wasn’t an example of the state disinvesting in Memphis. MLGW says it can complete all the needed infrastructure upgrades with the funding it already has.
After 17 years as an assistant U.S. Attorney here, Memphis native Kevin Ritz now has the top job. He is more than prepared, but it is also a different challenge: “It’s hard to be in this chair. But you put the facts and the law together, and you do the right thing.”
Gov. Bill Lee granted Oscar Smith a reprieve after finding TDOC failed to properly test lethal injection chemicals, then retained a former federal prosecutor to investigate why it happened.
The Daily Memphian’s D.C. Scorecard tracks votes and positions by the city’s four representatives in Washington on two large spending bills and the ongoing saga of Title 42.
State Sen. London Lamar’s bill has widespread support among leaders in Shelby County, but it is unlikely to become law.
Thousands of state government workers received significant raises this month following persistent criticism that the state is uncompetitive in the labor market. Most TBI employees were unaffected.
The governor also made 30 people eligible for parole who were sentenced before a reformed Drug-Free School Zone law was passed in 2020.
The 3G transfer might be one of the final stages of a saga that saw the brief merger of all Shelby County children under a single school system and the six municipalities’ subsequent secession and creation of their own districts.
A Tennessee comptroller audit on the Department of Children’s Services concluded that allegations of sexual abuse went uninvestigated, as did accusations of misconduct by contractors.
The D.C. Scorecard looks at the partisan split on federal same-sex marriage recognition and the National Defense Authorization Act.
The former Shelby County commissioner filed Monday, Dec. 5, in the January Democratic primary special election. There are six other Democrats with qualifying petitions out ahead of the Dec. 15 filing deadline.
The so-called Goosegate was far from the first conflict between residents and the Riverwood Farms homeowners’ association board, but it sparked a new group to take over. Now, the new board hopes it spurs a change to state law.
Three years after a fatal accident, Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission hears pleas for more protective regulations on the multi-hooked lines that often stretch across bodies of water.
Even with growing support among Tennesseans and state leaders, medical and recreational legalization still face a long legislative process.
State Sen. Brian Kelsey requested a hearing to change his plea eight days after an associate pleaded guilty.
“Not so long ago, it was commonplace for states to require juveniles convicted of homicide to serve sentences of over fifty years. Now, that practice has vanished. ... In the entirety of the nation, Tennessee stands alone.”
“It is no secret that DCS has failed to hire and retain staff and, as a result, has seen unusually high caseload averages throughout the state,” DCS Commissioner Margie Quin told Gov. Bill Lee and his budget advisers on Nov. 17.
Not long after it was established as its own department in the 1990s, DCS faced a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy from Memphis. The class-action lawsuit dramatically changed the way the foster care system works.
One baby in Memphis was separated from her mother for much more time than necessary because of dysfunction at the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. After quitting, a former DCS worker says her hair is growing back.
The seven charter schools have also all been deemed priority schools by the Tennessee Department of Education.
On Nov. 9, Tennessee State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) introduced a bill that would ban drag shows in public and another that bans certain medical procedures and other treatment for trans youth.
The resolution, which would ask the Tennessee Legislature and Gov. Bill Lee to change state law, is an alternative to a registry of rental property owners.