The Tennessee Supreme Court has launched a free legal clinic on wheels called the Justice Bus. The blue sprinter van will mostly travel to rural areas where residents may not have internet access.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally held a ceremonial signing of the bill at City Hall in Memphis.

“Governor, the COVID-19 emergency has long passed in Tennessee,” state Rep. Jason Zachary wrote. “We ask that you direct the Tennessee Department of Health to halt distribution, promotion or recommendation of COVID-19 vaccines for our youngest Tennesseans.”

The Democratic candidates in the race are Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley Jr., Nashville-based critical-care physician Jason Martin and Memphis activist Carnita Atwater. 

Gov. Bill Lee said he’s open to arming teachers, despite evidence that when teachers have guns, the risk of gun violence increases. Restorative justice can’t stop violence on its own, but evidence shows it improves students’ grades and behavior.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett was arrested for driving under the influence Friday, June 17 after leaving the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Coffee County.

Republican-controlled county commissions in other parts of Tennessee have moved fast when state legislative seats open up, appointing replacements in less than a month.

The USDA announced last month it could stop funding food aid organizations that discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

“I am cautiously optimistic about what we have seen so far,” said Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent Joris Ray. 

The state’s education commissioner and others were in Shelby County to see how well programs are helping students stem learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wednesday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee made his first extensive public comments on a Monday executive order on gun violence in schools. “We’re not looking at gun laws right now,” he told reporters.

Stuart McWhorter, a health care and tech venture capitalist, worked on Gov. Bill Lee’s 2018 campaign and served as his first finance commissioner.

“This order strengthens accountability and transparency around existing school safety planning and assures Tennessee parents that our efforts to protect students and teachers will continue,” Lee said in a press release.

Cameron Sexton says he sees no reason to ban AR-15 weapons in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting. Meanwhile in Washington Thursday, Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen was calling for such a ban.

An incident involving a student with a gun at White Station High School last week, following on the heels of the Uvalde, Texas, mass school shooting earlier in the week, was but the latest reminder of the increasing frequency of mass shootings. Leaders continue to struggle to find solutions. 

Gov. Lee signed a bill Wednesday that could impact the ownership and operation of Germantown’s namesake schools.

The question arose recently of whether 200 or so homes already occupied and an additional 100 homes planned are in Shelby or Fayette County.

The law will allow families in Shelby and Davidson counties to send their children to private school with taxpayer dollars. The court’s ruling represents a major victory for Gov. Bill Lee and the school choice movement.

The former Shelby County Republican Party chairman and member of the Republican National Committee, as well as its general counsel, died over the weekend at the age of 72. 

Abortion access would be severely restricted in Tennessee if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway reacted after some county commissioners said Monday they didn’t see any sense in filling the vacancy in a Memphis district because the Tennessee Legislature’s session has ended.

“My concern with (this bill) is that data does not support the basic premise of the legislation,” Lee wrote in a letter to General Assembly leadership.

City and state representatives in Washington react to the leaked draft of a high court opinion that indicates it is about to overturn the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S.

During the legislative session that ended last week, Tennessee lawmakers enacted laws limiting local control related to police, pipelines, voting and more.