“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.

A rundown on the fate of every bill we’ve covered since January, organized by subject.

On the last day of the session, lawmakers put the finishing touches on a bill that would lead to books being banned from schools and on Gov. Bill Lee’s school funding overhaul.

Dr. Lisa Piercey, the face of the state’s efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, is stepping down from her post as Health Commissioner, Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday, April 28.

State Sen. Jack Johnson said the current formula “is outdated, it’s antiquated, it’s difficult to understand. Quite frankly, it is broken. (This) rips that old formula out by the roots and starts with a clean state.”

The only two contested Republican primaries in August for seats in the Tennessee General Assembly representing parts of Shelby County could change dramatically with new challenges that could remove one of the contenders from each of the two-man races.

A question about a census tract has left hundreds of homes in limbo with questions of whether they sit in Arlington or Fayette County.

The Senate made significant revisions to a bill affecting the ownership and operations of four Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

Lawmakers debated the Second Amendment and liberty, the value of training and permitting, and the maturity of teenagers, even though a Senate committee stalled the bill earlier this month.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton invoked the names of Memphis rapper Young Dolph and Rhodes College student Drew Rainier, both of whom were shot and killed last year, in a speech arguing against early release for a handful of crimes.