Latest Tennessee state government News

Tennessee high court keeps mail voting expansion amid appeal

Jun. 24, 2020 9:56 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that it will not block a judge’s order offering a by-mail voting option to all eligible voters during the coronavirus pandemic while the state continues to appeal. The Tennessee high court did agree with the state's wish to...

Venita Lewis, right, leads a demonstration Wednesday, June 10, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn., demanding the removal of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from inside the State Capitol. The bust of the former Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader has been the center of controversy for years. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Tennessee lawmakers adjourn without addressing race, reform

Jun. 21, 2020 4:22 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s Black lawmakers came back to the Capitol earlier this month with a request for their white colleagues: Advance public policy to send modest signals that say, "Yes, Black lives do matter." “You can’t just like black people,” said Rep. Harold...

FILE - In this March 28, 2011, file photo, a larger-than-life bronze statue of Patrick A. McCarran of Nevada, left, stands near the entrance to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic members of Nevada's congressional delegation are renewing a proposal to remove a statute of a former Nevada Sen. McCarran from the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall, saying that he left a “legacy of racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Latest: Nevada officials seek removal of McCarran statue

Jun. 20, 2020 12:30 AM EDT

TOP OF THE HOUR: — Nevada officials renew proposal to remove statue of McCarran. — Sharpton takes on Trump for ‘lowlifes’ tweet. — Protesters in North Carolina pull down parts of Confederate monument. — Legend, Union among Black cultural leaders to sign letter to fight...

House members are separated by glass partitions due to the coronavirus pandemic during a House session Tuesday, June 9, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Tennessee advances 6-week abortion ban, lawsuit filed

Jun. 19, 2020 4:23 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Amid nationwide unrest and a global pandemic that wrecked the state budget, Tennessee lawmakers advanced one of the strictest abortion bans in the country as most Tennesseans were asleep Friday and largely unaware the GOP-dominant General Assembly had taken up the controversial...

FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2019, file photo, death row inmate Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman attends a hearing in Nashville, Tenn. Abdur'Rahman was scheduled to be executed in April, but last fall a judge resentenced him based on claims that prosecutors had illegally excluded African Americans from the jury pool. The attorney general appealed the resentencing, and the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals heard arguments Tuesday, June 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Court examines resentencing based on claim of racism

Jun. 9, 2020 3:28 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The fate of a black death row inmate in Tennessee, whose sentence was reduced to life in prison over concerns about racism at his trial, is up in the air after the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday heard an appeal of the sentence reduction. Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman...

FILE - In this April 15, 2019, file photo, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, left, attends a House session, in Nashville, Tenn. Hargett, who had previously argued the original 2019 voter registration law would bolster election security, is submitting a separate bill in 2020 that will criminalize “intentional dissemination of misinformation” surrounding the qualifications to vote, voter registration requirements, voter eligibility and polling dates, times and locations. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Judge: Tennessee must allow vote by mail for all amid virus

Jun. 4, 2020 11:09 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee must give all of its 4.1 million registered voters the option to cast ballots by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, a judge ruled Thursday. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled that the state's limits on absentee voting during the pandemic constitute...

Students wearing face masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus stand in a line to have their body temperatures checked before entering their classrooms at a high school in Ulsan, South Korea, Wednesday, Jun 3, 2020. (Bae Byung-soo/Newsis via AP)

The Latest: New Zealand on verge of eradicating virus

Jun. 3, 2020 10:02 PM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. ___ WELLINGTON, New Zealand - New Zealand is on the verge of eradicating the virus from its...

FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2019 file photo, Fiona Whelan Prine, left, and John Prine arrive at the 61st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The wife of the late celebrated singer-songwriter John Prine, who died from complications of COVID-19, is urging lawmakers to expand absentee voting so Tennesseans would not have to put their health at risk exercising their right to vote. Fiona Whelan Prine told a Senate panel Tuesday that allowing more people to cast an absentee ballot was critical in ensuring that people would remain safe and healthy during the 2020 election. Whelan Prine also contracted the coronavirus, but she has since recovered. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

John Prine's wife urges Tennessee to expand absentee voting

Jun. 2, 2020 11:29 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The wife of singer-songwriter John Prine, who died from complications of COVID-19, urged lawmakers Tuesday to expand absentee voting so Tennesseans would not have to put their health at risk to exercise their right to vote. Fiona Whelan Prine, who also contracted the coronavirus and...

People wearing protective gear disinfect as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a wedding hall in Suwon, South Korea, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (Kim Jong-taik/Newsis via AP)

The Latest: UN body calls for action on debt amid pandemic

Jun. 2, 2020 10:33 PM EDT

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. ___ UNITED NATIONS — The president of the U.N. Economic and Social Council is calling...

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks about protecting seniors, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, April 30, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Tennessee to halt sharing COVID-19 patient data

May. 27, 2020 7:28 PM EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee will soon stop providing the names and addresses of COVID-19 patients to first responders, after initially arguing that doing so would protect those on the front line. Gov. Bill Lee’s administration decided on the change this week, conceding that the data may have...

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