Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Anita Wadhwani – June 12, 2023 In October 2021, during a politically-charged special session of the Tennessee General Assembly to address the COVID crisis, Rep. John Ragan read aloud an email from a Blue Cross Blue Shield employee opposed to her employer’s vaccine mandate. The employee, Heather Smith, was…
Published by News Channel 5, Reporter Scripps News Staff – June 8, 2023 Air quality alerts were issued for the second day in a row along the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast U.S. as a blanket of smoke covers cities and towns, creating health concerns for millions. “This one is a pretty big one and some…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Sam Stockard – June 9, 2023 The Aug. 21 special session to react to shooting deaths at The Covenant School is pressing closer, but some lawmakers are quietly making plans for 2024 to arm school teachers. Extreme risk protection orders aren’t being given much chance to pass later this…
Published by Fox13 Memphis, Reporter Kate Bieri – May 31, 2023 It could soon get more challenging for older adults to get food stamps. The deal struck this week to raise the debt limit includes increased work requirements for older Americans. “We’re really disappointed about these changes,” said Signe Anderson, the director of nutrition advocacy…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Anita Wadhwani – June 6, 2023 For more than a decade, Tennessee’s Medicaid program set a $50 cap on its payments to emergency room doctors treating low-income patients who show up at hospitals without experiencing a genuine medical emergency. The Tennessee Supreme Court has now ruled that TennCare failed…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Sam Stockard – June 7, 2023 Under Republican Gov. Bill Lee and supermajority GOP control, Tennessee is tied up in a wide range of legal battles, some on hot-button social questions and others that are reshaping the state’s relationship with local governments, mainly Metro Nashville. In his fifth year…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Commentator Noel Durant – June 5, 2023 You may be looking for safe and easy ways to get some exercise and fresh air with your kids. You may have moved to Tennessee from the West Coast during the pandemic because you love the great outdoors — so much so that you…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Anita Wadhwani – June 5, 2023 Nearly three dozen child welfare workers from across the state crowded into a Nashville conference room on Friday, preparing for an intensive weekend ahead. Their goal: visit up to 200 families who have been reported to the Department of Children’s Services on suspicions…
Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Alexander Willis – June 3, 2023 U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont and state Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville held a rally at Nashville’s Fisk University pushing for Tennessee’s minimum wage to be increased to $17 an hour. “We default to $7.25, and we say you cannot survive off of $7.25,” Jones…
Published by the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Reporter Omer Yusuf – June 4, 2023 A federal judge tossed out Tennessee’s controversial “anti-drag” law just after midnight Friday. The law would have restricted drag performances in the state. Judge Thomas Parker ruled the law unconstitutional after closing arguments in hearings about the state’s recent passage of the bill…