Local Politics

Pay your debt and keep your home. Simple, right? It’s possible for a Tennessean’s house to be sold out from under them – even if they’re paying their mortgage. The reason: property taxes, or rather, property tax non-payment. On one…
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Voices build momentum after Tennessee’s mature minor law gets a clarification from the governor The extent of the state’s ability to decide that minors of a certain age can make their own medical decisions while keeping their parents in…
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Additional security measures can work, but can they sometimes be too much? Security is as security doesn’t. I wasn’t a danger to President Ronald Reagan, but based on where I was standing, the complexity of security apparatus…
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Silicon Valley Bank’s 2023 collapse draws deep similarities to the most notable bank failure in East TN history Insistent—even demanding—messages from reporters in Tennessee and throughout the country were growing into an ever-higher…
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Ratings and Certificates of Need keep hospitals under the microscope of the public eye They came really close to killing you,” said a hospital’s diagnostic treatment department chief. His eyes would have looked like sunny-side-up eggs…
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Has gentrification found its way to Knoxville? What usually goes up must instead stay the same. That’s as good a way as any to describe how some in Knoxville and around the country want to deal with “gentrification,” a subject that…
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Immunity for companies leaves Tennesseans wondering who’s right The challenge facing Tennesseans and the world about Covid-19 vaccines is what to believe, who to believe, and when to believe what we’re told about them—and if there’s…
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The clash over the governor's proposed Hillsdale College partnership The less school students know the good about their country, the less likely they are to care about their country. That’s among the education problems Gov. Bill Lee is…
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Redistricting puts Republicans and Democrats at odds Redistricting works like this: when your political party is in power, among the spoils of victory is drawing congressional and state legislative district lines. A legislative majority…
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Tennessee’s place in the battle of vaccination requirements At a hotel in a politically blue state, when I went to use the fitness center, the desk clerk said no ID and COVID-19 vaccination card, no entry. I’d planned to exercise; I…
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