Local Politics

Politics around puzzling planning projects and the apathy of voters When I was Knoxville’s public affairs director, I had to attend only one Knoxville-Knox County Planning Commission meeting: after 30 minutes, I concluded that mayors…
Read More...

The fundamental strategies of a municipal face-off I don’t play chess, but I’ve played a real-life political version in contests involving many millions of dollars—or a politician’s future. In politics, even what seems the right move…
Read More...

How voters will navigate an artificial intelligence-laden election cycle. Anyone who believes the intelligence of politicians is artificial will have more reason than ever to think that is the case during the 2024 election cycle.…
Read More...

A new election law is in effect—but will it stay? The question of “Who’s in charge around here?" in city elections—either the Knoxville city charter or Tennessee state legislature—has been settled by the latter. Unless things change.…
Read More...

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…
Read More...

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…
Read More...

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…
Read More...

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…
Read More...

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…
Read More...

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…
Read More...