Free Republic

Three Tennessee state lawmakers, all Democrats, were pulled from their committee assignments and could face expulsion from the legislature after they participated in storming the state Capitol during a protest against guns following last week's school shooting. Tennessee House Republicans voted Monday to strip committee assignments from state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson, according to WPLN. A potential expulsion for the three lawmakers could come later this week. The lawmakers joined anti-gun protestors in storming the Capitol last week after a 28-year-old transgender person opened fire inside the Covenant School in Nashville, which killed six people,...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Seven people were shot overnight at Prive Restaurant in Hickory Hill. According to the Memphis Police Department (MPD), officers were called to 6980 Winchester Rd., Prive, for a shooting just after 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Two men were found suffering from gunshot wounds, police said. One was pronounced dead at the scene and one was taken to Regional One in critical condition but later was pronounced dead, according to police. Police said five additional people, four men and one woman, arrived at area hospitals in private cars. According to police, the victims that went to hospital's ages...

BREAKING: The 3rd Transurrection is now underway [at the Capitol] in Tennessee.

Radical activists are trying to ban the church after the tragedy in Nashville. ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – At least four people are dead, including the shooter, following an “active shooter” situation at a school in Green Hills. The Nashville Fire Department said the incident happened at Covenant School located at 33 Burton Hills Boulevard. Metro police reported that officers engaged the shooter, who is dead. A spokesperson with Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt confirmed to News 2’s Kendall Ashman that three children were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds, but have died from their injuries. Hospital officials also said two adults were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and have...

UPDATE: Memphis Police announced the five MPD officers involved in the arrest of Tyre Nichols have been fired. The following officers have been terminated: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. Memphis Police posted this statement to Twitter as well as Facebook and provided the following photos. “The Memphis Police Department has conclude its administrative investigation into the tragic death of Mr. Tyre Nichols. After a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this incident, we have determined that five (5) MPD officers violated multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene,...

Talk about making friends and influencing people. Duke Energy, one of the main power providers for the Carolinas, really stepped in it over the Christmas weekend. For the first time in the energy company’s history, they were forced to institute rolling blackouts and beg their customers to conserve power…in the middle of a ferocious winter storm on Christmas Eve. For the first time in the company’s history, Duke Energy enacted rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve amid freezing temperatures. The move left half a million customers without power. And on Tuesday, the company issued an apology, attributing several compounding factors as...

<p>MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Ezekiel Kelly, 19, is in custody after a frightening several hours across the city of Memphis.</p><p>Memphis police issued an alert Wednesday evening to be on the lookout for an armed and dangerous man who police said was on a shooting rampage across Memphis.</p>

Facebook Photo from the Zeek Huncho Facebook page Ezekiel Kelly was named by Memphis police as the active shooter who randomly gunned down seven people, killing four of them, in public places throughout the Tennessee city. Kelly, 19, who is now in custody, according to Memphis police, was streaming live on Facebook during the shootings. He is also known as Ezekiel Dejuan Kelly and Ezekiel D. Kelly. “This has been a horrific week for the City of Memphis,” the Memphis police chief, C.J. Davis, said in a news conference. She said that four people were shot to death (two men...

The body found near the Memphis crime scene late Sunday has been identified as missing teacher and young mother Eliza Fletcher, the Memphis Police Department confirmed. Fletcher was abducted while she was running near the University of Memphis early Friday morning. Agents with the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Cleotha Abston, 38, on Saturday after matching his DNA to a pair of sandals found near the scene. Abston was charged Tuesday morning with first-degree murder, in addition to his previous charges, records show.

Planned Parenthood announced Tuesday it is discontinuing abortions in Tennessee in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal. “This decision was not made lightly, and is due to Tennessee’s legal landscape, which is extremely hostile to abortion access,” said Ashley Coffield, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S., will be continuing other services at its Memphis and Nashville clinics, such as providing birth control and STD testing. Its Knoxville clinic has been closed since it burned down on December 31, 2021. While Planned Parenthood is ceasing abortions...

Evictions continue amid rising costsEditor’s note: Today’s stories and photos are part of a continuing T-G series on the growing number of homeless persons in Bedford County.Bedford County Listening Project, a renter’s advocacy group, hosted a “Homeless Warming Party” on Tuesday to bring attention to what the group described as an unfair eviction and the lack of affordable housing in Shelbyville. The term “homeless warming” is a play on a housewarming party. But since many residents, like Cara Grimes, are being evicted from their rentals, more and more people are having to face the possibility of homelessness. As housing costs...

Under-counts may have cost Florida and Texas another House seat. Well, well. Remember how Democrats accused the Trump Administration of trying to rig the 2020 Census? Now a Census Bureau study reveals that Republican-leaning states may have been hurt by mistaken under-counts. On Thursday the bureau published the results of its post-enumeration analysis, which it does after every Census to identify errors in the count. Its study found that 14 states were over- or under-counted by statistically significant margins. Compare that to 2010 when the bureau’s post-hoc analysis found that all the state population counts were more or less accurate....

On April 21, 2022, the Tennessee House voted 64 to 28 to pass HB 1735. A similar bill in the Senate is known as SB 2291. The bill is an incremental step toward restoring Second Amendment rights to young adults. The bill requires the department of safety to issue an enhanced handgun carry permit to people who are at least 18 years of age, and meet the other requirements which apply to people 21 and older. Previously, the minimum age was 21. From legiscan.com, bill text: (b) Except as provided in subsection (r), any resident of Tennessee who is a...

Legislation introduced in the Tennessee state legislature this month is raising alarms from the state's police union and gun control advocates who say it could turn the streets into the "old West." Two bills in the state assembly and state senate, HB 254 and SB 2523, would amend Tennessee law and designate "a person who has been issued an enhanced handgun carry permit" as a member of law enforcement. MORE: America has a gun violence problem. What do we do about it? "As introduced, expands the definition of 'law enforcement officer' to include a person who has been issued an...

Republican Governor @BillLeeTN is refusing to sign a bill, which: - Bans COVID-19 vaccine mandates - Clampdown on vaccine passports - Provides doctors with the right to prescribe what is best - Protects workers from vaccine discrimination @seanmdav The Tennessee legislature passed a sweeping bill banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates and protecting individuals from discrimination by government and corporate entities. That was over a week ago. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has thus far refused to sign it.

An executive order signed quietly by Tennessee's Republican governor is troubling some Americans as it greenlights the National Guard and State Guard to implement quarantines and involuntary commitment of citizens "in connection with certain health care and emergency services operations," with the governor specifically concerned about "an increase in COVID-19 cases." Gov. Bill Lee signed Executive Order 83 on Friday "with little fanfare" according to Tennessee Stands, an influential conservative coalition. The group says it found some of the provisions in the executive order "exceptionally concerning," including: "Discretion to utilize National Guard and State Guard members in connection with certain...

Three guests visiting the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, were hospitalized after the attraction's iceberg wall collapsed. (excerpt) The Titanic Museum Attraction offers visitors the chance to explore recreations of the famous ship, including the iconic Grand Staircase and artifacts from the shipwreck. "As visitors touch a real iceberg, walk the Grand Staircase and third class hallways, reach their hands into 28-degree water, and try to stand on the sloping decks, they learn what it was like on the RMS Titanic by experiencing it first-hand," the website reads.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is coming to Nashville, Tennessee with the inaugural Music City Grand Prix. For three days in August, the streets of downtown will come alive with the sounds of music, food, and racing, all spun into an experience you just have to be there to feel. This temporary street circuit takes racers by Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL Tennessee Titans, and over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge into downtown Nashville, the first motorsports course of its kind in the world to cross a major body of water, The Cumberland River. 80 LAPS | 173.6 MILESWEEKEND...

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs won’t impose any new restrictions or mask mandates, even with the rise of the Delta variant and regular cases. The mayor made this declaration in response to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAIH) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper. Fauci revealed that he and other public health officials were considering renewed guidance recommending masks for fully-vaccinated individuals. “As we once again hear talk about lockdowns and mandates across the country, I feel it is important I make it clear that under no circumstances will I issue any new COVID...