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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A proposal aimed at stopping Occupy Nashville protesters from staying overnight on the Capitol complex has passed the House. The measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Eric Watson of Cleveland was approved 70-26 after a lengthy debate on Thursday. The companion bill was to be heard on the Senate floor, but the upper chamber adjourned before hearing the legislation.

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A state lawmaker with a history of impassioned speeches was at it again at the Capitol. This time, Sen. Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis, wanted to talk about nurses and her experiences in the hospital. Sen. Ford reacted during a senate committee meeting Tuesday night over a proposal that would increase penalties for assaults on healthcare workers. The Memphis lawmaker talked about her own experience during two separate hospitalizations in recent years. "I cannot tell you the horrific experience that I had, and it was nurses who were mainly doing these things to me," she said. The bill...

Early voting begins today at four sites in Hamilton County, and local officials remind those headed to the polls to remember their photo IDs. The early voting ballot will be for the March 6 primaries, including the U.S. presidential race, two county special elections -- one for commission District 3 and another for county mayor -- and county property assessor. "Early voting offers a convenient way for voters to cast their ballots without worrying about making it to the polls on Election Day," said Hamilton County Elections Administrator Charlotte Mullis-Morgan. "The added flexibility allows individuals to work voting into their...

After five months of demonstrations and camping out on Legislative Plaza, nearly half of the Occupy Nashville protesters have removed their tents from the Capitol complex. The protesters discussed their future plans at a general assembly meeting Tuesday evening. All this comes right before state lawmakers were to pass a bill that would ban anyone from sleeping outside the Capitol. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Tennessee Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said the protesters informed a state trooper patrolling the area that they plan to leave. But some protesters suggested they would remain at Legislative Plaza until they are forcibly...

A top representative of the U.S. State Department was in Tennessee this week to discuss a law dealing with the state's refugee resettlement program. The Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act, which originated from the desk of State Sen. Jim Tracy, became law last July. It's the first bill of its kind. It requires the state's refugee program agency, Catholic Charities, to meet four times a year with local governments to plan and coordinate "the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees' arrival ..." The law also allows local communities to apply for a "moratorium" on refugee resettlement if those...

A decision was made during the Bradley County Commission work session Monday afternoon to place a resolution to call for a referendum on the question of whether a countywide motor vehicle tax (wheel tax) of $32 should be levied. Commissioner and Education Committee Chairman Jeff Yarber proposed the wheel tax resolution several weeks ago as a solution to funding requests for capital projects by the county school system. The county school system needs an estimated $25.5 million for a new elementary school, improvements and expansion for Walker Valley High School and Lake Forest Middle School and land for a third...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has named Gov. Bill Haslam his campaign chairman in Tennessee. The Romney campaign also announced Tuesday that it has gathered a full slate of 48 delegate candidates on the Tennessee ballot, led by former Gov. Winfield Dunn. Haslam said in a statement that the delegates represent the statewide strength of the Romney campaign in Tennessee. SNIP Romney supported Haslam in the state's 2010 governor's race, and Haslam's father and brother also hold leadership positions in the former Massachusetts governor's Tennessee operations.

NASHVILLE — Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has scheduled a trip to Tennessee next week while a poll indicates Rick Santorum is now leading in the state despite his lack of a campaign organization within the state. The American Research Group Inc. poll, involving 600 "likely" Republican voters contacted by telephone Feb. 8-9, found Santorum favored by 34 percent, followed by Mitt Romney (27 percent), Gingrich (16 percent) and Ron Paul (13 percent). The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania recruited no committed delegates to appear on the Tennessee's March 6 ballot, though if he wins the state primary, he will...

Republican candidates listed on my local ballot Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Charles Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

Just days after appearing on the National Geographic TV Show Doomsday Prepper, a prepper from Tennessee has been declared Mentally Defective and his guns have been seized by the government. The Prepper, David Sarti is a character to say the least, but his story is somewhat disturbing and should be a wake up call for everyone. Personally I think these shows are designed to make these people look crazy. Whether his appearance on the show played into Mr. Sarti’s diagnosis isn’t yet clear, but apparently the State believed he was a danger to himself after a local doctor insisted that...

NASHVILLE — A new effort is under way toward passage of legislation that pits the interests of gun rights advocates against the property rights of businesses, a politically volatile mix that was apparently a factor in a public confrontation between two legislators. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey last week declared he strongly supports passage of the key proposal, which would authorize handgun permit holders to take their weapons to work — provided they are left in a locked car — even if the permit holder’s employer prohibits guns on company property. “It almost negates even having a permit if you can’t...

Court of secrecy: How Richard Baumgartner, a drug-addicted judge, stayed on the bench despite warningsIt was a Thursday night in January 2010 when the phone rang at the Andersonville home of then-Knox County Sheriff's Office courtroom security officer Meredith Driskell. "He said, 'I'm coming to get those pills.' He told me to put them in a brown paper bag. I told him no ... but he told me I was going to," she recalled when contacted by the News Sentinel. "So, I put them in a brown paper bag and handed it to him, my husband, who hadn't been in...

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120212/NEWS01/302120070/Occupy-Nashville-protesters-may-pack-up?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

A new poll finds Rick Santorum leading in Tennessee, a concerning sign for both Mitt Romney, who hoped the former senator’s bubble would be short-lived, and Newt Gingrich, who is counting on a Super Tuesday sweep of Southern states to help him claw back into the race for the Republican nomination. Santorum drew 34 percent of likely Republican voters, versus 27 percent for Romney. Gingrich polled third in the state with 16 percent — a disappointing number for a state that borders Georgia, which he represented for 20 years in Congress, and just 3 points higher than Ron Paul. Just...

Rick Santorum is running ahead of his rivals in Tennessee, a stronghold of evangelical Christians that votes on March 6, Super Tuesday. Thirty four percent of likely Republican primary voters said they were backing Santorum, while 27% named Mitt Romney, 16% backed Newt Gingrich and 13% picked Ron Paul. The poll was taken by American Research Group February 8-9, when voters would have known about Santorum's sweep of voting contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

Police in Tennessee have arrested the jilted woman's father and another man and charged them with murder. Billy Clay Payne and Billie Jean Hayworth were killed last month after they deleted Jenelle Potter, the daughter of one of the suspects, from their "friends" list. Both were shot in the head and Mr Payne's throat was cut. The couple's eight-month-old baby was found in the mother's arms, unharmed, when the bodies were discovered. "It's the worst thing I've ever seen," said Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece, who has worked in local law enforcement for 27 years. "We've had murders, but nothing...

MEMPHIS, TN -(WMC-TV) – Police say a two-year-old pointed a gun at them while they were checking on a report that the child and its siblings were left alone in a car while their mother got her nails done. It was a bizarre twist of events that left other customers wondering why a mother would leave her kids alone in such a dangerous environment. "It's a crying shame," said Nicole Eubanks, after she heard about the arrest of 23-year-old Erica Rooks. "It doesn't make any sense." Rooks is charged with marijuana possession, unlawful possession of a weapon and three counts...

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120208/NEWS0201/302080112/Tennessee-close-evicting-Occupy-Nashville?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that Chevrolet Volt purchasers are now eligible for the state’s $2,500 electric vehicle (EV) rebate. The rebate requires that consumers qualify for and participate in The EV Project, a national study on EV use and charging infrastructure deployment. The EV Project will provide participants with a free Blink® 240V networked charge station and a credit of up to $1,200 towards its installation. To be eligible, Tennessee residents must sign an EV Project participant agreement, purchase the Volt, take delivery of the car, and have SPX Corporation install...

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Tennessee’s Green and Constitution parties’ joint lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Nashville that claimed laws on the books violated the state constitution by making it unreasonably hard for third parties to get their names on the ballots. snip Haynes wrote in his opinion that the deadline was too early and unconstitutional, and that a more reasonable number of signatures for the nominating petition would be 10,000. This will need to be settled in the General Assembly. “Any deadline in excess of 60 days prior to the August primary for the...

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

NASHVILLE — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration has fired two top officials at the Department of Environment and Conservation, while a third has announced his retirement. The department said in a statement Friday that the changes are "designed to streamline our structure and build management efficiencies." Changes are to include the creation of a single water resources division encompassing the department's pollution control, water supply and groundwater management programs, according to the statement. The fired officials are Mike Apple, head of the department's solid waste management division, and Paul E. Davis, who was in charge of water pollution control. Meanwhile,...

In a profanity-laced tirade, a Memphis DJ last week used an on-air interview to berate a local Republican congressional candidate -- calling her a "token negro" who is doing the bidding of "white folk." DJ Thaddeus Matthews called Charlotte Bergmann, who is black, "stupid." He referred to her as a "curly-haired nigga." When she walked out of the interview, he refused to shake her hand, saying he didn't want to get her "whiteness" on him. The outrage? The fury? In Memphis, you can hear the crickets. Bergmann told FoxNews.com that, while the web video of the interview has gotten a...

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120201/NEWS/302010106/Rand-Paul-s-airport-run-raises-alarm-over-scanner-accuracy?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

A federal appeals court has rejected a former University of Tennessee college student's appeal against being convicted for hacking former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account during the 2008 campaign. Lawyers for the ex-student, David Kernell, said the felony obstruction of justice statute he was convicted under was so vague as to be unconstitutional. In particular, they argued, Kernell had no obvious notice that a federal investigation was underway before he deleted files from his computer and defragmented his hard disk. However, according to Politico, in an opinion Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of...

OKLAHOMA CITY - A push to strengthen the rights of citizens across the state is on the agenda as Oklahoma lawmakers look at the 2012 legislative session as a time to expand the rights of gun owners. State Senator Steve Russell said Sunday he is working to strengthen Second Amendment rights. "I think it's important constitutionally," explained Russell. "What we see are homeowners able to save their own lives and business men and women able to save their own lives. We have to keep that in view." 1/29/2012 Related Story: Oklahoma Lawmakers Look To Expand 'Make My Day' Law Several...

Tennessee State Sen. Stacey Campfield is on the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio show this morning. Closely associated with the so-called "Don't say gay", Campfield said he was denied service at the Bistro at the Bijou Theater, 807 South Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902-1711--phone 865-544-0537. Without giving a name, he said a woman came out of the back as said 'You are a homophobe. I am not serving you'.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) on Sunday attacked Mitt Romney for "unseemliness and overkill" in his aggressive campaign against Newt Gingrich, the candidate Thompson has endorsed.

A 33-year-old Phoenix man is being held by sheriff’s deputies in Phoenix in connection with an Internet death threat against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his ongoing investigation into the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate. Adam Eugene Cox was taken into custody at his home Friday by Phoenix deputies, along with sheriff’s officers from Knoxville, Tenn., on an unrelated warrant for assault and is being held as the prime suspect in the Arpaio death threat investigation, said Maricopa County Sheriff’s spokesman Jeffrey Sprong. Deputies served a search warrant and seized a computer and other evidence from Mr. Cox’...

Security footage of Sen. Rand Paul after he refused a full body pat-down at the Nashville International Airport on Monday does not show the Kentucky Republican acting “irate,” as the police had described him, according to a report. n the videos, released by the Metro Airport Authority and posted on The Nashville Tennessean, Paul can be seen standing and sitting in a waiting area as he speaks on his cell phone. The Tennessean reported Thursday that the police incident report describes officers responding to a “passenger being irate,” but the footage offers no visible evidence of that behavior. Paul had...

The late comedian George Carlin used to say America was built on a double standard: “This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free.” We wonder how his joke would have sat with members of Tennessee’s tea party, which just presented state legislators with five priorities for action, including amending state laws governing school curriculums to change textbook selection so that “no portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers."

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120124/NEWS01/301240020/Rand-Paul-says-Nashville-airport-went-too-far-after-he-refused-pat-down?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

NASHVILLE — State legislators leading Newt Gingrich's Republican presidential campaign have returned from a weekend trip to South Carolina saying the former U.S. House speaker will be poised to repeat his Palmetto State victory in the Volunteer State. "We wanted to see how we're dovetailing (in Tennessee) with what they were doing in South Carolina," said state Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport. "I can say now that Team Tennessee is ahead of where South Carolina was on election night. We're going to shock people when we roll out our ground game." "It was electrifying," said Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, of the...

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Senator Rand Paul was on his way from his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky to Washington, D.C. Monday morning, when he caused some kind of “anomaly” in a body scanner at the airport in Nashville. Agents of the Transportation Security Agency declared that he would have to submit to one of those legendary full-body pat-downs, but before a single rubber glove had snapped into place, Senator Paul refused. He wanted a new scan instead, but the TSA agents really had their hearts set on that pat-down. This ended with Senator Paul parked in a...

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120123/NEWS02/301230034/Gingrich-win-puts-TN-play-decide-Republican-nomination?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Sen. Rand Paul told his communications director this morning he was being detained by TSA in Nashville. @moirabagley, the Twitter account associated with Paul staffer Moira Bagley tweeted around 10 a.m., ET, “Just got a call from @senrandpaul. He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.” A spokesman for TSA said the agency was looking into the matter but could not immediately comment. Paul apparently set off an airport security full-body scanner, “on a glitch,” a spokesman in Paul’s office told ABC News. The Paul staffer said TSA agents would not let Paul walk back through the body scanner and...

<p>Posted by Ron Paul on his Facebook page: "My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport. I'll share more details as the situation unfolds."</p>

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON FROM 520 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST. ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER... THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF DYERSBURG TENNESSEE TO 25 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF GREENVILLE MISSISSIPPI. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU5). REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND...

Gannett Newspaper - Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120122/NEWS01/301220042/TN-gun-laws-lack-thereof-under-attack?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Gannett Newspaper, Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120121/NEWS04/301200120/Vanderbilt-s-Christian-Legal-Society-says-anti-bias-policy-discriminates?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee has opened a new satellite health center in Johnson City. Located at 409 E. Unaka Ave., the Planned Parenthood office is open to patients... ...That's all you need to know. Go straight to the first comment!

The Manhattan district attorney is reported to be in plea-deal negotiations with Meredith Graves, the nurse who faces serious felony firearms charges after bringing her Tennessee-permitted .32-caliber pistol to Ground Zero, apparently unaware of the fact that New York declines to recognize out-of-state concealed-carry licenses, and that New York City declines to recognize even New York State permits. Ms. Graves, upon seeing the no-guns sign at the memorial, naïvely asked a security guard whether it would be possible to check in her pistol; this attempt to comply with the posted rules resulted in her arrest, and could well result in...

Gun nuts in the Tennessee state legislature have declared civil war on New Yorkers — saying they will retaliate for the prosecution of a woman who was carrying an illegal pistol at the 9/11 Memorial. A resolution winding its way through the Tennessee legislature warns New Yorkers not to drive through their state — because the Highway Patrol is “gunning” for us. A Knoxville-based legislator, who moonlights as a farmer, is so angry over the Tennessee tourist’s gun arrest last month that his resolution condemns it as a “grave miscarriage of justice” — and reminds New Yorkers to “drive carefully”...

The two men involved in Friday night’s fatal shooting inside 802 North Second Street were known to each other and had a romantic interest in the same woman. Police say the woman's estranged husband, 37 year old John Allen allegedly shot and killed the woman's ex-boyfriend, 33 year old Christopher Franklin. Allen told police after answering a knock at the door, Franklin aggressively entered and physically confronted him. Allen said that he shot Franklin in self defense. Allen and his estranged wife told detectives that Franklin had threatened her in the past. She believed that Franklin had been watching her...

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky Thursday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles. The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives. ... "I totally understand your objection," the judge told Byler. "But you're in violation, and it's not up to me to change the law. It doesn't really matter what I think about any of...

One of the most harmful aspects of our nation’s current immigration policy is its manifold refugee resettlement programs, the disastrous consequences of which have been amply documented on this website. That’s why the speech Don Barnett, currently a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and expert on refugee resettlement in the United States, delivered to the Penn Club on Tuesday night is so crucial to understanding the scale of the problem faced by small towns and communities throughout America. A former employee of the United States Information Agency within the U.S. State Department, he spent an extensive part of...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged a Memphis police officer with illegally accessing the FBI's National Crime Information Center database. The U.S. attorney's office for West Tennessee said Wednesday that it has charged 36-year-old Sean Fritz with two counts of computer fraud and one count of lying to a federal agency. Fritz was arrested Tuesday. Prosecutors say Fritz accessed the crime database two times to aid a confidential source for illegal purposes.

Dolly Parton is back on the big screen, starring alongside Queen Latifah in the Gospel-driven “Joyful Noise.” But the country music legend insisted that there is more to the movie than just music and a good time. “The film is uplifting and I want people to go away feeling better than they did when they got here, because times are hard right now. Everybody's been feeling a little scared and a little down, and the economy has been bad and people don't know what to think. We just seem to have lost all our morals and principles and values these...

NASHVILLE — Mitt Romney, who finished third in Tennessee's 2008 Republican presidential primary, has established a solid lead in organizing to win the state this year — if that will still matter on March 6. And some of the state's leading Republicans think that the political dust to be stirred in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and elsewhere will not be settled on that "Super Tuesday" two months from now. If so, Tennessee just might be in the national limelight for a moment. Three other Southern states — Georgia, Texas and Virginia — also have primaries scheduled on March 6....

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security today announced that 9,492 photo IDs had been issued for voting purposes from July 1st through December 31st, 2011. The vast majority (8,989) of those issued were non-photo driver licenses converted into photo driver licenses, while 503 were original photo identification cards. Effective January 1st, 2012, a new state law requires citizens to present a federal or state- issued photo ID to vote at the polls. The law also requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to issue photo IDs for voting purposes at no charge.