Free Republic

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announced on Thursday that he will not run for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) in the 2018 election. “Gov Bill Haslam will not run for the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker, leaving U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn as the likely frontrunner, if she chooses to run,” The Tennessean reported on Thursday morning: The governor, who is term-limited, made the announcement Thursday in a news release. “While Crissy and I will always be grateful for all of the encouragement and support to run for the United States Senate, I...

NASHVILLE, TN (WRCB) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says he will not be running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by current U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. Haslam issued a statement earlier that reads:: While Crissy and I will always be grateful for all of the encouragement and support to run for the United States Senate, I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for Senate in 2018. The primary reason is that I want to remain completely focused on my job as governor. I know that being a candidate for the Senate during my last 15...

A bid by Tennessee’s governor to remove a bust of Confederate cavalry general, slave trader and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state Capitol building was rejected Friday. The State Capitol Commission voted 7-5 against issuing a petition to moving the bust from the Capitol to the new state museum being built nearby. It would have been the first step in a lengthy process laid out by Tennessee’s “Heritage Protection Act” that limits the removal or changing of historical memorials on public property. Republican Gov. Bill Haslam called for the removal after last month’s deadly white...

Last Thursday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed HB0615/SB1108; legislation that, in the exact language of the bill, stated “The Holy Bible is hereby designated as the official state book.” Justifying his veto of a bill that passed with overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, Haslam wrote in a letter to the Speaker of the House, “In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text. “If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn’t be recognizing...

Having already made a .50-caliber sniper gun the official state rifle, Tennessee lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to making the Holy Bible the state’s official book. The state Senate voted 19-8 in favor of the bill despite arguments by the state attorney general that the measure conflicts with a provision in the Tennessee Constitution stating that “no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship.” Opponents argued the Bible would be trivialized by being placed alongside other state symbols such as the official tree, flower, rock or amphibian. But both chambers of...

Just ahead of Tennessee’s Super Tuesday primary, the state’s governor backed Marco Rubio. Gov. Bill Haslam endorsed the Florida senator on Thursday.

immediately after the regular season ends. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has already made the decision to fire coach Mike Pettine, multiple sources say, and it is likely general manager Ray Farmer will be shown the door, as well. Pettine leaves after just two seasons full of quarterback movement and a woeful defense. Farmer likely will leave despite never hiring his own head coach. Haslam has already laid the groundwork for the move, doing work on potential candidates and seeing who will be available to him. It ends a tumultuous tenure for Cleveland, filled with dysfunction, in-fighting, failed player acquisitions and...

NASHVILLE -- A Tennessee lawmaker plans to ask Gov. Bill Haslam this week to work to "suspend all efforts" to settle Syrian refugees in the state following last Friday's terror attacks in Paris. Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, is asking colleagues in an email to sign a letter in an effort to persuade fellow Republican Haslam to agree in the wake of the attacks which according to news accounts killed at least 129 people. The self-proclaimed Islamic State has claimed credit for the coordinated assaults. In her email, Butt said "Tennesseans are mourning this week with the people of Paris." She...

After a hard fought and long awaited result, your NRA-ILA is pleased to report that House Bill 995’s conference committee majority report was signed into law this morning. ~snip~ The report removed the ability for municipalities to opt-out of park carry, thus removing a patchwork of laws throughout the state of Tennessee that could turn law-abiding Tennesseans with handgun carry permits into unintentional criminals.

Governor Haslam has reluctantly signed HB0995, which reduces the number of gun free zones in the state.  Previous legislation had allowed local governments to ban guns from locally administered parks, if they posted prominent signs saying that guns were banned.    HB 0995 removed that exception in the law, thereby allowing a limited ability to exercise second amendment rights on the public lands of locally administered parks. The history of the bill is rather interesting, in that Governor Haslam was against the bill before he was for it.   He likely only signed the bill to avoid the embarrassment of a...

Gov. Bill Haslam said he sees no point in returning to federal officials to ask for more concessions on his health care plan after the state legislature killed the proposal Wednesday, according to the Commercial Appeal. “I think it feels a little pointless right now to come back with the same plan. And so there has to be something that would show change (among lawmakers),” the governor told reporters after the defeat. ..Asked if he would return to the regular legislative session, which opens Monday for a three-month run, with the same plan or a modified version, the governor said:...

On Monday, Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Haslam outlined his plan to expand Obamacare. According to The Tennessean, he has branded the plan Insure Tennessee and dressed it in states’ rights rhetoric, claiming that the plan, which he says qualifies for federal funding under the Affordable Care Act, is an alternative to expanding Medicaid. WATE-TV 6 quoted a press release by Haslam in which he said, “This plan leverages federal dollars to provide health care coverage to more Tennesseans, to give people a choice in their coverage, and to address the cost of health care, better health outcomes and personal responsibility.”...

Tennesseeans, this is what I wrote for my fellow parishioners, making the case that we ought to consider leaving the GOVERNOR line blank, and just voting Pro-Life YesOn1. Your comments, please? I personally am convinced that the governor's election means nada, since Haslam is going to win unless Christ comes again, or a supercaldera blows somewhere to the West of Memphis and destroys our beloved RockyTop altogether. So the best thing we can do --- owing to math generated by the "dual majority" or "supermajority" mechanism of amending the Constitution --- is to skip the governor race and boost...

Let the retributions begin! Regardless of which candidates win in next week’s GOP primaries, the gauntlet has been laid down. In a move unprecedented in modern Tennessee politics, a sitting governor has used his office and his fundraising capabilities to attack and/or try to defeat incumbent members of his own party as well as candidates in open seat races In addition, he has helped withhold support for select incumbent Republican legislators, hoping they can be defeated by challengers. To make matters far worse, the Governor apparently dispatched his chief of staff Mark Cate to recruit candidates to run against those...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A truck-stop company owned by Tennessee GOP Gov. Bill Haslam and Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has agreed to pay $92 million in fines for cheating customers out of promised fuel rebates and discounts, federal prosecutors said Monday. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Pilot Flying J, the country’s largest diesel retailer, accepts responsibility for the criminal conduct of its employees, including 10 who have pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme, and agrees to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. “The terms of this agreement …demonstrate quite clearly that no corporation,...

Police officers at the Pilot store at the corner of Park Road and the Parkway in Sevierville were intensely engaged with an employee Tuesday afternoon.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Tuesday the federal government has launched a criminal investigation into rebates offered by the truck stop chain owned by his family, including his brother, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.

KNOXVILLE — The FBI has Pilot Flying J headquarters on lockdown Monday afternoon. Neither the FBI nor a Pilot spokesman was immediately available for comment. Media were barred from the Pilot campus, and the entrance was blocked. Pilot employees were being escorted off the corporate campus on Lonas Road. Knoxville-based Pilot is the operator of the largest travel center network in North America.

KNOXVILLE — The FBI has Pilot Flying headquarters on lockdown Monday afternoon.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Gov. Haslam partying at the White House. -The unemployment rate in TN is 7.8%, higher than the national average. -Median household income in TN is $40k, $10k below the national average and down 2.5% over the last 12 months, down 8% on 3 years ago. -While natural gas gets cheaper the Tennessee Valley Authority have increased rates in 2012 and plan to do so again this year. Sen. Bob Corker who voted to bailout Wall Street in 2008 parties while contributing to the decline and ruin of the state of Tennessee.