Here’s a look back at the timeline that led to former state Sen. Brian Kelsey’s expected sentencing hearing Thursday, July 27, on two campaign-finance felonies.

Gun violence has become a major theme in the Memphis mayoral race. And the Memphis City Council voted to put a referendum on local gun laws before voters next year, setting up a possible clash with the state.

State Reps. Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones both now have more campaign money than any of the Republican lawmakers who expelled them in April.

As residents assembled outside the Westwood community center, local and state leaders called for government action against gun violence. “Our state legislature needs a sense of urgency to address this problem through appropriate legislation.”

Tennessee Department of Children’s Services says the Fayette County facility is needed despite reports by Disability Rights Tennessee and the Youth Law Center of abuse and unsafe conditions at the facility.

Tennessee officials approved just under $718 million to rebuild the state’s technical colleges on Thursday.

A passenger rail route connecting Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta should be Tennessee’s top priority, followed by a Memphis-to-Nashville line, according to a report from an independent state commission.

This weekend’s ruling, allowing SB1 to take effect, isn’t what made gender-affirming care inaccessible for many people. That care had become less accessible in Tennessee — even for trans adults — since the bill was introduced in the General Assembly in November, before the legislative session even began.

A federal appeals court has temporarily reversed a lower court’s ruling that had prohibited Tennessee from enacting a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The injunction will be in place until the lawsuit runs its course. Supporters of the law say they’re prepared to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.

A huge number of new state laws take effect July 1, with the start of the 2024 fiscal year. But lawsuits and inaction by lawmakers make the absence of some laws as notable as the presence of others.

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Jonathan Skrmetti’s appeal comes nearly a month after a federal judge in Memphis ruled in favor of an LGBTQ+ theater company, which argued the law restricted its performers’ free speech rights.

The Tennessee Education Association sued earlier this month over the two-pronged law, which also gradually raises the minimum teacher salary up to $50,000 for the 2026-27 school year. 

The Tennessee Attorney General filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge in Nashville to reverse the preliminary injunction, and notified the court that it would appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed tighter restrictions on ethylene oxide, or EtO, which is used in a South Memphis facility. But 20 state attorneys general are urging the EPA to forgo or defer the regulations.

Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors was mostly blocked Thursday, June 28, the latest in a string of decisions against anti-trans laws in at least four states.

This D.C. Scorecard includes the censure of the Democrat who made the House’s case for former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and a grilling of the special counsel who investigated the FBI’s handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Three lawsuits in Tennessee are testing the extent to which courts will protect transgender rights against a state legislature and executive branch that have aggressively sought to roll those rights back.

Some Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission board members asked if Shelby County law enforcement agencies might be over-reacting as they send cases to the POST board.

A law that defines “sex” as a person’s gender assigned at birth could cause some residents to lose access to basic services if they can’t update their IDs, according to advocates for trans rights.

Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday the rollout of $194 million in grants to fund armed guards in every public school and security upgrades at all schools.

The law prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18. It also prohibited doctors from referring patients elsewhere from such care. 

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says staffing, grants and tech upgrades would help it enter backlogged criminal information into the background-check system.

Beginning July 1, Memphis leaders will lay groundwork for a statewide nonprofit association, which they see as the place that will offer research on issues germane to nonprofits and help them get legislative access in Nashville.