With a promise to give lawmakers more freedom, Cameron Sexton of Crossville vaulted to victory Wednesday as House Speaker-select, a month ahead of a special session to replace resigning Speaker Glen Casada.

One of six announced candidates, Deputy Speaker Matthew Hill, has made 14 $1,000 contributions through a political action committee to House Republican colleagues, including Rep. Tom Leatherwood of Arlington, state records show.

State Rep. Joe Towns passed a resolution this year calling for a constitutional amendment to remove slavery and involuntary servitude from the Tennessee Constitution. He contends the U.S. Constitution needs amending, just as the state document does.

Rep. John Mark Windle, a Democrat who was promoted to full colonel in the Tennessee Guard this year, voted against the voucher bill legislation. Windle said he sought the guidance of Tennessee ethics authorities about a report that Casada had suggested Windle's voucher support could lead to a promotion to general.

With U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty likely to run for the U.S. Senate, the first Republican to enter the race, Manny Sethi, is calling out the Republican “establishment,” saying it pressured him not to seek the seat.

Gov. Bill Lee could be laying the groundwork for action on the State Capitol bust of embattled Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

While some officials contend a new strategy is needed for the state’s Achievement School District following a poor report, state Rep. Antonio Parkinson says it’s time to ditch the program.

Prisoner advocates say state figures debunk the claims of Tennessee’s private prison operator that its murder rate is higher than in state-run prisons because it houses more violent offenders.

With a U.S. Senate run in the offing, Bill Hagerty is leaving his post as U.S. Ambassador to Japan after two years of service, the U.S. Embassy announced Tuesday.

Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty hasn’t made an official announcement for a 2020 U.S. Senate candidacy, but President Donald Trump put him at the front of the race with a single tweet.

On the heels of Tennessee’s annual Nathan Bedford Forrest Day, authorized with a proclamation signed by Gov. Bill Lee, Memphis legislators say they’re ready to end the yearly observance. And Lee indicates he may go along. 

After saying his office is “exploring” pursuit of a Medicaid block grant, Gov. Bill Lee this week confirmed his administration will make a proposal to the federal government.

Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday he will hold the state’s private prison operator accountable amid a report the number of murders at CoreCivic-run facilities was twice that at Tennessee Department of Correction prisons.

After mulling a bid for six months, former Gov. Bill Haslam said he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Lamar Alexander.

Tennessee prisons operated by CoreCivic experienced twice as many inmate murders over a five-year period as state Department of Correction-run facilities, according to two advocacy groups.

An East Tennessee legislator bothered by reports lawmakers are directing campaign funds to their personal businesses is prepared to sponsor a bill to stop the practice, a move that would affect at least one Memphis lawmaker.

With arguments set Tuesday in a lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a network of pastors is urging Gov. Bill Lee to request Tennessee drop out of the federal case.

Gov. Bill Lee – set to appoint a Health Care Modernization Task Force – apparently hasn’t decided whether to seek a block grant waiver for federal Medicaid funds.

With up to seven House members seeking the Speaker’s post, Shelby County House Republicans are expecting multiple rounds of caucus voting to choose a nominee, but they believe the group will unify behind the next Speaker.

Read to be Ready camps first opened in 2016, and Tennessee has expanded the program annually with funding from the U.S. Department of Human Services. But state officials learned in January that the federal grant now has to be used for child care programs.

With a special session of the Legislature set in late August, state Rep. Jim Coley is calling embattled Rep. David Byrd a “drag” on the Republican Party. An expulsion resolution against Byrd is likely at the session.

A day before the Fourth of July and with an August special session looming, House Democrats are calling for a wide-ranging investigation into the expenses of resigning Speaker Glen Casada.

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis is suspending court activity during a review of its delinquent bill policies and concerns raised by lawmakers.

The landmark 1962 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Baker vs. Carr, out of Shelby County, is still standing after last week’s ruling by the high court in another redistricting case — Rucho vs. Common Cause, according to Memphis attorney John Ryder.

Tennessee’s new “hands-free law,” which took effect Monday, seeks to curb distraction-related crashes across the state and particularly in Shelby County, which leads the state in such accidents. The measure is among a number of new state laws that became effective Monday.