Matt Shafer Powell

A national lobbying organization that advocates for equal pay between men and women claims gender disparity in Tennessee grew deeper during the past year. 

  The ACLU says administrators at a public after-school program in Middle Tennessee have agreed to train their staff on constitutional issues after one student was told he couldn’t read the Bible during free reading time.

A new report that ranks American cities on their ability to contain urban sprawl had few kind words for Tennessee’s largest cities, ranking most of them among the country’s worst.

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Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre is requesting a raise for teachers in next year’s budget after a year in which he often found himself squarely in their crosshairs.

The budget going before the school board this evening will contain a proposal to raise teacher salaries in Knox County by three percent.  Currently, the average Knox County teacher earns $45,609, which places the system 38th among Tennessee’s public school districts.

  A bill passed by House and Senate committees on Wednesday would ease restrictive language that has kept the Department of Correction from using the electric chair as a means to execute death row inmates.

  A bill that would have made Daylight Saving Time permanent in Tennessee has failed to pass a House committee after facing resistance from East Tennesseans.

The bill would have eliminated the biannual “Spring Forward/Fall Back” switch from standard to daylight time and back.  The bill’s sponsors say most Tennesseans are in favor of the idea, but acknowledge the bulk of that support comes from Middle and West Tennessee, two regions located in the Central Time Zone.

  UPDATE:  Oak Ridge city council rejected the resolution to extend the contract and the cameras will be removed when the contract expires on April 21.

Oak Ridge city council members will decide whether to extend the city’s red light camera contract tonight after failing to resolve the issue at an earlier meeting.

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will reopen Thursday after a “difficult” week that included the death of 30 dogs, all euthanized to fight a deadly, highly-contagious virus.

“It was very tough (on the shelter employees),” said Police Lt. Robin Smith.  “They bonded with those animals.” 

  Last week, members of Tennessee’s House Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed a toned-down version of Governor Bill Haslam’s Anti-Meth Production Act.  But some opponents of the bill say the new version is still too restrictive.

Haslam’s proposal would limit individuals to 14.4 grams of the popular allergy and cold medicine pseudoephedrine per year.  Any amount beyond that limit would require a prescription.  Under pressure from pharmaceutical companies and groups like the American Association of Retired Persons, House members increased the limit to 44.8 grams per year.