It was a big day for the army of Thomas Clardy's supporters. This afternoon, the board of parole recommended Gov. Lee grant Clardy an exoneration. If you don't remember Clardy: In 2023, his 2007 murder conviction was overturned. Last January, it was reinstated and he had to go back.

With Republican lawmakers upset over certain legal challenges to state laws/actions, GOP leadership is pushing a bill that makes it harder for residents to challenge unconstitutional legislative actions. From @evanmealins.bsky.social & @vivianejones.bsky.social: www.tennessean.com/story/news/p...

For those with continued interest in the fallout of Uncle Nearest whiskey's financial/business woes, my colleague @evanmealins.bsky.social traveled to Knoxville to interview the founders as they testified in a court case about unpaid taxes and loans. www.tennessean.com/story/money/...

Murder trial for former Tennessee Titans scout Blaise Taylor, accused of poisoning his pregnant girlfriend in 2023, has been postponed due to the weather.

A Nashville judge has ordered the Tennessee Department of Correction to allow reporters to witness the full execution of prisoners, from the time the condemned person enters the execution chamber until they are pronounced dead.

For once, an issue has bipartisan support: body cameras in Tennessee prisons. Someone opposes it: the department of corrections. Why? They said it will cost millions. But CoreCivic has offered to pay. (and estimates the cost of the pilot $350k). ...

I had a great time digging into this story about a family split on what to do with a 240-year-old plot of land with ties to the Revolutionary War and the founding of Nashville.

Former NewsChannel 5 meteorologist Bree Smith is suing her past employer and accusing weather forecaster Henry Rothenberg of "sexist verbal abuse." NC5's parent company said Smith's claims "were investigated thoroughly" before she left in January 2025.

Top DOJ officials put pressure on local prosecutors to charge Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They called it a "top priority." My story here:

Data from the department of correction shows that Tennessee prison deaths have doubled in the last 20 years. From me today:

I caught up this morning on a great series by Emily Siner for Tennessee Lookout and WPLN on the debt Tennessee owes TSU:

My colleagues @kirstenfiscus.bsky.social, @evanmealins.bsky.social and Molly Davis' full coverage of Harold Wayne Nichols' execution. The reporting includes faith voices, who protested TN's death penalty (i.e. Catholic, Episcopal bishops' statements): www.tennessean.com/story/news/c...

Harold Wayne Nichols is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. today. Here is what his friends and lawyers have to say about how he has changed since he committed the crimes that landed him on death row: www.tennessean.com/story/news/c...

A five-year-old boy with autism is facing assault charges after outbursts at his school. Here's what @evanmealins.bsky.social and I learned after digging into records, hearing from the boy's parents and getting perspective from police and an expert. www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...

A Banner analysis of 1,700 pages of incident reports from the May ICE sting shows that the Tennessee Highway Patrol rarely documented traffic stops. Of the 607 total reports, only approximately 14% provided a reason for the initial traffic stop.

We're awaiting a ruling from Chancellor Moskal on the constitutionality of the National Guard deployment to Memphis.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is suing a Nashville-based nonprofit that sends veterans into disaster areas , accusing its chief executive Britnie Turner of depositing a $1 million charitable donation into one of her many for-profit companies.

New today: We dug into the company behind last week's explosion. While it has a good reputation, there were other issues. Among them, its president's 2008 guilty plea to destruction of government property related to a product it made for the U.S. Navy.

New Covenant Christian Church hosted a legal clinic to help people address outstanding court costs or have eligible criminal convictions expunged. @evanmealins.bsky.social wrote about the partnership with a local judge & the faith community on restorative justice: www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

In North Nashville this weekend, 59 people had a criminal conviction expunged, and $145,544.80 in court cost and fines were waived for people declared indigent.

Tennessee has set execution dates for four people, including Christa Pike, the lone woman on death row. If Pike is put to death, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Tennessee crime lab at max capacity, backlog to grow without intervention: Report

Once a kickboxer with an active social life, college freshman Liza Bandy couldn’t walk up the stairs from the dorm laundry room. She knew something was wrong. Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold

Bob Mendes is leaving the mayor's office:

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Yesterday's Charlie Kirk vigil in Gallatin ended with a synthetic audio clip that imitated Kirk's voice. The Kirk voice introduced his "new friends," computer-generated voices of Christian martyrs like Paul the Apostle, Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter.

Before today's announcement, @LucasFinton reported the Memphis mayor, the governor and Sen. Hagerty were all blindsided by the prospect of a National Guard deployment to Memphis

A group of Vanderbilt University students are planning to start a Turning Point USA chapter on campus in response to Charlie Kirk's death. www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...

A new warden is taking over at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, the third this year:

Students as young as five will now receive gun safety training in school. The training covers identifying the parts of a gun and instructs students to leave the area of a gun and tell an adult.

oh this is straightforward white nationalist agitprop

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been let out of jail.

This is the biggest story people aren't talking about. If this ruling stands, there are dozens to hundreds of people in TN prisons or on parole who should be set free.

From @kirstenfiscus.bsky.social and @craigshoup.bsky.social: Nashville PD arrested ex-Tennessee lawyer 4 times in 6 months. His girlfriend is now dead

Very informative story. I had no idea that this kind of outcome could happen.

An unusual situation is playing out in Nashville's courts and jails. After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time

Uncle Nearest is going under a receivership.

From today: U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, has incurred more than $120,000 in legal and consulting fees related to investigations into reporting errors in his campaign finance reports.

Attorneys have given closing arguments in the fraud trial of Mark Janbakhsh, the founder of Plaza Mariachi accused of overstating the collateral at his used car dealership chain to defraud two banks of $24 million.

Judge Randall Wyatt, who District Attorney Glenn Funk said was the best man he ever knew, died early this morning. His son and friends shared memories and stories with me. Read here:

Byron Black's defibrillator did not shock him during execution, attorney says

Byron Black has been executed by the state of Tennessee, showing "visible signs of distress," according to several media witnesses who watched him die. He told his spiritual advisor at one point, "It's hurting so bad."

The warden at Tennessee's women prison has resigned after the results of an investigation from her employment with a Kentucky prison surfaced, showing she sent sexually explicit messages to an inmate.

The Trial Court Vacancy Commission selected three finalists for the empty seat left by Judge Cheryl Blackburn.

Judge Steve Dozier sentenced Ryan McCann, member of neo-Nazi group Goyim Defense League, to 45 months in prison for two different attacks in downtown Nashville last year.

The state of Tennessee removed a woman from the sex offender registry nearly a decade after it had "falsely" placed her on it, according to a judge, but it has barred her from speaking to the media or other attorneys about her case.

Nashville Banner reports a pregnant Tennessee woman was denied prenatal care for being unmarried.

Steven Piper, codefendant with Plaza Mariachi owner Mark Janbakhsh in the Auto Masters bank fraud case, pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government. www.tennessean.com/story/news/2...

More from Sotomayor's dissent: "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it. ... The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive."

The official DHS account is now tweeting about “your homeland’s heritage”