BILL LEE

Jason Martin jumped into the gubernatorial race last year after becoming an outspoken critic of Gov. Bill Lee's handling of the virus outbreak.

In the congressional race, Ogles scored Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's endorsement and overcame a fundraising advantage from his top opponents.

A Nashville doctor critical of Republican Gov. Bill Lee's hands-off approach to the COVID-19 pandemic has won the Democratic nomination for governor.

The Maury County mayor won Tennessee's crowded Republican primary for an open congressional seat in Nashville.

Far-right candidate Andy Ogles has won Tennessee’s crowded Republican primary for an open congressional seat in Nashville.

After riding high on a promise to bring 50 charter schools to Tennessee, the relationship between the president of Michigan's Hillsdale College and Gov. Bill Lee has cooled over the past several months.

The president of Michigan's Hillsdale College was riding high earlier this year when he announced plans to launch 50 charter schools in Tennessee after Gov. Bill Lee originally asked for 100. Six months later, that relationship has cooled after Hillsdale's Larry Arnn made disparaging comments about educators, telling an audience including Lee that teachers “are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges.” The comments inspired outrage among lawmakers, teachers and other public school advocates already skeptical of the plans.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says Indiana’s proposed abortion ban reflects a health care crisis in the United States.

It's not just Florida — Alabama, Tennessee, South Dakota, Utah, and Indiana have anti-LGBTQ+ laws coming into force now.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has ordered an independent investigation of the state's lethal injections and paused all executions through the end of the year.

The quick action in New York further illustrated the sharp divide between Republican and Democratic leaders on how to respond to gun violence.

New Yorkers under age 21 will be prohibited from buying semiautomatic rifles under a new law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Newly released records show at two least two people connected to a planned Tennessee execution that was abruptly put on hold April 21 knew the night before that the lethal injection drugs the state planned to use hadn’t undergone certain required testing.

As efforts to control books continue, Nashville Public Library hopes to reach thousands of readers with its "I read banned books" card.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is pausing executions for the rest of the year after the state failed to ensure that its lethal injection drugs were properly tested.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is declining to provide any new information surrounding why they had to call off the state’s first execution since the pandemic began.

The governor said the execution will not move forward Thursday night.

The governor said the execution will not move forward Thursday night.

Tennessee is set to execute its first inmate since the start of the pandemic.

Tennessee’s governor has called off what was to have been the state’s first execution since the start of the pandemic.

Former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who was backed by Trump in January, was one of three candidates to be removed by the state party.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee declined a request for clemency from Smith's attorneys.

Election security experts for years have urged states to replace outdated voting machines.

Felony convictions in Tennessee result in the revocation of an individual's right to vote.

Felony convictions in Tennessee result in the revocation of an individual's right to vote.

That's 4%, plus whatever the local government may tack on, which will disappear from store receipts.

That's 4%, plus whatever the local government may tack on, which would disappear from store receipts.

Poloncarz: Erie County no longer in the football business.

Tennessee Republicans are advancing yet another strict anti-abortion measure strategically written to sidestep federal court challenges.

A lease agreement says Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean company would have to create more than 5,000 full-time jobs at a planned electric pickup truck factory and battery manufacturing plant in Tennessee or pay back at least part of a $500 million state grant for the project.

Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean company would have to create more than 5,000 full-time jobs at a planned electric pickup truck factory and battery manufacturing plant in Tennessee or pay back at least part of a $500 million state grant for the project, according to a lease approved Thursday by a regional board. The Megasite Authority of West Tennessee's board of directors voted to approve the lease during a meeting to discuss the $5.6 billion project to build electric F-Series pickups and batteries at a 3,600-acre (1,460-hectare) parcel of land in rural Stanton, northeast of Memphis. Ford, battery maker SK Innovation and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced the project in September.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved a proposal to split fast-growing Nashville into multiple congressional seats, a move Democrats have warned will unfairly affect Black voters. Currently, Tennessee’s U.S. House delegation consists of seven Republicans and just two Democrats, whose districts center on Nashville and Memphis. Nashville's seat has largely remained intact for 200 years.

Gov. Bill Lee says he supports placing more scrutiny over school libraries so that students consume “age appropriate” content.

The new testing rules come as coronavirus cases rise ahead of the holidays. In the U.S., officials are reporting more than 100,000 new infections a day for the first time since early October.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is defending a new law assigning sprawling limits on COVID-19 restrictions, despite his office’s warning that it would violate federal disability law.

Tennessee's governor on Monday stood by his decision to sign sprawling limits on COVID-19 restrictions into law, even though his own office warned the bill would violate federal disability law and put the state at risk of losing federal funds. Republican Gov. Bill Lee, in his first public comments since The Associated Press revealed his legislative counsel's email warning to lawmakers, said he thinks “the bill on balance is good." Instead, he said, “we have to determine first what really needs to be changed” before the next legislative session in January.

Emails obtained by The Associated Press show that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s office warned top legislative staffers that a bill limiting public health measures during the COVID pandemic would violate federal law.

In a video, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee invited police officers from New York to Los Angeles to join the Tennessee Highway Patrol, saying that "we won't get between you and your doctor."

There must be at least 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases for every 100,000 residents within a 14-day period before schools can enforce mask-wearing, according to the new law.

The Republican governor told reporters Wednesday he plans to sign the legislation by Friday.

“Spike” is a new photograph book to be published November 17.

When Ford revealed plans to ramp up its commitment to the electric vehicle sector, the automaker chose two states where Republican leaders have vilified the push for green energy and defended fossil fuels.

A third federal judge has blocked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's order allowing families to opt out of school mask mandates. The decision, handed down by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw late Friday, is the latest development in the ongoing legal battle over Lee's order launched by parents and advocates alarmed over the spike in coronavirus cases in Tennessee's schools. Lee issued the order in August after a handful of Republican lawmakers demanded the governor call a special session so the GOP-dominant General Assembly could halt mask mandates in schools and other COVID-19 safety measures.

In a wave of lawsuits, families are arguing that restrictions on mask mandates infringe on disability rights, forcing children to choose between their health and their education.

At least 21 people were killed and officials fear the death toll could rise after record-breaking floods west of Nashville.

At least 21 people were killed and officials fear the death toll could rise after record-breaking floods west of Nashville.

Intense rescue operations are underway to find at least 17 others who are still missing.

The flooding in rural areas took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge.

The flooding in rural areas took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge.

Flooding in rural areas took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge.

Heavy rainfall in several Middle Tennessee counties on Saturday prompted water rescues, road closures and communications disruptions. At least 30 people have been reported missing.

A sheriff in Tennessee says at least 22 people are dead any many are missing after record-setting rain caused devastating flooding that swept away homes.

Some Republican governors are using federal pandemic assistance to promote school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers for private schools.

Tennessee is being sued over a law that puts public schools and their districts at risk of legal consequences if they let transgender students or employees use multi-person bathrooms or locker rooms that do not reflect their gender at birth.

The state reimburses farmers up to $1,500 for vaccinating their herds, but governor doesn't back COVID vaccine incentives.

Despite having some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country, Tennessee isn’t planning to offer any incentives for people to get the shot.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is facing calls to resign after he reportedly joked about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., with a giant gavel he was gifted at a dinner in Nashville Saturday evening.

What government leaders say about vaccines actually matters, a 2020 Yale study found.

The bust of a Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader that had been prominently displayed inside the Tennessee Capitol for decades — over objections from Black lawmakers and activists — was removed from its pedestal Friday. The image of Nathan Bedford Forrest has sparked protests ever since its installation in 1978 as defenders sought to tout his legacy while critics objected to honoring a historical figure who supported the South's secession. Over the years, some suggested adding historical context next to the bust.

"Today's vote shows that progress is possible," Sen. Raumesh Akbari said.

The bust of the Confederate general, early KKK leader and slave trader has long been a source of contention at the Tennessee statehouse.

Emails show that Tennessee’s health officials will not acknowledge that August is National Immunization Awareness Month per an order from the state’s health commissioner.

Tennessee's first-of-its-kind law that requires businesses and government facilities to post signs if they let transgender people use multiperson public bathrooms of their choice has been hit with another legal challenge. Mike Curb, founder of Curb Records in Nashville and California's former lieutenant governor, filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday. In the complaint, Curb argues that the law violates his First Amendment rights because he is being forced to use the state's “discriminatory message.”

The 45-year-old was convicted at the age of 20 for the brutal torture and murder of a classmate

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds complained in a letter sent Thursday that the federal government didn't notify her before flying migrant children into the Des Moines airport in April, then shuttling them to other cities as part of an effort to join them with relatives. In a letter sent to Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Reynolds called for a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on immigration that should address the Biden administration’s lack of notice when it moves children through the states. Although similar migrant children relocation occurred during the Trump and Obama administrations, Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett said the recent flight was different because it occurred late at night and a federal agency initially denied it had organized the flight.

Unaccompanied migrant children were transported to Iowa and Tennessee this spring without any notice from federal agencies, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday in a call for transparency.Reynolds and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also claim that federal officials initially denied their involvement. Why it matters: Now the two Republican governors — who both denied the Biden administration's requests to house migrant children in their states — are calling on Congress to investigate the incidents.Stay on to

Conservative lawmakers nationwide have introduced a flurry of anti-LGBTQ bills this year.

Conservative lawmakers nationwide introduced a flurry of anti-LGBTQ bills this year, but no state's political leaders have gone further than Tennessee in enacting new laws targeting transgender people. Lawmakers passed and Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed five new bills into law, consistently dismissing concerns that they discriminate against an already vulnerable population, that some of the laws are unworkable and that they could damage the state’s reputation. Colin Goodbred, a 22-year-old transgender student raised in the Nashville suburbs who attends college in New Hampshire, says the bevy of new laws could keep him from ever calling Tennessee home again.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation that puts public schools and their districts at risk of losing civil lawsuits if they let transgender students or employees use multi-person bathrooms or locker rooms that do not reflect their gender at birth. The Republican governor signed the bill Friday, cementing another policy into law this year in Tennessee that targets the transgender community.

Schools can be sued for "psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered" should a person come into contact with someone of the "opposite sex."

A Tennessee death row inmate's attorneys on Wednesday asked a court to declare that he cannot be executed because he is intellectually disabled. The petition was filed in Memphis Criminal Court one day after Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill making retroactive Tennessee's law that prohibits the execution of the intellectually disabled. Such executions were ruled unconstitutional in 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court found they violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Tennessee became the 15th state to pass a bill allowing college athletes to earn money for the use of their name, image and likeness.

At least nine states have announced that they will be ending participation in unemployment assistance programs. Here are their reasons.

For the first time since March 22, the U.S. is averaging less than 2.5 million vaccinations a day.

Authorities say a student at a Tennessee high school fired at officers and was killed by police.

Bill Lee delivers his State of the State Address in War Memorial Auditorium, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday that transgender girls should be banned from playing on middle and high school sports teams or they will “destroy women's sports.”“I do believe that transgenders participating in women’s sports will destroy women’s sports,” Lee, who is up for reelection next year, told reporters. It's unclear how many transgender students are participating in public school sports in Tennessee. “I will say, that particular executive order is a tremendous overreach of the federal government into the states,” Lee said Wednesday. Currently, a similar 2020 Idaho law has been blocked by a federal judge as a lawsuit makes it way in court.

The Republican governor said Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, that he has tested negative for the virus but will be quarantined at the Governors Residence out of an abundance of caution. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As their state faced one of its toughest months of the pandemic, Tennesseans watched Gov. It was late December, and the state’s hospitals were bursting at the seams with virus patients. The governor is quick to point out the state’s swift COVID-19 vaccine rollout, praising Tennessee for being among the country’s leaders in distributing the immunizations. If that isn’t important to you, Governor Lee, then what is?”___Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller contributed to this report.

Sweeping communications outages continued to plague large swaths of Tennessee on Saturday after a recreational vehicle exploded early Christmas morning in downtown Nashville. Meanwhile, federal investigators are searching for clues after the explosion that damaged dozens of buildings. "We have two portable cell sites operating in downtown Nashville with numerous additional portable sites being deployed in the Nashville area and in the region." However, the Republican said that he and Maria had both tested negative, allowing the two to visit downtown Nashville. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also involved in the investigation.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Federal agents converged Saturday on the home of a possible person of interest in the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville as investigators scoured hundreds of tips and leads in the blast that damaged dozens of buildings on Christmas morning. Asked whether the AT&T building could have been a possible target, Korneski said, “We’re looking at every possible motive that could be involved." Mayor John Cooper has enforced a curfew in the downtown area until Sunday via executive order to limit public access to the area. “We have two portable cell sites operating in downtown Nashville with numerous additional portable sites being deployed in the Nashville area and in the region.”Ray Neville, president of technology at T-Mobile, said on Twitter that service disruptions affected Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Birmingham and Atlanta. The outages had even briefly grounded flights at the Nashville International Airport, but service was continuing normally as of Saturday.

All Australian states have imposed restrictions on travelers from Sydney and parts of New South Wales because the coronavirus risk. The state on Sunday reported 1,536 new COVID-19 cases and 46 more deaths. ___TOPEKA, Kan. — A FedEx executive says a higher-than-normal volume of Christmas-season package deliveries won’t interfere with the company’s effort to ship coronavirus vaccine doses. The first wave of coronavirus infections in New York “came from Europe and we did nothing,” the Democratic governor said. ___WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general is defending Trump’s not getting a coronavirus vaccine, saying there are medical reasons for it.

And we must act as though anyone we are around may be infected.”The cases reported Saturday trailed only the record 10,322 cases reported Tuesday. ___ROME — Italy had more than 21,000 daily coronavirus cases and added 662 deaths in the last 24 hours. There were 14 more deaths reported Saturday, bringing the total to 1,874 confirmed deaths. Russia’s 2.4 million confirmed cases is the fourth-largest caseload in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil. ___NEW DELHI — India has registered 36,652 confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

Posters on precautions against the coronavirus are displayed at a subway station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020. The signs on posters read "Precautions against the coronavirus and please wear a mask." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)In a story Nov. 25, 2020, about a new U.S. estimate of missed coronavirus infections, The Associated Press erroneously reported an earlier calculation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, the CDC estimated nine of every 10 cases were being missed, not one of every 10.

(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s governor says that once coronavirus vaccines become available, they will be optional in the state’s K-12 public schools. It’s just going nowhere,” Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi’s state health officer, said Monday during a meeting with members of the Mississippi Senate. State health officials said fatality updates on Tuesday are typically higher because of lag in reporting from the weekends. That includes more than 1,000 on intensive care units and more than 570 on ventilators, according to state Health Department data. —-MADRID — Spain is reporting a new daily record of 537 coronavirus deaths since the resurgence of the pandemic.

Bill Lee enacted the so-called “reason bans” earlier this year as part of a sweeping anti-abortion measure. However, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision will allow the state to enforce the reason bans while abortion rights groups continue their court battle against that law. The plaintiffs, which include Tennessee abortion providers being represented by reproductive rights groups, had argued the ban was improperly vague, but the court disagreed. Currently, more than a dozen states have similar reason bans in place. The rarity of the condition has prompted abortion rights groups to paint the Down syndrome bans as part of yet another thinly veiled effort by lawmakers to continue chipping away at a patient's right to an abortion.

(AP Photo/Andy Wong)BEIJING — Officials in the northwestern China region of Xinjiang say they believe they have contained the country’s latest coronavirus outbreak. It was the second consecutive day in which newly confirmed cases emerged entirely among such people. — Belgium and Czech Republic top Europe’s highest number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 citizens, ahead of hotbeds France and Spain. ___MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota health officials are warning against traditional Halloween festivities amid the recent rise in coronavirus cases statewide. Italy has nearly 590,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 38,000 deaths, the second highest in Europe after Britain.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The White House quietly told Tennessee early this week that “a statewide mask mandate must be implemented" to curb its growing spread of COVID-19, strong instructions that the White House and governor did not discuss publicly before the report emerged in a records request. In a statement late Friday, the governor's office said the White House report had not altered his thinking. Previous White House reports dating back to the summer have included similar recommendations, so the inclusion here is not novel." Earlier in the week, the governor and his health commissioner downplayed the importance of releasing those White House “red zone” reports. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We can’t take another hit.”___MIAMI - Florida has reported a slight uptick in daily confirmed COVID-19 cases, adding 3,449 to its total caseload on Friday. There were 3,861 new coronavirus cases reported in Wisconsin on Friday, breaking the previous record set just a day earlier of 3,747. The report, released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looks at coronavirus-associated deaths reported between May 1 and August 31. The deaths reported Friday include 10 women and eight men, all in their 60s or older. With 222 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, Spain’s total has reached 33,775.

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)ATLANTA New guidance from the President Donald Trump's administration that declares teachers to be critical infrastructure workers could give the green light to exempting teachers from quarantine requirements after being exposed to COVID-19 and instead send them back into the classroom. South Carolina health officials also describe teachers as critical infrastructure workers, although it's unclear if any district there is asking teachers to return before 14 days. Among the first districts to name teachers as critical infrastructure workers was eastern Tennessees Greene County, where the school board gave the designation to teachers July 13. At least five other school districts in Tennessee have given the designation to their teachers, seeking to exempt them from quarantine orders. Floyd County said Thursday it would reverse its designation of teachers as critical infrastructure workers.

When we have people dying in this state as a result of this virus, we should be taking personal responsibility for this, the Republican governor said. Elevating a message of personal responsibility over statewide crackdowns on businesses and requirements for people in public spaces has been a consistent approach among certain governors during the coronavirus crisis. She has consistently invoked personal responsibility as a key strategy in combating the virus. The personal responsibility ethos has been GOP orthodoxy for decades, often used to justify smaller government and promote individualism. In the current climate, personal responsibility is being used to encourage wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding large crowds without making those steps mandatory.

Ken Ishii/Getty ImagesFRANKLIN, Tenn. - Mitsubishi Motors along with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the state's Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe announced that Mitsubishi is planning to move its U.S. headquarters to Franklin, Tennessee from Cypress, CA. Mitsubishi Motors will invest $18.25 million to move U.S. headquarters to Williamson County. Since 1988, Mitsubishi Motors North America has been rooted in California. Mitsubishi says the move is part of an ongoing plan to reinvent every aspect of Mitsubishi Motors in the U.S., from corporate leadership to dealer partners to every touchpoint in a customer's relationship. The choice of Franklin brings Mitsubishi Motors closer to its sister company, Nissan, which has its North American headquarters in Williamson County.