NEW: Absolutely bonkers tale for @wired.com by @timmclaughlin3.bsky.social about Beijing spying on Chinese dissidents in the US, including Alysa Liu's father (and Alysa as a result): www.wired.com/story/the-we...
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ campaign has less $100k heading into potential competitive election tennesseelookout.com/2026/04/17/u... @friedmanadam5.bsky.social @tennesseelookout.com
OK folks, I’m writing about the Waymos in Nashville for @nashvillebanner.bsky.social and I’d love to hear what questions you have about them or what experiences you’ve had with them. Reply here or DM me or email me or text me!
"The goal is not always sexual gratification. Increasingly, the intent is humiliation, denigration, and social control."
The Tennessee Senate passed a controversial transgender healthcare tracking bill on Monday, adding amendments to allow the attorney general to investigate and reduce the information reported in the public database, sending it back to the House to approve.
✒️: @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social
DJT really stands for Dr. Jesus Trump and people just don’t recognize that
You have to read this one
A Tennessee House Committee scrapped plans to track student immigration status in a school voucher bill Tuesday, advancing a simpler version of voucher expansion.
✍️ @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social and Lillian Avedian
Can’t decide if this aged exceptionally well or the alternative
Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill Monday that will criminalize immigrants who stay in or re-enter Tennessee after deportation orders, though the state may not have the authority to do so.
✒️: @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social
At John Overton High School, Muslim students balanced schoolwork and responsibilities with fasting, prayer and reflection throughout the month of Ramadan, with support from a diverse staff.
✍️: Lillian Avedian
Text on graphic reads: The Department of Justice has dropped 23,000 criminal cases while prosecuting 32,000 new immigration cases in just the first six months of Trump’s second term. -Nearly 5,000: federal drug cases, including trafficking and money laundering -Over 900: cases of federal program or procurement fraud -More than 1,300: cases involving terrorism and national security
The DOJ quietly closed 23,000+ criminal cases in the first six months of Trump’s second administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases.
🔗 Full story: https://propub.li/4e5vZLL
This is like a block from me and people always fly around that corner. Knew exactly what had to have happened when I saw the hole the other day.
NEW: TN Republicans have filed amendments to tie per-pupil public school funding to immigration status in the voucher expansion bill as the more overt tracking bills struggle to pass on their own.
The bill is in committee tomorrow morning and these amendments were still being tweaked at COB today:
If Metro Nashville wants to build dedicated transit lanes on state-controlled corridors, it needs the sign-off of the TN General Assembly. This week, the legislature is nearing approval of the city’s plans for dedicated lanes downtown and along Gallatin and Nolensville pikes.
@stelliott.bsky.social
The kids are alright
Voucher expansion will likely pass, but it’s going to be real close (like 52 votes kind of close) in the House.
We talked to a few lawmakers and others involved to get the prognosis:
The White House deployed ICE officers to help unpaid TSA workers, but they aren’t trained to actually help with security screening.
Tomorrow on the Banner and Company podcast feed, me and Mikeie talk through all of his reporting on this case.
She's out!
@mikeiereiland.bsky.social with the details and where her case stands.
The Banner’s enterprise reporter Eden Turner has been selected as a Freedomways Reporting Fellow for Press On. Over the next eight months, her longform reporting will focus on the factors affecting high Black maternal death rates in Tennessee.
📝: @ejturner02.bsky.social
Rep. Johnny Garrett isn't running for reelection to his state house seat, but continues to spend his state campaign funds on direct mail pieces--while he is running for Congress. Federal law prohibits use of state money in federal races and vice versa, but there's a loophole.
Horrific details of how ICE is treating a Nashville journalist via @mikeiereiland.bsky.social
Tennessee’s anti-abortion movement split on a recent bill to criminalize women who get abortions, with sentences up to the death penalty. Still, the sponsor thinks he can shift the “radioactive” narrative around his plan, even if his peers think he’s “a jack wagon.”
✍️ @sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social
Guerilla bench-builders were alarmed Thursday to learn that Metro had removed more than a dozen of the benches they placed at bus stops around town. The group says they’re planning to build many more.
✍️ @iamstevenhale.bsky.social
TN House Dems are fighting and it probably cost them an affordable housing bill this week.
Read about it from the @nashvillebanner.bsky.social: nashvillebanner.com/2026/03/12/t...
We are calling on ICE to immediately release journalist Estefany Rodriguez, who has covered immigration, including ICE actions, for the Spanish-language news site Nashville Noticias.
Read the letter we signed with 40 other press freedom and civil society groups: www.freepress.net/news/coaliti...
The husband of detained Nashville reporter Estefany Rodriguez talks about their lives and how ICE stalked them to arrest her.
✍️ @mikeiereiland.bsky.social
No, @iamstevenhale.bsky.social did not ask me about chem trails this time, but he did ask and continues to cyber bully me about prediction markets on this podcast episode that is MAINLY about Tennessee immigration tracking bills.
nashvillebanner.com/2026/03/06/l...
