School Board Rejects Great Hearts Charter, Approves Purpose Prep and KIPP

The Metro school board rejected an appeal Tuesday night from a Phoenix-based charter-school operator that had hoped to expand into Nashville. It’s likely the final rejection this year for Great Hearts Academies.

Your cellphone may start receiving emergency messages you never asked for, like severe weather warnings or Amber Alerts, as early as this month.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam says the state is ready for Thursday’s expected Supreme Court ruling on the federal healthcare overhaul, no matter what the Court decides. That’s because the state has been carefully keeping its options open for the last year.

Tennessee students improved in most categories of the statewide comprehensive test, compared to last year. There was only one exception – in eighth-grade reading, scores merely stood still.

Candidates in the race to unseat Metro Schools board chair are trying to clarify their positions on charters. The privately-run but publicly-financed schools have become something of a hot-button.

Nashville-based Pinnacle National Bank wants to convert its charter to become a state bank instead. That would change which government agencies have regulatory oversight of the bank.

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is eliminating its contract with an outside agency that trains social workers. DCS is one of several state departments finding savings by doing more of its work in-house.

The threat of facing a grand jury helped convince Davidson County Clerk John Arriola to resign after a fight to keep his job. News reports and then multiple audits uncovered mismanagement in his office. Prosecutors say resignation is the most “beneficial resolution” because there were “no clear-cut violations of criminal law.”

There’s been a significant drop in how much money is missing from local governments in Tennessee, but the total amount is still in the six figure range.

The National Folk Festival set to happen in Nashville this September is cancelled. One official blamed what she called “timing problems and acts of God” for sabotaging the event last year, and leaving it in debt. Now the festival hopes to regroup for 2013.