Wackenhut May Have Left Metro Offices Unguarded

Mayor Karl Dean has called for a special audit of the city’s five-year security contract with Wackenhut. A preliminary investigation since a break-in at the Election Commission revealed the security firm wasn’t holding up its end of the deal. The two stolen laptop computers with names and social security numbers of every registered voter in […]

A proposal for a constitutional amendment to limit abortion will be before the Tennessee General Assembly early this year, after a key committee approved it today- the first day of the 2008 session. The Senate Judiciary Committee, made up of five Republicans and four Democrats, approved an amendment that could be on a referendum ballot […]

State legislators return to the capitol this afternoon, as does Joe White, WPLN’s state capitol correspondent. He also returned to WPLN’s studios to talk with Morning Edition’s Jacqueline Fellows about the progress of study committees.

The Metro Action Commission has run out of funds for its energy assistance program. Despite unseasonably warm temperatures over the past few months, all of the federal energy assistance money has been obligated for the year. The news comes little more than a month after the Action Commission said the warm fall had spared much […]

The Metro Council will take up a bill today on the first of three readings, to allow members to access discounted health insurance when they serve partial terms. Currently, council members must serve 8 years to be eligible for life-time health insurance at the discounted, Metro-employee rate. Bill sponsor Charlie Tygard says originally the law […]

Metro Nashville’s school district is facing a state takeover if test scores don’t improve. The state legislature passed a bill last session giving the state more authority to reform and possibly even assume control of failing districts. Last night, council members heard from state education officials about what a school take over means for Nashville. […]

One Metro Councilman has asked the city auditor to review the departments which deal with data and building security. Following the Christmas Eve theft of laptop computers from the Election Commission headquarters, Mayor Karl Dean called for a data security audit from all Metro department heads. Councilman Jim Ghotto says he has no reason to […]

In recent years, shrinking radio playlists and illegal file sharing have only made it harder for songwriters to make a buck. According to the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the average songwriter earns just short of five thousand dollars a year. Last year, the US Congress gave them a much-needed reprieve—a tax change that saves them big money if they sell a song catalog. The change benefits catalog buyers too, and is luring new kinds of investors to Music Row. WPLN’s Kim Green reports.

State legislators return to the capitol tomorrow, and with a projected $150 – 200 million shortfall this year, the budget will likely be the biggest issue. Governor Phil Bredesen held budget hearings last month with every state department, noting that “across-the-board” cuts weren’t planned, but that it would be a tight budget year. Senate Speaker […]

As the U-S Supreme Court hears oral arguments today on lethal injection methods, one Tennessee lawmaker says this state could bypass the national debate. The High Court will discuss the use of a three-drug cocktail used to carry out the death penalty by 37 states, including Tennessee. The question is over whether the method may […]