Farm Bill Splits Tennessee Delegation

Tennesseans will benefit from expanded food stamps, aid to smaller farmers and support for alternative energies under the new farm bill the US House of representatives passed late last week. The bill limits payments to farmers making over a million dollars a year. Tennessee Democrat Lincoln Davis is on the House agriculture committee. He voted […]

While solid early voting number outpaced the two previous Metro elections by more than two-and-a-half times, it may not mean higher-than-normal numbers overall. At the end of early voting, nearly 49,000 voters, or 15-percent of eligible voters in Nashville, had already gone to the ballot box. Davidson County Election Commissioner Ray Barrett says it could […]

At one time or another, there have been as many as twenty-eight hundred Hurricane Katrina victims living in Middle Tennessee. Those who lived in Louisiana during this hurricane and hurricane Rita have until tomorrow to apply to a program called the Road Home. It provides money for former Louisianans to repair their houses and sell […]

Former Memphis Congressman Harold Ford Junior told an audience of democrats from across the country, that the Democratic Leadership Council still matters. At its annual meeting in Nashville over the weekend, Ford fended off criticism that the moderate organization is losing ground as the party pulls to the left over the war in Iraq. The […]

Ask any of the five major candidates vying to be Nashville’s next mayor about their number one issue, and without hesitation, the response is ‘education.’ Nashville is different from many cities where the school board has complete control of its own budget. The mayor’s role is to recommend a budget figure which is approved by the Metro Council, this year nearly 600 million dollars. Then the school board has to work within those means. As WPLN’s Blake Farmer reports, the candidates are promising to do much more than simply fund schools.

Mayoral Candidate Howard Gentry has served as an at-large Metro councilman and is Nashville’s current vice mayor – the first African-American to hold that position. Gentry was a long time administrator at Tennessee State University and until recently led a not-for-profit that combined athletics and academics for inner-city boys. He stepped down as CEO of “Backfield In Motion” to run for mayor. We complete our airing of mayoral stump speeches today, by hearing from Howard Gentry, who says Nashville is a great city because of its diversity.

The Democratic Leadership Council is having its annual “National Conversation” in Nashville today, but without appearances from any of the democratic presidential candidates. Over the weekend, Governor Phil Bredesen took part in a health care panel discussion. He’s disappointed none the presidential candidates will appear, saying they need to hear what many of the moderates […]

Education is always a hot election issue, and Metro’s mayoral race is no exception. Every candidate has an education plan, and all say they’ll make it a top priority, but are their messages gaining traction with voters? James Sykes is a cosmetologist at Nwani’s barber shop on Jefferson Street. In a break between customers he […]

Fifth Third Bank handed a fat check over to a senior citizens group to provide a crime prevention program in Nashville nursing homes. The bank’s 8-million dollar commitment will give residents at 10 nursing homes personal lock boxes and cash rewards for reporting incidents of theft and fraud. The announcement was made at the Green […]

The Korean War ended in a truce 54 years ago today. A crowd of 75 veterans and Korean immigrants gathered at Nashville’s War Memorial Plaza at noon for a remembrance. (Sound of 21-gun salute) Jack Walker was one of the event’s organizers. The former Army lieutenant spent more than three years as an infantryman in […]