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Tennessee’s Department of Education is recommending changes to the state’s system for evaluating teachers. Such job reviews affect whether teachers get or keep tenure, and many have complained the new system is unfair.

On Tuesday an Arizona-based charter school operator will try to convince the state to let it expand into Nashville, after it was rejected by the Metro school board. Great Hearts Academies will appeal to the Tennessee State Board of Education.

Scientists in Tennessee are working to keep an invasive insect in check, as it gnaws through ash trees in the Smokies. The weapon of choice against the Emerald Ash Borer? It’s actually more bugs.

Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services is trying to take stock of how much work is left to meet the terms of a decade-old settlement agreement. A report out earlier this week says right now the state is having a hard time even tracking its progress.

The number of teachers retiring from Metro schools is the verge of doubling; it’s not clear why. Retirees have to weigh in factors like savings and family; some are also pointing to recent changes handed down from the state.

Governor Bill Haslam set the table Tuesday for a discussion of how Tennessee colleges can do a better job readying students for the workforce. Much of the conversation centered on the state’s new policy of tying schools’ funding to outcomes like graduation rates.

First Lady Michelle Obama visited Nashville Thursday for the second time in the last few months. While Mrs. Obama’s first visit was to raise money for her husband’s reelection, this time seemed to aim squarely at rallying base supporters.

A former Saturday Night Live star has endorsed a Republican primary challenger running for Congress in Tennessee. While Victoria Jackson might be remembered for her stint on SNL in the late ’80s and early ’90s, she’s since rebranded herself as a conservative commentator.

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.

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.