NASHVILLE – Metro Nashville is set to receive $23 million in opioid settlement funds over the next 18 years. The first payment may arrive as early as May 2022. Total payments to Davidson County represent nearly 9 percent of the $242 million funds to all counties in Tennessee, which is only a portion of the $613 million that the state of Tennessee receives. After years of litigation and negotiations, Mayor John Cooper hailed the settlement and praised Metro’s leadership role. “Through it all, we were fortunate to have a lead role at the table. We won these funds at no…
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For several years Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has picked up the mantle to lead efforts to create a commission to study reparations for African Americans, and now the Democrat from Texas and others believe they finally have the votes for passage in the U.S. House of Representatives. “This has been a 30-plus year journey,” Congresswoman Jackson Lee declared. “We had to take a different approach. We had to go one by one to members explaining this does not generate a check. Congresswoman Jackson Lee said this week that there’s now enough votes in the House for passage of the historic…
Her desire for a second undergraduate degree was cut short after just three days when a mob of racists assaulted her with food, rocks, and other items when she attempted to enter the University of Alabama. Autherine Lucy Foster, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English from historically Black Miles College in 1952, and whose legal battle with the University of Alabama concluded two years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, has died at 92. A critical, but sometimes overlooked figure in the civil rights movement, Foster’s case became the first to challenge the Brown ruling that…
Pamela Moses, the Memphis woman who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote, says she is grateful to be released – but believes the case against her was a “scare tactic” to discourage other people from casting a ballot. Moses was released from prison on bond on 25 February after a judge unexpectedly granted her request for a new trial, citing evidence, obtained by the Guardian, that had not been disclosed to Moses’ defense. In her first interview since being freed Moses recalled the moment in the courtroom when Judge W Mark Ward decided to grant her…
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Tennessee’s largest nonprofit law firm, announced today that Alise Housden has joined the firm as a housing staff attorney in its Murfreesboro office. Housden will provide legal services for Rutherford County residents in eviction-related cases, while also advocating for and working toward systemic changes. In addition, she will assist clients in applying for Rutherford County’s COVID-19 Rental Relief Program, which offers benefits for those struggling to pay rent, utilities or other home energy costs due to the loss of wages or income during the pandemic. For those who…
WASHINGTON – Today Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) announced funding for American Baptist College, Meharry Medical School and a Jefferson Street Interstate Cap was included in the final omnibus spending agreement that passed the House. The massive spending package is expected to be quickly passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden. Last year, Members of Congress submitted specific requests for their districts, known as Community Project Funding, to be included in the annual congressional spending bills. Cooper secured $4,796,812 for these projects last summer. Final approval was delayed until agreement could be reached on an overall spending…
NASHVILLE, Tenn – The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) will be accepting online only applications for two elderly Project-Based Voucher (PBV) locations on a first-come, first-served from noon Wednesday, March 16, 2022, until 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Depending on the number of applications received, the waiting lists may remain open beyond April 6, 2022. In order to qualify for elderly housing, the head of household or spouse must be at least 62 years old. Applications for the elderly waiting lists will be available online only at www.nashville-mdha.org (click on the button that says Apply for Housing) beginning…
In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Aleksandr Zaldostanov, the leader of a pro-Putin biker gang, the Night Wolves, turned to Facebook to disparagethe Ukrainian president and push falsehoods about the war. “Ukraine is a torn off piece of Russia, which is shrinking in pain and bleeding still,” he posted on March 1 to more than 18,000 followers. “Russia did not start a war now!!!! Those who divided us started it!” A former physician known by his nickname, “the Surgeon,” Zaldostanov has been on the U.S. government sanctions list since 2014, amid allegations that he helped Russian troops confiscate weapons during the…
A House subcommittee has narrowly killed a bill that could have revived Tennessee’s controversial school voucher program regardless of how the state’s highest court rules this year on the state’s overturned school voucher law. The bill aimed to change eligibility requirements for students receiving public money to pay for private school tuition under the 2019 education savings account law that squeaked through the legislature but was halted by a judge before the program could launch. The new legislation failed 5-4 Tuesday, despite a rare subcommittee appearance by Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who tried to tip the scales when a key voucher supporter, Rep. Glen…
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TN Tribune)– On Friday and Saturday, March 11 & 12, Brown Boy Mad, a play by Sékou Writes, enjoyed its debut as a fully directed play at Fisk University. Best described as a choreopoem, Brown Boy Mad incorporates elements of film, song, poetry and even the perspectives of the student actors themselves in an attempt to describe some of the author’s real-life interactions with race and microaggressions in “post-racial” America. The performance which featured students from Fisk University’s theatre appreciation class garnered a great turnout. This full production version of the play was directed by veteran actress, director…