Tennessee passed a child-labor law in 1901. Prohibiting mines and factories from employing children under the age of 14, the law was dependent upon the courts for enforcement, since the state had no labor department.
National News
During February, we observe Black History Month by examining how the contributions and sacrifices of Black men and women have improved the world we live in. But in many ways, the equality that those before us fought for has still not been achieved.
You won’t find anyone prouder of their Southern heritage than me. Heck, I even wrote a book called “Volunteer Bama Dawg,” celebrating my connections to Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, the states in which I’ve lived all my life.
In 2010, Tennessee was one of the first states in the country to be awarded the Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. The $501 million grant award created a real shift in Tennessee’s approach to public education. When the money arrived in the state, so did a lot of other groups “to help” with the “…
Tennessee has 95 counties, and there used to be a 96th. Known as James County, it was a tiny sliver of a county east of Hamilton and west of Bradley. Formed after the Civil War, it was done away with shortly after World War I.
Serving as Tennessee’s Governor has been one of the great honors of my life, but the one role that tops it all is being the father of four wonderful children. I cherished being involved in every aspect of their education and saw how each of them needed strong reading skills to succeed in sch…
I try to avoid getting personal when writing a column. For one thing, why should I burden you with my problems? But as Ernest Hemingway (allegedly) defined writing, “You sit at a typewriter, open a vein and bleed.”
Middle Tennesseans looking to capitalize on today’s rising interest rates and protect their hard-earned savings should take a close look at a tried-and-true investment: the certificates of deposit (CDs) ladder strategy.
I read an article the other day that said Tennessee “got into the car manufacturing business in 1983, with the arrival of the Nissan plant.”
This weekend, we have a guest column from Stephen Bills, MD, an internal medicine physician at Vanderbilt Internal Medicine in Tullahoma. Read his full column here.
Do these names mean anything to you? Zayre. Western Auto. Woolworth's.
People get tired of hearing about Shelby County’s education woes. To be fair, Nashville also gets to be in the discussion frequently. Why can’t we fix Memphis-Shelby County Schools?
The Secretary of State’s Office would gain nearly $1 million in new annual revenue under a bill that allows it to take over the business of advertising foreclosure sales from local community newspapers where they have appeared for years.
As a social media user, I collect and publish misspellings, misinterpretations and other mishaps. The response has been overwhelming. One might even call it a title wave.
When people think about historic events, they usually think about military rebellions, battles and elections. But in 1854 something important happened to Nashville that doesn’t fall into any of those three categories. Had it not occurred, Nashville would have become a publishing center, and …
I often write on how America has changed in my lifetime. Someday I will focus on the ways it has changed for the better.
It is critical that Tennesseans and Americans trust their election process. Almost certainly, cash is being funneled into obscure organizations in our state to attempt to influence and win elections—and shape future policies.
Politicians don’t like to be forced to share information. Some are more forthcoming than others but every last one of them — regardless of party — prefer to shape their own narrative without outside interference.
This week in "TN History for Kids," Bill Carey talks about how the names Ben Posey, William Summers and Thomas Wooton appear in the Tennessee Constitution. Read his full column here.
Forty years ago this week, I was doing my radio show when I heard that Karen Carpenter had died.
This week in "TN History for Kids," Bill Carey talks about the court case of Ida Wells vs. Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwest Railroad. Read his full column here.
I used to hold a special category of anger, disdain, and contempt for criminals who litter the land, and who, for the most part, get away with their crime. But, I’ve come to understand that these people don’t love nature because they were never taught to: our economic system and society at…
This week in "David Carroll's News and Notes," David Carroll talks about his dislike of charging fees. Read his full column here.
This weekend, we have a guest column from Ken Paulson, Director of the Free Speech Center and Dean Emeritus at Middle Tennessee State University. Read his full column here.
We fall in love with being in love, before we fall in love at all.
Despite my childhood dreams, I have reached an inevitable conclusion: I could never be president of the United States.
This weekend, we have a guest column from Kathryn Waller, a nurse practitioner at Vanderbilt Integrated Internal Medicine. Read her full column here.
My name is Jimmy Penguin. I waddle when I walk.
This week in "TN History for Kids," Bill Carey talks about how Reelfoot Lake was part of a violent chapter in Tennessee history. Read his full column here.
Full disclosure: I have exactly zero credibility as a psychic.
Justice Louis Brandeis called individual states “laboratories of democracy.” States, he held, can enact their own policies regardless of the actions of other states. Seems simple enough.
I’ve heard it said that families were happier “in the old days.” However, newspapers prove that not every household was blissful. They also remind us that, when it comes to legal status, women have come a long way.
I have long been an advocate for character education in schools. Unfortunately, many children get little training in good behavior at home, whether it be from poor role models or the anger-tainment “news” channels blaring in the background.
A Davidson County judge on Wednesday ordered the governor’s office and the Tennessee Department of Human Resources to release COVID-19 reports it received in 2020 as part of a no-bid contract with consultant McKinsey and Co., saying the reports did not fall under a deliberative process privilege.
There was a little duck, so cute, and warm, and fluffy a darling little bird who always said, "I'm Tuffy."
We travel because we want to experience different cultures, have fun, explore, learn, meet new friends, celebrate, and just have fun! These are just a few of the reasons we travel. What are your reasons?
This week in "David Carroll's News and Notes," David Carroll talks about the phrase "It's lonely at the top." Read his full column here.
A new year is a time for reflection and more importantly a time for hope. Most people wish for a combination of happiness, health, prosperity, and peace. Educators seek strength and resolution to maintain their life’s work to assist the next generation to succeed in life beyond their classro…
In 2015, the state legislature at the urging of the Department of Correction passed a law allowing it to keep secret the companies that make and sell lethal injection drugs to the Tennessee Department of Correction for death penalty executions.
I don’t know if everyone has seen the Netflix series “The Crown,” about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, but there’s an episode with a distant connection to Tennessee history.
This week in "David Carroll's News and Notes," David Carroll reminisces about his experiences of going to the movie theater. Read his full column here.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press filed a lawsuit in December against the Chattanooga City Council over its use of private meetings to decide a significant issue — the new boundaries of city voting districts.
When it comes to history, politicians and generals get all the glory, while no one gives credit to the engineers. Stephen Harriman Long is an interesting example. Were it not for Long, the city of Chattanooga might not exist.
I know some of you expect hard-hitting political commentary when reading a newspaper column. Well, not today. There are no elections any time soon, and we could all use a break.
My friend John Carver raised a great question on what is our WHY for educating children.
Three years ago, Hiwassee College of Madisonville closed after 170 years in operation. It joined the list of private Tennessee colleges closed in recent years – a list including Tennessee Temple of Chattanooga (closed in 2015) and Lambuth University of Jackson (closed in 2011).
We’re advanced enough to send rockets to the moon (again), so why can’t we answer these questions:
This is about the time of year that fifth and eighth grade teachers do a lesson on how Tennessee became a state. If they aren’t careful, this lesson might be boring, and the events might seem inevitable.
One of my favorite authors is Erwin McManus, who writes “we all need self-reflection, and more importantly, we must master ourselves.” In public education, we have sometimes forgotten the basics.
After a nightmare ticket sale, monopolies made a powerful enemy. That’s good news for all of us.
At a time when names of Confederate leaders are being taken off schools, landmarks and military bases throughout the South, there’s a city in Minnesota named for a Confederate veteran from Tennessee. In fact, the town doesn’t just go by the man’s last name; it goes by his first and last name.
