I met Tyrin “Ty” Johnson neither through a police report, nor through a press conference, nor through the carefully crafted statements of elected officials or the endless speculation that too often follows the death of a young Black man, but rather through the people who loved him most: his mother, his grandparents, his great-grandmother, his aunts, and the grief that filled the room where they…
Source
Between 2016 and 2025, Michelle Shoemaker spent more than $1,000 on songs and games for her tablet — a rudimentary, prison-approved device she purchased from JPay, a subsidiary of the massive prison communications company Aventiv. Her tablet also held hundreds of emails and photographs, including treasured photos and messages from her deceased father, daughter, and mother. One email contained the…
Source
Several laws restricting access to medications that can be used to terminate a pregnancy and others placing limits on minors’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare — including the HPV vaccine — take effect today in Iowa, Mississippi and Tennessee. Many bills were considered in state legislatures earlier this year that would have added legal restrictions to mifepristone and misoprostol…
Source
Damon Hininger, the former CEO of Tennessee-based private prison operator CoreCivic, is interested in being Tennessee’s next U.S. senator when the seat opens up. Hininger publicly acknowledged for the first time that he wants to replace U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn if she wins her bid for governor this year, according to the Nashville Business Journal. Since 2024, when he chaired the state…
Source
It is difficult to find inspiration on this Juneteenth. We are still living in difficult times. In the last year, hundreds of thousands of African Americans have lost jobs. Some state legislatures in the South — Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi — have sought to dilute Black political power after the Supreme Court issued its Louisiana v. Callais decision. Meanwhile…
Source
A Tennessee man who spent over a month in jail for posting a meme following the death of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk has received a large cash settlement from his home county, an outcome he described as a victory for free speech rights. Larry Bushart, a 61-year-old man from Lexington, Tennessee, spent 37 days in Perry County jail last fall following his arrest by the sheriff’s department…
Source