Reports of guns in TN schools running at double national average
Tennessee has double the national rate of kids caught bringing a gun or possessing one at school, state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen told the opening session of Gov. Bill Haslam’s working group on school safety on Thursday. At the same time, the state currently has just 865 school resource officers assigned to protect an estimated 1 million children in the state’s schools.
Sheriff sees ‘dirty politics’ in PAC complaints over prisoners’ trip to church
Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson held a news conference Thursday to denounce as “dirty politics” claims by a political action committee that he put the public in danger by taking nine state prisoners to a church in civilian clothes, apparently unguarded, reports the Times Free Press.
Gummy bear bust goes sour with TBI testing
District Attorney General Jennings Jones is dropping all charges against more than 20 Rutherford County business owners who were arrested and saw their stores padlocked earlier this month in what officials called “Operation Candy Crush,” reports the Murfreesboro Post. Officers thought the businesses were selling gummy bears and other candies coated with marijuana-laced cannabis oil, but Jones says TBI testing of the products was “inconclusive.”
TN woman arrested trying to break into White House — again
A Tennessee woman who was convicted last year of trying to climb a White House barrier was arrested again Friday after authorities said she drove a vehicle into a barricade near the executive mansion and was found with a gun in her hand, reports the Washington Post.
Nude photos of Nashville mayor found on lover/bodyguard ‘s cell phone?
Photographs of a woman’s nude body were found on the cell phone of former Metro Nashville police Sgt. Rob Forrest, who had an acknowledged sexual affair with Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, reports The Tennessean, citing a TBI affidavit filed in seeking a court order mandating access to Barry’s personal cell phone.
Legislators spurn new restrictions on bounty hunters
Legislation designed to crack down on bounty hunters following a fatal shooting in Clarksville last spring has died quietly in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, reports the Leaf-Chronicle.
More than 3,700 probation or parole violators now at large in TN
More than 3,700 convicted criminals under the community supervision of the Tennessee Department of Correction are now at large, according to state records reported by WJHL-TV. TDOC confirmed all of those people are in “warrant status” for violating the terms of their probation or parole.
Appeals court finds $250 DUI fine — used in financing TBI — unconstitutional
An appeals court has ruled unconstitutional a state law that requires every person convicted of DUI through a blood or breath test pay a fee that that helps fund the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, reports the Associated Press.
Tuesday’s ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Knoxville says the $250 fee violates due process and calls into question the trustworthiness of test results obtained by the bureau’s forensic scientists. State law requires the money to go to the bureau’s intoxicant testing fund.
More on Nashville mayor’s extramarital affair
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry says her extramarital affair was with Metro police Sgt. Robert Forrest Jr., who heads her security detail, and began in the spring or summer of 2016, just months after she entered office the previous fall, reports The Tennessean.
Forrest submitted his retirement papers Jan. 17. His final day was Wednesday.
Sen. Lundberg tangled in flap over firing of policeman who ticketed his daughter
Bristol city officials were concerned about “political interference and retaliation” by state Sen. Jon Lundberg after his daughter was ticketed by a police officer who was subsequently fired, reports the Bristol Herald Courier.
The Bristol Republican says he did not try to get his daughter out of the ticket and has actively opposed dismissal of officer Phil Kiersnowski – though he contacted the city police chief at the time to jokingly remark on his wife and daughter both being ticketed by Bristol police on the same day.
