The Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by the a trial court, saying the U.S. Copyright Act does not conflict with the Tennessee Public Records Act and that Metro Nashville police can allow "personal inspection" of the records it collected after the Covenant School shooting.
A bill filed this week would exempt records of Tennessee's Office of Homeland Security while another bill appears to expand the homeland security office's duties to allow it to conduct "overt and covert investigations" into a new and possibly wider list of things. Without a public interest exception to the proposed public records exemption, it's possible that the office could be deployed in more ways than it has in the past with little transparency or accountability that can come through access to public records. SB1881 / HB1640 would make all investigative records of the office confidential, even after any investigation, prosecution or criminal proceeding is finished. This is unlike the [...]
Senate committee moves forward on body cameras for state prison guards.
A new state comptroller's audit has found that the Department of Children's Services has not been fully reporting — and in some cases still hadn't reported — information about the deaths and near deaths of children in 2023 and 2024 who had been involved with DCS. The delayed reporting has reduced transparency and accountability of the department's work in investigating cases of deaths and near deaths. "As a result, the public may lack critical information needed to evaluate the effectiveness of Tennessee's child protection system in a timely manner," the audit said. The finding in the December 2025 performance audit was one of several that revealed DCS continues to have [...]
The Tennessee Department of Correction successfully evaded a Knox County judge's order to release by the close of the business day yesterday public records about the expiration date of the drugs set to be used in the upcoming execution of Harold Wayne Nichols. The execution proceeded this morning. However, the Court of Appeals that issued a temporary stay on the judge's order on Wednesday evening has not ruled yet on whether to grant the state's request for an interlocutory appeal of the judge's order or on the judge's finding that the records were being wrongly withheld by the state. Megan Kerrigan with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee had sought [...]
