Richard Locker
Knoxville News Sentinel
Nashville, TN, United States
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Past articles by Richard:
UT Diversity Office takes hit, as Gov. Haslam allows bill to become law diverting funds
NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam allowed the bill that diverts about $436,000 from the University of Tennessee's office of diversity and inclusion and into minority engineering scholarships during the next school year to become law without his signature on Friday. → Read More
Tennessee Democratic chairman assails Republican-dominated legislative session
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman assailts GOP-dominated legislature → Read More
Haslam allows guns-on-campus bill to become law without signature
Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday he is allowing the guns-on-campus bill to become law without his signature. The bill, Senate Bill 2376, allows full-time faculty, staff and other employees of Tennessee's public colleges and universities who have handgun-carry permits to carry their guns on campus -- but they must notify the local law enforcement agency with primary responsibility for security on… → Read More
Haslam signs counseling bill into law
NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday signed into law a controversial bill that says no licensed counselor or therapist must serve a client whose 'goals, outcomes or behaviors" conflict with the counselor's "sincerely held principles" — a measure denounced by the American Counseling Association as a "hate bill" against gay and transgender people. → Read More
Tennessee ranks 34th in college affordability, study says
New Vanderbilt University and Univesity of Pennsylvania study says Tennessee ranks 34th in college affordability → Read More
Outsourcing opponents pay a surprise visit to state officials in charge of privatization plan
Campus workers make a suprise visit to governor's outsourcing team, ask for more public input on the plan → Read More
Tennessee General Assembly wraps 2016 session
In ways large and small, the Tennessee legislature's 2016 session has impacts → Read More
Lawmakers approve drop in Hall income tax
State lawmakers Friday approved a bill that cuts Tennessee's Hall income tax on stock and dividend income this year and totally repeals it in 2022. → Read More
UT diversity funding diverted for one year
NASHVILLE — State lawmakers Thursday approved a bill that diverts — for one year only — about $436,000 from the University of Tennessee office of diversity and inclusion and into scholarships for minority students in engineering. → Read More
Guns-on-college-campus bill highlights flurry of legislation
NASHVILLE — Tennessee lawmakers gave final approval to a guns-on-college-campus bill and scores of other measures Wednesday, but a dispute over how to cut the Hall income tax rate and partisan bickering pushed the legislature's adjournment for the year at least to today. → Read More
State House unable to override Haslam’s veto of Bible bill
NASHVILLE -- The state House of Representatives has failed to override Gov. Bill Haslam's veto of a controversial bill that declared the Holy Bible as "the official state book" of Tennessee. → Read More
Senate OKs guns-on-campus bill
NASHVILLE — The state Senate on Tuesday approved a controversial bill allowing employees and faculty members who have handgun-carry permits to carry their guns on campus at Tennessee public colleges and universities. → Read More
Penalties may go up for texting while driving in Tennessee
NASHVILLE — The state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill increasing the penalties for texting while driving in Tennessee, including requiring violators to attend a driver's education course. → Read More
Bible bill sponsor will try to overturn governor’s veto
NASHVILLE — The House sponsor of the bill designating the Bible as the "official state book" of Tennessee served formal notice on the House floor Monday night that he will try to override Gov. Bill Haslam's veto of the bill. → Read More
Shelby County attorney Dyer confirmed for appeals court seat
NASHVILLE — The state legislature confirmed Gov. Bill Haslam's appointment of Memphis lawyer J. Ross Dyer to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals' West Tennessee division Monday evening. → Read More
Pastors gather at Capitol to show support for restroom bill
NASHVILLE — About 30 pastors from the conservative Tennessee Pastors Network joined the head of the Family Action Council of Tennessee at the State Capitol Monday to show their support for the controversial transgender restroom bill awaiting committee action in the state legislature. → Read More
Cut in Tennessee’s Hall income tax nears final approval
Taxpayers of Tennessee's Hall income tax likely to get rate cut → Read More
Tenn. lawmakers honor high school hero Zaevion Dobson
NASHVILLE — The mother, coach and Fulton High School friends of Zaevion Dobson assembled at the podium of the state House of Representatives Thursday to honor the memory of the 15-year-old whose shooting death Dec. 17 stunned Knoxville and the state. → Read More
State approves budget including $12 million for St. Jude expansion
NASHVILLE — State legislators approved a $34.8 billion state budget Thursday that includes $12 million in state aid for the upcoming expansion of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. → Read More
House votes to repeal ‘spiritual treatment’ exemption to child-abuse law
NASHVILLE — The House gave final legislative approval Thursday to a bill repealing a controversial 1994 law that was at the center of a long court fight over the 2002 death of a Loudon County child whose mother refused medical care in favor of "spiritual treatment" and prayer. → Read More