Tennessee

Cheatham County, Tennessee school board members and parents met to discuss a possible merger of Pegram Elementary and Kingston Springs Elementary, prompted by declining enrollment that could threaten Pegram's future. Under the proposal, about 437 K-4 students would attend a combined South Cheatham Elementary, with class sizes largely unchanged. The vacated Pegram building could become a community and culture center, housing a library, sheriff and county clerk satellite offices, a commercial kitchen for The Arc and Meals on Wheels, and a storm shelter. Some board members favor boosting enrollment instead. A follow-up meeting is set for next week, with a possible merger no earlier than the 2028-2029 school year.

Lauren Pinkston, an independent candidate for Tennessee governor, is a former teacher and college professor who has also worked as an anti-human trafficking advocate. She is one of 15 candidates on the ballot and among the four candidates polling has identified as leading contenders, alongside independent David Hatley, Republican Marsha Blackburn, and Democrat Jerri Green.

Pinkston's platform centers on affordability and bipartisanship, including eliminating the state's grocery tax, offset by a proposed medical marijuana program, modernizing the power grid, expanding childcare, and easing home loan access. She supports gun rights alongside school safety measures, favors stricter enforcement against employers exploiting undocumented workers, and backs infrastructure impact fees on new development. Election Day is November 3.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is one of 15 candidates running for Tennessee governor, and among the top four per polling, alongside David Hatley, Jerri Green, and Lauren Pinkston. Blackburn's platform centers on economic development, public safety, education, and cutting government spending, including support for a "Tennessee DOGE" effort to reduce the budget, though she has not committed to eliminating the state's grocery sales tax.

She backs expanding school vouchers statewide, leaving data center siting decisions to local governments, and supports capital punishment, including reinstating the electric chair. Blackburn has declined debate invitations from opponents, instead emphasizing door-to-door campaigning. A Senate ethics inquiry into her office was resolved, she said, without findings of misconduct. Democratic rival Jerri Green, by contrast, has centered her campaign on affordability, eliminating the grocery tax, and expanding health care access.

The Knox County Commission unanimously passed Ordinance O-26-10-104, tying future pay increases for commissioners and Board of Education members to the state-certified cost-of-living formula used for other county officials, rather than automatically matching raises given to county employees. The change follows backlash after a 6% employee raise in June also boosted commissioner and school board pay, funded in part by $4 million reallocated from the Knox County Schools budget amid the elimination of 57 teaching and 27 administrative positions. The Board of Education had urged the Commission to repeal the raise; it did not, but passed the new restriction instead. Newly elected Mayor Betsy Henderson said the ordinance stops officials from granting themselves raises.