SAM STOCKARD

Sam Stockard

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Sam Stockard is a reporter at the Tennessee Lookout. He is veteran Tennessee reporter and editor, having written for the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, where he served as lead editor when the paper won an award for being the state's best Sunday newspaper two years in a row. He has led the Capitol Hill bureau for The Daily Memphian. His awards include Best Single Editorial from the Tennessee Press Association.

Tennessee Transportation finds no “red flags” in toll-land bidder despite past problems
Tennessee

Tennessee Transportation finds no “red flags” in toll-lane bidder despite past problems

Aug 26, 2026
Sam Stockard
Tennessee Department of Transportation officials picked a road-building group to take on the state’s first toll project despite a series of bumps the consortium’s companies hit over the past decade-plus, ranging from bankruptcies to price-gouging accusations. DriveTN’s winning bid included...
Tennessee’s Dolly Parton dies at 80 after a life of music and giving
Tennessee

Tennessee’s Dolly Parton dies at 80 after a life of music and giving

Aug 25, 2026
Sam Stockard
Dolly Parton, the personification of Tennessee music, died Tuesday at age 80 after decades of entertaining the world. Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, delivered the news of her death in a video for the family, sparking mourning from her birthplace of...
Nashville state lawmakers enter fray over fight for fairground speedway
Tennessee

Nashville state lawmakers enter fray over fight for fairground speedway

Aug 25, 2026
Adam Friedman Sam Stockard
Five years after a proposal surfaced to renovate the Nashville fairground racetrack with $84 million in taxpayer funding, area state lawmakers are split over the concept of racing at the speedway. Former Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced a proposed deal...
ACLU queries Tennessee school districts on Ten Commandments
Tennessee

ACLU queries Tennessee school districts on Ten Commandments

Aug 21, 2026
Sam Stockard
A group led by the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking information from five Tennessee school districts about their plans to post the Ten Commandments after a new state law allowed the Bible document to go up in school buildings’...
Stockard on the Stump: Tenn Republican Caucus chair irritated by extremism
Tennessee

Stockard on the Stump: Tenn Republican Caucus chair irritated by extremism

Aug 21, 2026
Sam Stockard
After 16 years in the Tennessee Legislature, Rep. Jeremy Faison has had enough of political polarization. The Cosby Republican, who entered the General Assembly as more of a libertarian than a party ideologue, is heading home to the mountains of...
Tennessee tabs road-building group for $9B toll lanes project
Tennessee

Tennessee taps road-building group for $9B toll lanes project

Aug 20, 2026
Sam Stockard
A Tennessee transportation board selected a road-building group Wednesday to fund and build toll lanes from the southeast Nashville area to Murfreesboro as part of a package in which the contractor locked up the bid by agreeing to pay the...
Tennessee Republican balks at nuclear campus, waste storage
Tennessee

Tennessee Republican balks at nuclear campus, waste storage

Aug 19, 2026
Sam Stockard
An East Tennessee Republican lawmaker is challenging the governor’s support for bringing a massive nuclear facility to East Tennessee, saying the risk of storing nuclear waste is greater than any economic benefits. Rep. Ed Butler of Rickman sent a letter...
Metro Nashville joins lawsuit claiming feds withheld millions
Tennessee

Metro Nashville joins lawsuit claiming feds withheld millions

Aug 18, 2026
Sam Stockard
Metro Nashville filed suit Monday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in federal court, claiming the Trump administration withheld tens of millions of dollars for anti-terrorism efforts unless states and local governments adopted certain election-system policies to check citizenship...
Stockard on the Stump: Special session talk on tax appraisals rears its head
Tennessee

Stockard on the Stump: Special session talk on tax appraisals rears its head

Aug 14, 2026
Sam Stockard
Spurred by claims that Lower Broadway bars will shut their Nashville doors and stop selling $10 domestics, Tennessee lawmakers are mulling the idea for a special session to remake the state’s property appraisal laws. Republican legislative leaders broached the idea...
Death row inmate seeks order against execution based on paralysis
Tennessee

Death row inmate seeks order against execution based on paralysis

Aug 12, 2026
Sam Stockard
Attorneys for a Tennessee death row inmate filed a request Wednesday to stop his execution, saying the man could be physically incapable of going through the state’s lethal injection protocol. Darrell Hines’ legal counsel filed motions in U.S. District Court...
Tennessee governor refuses clemency for death row inmate; execution set Thursday
Tennessee

Tennessee governor refuses clemency for death row inmate; execution set Thursday

Aug 11, 2026
Sam Stockard
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is declining to stop Thursday’s scheduled execution of death row inmate Darrell Hines, even as his attorneys claim he could suffer cruel and unusual punishment because of an “under-skilled” physician. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell...
Tennessee death row inmate seeks U.S. Supreme Court review
Tennessee

Tennessee death row inmate seeks U.S. Supreme Court review

Aug 11, 2026
Sam Stockard
A Tennessee man scheduled to be executed Thursday night for a 1986 murder is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his claim that he could suffer cruel and unusual punishment because of an “under-skilled” physician in charge of administering...