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.

Stockard on the Stump: Tennessee governor defends Correction commissioner in failed executions
Tennessee

Stockard on the Stump: Tennessee governor defends Correction commissioner in failed executions

Oct 02, 2026
Sam Stockard
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee continues to give his top correction official a get-out-of-jail free card for botched executions. Correction Commissioner Frank Strada got the job in January 2023 despite overseeing three problematic executions as a deputy commissioner in Arizona, then...
Tennessee governor orders third-party review, pause all executions for the rest of the year
Tennessee

Tennessee governor orders third-party review, pauses all executions for the rest of the year

Oct 01, 2026
Adam Friedman Sam Stockard
​Gov. Bill Lee has ordered a third-party review of the botched execution of Christa Pike and put a hold on state executions for the rest of the year. “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious...
Beale Street businesses ride out Memphis law enforcement surge
Tennessee

Beale Street businesses ride out Memphis law enforcement surge

Sep 30, 2026
Sam Stockard
A year after a coalition of law enforcement agencies converged on Memphis, conducting widespread traffic stops and roundups, Beale Street businesses are struggling to stay afloat as customers avoid the historic downtown area. Although several factors are believed to be...
Federal judge rules against FEMA threat to block anti-terrorism funds
Tennessee

Federal judge rules against FEMA threat to block anti-terrorism funds

Sep 30, 2026
Sam Stockard
A federal court ruled in favor of Metro Nashville and five other cities and counties, striking down the Trump administration’s effort to withhold anti-terrorism funds unless they adopted election-system policies targeting to check citizenship. The Monday ruling by U.S. District...
Chattanooga goes head to head with state attorney over control of airport board
Tennessee

Chattanooga goes head to head with state attorney over control of airport board

Sep 29, 2026
Sam Stockard
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office argued Monday that politics shouldn’t be considered in deciding whether the Chattanooga airport authority should be run by a locally-appointed board or a board appointed by state officials under a new law. The state’s attorney...
Stockard on the Stump: Strange becomes normal in Tennessee governor’s race
Tennessee

Stockard on the Stump: Strange becomes normal in Tennessee governor’s race

Sep 25, 2026
Sam Stockard
Tennessee’s gubernatorial campaign is growing contentious and bizarre. Between a fight involving Democrat Jerri Green and independent Lauren Pinkston, mud-slinging at independent David Hatley – and vandalism – and Republican Marsha Blackburn’s ham-fisted tactics, the race is growing weirder by...
Democrat-leaning PAC goes after Republican congressional candidate over data centers
Tennessee

Democratic-leaning PAC goes after Republican congressional candidate over data centers

Sep 24, 2026
Sam Stockard
A Democratic-backing political action committee is getting into the 9th Congressional District race with an ad accusing Republican Sen. Brent Taylor of taking campaign cash from artificial intelligence companies and passing data center legislation. Three Star PAC released the independent...
Blackburn campaign drops legal threat of Registry over reappointments
Tennessee

Blackburn campaign drops legal threat to Tennessee election finance board over reappointments

Sep 23, 2026
Sam Stockard
Days after threatening to take Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance to court over a public records request, gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn dropped the demand for communications dealing with board reappointments. An initial request for records filed by Blackburn...
Outspoken Tennessee Registry board leader Tom Lawless dies at 72
Tennessee

Outspoken Tennessee Registry board leader Tom Lawless dies at 72

Sep 21, 2026
Sam Stockard
The voice of Tennessee’s campaign finance watchdog has gone silent. Tom Lawless, a Nashville attorney and veteran member of the Registry of Election Finance, died suddenly during a weekend trip to New York City at age 72. Lawless, who also...
State seeks dismissal of Chattanooga airport authority lawsuit
Tennessee

State seeks dismissal of Chattanooga airport authority lawsuit

Sep 21, 2026
Sam Stockard
The state of Tennessee is asking a Hamilton County Chancery Court to dismiss Chattanooga’s lawsuit to reverse an airport board takeover. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed the request, saying in part that Chattanooga doesn’t have standing to sue the...
Stockard on the Stump: Blackburn camp blasts Registry for seeking AG probe
Tennessee

Stockard on the Stump: Blackburn camp blasts Registry for seeking AG probe

Sep 18, 2026
Sam Stockard
That tree you heard falling in the forest produced no sound, except for a subsequent grating from U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s gubernatorial campaign. Blackburn’s people ripped the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance this week after it forwarded a complaint by...
New TBI agents ‘embedded’ with Memphis Safe Task Force
Tennessee

New TBI agents ‘embedded’ with Memphis Safe Task Force

Sep 16, 2026
Sam Stockard
The state is pouring $9 million this year into a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation task force given wide-reaching authority across the state, including working with the Memphis Safe Task Force. The legislature set up an eight-member board with the power...