This Week In Commentary

Politically interested Tennesseans of a certain era often invoke the ghost of Howard Baker, longtime Republican U.S. senator, when they talk of statesmen and trends in the Tennessee GOP.

“It really blew up our world,” public schools advocate Heather DuBois Bourenane says of the failed school funding and tax-cut deal that Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Tony Evers trumpeted as a “blockbuster” before it fizzled in the state Senate, ending in finger-pointing and recriminations. 

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Gov. Jeff Landry was the clear and logical choice for President Donald Trump to appoint as his special envoy to Greenland, that it just made perfect sense — like Planters, when Mr. Peanut applied for a job.

Oh, Tennessee. I love you, but you have broken my heart. 

It’s spring in Alabama. But it’s winter for democracy.

Think of the millions of Alabamians who lived, loved and died under an apartheid government, a regime that lasted nearly a century, presiding over lynchings and mass disenfranchisement.

That Memphis is named for an ancient Egyptian city seems more than a coincidence when one considers that the Biblical characters who survived the 10 plagues of Egypt endured little more than have Memphians in the last year. 

Over the years, America has been blessed with visionaries in fitness who have reshaped how we exercise. Including one who hails from the great state of Oklahoma.

I’ve noticed this week that the volunteers that had been greeting us at the door of my 4-year-old’s child care center aren’t there anymore. 

Last month, Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected bipartisan legislation to establish a paint stewardship program, a decision punctuated by a Trumpian veto message clearly shaped by reflex rather than thoughtful consideration.

When New Jersey lawmakers revamped the state Open Public Records Act two years ago, one of the worst provisions they inserted allows public entities to sue people for filing too many records requests.

The days of the Kansas legislative session have dwindled. Lawmakers should wrap up their business by the end of next week.