State Briefs

Tennessee started the new year with little movement in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. New data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) showed the statewide jobless number inched up only 0.1 of a percentage point to 3.5%. December’s revised rate was 3.4%. 
  
In a...

Tennessee revenues for the month of January exceeded collections from January of 2023, but were less than the budgeted estimates. 

Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson reported that tax revenues were $1.95 billion, which is $15.8 million more than January of last year, but $97.8 million...

Tennessee needs at least $68 billion worth of public infrastructure improvements during the five-year period of July 2022 to June 2027—a $5 billion (9%) increase from the year before—according to a new report by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR).   

Health...

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced a $350 million national settlement with Publicis Health to resolve investigations into the global marketing and communications firm’s role in the prescription opioid crisis. 

Tennessee will receive more than $9 million from the settlement which will be...

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) in cooperation with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has awarded $21 million in federal funds for electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging stations across the state. 

Thirty-one EV fast charging locations are needed to fill...

The latest edition of the Tennessee Blue Book will honor the state’s first responders. 

“I am pleased to dedicate the 2023-2024 Tennessee Blue Book to these public servants,” said Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “These heroic individuals put the well-being of their fellow citizens above...

Tennessee Promise students are earning more credits, staying enrolled, and earning more awards than non-Promise students at the same schools, according to a new evaluation from the Tennessee Comptroller’s office. Researchers also found that the most common reason applicants are unable to qualify for...

Two broods of cicadas will make appearances in Tennessee over the next two years, the first time two cicada broods have emerged together in 221 years. Both the 17-year and 13-year cicadas will appear in Middle and West Tennessee in back-to-back years. The last time the 17-year cicadas emerged was...

The Knoxville-based Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful has celebrated several new milestones in 2018, including removing 218,729 pounds of trash from the Tennessee River. The first affiliate of Keep America Beautiful to focus solely on a river, the organization reached several milestones last year...

Two Tennessee school districts have been selected to share in $1 billion being awarded through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Grants program. The Hardin and Warren County School systems will each receive funding to replace five older diesel school buses with new, all-electric buses. A total of 280...

Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson announced revenues for December were lower than expected and were less than the monthly revenues from the previous year. 

State revenues for December were $1.9 billion or $82.5 million less than the budgeted estimate declining...