Local – Page 6 – Vanderbilt Political Review

Nashville at 50

Ryan Higgins

April 7, 2013

On April 1, Metro Nashville’s consolidated city-county government turned fifty years old, marking a significant period of growth and expansion. Originally, Nashville was an independent municipality located within the boundaries...

Nashville: Host of the 2024 Olympic Games?

Sufei Wu

February 23, 2013

This Tuesday Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, along with the mayors of 34 other American cities, received letters from the United States Olympic Committee (U.S.O.C.) to measure interest in making a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. ...

City Council Consolidation?

Ryan Higgins

February 13, 2013

When the city of Nashville was merged with the rest of Davidson County in 1965, many small neighborhoods feared losing representation on the new Metro Council. Racial minorities were also concerned that a new council would be...

Tennessee’s Golden Tickets for Education

Ryan Higgins

November 26, 2012

Tennessee is gearing up for a potential showdown over school vouchers in the coming legislative session. After a 2011 bill creating a school voucher program failed to move through the state legislature, Governor Haslam convene...

It’s Decision Time: The Future of Health Insurance Exchanges in Tennessee

Kristin Vargas

November 21, 2012

The election is finally over, and the initial raucous that overcame the nation is beginning to subside. This peace is only illusory, as consequences of the outcome are beginning to sink in for those distraught Republicans who...

Governor Haslam and The Scopes Trial

Sufei Wu

September 23, 2012

In early April of this year Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R) allowed a bill to become law without his signature for the first time in his career. Nicknamed the “monkey bill”, HB 368/SB 893 is aimed at protecting public school t...

Nashville Schools: Defying State Orders and Leaving Students Behind

Ryan Higgins

September 20, 2012

Last week, the Metro Nashville Board of Education voted for the third time to deny Great Hearts Academies the right to open a charter school in the city. Great Hearts had originally submitted their application late this spring...

Dividing to Conquer: TN Voter Registration Laws

September 3, 2012

On September 13th, 2011, 96-year-old Dorothy Cooper waited patiently for over an hour at the DMV station in Chattanooga, TN to get her now mandatory state-issued photo ID. An active citizen, Cooper has missed only one election...