This Country Has Gone Crazy

Introduced in late January by GOP lawmakers, just weeks after Nichols’s death, Senate Bill 591 and House Bill 764 would dissolve community-led oversight boards in Memphis and Nashville, ending their ongoing investigations by the close of July and precluding the possibility of other cities establishing boards with similar powers. “This bill essentially strips away police accountability in our state, at the height of a police killing that was so tragic and brutal,” said Jill Fitcheard, the director of Nashville’s Civilian Oversight Board. “These state legislators want to cut away oversight and police accountability and dwindle it down until it’s nothing.”

In the wake of a deadly school shooting last month, Republican lawmakers in Tennessee awarded final passage Tuesday to a proposal that would further protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits. The Senate's 19-9 vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Bill Lee, despite pushback from Democratic lawmakers saying their GOP counterparts are trying to shield gun companies just weeks after the Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three 9-year-olds.

Senate File 542 passed the Senate on a 32-17 vote shortly before 5 a.m. Tuesday after significant delays. The bill allows 14- to 17-year-olds to work in industries currently prohibited for minors such as roofing, demolition and manufacturing as a part of an employer or school training program. The bill also allows minors to work until 9 p.m. during the school year and until 11 p.m. during the summer — both two hours later than current law — and lets teens work up to six hours a day, up from the four hours currently allowed.

Sen. Adrian Dickey, R-Packwood, said he found the portrayal of the legislation as a child “slave labor” bill insulting. “We do know slavery existed in the past, but one place it doesn’t exist, that’s in this bill,” Dickey said. “Throwing around such terms loosely and callously for shock value in the news, on social media, even within the walls of this great building, is irresponsible and wrong.”

Floor debate on the child labor bill was more hostile than other bills discussed Monday. The bill’s floor manager, Dickey, and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver refused to accept questions from Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, during floor debate. Dotzler said in his 17 years as a legislator, he had never before experienced a floor manager refusing to accept a question central to a bill. He said Republicans were cutting out public input from the legislative process by not allowing him, as a minority party member, to ask questions...

“Is this the end of democracy?” Dotzler said. “It’s all about totalitarianism. We’re in control of everything so we can do whatever the heck we want. And the public don’t need to know, and the restaurant association don’t need to know, and taverns and bar, pub owners don’t need to know about their liability.”

Authorities said one of the family members shot was rushed to the CaroMont Regional Medical Center and is in critical condition; the other is stable. The other shooting victims were later taken to hospitals in Charlotte for further treatment. Authorities said a bullet also grazed a woman, but she was not injured. A fourth person was shot at but escaped injuries. Family members tell Queen City News the six-year-old girl, identified as Kinsley White, was released from the hospital overnight and that the violent incident stemmed from a neighbor who was upset that a basketball rolled into his yard.

The newly released audio covers a wide range of topics detailed by the Gazette, alongside a series of letters to the editor calling on the officials to step down. The newspaper reported that McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy told other officials he went to the district attorney’s office “to whoop his ass” and stood in the prosecutor’s doorway, preventing him from leaving. He told the prosecutor, “I’ll tell you one thing motherf-----, I ain’t no f------ liar.” The newspaper also reported County Commissioner Mark Jennings talked about buying an old military tank to drive into the newspaper building. To explain what happened, he would say, “Sorry, I couldn’t stop this motherf-----.” Clardy repeatedly criticized Gazette reporter Chris Willingham, saying he was “gonna bounce his ass.”

Jennings: Where have you been for the last two months? I tried to check - Don’t wink that eye at me. (indistinguishable) Man, you ain’t about lying. You scaring me now. I remember what you said about Jimmy Westbrook under the table, I think goddamn, I might not-

(laughter)

Manning: you ain’t read the paper?

(laughter)

Manning: You don’t know about that.

(laughter)

Manning: You ain’t tell him?

Jennings: You don’t want to know.

Manning: I’m gonna tell him.

Larry: Y’all gonna make me catch a grip!

Jennings: You’re too bashful. You won’t say it.

Manning: When all that shit going on with the paper? I said y’all better watch it, cause I’m fixing to tell Willingham that I’ve been under the damn table with Westbrook, that’s how we got them pay raises and stuff. You wanna talk shit about me and Clardy? We’re fixing to start some shit about me and Westbrook.

Beck: That’s what I always say behind his head.

At his weekly press conference at the Oklahoma Capitol on Friday, Stitt said he didn’t think the council was “moving the needle on homelessness.” Stitt also rejected the idea of directing other state resources toward building housing to address homelessness and said churches and nonprofits are already meeting some of the demand for services. “Building housing, giving people free stuff is not the answer,” Stitt said.