SUMMARY: Tennessee State University (TSU) is building a new $50 million, nearly 70,000-square-foot engineering facility, approved August 15 and expected to be completed by summer 2027. This modern complex will unite engineering and Applied & Industrial Technology programs to foster innovation, collaboration, and research with sustainability and workforce development focus. Featuring classrooms, labs like Future Energy and Drone Flight labs, it will support six undergraduate, three master’s, and one Ph.D. program. Designed by Melvin Gill & Associates and Bauer Askew Architecture, the building positions TSU as a leader in engineering education, preparing students to meet Tennessee’s evolving industry needs.

Read the full article

The post TSU to Build $50M Engineering Facility – The Tennessee Tribune appeared first on tntribune.com

SUMMARY: Christopher Hensley appeared in court for a preliminary hearing after allegedly throwing a rock that critically injured Knox County Deputy Dalton Swanger in June. Swanger was responding to a possible shooting call when struck in the head, leaving him hospitalized for two weeks. Witnesses, including Swanger’s partner Deputy Matt Kirchner and Hensley’s girlfriend Connie Harris, testified about the incident and related domestic violence. Hensley faces charges including attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault on a first responder, domestic assault, and drug possession. The judge dismissed the weapon charge, as the gun found was a BB gun, and bound the case over to a grand jury for indictment.

Read the full article

The post Partner of Knox County deputy severely injured on live TV testifies in hearing appeared first on www.wkrn.com

by Cassandra Stephenson, Tennessee Lookout
August 21, 2025

Organizers and West Tennessee residents marched to the Fayette County Justice Complex on Aug. 14 in protest of what they say is an ongoing pattern of “racist and discriminatory practices” in the county’s government and school board.

Several protestors gathered at the former site of Tent City — where Black residents lived in tents after white landowners evicted them from sharecropper housing for registering to vote in the 1960s — and walked together to the justice center, where the Fayette County Public Schools board held its August meeting.

The Commission on Religion and Race of Fayette County (CORR) and Fayette County Teachers for Justice organized the march in response to “actions they believe continue a legacy of systemic racism, echoing the injustices of the Tent City era,” according to a CORR news release.

About a dozen people participated in the march and several more joined them on the steps of the justice building before the meeting began. 

Some carried signs from CORR calling for a boycott of spending in Fayette County starting on Aug. 15 at noon. The boycott urges residents to “withhold spending at all Fayette County businesses including big box stores, corner stores, gas stations, restaurants and hardware stores. Housing, utilities, insurance, medicine and vehicle payments are exempt, according to the group.

Other signs listed demands, including the resignations of School Board Chair Warner Speakman and Eddie Keel, who previously served as the district’s interim superintendent and chief of staff and was recently named deputy superintendent. Demands also include the “reinstatement of all demoted or terminated teachers to their original positions without retaliation,” training for the Fayette County mayor on “fair governance and equal treatment of citizens” and “redrawing of district maps to restore the original configuration and ensure equitable representation.”

The Fayette County Commission redrew its district maps in late June to include three majority-Black, single member districts after being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuits were dropped following the maps’ adoption, and the new maps will be used in 2026 elections.

Potential staff reductions were a point of contention between community members and the board during the district’s budgeting process this summer, which concluded under Keel’s leadership as interim superintendent. 

Joseph Jordan, a pastor at Springhill CME Church in Somerville, said he joined the march to support teachers who were demoted or fired after the last school year, including the daughter of one of his congregation members. Some members at his church work for the district and have children there, he said.

Fayette Co. Schools seeks end to desegregation case; Black constituents say they’re being ignored

“If we keep being quiet, nothing’s going to happen,” Jordan said. “We’re showing action that we want things to change. Our children deserve things to change.”

The demonstration came amid calls for more transparency from the school board regarding its position on dissolving the consent order that has held the district accountable to federal oversight for integrating schools since 1965. 

Board members have stated that the order is no longer necessary and is sapping money from the district’s already anemic budget.

Tennessee uses a student-based funding formula to determine how much money to allocate to districts.

Fayette County Public Schools has seen a decrease in enrollment for almost all years since 1989, according to Superintendent Don McPherson. Last year, about 2,600 students enrolled in a district school. This year, it’s around 2,250. McPherson said he intends to deliver a report to the board on where students opted to go instead of remaining in the district.

Speakman announced the board’s monthly meeting would be held at the justice center in August “due to published information” after Tennessee Lookout published a letter penned by Fayette County Public Schools board member David Reeves to U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, asking the congressman to urge the Department of Justice to help end the consent order.

During the public comment period at the Aug. 14 school board meeting, community member Charles Watkins called on the board to host an information session on the consent order and its pros or cons.

“You owe it to the community to at least have a serious forum over and above the public meetings and hearings that is supposed to be there … where a professional from the school board who understands truly the desegregation order will actually sit down and have a conversation with someone from the community … about what it is, the history of it … and why you believe it somehow impedes progress of the Fayette County school system,” Watkins said.

Informational meetings for parents required under the consent order are scheduled for Sept. 18 and Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

The post Fayette Co. organizers call for spending boycott, demand transparency from county, school board appeared first on tennesseelookout.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

This content highlights protests against alleged systemic racism and discriminatory practices in Fayette County, Tennessee, focusing on calls for racial justice, equity in education, and government accountability. It emphasizes the perspectives of activists, community members, and organizations advocating for civil rights and social change, which aligns with left-leaning political values. The article presents these issues sympathetically without offering counterpoints from the local government or school board, reinforcing a progressive viewpoint on racial and social justice matters.