The House Government Operations Committee narrowly passes the bill that would allow Tennessee schools to charge undocumented students tuition, or refuse to enroll them if their parents cannot pay.
The bill was recommended for passage with eight votes for and seven votes against it during yesterday’s (Monday) hearing. Now, it will be discussed in the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee.
As it was being voted on, demonstrators gathered to recite the Lord’s Prayer in front of the representatives.
The bill has faced extensive debate in the legislature as well as pushback from demonstrators at several junctures during this session.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.)—As communities across Tennessee begin recovering from devastating tornadoes and flooding, and with the threat of more severe weather this weekend, Secretary of State Tre Hargett warned Tennesseans to remain vigilant about potential scams as they consider supporting those impacted.
“Tennesseans are among the most generous supporters of charitable causes, and too often, bad actors target their good faith, kindness, and generosity during these extremely difficult situations,” said Secretary Hargett. “Anyone considering donating to support what will likely be a long recovery process needs to be an educated consumer with their gift. If citizens have questions about an organization’s legitimacy or objective, please contact our office at 615-741-2286.”
Citizens considering a charitable donation are encouraged to do their research and ensure an individual or entity is registered with the state through the Secretary of State’s website. They should also resist pressure to give immediately and ask questions about an entity’s specific mission and who benefits from their donation. If anyone donates through an app or website, they should make sure their information goes directly to the organization.
Additional wise giving tips include asking for a receipt and whether a contribution is tax-deductible, paying close attention to the name of a nonprofit organization, and inquiring how much money the fundraiser keeps and how much goes to a nonprofit. Donors are also encouraged to refrain from giving cash and, instead, use a check or credit card so there is a record of the transaction.
Entities soliciting as part of disaster relief fundraising are also reminded that there are certain reporting requirements under state law. To learn more about filing a report, please click here.
Cumberland County, TN (WOKI) Two people are arrested early Wednesday morning after heroin and a stolen gun are found during a traffic stop in Cumberland County.
Officials with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office say deputies pulled a car over for multiple lane violations on I-40 East just before 2:30 a.m. The driver, Jerry Crandall, and the passenger, William Kirby, couldn’t give deputies a valid driver’s license or proof of insurance.
CCSO says deputies had probable cause to search the car finding a gun which was stolen from Knox County, a glass pipe with residue inside and Narcan. Deputies also found 68 grams, about four ounces, of a substance that field-tested positive for heroin.
Crandall and Kirby were taken into custody and transported to the Cumberland County Jail.
Heroin, stolen gun found in car during traffic stop in Cumberland County, sheriff’s office says. (Courtesy: CCSO)
Knoxville, TN (WOKI) Two people are arrested in downtown Knoxville following a high-speed chase across multiple counties Monday morning.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s office says the chase began in Sweetwater after the driver, identified as Nathan Hatfield, and an unidentified female passenger fled from a traffic stop.
Officers then pursued the car into Loudon County before it was stopped using stop sticks on I-40 East near Hall of Fame Drive in Knox County.
Authorities say the suspects also threw over an ounce of methamphetamine out of the car during the chase, but a detective was able to recover it.
Hatfield is facing numerous charges to include:
Felony evading
Reckless driving
Possession of meth for resale
Tampering with evidence
Criminal impersonation
Driving on a revoked license
Officials say more charges against Hatfield are pending.
Kimberly Glenn with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said that deputies assisted Tennessee Highway Patrol and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office in the chase. She said nobody was injured in the chase.
Authorities say the suspects also threw over an ounce of methamphetamine out of the car during the chase, but a detective was able to recover it. (Courtesy: Sweetwater Police Department)
Halls, TN (WOKI) A truck driver is trapped for over 40 minutes after a crash early Monday morning in Halls.
Officials with Rural Metro Fire Department say crews were called to Maynardville Highway at East Emory Road in North Knox County just before 6:00 a.m. where they found a box truck had collided with the rear end of a tractor trailer.
Rural Metro reports the driver of the box truck was heavily entrapped in the vehicle and that multiple crews worked for 45 minutes to free the victim.
He was transported to the trauma center with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tennessee’s Liam Doyle was named the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week, the conference announced on Monday afternoon, sharing the honor with LSU’s Kade Anderson.
For the second time this season, Doyle played the starring role in a combined no-hitter by the Big Orange. The junior lefty had eight strikeouts and two walks over six shutout innings in a 10-0, seven-inning run-rule victory over Texas A&M in Friday’s series opener.
It was the 10th no-hitter in program history and the first by an SEC team in league play since Vanderbilt no-hit Kentucky on April 22, 2022. Tennessee’s two no-hitters this season mark the second time in program history that it has recorded multiple no-hitters in the same year, joining the 1976 team that threw three.
This is the second time this season that Doyle has been tabbed the SEC Pitcher of the Week after also earning the honor on March 10 following UT’s first no-hitter of the year against St. Bonaventure.
The Vols have taken home five SEC weekly awards this season, including three pitcher of the week selections.
2025 SEC Weekly Award Winners
Levi Clark – Fr. – UTL SEC Freshman of the Week (March 10)
Liam Doyle – Jr. – LHP SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 10 | April 4)
Gavin Kilen – Jr. – INF SEC Player of the Week (March 3)
Marcus Phillips – Jr. – RHP SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 17)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – University of Tennessee head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes announced Monday the signing of Ja’Kobi Gillespie.
A guard who hails from nearby Greeneville, Tenn., Gillespie comes to Tennessee from Maryland, where he was a Third Team All-Big Ten selection in 2023-24. The second-ranked player in the transfer portal according to EvanMiya.com, Gillespie has one season of collegiate eligibility remaining.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ja’Kobi to Rocky Top, a place he and his wonderful family know well as East Tennessee natives who bleed orange. Ja’Kobi is a high-character young man who fits our program and truly wants to be a Volunteer,” Barnes said. “A dynamic point who can really shoot the ball from deep and get his teammates involved, Ja’Kobi is a fearless competitor with a high basketball IQ. We expect him to help lead our team from day one and we feel quite fortunate to have him as a part of our program.”
Before playing at Maryland in 2024-25, Gillespie was at in-state Belmont for two seasons. Across his three-year college career, he owns averages of 13.6 points, 4.2 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He possesses an excellent shooting line of 48.7 percent from the floor, 37.9 percent on 3-pointers and 81.0 percent at the stripe.
Gillespie owns 70 double-figure scoring performances, reaching 15 on 43 occasions and 20 in 14 contests. He has started 68 games in his career, including doing so in 60 of his 61 outings over the last two seasons.
Most recently, Gillespie spent last season at Maryland, where he posted 14.7 points, 4.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He helped the Terrapins go 27-9 (14-6 B1G) and reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016.
The 6-foot-1, 186-pounder finished co-third in the Big Ten in steals average and fifth in assists average. He shot 45.3 percent from the field on the season, including a blistering 40.7 percent beyond the arc, as well as 86.2 percent at the line.
Gillespie recorded double-digit points in 30 of Maryland’s 36 games. Twenty of his 22 showings with 14-plus points came against Power Five competition, including all 12 of his performances with at least 17 points and all six with 20-plus. His season high of 27 came Jan. 10 in a victory over UCLA.
Additionally, Gillespie had at least five assists in 17 appearances, with nine-plus in five, including a season-best 11 to go along with 17 points versus Syracuse in a Dec. 21, 2024, win over Syracuse in Brooklyn, N.Y. He made multiple 3-pointers in 27 contests, reaching four-plus on eight occasions, as well as multiple steals 24 times, with four in four contests.
In 2023-24 at Belmont, Gillespie was named a Second Team-All MVC selection, as well as a member of the MVC All-Defensive Team and MVC Most-Improved Team. He averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and a league-best 2.2 steals per game. He also led the MVC with a 56.1 field-goal percentage and a 63.1 effective field-goal percentage, plus shot 38.7 percent from deep and 83.1 percent on free throws.
Gillespie, who placed fifth in the league in both points and assists per game, scored in double figures in 24 the 25 games played in, reaching 15-plus in 18 and 20-plus in seven. He had multiple steals 17 times, with a high of seven in a Nov. 14, 2023, victory over Berry.
The Volunteer State native’s play helped lead the Bruins to a 20-13 (12-8 MVC) record. The prior year, as a freshman, he aided the team to a 21-11 (14-6) campaign.
That year, Gillespie earned MVC All-Freshman Team and MVC All-Bench team plaudits. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.3 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game and amassed 16 double-digit scoring performances.
A prep star at Greeneville High School, Gillespie collected 2022 Tennessee 3A Mr. Basketball distinction. He became the first player from the northeast part of the state to win Mr. Basketball in its then-37-year history.
Gillespie totaled 2,129 points in high school, including logging 27.3 per game during a senior campaign in which he led his team to the 3A state title. He garnered state tournament MVP plaudits, as well as Tennessee Player of the Year accolades from 5StarPreps.com, Tri-Cities.com and WJHL-TV. The two-time TSWA All-State designee also helped Greeneville win the 2A state crown as a junior, as he put up 20.8 points per game.
Before Gillespie, the last Tennessee men’s basketball player from the city of Greeneville was Roe Campbell in 1923, over a century ago. Gillespie played AAU basketball for B. Maze Elite, a Knoxville-based program run by former Tennessee guard Bobby Maze (2008-10).
In addition to EvanMiya.com labeling Gillespie the second-best player in the transfer portal, 247Sports and On3 both slot him seventh.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
An investigation is underway after two people are killed after two motorcycles crash head-on in Cocke County.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says Hubert and Norma Roberts were riding on a Harley Davidson trike on U.S. Highway 25-70 Saturday afternoon while Bobby and Shawnte Whitaker were riding on a motorcycle in the opposite direction.
The Roberts’ bike crossed over the center line and hit the other motorcycle head-on.
All four were thrown for their motorcycles.
Hubert Roberts was pronounced dead at the scene while Norma Roberts was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Bobby and Shawnte Whitaker were injured in the crash. They were flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with serious injuries.
A Knoxville man is convicted of sexually assaulting his roommate’s daughter.
Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen says Cody Bales was living with a 13-year-old girl and her mother at an apartment in early 2018 when he sexually assaulted the child and left the home without his belongings.
The victim did not disclose the rape until years later when she told a friend what happened, and Bales was arrested following an investigation by the Knoxville Police Department.
Investigators say Bales had also committed and been convicted of a separate statutory rape that involved a different minor and is currently serving a six-year sentence in that case.
Bales was convicted of four counts of rape and two counts of statutory rape, and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Additionally, he will be placed on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry.
Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk rallied in East Tennessee and across the U.S. to protest the administration’s actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues.
More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” demonstrations were planned by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. Among the protest sites included downtown Knoxville and in Blount County.
Demonstrators in Knoxville came together to protest the Trump administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut federal funding for health programs.
Musk, a Trump adviser who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.
The White House said in a statement that “President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries”.
