TENNESSEE

Throughout the corridors of many state Capitols, families are sharing emotionally gutting stories of tragedy caused by mass school shootings with the hope that revealing their trauma will convince lawmakers on either side of the political aisle to reconsider firearm policies.

Dollywood’s Harvest Festival celebrates the beauty of fall in the Smokies with thousands of carved pumpkins, spirited performances from talented artists and the fun of Great Pumpkin LumiNights.

Fewer than half of rural hospitals have labor and delivery units and the number keeps dropping.

The George Washington University community in the nation's capital was told to shelter in place Wednesday after a homicide suspect escaped custody at the university's hospital.

Police say one person has been shot and wounded at a concert headlined by rapper Lil Baby in Memphis, Tennessee.

The spotless giraffe that was born a short time ago at Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee now has a name: Kipekee

The U.S. government is taking a big step toward forcing a defiant Tennessee company to recall 52 million air bag inflators that could explode, hurl shrapnel and injure or kill people.

Tennessee scored on its opening drive and never trailed in a neutral site game that felt much more like a Vols' home game.

Questions over which side was being more compassionate emerged as a key tension in a federal appeals court, which heard arguments on whether to block transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Let the Nerf gun wars begin - the NERF Action Xperience park is coming to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in the fall of 2024.

Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law placing strict limits on drag shows is facing another legal challenge.

A new rule in Tennessee that would have blocked people from holding signs during legislative meetings comes as statehouses use varying sets of rules to govern how the public can voice their opinions.

Video has been released of a fatal Tennessee traffic stop that shows a deputy holding on to the car’s steering wheel and being carried away as the vehicle speeds off.

Signs have returned to the Tennessee Capitol complex after a judge agreed to temporarily block a new rule advanced by House Republicans that had largely banned them.

A giraffe born without spots at a northeastern Tennessee zoo may be plain, but she's anything but ordinary.

Tennessee’s GOP-dominant Legislature will soon return to the state Capitol months after a deadly school shooting.

A district attorney in Tennessee has said his office has dropped 30 to 40 cases involving the five former officers who have been charged with second-degree murder in the January beating death of Tyre Nichols.

Tennessee is facing a lawsuit over a congressional redistricting map that carved up Democratic-leaning Nashville to help Republicans flip a seat in last year’s elections.

Vote for your favorite towns to win Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine’s Top Adventure Towns Contest here.

Crews across the eastern U.S. are working to clear downed trees and power lines and restore electricity following severe storms that killed at least two people, cut power hundreds of thousands, and forced thousands of flight delays and cancellations.

Only a single municipality, the Village of Pingree Grove in Illinois, has signed a contract so far with the U.S. Census Bureau to have the agency conduct a repeat head count following the 2020 census.

Scott Dixon credits luck for being in position to put his name on another IndyCar Series milestone Sunday.

A man suspected of trying to enter a Jewish school with a gun in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday and firing shots outside the building has been charged with multiple crimes.

Memphis, Tennessee, police say officers shot a suspect after he attempted to enter a Jewish school with a gun and fired shots after he couldn’t get into the building.

Nashville International Airport has quietly faced an identity crisis for weeks under a new state law, with no clear agreement about who is in charge.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is being accused of violating the privacy of its transgender clinic patients by turning their records over to Tennsessee’s attorney general.

Families connected to a Nashville school that experienced a fatal shooting earlier this year have created nonprofits to not only promote school safety and mental health resources, but also to form an action fund to push legislative policy changes.

Nashville music executive Jerry Bradley, who signed Alabama and Ronnie Milsap and helped brand the outlaws style of country music during a 40-year career, has died.

A federal appeals court has temporarily reversed a lower court's ruling that had prohibited Tennessee from enacting a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Federal judges in Kentucky and Tennessee on Wednesday blocked portions of bans on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, handing down the rulings shortly before the statutes were set to go into effect.

The NHL and NHLPA are launching a new Player Inclusion Coalition aimed at diversifying hockey and making it more welcoming.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Tennessee-born transgender plaintiffs who want to change the sex designations on their birth certificates.

A lockdown on a Tennessee’s legislative office building in Nashville has been lifted.

Tennessee’s top legal chief says that Vanderbilt University Medical Center turning over medical records for transgender patients is part of a “run-of-the-mill fraud investigation.”.

Nate Ackenhausen pitched six innings in his first start for LSU and combined with Riley Cooper for the Tigers’ nation-leading 11th shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory over Tennessee in the College World Series.

A historically high number of supermajorities in state legislatures has pushed laws further to the edge on abortion, climate and transgender issues.

Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones have advanced past an election hurdle after the two young Black lawmakers were expelled earlier this year for their gun control protest on the House floor, then reinstated by local officials days afterward.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show Tennessee Gov_ Bill Lee’s administration accused the National Rifle Association of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties."

Montana is now the first state to specifically ban people dressed in drag from reading books to children at public schools and libraries.

Pop star Taylor Swift had a surprise announcement for fans in Nashville during her Eras tour when she revealed she'll be releasing a re-recorded version of her 2010 record “Speak Now.”.

Organizers of Pride festivals and parades in conservative states are under increasing pressure to censor their events or ban drag performances.

The mother of a man charged after a shot was fired into a Memphis television station says he has faced mental health challenges for much of his life.

Access to gender-affirming care is taking center stage in state governments across the U.S., with some states passing restrictions and others protections.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says a special lawmaking session dedicated to possible changes to the state’s gun laws in the wake of a deadly school shooting last month would likely have to take place after July 4.

Ya Ya the giant panda has landed in Shanghai after spending the past 20 years in the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee on loan.

Lizzo filled her stage with drag queens in a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee, in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation against public drag performances.

Chances are shrinking fast for a key gun-control proposal to make it out of the Tennessee Legislature.

A Tennessee man and his mother have been convicted of charges that they stormed the Capitol and brought plastic handcuffs into the Senate gallery during a mob's attack.

The recently reinstated Rep. Justin Jones carried an infant-sized casket into Tennessee’s Capitol as protesters calling for gun safety legislation outside the Capitol were blocked from bringing caskets inside.

While almost every sector of higher education has fewer students registering for classes, many trade programs are booming.

UVA rolled over Richmond, Liberty edges Virginia Tech, and Tennessee Softball handles Virginia Tech in a busy Tuesday on the diamonds.

A panel of judges has temporarily blocked a new requirement passed by state Republican lawmakers that would cut the Democratic-leaning city of Nashville’s Metropolitan Council in half, from 40 members to 20.

Tennessee has become a new front in the battle for the future of American democracy after Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers from the state Legislature for their part in a protest urging passage of gun-control measures.

The expulsion of two Tennessee Democrats over a gun control protest is an extraordinary showcase of how the levers of single-party power in America’s statehouses can be pulled not only to shut down opponents, but also to punish them.

Vice President Kamala Harris has made a last-minute trip to Tennessee to support two Democratic lawmakers who were expelled by the Republican-controlled state House for their role in a protest following a deadly school shooting in Nashville.

Tennessee Republicans expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature last week for their role in a protest calling for more gun control.

In the wake of a deadly elementary school shooting in Tennessee earlier this week, state lawmakers across the country are moving forward with school safety measures.

The days after the shooting at a Nashville Christian school that killed six people have been marked by anti-transgender rhetoric and disinformation.

The Hokies’ chase for the championship is a quest that’s been brewing for multiple seasons, but the 2022-23 campaign saw the recipe get adjusted.

Funeral services are set for the six people killed in this week’s school shooting in Nashville, as the grieving city mourns the victims of the horrific attack on what should have been a normal day of school.

Hundreds of people have gathered at a candlelight vigil to mourn the three children and three adults slain in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

A federal judge quietly cleared the way to drop the minimum age to 18 for Tennesseans to carry handguns in public without a permit the same day Nashville residents were reeling from a fatal grade school shooting that left six dead, including three children.

Fifteen mass shootings at U.S. schools since 1999’s massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado have killed a total of 175 victims. That’s according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, in addition to other AP reporting.

The suspect in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday is dead, officials said.

GOP lawmakers in states with abortion bans already in place are pushing to make them more restrictive, while blue state officials are trying to expand abortion access.

Georgia Amoore scored a career-high 29 points and top-seeded Virginia Tech advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a 73-64 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee.

Hokies started the game on a 9-0 run.

Most severe weather missed us last night and this morning

The number one seed in the Seattle 3 Region is ready to head into Sweet Sixteen action.

Florida Atlantic, playing in just its second NCAA Tournament, moved within a victory of the Final Four by using a second-half push led by Michael Forrest to beat fourth-seeded Tennessee 62-55.

Seattle is a long way from home, but for some Hokie fans, it’s a trip worth making. So will you be taking the trip across the nation to support the Virginia Tech women's basketball team?

No. 1 seed Virginia Tech is set to play in the Sweet 16 this Saturday for the first time since 1999.

Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, and No. 4 seed Tennessee beat Duke 65-52 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

From the First Four to the Final Four, the women's NCAA Tournament captivates sports fans for more than three weeks every year.

Two years after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee led the charge to allow residents 21 and older to carry handguns in public without a permit, younger adults could soon have the same privilege.

Several dozen workers among thousands at a Nissan factory in Tennessee have voted not to form a union.

South Carolina has joined an exclusive group, going wire-to-wire as No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll.

South Carolina is six wins away from becoming the 10th women’s basketball team to go undefeated for an entire season, and the Gamecocks will enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.

Brandon Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds and No. 4 Alabama never trailed in posting a 72-49 victory over Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday.

Dollywood opens for it's 38th season this weekend. Dolly Parton will be at Dollywood for the celebration on Saturday, March 11.

The natural temporary weather phenomenon La Nina is gone and that's good news for a disaster-weary Southeast.

An Illinois man has received an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted of illegally giving his son an assault-style rifle he later used in a 2018 shooting attack that killed four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee.

UCLA has climbed to No. 2 behind Houston in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

Zia Cooke scored 24 points and Aliyah Boston added 18 as No. 1 South Carolina pulled away in the final two quarters to beat Tennessee 74-58 for the SEC championship.

Southern states are more frequently turning to pay-to-use express lanes as a way to address highway congestion without raising taxes.

U.S. airlines have made steady improvements to their overall accident rate in recent years.

Republicans and their anti-abortion allies who suffered ballot question defeats in states across the political spectrum last year are changing tactics as new legislative sessions and the new election season start.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee says it would be “ridiculous” to conflate a recently surfaced yearbook photo of him wearing women’s clothing in high school to drag show performances currently under attack in Tennessee and other GOP-led states.

Dollywood’s 2023 season is being called one of the biggest ever because of two new massive projects.

Transgender youth in Tennessee would be banned from receiving gender-affirming care under legislation currently headed to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.

Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi each scored 15 points and No. 10 Tennessee took down newly minted No. 1 Alabama 68-59.

The Tennessee National Guard says one of their Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Alabama, killing two crew members.

Fewer than 100 employees out of the thousands who work at Nissan’s auto assembly plant in Tennessee will get to vote on March 16 on whether to form a small union.

D’Andre Gholston hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Missouri a stunning 86-85 victory over No. 6 Tennessee.

Tyrin Lawrence knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer as the Vanderbilt Commodores snapped an 11-game skid against its in-state rival by upsetting sixth-ranked Tennessee 66-65 Wednesday night.

A top Tennessee Republican lawmaker says the state should stop accepting the nearly $1.8 billion of federal K-12 education dollars that help provide support for low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities.

Purdue remains atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll despite losing its second game of the season.

Joe Edwards, who chronicled Tennessee news for more than 40 years as a newsman for The Associated Press and helped “Rocky Top” become a state song, has died.

The federal labor board has decided that fewer than 100 employees out of thousands at Nissan’s auto assembly plant in Tennessee can hold a vote on whether to form a small union.

A deadly storm system is lashing a large swath of the southern U.S. with bands of sleet and snow for a third day.