NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Applications are now open for a Tennessee grant designed to improve the safety of places of worship across the state. The Houses of Worship State Security Grant provides up to $100,000 for churches, synagogues, mosques, or temples to hire security personnel.

Michael Mann, a security consultant based in Middle Tennessee, is actively assisting local churches in applying for these funds. Mann, who also manages security at Fellowship Bible Church in Brentwood, has already answered several emails from local churches seeking guidance on the application process.

“Houses of worship — very specifically on Sundays, Wednesdays, and then some other days during the week — house a lot of people, so it’s a highly-occupied facility,” Mann said. “We do see crime, like vandalism, we see arson, we see domestic disputes, and unfortunately, sometimes there are active assailant events.”

The grant aims to help houses of worship hire off-duty police officers or security guards through licensed security services in Tennessee. Mann said he has helped at least 15 churches navigate the application process for a similar federal grant.

“The application specifically addresses or asks questions about any threats that your church or house of worship has had in the past two years,” Mann said. “Specifically, it’s going to ask things like terrorist attacks, violent crimes, manmade or natural disasters, etcetera. It’s going to also ask about vulnerabilities, and then the consequences of those vulnerabilities.”

Incidents such as a threatening phone call that led to the evacuation of a church near Chattanooga last weekend underscore the importance of these security measures. In December, Congregation Micah in Brentwood reported a threat emailed to them and other Jewish organizations to Metro Police.

“This kind of got big for us about 10 years ago, for churches. But the synagogues and Jewish houses of worship have been considering this for a while,” Mann said.

Mann said that places of worship do not have to wait for grant funds to take preventative actions.

“The ability for someone to see that you have some sort of security presence – it doesn’t have to be in uniform. It can be somebody in plainclothes,” Mann said, adding, “That is the number one deterrent.”

Grant applications are due by July 12.

Copyright 2024 WSMV. All rights reserved.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s top election office has sent letters to more than 14,000 registered voters asking them to prove their citizenship, a move that alarmed voting rights advocates as possible intimidation.

The letters, dated June 13, warned that it is illegal in Tennessee for noncitizens to vote and provided instructions on how to update voter information. The list was developed after comparing voter rolls with data from the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security, said Doug Kufner, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, in a statement Tuesday.

Kufner described the data from the state’s homeland security department as a “snapshot” of a person’s first interaction with that agency. Some may not have been U.S. citizens when they obtained a driver’s license or ID card but have since been naturalized and “likely did not update their records,” he said.

“Accurate voter rolls are a vital component to ensuring election integrity, and Tennessee law makes it clear that only eligible voters are allowed to participate in Tennessee elections,” Kufner said.

The letter does not, however, reveal what would happen to those who do not update their records — including whether people who fail to respond will be purged from the voter rolls. Kufner did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarity on if voters were at risk of being removed.

Instead, the letter contains warnings that illegal voting is a felony and carries penalties of up to two years in prison.

Voting rights advocates began raising the alarm after photos of the letter started circulating on social media. Democrats have long criticized the Secretary of State’s office for its stances on voting issues in the Republican-dominant state.

“The fact legal citizens of the United States and residents of Tennessee are being accused of not being eligible to vote is an affront to democracy,” said state Rep. Jason Powell, a Democrat from Nashville, in a statement. “These fine Tennesseans are being burdened with re-proving their own voter eligibility and threatened with imprisonment in a scare tactic reminiscent of Jim Crow laws.”

Powel and fellow Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons on Tuesday urged Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to investigate the issue.

Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Democrat from Knoxville, said she was informed that one of the letter recipients included a “respected scientist in Oak Ridge” who had become a citizen and registered to vote in 2022.

“Maybe the state should verify citizenship with the federal government before sending threatening/intimidating letters to new citizens,” Johnson posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Other leaders encouraged those who received a letter to reach out to the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee for possible legal resources.

The effort bears some resemblance to the rollout of a sweeping Texas voting law passed in 2021, in which thousands of Texans — including some U.S. citizens — received letters saying they have been flagged as potential noncitizens who could be kicked off voting rolls.

Texas officials had just settled a lawsuit in 2019 after a prior search for ineligible voters flagged nearly 100,000 registered voters but wrongly captured naturalized citizens. A federal judge who halted the search the month after it began noted that only about 80 people to that point had been identified as potentially ineligible to vote.

ESPN NFL analysts Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder ranked every projected starting lineup in the NFL from best to worst on Tuesday, slotting the Tennessee Titans among the worst rosters in the league.

Clay, Schatz and Walder rank the Titans with the 25th-best unit in the league heading into the 2024 regular season, ahead of only the Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots and Denver Broncos among AFC teams. The Titans’ next-closest division rival is the Indianapolis Colts, slotted at No. 21, while their other AFC South foes from Jacksonville and Houston are both ranked in the top half of the league.

The trio of ESPN analysts rank wide receiver as the Titans’ biggest strength heading into 2024, raving about the revamped unit built around DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd. They also identify cornerback L’Jarius Sneed as the “x-factor” for 2024 since cornerback is such a difficult position to project year-over-year success carry over from and pick off-ball linebacker as the Titans’ biggest area of weakness, arguing that Kenneth Murray II is a downgrade from Azeez Al-Shaair.

THE IMPRESSIVE JOURNEY: Melting cleats, walking dogs: Inside Lori Locust’s journey from women’s football to NFL, Tennessee Titans

ESPN’s projected starting lineup for the Titans doesn’t match up with The Tennessean’s observations from OTAs and minicamp in some areas. In particular, ESPN still lists offensive lineman Dillon Radunz as a starting right tackle despite the fact that Radunz talked about working exclusively as a guard this spring and lists veteran Daniel Brunskill as the starting right guard even though Brunskill talked about practicing almost exclusively as a center in OTAs.

The Titans return for training camp practices on July 23.

Tennessee Titans schedule 2024

• Preseason Week 1 (Aug. 10): vs. San Francisco 49ers
• Preseason Week 2 (Aug. 17): vs. Seattle Seahawks
• Preseason Week 3 (Aug. 25): at New Orleans Saints
• Week 1 (Sept. 8): at Chicago Bears
• Week 2 (Sept. 15): vs. New York Jets
• Week 3 (Sept. 22): vs. Green Bay Packers
• Week 4 (Sept. 30): at Miami Dolphins
• Week 5: Open date
• Week 6 (Oct. 13): vs. Indianapolis Colts
• Week 7 (Oct. 20): at Buffalo Bills
• Week 8 (Oct. 27): at Detroit Lions
• Week 9 (Nov. 3): vs. New England Patriots
• Week 10 (Nov. 10): at Los Angeles Chargers
• Week 11 (Nov. 17): vs. Minnesota Vikings
• Week 12 (Nov. 24): at Houston Texans
• Week 13 (Dec. 1): at Washington Commanders
• Week 14 (Dec. 8): vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
• Week 15 (Dec. 15): vs. Cincinnati Bengals
• Week 16 (Dec. 22): at Indianapolis Colts
• Week 17 (Dec. 29): at Jacksonville Jaguars
• Week 18 (TBD): vs. Houston Texans

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.