Tennessee

Tennessee residents support statewide ESA proposal

Published

2 years ago

January 4, 2024

Tennessee residents support statewide ESA proposal

(The Center Square) – More than 68% of Tennessee voters support statewide Education Savings Accounts, according to a new poll of Tennessee voters from Beacon Center.

The poll asked more than 1,300 Tennesseans between if they supported statewide ESAs that allowed “families of eligible K-12 students can use a portion of their per-pupil funding on certain educational expenses such as private school tuition, tutoring, educational therapy, or other educational purposes.”

Of the respondents, 35% strongly support, 34% somewhat support, 12% somewhat oppose, 7% strongly oppose and 13% were unsure.

In November, Gov. Bill Lee announced a plan with 20,000 ESAs worth an estimated $7,075 each for the 2024-25 school year and an unlimited number of ESAs after that.

The ESA proposal had 85% support from Republicans, 56% from Democrats and 56% from independents.

The poll also asked if the residents would be more or less likely to support politicians who support expanding ESAs with 51% saying they would be more likely to support ESA-supporting politicians.

Another 11% said they would be less likely to support those politicians and 11% said they were unsure and 27% said they would not change their opinion based on ESAs.

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Tennessee

Man charged in West Tennessee quadruple murder pleads not guilty

Published

54 seconds ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

Man charged in West Tennessee quadruple murder pleads not guilty

JACKSON, Tenn. (WZTV) — A man accused of killing four people in West Tennessee pleaded not guilty during a court appearance Tuesday.

Austin Drummond appeared before a judge Tuesday, and his attorney filed a motion requesting the trial be moved to a different county.

Drummond faces multiple charges, including murder and aggravated kidnapping. Prosecutors say he fatally shot four family members, including the parents of a baby who was later found abandoned in Dyer County.

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The state is seeking the death penalty. Drummond is due back in court in May.

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Tennessee

Sweet 16, bitter history for Tennessee. Can Vols break through in 2026?

Published

12 hours ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

Sweet 16, bitter history for Tennessee. Can Vols break through in 2026?

Tennessee basketball has made it to the Sweet 16 a dozen times, but only a fourth of those appearances ended with a victory sending the Vols to the next round. For years, this pivotal tournament round has felt like a barrier the Vols couldn’t clear − and, with more sour moments than sweet, some called it a Tennessee curse.

History looms large over Tennessee as the No. 6 seed Vols (24-11) prepare to face No. 2 Iowa State (29-7) at 10:10 p.m. March 27. Tennessee has earned March Madness berths 28 times, including for the 2026 tournament.

Tennessee’s only Elite Eight appearance prior to Rick Barnes becoming coach in 2015 came under Bruce Pearl in 2010. Barnes began to turn Tennessee around in the subsequent years, culminating with back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 2024 and 2025.

Despite claiming the SEC Tournament title five times, Tennessee has never made it to the Final Four. The Vols are hopeful 2026 is the year that changes.

The March 27 game will be Tennessee’s fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance under Barnes. The Vols are 3-8 in this round of the tournament, which it reached for the first time in 1967:

1967: Dayton 53, Tennessee 52
1981: (1) Virginia 62, (4) Tennessee 48
2000: (8) North Carolina 74, (4) Tennessee 69
2007: (1) Ohio State 85, (5) Tennessee 84
2008: (3) Louisville 79, (2) Tennessee 60
2010: (6) Tennessee 76, (2) Ohio State 73
2014: (2) Michigan 73, (11) Tennessee 71
2019: (3) Purdue 99, (2) Tennessee 94 (OT)
2023: (9) Florida Atlantic 62, (4) Tennessee 55
2024: (2) Tennessee 82, (3) Creighton 75
2025: (2) Tennessee 78, (3) Kentucky 65

The historic first Sweet 16 win in 2010 ended with a 76-73 victory over Ohio State. The Vols trailed by three points heading into halftime before taking and sustaining the lead toward the end of the game.

Tennessee went on to lose by just one point in the Elite Eight versus Michigan State in the 2010 tournament.

“It’s going to stick with us,” guard Bobby Maze said at the time, according to Knox News archives. “Any time we watch college games or during tournament time, we’ll always come back to that very moment where we were just too short.”

From there, Tennessee would spend more than a decade searching for another Sweet 16 win.

It came in 2024 when the Vols beat Creighton 82-75 to advance to the Elite Eight. Dalton Knecht was the leading scorer for Tennessee, finishing the game with 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Once again, the Vols couldn’t advance to the Final Four, dropping their next game to tournament runner-up Purdue 72-66.

Tennessee returned to the Sweet 16 in 2025 and defeated Kentucky 78-65 to earn consecutive Elite Eight appearances. Zakai Zeigler ended the game with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Chaz Lanier wasn’t far behind with 17 points. The Vols again dropped the Elite Eight game to what ended up being the tournament’s runner-up, Houston, 69-50.

The Vols are 33-28 all time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 14-7 record under Barnes.

Knox News reporter Joanna Hayes covers restaurants and retail for the business growth and development team. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com; Instagram: @knoxeat65. Sign up for Joanna’s Eat65 email newsletter to get the latest drink and dining news, as well as restaurant recommendations, at knoxnews.com/newsletters.

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Elon Musk’s Boring Co. will ‘try’ to build tunnel in this Tennessee town

Published

1 day ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. will ‘try’ to build tunnel in this Tennessee town

New Orleans, Baltimore, and Dallas were chosen as winners in Boring Co. contest pending feasibility studies.
The Boring Company may still pursue a utility tunnel project in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

East Tennessee will not get a tunnel from billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.

Musk’s tunneling company announced which three cities won a “free” one-mile underground tunnel in the “Tunnel Vision Challenge.” Three Tennessee cities were nominated and among the contest finalists: Gatlinburg, Knoxville and Hendersonville.

While no Tennessee town was chosen to get a Tesla Tunnel for transportation, Musk’s company said in a March 24 post on X, formerly Twitter, that it would “try” to burrow a utility tunnel in Hendersonville anyway.

“IN ADDITION, there were multiple other projects that TBC thought were so compelling that we are going to continue to work with the entrants and try to get them built,” The Boring Co. post said.

The announcement comes while Tennessee legislators fight to get more legal authority and clarity over underground transit construction.

Here’s what to know.

Which cities will get a ‘Tesla Tunnel’?

The Boring Co. announced that the “Tunnel Vision Challenge” winners are a NOLA Loop in New Orleans, a Ravens Loop in Baltimore and a University Hills Loop in Dallas.

Despite the contest, New Orleans, Baltimore and Dallas are not guaranteed a loop. Individuals could nominate their community without the consent or knowledge of local government officials, as happened in Knoxville.

The three identified communities will now undergo a diligence process to determine the feasibility of the project. This includes meetings with elected officials, geotechnical borings and utility and subsurface infra investigation, according to The Boring Co.

What is Elon Musk’s tunnel idea?

The Boring Co. is developing tunnels in cities across the United States as a way of mitigating traffic. The privately-owned tunnels are commercialized to allow anyone to ride the direct route in a Tesla for a fee.

“Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems,” reads a description on The Boring Co. website. “A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city; no matter how large a city grows, more levels of tunnels can be added.”

Musk’s company opened the first Loop in Las Vegas in 2021.

There are advantages to the underground tunnel network; however, there are limited government regulations to control the tunnel system since it is privately owned.

Tennessee representatives have proposed expanding government oversight of underground projects. Senate Bill 2205, dubbed The Subterranean Transportation Infrastructure Coordination Act, would create an 11-member authority board to take absolute control of all future state dealings with “subterranean transit projects,” including the Music City Loop and any future tunnels in the Volunteer State.

Not all tunnels are used for passenger transportation, however. Of existing tunnels, the Cybertunnel in Austin, Texas, was built at the Tesla Gigafactory to transport the new cars to a staging area. There are also several “research and development” tunnels across Texas and California.

The Boring Co. underground transportation system also could be used for utilities or pedestrians, as proposed among the 16 Tunnel Vision Challenge finalist cities.

What cities have Tesla tunnels?

In reality, a few cities currently have Boring Co. tunnels. Las Vegas undoubtedly has the largest tunnel used for underground transportation. Here’s which cities have Boring Co. tunnels for transportation or have them planned or in the works, according to the company website. Note that this list excludes research and development tunnels.

Las Vegas: Opened in 2021
Nashville: Under construction
Austin, Texas: Open, used to transport new cybertrucks off the production line.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Under contract

Allison Kiehl covers trending and breaking news from Knoxville for the Tennessee Connect Team. Email: allison.kiehl@knoxnews.com

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