Tennessee
Tennessee Senate approves measure allowing K-12 teachers to carry concealed guns
The Tennessee state Senate approved a measure Tuesday that would allow teachers and staff in K-12 public schools to carry concealed handguns on school grounds.
S.B. 1325 was approved 26-5 by state senators during a raucous floor vote, where The Associated Press reported protesters opposing the bill were heard shouting, “No more silence, end gun violence,” and “Kill the bill, not the kids.” The bill now heads to the state House for a vote.
The bill was passed by the state’s upper legislative chamber about a year after the mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, which left three children and three adult staff members dead.
If enacted, the bill would prevent the disclosure of which employees have concealed guns to parents of students and other teachers. The law allows the employees to carry a concealed handgun only if they met certain requirements, including having an enhanced carry permit and being authorized by the director of schools, the principal of the school and the chief of the local law enforcement agency.
The employee would also need to complete a background check and a psychiatric evaluation. It would require them to have successfully completed 40 hours in basic training for school policing as well as 40 hours of Peace Officer’s Standards and Training commission-approved training that is specific to school policing.
The law has faced immediate pushback from advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers. The Tennessee chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action both condemned the legislation in statements.
“We should be listening to Tennessee law enforcement, teachers, superintendents and more who have spoke out against arming teachers,” Linda McFadyen-Ketchum, a volunteer with the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement. “And, most importantly, we should be listening to Tennesseans, who are worried that their children won’t come home from school every day.”
Democratic state Sen. London Lamar said her child is “at risk” under this bill, the AP reported.
“This bill is dangerous, and teachers don’t want it. Nobody wants it,” she said.
Proponents of the bill said it would benefit rural communities that had limited law enforcement, per the AP.
“It’s time that we look at the facts of the bill, that we are not trying to shoot a student, but protect a student from an active shooter whose sole purpose is to get into that school and kill people,” Republican state Sen. Ken Yager said.
The Associated Press contributed.
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WHITE HOUSE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A heavy law enforcement presence was reported Tuesday near the intersection of U.S. Highway 31W and Rolling Meadows Road in White House.
FOX 17 News has a crew headed to the scene and is working to learn more about the situation.
Law enforcement vehicles line a roadway near the intersection of U.S. Highway 31W and Rolling Meadows Road in White House, Tennessee, as authorities respond to an active incident on Tuesday. Officials had not released details about the investigation at the time the photo was taken. (Photo: FOX 17 News )
A viewer told FOX 17 News a man was barricaded inside a home with other people inside. However, FOX 17 News has not independently confirmed those details.
Once at the scene, FOX 17 News learned that a man who was inside the home during the operation had exited the residence. FOX 17 News is working to obtain more information on the incident that is now subsiding.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Tennessee
Former Tennessee teacher who allegedly showed nude photo to student indicted by grand jury
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — A grand jury has indicted a former Montgomery County high school teacher for allegedly showing an inappropriate photo to a student.
In March, FOX 17 News reported that 52-year-old Matthew Vedder, a teacher at Montgomery Central High School at the time, showed a 17-year-old student a nude photo of himself. Vedder told investigators he accidentally swiped to the photo while showing students photos of a school project. He later resigned from Montgomery Central High School.
Makenzie Ellithorpe, is the Montgomery Central High School student who Matthew Vedder allegedly showed inappropriate photos to. (Photo: FOX 17 News)
MORE | Teacher accused of showing nude photos to student resigns, family pushes for charges
On July 7, the Sumner County District Attorney’s Office presented the results of a law enforcement investigation into Vedder to the Montgomery County Grand Jury, which voted to indict him on four counts of exhibiting obscene material to a minor.
Vedder was taken into custody by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. A Montgomery County judge set his bond at $10,000.
RELATED COVERAGE | Family renews calls for CMCSS director’s resignation during heated school board meeting
Although Vedder resigned, the family of a Montgomery Central High School student called for the resignation of the Director of Schools, Dr. Jean Luna-Vedder, Matthew Vedder’s spouse. The district previously told FOX 17 News that Luna-Vedder removed herself from any disciplinary decisions and the investigation involving her husband.
As of June, Luna-Vedder has not publicly commented on calls for her resignation.
This is an ongoing story. Stick with FOX 17 News as we bring you the latest.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Isolated showers and storms over the next few days will make for more brilliant color displays across the sky.
Rainbows have been very common across Middle Tennessee for several evenings now. With all the recent rain, conditions have been ideal for fabulous displays of brilliant colors. Some of you have even reported seeing double rainbows. WSMV4 viewer, Leslie Whited, captured the one above, early Tuesday evening, July 14th.
To find out how double rainbows form, let’s first examine how a single rainbow occurs.
Single rainbows form when the sun, positioned behind you, has its light refracted through raindrops ahead of you.
Those raindrops bend sunlight as it passes into the drops. Then, some of that light reflects off the back of the drop and is bent one more time as it exits the drop. That entire process is called single reflection. Single reflection produces the primary or brightest rainbow.
Sometimes, some light reflects twice while in a raindrop before exiting. This is called double reflection. Double reflection produces a secondary rainbow. The order of colors within a secondary rainbow is a mirror image of the primary rainbow (i.e. the reverse). Secondary rainbows are not as bright as primary rainbows because less light is double reflected than is single reflected (i.e. some light is lost or attenuated every time light is reflected). Notice the fainter secondary rainbow in Leslie Whited’s double rainbow/storm picture at the top of this article.
The ideal time to see a rainbow is when the sun is relatively low in the sky (and has the best chance of being at your back). That translates to early morning or evening. Since in our current weather pattern, showers and storms are most numerous during the late afternoon and evening, that’s when you’ll have the best chance of seeing a rainbow through the rest of this week. If you’re very lucky, you might even see a double rainbow.
Happy sky watching!
For life-saving weather alerts, customized messages on conditions and forecasts, and videos detailing upcoming weather events, download the WSMV 4 First Alert Weather app for iPhone or Android. Have weather pictures or videos? Share them here.
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