Evan Mealins
@evanmealins.bsky.social
Justice reporter at The Tennessean. Email tips to emealins@tennessean.com | One of Wikipedia's most impactful supporters
Reposted by Evan Mealins
A five-year-old boy with autism is facing assault charges after outbursts at his school. Here's what @evanmealins.bsky.social and I learned after digging into records, hearing from the boy's parents and getting perspective from police and an expert.
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
5-year-old with autism charged with assault after outbursts at Sumner County school
A Sumner County kindergartener with autism is facing assault charges after outbursts at school, leaving his parents shaken and full of questions.
www.tennessean.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:24 PM
A five-year-old boy with autism is facing assault charges after outbursts at his school. Here's what @evanmealins.bsky.social and I learned after digging into records, hearing from the boy's parents and getting perspective from police and an expert.
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
Reposted by Evan Mealins
A Banner analysis of 1,700 pages of incident reports from the May ICE sting shows that the Tennessee Highway Patrol rarely documented traffic stops. Of the 607 total reports, only approximately 14% provided a reason for the initial traffic stop.
Reviewing records of ICE, THP immigration operation in Nashville - Nashville Banner
A review of records from ICE and THP's immigration sting in Nashville raises concerns about racial profiling and lack of transparency. Advocates demand accountability.
nashvillebanner.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:43 PM
A Banner analysis of 1,700 pages of incident reports from the May ICE sting shows that the Tennessee Highway Patrol rarely documented traffic stops. Of the 607 total reports, only approximately 14% provided a reason for the initial traffic stop.
We're awaiting a ruling from Chancellor Moskal on the constitutionality of the National Guard deployment to Memphis.
Nashville judge considers pause of National Guard in Memphis. What happened in court
A Davidson County chancellor did not rule on a temporary injunction Monday. If granted, it may pause the National Guard's deployment in Memphis.
www.tennessean.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
We're awaiting a ruling from Chancellor Moskal on the constitutionality of the National Guard deployment to Memphis.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is suing a Nashville-based nonprofit that sends veterans into disaster areas , accusing its chief executive Britnie Turner of depositing a $1 million charitable donation into one of her many for-profit companies.
Britnie Turner's Aerial Recovery nonprofit misspent $1M check, Tennessee AG lawsuit says
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office has sued a Nashville nonprofit that sends veterans into disaster areas and on human trafficking rescues.
www.tennessean.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office is suing a Nashville-based nonprofit that sends veterans into disaster areas , accusing its chief executive Britnie Turner of depositing a $1 million charitable donation into one of her many for-profit companies.
New today: We dug into the company behind last week's explosion. While it has a good reputation, there were other issues. Among them, its president's 2008 guilty plea to destruction of government property related to a product it made for the U.S. Navy.
Tennessee small explosives company praised for safety but had past issues, criminal charge
Community members say Accurate Energetic Systems has a good reputation, but its former president was convicted in connection with a Navy contract in 2008.
www.tennessean.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:25 PM
New today: We dug into the company behind last week's explosion. While it has a good reputation, there were other issues. Among them, its president's 2008 guilty plea to destruction of government property related to a product it made for the U.S. Navy.
Reposted by Evan Mealins
New Covenant Christian Church hosted a legal clinic to help people address outstanding court costs or have eligible criminal convictions expunged. @evanmealins.bsky.social wrote about the partnership with a local judge & the faith community on restorative justice: www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...
Expungement clinic brings court to North Nashville church so community feels welcomed
Attendees could get set up on a payment plan for court costs or get some criminal convictions expunged.
www.tennessean.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:34 PM
New Covenant Christian Church hosted a legal clinic to help people address outstanding court costs or have eligible criminal convictions expunged. @evanmealins.bsky.social wrote about the partnership with a local judge & the faith community on restorative justice: www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...
In North Nashville this weekend, 59 people had a criminal conviction expunged, and $145,544.80 in court cost and fines were waived for people declared indigent.
Expungement clinic brings court to North Nashville church so community feels welcomed
Attendees could get set up on a payment plan for court costs or get some criminal convictions expunged.
www.tennessean.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
In North Nashville this weekend, 59 people had a criminal conviction expunged, and $145,544.80 in court cost and fines were waived for people declared indigent.
Tennessee has set execution dates for four people, including Christa Pike, the lone woman on death row. If Pike is put to death, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Tennessee Supreme Court sets 2026 execution dates for Christa Pike, three others
Christa Pike is the only woman on death row. Gary Wayne Sutton and supporters maintain he is innocent. Tony Carruthers represented himself at trial.
www.tennessean.com
October 1, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Tennessee has set execution dates for four people, including Christa Pike, the lone woman on death row. If Pike is put to death, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Tennessee crime lab at max capacity, backlog to grow without intervention: Report
Tennessee crime lab at max capacity, backlog to grow without intervention: Report
The report was unveiled during a September meeting by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
www.tennessean.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Tennessee crime lab at max capacity, backlog to grow without intervention: Report
Once a kickboxer with an active social life, college freshman Liza Bandy couldn’t walk up the stairs from the dorm laundry room. She knew something was wrong.
Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold
Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold
Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold
She experienced fatigue, dizziness, difficulty speaking, shortness of breath and "profound cognitive impairment."
www.tennessean.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Once a kickboxer with an active social life, college freshman Liza Bandy couldn’t walk up the stairs from the dorm laundry room. She knew something was wrong.
Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold
Nashville student sues Sewanee after developing chronic illness from dorm mold
Bob Mendes is leaving the mayor's office:
Bob Mendes, Nashville's chief development officer, to exit role in October
Bob Mendes, the chief development officer in Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office, is leaving his role for a job in the private sector next month.
www.tennessean.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Bob Mendes is leaving the mayor's office:
Reposted by Evan Mealins
More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site
As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.
www.miamiherald.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Yesterday's Charlie Kirk vigil in Gallatin ended with a synthetic audio clip that imitated Kirk's voice. The Kirk voice introduced his "new friends," computer-generated voices of Christian martyrs like Paul the Apostle, Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter.
Gallatin community, Riley Gaines gather to honor Charlie Kirk: 'Revival is new life. This is the turning point'
Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative political commentator, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University Sept. 10.
www.tennessean.com
September 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Yesterday's Charlie Kirk vigil in Gallatin ended with a synthetic audio clip that imitated Kirk's voice. The Kirk voice introduced his "new friends," computer-generated voices of Christian martyrs like Paul the Apostle, Andrew the Apostle and Saint Peter.
Before today's announcement, @LucasFinton reported the Memphis mayor, the governor and Sen. Hagerty were all blindsided by the prospect of a National Guard deployment to Memphis
Memphis mayor, TN governor, US senator blindsided by National Guard proposal, source says
A source says the Memphis mayor, Tennessee governor and U.S. Senator spoke for months about fighting crime. The National Guard was not a factor.
www.commercialappeal.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Before today's announcement, @LucasFinton reported the Memphis mayor, the governor and Sen. Hagerty were all blindsided by the prospect of a National Guard deployment to Memphis
A group of Vanderbilt University students are planning to start a Turning Point USA chapter on campus in response to Charlie Kirk's death.
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
Vanderbilt students plan to start Turning Point chapter after founder Charlie Kirk's death
The students plan to meet with Turning Point USA about creating a chapter at Vanderbilt, and then set up a meeting with school administration.
www.tennessean.com
September 11, 2025 at 8:47 PM
A group of Vanderbilt University students are planning to start a Turning Point USA chapter on campus in response to Charlie Kirk's death.
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
www.tennessean.com/story/news/e...
A new warden is taking over at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, the third this year:
CoreCivic names new warden at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, third in one year
The new warden was the security threats and intelligence unit director at the Tennessee Department of Correction.
www.tennessean.com
September 8, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A new warden is taking over at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, the third this year:
Students as young as five will now receive gun safety training in school. The training covers identifying the parts of a gun and instructs students to leave the area of a gun and tell an adult.
TN students now required to learn gun safety beginning in kindergarten
Tennessee is the first state to have a law requiring such gun safety training, and it's for students as young as 5 years old.
www.tennessean.com
September 5, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Students as young as five will now receive gun safety training in school. The training covers identifying the parts of a gun and instructs students to leave the area of a gun and tell an adult.
Reposted by Evan Mealins
oh this is straightforward white nationalist agitprop
man. if Eric Schmitt's speech to NatCon isn't a sign of the times, i don't know what is
!["America is not a 'universal nation.' ... [American] principles are not abstractions. They are living, breathing things — rooted in a people and embodied in a way of life."
Senator Eric Schmitt got a standing ovation at Nat Con DC for saying America as a nation is the property of a distinct ethnic people.
Americans are a mix of “the most adventurous, the most courageous, the most curious and innovative” of the English, Scotch-Irish, and continental Europeans, who came as settlers and have spent hundreds of years building, fighting, and dying for "a homeland for themselves and their descendants."
"We’re a nation of settlers, explorers, and pioneers — born on the ocean waters that carried the first ships to our shores and forged in the crucible of a wild frontier. Our people tamed a continent, built a civilization from the wilderness, and wrote our nation’s name in history.
"Our ancestors were driven here by destiny, possessed by urgent and fiery conviction, by burning belief, devoted to their cause and their God."
"The Continental Army soldiers dying of frostbite at Valley Forge, Pilgrims struggling to survive in the hard winter soil of Plymouth, pioneers striking out from Missouri for the wild and dangerous frontier, [and] outnumbered Kentucky settlers, repelling wave after wave of Indian war band attacks from behind their stockade walls, would be astonished to hear that they were only fighting for a 'proposition.'
"They believed they were forging a nation — a homeland for themselves and their descendants."
"America, in all its glory, is their gift to us, handed down across the generations.
"It belongs to us. It’s our birthright, our heritage, our destiny.
"If America is everything and everyone, then it is nothing and no one at all."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreif3x7re3lubuj7kzurj3ayotcnq2l46kwb2p5hp2zid2dagzth5nu@jpeg)
September 3, 2025 at 12:15 AM
oh this is straightforward white nationalist agitprop
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been let out of jail.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia free from custody, lawyer says: 'He is grateful'
Abrego Garcia had been in government custody since he was apprehended by immigration authorities in Maryland in March and illegally deported.
www.tennessean.com
August 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been let out of jail.
This is the biggest story people aren't talking about. If this ruling stands, there are dozens to hundreds of people in TN prisons or on parole who should be set free.
Life sentences could be as short as 40 years for some after Tennessee inmate wins appeal
If the ruling stands, dozens or hundreds of people should have already been released from prison in Tennessee, according to the attorney in the case.
www.tennessean.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This is the biggest story people aren't talking about. If this ruling stands, there are dozens to hundreds of people in TN prisons or on parole who should be set free.
From @kirstenfiscus.bsky.social and @craigshoup.bsky.social: Nashville PD arrested ex-Tennessee lawyer 4 times in 6 months. His girlfriend is now dead
Nashville PD arrested ex-Tennessee lawyer 4 times in 6 months. His girlfriend is now dead
An autopsy revealed Miranda Gray, 46, was strangled after six months of escalating domestic violence, Nashville Police said.
www.tennessean.com
August 20, 2025 at 8:27 PM
From @kirstenfiscus.bsky.social and @craigshoup.bsky.social: Nashville PD arrested ex-Tennessee lawyer 4 times in 6 months. His girlfriend is now dead
Reposted by Evan Mealins
Very informative story. I had no idea that this kind of outcome could happen.
An unusual situation is playing out in Nashville's courts and jails.
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
When a grand jury decided not to indict certain defendants, it ended up complicating some cases. Defendants are now in jail facing a second bail payment.
www.tennessean.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Very informative story. I had no idea that this kind of outcome could happen.
An unusual situation is playing out in Nashville's courts and jails.
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
When a grand jury decided not to indict certain defendants, it ended up complicating some cases. Defendants are now in jail facing a second bail payment.
www.tennessean.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:13 PM
An unusual situation is playing out in Nashville's courts and jails.
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
After Nashville grand jury said evidence was lacking, defendants got extra jail time
Uncle Nearest is going under a receivership.
Judge orders receiver to take over Uncle Nearest, TN whiskey brand facing $108M lawsuit
CEO Fawn Weaver said in a video on Instagram after the ruling, "I built this company, I own this company, I run this company."
www.tennessean.com
August 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Uncle Nearest is going under a receivership.
From today: U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, has incurred more than $120,000 in legal and consulting fees related to investigations into reporting errors in his campaign finance reports.
US Rep. Andy Ogles creates fund to cover $120,000 in legal fees for finance investigation
The bills were incurred at four different law firms in Washington.
www.tennessean.com
August 15, 2025 at 6:53 PM
From today: U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Columbia, has incurred more than $120,000 in legal and consulting fees related to investigations into reporting errors in his campaign finance reports.