State lawmakers wrapped the 2024 session up Thursday night, having passed two of the biggest bills in the last week. Major business tax cut One of the largest budget items to pass was done so hours before lawmakers adjourned. It’s a $1.5 billion piece of legislation that allows businesses to apply for a rebate on property taxes paid over the last three years. Moving forward, instead of paying property taxes, business will pay a tax based on their income. The change reforms the state’s nearly century-old franchise tax system. Lawmakers from both parties were upset with the idea throughout the ..read more

Before the final buzzer sounded, the Tennessee House and Senate came to agreement on what to do with the state’s business franchise tax. More: TN House and Senate search for compromise on two major bills as session nears its end At the start of session, Gov. Bill Lee made lawmakers aware that he’d like to do away with the state’s property tax for businesses. In addition, those who have been paying the tax would get a rebate. More: How much money will Tennessee businesses get back after the state changes how they’re taxed? The state House and Senate can’t agree. From the start, both chambers h ..read more

Oracle Corp.’s planned campus in Nashville, Tennessee, will serve as the business software giant’s world headquarters, placing it in a city that’s a center for the U.S. health care industry, company Chairman Larry Ellison said. Ellison spoke about Oracle’s plans for its Nashville offices during a conversation about health care technology with former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist at the Oracle Health Summit on Tuesday. In 2021, a Tennessee panel approved $65 million in state incentives for Oracle, with the company planning to bring 8,500 jobs and an investment topping $1 billion to Nashville over a dec ..read more

For as long as people have been making money from music, there have been disagreements to hash out — over who gets to claim credit for what, where music can be used and shared, how revenue should be split and, occasionally, what ownership even means. Each time the industry settles on a set of rules to account for those ambiguities, nothing disrupts the status quo all over again quite like new advancements in technology. When radio signals sprang up around the nation, competitors proliferated just across the border. When hip-hop’s early architects created an entirely new sonic culture, their bu ..read more

How did Governor Lee’s signature measures fail in a legislature controlled by his own party?  Usually, you expect a supermajority to pass big bills in lockstep.;  iInstead, that legislation is showing the fault lines between Tennessee’s Republican office holders. Plus the newscast for April 25, 2024 and a preview of the Alvin Ailey performance at TPAC.  Credits:This is a production of Nashville Public Radio Host/producer: Nina Cardona Editor: Miriam Kramer Additional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, Rachel Iacovone, LaTonya Turner and the staff of WPLN and WNXP Listen an ..read more

At an age when many contemporaries contemplate retirement, musician T Bone Burnett has made big changes in his life and art. Burnett, most celebrated for his production acumen, uprooted from Los Angeles to move to Nashville and recorded a warm-hearted disc of his own songs for the first time in nearly two decades. Indie rockers Lucius and Rosanne Cash add their voices to the acoustic collection. “I’m so grateful that this music has come to me out of nowhere and without even trying for it to happen,” Burnett, 76, says in an interview with The Associated Press. “You know, it feels like the most ..read more

What are we doing to keep the connections to Nashville’s civil rights past alive?  Last weekend, activist and organizer Diane Nash was honored near the spot where she challenged Nashville’s segregation laws, but many other places like those are in danger of being forgotten around the city. Plus the latest newscast and this week’s What Where WhensDay.  Credits:This is a production of Nashville Public Radio Host/producer: Nina Cardona Editor: Miriam Kramer Additional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, Rachel Iacovone, LaTonya Turner and the staff of WPLN and WNXP Listen and follo ..read more

Tennessee teachers and school staff may soon be able to carry handguns on campus thanks to a bill passed by the General Assembly. Students protest against the bill The move goes against what many have been rallying for after the Covenant School shooting left six victims dead, three of whom were students. More: Parents, students and educators speak out against bill to arm Tennessee teachers High school senior Sarayah Shaw helped organize a teach-in event at the capitol on Monday, calling on lawmakers to reject the bill. She and other speakers at the student-led protest said that the solution to ..read more

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a petition last week with more than 20 Republican state attorneys general to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from considering race when regulating pollution.  The petition is only a request. But if it leads to action, it could have wide-reaching implications for vulnerable people in communities around the U.S. while paving the way for companies to profit from them. The petition addresses Title VI in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin by recipients of federal f ..read more

A bill headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk would make it so anyone deemed unfit to stand trial would be automatically committed. The measure, which received bipartisan support in the House and Senate, aims to fill a gap in the state’s criminal justice system for defendants with a mental illness or intellectual disability. The bill was named Jillian’s Law in honor of Belmont University freshman Jillian Ludwig who was killed by a stray bullet in November. The man accused of shooting her has an intellectual disability and was deemed unfit to stand trial for a separate, gun-related charge. He was rele ..read more