NASHVILLE -- Private, nonprofit colleges and universities will be able to use the state's purchasing power when buying materials, supplies, equipment and services under a bill headed to Gov. Phil Bredesen.

NASHVILLE -- An Arlington, Va.-based group pushing for Tennessee driver's license exams to be given only in English has ties to the "racist founder of the modern anti-immigration movement," a researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center says.

NASHVILLE -- State Building Commission members Thursday morning unanimously approved a $64.2 million state grant that will help build electrical and other infrastructure for the planned $1 billion Wacker Chemical Corp. in Bradley County.

NASHVILLE -- The state's top economic recruitment official said Thursday that legislation requiring the written portion of state driver's license exams be conducted only in English "contradicts the message ... that Tennessee is a good place for foreign companies to invest."

NASHVILLE -- A proposed amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that would ban general state income and payroll taxes was read on the state Senate floor today.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the Senate speaker, said Thursday he favors a more flexible approach than a House bill that requires the written portion of all driver’s license exams be in English with no exceptions for legal immigrants and visitors such as Volkswagen and Nissan executives.

NASHVILLE — State Building Commission members this morning unanimously approved a $64.2 million state grant that will help build electrical and other infrastructure for the planned $1 billion Wacker Chemical Corp. in Bradley County.

A proposed amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that would ban a general state income tax and payroll tax was read on the state Senate floor today.

NASHVILLE -- A new guns-in-bars bill cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, a step toward allowing handgun-carry permit holders to go armed in restaurants that sell alcohol.

Legislation allowing Tennessee’s nearly 269,000 handgun-carry permit holders to go armed in any establishment selling alcohol for on-premises consumption passed its first House hurdle today.