Politics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A proposal to allow student identification issued by state higher education institutions to be used for voting is advancing in the Senate.

The measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro unanimously passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee 8-0 on Tuesday with little debate.

The proposal doesn’t allow library cards issued by local governments, an issue that's been debated in court for about a year now.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) — According to the latest MTSU Poll, Tennesseans are giving Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to create a school voucher program mixed reviews.

Middle Tennessee State University pollsters asked 650 likely voters if they support the Governor’s plan to use state funds to send poor children in failing public schools to private institutions.

Pollster Ken Blake says 40 percent of those polled favor vouchers, while 46 percent do not. That’s a statistical dead heat given the poll’s plus-or-minus four percent margin of error.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is warning Tennesseans about the impact of looming across-the-board federal budget cuts set to kick in Friday.

In his weekly radio address, President Obama said the so-called sequester cuts will slow the economy and hurt the middle class. He blamed the GOP for the impasse.

“Unfortunately it appears that Republicans in Congress have decided that instead of compromising, instead of asking anything of the wealthiest Americans, they’d rather let these cuts fall squarely on the middle class."

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  A Tennessee legislator has introduced a bill that would allow students in the state’s public schools to defend themselves if attacked.

Republican Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver of Lancaster says current zero-tolerance policies mean every student involved in an on campus altercation faces expulsion. She says her measure would allow students to defend themselves, or step in to help another student being assaulted.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey is opposing a National Rifle Association-backed effort to block public access to the state's handgun carry permits.

Ramsey tells The Associated Press that the ability to scrutinize the identities of people with handgun carry permits strengthens gun advocates' arguments that they are worthy of carrying loaded firearms in public.