MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The new tariffs imposed on China overnight by President Donald Trump could be especially bad news for Tennessee.

A report released earlier this week shows the state’s exports already down dramatically before the new tariffs were imposed.

Early Friday morning the president raised tariffs an additional 15 percent on $200 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports. The Chinese government says it will retaliate.

WASHINGTON, DC (OSBORNE) -- West Tennessee Congressional Rep. Steve Cohen was one of 24 Democrats voting Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in Contempt of Congress.

Cohen sits on the House Judiciary Committee that’s asking Barr to provide it with an unredacted copy of the Mueller Report.

Cohen said Barr’s failure to hand over the report, or appear before the committee, sets a frightening precedent.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Embattled House Speaker Glen Casada says he's asking for multiple probes of the scandals surrounding his office, saying he takes "complete ownership" of exchanging sexually explicit text messages with a former top aide about women.

In a letter Wednesday, Casada said he wrote the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the District Attorneys General Conference asking them to investigate an email by his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren. He also apologized for his own conduct.

  WASHINGTON, DC (OSBORNE) -- An initial hearing for the lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s new voter registration law is set for July 1. That's according to the activists who brought the suit, the Washington DC based Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCR).

Federal judge Aleta Trauger will hold a status hearing in her Nashville courtroom on that date.

LCCR attorney Ezra Rosenberg calls Tennessee’s new regulations governing voter registration “draconian.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The number of Tennesseans receiving opioid prescriptions is getting a closer look following last months federal illicit drug sting that saw dozens of Tennessee doctors, nurses and pharmacists arrested.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that Middle Tennessee’s Clay County has the state’s highest opioid prescription rate. In 2017 there were 191 opioid prescriptions written for every 100 county residents, enough to provide two opioid scrips to every man woman and child in the county.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- Tennessee is preparing for its first execution of the year. The state plans to execute death row inmate Donnie Johnson May 16.

Johnson was convicted in 1985 of murdering his wife, Connie Johnson, the year before.

The 68-year-old inmate has appealed his sentence to Gov. Bill Lee. That appeal is based largely on Johnson's Christian conversion.

Step-daughter Cynthia Vaughn has reportedly joined others in asking the governor to spare Johnson’s life.  

ATLANTA (AP) — The school district of Fulton County, Georgia, has picked a new superintendent.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the board voted Thursday to hire Mike Looney, the current superintendent of Williamson County Schools in Franklin, Tennessee.

The district has offered Looney a base salary of $329,000, which is $100,000 more than the previous superintendent earned. He'll also get a $1,250 monthly "routine" expense allowance that doesn't require him to document purchases.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers have adjourned their annual legislative session.

The Republican-supermajority General Assembly finished its work Thursday after passing legislation to create a concealed carry-only handgun permit that doesn't require training that includes actually firing a weapon. They also overcame House and Senate differences to pass legislation that would require the state's top leaders to call on the federal government to send a fixed amount of money each year in the form of block grants.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- State House Republicans Tuesday passed a bill that opponents say targets transgender students in spite of opposition from some of Tennessee’s largest companies.

West Tennessee Republican Andy Holt sponsored the bill. He explained the measure would require the state Attorney General to represent school districts in court should they be sued for adopting exclusionary bathroom policies.

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- The Tennessee House has passed a measure that would make it easier to get a concealed handgun carry permit.

West Tennessee Republican Andy Holt defended his bill on the House floor yesterday, saying he hopes to...

“Reduce the burden for individuals to achieve in a lawful manner their second amendment right that we think is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States.”