Pick up them pencils and paper or the Chromebook gets it!
Hi, I’m Daniel Wagner with the Patriot Punk Network, giving you the latest Tennessee news in 3 minutes or less.
This is our Today in Tennessee Segment (brought to you by EstateofCreative)… Local, ready‑to‑go furniture, restored and ready for you.
Let’s go!
Round 1:
Yet another bill is making its way through the Tennessee legislature this month.
SB2310
This bill aims to prohibit K-5 students, as well as teachers and other employees of the LEA or public charter schools, from accessing digital devices at school.
Just Regular ol' pencil and paper for you, see!
Bill sponsor Sen. Joey Hensley says the bill will encourage more in-person, book, and paper learning," claiming that these methods are better at teaching students of this age bracket than their digital counterparts.
However, in a meta analysis from 2021, comparing reading comprehension in children using paper vs screens, it turns out the differences are negligible regardless the medium, and that the key determining factor for success is the amount of adult mediation.
And without mediation, digital books with story-congruent enhancements actually outperformed paper books.
In my opinion, the problem is that it's far preferable for lawmakers to blame the screens than it is to lose votes by placing blame where it actually belongs… with uninvolved parents who send their kids off to school and expect our educators to handle ALL of it.
Round 2
Tennessee politicians promised us that legal sports betting would be a cash cow for education, especially for the HOPE and Promise scholarship programs.
But lottery revenue has crashed by almost $90 million, leaving an $80 million hole in the scholarship budget, even as more students than ever need help paying for school.
(That shit ain't cheep!)
Lawmakers have papered over the gap with sports‑betting taxes, then turned around and carved that same revenue up for other projects instead of fixing the problem they created.
And now, while they mismanage the money (surprise, surprise), Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Council is going after the competition.
In January, regulators sent cease‑and‑desist letters to three federally regulated prediction markets – Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com –
ordering them to stop offering sports betting contracts in Tennessee, void open bets, and refund customers, all because those platforms don’t fit neatly inside the state’s tax and licensing scheme.
It just goes to show you, only in the government can you just ban superior free-market alternatives when you can't compete directly.
Thats 2 rounds down and 1 to go. Express your St Patty's day spirit by giving those buttons a little pinch (they're not wearing green).
Round 3
A Sixth Circuit case this week asks a wild question: can government lawyers be immune from lawsuits even when they basically rewrite criminal law to target someone.
Attorney Connie Reguli and mom Wendy Hancock were prosecuted for “custodial interference,” but prosecutors conveniently forgot to mention one teeny tiny detail; …there was never any visitation order in place.
A Tennessee appeals court later threw out both convictions, saying the conduct wasn’t a crime at all, yet a federal judge still gave absolute and qualified immunity to the officials who ran that five‑year show trial.
It's kinda like when that bunny boiler falsly accuses you of grape, but then has immunity from you suing her in return.
Now the Sixth Circuit will decide whether citizens can sue for damages when officials don’t just enforce the law—they fabricate it on paper to go after their critics.
That was your handy little Tennessee news roundup.
For more deep dives into local stories, watch the Patriot Punkcast on Rumble every Sunday and Wednesday at 7pm CST.
Thanks for watching our TITS — see you tomorrow
I hope someone who's colorblind doesn't try to pinch me today.