Policy positions and advocacy
In 1992 Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker wanted to end its policy of increasing Aid to Families with Dependent Children payments for additional children born into families on welfare. [7] Governor Tucker said that the proposed policy would encourage women on welfare to use state-provided birth control rather than conceive and it would save the state of Arkansas one-million dollars per year. [7] Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families opposed the governor's proposed policy saying it would punish children and their mothers. [7]
In 1994 Governor Tucker proposed expanding the number of crimes for which 14- and 15-year-olds could be tried as adults. [8] Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families opposed the proposed policy, saying it would do nothing beneficial, and it would send more juveniles into the overburdened adult judicial system. [8]
The Arkansas House of Representatives debated a bill that would allow police officers to stop, arrest, and interrogate children without notifying their parents in 1994. [9] Prosecutors were in favor of the bill saying it was necessary for police at crime scenes to question children who might be witnesses or suspects. [9]
The Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families said the bill was clearly unconstitutional because minors lack the legal understanding to waive their constitutional rights without consulting an adult adviser such as their parents. [9]
In 1997, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families advocated for increasing the number of eligible children participating in the summer lunch program. [10] The group said that just six percent of eligible children participate in the summer lunch program, a rate much lower than any other state. [10] A state agency said the low rate was a result of children having no transportation to serving locations as well as a new state law that students who failed classes were no longer required to attend summer school. [10]
In 1998, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families advocated for increased availability to child care, saying that families with two parents working needed additional help from the state with childcare so the parents can work. [11]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families described Arkansas state income taxes as too high in 2000. [12] The group said that Arkansas state income tax was regressive and put too large a burden on families with lower incomes. [12] The group advocated for a zero-percent income tax rate for families with low incomes, refundable earned income tax credit for low-income families, and elimination of the state sales tax on groceries. [12]
Michael Dale Huckabee is an American politician, Baptist minister, political commentator, and bassist who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016.
Michael Avery Ross is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the U.S. representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district from 2001 to 2013 and was his party's nominee for governor of Arkansas in 2014. He is currently the last Democrat to have represented Arkansas in the House of Representatives. He was also a member of the Arkansas Senate from 1991 to 2001, a member of the Nevada County Quorum Court from 1983 to 1985, and a small business owner.
Philip Norman Bredesen Jr. is an American politician and businessman who served as the 48th governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2002 with 50.6% of the vote and reelected in 2006 with 68.6%. He previously served as the 66th mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. Bredesen is the founder of the HealthAmerica Corporation, which he sold in 1986.
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – formerly known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid. The program was passed into law as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and the statutory authority for CHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act.
Stephen Ira Cohen is an American attorney and politician who has served as the U.S. representative from Tennessee's 9th congressional district since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the western three-fourths of Memphis. Cohen is Tennessee's first Jewish congressman.
The 2006 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Senator Bill Frist, the Majority Leader, retired after two terms in office. The open seat was won by Republican nominee Bob Corker, who defeated Democratic nominee Harold Ford Jr. The race between Ford and Corker was one of the most competitive Senate races of 2006, with Corker winning the race by less than three percent of the vote. Corker was the only non-incumbent Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2006. Since 1994, the Republican Party has held both of Tennessee's U.S. Senate seats.
The Memphis–Forrest City Combined Statistical Area, TN–MS–AR (CSA) is the commercial and cultural hub of The Mid-South or Ark-Miss-Tenn. The census-defined combined statistical area covers ten counties in three states – Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. As of census 2010 the MSA had a population of 1,324,108. The Forrest City Micropolitan area was added to the Memphis area in 2012 to form the Memphis–Forrest City Combined Statistical area and had a population of 1,369,548 according to census estimates. The greater Mid-South area as a whole has a population of 2.4 million according to 2013 census estimates. This area is covered by Memphis local news channels and includes the Missouri Bootheel, Northeast Arkansas, West Tennessee, and North Mississippi.
Briarcrest Christian School is a private, coeducational, Christian school in Eads, an unincorporated area of Shelby County, Tennessee. The school was founded as a segregation academy during the racial integration of public schools in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, it serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The school also offers "early school" for ages 2-4.
Beulah George Tann, known as Georgia Tann, was an American child trafficker who operated the Tennessee Children's Home Society, an adoption agency in Memphis, Tennessee. Tann used the unlicensed home as a front for her black market baby adoption scheme from the 1920s where young children were essentially kidnapped and sold to wealthy families. This occurred until a state investigation into numerous instances of adoption fraud being perpetrated by her closed the institution in 1950. Tann died of cancer before the investigation made its findings public. Tann's custom of placing children with influential members of society normalized adoption in America, and many of her adoption practices became standard practice.
The Old Forest Arboretum of Overton Park is a forest tract and natural arboretum located in Overton Park, Memphis, Tennessee. It is open to the public daily without charge. The forest was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as part of the Overton Park Historic District. Tree identification began in 1997, with some 70 tree species identified by 2002 when it was certified as an arboretum. Today the arboretum contains walking trails with 49 tree markers identifying 32 species. Approximately three-fourths of the Arboretum was designated as the Old Forest State Natural Area in 2011.
Tennessee Children's Home Society was an orphanage that operated in the state of Tennessee during the first half of the twentieth century. It is most often associated with its Memphis branch operator, Georgia Tann, as an organization involved in the kidnapping of children and their illegal adoptions. Tann died in 1950 before the state of Tennessee could release its findings on her activities. A story reported by 60 Minutes in 1991 renewed interest in Tann's black market adoptions in collaboration with Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Camille Kelley.
Mike Huckabee is the former Governor of Arkansas (1996–2007) and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election. He was running for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election but suspended his campaign on February 1, 2016
Mike Huckabee served as the third Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction from 1996 to 2007.
The public image of former Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is mixed. He has been criticized by many conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh. He received significant support in his 2008 presidential campaign, including endorsements from five Representatives of the U.S. House, three former governors and seven newspapers.
Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Howard, 367 Ark. 55, 238 S.W.3d 1 (2006), is a decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court in which the court unanimously overturned a state policy banning gay adults and their housemates from being foster parents.
This is a list of events in 2011 that affected LGBT rights.
The Hall income tax was a Tennessee state tax on interest and dividend income from investments. It was the only tax on personal income in Tennessee, which did not levy a general state income tax. The tax rate prior to 2016 was 6 percent, applied to all taxable interest and dividend income over $1250 per person. Revenues were shared with the government of the municipality or county where the taxpayer resided.
Andrew Hunter Holt is an American politician who serves in the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 76, covering Weakley County and parts of Obion and Carroll Counties. Holt is a Republican and currently serves as the vice-chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and as a member of the Local Government Committee and of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee. He served his first term in Tennessee’s 107th General Assembly (2011-2012) and was re-elected to the 108th through 110th General Assemblies.
William Byron Lee is an American businessman, cattle farmer, former mechanical engineer, and politician serving as the 50th governor of Tennessee since 2019. Elected in 2018, Lee is a member of the Republican Party. Before entering politics he held various positions at the Lee Company, a business operated by the Lee family; he was the company's president and CEO from 1992 to 2016.
Tom Leatherwood is an American politician serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives from Tennessee's 99th house district, since 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. The 99th district includes the Northeast part of Shelby County, Tennessee, including the Town of Arlington, City of Lakeland, City of Millington, parts of North and East Bartlett, and unincorporated Northeast Shelby County.
