After a judge struck down Tennessee's new Adult Entertainment Act for violating the First Amendment rights of drag performers, political analyst Otis Sanford says other Republican-led states may be warier of passing similar bills that are overly vague.
But Sanford says the state could still appeal the decision or try again with a new version of the bill in an upcoming session of the General Assembly in August, which was called primarily to consider new gun laws.
Also this week, the Shelby County Commission rejected a $50 increase on the county's wheel tax to fund a rebuilding of Regional One Health and the construction of two new high schools. Sanford says some type of tax increase will be necessary to fund what Mayor Lee Harris says are large, important projects.
Finally, the FBI recently conducted a search of records kept by Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. at a home owned by his father. The search appears to be in relation to a county grant to Junior Achievement that he championed, but did not vote on. The nonprofit then purchased computers from a company owned by Ford, which has been called unethical.
Sanford says a grand jury indictment may not be far behind.
