Forgiving Mark Nashi?

Written by Angelina Taramona and Willa Smith

With the recent controversy involving Governor Mark Nashi, many Tennesseans are conflicted on whether or not they should forgive him given comments made by him on Saturday, March 2nd. The 71st Capitol Governor was quoted saying “I don’t care about Tennesseans, I just want my devices back.” When this comment was addressed during the March 3rd press conference, Nashi stated that his comment was taken out of context as he also added that the comment “slipped” during a moment of high stress. When asked about the extent to which he cared for his devices, the Governor gave a reason as he stated that his devices were necessary to access important programs and contacts to handle the “dam crisis”. The Governor and his commissioner’s devices were able to be accessed again after paying a $7 billion ransom and investigation fee, which the governor noted was necessary for gaining access to his devices again. 

Other comments were also made by his cabinet, one made by Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance Taylor Perry saying “I don’t care how cold they are, give them a box.” When asked about this comment, Perry stated that she only claimed the first portion of the comment, and any additions of the “box” were not made by Perry, of which Nashi stated that “the box” was a metaphor for a place of shelter for the 228,000 Tennesseans who had lost power. Both commissioners stated that they just felt “so passionately” and their emotions were “so high” that there was just no other way to proclaim their compassion for the affected Tennesseans. 

During the conference, another comment made by the Commissioner of Corrections in solution for Tennesseans in East Tennessee without shelter stated “Put them in the Bass Pro Shops pyramid”, in response the commissioner, a Memphis native, stated that the West Tennessee outdoor wonderland was the only and best place to house the unfortunate Tennesseans. Governor Nashi responded by saying that his cabinet and himself were looking through catalogs of malls, hotels, and schools and that the glass pyramid was just an option that came up. 

The Governor was even asked to resign by Tennessee mayor, Mayor Warren L. Gooch of Oak Ridge. However, when asked about this resignation during the press conference, he responded that “[he] would not resign and [he] will never back down.” Mayor Gooch even had hundreds of protesters surrounding his house, however no help from the National Guard was given to the Mayor, yet the Guard was deployed to “help direct people to shelter” although volunteers were already helping the distressed citizens.

Now we must ask ourselves during the final day of this conference, is this who we want leading Tennessee and is this who we want representing our state? Nashi proclaims himself over and over again to be a strong leader, yet is he strong enough to overcome crises and his own naïveté?

When we attempted to ask the Governor’s cabinet for comment, they called the Press Corps “Our Opps.”

Governor Nashi Puts the “Mid” in the Handling of the Midnight Crisis

Written by Adie Norris

Last night, there was a call for Governor Mark Nashi to resign after his handling of a crisis left much to be desired by both citizens and politicians like Mayor Gooch of Oak Ridge. Nashi headed the crisis-resolution effort dealing with the “Midnight Crisis,” during which the Fontana Dam was suddenly shut down and 228,000 were left without power or access to emergency services. The incident was quickly discovered to be a cyberattack by an unknown party, and the Governor was faced with some options: pay the 75 billion dollar ransom to the attacker, who was threatening to shut down communications, or spend 35 of the 75 billion dollars to instantly restore devices, or publicly address the crisis. 

Nashi opted instead to pay the suspected terrorist group to restore state-owned devices, saying “I don’t care about Tennesseans, I just want my devices back.” Nashi also claimed that the money was used to restore devices for “all Tennesseans.” However, this only meant power was restored to government devices. 

Although billions were expended to recover government devices, Nashi has heard claiming “We do not have any money whatsoever.” Shortly after devices were restored, Nashi called for the National Guard to be mobilized to provide disaster relief for Tennesseans, despite the lack of need for disaster relief of this level. In the meantime, however, the identity of the terrorist(s) was unknown, and little was being done to discover it past providing funding for a TBI investigation of the incident.

Eventually, FEMA was able to get power back to the dam and restore emergency communications, after the Governor’s Cabinet claimed they “totally forgot” about the lack of emergency communications. The crisis was resolved, although at the expense of billions of tax-payer dollars and the prolonged suffering of the Tennessee residents impacted by both the blackout and the lack of access to emergency services.

When questioned later about his government’s vulnerability to cyberattacks and reminded of the fact that he was the one who had opened the email containing the malware, Governor Nashi shared that he would be funding more cybersecurity for the government to prevent further attacks. The question is, can we trust the governor’s word to keep this state safe after this, or should he heed Mayor Gooch’s call for him to resign for the good of the people?

Not Just a Dam Problem: A Not So Brief Recap of Last Night’s Midnight Crisis

Written by Alianna Jones

Last night, I had the honor of attending and doing a bit of press mischief at the Midnight Crisis. Governor Mark Nashi and his cabinet seemed quite confident going into the event, hoping to put their brains and extra money in the budget together to be done in 30 minutes. Spoiler alert: they were not, in fact, done in 30 minutes. So strap in because this whole meeting was a long and wild ride.

All seemed to be going well until we were informed of a sudden emergency. The Fontana Dam, located in North Carolina, which provides power to around 228,000 Tennesseans had ceased to function unexpectedly. The dam reported no signs of physical damage and had been operating normally just before. To make the situation worse, temperatures were dropping, on their way to freezing, and the hundreds of thousands of citizens without power would not be able to keep warm. 

The team launched themselves into research, trying to find out all they could about how they could get the dam back online. Some questionably helpful ideas about how to help the powerless citizens were also thrown out at this time, with some notable options being building fires fueled by cash to keep people warm or simply “blankets.” 

As the research progressed, speculation about the cause of the dam’s failure arose. Some thought that there could be unnoticed damage, while others suggested that overtopping had occurred, causing water to rise over the dam. Governor Nashi believed that the reason for the failure was a cyberattack, citing the lack of physical damage and the suddenness of the entire situation.

Governor Cab had a strong idea of what might have caused the dam to fail, so they decided to shift their focus toward helping the affected people. They started looking into solutions like temporary housing to provide immediate assistance. However, their plans were disrupted when the mayor of Oak Ridge, Mayor Gooch, informed Governor Nashi that the outage was caused by a ransomware attack. To make matters worse, they discovered that the source of the attack was an email sent by Chief of Staff Ella Kate Harris, which Governor Nashi had opened.

The attackers demanded a hefty sum of 75 billion dollars to halt the cyberattack. They promised to restore control over the Fontana Dam and power to the affected Tennesseans if 35 billion dollars were paid immediately. However, the cabinet discovered that they could not afford to buy their way out of this attack. They decided to focus on cybersecurity and work towards shutting down the attack. 

Up until this moment, I had been taking note of the action of the cabinet, already constructing my story. Unfortunately, the cyberattack had another nasty surprise in store: it was about to take down all the cellular devices in the room. I was left without my trusty notes page and voice memos filled with quotes and observations from the meeting; I would have to resort to stolen paper and a pen I scavenged from the ground, truly a modern journalist’s worst nightmare.

More importantly, the devices of all the commissioners, the chief of staff, and the Governor no longer worked, bringing all research and planning to a halt. We were informed that the attacker(s) demanded 7 billion dollars to regain the use of the devices. This left Governor Cab in a dilemma over whether it was wise to pay the ransom or to prioritize the needs of the people of Tennessee who were facing power outages. During this period of frustration and stress, Governor Nashi began making statements such as “I don’t care about Tennesseans, I just want my devices back.” (It should be noted that the Governor has since attempted to explain these comments.) Several commissioners pointed out how sending money to the attacker(s) to get their devices back might be a bad look, especially with Tennesseans without power or access to emergency communications. While locked in this debate, Gov Cab considered other possible methods of communication but eventually decided that sending out homing pigeons was not viable and that it would be in their best interest to buy back access to their devices.

“Maybe the real 7 billion was the friends we made along the way.”

Hunter Bailey, Commissioner of Human Resources 

The Governor and his team declared a level two state of emergency after the power outage affected a large number of people. They hoped to receive 40 million in funds from FEMA to assist. However, the application for federal assistance was denied, and they decided to look for other options. 

An update came in: the people affected by the outage are freezing and protests are beginning to form, demanding action be taken by their mayor, Warren Gooch of Oak Ridge, who was requesting advice from the Governor as to what should be done. They did not advise the mayor and returned to researching possible shelters, planning to use emergency shelters in schools across Oak Ridge with volunteers to help guide people to the shelters. The National Guard was also called in, assigned to aid in the transportation and guiding efforts into the shelters. 

Governor Nashi then received a call, in which he was informed that Mayor Gooch had begun calling for his resignation, and that people were angered by the comments that I and the rest of the press had published. Oops (we’re not sorry.) The cabinet then decided to follow up their previous controversial statements with even more, with one commissioner crying out, “Let them be cold, just give them a box,” when stressed about the potential costs of running emergency shelters. Finally, the cabinet has begun to take real action, finding suitable shelter for citizens and funding several programs—SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid—by executive order, completely bypassing the legislative branch.
Despite this, the dam remained without power and emergency communications were down for over two hours. When a commissioner was made aware of the potential danger for citizens without access to emergency services like 911, they admitted to having forgotten about it. 

Finally, after a long night of effort, pizza, and yelling, a second application for federal aid was approved, and FEMA assistance got power back to Fontana Dam and emergency communications functions. Governor Nashi issued a press statement, in which he explained the actions taken by the team to solve this crisis, and tried to make amends for the comments made by himself and his cabinet, claiming that they were “taken out of context.”

We eagerly await the Governor’s next moves as he deals with Mayor Gooch’s call for his resignation, a government proven to be vulnerable to cyber attacks, and citizens outraged over the funding of controversial programs without input from the House and Senate. 

The Unintended Consequences of Rapid Growth in Nashville

Written by Nick Allison

To most people, population growth is a good thing. It is usually a sign that things are going well in the county/city/state/country that you run. However, when growth gets too big, it leads to a poorer quality of life for residents. In this case, Nashville is a primary example of this. According to CNBC, the city has seen 35,624 new people make it their home which was roughly 98 new people per day.¹ Because of this growth, Tennessee’s population is now beyond 7 million.² Because of this, there have been some changes in the cost of living. A family in Nashville now needs to earn $124,095 per year to be able to afford a median-priced home in Nashville which is 19% higher than before. Before, it was $114,627 a year to purchase a median-priced home.³ That is due to the concept of supply and demand. In this case, the thousands of people flocking to Nashville would be the demand, and the housing market would be the supply. In simple terms, because so many people are moving to Nashville and the housing market is not big enough to accommodate everyone, it becomes scarce and prices go up. It becomes unfair to actual residents when they can’t afford to buy a house or do anything because of this. It leads to increased homelessness.⁴ We need to build more affordable homes in the city and make it easier and cheaper to do so. 

1. Dore, “Nashville added nearly 100 new residents per day in 2022. Here’s why people are moving to Music City”, CNBC, November 30, 2023 ↩︎
2. Fitzpatrick, Beharaj and Tamburin, “Tennessee now has more than 7 million residents”, Axios,  May 15, 2023 ↩︎
3. Anderson, “Homebuyers must earn $115,000 to Afford the Typical U.S. Home. That’s About $40,000 More Than the Typical American Household Earns”, Redfin, October 17, 2023 ↩︎
4. Carrion, “Nashville facing an affordability crisis, real estate adviser warns”, Fox Business, November 17, 2023 ↩︎

A Roadmap to YIG Food

Written by Adie Norris

Mealtimes during YIG can sneak up on you, and it can be overwhelming trying to find a decent place to eat during your limited time at dinner and lunch. So, here are my top 5 picks of places to eat during your time at the YIG conference!

1. 417 Union – Super cute 40s-themed diner, great for breakfast but they serve lunch and dinner too. Classic southern food and great service!
2. Assembly Food Hall – Basically a cafeteria for big kids, food options inside include tacos, poke bowls, hot chicken, and even cookie dough.  
3. Baam Burger – Big, sloppy greasy burgers for when you’re dying of hunger. The wait is usually pretty long, but the sweet potato waffle fries are worth it.
4. Farmers Market Food Court – The food court in the farmers market offers everything from vegan options to sushi, and everything in between. Great for vegetarians or people looking for a healthier option. They even have a boba place!
5. Starbucks – This one goes without saying, but if y’all need an easy caffeine fix there’s a Starbucks located right inside the hotel lobby. Also a great option for a quick easy breakfast on your way to Cordell Hull!

YIG Tips and Tricks

Written by Evan Lyke

Ann Baker Tolsma, Eesha Sutharshan, Eva Muresan, and Meg Atkins

As we start near the end of the 2024 YIG Capitol Conference, the question of what to do next year becomes relevant. Here are some helpful tips from delegates of the Red House and our Commissioner of Agriculture. All these students are seniors with varying degrees of experience, ranging from first to fourth years. They have some wise words for you as you think about your role at YIG next year! 

Alexis Barton is the Commissioner of Agriculture in the Governor’s Cabinet and has attended YIG since she was a freshman. Here are her three tips for upcoming members of the Governor’s Cabinet: 1. Know the bills in your department, the cost content, etc. 2. Bring a pair of running shoes! 3. Be prepared to be frantic!

Eesha Sutharshan is a first-year member of YIG. As a senior, she presents her bill in the Red House with Meg Atkins. Here are her three helpful tips for anyone new to YIG: 1. Bring an energy drink because you will be awake and busy from 8 am to 10 pm. 2. Pack an umbrella in case it rains, as you will be doing a lot of walking outside. 3. Create a bill that would be morally wrong not to pass.

Aditi Singh, a Red House Representative

Meet Aditi Singh. This is her second year at YIG, and she is presenting her bill with Ann Baker Tolsma in the Red House. Here are Aditi’s three helpful tips for anyone going into Red House next year: 1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or mess up! This is all for fun, and you will enjoy YIG so much if you get out there and participate! 2. Be prepared for people to challenge you and try to trip you up, but as long as you genuinely believe in the purpose of your bill, you can back up nearly any argument. 3. Make sure to talk to other delegates during free time and become friends with new people! This will make the whole process more engaging, and you will gain more support for your bill’s passage.

As you approach the 2025 Youth in Government Capitol Conference, I encourage you to look over these helpful tips to make sure your experience is the best it can be!

Who Are All These Statues in the Capitol?

Written by Matthew Zaremba

Brass statues line the halls of the capitol building. Obviously, these guys are important, but who are they? Figures like Andrew Jackson and David Crockett are recognizable, but names such as Sampson Keeble and Cordell Hull, not so much. 

We all know who Andrew Jackson was, AKA “Old Hickory,” and the seventh president of the United States. He hailed from Tennessee, and there is now a suburb outside of Nashville named in his likeness. Jackson was also an army general, leading his troops to victory in the Battle of New Orleans. He died in 1845.

David Crockett almost feels like a myth to Tennesseans, but he really was quite the Renaissance man. He earned himself the title “King of the Wild Frontier,” being a rough-hewn man of the wilderness, but he was also a Representative of TN in the US House of Representatives, as well as a soldier who fought and died at the Alamo. 

Now, let’s put some focus on the lesser-known busts. Sampson W. Keeble was a politician and businessman and was the first black man to ever be elected to the Tennessee legislature. He served one term in the House on the House Military Affairs Committee and the Immigration Committee from 1873 to 1875. He would then be elected as a magistrate in his home of Davidson County.  Keeble was considered a dedicated republican party member by his colleagues and is still respected today. 

I’m sure that every delegate at YIG knows the name Cordell Hull, being that it’s the name of our main playing grounds. For a long time, I actually thought it was Cordell Hall and not someone’s actual name. Mr. Cordell Hull was born in 1871 in Olympus, TN. Hull started his career serving in the TN House of Reps. After serving in the House, President Franklin D. Roosevelt named Hull Secretary of State. To this day, Hull has been the longest-serving Secretary of State in US history, having served eleven years in the position. Hull played a big part in establishing the United Nations and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for these efforts. The Cordell Hull Building was built and dedicated to Mr. Hull in 1954. Hull passed one year later, in 1955. 

A few other statues are scattered throughout the building, representing the likenesses of Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk and a few others of Andrew Jackson.

Youth in Government: The Perspective of the Advisors

Interviews by Ashlyn Mills and Aubree Pelham

Written by Aubree Pelham 

All Youth in Government delegates have their testimony story of how they became involved in the club, from a mentor teacher to their friend’s persuasion, but what about the leaders and school advisors behind the conference? Today, we interviewed advisors from a range of schools to understand their perspectives and passion behind their jobs here at the conference.  

To understand how their participation in YIG started, we asked the advisors, “What made you want to become a YIG advisor.” Kaitlin Stefanski, a teacher from Fairview High School, gave a story similar to the story of many delegates, everything beginning with a mentor. “The teacher that did [YIG] before me was leaving, but she was my mentor teacher when I student taught and always talked super highly about Youth in Government, so I stepped in,” she stated. Filling in for her mentor teacher led to her finding her own passion within this conference. “I just absolutely love seeing the confidence in my students and seeing them act as professionals and really step into the real world with this.” Many advisors agreed that they found their own joy in advising by seeing their students grow socially and academically. Benjamin Parnell, a teacher from Lebanon High School, became an advisor because “I enjoy spending time with the students, and I enjoy watching them work hard on a bill or in the house committee and see them present that information in an articulate way.”  His co-advisor, Matthew Shrum, continued, “I don’t really do anything here, but I enjoy it. It’s very fun to see that kids are engaged in the process. They have so much agency over what they do here it’s just really inspiring.” Lastly, a common response between advisors was that they simply got dragged along by their students. The students of Kevin Finn, a teacher from The Webb School of Bell Buckle, spoke so highly of Youth and Government that he said, “It was not necessarily something I felt familiar with, but they were so excited about it that I thought I would come along for the ride.” 

The next question we asked advisors was, “What is the best advice you have given your delegates?” Kendra Mclemore from Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts started off strong with, “Do the research and find alliances.” Adam Brooks, a teacher from Central Magnet, agreed with the importance of research and claims that his best advice is to “Be as informed as possible, whether you’re presenting or asking questions.” He also contributed, “Be bold…[stand] up and [have] your person be there and take your place.” Mr. Schrum always reminds his students to “be a goldfish,” an amazing Ted Lasso reference. But also genuinely encourages them to “have a short-term memory” if something is not as successful as they hoped and “roll with the punches.” Ms. Stefanski also tries to keep her students positive with her advice to, “be confident and to have fun with this” reinforcing that, “you’re meant to enjoy yourselves and learn.”

Lastly, of course, we had to get the advisors to make fun of their students, so we asked them, “What is the funniest thing one of your delegates has done at a conference?” Ms. Stefanski gained the most laughter with her response, telling us about how two of her previous students “did a tomfoolery bill on trying to ban toes in public.” She continued to mention that “they talked about having to put the dogs away and all of that. So that was probably one of my favorite moments.” Mr. Finn exposed the group messages between him and his students this morning explaining that “one of our students was panicked because he did not have a black belt,” as in a dress belt, “and it just led to this whole conversation about martial arts in our group message.” 

While this question was asked to gain input on the advisors’ students, it quickly grew into the advisors giving insight into their own chaos. Mr. Schrum states that they witness the most commotion during bed checks, with their students “acting a fool, [having] pillow fights, calling people, running around, and doing all kinds of crazy stuff.” However, Mr. Parnell adds, “The delegates are more behaved until the three of us show up to do bed checks,” with both teachers agreeing, “We make it worse. We do enable them.”

Overall, the conference would not be possible without our school advisors leading and teaching us, and we appreciate the amount of time and effort they put in. Make sure to thank your advisors today for all the time and effort they put into supporting your club.

The Haunting of Capitol Hill

Written by Angelina Taramona and Willa Smith

As we stroll along the streets of Nashville this weekend, we may take a moment to appreciate the architecture of Capitol Hill and its surrounding grounds. While admiring the two-story high limestone ceilings and wooden doors of the Capitol’s architecture, along with its 1800s roots and Grecian pillars, one may not guess that it has a haunted history. 

Built in 1845 and officially opened in 1859, Tennessee’s state capitol has had a dark past since the architect William Strickland’s death in 1854. Strickland passed during the building of the Capitol and is now buried inside in a mausoleum under the Capitol floors, his “remains…[being] in the northeast wall,” says Chris Bungaard. The haunted halls of the Capitol have continued to grow over the years, as Strickland is not the only one buried within these walls. With him is Samuel Morgan, the Chairman of the Capitol Commission. The two had argued extensively over the project’s cost and design during their life, and when Strickland passed, it was Morgan who wanted his remains in the walls. Strickland did not remain in solitude for long, and Morgan was placed in the Southeast corner wall after his passing. The dueling architect’s relationship is embedded into the Capitol walls, and arguments are still heard by some even today.

The list of bodies does not end there, as the construction of the hill used slave labor to develop the $900,000 project. As construction was occurring, their bodies were buried under the building. Following the opening of the Capitol and during the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866, there was a duel in the Capitol on the stairs between the first and second floors. Bullet holes and marks are still present in the Capitol walls, pillars, and railings, leaving their mark on history. This altercation stemmed from an argument in the legislature over the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which soon escalated into a bitter duel. 

Stickland’s and Morgan’s voices are not the only notable voices heard throughout these grounds; with them lies the body of President James K. Polk, with the faces of many said to vanish in portraits around his tomb, which lies within the Capitol grounds. The former President died of cholera on the way back to Tennessee, where his grave wasn’t even completed till shortly after his passing, a result of his remains being too infectious to reside in the city’s graveyard. The state then built him his own tomb. His voice is said to be heard within the halls, and his figure can be seen walking around pillars and through doors. 

The Tennessee state capitol is the only state capitol in the United States to double as a mausoleum, and with that comes the many accounts of experiences shared by visitors and government officials as they may hear or see the voices of Nashville’s lost souls that continue to haunt these limestone hallways. Think about it as you walk between Cordell Hull and Capitol Hill, and maybe you will hear or see them out of the corner of your eye.

Dolly Parton Day: “Working 9 to 5 to Get This Bill Passed”

Written by Jaclyn Owens

Dolly Parton is an iconic figure in Tennessee culture. From her music to her philanthropy, she is a kind, generous woman who changed the world with the power of her voice. 

Two representatives, Weiler Powell and Trace Nystrom, presented bill 24-2-12 to the Red House on Friday afternoon titled “Dolly Parton Day.” In summary, the goal is to replace Robert E. Lee Day on January 19th with Dolly Parton Day. During their presentation, the delegates cited their reasoning for proposing this day as a state holiday is that the day would honor the values of Dolly Parton: “compassion, generosity, and cultural harmony.” In addition, they argued that Robert E. Lee Day reminds citizens of the tragic history of slavery in the country. The bill would replace this day, therefore shifting the focus away from a time when the country was divided. 

During the pro-con debate, many different perspectives were addressed. During the first pro round, a delegate questioned, “Do you believe replacing Dolly Parton Day with Robert E. Lee Day will create a better message of inclusivity to the state?” The delegates answered yes to this question, saying that Dolly Parton is a symbol of inclusivity. Her organization “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library” is a nonprofit organization that gifts free books to children no matter the family’s income. The organization has donated over 2 million books to children across the world. Powell and Nystrom used her organization as an example of her charitable work and inclusivity. Their hope is that the establishment of Dolly Parton Day will encourage Tennesseans to donate to the Imagination Library. 

In their presentation, the delegates said that Dolly Parton Day will “encourage people to join in on the philanthropic endeavors that she has made throughout her career.” Dolly Parton promotes inclusivity with the example of the Imagination Library, and she is a strong example of the character that Tennesseans should uphold. 

During the final pro round, a speaker addressed the floor stating that, “While this bill may appear trivial[…]it sets an important precedent to celebrate those who have benefited our state. While Lee was an important historical figure,[…]he has no connection with Tennessee[…]. Dolly Parton, on the other hand, is one of the most famous Tennesseans of our time. She has helped millions of children, including myself, gain access to quality books in addition to aiding in the horrid forest fires that struck the Smokies four years ago. I urge the passage of this bill to ensure we celebrate Tennessee heroes now and for years to come.” This speech describes who Dolly is to many Tennesseans and who Robert E. Lee is. While he was an important figure, his ideals do not align with those of today. However, Dolly Parton serves as a symbol of Tennessee through her compassion and philanthropy. 

In the summation of their presentation, the delegates urged the passage of their bill to leave the past behind and look toward the future. They acknowledged the positive effect that Dolly Parton has had on the state. She has changed the lives of people in the state of Tennessee and the world. They reminded their peers that the day would remind citizens of her charitable work and encouraged them to donate to her organizations. 

To end, Powell and Nystrom promised to work “9 to 5 to get this bill passed.” Not surprisingly, the bill passed with flying colors, highlighting the impact that Dolly Parton has had on the lives of Tennesseans.