The Daily Memphian: State doesn’t pay enough to compete for workers, department leaders say
A mental health care worker’s colleagues kept quitting, and patients were becoming disillusioned. More people need mental health care, as the pandemic has increased rates of anxiety and depression. But some simply can’t access it from state-funded providers because of a shortage of therapists. “People leave this organization because they cannot support a family on what we can offer,” said the unidentified worker, who sent a letter that made its way to Gov. Bill Lee last week.

NCSL: Lawmaker Pumps Pedals to Raise Funds for Storm-Damaged District
A beautiful sight awaited Tennessee Senator Kerry Roberts as he finished his100-mile bicycle ride in the town square of flood-ravaged Waverly in Humphreys County, Tenn. People. Hundreds of people, crowding businesses that had been on the brink of closing after flooding caused by Hurricane Ida wrecked the small town in late August.

Tennessee Lookout: Weary of social media prying, lawmakers delve into data privacy
State Sen. Mike Bell recalls telling his son he planned to buy new duck hunting waders. The next time he logged on to Facebook, he started receiving ads about those very hunting accessories. “That’s a little spooky when that happens,” Bell said in a recent meeting of a legislative committee studying data privacy and the potential for a state law to keep the public’s information from being misused.

Chattanooga Times Free Press: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, other GOP governors urge easing of trucking regulations amid driver shortage
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and 14 other GOP governors are pushing to lower the age for truck drivers hauling goods across state lines and boost driver training programs to help ease a driver shortage that is slowing many deliveries and creating supply bottlenecks this holiday season. Lee, chairman of the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, urged an easing of some federal regulations and signed an executive order this week for state agencies to develop ways to reduce any state barriers to shipments and to boost the number of truck drivers in Tennessee.