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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Aug. 6, 2021 - Tennessee tourism generated $16.8 billion in domestic and international travel spending in 2020, a 31.6 percent decline from the previous year according to newly-released economic impact data from U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. Travel in Tennessee generated nearly 150,000 jobs and $1.4 billion in state and local tax revenue. Despite the impact of COVID-19, efforts to promote outdoor travel opportunities helped Tennessee outperform the national average decline of 42 percent.

The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) wants Tennesseans to know additional benefits will be available for families who need help purchasing food this summer. The state’s fourth round of benefits made available as part of the Summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program will provide hundreds of dollars in benefits to qualifying families so they can immediately begin purchasing food.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry (TDF) will be accepting grant applications for the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program beginning Aug. 9 and continuing through Sept. 10, 2021. Communities that have developed or are in the process of developing a Community Wildfire Prevention Plan (CWPP) will be eligible for funding to implement hazard mitigation assistance and education projects in their CWPP.

Practice makes perfect. In the military, practice can happen when you least expect it. That is exactly what happened when the Tennessee National Guard’s 45th Civil Support Team recently took part in their Training Proficiency Evaluation in late July.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Oldcastle APG leaders announced today that the company will expand operations in Clarksville, creating 45 new jobs. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Whisper Aero officials announced today that the company will establish new operations and locate its headquarters in Crossville. 

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) today held a grand opening and tree planting ceremony for a new Division of Forestry work center on Natchez Trace State Forest in Wildersville, Tenn. Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, D.V.M., State Forester David Arnold, and Division of Forestry personnel joined state and local officials, as well as Smokey Bear, to celebrate the opening.

NASHVILLE--Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions Commissioner Greg Gonzales announced today that the maximum effective formula rate of interest in Tennessee is 7.25 percent per annum. The rate is based on a ceiling of 4 percent over the weekly average prime loan rate of 3.25 percent as published by the Federal Reserve on August 2, 2021.

The Federal National Mortgage Association has discontinued its free market auction system for commitments to purchase conventional home mortgages. Therefore, the Commissioner of Financial Institutions hereby announces that the maximum effective rate of interest per annum for home loans as set by the General Assembly in 1987, Public Chapter 291, for the month of September, 2021 is 5.90 percent per annum. The rate as set by the said law is an amount equal to four percentage points above the index of market yields of long-term government bonds adjusted to a thirty (30) year maturity by the U. S. Department of the Treasury. For the most recent weekly average statistical data available preceding the date of this announcement, the calculated rate is 1.90 percent.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – This week, the Tennessee National Guard will host Vigilant Guard 2021, a statewide training exercise where National Guardsman, alongside federal, state, and local first responders, will respond to a simulated, large-scale emergency event.

PIKEVILLE – An 11-month investigation by the Tennessee Department of Correction’s Office of Investigations & Conduct (OIC) has led to the arrests of five people in East and Middle Tennessee.

Funds to research exports of Tennessee’s hardwood will benefit the wood products industry statewide and strengthen international markets. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has been awarded an Emerging Markets Program (EMP) grant from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service to study Tennessee hardwood viability in Vietnam.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes, Tennessee’s Adjutant General, announced today that Col. Warner “Nubbin” Ross, from Hardeman County, will serve as the Tennessee Military Department’s Assistant Adjutant General–Army effective immediately.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn announced the Spring 2019 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) state-level results. This is the first set of state-level data related to student academic achievement available since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.