AP/WMOT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — If you plan on voting in the August 4 election, election officials want you to know that Tuesday is the last day you can register.

Officials say voter registration applications must be turned in at the Commission Office by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. Mail-in applications have to be postmarked no later than July 5.

Voters can register at election commission offices in each Tennessee county or online. Officials say anyone who registers online must vote the first time in person and are not eligible to vote absentee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down abortion laws in Texas that are nearly identical to abortion regulations on the books in Tennessee.

The justices voted 5-3 Monday in favor of Texas clinics that protested the regulations as a thinly veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get an abortion in the nation's second-most populous state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of Tennessee’s largest companies has lost a precedent setting Supreme Court case that defines the limits of Native American tribal court authority.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday that justices were deadlocked 4-4 in a closely watched dispute between the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and mid-state based Dollar General Corp. The impasse leaves a lower court decision in place that favors the tribe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tennessee and 25 other states have blocked President Obama’s attempts to shield millions of immigrants from deportation thanks to a 4-4 decision announced by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices' one-sentence opinion delivered Thursday morning effectively kills the plan for the duration of Obama's presidency.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating threats made against a state lawmaker after he announced plans to give away an AR-15 rifle.

The weapons are similar to the one used to murder 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday.

Republican state Rep. Andy Holt says his office was contacted repeatedly by an anonymous caller with a Memphis phone ID. The caller said he was armed and threatened to pay Holt’s office a visit.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold says he won't leave office despite facing federal corruption charges.

The Daily News Journal reports Arnold sent a text message Saturday to one of the newspaper's reporters that said he had no intention of resigning.

WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — The man Time magazine called “the reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.” says the 2016 presidential election may decide the fate of American democracy.

Dr. Albert Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In a recent edition of his daily podcast, Mohler also says that populist uprisings in both the Republican and Democratic parties are making this election cycle challenging for evangelical Christians.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — A Tennessee man is facing still more charges in connection with a plot to attack a Muslim community in New York, and an Islamic advocacy group is asking why he isn’t in jail.

Sixty-four-year-old Robert Doggart pleaded not guilty in July to one charge of solicitation to commit a civil rights violation.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that a grand jury also indicted Doggart on one count of solicitation to commit arson of a building and two counts of threat in interstate commerce charges.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — A bill requiring students to use restrooms matching their gender at birth is advancing again in the Tennessee House after being revived in committee.

The House Education Committee voted 8-4 Wednesday to reverse an earlier decision to sideline the bill.

The measure’s supporters say the bill is needed to protect children who might otherwise be forced to share a restroom with a person of the opposite sex. Detractors say the bill would discriminate against transgender students.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A bill calling for more free speech rights at public colleges and universities in Tennessee has been withdrawn after the sponsor said it would allow Islamic State recruiters to operate on campuses.

Republican Rep. Martin Daniel of Knoxville was challenged Wednesday about the impact that his "Tennessee Student Free Speech Protection Act" would have on campuses.

Democratic Rep. John Deberry of Memphis asked whether it would go so far as to allow people to stand in the middle of campus and "recruit for ISIS."

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP/WMOT)  --   People in Southeast Texas are being evacuated from their flooded homes today and Tennessee volunteers with the Red Cross are on the move to provide aid.

People living along the Sabine River along the Texas – Louisiana line are facing the worst flooding the region has seen since 1884. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for much of the region.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the clear Super Tuesday presidential primary winners, including here in Tennessee.

Trump won seven of the 11 states in which Republicans voted. Clinton enjoyed sweeping victories in large states like Texas, Virginia and Georgia putting her far ahead of rival Bernie Sanders.

Donald Trump pulled down 39 percent of the vote in Tennessee’s Republican primary, topping the vote count in every county but one. Marco Rubio was the Republican favorite in Williamson County.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A skeptical congressional panel led by Tennessee Senator Bob Corker will grill Secretary of State John Kerry today about the deal he struck this week with Russia for a ceasefire in Syria.

Kerry is scheduled to testify today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee amid nagging questions over enforcement of the truce and how violations of the agreement will be handled.

The cease-fire is to go into effect Saturday.

Congressional mistrust of Russia runs high on Capitol Hill and is sure to color the hearing.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  WASHINGTON (AP) —  Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz released a new campaign ad Monday focused on the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

The ad warns conservatives they they’re "just one Supreme Court justice away" from losing on key issues including “marriage, religious liberty [and] the Second Amendment."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Officials say less than 0.2 percent of Tennesseans who have applied for welfare since July 2014 have failed a drug test mandated for some.

Citing data provided by the Department of Human Services the Tennessean reports that 65 of 39,121 people applying for Families First cash assistance benefits tested positive for drugs since the law was implemented.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — The Tennessee lawmaker who introduced a bill seeking to bar the state from following the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling says he is undeterred by a projected loss of $8.5 billion in federal funds if the Legislature enacts the measure.

State Rep. Mark Pody said at a rally at the state Capitol Tuesday that the proposal he’s dubbed the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" is worth any cost, even though the Lebanon Republican disputed the estimated loss of federal funds.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Embattled Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Durham has survived an effort to oust him from his leadership role among state House Republicans.

Before discussing Durham’s fate, House Republicans voted to eject the media from Tuesday’s meeting. A secret ballot to remove Durham as majority whip then failed to reach the required two-thirds vote.

Prosecutors in 2013 sought charges against Durham on allegations that he had altered the dates on medical prescriptions, but a grand jury declined to indict him in 2014.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chancellor John Morgan is stepping down as head of the Tennessee Board of Regents following Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's announcement that he wants to grant more autonomy to the six four-year universities in the system.

Haslam surprised Morgan and many others in the higher education community when he announced plans last month to re-focus the Board of Regents on the state's 40 community and technical colleges.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP/WMOT)  --  Tennessee’s Republican leadership was quick to pan new gun control measures announced yesterday by President Barack Obama.

Speaking at the White House, Obama defended his executive actions to tighten criminal background checks, saying he’s not plotting to take away everyone’s guns.

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes responded with a press statement saying that the president’s actions “could undermine our constitutional rights.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers say they continue to get calls from their constituents expressing concern about the vetting process for allowing Syrian refugees in the state.

A joint legislative committee heard testimony yesterday from security officials and refugee advocates.

A highlight of the testimony came from David Shedd, former director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, who acknowledged there are some weaknesses in the federal vetting process.