{"id":495175,"date":"2026-02-28T07:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T07:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495175\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T07:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T07:11:11","slug":"local-lawmakers-weigh-in-on-state-mandates-hospital-closures-and-a-new-juvenile-facility-in-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495175\/","title":{"rendered":"Local lawmakers weigh in on state mandates, hospital closures, and a new juvenile facility in Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSON, Tenn. \u2014 Immigration was one of the big topics at Friday\u2019s Capitol Talk. Sen. Ed Jackson (R-District 25) and Rep. Johnny Shaw (D-District 80) addressed multiple issues impacting local communities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shaw raised concerns about how new state laws are affecting law enforcement at the local level, saying officers are caught between conflicting state and federal mandates.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur local law enforcement shouldn\u2019t have to sign an agreement to break the law just to arrest somebody,\u201d Shaw said.<\/p>\n

Rural hospital closures driving healthcare push<\/p>\n

Access to rural healthcare emerged as a central issue. More than 14 hospitals have closed across Tennessee over the last decade. Jackson said lawmakers are working to reopen shuttered facilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is reopen some of these hospitals that closed \u2014 like in Decatur County, in Perry County. We just opened the one in Brownsville, in Haywood County,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

Shaw said state funding is being directed toward a rural health initiative, but expansion of Medicaid coverage is not part of the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, they are sending money for a rural health initiative, and there\u2019s not going to be any expansion on Medicaid at all,\u201d Shaw said.<\/p>\n

New juvenile detention center planned for East Jackson<\/p>\n

Jackson announced plans for a new juvenile detention center in East Jackson. West Tennessee currently has only 11 beds for minors awaiting adjudication for serious crimes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to take care of these juveniles and make sure that they\u2019re taken care of properly, and give them the resources that they need to maybe straighten their life out,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n

Shaw addresses political representation ahead of seat transition<\/p>\n

As Shaw prepares to leave office, he addressed political representation and equal voting rights for his district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to keep the seat blue. It started blue \u2014 so that African Americans, in particular, people of color, can have equal representation,\u201d Shaw said.<\/p>\n

Shaw also stated he will not support Bolivar Mayor Julian McTizic, who announced plans to run for the seat as a Republican.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not supporting my mayor Julian McTizic. I am not,\u201d Shaw said.<\/p>\n

For more local news, click here<\/a>.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSON, Tenn. \u2014 Immigration was one of the big topics at Friday\u2019s Capitol Talk. Sen. Ed Jackson (R-District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-495175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}