Chas Sisk

Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada said on Tuesday he plans to step down from his position. 

Casada's decision comes hours after the House Republican Caucus cast an unprecedented 45-24 no-confidence vote in Casada, after racist and lewd text messages between him and his former chief of staff were leaked to the media. 

Gov. Bill Haslam wraps up eight years in office at the end of this week. His tenure has been marked by some nationally recognized successes — like boosting college enrollment — and one big defeat: the failure of his Medicaid expansion plan, Insure Tennessee.

Billy Ray Irick was pronounced dead Thursday night, 20 minutes after receiving a three-drug cocktail. Witnesses say there were no obvious signs that Irick suffered pain before dying.

Irick's execution was the state of Tennessee's first in nearly a decade.

Former Governor Phil Bredesen and Congressman Marsha Blackburn easily captured their parties' nominations for Senate today, as expected.

In early voting returns, Bredesen led the field for the Democratic nomination at 94 percent. Blackburn was up on a sole Republican challenger with 84 percent of the vote.

And even before the polls closed, they already started positioning themselves for the general election. It could be one of the most-watched races in the nation.

Mayor David Briley, who was sworn in last night to succeed Megan Barry, has not yet said whether he'll try to hold onto the office.

But with a short sprint scheduled to the August special election, there aren't many people who could mount a challenge.