Former nurse sentenced for dosing error seeks license return

NASHVILLE (AP) — A former Tennessee nurse who was convicted of homicide last year after a medication error killed a patient argued Tuesday that the state Board of Nursing acted improperly when it revoked her license.

Nurses around the country rallied for RaDonda Vaught during her criminal trial, saying the risk of going to prison for a mistake made nursing intolerable. Vaught was ultimately sentenced to three years of probation.

At the Tuesday hearing at Chancery Court in Nashville, her attorney pointed out that the Department of Health initially reviewed Vaught’s errors and concluded the case “did not merit further action” in a 2018 letter. That should have been the end of the review, attorney Peter Strianse argued. Instead, about a year later, the department reversed itself, charging Vaught with unprofessional conduct and eventually revoking her license.

Strianse implied that outside pressure, including the fact that the Nashville district attorney decided to prosecute Vaught, led to the reversal, rather than any new evidence against her. The second review was a kind of improper double jeopardy, he argued.

Police: Tennessee boy stole school bus, drove on interstate

NASHVILLE (AP) — A 14-year-old in Tennessee stole a school bus on Saturday and drove it around Nashville before police were able to capture the teen as he tried to turn it around in the middle of Interstate 40, according to police.

The teen took the bus from Kipp College Prep in the Antioch neighborhood. He drove it across town to West Nashville where he hit a diesel fuel pump and allegedly tried to run someone over at a service station at around 4 p.m., according to a news release from the Metro Nashville Police Department.

From there, the teen allegedly drove onto I-40 heading west, hitting a car in the process. Officers pursued the bus on the interstate as it traveled at speeds of 60 mph and 65 mph, police said. They deployed a spike strip near exit 192 to try to stop the bus.

“The teen evidently saw the spike strip, slowed the bus, and attempted to turn around in the middle of the west bound lanes,” according to police.