More Widespread Panic hits Knoxville!
No, I’m not talking about gas or food riots, I’m talking about the third night of Widespread Panic at the Tennessee Theatre shows that AC Entertainment has just added to the schedule. Apparently, the first two nights already sold out.
Knoxcentric satire
Via Michael Silence, I see that one of my favorite local blogs has emerged from a long nap. It’s funny stuff. Go check it out. I suspect I’ll be linking to this one regularly…
Hay and oats are still cheaper than gas
We’ll have video later, but check out this great story about a Rockwood High School student who rode his horse to school today:
A Roane County student is making a four-legged statement about high gas prices.
Rockwood High School senior Bradley Walker rode his horse, Pumpkin, to school Tuesday morning.
Walker said he hung a sign on the horse that read, “Solution to higher gas prices.”
Walker told 10News the 3 to 4 mile ride from home to school took him about 45 minutes.
Walker said he set up a corral for Pumpkin to stay in at Rockwood High during the school day.
(I think my fave part of the story is that the school let him “set up a corral” for Pumpkin 
)
Why in the world would we take someone else’s radioactive garbage?
That’s the excellent question Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN) is asking:
“Let me start off by saying this: There’s only one nation in the world that allows radioactive low-level waste to come in and be stored. That’s the United States,” the Tennessee Democrat said emphatically. “There are about a dozen nations, including Canada and Mexico, that have no storage of their own. So it’s only logical that if we’re the only nation we’re going to see more and more of them bringing their low-level wastes here.”
He added: “If they can do it, there’s no incentive for them to take care of it for themselves.”
Gordon said he has real problems with the EnergySolutions plan, which would process the waste initially at the company’s Oak Ridge facilities and then ship what’s left from processing to the company’s landfill at Clive, Utah.
He said he’s concerned that space will run out at the Utah landfill at the same time the U.S. nuclear industry is ramping up and diversifying to meet the the nation’s energy production requirements.
“There’s a limited, finite amount of storage there,” the congressman said. “And you’re going to see more need for that low-level radioactive storage. So, why in the world are we going to use our limited storage, no matter what it might be, for the rest fot he world, which in turn could harm our ability here? That’s why I have introduced legislation . . . It simply pulls us in line with the rest of the world in (saying) that the United States will not accept low-level radioactive waste unless the president waives that for national security reasons.”
Local blogger was TIME’s Man of the Year
Rob Lloyd is looking back at the year when TIME recognized him:
In 1967 Time chose the under-25 generation as its Man of the Year. It was me, and if you’re reading a midlife blog, it was probably you too.
Time wrote, “In its lifetime, this promising generation could land on the moon, cure cancer and the common cold, lay out blight-proof, smog-free cities, help end racial prejudice, enrich the underdeveloped world and, no doubt, write an end to poverty and war.”
A lot was expected
The June issue of Vanity Fair has Bobby Kennedy on the cover.
The cover story is excerpted from the forthcoming book The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America by Thurston Clarke. It’s accompanied by terrific photographs from A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties. It takes me back to that time when we were Time’s Man of the Year and we were going to end poverty and war, just like Time said we would.
UFO in Knoxville
This find Knoxville program has a new website.
Maybe the Knox County GOP needs to hug it out?
The drama within the ranks continues.
More deep thoughts by Stacey Campfield
Campfieldism of the week - maybe of the month:
Well the word has come out that we are going to offer buy out packages to 2,011 “non essential employees” of the state. The package is most likely going to include one years pay and free college education for new hires and one year pay for retirees. Those who were going to retire are now holding out for the extra payday. Most of the expense would come from reserves held in the department (Another area that needs to be looked at are these reserves that are held by departments year after year and are not counted as part of the budget or their budget. It is like a inter government slush fund).
The things that kills me are; if they are “non essential employees” then why did we hire them in the first place? (emphasis mine)<
BR>
Blogorama!
We have new bloggers joining us at WBIR.com every day. Check some of them out. You can subscribe to the ones you like via RSS feed.
The mining debate
This week on Inside Tennessee, our guests Dawn Coppock and mining industry lobbyist Chuck Laine went head to head over the controversial practice of “mountaintop removal mining.” Watch for yourself and see how you think each side’s argument holds up.
Comparing two big political family weddings
Photos from Democrat Harold Ford Jr’s recent wedding (Brazilian dancers!) (look quickly before they get taken down) compared with photos from Republican Jenna Bush’s recent wedding.
Discuss.
The lingering p-card J’s Mega Mart Mystery
The KnoxBlab satirist ponders the mystery of p-card spending at J’s Mega Mart:
On page 35 of the audit, in Exhibit 3, “Knox County Mayor’s Office Questionable Transactions Remaining — Michael Ragsdale Purchasing Card,” Item #46 is listed as 9/30/05/ J’s Mega Mart/ $19.65.
“But the really, really puzzling one is J’s,” said Walls. “I’m confident that whatever it was, it was a legitimate business is expense. It’s just driving me crazy trying to think what it might be. Knives — they’ve got good knives cheap at J’s. Maybe a visiting dignitary wanted a knife as a memento? Maybe something to gnosh? ‘Cos the mayor did a lot of P-card dining.”
The audit also address local meals.
Ragsdale’s office spent $34,000 on local meals from October 2002 to May 2007.
Walls said his staff was unable to find a reference to local meals in the purchasing card entries under the general ledger account “Purchases at J’s Mega Mart.” Walls said that account is for “eggs, milk, toilet plungers, Jones soda, cook ware, utensils, and dinnerware, expenses for human food supplies, and animal food and supplies and haberdashery incidentals.”
“It is not clear that this is related to meals acquired at local restaurants,” Walls wrote.
The mayor’s office issued a statement insisting that the J’s Mega Mart $19.65 charge was “cleared.”
“It was cleared, it is cleared and it’s going to stay cleared,” reads the statement in part. “It’s as clear a sky-blue spring day, and that’s pretty darn clear. Question any of the other charges all you want — but the $19.65 at J’s, it’s cleared I tell you!”
Firing bloggers/hiring bloggers
It’s hard to believe that in 2008, newsrooms are still firing reporters for their extra-vocational blogging.
A smart editor/news director who discovers a talented and active blogger with some sort of readership working in his or her newsroom wouldn’t FIRE that person, instead, the bossperson would figure out a way to tap into that employee’s pre-existing blogging base and make blogging part of that employee’s job.
The tip jar dilemma
LaSaundra Brown is wondering how folks feel about tip jars:
Now I’m a giver by heart…I genuinely enjoy giving to people. So naturally, when I go out to eat, I’m a good tipper as well. I usually give 20 percent, but there are more times than not, that I end up giving way more than that. I believe a person who is serving me, waiting on me, deserves to get extra. I’ve never waited tables, but I know it’s not an easy job. And that’s part of the luxury of going out to eat. You don’t have to do the dirty work. Since you have someone to clean up after you, and cook your food, tipping is a generous way of saying “I appreciate you.” Frankly, I believe if you can’t afford to tip properly, you might want to consider eating at home instead of dining out.
But, if someone is getting paid to make my coffee, or fix my food to go, isn’t that their job? Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do? I’m trying to figure out why that should warrant a few extra bucks in tip money.
Both of my parents owned restaurants when I was growing up. (My mom’s job as a restaurant owner was in addition to her already full time job as a Police Officer.) I spent a lot of time during the summer at my dad’s chicken restaurant. One summer when I was about eight years old, I remember helping out at the front counter. The customers were impressed by my work ethic, seeing a young girl so eager to help. A couple of the customers started giving me tips. But, my dad put a stop to that real quick! I remember him saying to one of the customers very matter of fact, “I don’t want her going around expecting something from people every time she does a good job.”
Read the final Knox County p-card audit
Just released.
What jumps out at you from the final audit?
An East Tennessee VP?
Kleinheider points to a Chicago Tribune nod to Lamar Alexander’s chances.
TV newsrooms a-twitter
From Shoptalk today.
…let’s say a reporter is doing a story on new highway construction and their key interview just cancelled. Imagine if you could instantly tap the brains of every person in the newsroom, no matter where they are throughout the city. They post, “My interview just cancelled, I need an expert on road construction.”
Social networking exponentially amplifies the rolodex of every person in the newsroom. By utilizing mobile based networks like Twitter and Pownce, we solve one of the fundamental problems of news gathering – communicating with co-workers who are spread all over the city.
We also provide a vehicle for our audience to join in on the reporting process. We enroll them in the creation and investigation of great stories. We ask for their help through personal experiences, contacts, or other resources we don’t know about. We turn them into on-line participants, not just passive viewers.
We’ve always done this on a linear scale. We call up people on the phone to ask for an interview. Now we can ask thousands of people simultaneously, and reach them no matter what their location. The audience becomes a participant in a journey of discovery with the reporter leading the charge. These new social networking tools bring community-based reporting to a whole new level.
Please feel free to sign up for my Knoxville Talks Twitter feed. I promise not to bombard you.
Without better schools, can Downtown redevelopment go all the way?
I live in an urban neighborhood near Downtown Knoxville. My school-age children attend schools in other areas of town (they were already ensconced there when we moved to the ‘hood). But I really hope that my 9 month old, youngest child will be able to attend neighborhood schools.
But I’ll admit to some nervousness about it. And I talk to many, many people on a regular basis who say that they love the idea of moving into one of the wonderful neighborhoods ringing Downtown, such as North Hills, Parkridge, Old North Knoxville, Fourth and Gill, Island Home, etc. However, they say that they simply can’t imagine moving their kids out of, say, West Hills Elementary, over to Christenberry Elementary.
It’s a topic the Tennessean explores today in their ongoing series on Nashville schools: can Nashville - as a city - become all it has the potential to be when the city schools (as opposed to suburban ones) are so mediocre?
And I think Knoxville is going to have to face the same question. While Gay Street loft buyers get to send their kids to Sequoyah Elementary (now THAT’s some creative zoning!), those of us living in 4th and Gill don’t have that option. And the folks who might be drawn to the exciting redevelopment along North Central will also face serious school quality issues, should they consider raising a family in that neighborhood.
It’s a sensitive subject. I know that many of the families who have always lived in these neighborhoods have long, proud traditions with their neighborhood schools. Folks in my neighborhood, for example, are true-blue Fulton High School boosters. Suggestions that the schools in these neighborhoods need radical change can ruffle feathers.
But it’s a conversation we’re going to have to have if these wonderful and important neighborhoods are going to truly come back to life.
A new kind of “Victory Garden”
Are rising gas and food prices leading you to reconsider where and how you get your own food?
At a party this weekend I spoke to a woman who has started doing the same thing, on a small scale, but she has ambitions for creating a much larger garden next year. We discussed the rising cost of food and how it is unlikely to abate with the increasing demands of a petroleum-based economy that is running ever drier as global demand increases exponentially to critical levels, affecting the cost of food production in particular. It isn’t going to get better, not for a long time.
I’ve heard of other people taking up gardening as more than just a hobby, with a goal beyond merely producing enough homegrown tomatoes for summer treats. People I wouldn’t have thought particularly green-thumbed are getting serious about learning how to produce enough vegetables to sustain them through the fall and winter, how to can and preserve. And for the first time in my life, I’m interested in it. I won’t be able to garden on a grand scale this year, but friends are planning to rent land next year to form a cooperative garden.
Apart for the economic incentives, there just seems to be something more spiritually wholesome about dropping the habit of buying bell peppers shipped from half way around the world, or settling for dull, listless strawberries dyed red after being picked unripened. And why not have good tomatoes year-round, the kind that burst with flavor only provided by a carefully tended garden? We used to can them every year when I was growing up. My grandparents always grew tomatoes, green beans, and corn, three staples always found lining their shelves in mason jars. We never had to buy that stuff growing up.
I’m not a half-bad baker, and bread-making as a daily enterprise is another thing I could get into. I’m pretty much over the loaves of spongy bread found in grocery stores that have about as much taste as their plastic wrapping. I could go on, I guess, but, OK, I’ll draw the line at raising chickens.
Seriously, the world is changing fast, and forcing changes in our individual lives many of us never expected. Waste is catching up with us, in other words, and it’s time to slow down, smarten up, and learn something.
Is Lamar Alexander a “fossil fool?”
Senatorial opponent Bob Tuke takes Sen. Alexander’s clean energy “Manhattan Project” proposal to task with this press release:
For Immediate Release, 10 May 2008,
Contact: Chris Song, (615) 202-0595
TUKE FOR TENNESSEE ON SENATOR ALEXANDER’S
“MANHATTAN PROJECT” PROPOSAL
Nashville - Senator Alexander has attempted to reinvent himself and his anti-environmental voting record with his proposal for a “Manhattan Project” on alternative energy sources, an election year stunt aimed at covering up the truth about Senator Alexander’s close ties and vested interests with Big Oil.
Senator Alexander has received $109,100 this election cycle alone from fossil fuel industries like Big Oil. In return, Senator Alexander was a leader in the effort to expand drilling in America’s coastal waters, a move that would mar our coastlines and significantly increase the chances of devastating oil spills from pipe line ruptures and malfunctioning oil pumps. Senator Alexander also pushed to drill for oil in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a policy that would only work to prolong our dependence on air-polluting fossil fuels for decades while having very little impact on the price of a barrel of oil.
Now Senator Alexander, who is ranked in the Top 10 “Fossil Fools” by Mother Jones for obstructing a U.S. clean-energy future, is calling for more research into alternative energy solutions while being an outspoken opponent of the existing and proven clean energy technology of wind power because it “destroys the landscape.”
“I support investments into alternative energy solutions including cellulosic ethanol, solar power, and wind power to end our dependence on air-polluting fossil fuel consumption. Senator Alexander is calling for alternative energy research while simultaneously pushing for more oil wells to extend fossil fuel consumption and opposing the existing clean-energy solution of wind power. Senator Alexander may not like the way windmills look, but I think they look a lot better than our mountaintops destroyed by strip mines and oil pumps off our coasts and in our protected wildlife sanctuaries,” says Bob Tuke, candidate for the U.S. Senate.
