Archive for February, 2008
Will heads roll at state GOP meeting?
The Nashville Post conjectures that Saturday’s get-together of the TN GOP Executive Committee may result in at least one firing:
Since the story broke on Wednesday drawing attention to a press release issued by the Tennessee Republican Party titled “Anti-Semites for Obama,” the state party has been either publicly chastised or rebuked by the Republican National [...]
Margie Loyd’s missing receipts?
Greg Isaacs says she turned them in, and somehow the auditor never saw them.
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No, really, there’s a BULL attacking my HOUSE!
Check out this very entertaining Knox County 911 call from earlier this week.
I think my favorite part is where the 911 operator asks the guys what color the bull attacking his house is.
ADDENDUM: No one was hurt, and the guy you hear calling 911 in the tape now finds it pretty funny. You can [...]
“The media ate my homework”
Mike Arms is among several Ragsdale staffers who say they are certain some of the receipts flagged as missing in the p-card draft audit were actually turned in. And today, he offers a novel theory as to where the missing documentation might have gone:
Arms questioned whether some receipts have been lost, including the possibility that [...]
Read More..>>McCain having a negative impact on congressional fundraising?
David Oatney thinks so:
Watching Minority Leader John Boehner implore his House colleagues to get off their “dead asses” and help raise money for the struggling National Republican Congressional Committee is a helpful reminder of the importance of morale in determining the balance of power in Congress.
And the Republican leader wasn’t the only lawmaker berating [...]
Mike Padgett taps campaign team
Metro Pulse by way of Volunteer Voters notes:
We mentioned yesterday that Bob Tuke had tapped Ben Chao to run his embryonic effort for U.S.. Senate. Today we learn that Former Knox County Clerk Mike Padgett has signed a big name operator as well.
Metro Pulse reports that Randy Button and Jed Brewer’s Blue Solutions will [...]
UT-Memphis game breaks ESPN ratings record
Wow.
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NYT on McCain: tilting at sexual windmills
E.J. Dionne explains how the much-derided recent NYT piece derailed legitimate questions about McCain’s interactions with lobbyists by tilting at sexual windmills:
It seems odd, but for John McCain it was a blessing to have the chance to bury questions about his dealings with lobbyists beneath an alleged sex scandal. The prurient part of the story [...]
Who’s buying the houses in Knoxville these days?
Some interesting stats from a local realtor’s blog:
Married couples still make up the overwhelming majority of the Knoxville area buying market and that group is trending toward younger, first time buyers….Coming in second in buyers that buy are single women; a trend that has remained constant for the past several years. Single women buy about [...]
Coal-fired plants on trial
A judge has ruled that the N.C. Attorney General’s case against TVA can go to trial:
Cooper’s lawsuit claims that the utility hasn’t done enough to reduce the sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and soot carried by winds across the mountains into North Carolina from 11 coal-fired power plants in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.
The pollutants cause [...]
PHOTOBLOGGING: Vestal crossing
Photo by John Kerns.
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Maybe they met at Club Le Conte
Mayor Ragsdale and his staff met with Knox County auditor Richard Walls this morning to get their copy of the draft audit, and to request an extension on submitting their response:
According to Ragsdale spokesman Susanne Dupes, the extension was granted during a Friday morning meeting during which Ragsdale was presented with the audit by Knox [...]
Well, it’s definitely not a skunk-ape
More discussion on the Roane County mystery beast.
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Pig of the week
No, no…this isn’t a political post.
This is about Wilbur, a sweet Tennessee piggie who needs a new home:
Meet Wilbur, very possibly BCAC’s very first “Pig of the Week”. Wilbur (we did not name him, his previous owner did) was picked up for running at large in a neighborhood. His previous owner surrendered him, due to [...]
No homeschooler left behind
Homeschoolers are way unhappy at the idea that the state might start requiring their kids to take the same state-administered standardized tests schooled kids must take:
Several lawmakers reported getting thousands of calls and e-mails about the issue. J. Claiborne Thornton III, president of the Tennessee Home Education Association, said requiring tests would limit parents’ flexibility [...]
Who gets to hit kids?
A case in Hancock County in which a school administrator hit a student so hard the child needed medical attention is leading to a lot of discussion . Over at Roane Views, White’s Creek says:
When our first child is very young, all parents face decisions on how to raise, teach, and discipline them. To [...]
Why so many prisoners?
Southern Beale blogs about our “prison nation:”
For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report.
Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are [...]
She’s in the momzone
Merrilee blogs:
tonight I forgot about all the things that i sometimes think a “perfect” mom should be and for a brief moment I had complete clarity that motherhood is all about being lucky enough to share your life with a little perfect being (they will always be little, no matter how old they get…if not [...]
A matter of open record
Yesterday’s release of the draft audit of p-card spending in the Ragsdale administration is an important reminder of why the press and the public need open access to government records. WBIR’s News Director (and my boss), Bill Shory has written a commentary on why WBIR chose to push for the release of the p-card draft [...]
Read More..>>PHOTOBLOGGING: Watching the river
Photo by Shane and Ruth.
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