Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Feds give Tennessee $3.4 million for former Goodyear workers (M. Biz Journal)
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has received a $3.4 million National Emergency Grant that will help train and reemploy 850 of 1,983 workers that were laid off when Goodyear Tire And Rubber Co. shut down its Union City manufacturing facility. The company announced the facility would be shut down in February and anticipated it would take until the end of the year to end operations. However, Goodyear abruptly shut the facility for good in late July. In April, Goodyear workers were approved for federal assistance because their jobs were affected by foreign trade through the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The program aids workers in job training and job searches, as well as health care and relocation allowances. Clearly this grant is great news for the displaced workers at Goodyear, Karla Davis, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor, said in a statement. With the dual support provided under Trade Adjustment
Assistance and this National Emergency Grant, these individuals will have a full range of assistance in order to get back to work. http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2011/11/09/feds-give-tennessee-34-million-for.html
THP Emails Describe 'Covert' Plan, Concerns About Arrests (WTVF-TV Nashville)
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has obtained emails sent by state officials as they launched two nights of arrests at Occupy Nashville. Perhaps most stunning those emails show concerns that all the manpower put into the arrests could end up causing more deaths on the roads. Those emails -- more than 250 messages in all -- were released late W ednesday under Tennessee's public records law. Long before Occupy protestors prepared for arrest on that first night -- arrests that finally came around 3 a.m. on Oct. 28 -- the emails show Department of Safety and Homeland Security personnel engaged in what they called a "covert operation." "The dress will be covert to blend into the crowd," wrote John Albertson III, director of the Highway Patrol's Special Investigation Bureau. "They will send any updates as to crowd size, placement and significant events." W hich they did: 8:42 p.m. -"Group still gathered and discussing rights and peaceful arrest." 11:08 p.m. -- "Still peaceful. TPAC play released 2
with large crowd leaving." 11:34 p.m. -- "One male white in all black carrying an old military type gas mask on side seen in crowd. Still peaceful." http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16003432/thp-emails-describe-covert-operation-concerns-about-occupyarrests
Staffer says she was urinated on near Occupy Nashville protesters (W KRN-TV)
The state is investigating reports that at least one staff member on Tennessee's Capitol Hill has been urinated on from above a Legislative Plaza courtyard just a few yards from where dozens of Occupy Nashville members are continuing their protest. A memo has gone out from the director of the Legislative Administration warning staffers to be "aware of their surroundings when in the courtyard area." The memo said there was "an incident involving debris/substance falling from the upper plaza down into the courtyard area behind House Hearing Rooms 29, 30 and 31." The memo went on to say the Tennessee Highway Patrol has been notified and is "making an effort to ensure the area is safe." "We are hopeful that this will not happen again," the memo concluded. One staffer was asked if she believed the incident was caused by Occupy Nashville members or homeless people who have gravitated to the area since protesters starting camping there in early October. The staffer did not want to be identified, but told Nashville's News 2, "We never had these problems in my years here before the protesters showed up." The staffer who believes she was urinated on, a lawmaker's secretary, "It's absolutely the most disgusting thing that's happened to me up here. I was hit on the hair, my sweater, slacks and shoes." http://www.wkrn.com/story/15999336/staffer-urinated-on-near-occupy-nashville-protesters
Experts: Quake research needed in East Tenn. Seismic Zone (TFP/Johns, Sohn)
An earthquake expert said the 2.7 magnitude earthquake that hit Dalton, Ga., W ednesday and a 2.5 tremor in Dyersburg, Tenn., point up a need for further quake research in the East Tennessee Seismic Zone. "At the end of the day, it's the second-most-active seismic zone in the eastern United States, but we just don't know a lot about it," said Gary Patterson, director of education and outreach for the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis. Experts say the Dalton quake, reported by Whitfield and Catoosa county residents at 11:45 a.m. EST, was centered a mile west and southwest of the city and about three miles underground. It was felt from Dayton, Tenn., to Atlanta and from Gainesville, Ga., into Alabama. No damage was reported, but Whitfield officials evacuated the county courthouse for a brief time. Patterson said scientists use the times and movements shown on quake instruments and look at quake trends over time to try to map fault lines and estimate the maximum credible magnitude in a seismic zone. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/nov/10/quake-research-needed-expert-says/?local 4
TN senators back bill to close online sales tax 'loophole' (Nashville Biz Journal)
Tennessees U.S. senators are cosponsoring a bill that supporters say will solve a national dilemma over online sales tax collection and generate up to $500 million in new tax revenue for the state. In a conference call with reporters this morning, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican, discussed the Marketplace Fairness Act he helped develop. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is among the 10 senators, evenly split among Republicans and Democrats, supporting the bill, Alexander said. It ends a subsidy for some businesses over others, Alexander said. I predict this will change things. The official unveiling of the bill comes after the Nashville Business Journal first reported that Alexander was developing legislation. The bill, which he developed alongside Sens. Mike Enzi, R-W yo., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., allows states to require that online retailers collect sales taxes through a variety of options that would simplify the collection process and include a small-business exemption. http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2011/11/09/lamar-alexander-amazon-ebay-sales-tax.html
Alexander defends EPA power plants air quality rule (Times Free-Press/Carroll)
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander denounced deregulation this week, bucking a conservative colleagues plan to weaken a key air quality rule. Pollution makes our Great Smoky Mountains more like the Great Smoggy Mountains, Alexander said Monday evening on the Senate floor. We like to see our mountains. And we like for the 9 million visitors who come visit us every year to stay a long time and spend a lot of money. The Tennessee Republican talked tourism along with economic development and public health after Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul sought to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency rule limiting wind-blown pollution from power plants. Air pollution blowing from one state into another makes our citizens sick, especially our younger Tennesseans and our older Tennesseans, Alexander said. For now, the Clean Air Act authorizes the EPA to limit how much each state can pollute within neighboring states. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/nov/10/alexander-defends-epa-power-plants-air-quality-rul/?local
Middle TN veterans face delays for care (TN, USA Today/Wilemon, Zoroya, Monies)
Veterans in Middle Tennessee have some of the longest wait times in the nation for a new patient mental health appointment, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs data. The analysis 6
determined that nearly a third of the nations VA hospitals had wait times longer than the agencys goal of seeing patients in 14 days or less. The findings are in contrast to the VAs assertion that fewer than 5 percent of patients must wait too long to begin therapy with psychiatrists or psychologists. The USA TODAY analysis follows concerns raised by scores of VA clinicians in an August survey that the VA does not have the resources to handle growing numbers of veterans with mental health problems. In Middle Tennessee, the average time for a new patient appointment was 25 days, which put the VA system here among the five with the longest average waits. Veterans who cant get through often call civilian nonprofit organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111110/NEWS/311100032/Middle-Tennessee-veterans-face-delays-care? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
Biodiesel fuel eyed for Putnam County school buses (Associated Press)
The Putnam County Board of Education plans to look into the use of biodiesel fuels for its school buses. According to the Cookeville Herald-Citizen, education officials are reviewing alternatives because of fluctuating 7
fuel costs and tight budgets (http://bit.ly/vfSoA3 ). County Commissioner David Gentry said it would be important for the county to join others in using biodiesel fuel. Officials said they may review Clarksville's experience in using biodiesel fuel in school buses there. http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=tennessean&sParam=37908763.story
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/nov/10/for-accountability-in-schools/?opinionfreepress
Editorial: State stumbled before allowing free assembly in Legislative Plaza (NS)
Once state officials came to their senses with the help of a federal judge and allowed Occupy Nashville to continue its presence in the Legislative Plaza, a curious thing occurred: The free exchange of ideas broke out. The face-to-face discussions held Nov. 3 when the Young Republicans of Vanderbilt University engaged in a counterprotest against Occupy Nashville advocates presented compelling evidence that the curfew and protesting restrictions imposed by the Haslam administration were illegal at worst and counterproductive at best. Occupy Nashville protesters had camped out in the Legislative Plaza, which is adjacent to the state Capitol, for weeks. Two weekends ago, Gov. Bill Haslam imposed a curfew on people gathered in the public square and required a $1 million insurance policy of any group that wanted to demonstrate there in the future. The Tennessee Highway Patrol began enforcing the curfew Oct. 25, taking 29 people into custody. They arrested another 26 people the next day. A reporter for the Nashville Scene was among those put in handcuffs. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/nov/10/editorial-state-stumbled-before-allowing-free-in/
Free-Press Editorial: Obamacare vs. free choice in medical care (Times FreePress)
Most people probably agree it is desirable to have medical insurance. Lack of insurance can have costly consequences. But should the federal government require anyone to buy government-approved medical insurance? Judging from countless opinion polls on unpopular ObamaCare, a great many Americans would say no. And the Constitution certainly says no. Will ObamaCare remain in effect? It's hard to tell. Federal court rulings -- including a recent split opinion by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia -have come down on both sides. The D.C. court stated that "The right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems." Of course, we don't know many people who believe there is an "absolute" right to be free of federal regulation. Rather, the question is whether ObamaCare, which was passed solely by Democrats in Congress in 2010, is 9
constitutional. It isn't, and the divided court decisions mean it is likely to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/nov/10/medical-care-and-free-choice/?opinionfreepress
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