By LARRY C. BOWERS  /  Cleveland Daily Banner New Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes visited Bradley County, touring the Lee University campus Tuesday and attending a Republican Party meeting at the courthouse. Haynes, previously a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from West Knoxville, brought a positive and ambitious message to one of the most Republican counties in […]

by Tim Omarzu  / Chattanooga Times Free Press STEVENSON, Ala. — Goodbye coal. Hello Google. Alabama officials Wednesday welcomed a $600 million plan by Google to build a data processing center as a replacement for a soon-to-be-shuttered coal plant here. Google, the online colossus that ranks as one of the world’s most valuable companies, announced Wednesday it will start construction […]

From Rocky Top Politics Gov. Haslam on the controversy over the Confederate battle flag and the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust in the state capitol: “I feel like that that Confederate battle flag is something that I think people are ready to see move to museums” Haslam said Tuesday after an event south of downtown Nashville. Brave Bill also wants to […]

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) – A Craigslist sale almost ended in a much more tragic situation when a woman tried to sell her dogs Monday afternoon. “He looked like he was real interested,” said the victim, Aleta. “He said he wanted the dogs, and I was like, ‘Cool.’” Aleta and her granddaughter met two men at Germanshire Park after they responded […]

By rockytop The TNWatchdog is reporting today that the governor’s new state logo boondoggle just got much worse.  It seems the infamous $46,000 logo that everyone hates cannot be trademarked.  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the state’s trademark application. Just 6 days ago ol’ Rocky Top Politics was warning that this was exactly what might happen, and now […]

By rockytop Administration get “schooled” by judge for illegal shut down of Virtual Academy. Pity poor Bill Haslam. He can’t seem to catch a break. He could try to attribute his latest setback to the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate, but in reality he has only himself to blame. The Virtual Academy – K12’s controversial online school – has had […]

By rockytop Jim Wrye is in a real pickle. After being run out of the Alabama teacher’s union (the ingrates didn’t even take into account his years of loyal service as the Exec. Director of the Democratic state party), he moves to Tennessee, hoping to start a new life over in the union’s Witness Protection Program. But Wrye’s troubles multiply […]

By Juli Thanki and Cindy Watts, tennessean.com Smooth-voiced singer Jim Ed Brown, a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1963 and a 2015 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, died Thursday at Williamson Medical Center in Franklin. He was 81. In September Mr. Brown revealed that he had been undergoing treatment for lung cancer. In early 2015, […]

By rockytop Okay, by now, when it comes to the proposed new state logo, everyone knows that: The Governor’s office commissioned a new logo that is really ugly and looks like a 5th grader designed it. The government paid too much for this piece of crap. The overwhelming majority of the citizens hate it. Gov. Haslam is going to force […]

By tn Council 4 political justice After the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, the FBI severed its relationship with CAIR because of its associations with the HAMAS-support network. But some FBI field offices violated the restrictions. In 2011, a continuing funding resolution signed by Obama included language that barred the FBI from partnering with unindicted co-conspirators like CAIR. Two years later, […]

By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog NASHVILLE — If you’re one of the thousands of Tennessee taxpayers grumbling on social media about the simple yet expensive new state logo, know that certain graphic designers say you’re no better than a mindless barking dog. They’re also comparing you to a member of an angry mob who isn’t savvy enough to understand why […]

by Louie Brogdon /  Chattanooga Times Free Press Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke’s 2016 budget has received its first blessing from the city council, along with a tax break for an apartment development on Chestnut Street. And the city has taken its final step toward handling its own sewer billing. The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to pass the first reading […]

From Rocky Top Politics Gov. Haslam “Jumps the shark.” In what has to be one of the dumbest public admissions of political impotence by a sitting governor, Bill Haslam has truly outdone himself.  In a speech to local officials, Haslam begged them to bail him out of the morass he has created over the last 5 years.  Since many of […]

Stacey Barchenger  /  The Tennessean A civil rights activist who pledged to make right-to-die legislation his final fight filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging state law that prohibits assisted suicide. Attorney, businessman and political candidate John Jay Hooker, who is facing his own terminal diagnosis, is undeterred by the Tennessee General Assembly’s choice to send the issue to summer study and […]

This issue is a primary example of HARD CASES MAKE BAD LAW. I am profoundly sorry that John Jay Hooker is dying of cancer.  I can also observe that this would probably not be receiving the attention it is if is wasn’t ‘The’ John Jay Hooker pushing it. In addition to this legislation, Hooker has also taken this issue to […]

Nothing like a solar energy subsidy Solar Training and Education for Professionals The U.S. DOE’s SunShot Initiative, launched in 2011, is a collaborative national effort that seeks to make unsubsidized solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by the end of the decade. This initiative recently released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for $12 million under the Solar Training […]

Tennessee Announces Rebates for Buyers, Lessees of Qualifying Electric Vehicles The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs announced on May 21, 2015 that it will offer a two-tiered rebate on qualifying electric vehicles that are purchased or leased and registered in the State of Tennessee. Electric vehicle dealerships will be responsible for providing the rebate to […]

The Tennessee Gas Association (TGA) hosted the 2015 TGA Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Across Tennessee Rally during the week of May 18-22, with stops in Memphis, Trenton, Nashville, Athens and Sevier County.  This five stop tour visited public natural gas refueling stations along Tennessee’s CNG highway, serving to educate the public about the benefits of natural gas as a vehicle […]

They’re Ba-a-a-ck! By rockytop After the disastrous going away gift from former Education Commissioner Kevin “I voted for Obama” Huffman in the form of suspiciously delayed and rumored tampering of TCAP scores last year, one would think the Haslam administration would have learned its lesson. One would be wrong. In an almost unbelievable demonstration of incompetent management, the people who […]

By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog NASHVILLE — The Tennessee General Assembly had nothing to do with creating or approving a controversial new state logo that cost taxpayers $46,000, state Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, says. But Holt acting now, asking Tennessee Attorney General Herb Slattery to issue an opinion on whether the logo is even legally eligible for its own trademark, given its […]