From Harrison Keely… Harrison Keely is a web producer for the Times Free Press. He manages social media for the paper and anchors the daily Times Free Press newscast. He joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a reporter in 2010. Harrison previously served as managing editor of the Smoky Mountain Sentinel in western North Carolina and as a business […]

Celebrate when they do something right….. gripe when they don’t Constitutional voting record Tennessee representatives: Sen. Bob Corker – 66% Sen. Lamar Alexander – 54% Dist.1: David Roe – 74% Dist.2: John Duncan – 81% Dist.3: Charles Fleischmann – 69% Dist.4: Scott DesJarlais – 78% Dist.5: Jim Cooper – 23% Dist.6: Diane Black – 66% Dist.7: Marsha Blackburn – 63% […]

By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog NASHVILLE — A Montgomery County official operated a for-profit business out of a county-owned building for nearly three months without paying $3,300 in rent, says a new audit report from state Comptroller Justin Wilson. The audit doesn’t list the employee by name, identifying him as an ambulance service department supervisor. That supervisor has since […]

Oct 2013 – Same-sex couples challenging TN laws in federal lawsuit Posted: Oct 21, 2013 9:11 AM CDT Updated: Nov 04, 2013 9:12 AM CST NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – Several same-sex couples have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s laws that deny recognition to legally married same-sex couples. The state does not recognize legally married same-sex couples, so couples married […]

By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog NASHVILLE — Some Clarksville business owners lost a lot of money Sunday when their government-owned Internet went down, and they took their outrage to Facebook. Things got so heated that Clarksville Department of Electricity Lightband officials warned their own Internet customers to stop posting abusive language on its official Facebook page. The business owners, […]

By Kathy Bryson In July 2009, work groups and feedback groups composed of representatives from higher education, K–12 education, and the research community began work on standards in mathematics and ELA. Also at this time, a draft of the College and Career Ready Standards were released. On March 10, 2010, the first public draft of Common Core State Standards was […]

By Kathy Bryson The Fayette County Commission passed unanimously the attached resolution requesting the Tennessee legislature to pass the bills to repeal Common Core. Fayette County joins Madison and Bradley Counties to voice their collective voices to our state representatives in rejecting Common Core and requesting their support to repeal it. While the repeal bill has died in committee there […]

Printin’ Textbooks is like printin’ cash. By rockytop / Rocky Top Politics Why is Chuck Cagle so darned interested in helping Common Core become the latest unproven expensive teaching fad? Because if Common Core goes through in its current form, it will require every student in Tennessee to have a brand new textbook that complies with the new Common Core curriculum. […]

By rockytop / Rocky Top Politics WE REPORT.  YOU DECIDE. In this series, RTP decodes SCORE and the Common Core money-grubbing scam (we will also take a shot at figuring out where Jimmy Hoffa is buried).  RTP has been working on this for weeks and figured the timing could not be more appropriate, consider what happened last week in the Houses […]

The good news is that the House Ag subcommittee agreed with the Senate Ag committee yesterday and voted to kill the Tennessee Commercial Breeder Act. It will expire on June 30, 2014. More good news: the subcommittee also voted against the very ill-conceived tethering bill that could have affected people using grooming nooses or people using short tethers for training […]

As states continue to consider whether they will expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), some are turning to Arkansas’ “private option” plan as guidance. The plan was promoted as a market-oriented approach, but free-market advocates have pointed out this expansion will cause many of the same problems as traditional Medicaid expansion, including massive and irreversible […]

By Kathy Bryson A voucher bill for education could emerge from the Tennessee senate education committee next week. This year’s voucher bills have been promoted by at least two lobbyist groups: School Choice Now and Students First. These groups say vouchers would “empower parents with choice.” They also tell us that the  “money follows the child,” and vouchers are “opportunity […]

By Chris Butler | Tennessee Watchdog NASHVILLE — Some of the most powerful people in Tennessee’s government may communicate in secret among themselves, don’t have to take an oath of office and have the power to tax a select group of people. The people who work for this agency, the Board of Professional Responsibility, under the Tennessee Supreme Court, don’t […]

WBIR Staff A long-time Blount County leader is being remembered as a “good man” who loved the mountains. Deputies found the body of Blount County Commissioner Gordon Wright, Sr., 69, on a trial on his Walland property Wednesday morning. Sheriff James Berrong said he does not believe his death is suspicious. Sheriff Berrong said Wright’s family personally called him Tuesday […]

When I arrived at the Plaza at 7:00am yesterday morning, Room 30 was already filled with Common Core supporters for the 8:00am 5:15pm. The entire time was spent on four  Common Core Bills. Go HERE to watch the first portion of the meeting, go HERE to watch the second portion. The Committee meets again this morning at 8:00am in Room […]

BY JAMES SHEA / BRISTOL HERALD COURIER BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – A special prosecutor from Sevier County has been appointed to investigate allegations of improper campaigning against Sullivan County Sheriff Wayne Anderson made by his challenger, according to District Attorney Barry Staubus. In November, Anderson’s campaign mailed a flier to supporters. The flier used the main phone number and the sheriff’s […]

Written by David Thomas / Jackson Sun Editor’s Note: A true sad state of affairs LEXINGTON — After state House members approved a bill seeking to delay the implementation of Common Core standards by two years, Gov. Bill Haslam hit the highway Tuesday. Haslam paid a visit to each of the three regions in the state to seek support from educators […]

Nothing like a little government inspired discrimination The Daily Herald –  Maury County youngsters will join thousands of peers across the country taking part in Kick Butts Day on Thursday. This national day of activism empowers children and teenagers to be leaders in efforts to stop youth tobacco use. The theme for Kick Butts Day is “Stand Out. Speak Up. […]

By Alethia Davidson, Citizen Tribune The Act inspired by two Morristown boys killed in an electric shock drowning incident at a Grainger County Marina passed the Senate Monday unanimously and will now go to the House. The Noah Dean and Nate Act, introduced Jan. 22 by State Rep. Tilman Goins and State Sen. Steve Southerland, passed the Senate’s Agriculture and […]

by  JOYANNA LOVE Banner Senior Staff Writer / Cleveland Daily Banner Bradley County and Cleveland City schools will have a little more revenue following a Bradley County Commission vote to pay back taxes from liquor-by-the-drink sales. As interpreted by Cleveland attorney James Logan, who has been authorized by the Bradley County Board of Education to pursue legal action via a declaratory […]