TULLAHOMA, TN, 5/12/13: A Tullahoma man is accused of shooting his 13-month-old baby girl Sunday night while cleaning a handgun at the family's home. Kevin Sayre, 26, faces a charge of aggravated assault after police said he was cleaning the 9mm gun at the East Gate Apartments when the weapon fired, striking the baby in the chest.

The Ladd Landing Greenway is done except for some squabbling between the engineering contractor and the bridge contractor regarding a handrail that should have been on the bridge in the first place. Hikers and bikers can access the entire trail except for the bridge itself, which is done except for the aforementioned hand rail. The trail itself is a fabulous gift to Kingston and Roane County. I'll have pictures soon.

And from From TVA:

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So both sides have lawyered up big. I predict a monster payout by Pilot and the Haslams. They certainly don't want racketeering or something charges to come out of this. The truckers were swindled and smell blood in the water. Now they want their pound of flesh.

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I wish our Senators would quit taking us for idiots. Here's the statement:

The Tennessee Republican said TVA bonds lost about $500 million in value after the president's announcement last month, largely because of uncertainty over whether the utility would be sold. Alexander said customers in the seven states served by the TVA will likely pay more for electricity as a result.

The loss is to the value of the TVA bonds which are held by bond investors and speculators, not TVA rate payers. This is about as disingenuous as our other Senator saying we have to cut Social Security, which doesn't have anything to do with the deficit, in order to control the deficit.

About Prospect 14 Tour- June 22, 2013

The City of Harriman has 14 properties located in the downtown district available for your business opportunities. The City of Harriman along with the Harriman Industrial Board will be hosting a Prospect 14 Tour on June 22, 2013 from 10 am - 5 pm. Plan to attend now and get a first hand glimpse during this historic event.

Due to the inability of the Roane County Commission to act in defiance of heavy lobbying to save Roane County millions in tax money, our Taj Ma Jail has not been re-certified by the State due to over population.

Let's see, they violated campaign finance laws with their political billboard, took over the Roane County Republican Party at its convention, and stole Democratic signs and t-posts during the election and they wonder why the IRS won't give them a tax exempt status? Link...

"I remember when Tennessee was the leading state for economic development in the South and one of the top 3 in the United States of America," the newly elected Tennessee Democratic Party chairman said Monday. "Now we rank No. 1 in the country for references and time on Colbert and late-night television."

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Quote of the day:

"If we spent half as much on energy efficiency as what we're spending to install scrubbers on the Gallatin plant, we'd save much more power and create many more jobs," he said. "We're putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound when we put these scrubbers on these old plants."

Times Free Press Story

From the Roane CAG:

The Kingston Fossil Plant will be conducting a test of its Continuous Emission Monitoring System, or CEMS, beginning Tuesday, May 14, 2013, and will run for 10 days. During the CEMS test there may be a slight discoloring of the emissions from the scrubber stack. However, the emission from the stack will still be water vapor.

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Kristin Rawls has a piece in Alternet that is well worth the read, especially for us in Tennessee: Link...

-- OneTahiti

WATE has the story: Link...

-- OneTahiti

The deficit "through the first seven months of fiscal 2013" is down 32% over last year, too. Read more: Link...

-- OneTahiti

Forty applicants have been narrowed down to three: David Bolling, a former Oliver Springs town manager and currently town administrator for Newscastle, Maine; Tracy Baker, currently assistant city administrator of Sevierville; and David Rutherford, currently McMinnville city manager.

Any bets?

The answer is not the loss of federal funds. Pam Strickland's column in the News-Sentinel has a succinct analysis: Link...

-- OneTahiti

Darrell played with Robert Plant in the Band of Joy. I'm a fan of water song with a message...

A firefighter at West Roane County Volunteer Fire Department (Link...) says that this year folks have donated "real quality" things for the big annual yard sale coming up tomorrow and Friday, May 10-11.

Stop by Station #1 on Pumphouse Road near Rockwood, have some family fun, meet your neighbors, and pick up some bargains.

For more information, see the event listing at RoaneViews: Link...

-- OneTahiti

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, indicated that, for him, the question of what happened has largely been put to rest.

“I’ve been able to read all of the cables, I’ve seen the films — I feel like I know what happened in Benghazi,” Corker, a Chattanooga Republican, said during an appearance on MSNBC. “I’m fairly satisfied.”

DesJarlais still breathing through mouth...

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The DCS dead children scandal continues. Three dozen dead children in DCS care and its refusal to turn over records to the media would seem like front page news.

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You have to read this piece to know what I mean:

The Tennessee Valley Authority has named 100 acres of land adjacent to Northeast Alabama Community College between Fort Payne and Scottsboro to its list of data center sites deemed "ready to recruit."

The designation means the site is ideal for building and operating a "data center," referring to facilities that house computer systems to store data for Internet companies, financial transaction processors and various high-tech industries.

NASHVILLE — Tom Ingram, veteran consultant to Gov. Bill Haslam, faces a potential civil penalty for failing for three years to register as required by law as a lobbyist for a company that wants to mine coal on state-owned land near Crossville, Tenn.

Oh pshaw, it was just a silly mistake.

This is beyond ridiculous and into obscene. Tennessee is for sale to the highest bidder. Citizens will have a very weak voice in the future.

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Remember when Julia Hurley said she didn't have to worry about not having any experience, the lobbyists will tell her what to do? Well it turns out that Bill Haslam has the same plan.

Tom Ingram ran Bill Haslam's campaign for governor. He is a political kingmaker, who also ran the campaigns of both U.S. Senators from Tennessee.

So what does this mean to you and me? Turns out The Ingram Group represents the Governor and is also lobbying this:

As NewsChannel 5 Investigates first reported, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is considering a multimillion-dollar proposal from Crossville Coal that would allow the company to mine under a state wild-life area...

This will be a disaster if it is allowed to happen.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is currently negotiating with a coal company to allow coal mining on a wildlife area, as well as an oil company to allow drilling on a wetland...
TWRA is also negotiating with Crossville Coal to allow the company to mine under the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area...

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For a little while at least.

...partly sunny, with a high near 69. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

I have to say that I've been interviewed by three US networks (not Fox because they didn't give a rat's patootie about an environmental disaster in the USA), ARD (The German Public TV), and talked with any number of print media types, and Al Jazeera was as accurate as any of them. I was not misquoted in the least by any of the international media. The US media were incomplete at best, disingenuous at the most obvious. Therefore I welcome Al Jazeera to Tennessee. I'll change my mind in a heartbeat if I see them mess up or slant their reporting.

Looks like one lane going westbound has a bit of a rock on it.

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