This is a compilation of Tennessee news and political stories assembled daily by staffers in Gov. Bill Haslam’s office.
New state department eyes accreditation (Associated Press)
Officials in the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities say gaining accreditation will make it an international model for providing service. The three-year accreditation process begins in August. Jim Henry, department commissioner, said the goal is to lead the nation in offering services. A series of meetings will be scheduled across the state in August to initiate accreditation. The gatherings are targeted at providers, families, advocates and others.
Highway Patrol accepting applications for academy (Associated Press)
The Tennessee Highway Patrol is accepting applications for the fall session of the Citizens Trooper Academy. The 10-week academy, with sessions once a week, consists of approximately 30 hours of training. Topics covered include investigations, patrol and homeland security. The first session is Monday, Sept. 10. The deadline for registration is Aug. 10. The academy is designed to develop a better understanding of the patrol and its parent agency, the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
UTC master plan, search committee approved (Times Free-Press/Bradbury)
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has approved UTC’s master plan and the creation of a search committee to find Chancellor Roger Brown’s replacement. Brown is scheduled to retire either as soon as a replacement is found or on March 31, 2013.UTC’s proposed bachelor’s degree in integrated studies and a doctoral program in occupational therapy also were approved by THEC. Elizabeth Davis, spokeswoman for the University of Tennessee system, said the members of the search committee for Brown’s successor have not been picked.
Budget cut for U of M newspaper brings allegations of violation (CA/Callahan)
Backers of the University of Memphis’s student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman, are alleging the publication suffered a sharp cut in funding because of its controversial coverage of the campus. A seven-member committee voted this spring to slash funding for the Helmsman by a third. Whether that action violated the First Amendment as several allege may be a matter for the courts; the claim is rejected by U of M administrators. The dispute began April 19, when the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee – comprised of three students and four faculty/staff – voted to give the newspaper $50,000.
TN pain clinic licenses reach 255 (Associated Press)
The Tennessee Department of Health has issued licenses to 255 pain clinics since a new law took effect on Jan. 1 requiring the step. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that there are another 20 applications being reviewed, while 19 have been rejected. The law imposes regulations on pain management clinics in an effort to crack down on so-called pill mills. In addition to licenses, the new regulations outlaw cash payments for treatment and require licensed physicians to be present in the clinic at least 20 percent of the time.
Most UT road closures to reopen before classes begin (News-Sentinel/Boehnke)
Closed roads and detours across the University of Tennessee campus have been hampering pedestrians and drivers alike this summer. There’s no driving on most of Phillip Fulmer Way and no walking along Andy Holt Avenue. Drivers face lane closures on Pat Head Summitt Street and lane shifts on Volunteer Boulevard. There’s no longer visitor parking in the center of campus, and cars haven’t driven on Chamique Holdsclaw Drive in nearly three years. In all, UT has a dozen different road or lane closures across campus this summer, most to accommodate hundreds of millions of dollars in new building projects and utility upgrades.
Independent groups pump cash into primaries (Times Free-Press/Sher)
Conservative “Super PACs” and other groups swinging buckets of last-minute cash have jumped into Thursday’s Republican primaries and at least one Democratic contest, records show. Pre-primary filings show five political action committees spent about $367,000 in campaign contributions and independent expenditures for contests stretching from Kingsport to Memphis, state Election Registry filings show. The expenditures cover July 1-26. The groups involved are the National Rifle Association, Students First, the Tennessee Federation for Children, Truth Matters and Tennesseans 4 Ethics in Government.
Niceley’s rating claim targeted by NRA (Knoxville News-Sentinel/Humphrey)
The National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund says state Senate candidate Frank Niceley has been “deliberately misleading voters” by saying in campaign literature that his NRA rating is “A+” instead of the “C” that has was assigned for the 2012 primary. The fund’s president, Chris Cox, warned Niceley in a letter that his rating could be lowered further unless the “misrepresentation” is ended. Mike Alder, a spokesman for Niceley’s campaign, said the candidate as a state representative had an “A+” in his last NRA rating and the rating was not changed until July 23.
Tea partiers focus sentiment on highly accomplished native Tennessean (CP/Hale)
How did a highly accomplished native Tennessean suddenly become the focus of anti-Islamic elements of the tea party in this state? The answer may be as simple as an ignored request from the governor, a misreading of a popular business social networking site and an unwillingness to accept any explanation from the state of Tennessee. It began when Samar Ali went on a trade mission to Mexico and several county chapters of the Tennessee Republican Party made her famous.
Nearly 11 percent of voters cast early ballots in Shelby County (CA/Callahan)
Close to 11 percent of Shelby County’s registered voters cast early ballots for Thursday’s state primary and Shelby County elections. Early voting began July 13 and concluded Saturday. A total of 62,600 cast ballots out of 584,443 registered voters, or about 10.7 percent, according to the Shelby County Election Commission. Of those, 30.5 percent were black, 40.2 percent white and 29.3 percent listed themselves as “other.” Of those, 48.9 percent called themselves Republican and 48.9 percent called themselves Democrat.
Shelby commission wants IDs of commenters on newspaper website (AP)
The Shelby County Commission has gone to court to get the identities of people who posted comments on a newspaper website in response to stories about Memphis suburbs planning to create their own school districts. The subpoena filed in federal court asks for names, addresses and phone numbers of commenters, including those who had their postings removed because they were inappropriate. The Commercial Appeal editor Chris Peck says the request is a “fishing expedition” and invades readers’ privacy.
Some commissioners object to efforts to learn names of commenters (CA/Callahan)
Several members of the County Commission expressed surprise and anger Sunday after finding out that lawyers acting on their behalf are trying to discover the identities of some commenters on The Commercial Appeal’s website. Other commissioners support the effort, saying it is aimed at finding out whether readers who made racially tinged comments also sought to influence lawmakers spearheading efforts to allow referendums on separate suburban school districts.
Evacuation continues in Chattooga plant fire (Chattanooga Times Free-Press/Bunn)
Chattooga County authorities and the EPA won’t decide before this morning whether it’s safe for residents who live near the site of a monster recycling plant fire to return home. Chattooga Emergency Management Agency Chief Eddie Henderson said Sunday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will monitor the quality of the air in the area overnight and meet today to decide if the evacuation will be lifted. The EPA has been monitoring the air quality since early Saturday morning.
Store owner says ‘no’ to selling synthetic drugs (Daily News Journal)
Captain: Despite law, some businesses sell from under the counter Mywish Lalani admits selling synthetic drugs at Jefferson Pike Market in Walter Hill when she and her husband, Nick, owned the store. She also acknowledges selling the now illicit substances at 96 Quick Stop near Lascassas when they bought that store a year and a half ago. But all along she had an inkling it wasn’t quite right. She kept it under the counter and sold it only to adults who asked for it, prohibiting sales to kids.
Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District full of surprises (Times Free-Press/Carroll)
Citing “fantastic support” the night he won Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District Republican primary in August 2010, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann couldn’t have known he’d be locking horns with the son of his immediate predecessor and the fourth-generation face of Mayfield Dairy Farms two years later. But that’s what Fleischmann is doing in the days before the toughest part of his re-election battle: Thursday’s GOP primary in an 11-county district that has swung Republican since that predecessor — former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp — won his first of eight elections in 1994.
Mayfield, Fleischmann setting records, creating controversy (N-S/Humphrey)
Attack ads aimed at Scottie Mayfield and Chuck Fleischmann have helped push total spending in the 3rd Congressional District Republican primary past the $2 million mark and stirred some new controversy between the two campaigns. A political action committee named Citizens for a Working America, listing a South Carolina address, has spent $165,060, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, on what might be called “the ice cream ad.” The only other expenditure reported by the group is $475,000 for an ad supporting Mitt Romney for president.
Fincher a likely shoo-in to return to Congress (Commercial Appeal/Sullivan)
-term Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher has every reason to be confident, even cocky, with a primary win in his grasp and largely unknown challengers in November. Instead, in an interview last week, Fincher insists he wants to continue to be “a real person” who sings Gospel on weekends home, and plans to introduce legislation if he’s re-elected that will limit his and others’ careers in Congress to 12 years. “I’m not perfect,” he says. “I’m nobody special.” Some clearly disagree.
Fincher takes on challengers (Jackson Sun)
U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, a seventh-generation farmer from Frog Jump, wrested Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District seat away from Democrats in 2010 after 11-term Democratic incumbent John Tanner retired. Now, in Fincher’s 2012 bid for re-election, he faces a fleet of challengers, including fellow Republican Annette Justice and Democrats Wes Bradley, Timothy D. Dixon and Christa Stoscheck. The primary elections will be held Thursday and the general election on Nov. 6. Two independent candidates — James Hart and Mark Rawles — will be in the mix in the general election.
Black, Zelenik battle for 6th District again (Associated Press/Johnson)
Filled with big money punches and verbal attacks, the primary for the 6th District congressional seat is looking more like a female boxing match: Black vs. Zelenik, the rematch. Two years ago former state Sen. Diane Black defeated Lou Ann Zelenik by fewer than 400 votes in a GOP primary that pitted Black’s mainstream Republican credentials against Zelenik’s tea party fervor. Black went on to win the seat east of Nashville, helping tip the Tennessee congressional delegation to 7-2 in favor of the GOP.
Cleveland’s block grant holds steady (Chattanooga Times Free-Press/Higgins)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be sending $332,936 to Cleveland this year, the local share of the federal community development block grant. That’s about how much the city has received each year since 2004 when it became a federally recognized metropolitan area, but Mayor Tom Rowland said the amount still surprised him. “I didn’t expect it to be that much this year,” he said, noting some other cities have had reductions in their shares of the annual grant.
To Earn Classroom Certification, More Teaching and Less Testing (NY Times)
New York and up to 25 other states are moving toward changing the way they grant licenses to teachers, de-emphasizing tests and written essays in favor of a more demanding approach that requires aspiring teachers to prove themselves through lesson plans, homework assignments and videotaped instruction sessions. The change is an attempt to ensure that those who become teachers not only know education theories, but also can show the ability to lead classrooms and handle students of differing abilities and needs, often amid limited resources.
Are States’ Unemployment Insurance Loans Dragging Down Economies? (Stateline)
States are slowly paying off the billions of dollars they borrowed to keep their unemployment trust funds afloat during the recession, but those debts are challenging a system created more than 75 years ago and could be hampering some states’ economic recovery. Of the 34 states that borrowed to keep paying unemployment insurance (UI) during the recession, 22 still owe more than $30 billion to the federal government, a debt that will take years for states to pay off.
Campers oppose TVA crackdown against their campground structures (AP)
Campers along the Tennessee River have formed a group called Shoreline Alliance to fight regulations that the Tennessee Valley Authority says it plans to begin enforcing next year across a seven-state region. David Merritt, who spearheaded the group, told The Jackson Sun that the TVA hasn’t enforced regulations against roofs and other structures at campgrounds in several years. He says the group has hired an attorney from Memphis and will talk to Tennessee congressmen at the end of the month to see if anything can be done to stop TVA’s plan.
Comcast to charge more for heavy data users (Tennessean/Ward)
As an Xfinity Internet customer, Murfreesboro resident Pete Adams has never kept track of how much data he uses a month watching videos online or downloading content. But starting Wednesday he’ll keep a keen eye as Comcast, which owns the Xfinity brand, begins a new method of charging that could mean extra costs for heavy users of data. Nashville is the first market where the nation’s biggest Internet service provider is rolling out its new data usage management plan for residential customers.
Dissecting Metro schools’ enrollment boom — its largest since 1976 (CP/Garrison)
From Memphis, Philadelphia and Mesa, Ariz., to economically ravaged Rust Belt cities in the Midwest, student enrollment at some of the nation’s largest public school districts has declined dramatically over the past five years. In Nashville, however, a projected 81,000 Metro students are expected to head to class for the first day of school this Wednesday, Aug. 1, the district’s highest figure of any year since 1976. It’s the culmination of a 16 percent Metro student population rise over the past decade.
Two public school systems in Memphis court Muslim families (CA/Roberts)
A handful of Muslim refugee families in Memphis, unhappy with their assigned school last spring, suddenly have two public school systems courting their favor. Less than two weeks before school starts, there’s little way to know who will show up where, distracting administrators trying to budget resources. The competition also is the first public sign of a tug and pull between Memphis City Schools and the state-sanctioned Achievement School District, which begins operating in Memphis neighborhoods this fall as the system dedicated to turning around the lowest-performing schools in five years or less.
Even MTSU’s sheltered dairy cows feel effects of heat (Associated Press)
The lingering drought is starting to have an effect on dairy cows. Middle Tennessee State University Director of Farm Laboratories Tim Redd told the Daily News Journal that high temperatures and lack of rain mean the cows won’t produce as much milk. “The heat does cause a drop in milk production,” Redd said. “The heat drops their dry matter intake. It’s like anybody, or any animal. The heat puts stress on them. Milk production will be down 20 percent with the heat.”
Drought hits crops hard (Jackson Sun)
Some farmers expect 50 percent yield; 15 counties designated disaster areas Farmer Randy Williams said Thursday that the drought has taken its toll on his later-planted corn crops and that even more rain won’t help them now. Williams, whose farm sits astride the Madison and Crockett County line, said the first week of July that if his late-planted corn did not receive rain within the next 10 days, he would be left with a 50 percent yield. Now, nearing the end of July, he said the rains that passed through West Tennessee in the past three weeks missed him.
Six arrested in Grainger County ‘significant’ meth lab bust (News-Sentinel)
Grainger County authorities say they nabbed several “big-time players” in the local drug scene during a raid on an allegedly active methamphetamine lab. Six people were arrested during the Friday night bust in a wooded area off Mullins School Road in Bean Station, according to Grainger County Sheriff Scott Layel. Acting on confidential information, the Bean Station Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department arrived in the area about 6 p.m., and immediately smelled the odor of the active meth lab, the sheriff said.
OPINION
Editorial: TCAP scores make headway (Commercial Appeal)
The 2012 TCAP scores show that education reforms locally and statewide are working. The latest Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) scores were released Thursday and they show the state’s public school students made record gains this year. The news was particularly good for Memphis and Shelby County. Shelby County Schools students outpaced state gains in all four subjects tested in grades 3-8: math, reading, social studies and science.
Guest columnist: Guns as campaign focus? What about jobs? (Tennessean)
The National Rifle Association turning its political guns on one of the top Republican leaders in the state legislature is nearly an “about-face” for the group. For years, it was the Tennessee Democrats who battled it out with the NRA, and though supportive generally of Second Amendment rights, have found themselves at times targeted by the NRA for not always falling into agreement with the organization’s agenda. The Republican Party, however, is usually known for being in complete and amicable agreement with the NRA and its agendas — but that has certainly changed now.
Gail Kerr: Great Hearts charter could continue Metro schools’ progress (Tenn)
At last, Metro public schools are beginning to get somewhere. The release of district TCAP scores showed more Nashville students hit the target of being proficient or better at grade level than ever before. That’s the good news. The bad news? Fewer than half of elementary and middle school students scored at grade level in math, reading and science. District Director Jesse Register said it was “good, solid progress” but added that the public school system leaders must concentrate on making larger increases in the future.
Free-Press Editorial: Online lottery unwise (Chattanooga Times Free-Press)
Lotteries in Tennessee, Georgia and other states are unlikely to go away, now that the states are addicted to the supposedly “free” revenue that the games generate for public education and other purposes. But lotteries still represent a government tax on dopes who can’t do math. And it’s particularly discouraging when they lotteries are expanded to take in even more suckers than they already attract. In Georgia, lottery tickets will soon be available for online purchase. And it is both surprising and disappointing to learn that Gov. Nathan Deal views online lottery ticket sales as a worthwhile way to get younger and younger Georgians to start playing.
Editorial: Congress remains content to put off passing budget (News-Sentinel)
The House Republican leadership hopes to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. That is the date by which Congress is supposed to have passed the 12 spending bills that fund the government’s operations for the coming year. Congress, regardless of who’s in charge, has failed to pass a budget and all of the bills on time for most of the last 26 years. There’s no reason this year should be any different. The House has passed a budget that the Senate ignored, plus six of the 12 spending bills, according to the congressional website.