HB 1248 was sponsored by Rep. Dennis Powers (R - Jacksboro) and he said around 7,000 people are victims of elderly financial abuse in the state, and a total of around $500 million may be stolen from them.

TN bill creating 'Elder Financial Abuse Hotline' for banks passes unanimously in legislature, hoping to prevent scams impacting seniors

Financial Elder Abuse Bill

The new rule raises the salary threshold under which salaried employees are eligible for overtime in two stages. The threshold will increase to the equivalent of an annual salary of $43,888, or $844 a week, starting July 1, and then to $58,656, or $1,128 a week, on January 1, 2025.

Millions more salaried workers will be eligible for overtime pay under final Biden administration rule

In a wide-ranging conversation with Bill Frist, a former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Ellison said Oracle is moving a “huge campus” to Nashville, “which will ultimately be our world headquarters.” He said Nashville is an established health center and a “fabulous place to live,” one that Oracle employees are excited about.

Oracle is moving its world headquarters to Nashville to be closer to health-care industry

Waiting on the governor's signature

Under the legislation, the identities of school staffers who sign up to carry guns is known only to those who approve participants. That means parents would not be told whether their school opted into the program, whether anyone at their child’s campus is armed or whether their own child’s teacher has a gun in the classroom, lawmakers said. Parents also would not know whether their child’s teacher might leave the classroom to respond to a shooting during an attack.

“I cannot believe this is the first major piece of legislation that we’ve addressed since the Covenant tragedy,” said state Rep. Bo Mitchell (D). “This is our reaction to students and teachers being murdered in a school? Our reaction is to throw more guns at it. What’s wrong with us?”

Is it time to call in the National Guard or the Marshall's Service to put a stop to the authoritarian government in Tennessee?

KAT's micro-transit service would allow people to book rides and pick-up locations to be dropped off at bus stops on KAT's major lines.

KAT working on new micro-transit service to help people get to jobs and needed appointments

By Lee Muller:

After spending $2,000,000 on consultants to gather input from 40,000 citizens of Knox County, Mayor Jacobs sent an angry letter to the County Commission on Wednesday, threatening to veto any amendments to his version of Advance Knox changes to the Growth Plan and General Plan. In other words, the public process was just window dressing and democracy faking. The proposed amendments are advisory; they have no legal force to guide development.

Mayor Jacobs pays lip service to the free market, and rights of (some) property owners to do as they wish, to promote "affordable housing".

Earth Day is an annual, global celebration on April 22nd supporting education and stewardship of our environment. It's a day to get outdoors, learn about our natural world, and volunteer to make our world a happier, healthier place to live.

Tennessee State Parks across the state will be offering educational, recreational, and volunteer events this Earth Day.

ORNL Earth Day Celebration: Planet vs Plastics
Main Event: Wednesday, April 24, 2024, 11:00am-1:00pm
Located on Main Street, Court of Flags and the Quad.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is investigating after a group of people were caught on video pulling two bear cubs from a tree to take a selfie at Berrington Village Apartments in Asheville on April 16.

In a video obtained by the Citizen Times, four people are trying to grab the black bear cubs, which are perched on a tree branch extending over a short fence to the apartment property. One woman successfully snatches a cub and holds it under the belly, screaming in excitement.

After apparently taking pictures holding the cub, an animal shrieking noise is heard, and the bear is seen dropping to the ground. The cub then runs along the inside of the fence and tries to climb the fence a couple of times while the woman chases after it.

It's so hard to watch people act in this manner. Do they not understand real life? Life isn't a tiktok video.

Pot, weed, marijuana, maryjane, cannabis, reefer....

Weed day "falls on the same weekend as National Cold Brew Day and National Record Store Day." Seems appropriate.

There are many stories behind how 420 got started as weed day. I'll just reference Wikipedia.

"Steven Hager of High Times popularized the story of the Waldos.[14] The first High Times mention of 4:20 smoking and a 4/20 holiday appeared in May 1991."

1991 was too late for me to celebrate 420. Had given up ganga long before then in order to make a living. However, I still have a "High Times" t-shirt. It's quite worn and delicate.

Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories.

The union wound up getting 2,628 votes, or 73% of the ballots cast, compared with only 985 who voted no in an election run by the National Labor Relations Board.

The VW plant will be the first the UAW has represented at a foreign-owned automaking plant in the South. It will not, however, be the first union auto assembly plant in the South. The UAW represents workers at two Ford assembly plants in Kentucky and two GM factories in Tennessee and Texas, as well as some heavy-truck manufacturing plants.

Wow! Guess Tennessee is not a complete non-union state.

When Blount County and others bid to get a gun manufacturer to move to the pastoral community near Louisville, TN, they apparently promised better roads. However, they did not include the City of Louisville Mayor and Aldermen in the plans. Now that the plans are being made open to Louisville residents and administration, they are not finding the plans acceptable.

A resolution condemning the project, passed unanimously by the Louisville Board of Mayor and Aldermen April 9, claims the road work would negatively impact neighboring residential areas and eliminate access to businesses and the Louisville Post Office.
...
Jeff Muir, director of communications for the Blount Partnership [chamber of commerce?], said the proposed work came from planning for trucks from Smith & Wesson to safely share the road with other traffic, and to accommodate the additional stream of employees.
...
The problem, [Mayor Pugh] said, is Louisville has less than 5,000 residents. That means it doesn’t qualify for its own representation when planning transportation projects like this.

Wow, who knew local residents were not being informed of changes to their community? Hah, TDOT knew. Blount County administrators, City of Alcoa administrators, the county chamber of commerce all probably knew. They all seemed to not care how changes affect local citizens and the smaller communities.

There’s further confusion over who requested the improvements.

So far, nobody's admitting to requesting the changes. The Mayor of Louisville has to request a copy of the TDOT project application.

Jeff Muir, director of communications for the Blount Partnership [chamber of commerce?] Said, "TDOT has ownership of Louisville Road and the department can modify the road as it wishes", which is "part of the deal brokered to bring the firearm manufacturer to Blount County." "No one filed an application for the work, he said."

The previous Louisville Mayor apparently knew about some of these road changes.

The current Louisville Mayor, Ms. Pugh, would "like TDOT to conduct a noise pollution study and wants to know if an environmental impact study has taken place. She’d also like to see estimated traffic counts for the road."

Seems reasonable.

Does it seem like the local governments and chamber of commerce ran right over the small town of Louisville and its residents? I guess they really wanted a gun manufacturer in our midst.

Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” has died. He was 80.
...
Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman in the original Allman Brothers Band to help give the group its distinctive sound and create a new genre — Southern rock.

We've seen Dickey Betts many times, with and without the Allman Brothers. Always a great show no matter the venue.

Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator with a common touch, dies at 87.

Bob Graham, Former Florida Governor and Senator, Dies at 87.

We lived in Florida when Bob Graham was governor and U.S. Senator. It was a great time to be a Florida resident.

The goal is to create new trails and connections within almost 50 miles of existing hiking and biking trails in Knoxville's Urban Wilderness system.

Group working to add around 3 acres of trails in South Knoxville to Urban Wilderness

You know the basics: follow the speed limit, adjust your mirrors and buckle up. However, there are some traffic laws in Tennessee that you may not be aware of.

Before you put it in drive, here are some rules of the road you should know prior to traveling in the Volunteer State.

Tennessee driving laws: Lesser-known rules every driver should know

Photos look good

Kerns Food Hall to Open Saturday

To me I am surprised there isnt a route that goes Depot St/Old City/Baseball stadium area/Summit Hill/Gay St across Gay Street bridge, Sevier Ave to turnaround at Suttree Landing Park or Alliance Brewing and back to Gay Street then to Depot, etc.

Bring Old City/Downtown/Sevier Ave/Kerns together as a day/night on the town.

KAT Reimagined final route package

As reported by the Maryville Daily Times in February, 2022, a property owner sold all the land housing the Thornhill Mobile Home Community for $1.7 million. Now, the nearly 40 families are being evicted by the new owner/realtor.

One resident has lived there 30 years. Another 85 year old resident has lived there 37 years. There is a single father with 3 kids who has lived there 7 years. Etc...

Legal Aid of Tennessee is communicating with the residents.

A very sad situation. It's expensive to move a mobile home. Rents are at an all time high.

These families need a benefactor to help them out. They could buy the property from the current owner and continue with the current Thornhill Mobile Home Community. Or, maybe something could be worked out with Blount County. There is a 17 acre plot just a block away that is empty except for the Blount County Animal Center where a new mobile home community could be created. Or....

A large Knoxville Fire Department firetruck suffered a “considerable amount of damage” after it struck an underpass with a 9 foot 1 inch clearance under a train track on Ogle Avenue Thursday afternoon.

Most people familiar with the Ogle Avenue underpass would know a firetruck just isn't going to fit. Ogle Avenue is a regular route to get from Maryville Pike to Chapman Highway in South Knoxville.

The project includes two structures along the south in the Knoxville South Waterfront neighborhood, across from Neyland Stadium and the University of Tennessee campus. Rhode Partners said ground has been broken on the 235,000 square foot housing development.

Ground broken on new student apartments along South Knoxville waterfront