MSNBC has an interesting article on how public bodies in California are handling electronic devices and public disclosure.

What are the policies on electronic device communication in Knox County Commission, MPC, BZA, Commission, City Council, etc?

What about at the state level?

I recall Scott Moore's cell phone calls during Black Wednesday. Is using a cell during meetings still allowed? What about texts from lobbyists?

San Jose may have a prototype policy for our lawmakers to consider.

As Tennessee Reps. Tanner and Davis announce they will vote "no," Rep. Stupak announced he has Obama's assurance that bans on federal funding of abortion will be enforced, clearing the way for his coalition's votes. In his press conference, Rep. Stupak also noted that the votes were already there anyway, but his coalition wanted something for their effort.

Translation: This is a done deal. All that's left is counting the votes.

The House will now approve the Senate bill which will become law when President Obama signs it. The House will then pass the reconciliation bill to "fix" the Senate bill and send it to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Reid has signed pledges of enough votes to pass the filibuster-proof measure. Senate approval of the reconciliation bill may take a while, though, because it will have to work its way through a series of procedural challenges by Republicans.

A panel of Knoxville female journalists past and present will discuss women in journalism and the "glass ceiling" question. Is it still there? What does it mean to be a woman journalist and what are issues women face in today’s media world? Have times changed? Is more change still needed?

Moderator Cynthia Moxley, former newspaper journalist and now head of the successful Moxley Carmichael Public Relations firm, may also inquire about the 2008 presidential coverage of Clinton and Palin. Was the coverage fair? Was gender an issue in the coverage of this race?

Panelists include Georgiana Vines, political columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel; Jean Ash, longtime reporter and anchor at WIVK/WNOX Radio; Jigsha Desai, online editor at the News Sentinel and Erin Donovan, reporter at WBIR-TV. Renowned East Tennessee Journalist Alberta Brewer will be honored posthumously.

Co-hosted by the UT Women’s Coordinating Council. FREE and open to the public.

"If Karl and a lot of Republicans want to call the elections already, they ought to break out that 'Mission Accomplished' banner." -- David Plouffe, appearing on ABC's This Week, with Karl Rove.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn, that the freedom for insurance companies to run amok dies a little bit today.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn, that the freedom for students from dependency upon government dies a little bit today because we have enabled more of them to go to college by eliminating an unnecessary layer of banker bureaucracy between them and money available.

I'm sorry, Congressman Blackburn and Senator Alexander, that your jobs, your functions on the GOP team right now are to posture for the cameras and tell my granny sweet little equivocations to piss her off. I'm sorry you've made this as hard as possible so it will accomplish as little as possible and we're going to have to keep tinkering with it until we finally make credible progress or it truly crashes.

It's sad to watch people sell their souls like that when there is important work being done.

There is a recent Metro Pulse article about what looks to be extensive logging on 91 acres of land off Red Bud Drive owned by Woodfam Investments.

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/mar/12/urban-logging-south-knoxville/

Looks like no comments available...

Neither Morgan nor Pat Wood returned calls for comment.

Anyone know if that is that in an area where James White Parkway is proposed and at one of the limited access points?

We are on the verge of seeing some history made today.

It's not single payer, there isn't even a public option, and it doesn't rank up there with Social Security or Medicare or the Civil Rights Act. But it will help millions of people who have no insurance and it will help secure access to affordable health care for all Americans going forward. And the first major health care reform in 30 years is also the first time Congress has stood up for the little guy v. insurance industry abuses. It may be a small step, but it's a step in the right direction.

Sadly, the "teabaggers" (with whom our Republican gubernatorial candidates align themselves) once again reveal a dark, ugly side of our society. You may recall this video, which Bill Maher showed on Real Time Friday night because you won't see it on Fox News. Then there's Glenn Beck comparing the bill to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, with a chart showing how SDS and Che Guevara (no, seriously) are behind the socialist government takeover of health care.

And now there are reports of United States Congressmen being spat upon and called every dirty name in the book at our nation's Capitol, along with threats of gun violence in response to altering a health insurance company's medical loss ratios and rescission policies. This is the real "March Madness."

For a more positive message about "the better angels of our nature" (A. Lincoln) see Eirc Lykins' post just below this one. And tune in to CSPAN at 1PM to watch history in the making.

“Aggressively fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords.” -Teddy Roosevelt

It's a debate about the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, whether we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen, not just some, the chance to reach their dreams. At the heart of this debate is the question of whether we're going to accept a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people, because if this vote fails the insurance industry will continue to run amok. They will continue to deny people coverage. They will continue to deny people care. They will continue to jack up premiums 40 or 50 or 60 percent as they have done in the last few weeks without any accountability whatsoever.

By the way, this is what Our President sounds like when he's fired up, ready to go without a teleprompter. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots reference included in an outline which begins and concludes with Sportscenter analogies. March Madness. Dane Bradshaw. Ezra Klein:

Asked WH for text on Prez's speech. They said it wasn't pre-written. He was just talking. It's like there's a teleprompter IN HIS BRAIN.

In the video, skip to passages Obama 19:28 through 22:02 and have a blessed Sunday.

Seven years later the war quietly continues. Action has ebbed in Irag, being replaced with action in Afghanistan.

There have been 4,385 recorded deaths of US military personnel as a result of the Iraq War. The numbers are going down. However, the deaths as a result of the war in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom?) are increasing to equal the numbers from the Iraq War.

Isn't it time to bring our soldiers home?

Bank failures for 2010 have surpassed the number of failures (20) for this period in 2009 (through 3/20). Seven banks failed Friday, 3/19/2010. A total of 140 banks failed in 2009.

Florida and Georgia are tied for the most bank failures in 2010 with 5 each. Tennessee still has had no bank failures during this economic crisis. However, the FDIC is increasing staff in Tennessee, a total of 24 temporary employees will be hired in Tennessee this year, including nine in Memphis and 10 in Nashville, and 5 in Knoxville. "... when asked if the moves indicate the FDIC anticipates failures, Hernandez (FDIC spokesman) said no."

Note, most of these are what would be considered small, community banks.

The Candy Factory, the Victorian houses, and the World's Fair Park could have been a wonderful destination for Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

But, alas, the City of Knoxville did not see fit to keep these facilities as assets to the community.

What a waste of civic potential and a complete failure of vision. What a boon to have Arrowmont based there instead.

Thanks, David. If only we had more people with long term vision in the community.

I wish this healthcare bill were a Cadillac limousine instead of a used Chevy. It’s not a great bill. It’ll leave the insurance company in charge of healthcare by and large.

Still, my advice to people who support a brighter future for our country is to support this bill. It places limits on abuse.

Haslam isn't a fan of health care reform, judging from this open letter to the Tennessee Congressional delegation.

P.S. Haslam says "unfunded mandates" will cost the state "$750 million over the next five years." Presumably he's referring to last year's GOP talking points re. Medicaid expansion. First of all, the expansion doesn't take place until 2014. Second of all, the reconciliation bill fully funds it for the first five years.

Or maybe I'm mistaken about all that and someone knows what $750 million he's talking about?

The Public=Online, Government in Real Time website went live yesterday at 2pm to kick off a non-partisan national campaign for government transparency. The first two pieces of legislation being pushed are the Public Online Information Act (kinda like the Freedom of Information Act, but for the 21st Century) and Read the Bill. The new website has a community blog, and the first member post is about the obfuscation of student loan reform by the senior Senator from Tennessee. It may look familiar to KnoxViewers.

Josh Flory with the latest...

Join the local AFL-CIO to rally and march for good jobs and financial reform, downtown tomorrow. Details in the flyer after the jump...

A graduate student and I are doing some survey research on local television news, so let me encourage you to take our survey linked below.

We know web surveys do not meet strict criteria for random sampling, but we are hoping for a large number of responses from a good cross-section of people, using a "snowball" technique.

That's a long way of saying, "Please feel free to forward the survey link to other persons and groups in the greater Knoxville area."
--Dr. Mark D. Harmon

http://survey.utk.edu/mrIWeb/mrIWeb.dll?I.Project=NEWSSOURCESURVEY

Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship (LEAF) organizer Dawn Coppock's tireless work on a Tennessee mountaintop removal ban continues with a legislative alert.

The final meeting of the State Senate Environment Committee is next week and it will be the last chance in this session to get the bill out of committee. Ms. Coppock has the rundown on likely votes and how you can help in a communication that follows after the jump...

click image for bigger...

The Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Dogwood Arts Festival with a First Friday retro double feature. First up is rare documentary footage of Dogwood Arts Festival activities past, followed by a screening of "Fool Killer" starring Anthony Perkins and filmed in Knoxville, which premiered at the Tennessee Theater during the 1965 Dogwood Arts Festival.

More info after the jump...