Drove down west end of Cumberland around lunch time today. I dont see any way for it to handle more traffic that seems would occur with the new apartments.

Maybe current parallel to Cumberland 2 lane streets could be made 4 or 5 lane streets?

Or an elevated thru street over top of Cumberland? Underneath it?

I typically use Neyland Drive or side streets if more feasible.

Crews prepare for Cumberland Ave. demolition, new development

"A LendingTree analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data finds that single women (women who live by themselves) are more likely than single men (men who live by themselves) to own a home in 48 of 50 states."

This is even though women "earn 83.1 cents for every dollar a man makes..."

Five of the top ten states where single women home ownership is higher than single men are in the Southeast, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

Maybe women are just trying to make things easier for men? In Florida, retiree heaven, it could be men die before women?

..."there’s evidence that suggests single women prioritize homeownership more than single men. There’s also evidence that single women are more willing than single men to make sacrifices to become homeowners. "

Times are changing. They are women hear them roar.

The United States wants to increase their presence in the Philippines.

The U.S. Defense Secretary visits the Philippines. If you'll notice, all the Philippine military personnel in the picture are wearing masks. The U.S. Defense Secretary is not. Isn't that a little disrespect especially when we are asking them for help?

Picture is from the online New York Times front page on February 2, 2023.

There is a similar picture from the Defense Dept. website.

There are approximately 1.5 million children under the age of 18 in Tennessee. 9,000 of those children have no permanent home. 13.6% of people in Tennessee live in poverty.
...
From a News Channel 5 - Nashville report, from March, 2022, "DCS has 2,765 budgeted caseworker positions. At the end of January, 586 of those positions were unfilled."
...
"DCS admitted 57 case managers had more than 50 cases at the end of January despite a law that says they should not average more than 20."

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is seeking an immediate infusion of $26.6 million from the state legislature to address a crisis in care that has left kids sleeping on office floors and in hospital beds because there are no other places for them.

The Adoption Project announced its 2023 legislative priorities Monday. The organization recommends public policy changes that will help make Tennessee the "best state in the country" to build strong families through adoption and foster care.

Just an FYI, Former Governor and Mayor Bill Haslam and his wife are honorary chairs of the Adoption Project. The president/CEO and COO both worked for Haslam prior to starting the Adoption Project.

"Lawmakers introduced almost 20 bills targeting adoption and foster care on Monday."

Some of the bills:
SB531 "would change the way caseload caps per DCS caseworkers are calculated from an “average” to “actual” cap of 20 cases per case worker. "
Hah, if the law says there should be a copy of 20 and each caseworker is working on 50, then what difference does it make how it is worded?

SB532 "would require DCS to amend their mission statement to include “best interest of the child” as the department’s main goal. "
Wording again? No action.

SB537 "would increase the number of non-biological children a person can watch in their home without having to register as a childcare facility."
Not that it has anything to do with foster care, but increasing the number of daycare children without being a state registered facility is a good idea?

Senate Joint Resolution 129: "a resolution calls on the governor and state agencies to contemplate various issues and ideas to improve adoption and foster care in Tennessee."
Yeah, there needs to be contemplation.

Where do you think this is going to go? Maybe if DCS gets the $26.6 million something will happen to help the children in foster care.

Majority of high road death states in Southeast.

Duh... Freedom!!!!!

Records filed with the Knox County Register of Deeds Office show the Ready Mix USA site sold for $8 million on January 18 to "Vols View Residences LLC."

South Knoxville site sells for $8 million, could be home to 300 apartments

From Knox County, as of 1/21/2023,
and from State of Tennessee as of 1/21/2023,

since the inception of COVID-19, approx. 1/23/2020...

The Knox County Health Department reports 114,539 coronavirus cases and 40,685 probable cases.
1,122 cases in 35 days, averaging 32 cases a day. A consistent number of daily cases over the past 70 days.

There have been 1,568 deaths due to coronavirus in Knox County.
That is up from 1,552 total deaths as of 12/17/2022.
16 deaths in 35 days. Over 3 deaths a week.

Deaths by age group (age breakdown as of 1/21/2023, Knox County count of 1,567 deaths ):

1 in the 0-17 age group (0%) (0% (+0) (no increase since 12/17/22)
65 in the 18-44 age group (4%) (1.5% (+1) (no increase since 12/17/22)
313 in the 45-64 age group (20%) (no increase since 12/17/22)
358 in the 65-74 age group (23%) (5 additional deaths since 12/17/22)
830 in the 75+ age group (53%) ((11 additional deaths since 12/17/22)

As of 1/21/2023, there are
105 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the Knox County region. More than double the hospitalizations on 12/17/2022 (51 hospitalized). Five times the hospitalizations on 5/14/2022 (19 hospitalized).

As of 1/21/2023 there are
15 COVID-19 patients in ICU. Triple the number of ICU patients from the 5 reported on 12/17/2022.

Hospitalizations still are not below the low of 21 on 7/4/21.

As of January 21, 2023, ICU bed available capacity is at 14.8%
of 317 total ICU beds. Up from 11% on 12/17/2022.

As of January 21, 2023, the TN Dept of Health reports the average positivity rate over the past 7 days is 23.4% ,up again from the previous rate of 19.9% on 12/17/2022 and 13% reported on 11/12/2022.

Vaccinations reported, last updated 1/30/2023.
Knox County continues to have the 3rd highest rate, 7.7%, (as a % of county population) of the latest booster dose (Bivalent Booster).

An East Tennessee Representative is looking to add a new entry to the list of official state symbols. Earlier this month, Rep. Lowell Russell (R—Vonore) introduced legislation to make pumpkin pie a symbol of the State of Tennessee.

10 Tennessee state symbols you might not know

On January 11, Microsoft Corp. put out a blog post declaring that Xbox is now the “first carbon aware console,” explaining that a new algorithm will allow the video game machine to download updates during times that it can use the most renewable energy possible."

U.S. Senator (TX) Ted Cruz's response. “First gas stoves, then your coffee, now they're gunning for your Xbox,” wrote the Republican Texas Senator on Twitter Monday, linking an article from conservative news site The Blaze declaring, inaccurately, that “Xbox will force gamers to power down to fight climate change."

"House Republicans renewed their investigation Wednesday into the art dealings of Hunter Biden, pushing for details on who is purchasing his work as part of the party’s long-promised probe into President Joe Biden and his family."

Apparently the art work is being sold for too much money according to the Republicans led by U.S. Rep. James Comer from Kentucky.

"Why do they hate tobacco?" said [Fox News host Tucker] Carlson. "It's not because they hate that it causes cancer, they don't care about your health ... They hate nicotine. They love THC. They're promoting weed to your children but they're not letting you use tobacco, or even non-tobacco nicotine devices, which don't cause cancer."

U.S. Rep. Corey Mills from Florida, "Welcoming you to a mission-oriented 118th Congress," while gifting to his congressional colleagues an "an inert, 40MM hand grenade produced in Florida that is designed for use in the MK19 grenade launcher."

Whatta ya gonna do?

The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday halted the emergency use authorization of Evusheld because it does not appear to protect against Covid-19 from viral variants currently circulating in the United States.

Evusheld is a monoclonal antibody therapy used to prevent Covid-19 in immunocompromised people, who are less likely to generate an immune response from Covid-19 vaccination.

With rise of new coronavirus variants, FDA halts authorization of Evusheld

Memphis, Tennessee, had the biggest savings to homebuyers over renters, with the monthly cost of homeownership 32.7% less than renting. It was followed by Pittsburgh; Birmingham, Alabama; St. Louis and Baltimore. Monthly buying costs assume a 7% down payment with a mortgage rate of 6.36%, and include taxes, insurance and homeowners association fees.

Buying a home is now more affordable than renting in these five cities

"Last year, M&M’s unveiled a new look for the red, green, brown, orange, blue and yellow M&M. The intention was to give candies a “fresh, modern take.” Among the changes? The Green M&M’s go-go boots were swapped out with “cool, laid-back sneakers to reflect her effortless confidence. People had opinions on the change, igniting a series of memes and even controversy. (The brand also introduced a purple M&M in September.)"

“In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing. Which was the last thing M&M’S wanted since we’re all about bringing people together.”

Sheesh. The new Republican party are a bunch of Donnie/Debbie downers. They need to be exiled.

As of Tuesday, at least 39 mass shootings had unfolded across the country since the year began, according to the Gun Violence archive, a nonprofit that tracks the spread of what has been called an American disease and which defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which at least four people — other than the shooter — are shot.

The U.S. has had at least 39 mass shootings in just 24 days so far this year, data shows

All six New England states were among the 13 states where births increased between 2019 and 2021. New Hampshire (highest in nation at 7%) and Tennessee were the only states with more births last year than in 2014, the last time births rose nationally.
...
"Births nationwide remain well below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 births per woman needed to prevent population decline, a level they haven’t reached since 2007, according to the CDC. The rate ticked up slightly last year from 2020, but only to about 1.7."

South Korea recently broke its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate (0.79).
...
"South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol admitted that more than $200 billion has been spent trying to boost the population over the past 16 years."

In the U.S., it is said women are waiting longer to start a family. In South Korea they are saying the cost of living is too high.

Either way, low birth rates could lead to problems supporting our way of life, e.g. infrastructure, health care, retirement, etc.

What would encourage women in the U.S. to birth more babies? Provide free college, free childcare, or help becoming an influencer or TikTok star?

Abandoned shopping carts are a scourge to neighborhoods, as wayward carts block intersections, sidewalks and bus stops. They occupy handicap spots in parking lots and wind up in creeks, ditches and parks. And they clog municipal drainage and waste systems and cause accidents.

There is no national data on shopping cart losses, but US retailers lose an estimated tens of millions of dollars every year replacing lost and damaged carts, say shopping cart experts.

Shopping carts keep disappearing from stores

Greenhouse gas emissions have been steadily going down since about 2008. There have been bounces where emissions go down then up then down again with the end result being lower towards the 2030 goal. During the pandemic emissions dropped significantly because a lot of activities ceased, e.g. flying and driving to work. After the pandemic emissions have risen again but they are still below pre-pandemic levels.

[Greenhouse gas] "Emissions ticked up 1.3 percent even as renewable energy surpassed coal power nationwide for the first time in over six decades, with wind, solar and hydropower generating 22 percent of the country’s electricity compared with 20 percent from coal."

"Industrial emissions rose by 1.5 percent and
transportation emissions rose by 1.3 percent, the latter driven mainly by demand for jet fuel as air travel continued to recover from pandemic-era declines."
...
"The most significant increase in emissions last year came from homes and buildings, which burn fossil fuels like natural gas in furnaces, hot water heaters and other appliances. Those emissions rose 6 percent, and reached prepandemic levels. Colder-than-average temperatures early in the year led many Americans to increase their home energy use by turning up the heat."
...
"Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, with farming activities accounting for 11.2 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2020..."
...
"some good news: Last year, the country’s economic growth, measured in G.D.P., outpaced emissions growth, indicating that the economy was less carbon intensive..."

Slowly we are going to reach the target emissions. However, with transportation and industry accounting for two-thirds of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions it is hard for us as individuals to do more. That's when joint efforts from our government and business/industry are so important.

None in Tennessee

Regal Cinemas is closing 39 more movie theaters. See the list

On Jan. 17, the Tennessee Department of Health sent a letter to programs and organizations that receive grants from the state telling them that the state would stop taking federal funding to help pay for HIV surveillance, testing and prevention

TN Dept. of Health tells medical providers it will stop taking federal money for HIV prevention

Tennessee says it's cutting federal HIV funding. Will other states follow?