Tom Humphrey reports on gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam's latest campaign ad which features the Austin-East High band director. In the ad, she says (among other things), "He's been here and has kept every promise he's ever made." She is shown on what appears to be school property.

The Knox County Board of Education policy on "Political and Commercial
Solicitations in Schools" states: "No part of the school system, including the facilities, email addresses, the name, the staff, and the students, shall be used for advertising or promoting the interests of any commercial, political or other nonschool agency or organization..."

The policy on "Community Relations" states: "Employees have a right to express their views on any issue, but must in each case make clear that the view expressed is not the official view of the Board or school system." And: "Employees may, on their own time, campaign for or against any candidate or referendum, but they shall not use the classroom or system position for political forum nor engage in any political promotion or solicitation during school hours."

Also, what "promises" were made and kept? What can the mayor of Knoxville promise a county school employee?

UPDATE: In response to our inquiry, Knox County School Board Chair Indya Kincannon said this was the first she had heard of the ad and that it was "definitely not reviewed by the Board." She said she would "look into it and see if it appears to violate any policies."

UPDATE: The ad was broadcast on local TV station WVLT this morning.

Does anybody know why Farragut got power surges every hour on the half hour between 4:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. today? I thought maybe it was just my neighborhood, but a friend of mine in Island Home said they'd been getting them too. I would blame it on weather, but the every hour on the half mark precision makes me wonder.

AP: BP report blames itself, others for oil spill

Reuters: BP blames contractors for oil spill

NYT: Report by BP Finds Several Companies at Fault in Spill

WSJ: BP: No Single Factor Caused Gulf Spill

After being criticized for not holding a public hearing on coal ash regulation in the community most impacted by irresponsible coal combustion waste handling, the EPA has reversed itself:

EPA will hold one additional public hearing in Knoxville, Tennessee during the week of October 25, 2010. The exact date and location will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Close enough for government work, I guess.

PREVIOUSLY: Roane Co. residents organize People's Coal Ash hearing

AC says you folks in Nashville should get on over to the Station Inn tonight to hear Abigail Washburn on the first stop of her "prelude" tour ahead of her new album "City of Refuge" due out early next year.

AC: "Abigail has crafted a beautiful and emotionally compelling new record, filled with great songs and extraordinary musicianship." Have a listen at her website (player widget at the bottom of the page).

Rep. Jimmy Duncan pledges to fight for repeal of health care and financial reform bills...

RoaneViews has a report with photos and a link to an article about McWherter's remarks. Interesting that it's the Democrat pushing for small businesses tax cuts to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Happy New Year!

We have to throw in some corporate welfare to sweeten the deal. State and local governments gave VW $577.4 million ($288K per job) in incentives. No wonder Tennessee ranks so highly among relocation consultants.

There will be other economic benefits in addition to the 2000 jobs. But at some point you have to wonder how far $577.4 million would go towards, for example, developing an educated workforce ready for the jobs of the future.

Bonus extra credit question: Are auto manufacturing jobs a shell game? Remember Spring Hill?

source

Still finding this site a bit obtuse re: how you get an image to show on your post.

Says state law overrides charter re. number of signatures required for petition...

The TBI arrested the mayor of Vonore and the Monroe Co. Democratic Party Chairman on charges of using city employee and Monroe Co. jail inmate labor for private purposes.

More in the press release...

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has received notice that Manpower (dba Chattanooga Business Services) laid off 132 workers between 8/6/2010 and 8/31/2010.

UPDATE: KNS reports the layoffs are related to the Consolidated Biscuit Co. closing.

Georgiana Vines also reports that former County Commissioner and U.T. Associate Professor of Journalism and Electronic Media Mark Harmon is writing a book about his adventures on County Commission, and has also applied for a full professorship.

Georgiana Vines reports that Rep. Duncan will be the featured guest at a Knoxville Tea Party town hall meeting, tomorrow night at the Fountain City Lion's Club at 7PM. The public is invited, but organizers will require everyone to behave.

Went to Lowes in SoKno today. Checking to see if there was anything new on the lighting aisle, we found they are clearing out the non-dimmable versions of Sylvania LED bulbs. There are several types included. I didn't check the exact discounts, but they're a good 50% off or so--maybe more. We bought a whole lot of regular light bulb replacements--the ones that look like little snow cones. 8 watts and 350 lumens. (Here is the new dimmable version.) We've installed just one yet, for test purposes, and it looks real nice. (Read more after the jump...)

UPDATE: Not so good news, everyone! I thought: wouldn't it be nice to have such bright spots in the garage? Since there were other items we were unable to buy yesterday, I decided to trek to the Cedar Bluff store today to do a doubl-icious dosage of Lo Depot shopping! I could check WeKno's offerings and hopefully buy two more spots. Well, this morning, after just a couple hours use, one of the three PAR30 bulbs had failed! Oh well, if I could find some more, I could replace the one (& get a refund for the dud) and put any extras in the garage where they could be mixed with an odd number of other types. The Cedar Bluff store had closeouts, but I didn't see any really good deals. They have a few other types of leftovers from the same series, but not the two kinds I liked, and their prices are more like $40 marked down from $60. Not worth bothering with, IMO.

Since I probably won't be able to find a replacement for the dud, I may have to pull the two remaining spots, since we no longer have a matched set of three. These will probably go in the garage and we'll go back to incandescent floods until the next great deal arises.

LED bulbs are probably where CFLs were 5-8 years ago. Idiosyncratic and not so reliable. Oh, well. They're coming around.

A jazz, R 'n B, and reggae concert as well as a grassroots gathering for information on renewables and energy efficiency. Organized by the youth members of SEEED - Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development - a nonprofit organization working to create green jobs and energy efficiency programs for Knoxville's low and moderate income residents.

Down goes the Office of Neighborhoods. I guess Burchett figures that this won't smart as much in 4 years, but I saw this one coming. Burchett is starting to show his ideology on things. You can't say authoritatively say "no" to everything, which will be the hallmark of this administration, when a positive force in people's lives exists such as this office. He's shunted codes enforcement off to engineering where it can be properly front-burnered and back-burnered as needed, and dumped grants onto the finance department where it can just be ignored. Want to complain about something? Talk to Tim. We'll see how well he listens.

Hartz Mountain Corporation has announced the recall of their 8-ounce bags of Hartz Naturals Real Beef Treats for Dogs due to possible salmonella contamination.

Look for bags with lot code BZ0969101E.

According to CNN, Hartz is urging those who find the contaminated treats to immediately throw them out. I think I would return them to my dealer for a refund instead.

Ex-library head told he was to be fired