KNS reports that SeaRay is shutting down fiberglass boat production for the month of July due to declining demand. SeaRay management predicts rough sailing ahead for the company and the industry in general. (By way of Michael Silence.)

This past Friday, parent company Brunswick also announced 250 temporary layoffs at their Orlando-area Boston Whaler factory. They previously announced 400 permanent layoffs at a SeaRay facility in Merritt Island, FL, and closure of a Bluewater Marine plant in South Carolina.

The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization is holding a series of workshops to get public input on the region's long range transportation plan.

Ellen Zavisca, Transportation Planner with the TPO says:

This plan is important because it's an opportunity to take the long view on where we want to go as a community, and how we want to get there.

Transportation in East Tennessee, with a few notable exceptions, is all about cars. But gas prices, infrastructure costs, air quality impacts and other factors have got people and governments starting to think about different ways of doing things.

We hope that this plan can be part that change in thinking. To do that, we need to hear from lots of people, so we are encouraging people to get involved.

The TPO also has an online survey regarding priorities for the long range plan. Following are the workshop schedules:

REGIONAL MOBILITY PLAN 2035 PUBLIC WORKSHOPS

Meetings begin at 6 p.m. unless noted otherwise, and should last about an hour.

Knox County

• Bonny Kate Public Library, Tuesday, May 27

• City County Bldg, Small Assembly Room, Thursday, May 29 (begins at 6:30)

• Halls Public Library, Monday, June 2

• Cedar Bluff Public Library, Thursday, June 5

• Burlington Public Library, Thursday, June 5

Loudon County

• Loudon County Visitor’s Bureau, Wednesday, May 28

Blount County

• Blount County Public Library, Wednesday, June 4

Anderson County

• Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, Tuesday, June 3

Sevier County

• Sevierville Civic Center, Thursday, May 29

Jimmy Duncan shows why he is a Repugnicant representing East Tennessee. Via Crooks and Liars:

...the evidence is overwhelming — abstinence-only doesn’t reduce teen pregnancies, doesn’t reduce sexually transmitted diseases, and doesn’t even lead minors to abstain from sex.

Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems “rather elitist” that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s something we should abandon,” he said of abstinence-only funding.

More on this boondoggle from the "borrow and spend" GOP.