In case you missed it, the final p-card audit has been submitted with Mayor Ragsdale's responses to questioned expenditures. WBIR has a copy.

One of the questioned charges (pg. 40): "#59 9/30/05 - J's Mega Mart - $19.65"

The Mayor's office explanation is "Gas-only purchase for Knox County vehicle."

J's Mega Mart, known for its fine selection of wigs and swords, is, as you know, at 417 S. Gay Street. I've been by there hundreds of times, and I don't recall seeing any gas pumps.

Has Knox County converted their executive SUV's to run on alternative fuels, like maybe Aqua Velva?

Scott McNutt has more.

Mayor Ragsdale released his proposed budget for Knox County. It has no new taxes, but deep cuts across the board including a six month hiring freeze. Paul Pinkston says a tax increase may be necessary.

The Knoxville News Sentinel files this report. Here's the proposed budget.

UPDATE: Video of Mayor Ragsdales address

Kathy at Domestic Psychology is not sure about new Knox County Superintendent Jim McIntyre's choice of residence and school district. Hey, we're all just trying to help Dr. McIntyre fit in.

In related news, Brian Hornback also has advice for Dr. McIntyre, and says the School Board needs an intervention before he arrives.

WBIR.com:

The Federal Highway Administration has now passed on questions about Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale's purchase of IdleAire stock to [the Office of the Inspector General].

Ragsdale purchased the stock during the same month he signed a contract to pass federal funds on to the company.

Is losing your ass on an investment a mitigating circumstance?

The next Blogfest is this weekend at VS a new business downtown. Meet other bloggers face to face and play video games! They have 2 Wiis, 2 xboxes, and 2 playstation 3s as well as Rockband and many many games for each system. There are 5 iMacs and wifi so you can blog. Downstairs is a congregating area away from the games with a stage which can feature live performances. Games are free to bloggers from 7pm to 9pm Saturday, May 10. VS is located just two doors down from the old Harold's. See you there!

As a side note, the wifi is free ALL the time so if you are ever downtown, needing a connection and a comfortable place to sit, slip into VS!

I was watching Tennessee This Week and almost hit the floor with Gene Patterson and Frank Cagle commented that "you have a lot of people running in the August election, and you haven't heard a peep out of them [about the charter petition amendments]."

Cough, cough...Yeah, right....(more after the break... link)

Commissioner Scoobie Moore wants County Commission to intervene in a dispute over a friend's $730 county tax bill.

As you are probably aware, the Knox Charter Petition group will now take it to the streets. The group is launching an effort to get the 40,000 signatures needed (times two) after County Commission this week voted against sending the proposed amendments directly to the voters.

UPDATE: I asked Knox County Elections Administrator Greg Mackay "who pays the $80,000 cost of verifying the petitions, taxpayers or the petition organizers?" He said "taxpayers." So the County Commission just voted to charge taxpayers $80,000 to have their voice heard. That's a lot of lobster!

Rob Huddleston: Why is the previous Knox County GOP Chairman openly supporting Democrats?

Maybe it has something to do with this? (Scroll down to the bottom...)

The meeting is stumbling along at the moment setting up the order of the agenda. First will be resolutions honoring various groups. The future of South Knox High also will be early in the agenda. There always can be a surprise flare up on any number of concerns: honoring Charlton Heston, paying the superintendent (automatic by court decree), progress on old News Sentinel Building, unfunded mandates resolution (I think there's a question of federalism here, and I'll explain in the meeting).

Just as I started typing Commissioner Pinkston went into the item of superintendent. He seems to be suggesting the Supreme Court cannot rule on the interpretation of the state constitution, but perhaps I am misunderstanding the claim.

--Mark Harmon

.. I'm a Democrat.

(Link....)

Notice anything missing?

Just read the accolades in Metro Pulse. No one deserves it more. You ARE the man!

Knox Co. Mayor Mike Ragsdale's office has submitted their formal response to the p-card audit.

Knox County Elections Administrator Greg Mackay advises that financial disclosures for Knox County candidates are now available online at the Election Commission's website. Files are exact PDF copies of the reports as filed. Nice work!

Greg Mackay: "Think of the gas we are saving. It is crazy to have to drive to the Courthouse for a piece of paper."

Selected local government meetings will now be streamed live by Community Television of Knoxville (CTV). CTV also announced that archives are now being made available for previously aired meetings. Meetings include City Council, County Commission, beer board, and more.

Here is CTV's website. Click the red "stream" button on the right to watch meetings in progress. Click the blue "archive" button to view past meetings and the schedule for upcoming events.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has more info.

While I am out of town visiting relatives, I am keeping up with news from home via the Internet. With some consternation, I read that the Knox County School Board is asking for a $400 million budget, some $39 million more than the last one.

As a Knoxville/Knox County property owner, I see this increase with a jaded eye.

My two children are products of the Knox County School system. One, now 34, is a Certified Financial Planner and Certified Estate Planner, while the other, 32, is a BSN/RN with a clinical focus on cardiac/cardio-surgical intensive care. Obviously, I completely understand how important our public school system is to the well-being of those families unable to afford private schools for their children.

I also understand how important it is to keep property taxes low. I now live on a fixed income and would *not* like to see my property taxes rise.

The yearly jaunt to cart (at last accounting) $5700 to Blount County to the Dancing Bear Lodge and the recent gala luncheon lauding our deserving teachers are in that budget somewhere. I do not pretend to be an accountant and can certainly *not* understand the intricate details and vagaries of their budget, but I know this much - taking our tax money to Blount County for their annual retreat is not fair to business and property owners in Knox County.

What really stymies me is that I have offered this information to more than one major *and* minor news outlet in our area, and no one seems to be brave enough to follow up on this story. Can it be that they are somehow afraid of the Board, or do our area journalists simply think this is unimportant?

I do not have all my files here with me, but I was apprised of these facts via Russ Oaks, the Board's communications guy.

In light of the recent hiring of the Boston fellow at an exorbitant salary, perhaps now is a good time to bring some sunshine to the KCSB budget in the same manner applied to the KC Mayor's office.

Hopefully someone reading this will be concerned enough to follow through on this.

Knoxville News Sentinel:

A 17-acre addition to Knox County's Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge will be purchased this week by a private foundation set up to expand the area's public green spaces.

The article says the expansion will include a pedestrian bridge across the French Broad River.

Scott Frith is quoted as saying "It's all right here. We should settle for no less than being the cleanest, greenest, most beautiful city in America."

The Legacy Parks Foundation raised funds for the land purchase.

Don Daugherty says that the national press is following Carville and has requested credentials to cover the Knox Co. Democratic Party's Truman Day Dinner. It will also be taped for C-SPAN.

Tickets are available now, and should be purchased before May 7th so the Knox Dems can plan facilities at the Convention Center. More details and info on purchasing tickets here. We plan to be there, hope to see you, too.

Candidates and other Democratic Party supporters can also purchase ads in the program. Details here.

P.S. The Blount Co. Democratic Party Roosevelt Dinner is Saturday Night. Come on out if you'd like to hear U.S. Senate Candidates Bob Tuke and Mike Padgett speak.

Charlton Heston, banning cellphones, Charter committee, and more!

(Link...)

Your Voice Is Key to Improving Healthcare
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (Link...) is holding a town hall meeting This Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

The University of Tennessee Ewing Gallery will host 3 MFA thesis exhibitions from April 18-24, 2008. On view will be works by the following Master of Fine Arts candidates:

Barron Hall, Sculpture: Now
Preston Proffitt, Media Arts: Welcome to the Illusion
Sarah Shebaro, Printmaking: Samples, Loops, Remixes

Petroleum Confession: Oil on My Hands, Julie Camarata (from 1st MFA thesis exhibition - current photos not available yet)

There will be a preview reception for the 3 exhibits on April 18, 6-9 PM. For additional information, visit the UT Ewing page on Art Museum Touring.com (Link...). The Ewing Gallery is located at 1715 Volunteer Blvd on the UT campus and is open free to the public Monday, 10:00-8; Tuesday-Friday, 10-5; Sunday, 1-4.

The Dogwood Art Exhibition closes today at the Emporium Center (Link...) located in downtown Knoxville.

Support your local galleries and museums! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

The KNS reports that a new joint city-county task force has been formed by Knox County Commission and Knoxville City Council to create ridgetop development regulations. The panel was formed following complaints about the South Knox KUB water tower.

According to the article, Knoxville City Council member Joe Hultquist has gotten a commitment from KUB to at least study the cost of tearing down the water tower and replacing it with something less intrusive.

Previously on KnoxViews:

• Newest addition to South Waterfront development
• South Knox water tower update
• Joe Hultquist: Public Meeting on Unacceptable Water Tower
• Lisa Starbuck: Ridgetop Protection
• Stacey Diamond: Lovely View
• Michael Kaplan: Sky Blue

Your Voice Is Key to Improving Healthcare
The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (Link...) is holding a town hall meeting This Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. It will be held at the Cherokee Health Systems corporate office - 2018 Western Ave. Knoxville

Confirmed Legislators:
Sen. Tim Burchett, Rep. Stacy Campfield, Rep Doug Overby, Rep Harry Tindell.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed but is now stating she has can't attend.

From thcc:
Your Help is Needed NOW.

Sen. Jamie Woodson had confirmed several days ago that she would attend our forum.

Now she says another event has come up and she can’t come to our forum.

We want to respectfully ask her to keep her commitment to us.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from YOU, her constituent.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY.
Toll-free:
1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message. Please make sure to state that you are her constituent.

In a respectful way, please do the following:

CALL Sen. Woodson and tell her – in your own words -- that you would like her to:
A) PLEASE keep her commitment to attend our Constituent Health Care Forum at Cherokee Health Systems Corp. Office in Knoxville on Friday, April 18th at 6:30 pm.

B) Help you and others avoid state policies that will create up to 200,000 new uninsured this year;

C) Help you and others increase the number of children who have health coverage;

Tell her that you and others have been looking forward to sharing your concerns and discussing solutions that she, as your elected representative, can help with.

Let her know that YOU and others are RELYING on her to care and help avoid another mass creation of uninsured. Together, we can avoid crisis.

Sen. Woodson needs to hear from you.
Call her office in Nashville TODAY: 1-800-449-8366, ext. 11648
It's OK to leave a message.

Visit Thcc2.org for more info.
I hope to see some of you there. I will be the nerdy guy with the unruly 5 year old.

Brian's Blog: Tonight the West Knox Republican Club

Republicans believe in our right to keep and bear and you never know who may have a hand carry permit. But, then again we are meeting at a school and I believe they are illegal at schools. So, maybe they will be checked at the door.

Sounds like Brian is expecting trouble.

UPDATE: Brian's Blog says in comments: "The joke of us believing in the right to keep and bear was to keep Democrats from crashing our meeting." So which part is the joke? Republicans "believing in the right to keep and bear" or that Democrats are supposed to cower in fear of the Big Bad Gun Toting Knox County Republicans? I don't get it. And why does Brian's Blog assume that only Republicans support the 2nd Amendment or own guns?

[Roundtree's] proposal would not only ban the use of cellphones for Commissioners, but the way the resolution is written it would ban the use of cellphones by those in attendance in the Large Assembly Room. It would even ban the use of the phones at the media table that are provided by Knox County and the Public Building Authority.

(Link...)

Interestingly, the article also cites another possible Open Meetings Act violation, but I assume Brian is (again...) wrong and that Elaine is simply citing the something that came up at the regular, scheduled, and public Agenda meeting on April 9.

I know that if I were up there and had to suffer through a few hours of grandstanding, I'd be trading a few SMS messages with the wife and kids. I do understand the intent, but it all wraps up in the same issue of the public records issue. Rather than ban them, we just need a process to make public those communications relating to county business and that are a work product of the elected official.

I spent much of this morning and early afternoon in Market Square with my Fiancee. Wow! We had such a good time. It started around 10 with breakfast at Trio, then a hand-squeezed lemonade. Golden Girl bought a really nice silver iris pendant made from a spoon handle, and we got some homemade dog biscuits for our pooch. One of my favorite parts of the day was an extended conversation with a couple from Kentucky selling mosaic artwork. They were very nice people, and interesting to talk to. But, hey, that's pretty much the story of our entire festival experience. Good food, good times, good people. I love Knoxville!

WBIR.COM:

Claudia Ragsdale filed for divorce late Friday afternoon in Knox County Circuit Court, Division 4.

The KNS has more, including a statement from the mayor's office:

On behalf of the Mayor's staff, our hearts go out to the Ragsdales. We hope that everyone will keep the Mayor and Mrs. Ragsdale in their prayers and respect the family's privacy during this difficult time.

UPDATE: Larry Van Guilder discusses the ethics of sitting on a story and how public the private business of public officials should be.

Here's a database of all the candidates for the Knox Co. August 2008 general election:

Link...

Included are websites and e-mails that I could find. You can filter the list by office, party, and/or incumbent status.

Please let me know if you have any additions or corrections. Candidates who wish to submit photos and profile info (bio, positions, etc.) can send info to rneal@rviews.com

(For Tennessee state and federal primary candidates, see here.)

The Knox Co. School Board has narrowly approved the contract for new superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre, who will start in July.

First, welcome to East Tennessee Dr. McIntyre. Now, for some free friendly advice...