DTV's Michael Davis interviews City Councilperson Seema Singh about her first term on the Knoxville City Council and her aspirations for the future of Knoxville on DTV. This program will air on Friday evening, April 23 at 9:30 PM on the Community TV channel. Find it on these cable channels:
AT&T U-verse: Channel 99
Comcast NBC Universal: Channel 12
WOW! Channel 6
Charter: Channel 193

CTV also streams live at 9:30 PM at: (here)

Or find the show on our Facebook page: (link...)

“We're actually building on a 2015 report about how much money the urban wilderness is bringing into the Knoxville economy, we're going to be doing a lot more data collecting to be able to actually project the contribution of the economy coming from people using the urban wilderness,” explained Fitzhugh. That earlier study showed the economic impact as a “local amenity” was more than $8 million dollars. As a “regional destination” it could grow to $14.6 million dollars. And as a “nation destination” it could grow to add more than $29 million dollars yearly to the Knoxville economy. The top tourist draw in the city is Zoo Knoxville, credited by city leaders with pumping almost $30 million dollars into the local economy every year.

“Help ‘em build this place even bigger!” Supporters plan to 'study' and 'grow' Knoxville's Urban Wilderness

Tennesseans filed 13,291 unemployment claims for the week ending April 17, according to officials with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Only in January 2020 were higher unemployment claims filed.

Company Distilling announced today that the company will establish new operations in Blount County.

"The distillery's primary location and main manufacturing facility set to open in 2022 in Springbrook Farm, a master planned “city center” in Alcoa. The 20,000-square-foot refurbished building will include a tasting room and retail store along with family-friendly outdoor activities and entertainment on the property’s 31 acres.

There will be a Townsend location, which is set to open this year, and will include a 4,000-square-foot tasting room and outdoor space for activities

Company Distilling is a new distilling company built from the collaborative efforts of multiple people with a history of building distilleries, crafting spirits and bringing people together. The partners include former Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Jeff Arnett, Kris Tatum, former president of the Tennessee Distillers Guild, Heath Clark, founder of H. Clark Distillery, Clayton Homes CEO Kevin Clayton and Corey Clayton, project manager for Vee Hollow Bike Trails."

60 new jobs and an investment of $20.2 million. It doesn't say how much the city, county, or state will contribute to make this project happen. The city, county, and/or state is having to build a road and add other infrastructure since there is none at this time. The site was an old Alcoa Aluminum Company plant that has lots of hazardous waste to be remediated.

Ha, ha, it is also just about across the "new" street from Alcoa High School.

Hope this is a good addition to the "master planned “city center” in Alcoa."

Holy smokes

Marsha Blackburn

There has been some discussion as to why "Michigan is now in the midst of an overwhelming [coronavirus] surge that began about six weeks ago."

It has been noted that "Michigan is among the states with the highest rate of the more-contagious B.1.1.7 variant (57.6% of new cases compared to 44.1% for the US).

However, the CDC reports that as of March 27, 2021, Tennessee has the highest rate of the more-contagious B.1.1.7 variant, 60.5%

From the CNN report, "The likeliest explanation for the Michigan surge is a mix of all of the above: a very transmissible viral variant is spreading one step ahead of the vaccination among those newly eligible for it, with some contribution from a premature, partial return to normal life. And this is where politics is rearing its ugliest head."

Let's hope that we are not in for a surge like Michigan.

There are Dogwood Trails in all four corners of Knoxville.

The Dogwood Arts Festival will be held at the World's Fair Park this year, April 23-25, 2021.

Ancient Lore Village, a fantasy-themed event space in South Knoxville, is now open for business.

Fantasy-themed event space Ancient Lore Village opens in South Knoxville

They are not doing harm while focused on stuff like this.

House Bill 930 was filed in February by Representative Chris Hurt. The Senate version of the bill, SB 925, is scheduled for a vote Tuesday.

The ladder could become ‘official state tool’ of Tennessee

ROADS AND BRIDGES: In Tennessee there are 881 bridges and over 270 miles of highway in poor condition.

DRINKING WATER: Over the next 20 years, Tennessee’s drinking water infrastructure will require $8.7 billion in additional funding.

The Need for Action in Tennessee

White House report highlights Tennessee's infrastructure needs

A KPD officer is one of the victims.

It just happened.

I feel so sorry for everyone at the school, in the community, and the police.

This past season, me and my teammates on the East Tennessee State men’s basketball team decided that we were going to kneel during the national anthem. We wanted to continue to shine some light on racial injustice and police brutality in this country.

Our head coach, Jason Shay, fully supported our decision and had our backs every step of the way.

Then, last week, after our season ended, Coach Shay abruptly “resigned.”

Our Coach Should Still Be Our Coach

Join the Knoxville Electric Vehicle Association, Ijams Nature Center, Drive Electric Tennessee, and East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition for Knoxville's Drive Electric Earth Day event on Saturday, April 10, from 10 am-3 pm on the Ijams Visitor Center plaza.

Electric vehicle owners will bring their cars, including Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, BMW, Toyota, Tesla, Honda, Kia, Audi. They will also answer questions.

Washington Post:

When it comes to rates of vaccination, Mississippi still has a way to go, with just a quarter of all residents having received at least one dose compared to the nationwide average of 33 percent, according to state data.

According to the CDC, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, have similarly low rates of vaccination.

According to the Washington Post,
* In Mississippi, nearly half of all Republican men and 40 percent of Republicans over all have said they do not plan to get vaccinated,
* Mississippi’s large Black community, which comprises 38 percent of the state’s population but accounts for 31 percent of the doses administered,
* Tim Callaghan, an assistant professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health and an expert on vaccine skepticism, said that more research was needed to divine the reasons behind Mississippi’s slackening vaccine demand but that states with large rural populations, Republican voters and African-Americans were likely to be the first to confront the problem.

Hard Knox Wire: Bill makes panhandling and camping on on public property illegal. "They are criminalizing being poor” in a "cynical exchange for conservative votes."

Hellbender Press, "The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia" and former labor of love for our late friend Rikki Hall, is back. The masthead has several familiar names.

Their latest article, The battle of Flenniken Branch, is about the developer of a Maryville Pike property in South Knox County facing multiple state and county citations over alleged sediment pollution.

KCHD’s new online registration process for COVID-19 vaccine appointments went live as of 9 a.m. this morning. The public may access the system on KCHD’s Vaccine Information webpage at https://covid.knoxcountytn.gov/vaccine-info.html

In related news, the Knox Co. Health Dept. is seeking volunteers to help with COVID-19 vaccines. From KCHD:

Q: If people would like to sign up to volunteer at the vaccine clinics, how can they do that?

A: If people would like to sign up, they can go to (link...). We need volunteers for several different positions, including clinical and non-clinical. They range from people who welcome patients at the door to those who can give a vaccine.

Q: What is the average amount of volunteers used at each vaccine clinic?

A: KCHD uses anywhere from 12 - 60 volunteers depending on the size of the clinic and how many other resources we have available. The 12-60 volunteers are made up of general volunteers who sign up using the (link...) website as well as staff provided by federal resources, such as FEMA and the National Guard. The federal resources are starting to decrease, so the number of volunteers needed will begin to increase soon.

The exposed data includes personal information of over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the US, 11 million on users in the UK, and 6 million on users in India. It includes their phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and in some cases email addresses.

Facebook reports the data is old, from 2019 and prior. However, if the user had Facebook data back then, it could be a problem.

DTV's Michael Davis discusses the 2021 City Council Election with council member Lauren Rider as she launches her campaign for re-election tonight. DTV can be seen on CTV tonight, April 2 @ 9:30 pm on the following cable channels:

AT&T Uverse: Channel 99
Comcast NBC Universal: Channel 12
WOW! Channel 6
Charter: Channel 193

DTV streams live at here!

The DTV show will be available after 9:30 PM on Facebook here:
(link...)

Wednesday, President Biden began selling his proposal to "Rebuild Infrastructure and Reshape the Economy."

Sen. Bill Hagerty visits East TN on Tuesday to praise Denso, "applauding its growth, despite the pandemic." He also shared his concern for rural hospitals, "I’m particularly concerned about our rural hospitals."

What about the pandemic Sen. Hagerty? Are you doing anything to help the country and people to survive? He voted against the recent stimulus bill, as did Rep. Burchett.

Rep. Tim Burchett announced his economic policy initiative on Wednesday. "I know we can find bipartisan ways to prioritize solutions that work..."

Hah, Burchett and bipartisan shouldn't be in the same sentence.

On Thursday, April 1, Burchett announced “President Biden is caving to the far-left with his ‘infrastructure plan.’ The reality is only 5% of this proposal goes towards repairing our roads; the rest is about progressive priorities like the Green New Deal..."

Maybe Burchett doesn't understand infrastructure is much more than just roads. Or maybe it's an April Fools joke.