Mitch McConnell literally cares about nothing but amassing and maintaining power

Go Vols ...

Lawmaker's ridiculous explanation for the three-fifths compromise on slavery

DTV's Host Renee Hoyos discusses the filibuster with Knoxville's John Stewart and UT Political Science Professor Dr Anthony Nownes on Community TV this Friday night, May 7th at 9:30 PM on the following cable channels:

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

This show will stream live at here!

As of 12/26/2020 there were 560,892 reported cases of the coronavirus in Tennessee. 6,443 people died from it. That's over approx. 9 months.

As of 5/6/2021 there have been 852,072 coronavirus cases reported. 12,245 people have died from it.

That's an additional 291,180 cases and 5,802 deaths in just over 4 months.

Vaccines can be had in plenty of locations. It's time for everyone to protect their fellow citizens. It would be greatly appreciated.

None to soon. We don't need more destruction of our state.

The current normals data set, which represent the average temperature, precipitation and rainfall for 1991 through 2020, highlight that most of the country has warmed compared to normals for 1981 through 2010, except for the north-central US. The West is becoming drier and the East is turning wetter.

NOAA releases the climate normals every 10 years and they reflect data from the past 30 years.

Your city just got hotter. NOAA announced new climate normals Tuesday

Climate change and the 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals

Children Now Account For 22% Of New U.S. COVID Cases.

"Experts link the trend to several factors – particularly high vaccination rates among older Americans. ... But other dynamics are also in play, from new COVID-19 variants to the loosening of restrictions on school activities."

In Michigan, a record-breaking number of children have been hospitalized with Covid.

"Experts blame a more transmissible variant, which appears to be spreading faster among children and adults."

"In Michigan, rates of child infections are now higher than they’ve been at any point in the pandemic. As of April 17, the 10-19 age group had the state's highest rate of new cases, averaging more than 1,150 cases per day during the previous week. For children younger than 10, the average was 400 new cases per day."

"Younger, unvaccinated Oregonians are now showing up in our hospitals with severe cases of COVID-19," said Oregon Gov. Brown.

"West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said last week the state is offering a $100 savings bond to residents 16 to 35 who choose to get vaccinated."

"The Anderson County School District hosted a COVID-19 vaccine clinic for eligible students on Monday. The clinics were at Anderson County High School and Clinton High School.

Anderson County is among one of the first school districts in Tennessee to host a vaccine clinic for students."

The biggest source of stress for Americans in 2021 is money problems, according to a recent WalletHub survey. The COVID-19 pandemic, which took first place last year, has slipped to second, which makes sense considering the progress the U.S. has made with vaccination and reopening.

Tennessee is 4th in fewest average hours of sleep per night and 5th in highest crime rate per capita.

'This city has hit its boiling point': Knoxville protests after Black student's death

Authorities responded to a 911 call around 4 p.m. reporting that more than 40 people had fallen from a collapsed deck at a restaurant in Soddy-Daisy, the release said.

11 people were injured in a restaurant deck collapse in Tennessee

The New York Times has an article about vaccine hesitancy in Appalachia (rural East Tennessee). "Resistance is widespread in white, Republican communities like this one in Appalachia. But it’s far more complicated than just a partisan divide."

We have measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and polio vaccines. There are even more vaccines to be taken as a child.

It is sad to read this article. However, this mind set is not unique to smaller "Appalachian" towns.

And, the majority of East TN counties are at or above the state wide vaccination rate.

From the Tennessean, "A Tennessee proposal prohibiting the government from mandating COVID-19 vaccination and allowing religious exemptions cleared the Senate 20-8 Thursday, despite concerns the bill could lead to heightened vaccine hesitancy. "

The Tennessee House and Senate have passed the bill. The House needs to do some finetuning then it will go to the religious, HVAC Governor to sign.

"The issue, however, invited criticism from Tennessee Department of Health officials as well as other health care professionals, who fear the bill would encourage anti-vaccination attitudes and lead to another surge in infections. "

The Gov is such a Trumper.

Of those vaccinated in Tennessee
43.3% are 60 years of age and older
31.1% are 41 - 60 years old
25.6% are 16 - 40 years old

26% of the people in TN are fully vaccinated.
34.9% of the people in TN have at least one dose.
53% of those vaccinated are women.
43.7% of those vaccinated are men.

Made me look up Stacy Campfield for some reason.

Fact check: Sen. Marsha Blackburn falsely claims Biden would force people to attend pre-K and two years of college

DTV's Michael Davis interviews Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie about her first term on the Knoxville City Council and her aspirations for the future of Knoxville on DTV on Friday evening. .

This program will air on Friday evening, April 30 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 on Friday evening at 9:30 PM at: (here!)

Or find the show on the Democratic TV Facebook page after 9:30 PM on Friday:(here!)

April 30 through May 3

This year, most of East Tennessee is included in project areas.
Using the iNaturalist app or your camera, take photos of wild species and up upload to iNaturilist.
Again this year, the Challenge is more collaboration than direct challenges. For more information visit City Nature Challenge

Knox area project

NE Tennessee

Chattanooga

Nashville

For those not in one of these general areas, join the Global project so your observations are counted. (I'm looking at you West Tennessee and the general Cookeville area!)

Some wildflower photos we took today on the Rich Mountain Road (click image for gallery)...

"We are in the very bottom tier of states in the proportion of our population vaccinated," Professor William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, told CNN. "Covid continues to be a serious public health urgency throughout the state. The virus is still spreading. It's still putting many people into the hospital."

Tennessee governor declares that Covid-19 is no longer a health emergency with only 25% of state's residents fully vaccinated

Maryville College announced Monday, April 26, that it is “requiring, with some exceptions,” that students, faculty and staff receive COVID-19 vaccines by Aug. 1.
...

"Under Tennessee law, young full-time college students are required to have vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (usually administered together in two doses), as well as chickenpox (also two doses). Students may seek a waiver for medical or religious reasons, and the private college will offer those options for the COVID-19 vaccine, too.

Coker said the college is offering the “personal preference” exception for the COVID-19 vaccines because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing them during this pandemic as an “emergency use authorization.”

“Once it is no longer under emergency use authorization, once there is formal FDA approval of a vaccine, we’ve given the community notice that we may very well at that point remove the personal preference exception,”

The US Census Bureau announced Monday that the total population of the United States has topped 331 million people, marking the country's second slowest population growth rate in US history. Amid that, Texas will gain two seats in the redistricting process, the results found.

Additionally, Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon will each gain one seat in Congress.

California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will all lose congressional seats ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Census Bureau announces 331 million people in US, Texas will add two congressional seats

Big Oil and the green economy