Dear Friends,

The Knoxville News Sentinel, effective end of next week, is discontinuing all four local columnists (Greg Johnson, Frank Cagle, Ina Hughs, and me). Next week's column will be my last in that role.
I'm still seeking other opportunities to write columns and will keep you posted. These past several years have been a blast. Twice I've won a Sigma Delta Chi national award for column writing, and have been honored with local and regional awards as well.
My life as a professor of journalism and electronic media goes on, unaffected by this disappointment.

Much love to all my readers, Mark Harmon

Thomas is Knoxville's first female police chief. Presser after the break...

It's Summer, Enjoy!

Sly and the Family Stone, Hot Fun in the Summertime

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Tuesday that the iconic maker of light bulbs and jet engines will be replaced in the 30-stock index by Walgreens Boots Alliance.

GE (GE) was an original member of the Dow in 1896 and has been in it continuously since November 7, 1907.

General Electric gets booted from the Dow

Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border

In recent days, authorities on the border have begun allowing tightly controlled tours of the facilities that are meant to put a humane face on the policy. But cameras are heavily restricted. And the children being held are not allowed to speak to journalists.

The audio obtained by ProPublica breaks that silence. It was recorded last week inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility. The person who made the recording asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. That person gave the audio to Jennifer Harbury, a well-known civil rights attorney who has lived and worked for four decades in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas border with Mexico.

Memphis Daily News: Statewide candidates on health care policy...

Republicans (also Bredesen and Dean): Personal responsibility!

Fitzhugh: Expand Medicaid!

TN.GOV: "Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today announced the appointment of David B. Rausch as director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).

Rausch, 55, has served as chief of police for the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) since 2011, overseeing an agency of more than 500 employees, including some 400 sworn police officers. Rausch joined the KPD in 1993 and rose through the ranks, serving in several different roles, including as deputy chief and a member of the special operations squad. Throughout his 25 years with the KPD, Rausch has focused on community policing and building relationships with local, state and federal agencies."

Statement from Mayor Madeline Rogero: “Chief Rausch has been an exemplary police chief and community leader in Knoxville. Congratulations to him on this well-deserved appointment! I am grateful for his decades of service to our city.

I will immediately begin the process of selecting his successor.

As a first step, I will meet individually with each of the four Deputy Chiefs to hear their insights on the department, what the priorities of the next police chief should be, and whether they are interested in being considered for the position.”

Join Dr. Matt Harris for a discussion of A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer and More Efficient Tax System by T. R. Reid at noon on Wednesday, June 27 in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium. Bring your lunch or pick up something downtown. Drinks are available for fifty cents. Reading the book is optional.

"Just about every economist and political figure in America agrees these days that our tax code has to be reformed," the author says. Believing we have reached a breaking point, Reid travels around the globe visiting countries like Estonia, New Zealand and United Kingdom to investigate how others tax their residents. Ultimately, he affirms his belief that the United States is capable of a radical reform for a "fairer, simpler and more efficient" tax system.

The report also found that there are only 22 counties in the U.S. where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental. They noted that each of those counties were in states with a minimum wage higher than the federal requirement.

If you live in Tennessee, the study shows you need to be making $15.74 per hour to afford a two bedroom apartment. Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour in Tennessee

Can Knoxville residents making minimum wage afford two-bedroom apartments?

So, Verizon's newest "unlimited" plan must be three times more "unlimited" than the standard "unlimited" plan?

Maybe they should look up the definition of "unlimited" in the dictionary.

The amendment would not apply to devices such as Bluetooth speakers because they do not use an amplifier, Emmett said.

The current Knoxville decibel level law bans any airborne sound on public property that is more than 65 decibels. It also bans impulsive sounds, such as gunshots, that are more than 80 decibels.

Knoxville musicians, protesters could be hushed by amplified sound ban

Even as that debt casts doubt on Knoxville Partners’ ability to renovate and repurpose the mall as a multiuse facility, another blow falls: The Dr. Paul L. Kelley Volunteer Academy, which has occupied 6,400 square feet of mall space since 2010, is moving out by the end of June.

Knoxville Center owes more than $600K in taxes; another tenant leaves

...is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, not the Bible.

Eight year old Yoyoka Soma from Japan submitted this to the Hit Like A Girl drumming contest. She started playing at the age of two. Check out her footwork on the kick drum. John Bonham would be proud.

The South Knoxville rebirth continues with the latest announcement of a new retail space anchored by a grocery market at the former Bondurant Bros. appliance and electronics warehouse/store. The property is located at 906 Sevier Ave., diagonally across from South Knoxville Elementary. At least part of the building will be demolished for the project.

Inside of Knoxville has the scoop...

Trivia: At one time there were three grocery stores along that stretch of Sevier Ave. King's (now Alliance Brewing), White Store (now Uncle Lem's outdoor outfitters) and Parker's (I believe it was called) right across the street from South Knoxville Elementary. It was more of an old country store, and is now vacant. I believe there were plans to develop it into office/retail with residential upstairs, but I'm not sure what ever happened with that.

Energy Sec. Rick Perry attended the unveiling of ORNL's new Summit supercomputer, the world's fastest. "I am truly excited by the potential of Summit, as it moves the nation one step closer to the goal of delivering an exascale supercomputing system by 2021," said Perry.

Somehow, Rick Perry + supercomputer does not compute.

(After the press conference, Perry was overheard asking ORNL scientists "Does it get AOL?")

Speaking to reporters after the historic summit, Trump said he told Kim that instead of testing ballistic missiles, the cash-strapped country "could have the best hotels in the world."
...
"Think of it from a real estate perspective."

“He’s a rough guy. He has to be a rough guy or he has been a rough person,” Trump told Van Susteren. “But we got along very well. He’s smart, loves his people, he loves his country.”

“Look, he’s doing what he’s seen done, if you look at it,” he said. “But, I really have to go by today and by yesterday and by a couple of weeks ago because that’s really when this whole thing started.”

Alrighty then.

“There is no way the Congress is going to repeal preexisting conditions,” vowed Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the top Republican on the Senate committee that handles health policy, at the outset of the effort.

Guess that means repeal is imminent.

The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines in December to repeal the rules, which were intended to prevent internet providers from blocking, speeding up, or slowing down access to specific online services.

More than 20 states have filed a lawsuit to stop the net neutrality repeal. Several states, including New Jersey, Washington, Oregon and California, have gone so far as to push legislation to enforce the principles of net neutrality within their borders.

The end of net neutrality is here

A Tennessee doctor who became a social media sensation because of statements on President Donald Trump, racism and Colin Kaepernick - and who later sued the president over First Amendment rights - is losing his job at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

This Vanderbilt doctor got political. Then he sued Trump and won. Now he's out of a job.