Not sure which is worse, this article or the comments. Or the fact that this guy is on the Loudon County School Board.

Also note that the sensationalized article quotes the nut as saying homosexuality is a "life choice" and a "decision" without even a hint of the fact that those remarks are just one idiot's opinion and wrong. Fair and balanced, yada yada.

I don't value the current TDEC's perspective as much as I would have in the past.

In addition my perception is EPA was handicapped from doing their work under the Bush administration.

I think without providing a significant background on the new TDEC commissioner, staff, etc and what has gone on with the EPA the last 10 years the news stories on this topic are lacking critical content.

Bob Martineau, the state's commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation, called the EPA's decision disappointing and said the state has been working hard to improve air quality.

"Current monitoring indicates Tennessee's air is cleaner than it has been in decades," Martineau said.

Smog ruling for Knox, Blount could hit economic development, officials say

The Campbell County Children's Center held our annual Child Abuse Awareness Luncheon Friday (April 27) in LaFollette with Bob Kesling as our guest speaker. This was our most profitable fundraising luncheon to date and we are most grateful to our supporters as well as to Mr. Kesling for his inspiring address.

The video is available here.

And, of course, I made pictures.

Tennessee's 107th General Assembly has finally adjourned, and the worst legislators led by the worst governor in recent memory are quite proud of the damage done.

It's hard to say what the worst legislation was. Bills attacking education and gay rights that brought national embarrassment and made our state the punch line of late night TV jokes notwithstanding, my money is on tort "reform" as doing the most long-term damage.

Unfair caps on damages undermine the right to a trial by jury and "loser pays" rules limit access to the courts for average citizens. The state has given negligent corporations and unscrupulous operators who prey on Tennessee residents a virtual free pass, and made it harder than ever for victims to get justice. And America is fundamentally about justice. Without it there is no "free enterprise" and no equal opportunity.

Of course, our Republican-controlled state government is working diligently to ensure that future generations are too stupid to figure all that out. And if a few somehow manage to catch on we'll just make it harder for them to vote.

Here's a roundup of some 107th General Assembly obituaries:

• Haslam's Handout on End of the Session
• Democrats' Spin at the Session's End
• Legislature ends on welfare drug testing, 'health care compact'
• Lawmakers adjourn session without gun showdown
• Haslam faces veto choices on sex education, Vanderbilt policies

Seems like a big change. From Josh Flory ...

On Monday, Phil Lawson — the president of Lawler Wood Housing — sent a memo to employees of the firm, announcing that a pair of Massachusetts companies have purchased a 49 percent interest in 46 of the company's residential properties and its management company, plus a 50 percent interest in its development business.

Lawler Wood Housing is looking to expand its geographic reach into states such as Indiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Georgia and possibly Texas.

Josh Flory: Lawler Wood Housing strikes deal with Mass. firms

Per The Commercial Appeal, even as a Transition Planning Commission continues its work to consolidate the City of Memphis and Shelby County school systems, the TN Senate gave final approval Monday to a bill allowing the Memphis suburbs to hold referendums later this year on creating their own municipal school districts. The House had already approved the measure.

Prior to the Senate vote, Jim Kyle (D-Memphis) scolded his colleagues:

"This is a matter that Senator Norris and I see about as completely, as differently as two men can see it," he said. "While many of you view this as simply a partisan discussion or an urban and suburban discussion and it doesn't affect you...this is part of a growing trend of, quite frankly, apartheid in Shelby County."

The bill now goes to Gov. Bill Haslam, who said earlier that he wanted the panel planning the merger to complete its work before any suburban referendum to decide on new municipal school systems.

If Haslam should sign the bill into law, it may yet be the subject of further federal court review:

In his ruling in the schools consolidation lawsuit last August, U.S. Dist. Judge Hardy Mays upheld last year's Public Chapter 1 that set up the merger planning process but made it clear he was not ruling yet on provisions in that law allowing for new municipal or special school districts after the merger occurs.

(Meanwhile, down the road in Nashville, see in The City Paper "Judge approves class-action status of Metro schools segregation suit")

It appears the state House has passed the ridiculous "health care compact" bill that requires Tennessee to join other states in opting out of Medicare Medicaid/Tenncare, VA, etc. and taking the money instead, should Congress ever approve such an absurd thing. (I used to think that would be impossible, but I'm beginning to wonder.) There may have been an amendment to exclude TennCare, not sure.

UPDATE: Democrats managed to plant some time bombs and nibble around the edges of the bill with amendments, which now go back to the Senate. Tom Humphrey reports...

(PREVIOUSLY: State takeover of Medicare and Medicaid advances in House)

They are rushing like clowns on meth through a bunch of other crazy bills, such as Haslam's dismantling of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and drug testing people receiving public assistance (a Democrat-sponsored amendment to include legislators failed). They are in a big hurry to end this circus and get back to their districts to start spending all that unlimited corporate campaign money they authorized.

The Transparent Tadpole

I have never seen a tadpole that had a transparent body like this one. A frog breeder friends says she has seen just a few and they all grew into normal frogs.

So if you ever wondered what was inside those little bodies, here is a peak.

These photos are taken through the plastic "tad cup" and on digital zoom. This tad is about an inch long from the tip of its mouth to the end of its tail. I am not a great photographer, I just take a bunch of photos and hope for a few good ones. They also required some resizing to get them to post.

Click image for bigger

Ford announced yesterday they have certified 67 dealers in California, New York and New Jersey to begin delivering the 2012 Ford Focus Electric. Nationwide availability is planned by the end of the year.

The announcement outlines qualifications for dealerships looking to get certified for electric vehicle sales, including charging stations, demo units, training and dealership energy efficiency audits.

Ford is also working with local governments around the U.S. to assist with planning for electric vehicle readiness. The program enlists utilities and local governments to coordinate efforts on infrastructure, urban planning for charging station locations, off-peak charging rates, and more.

Tom Humphrey with the particulars...

The KNS has a preview of the Knox Co. Budget that will be announced today in which Burchett proposes a one-time $3 million grant for Knox Co. Schools over and above the "natural growth" increase.

The money will be targeted for a K-3 reading program or something. Shouldn't education programs come from the school board?

According to the report, Burchett rejected the school system's request for a $35 million bump, saying they have "no accountability."

According to the lawsuit, "The weather service negligently failed to warn of the severity of the approaching danger partly because it was using out-dated data to predict flood stages".

Gaylord Entertainment along with A.O. Smith (a water heater manufacturer) are also suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lawsuit "contends the federal agencies “created a man-made disaster” through poor planning, miscommunication and breach of duty".

Can you even sue these two entities?

Should be interesting. New Orleans citizens should be watching this trial. Talk about having a case against the Corps of Engineers.

Microsoft is investing $300 million from it's nearly $60 billion piggy bank to buy a stake in Barnes and Noble's new Nook division which will also handle college textbook sales.

Analysts (and Microsoft) say this is a way for Microsoft to compete with Apple and Android in the mobile and tablet market and with Amazon for ebooks.

Good luck with that.

P.S. Why would Microsoft need to invest in B&N to get a Nook reader on their Windows 8 tablet? B&N should be paying them. Plus, can't you already get a free Nook reader for Windows (and iPad, iPhone, Android and Mac) from B&N?

The DCCC has reviewed my "supporter record" for the first quarter and found it lacking. I have 24 hours to correct this situation ahead of the FEC reporting deadline. If I have already made the required donation I can disregard the message.

The nominating conventions haven't even been held yet and I'm getting bombarded by spam from the DCCC, DSCC, DLCC, DNC, OFA, Nancy Pelosi, George Clooney and who knows who else at the rate of one about every five minutes. Thankfully, most of them go automatically to the spam folder without me doing anything.

Apparently, AT&T didn't get the memo that business is now a global 7x24x365 activity. If you are a small business and you use a backup virtual PBX service and it has a problem and you need to change your business line call forwarding busy/no answer destination after hours or on a weekend, tough shit.

Apparently, somebody has to go patch some wires and change some vacuum tubes around or something. And this advanced engineering can only happen M-F, 8AM to 6PM. And you have to call* somebody to request it. And it's apparently too advanced for the polite but powerless after-hours repair people to handle.

(*You can sign up for their online account management portal, but only M-F 8AM-6PM. And once you get signed up during normal business hours you still can't change anything yourself. All you can do is send an email request. What is this, 1995?)

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett will present his Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Knox County Budget proposal to the Knox County Commission tomorrow, May 1st at 9AM in the main assembly room of the City County Building. Wonder what will be in it for Knox County Schools?

Burchett is also holding a series of public meetings on the budget. You can see the schedule attached to the press release "right smack here" (as Donila used to say, but nevermore.)

KNS reporter Mike Donila has quit blogging to spend more time with his family or something. With the curious disclaimer that anything you might have heard to the contrary is not true.

Let's look at a timeline. Donila appears on the scene to cover county government. Says the suits told him he had to have a blog. He resurrects Screams from the Porch. Knox Co. Schools wants a $35 million budget bump. KNS adopts an editorial policy supporting it. Knox Co. Mayor says not just no but hell no if it involves a tax increase. Donila is chummy with Knox Co. Mayor. Donila questions Knox Co. Schools central office staffing, especially the nearly half-million dollar communications shop. Donila quits blogging. KNS education reporter does an in-depth comparative analysis of school system central office staffing in a "move along, nothing to see here" article.

I'm sure there's more, or probably less, you could read in to all this. But it makes for good soap opera. And we will miss Donila's blog, for sure.

The University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation did a study on the latest life expectancy estimates by county in the U.S.

For 2009, in the U.S., life expectancy (LE) is 76.2 years for males and 81.3 years for females. Utah has the highest LE for males at 78.8 years and Minnesota has the highest LE for females at 83.3 years. Mississippi has the lowest LE for males, 71.8 years, and West Virginia has the lowest LE for females, 78.1.

In the U.S., Tennessee ranks the 8th lowest for life expectancy (male=73.5 and female=79.1). In the Southeast, Tennessee ranks 5th lowest (male and female) for life expectancy.

In Tennessee, Grundy County (North West of Chattanooga) has the lowest male LE (68.3) and Lauderdale County (North of Memphis) has the lowest female LE (76.3). Williamson County (South of Nashville) has the highest male and female LEs (male=78.6 and female 82.1).

Blount County has the highest LEs for males and females in the Nine Counties, One Vision area (males=74.7 and females=80.7). Knox County has the second highest male LE in this area at 74.5 years and Loudon County has the second highest female LE if this area at 80.3 years). Blount County is sixth highest in male LE in TN, Knox County is 7th. Blount County is second highest in female LE in TN, Knox County is 9th.

Check out this brief presentation that describes IHME’s county-by-county estimates of life expectancy in the United States between 1989 and 2009, compares local health outcomes, and points to some of the biggest drivers of health disparities.

More info in the press release after the jump...