In sharp contrast to the news from the Knox County Mayor's office today, the City of Knoxville announced that they have received a "Certificate for Excellence in Financial Reporting" for their Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2006-07.

Press release after the jump.

And no, it's not to accommodate Muslims trying to take over our culture.

According to the NTSB, the unlicensed charter bus involved in the fatal Texas crash had illegal tires and the driver's medical certificate had expired.

The thing about government regulation is, you have to enforce the regulations. Otherwise, the free markets will decide.

A flight with seven Texas congressmen on board had to make an emergency landing. According to AP, the congressmen were on their way to D.C. to sign an aviation safety bill.

According to Air Cargo World, the bill addresses "poor oversight and a cozy relationship with airlines" and requires the FAA to rotate inspectors and prohibits safety inspectors leaving the FAA from working with airlines for two years.

I wonder if the Representatives, including Ron Paul, were previously for this bill or against it, and how they feel about it now?

Here's the charter petition group's second quarter financial disclosure. Some prominent people wrote some big checks. On the disbursement side, having two colors for petitions cost them a premium.

WATE:: Independent prosecutor to investigate Knox Co. finances

MORE: WBIR, KNS, SnM...

WBIR: The Director of the Knox County Office of Neighborhoods, Alison Wagley has resigned.

(By way of Katie at KT)

According to the Orlando Sentinel, it looks like Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida is going to commit the state to paying $1.7 billion for 187,000 acres to help restore the Everglades.

"It's like the Louisiana Purchase for the Everglades," John Marshall, of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, said of the potential deal.

Now, you have to wonder where U.S. Sugar, the nation's largest producer of cane sugar, is going to move their farming business, Louisiana maybe.

Congrats to the State of Florida, Charlie Crist, and the United States, if this deal goes through.

County Commissioning must be hard work. So why not do away with County Commission and just let voters decide everything?

See also: Hammond's proposal is wrong

Rikki Hall takes a look at some of the charter amendment proposals, including the proposal for a Knox County Inspector General.

(Note: it is my understanding that the Mayor's Office does not believe a charter amendment is required if County Commission votes for the IG office as currently proposed by the administration.)

KnoxViews sat down with Knox County Chief Financial Officer John Troyer and Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Van de Vate this morning to talk about Mayor Mike Ragsdale's proposal for a Knox County Inspector General.

Our report follows after the jump...

Have any of you noticed that the minutes for several government bodies are not posted on their websites for weeks (sometimes months) after the meetings occured.

Do you think that the minutes should be posted as soon as the are written and marked DRAFT until they are officially approved?

What are the downsides and upsides of doing this?

It is not always easy to watch the meetings on TV, especially when they last past my bedtime!!

If you agree, please help me encourage the county commission, school board, TOF (if you live there) and other boards that post minutes.

Thanks.

Pamela Treacy

The Tennessee Attorney General's office has issued an opinion saying that separate petitions are not required for multiple charter change proposals.

All of the proposed changes, however, would have to be on the ballot as one yes/no proposition, that is, either all proposed changes pass or none.

(By way of an alert reader.)

Frank Cagle in Metro Pulse

Solway residents complain that the mulch facility run by Natural Resources Recovery stinks. But it may not smell any worse than the new 10-year contract the county may sign with the firm.

Not so fast, says Mike Cohen of Ackermann PR who represents NRR:

In case you read Cagle’s column, you might want some factual information.

He claims the process was rigged. Anyone who knows Purchasing knows they are straight arrows…maybe the straightest in Knox County government.

Here is some of what he cites:

"NRR has an advisory board of 10 members and the list (in its bid packet) includes Tom Salter, head of the Knox County Solid Waste Department, and Lynne Liddington, Knox County Air Quality Manager. These two also served on the committee that evaluated the bids for the new contract—they gave NRR high marks."

OK…some facts. No one was corrupted by serving on the Community Board which has met twice. Sharon Cawood attended the first…Lumpy the second. Frankly if you are going to try and have dialogue with the community, having Commissioners a part of it is important. It does not compromise them.

Still, let’s look at the votes. Lynn Liddington didn’t vote to award the contract to NRR. She was the one evaluator that scored another firm higher. And if you take Tom Salter’s votes out of the pool….we still win.

A competitor couldn’t win this fair and square and is now trying to use politics.

Cohen says Frank Cagle called just to give him a "heads up" about the article. "In other words," Cohen says, "the facts didn't matter."

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

The City of Knoxville has hired David Massey as the new Neighborhood Coordinator, replacing Jason Woodle who is joining TVA. Massey will report to Community Development Director Madeline Rogero.

More details...

Right now at WBIR

UPDATE: Guess it's over? Is there an archive?

UPDATE: WSMV liveblog (by way of ACK).

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey: 2000+ layoffs (by way of Michael Silence).

As part of Mayor Bill Haslam's budget proposal, the city is proposing an overhaul of its employee compensation plan.

The proposed compensation plan is the result of recommendations by a consulting firm hired to study the city's current system. It is intended to bring salaries in line with "market rates" and minimize "salary compression" where new hires are making close to the same as more senior employees, particularly in the police and fire departments.

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!

A coalition of Tennessee organizations calls on David Fowler to stop misleading the public on the SJR127 anti-abortion bill, and tells the Tennessee House to just say NO. Details at TennViews.

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

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.

The House Environment subcommittee voted against HB3348 that would ban mountaintop removal mining in Tennessee.

The Senate Environment, Conservation, and Tourism committee is scheduled to hear companion bill SB3822 a second time today.Today's KNS has an editorial on issue.

UPDATE: Sen. Tommy Kilby has blocked a vote on the bill in the Senate committee. Kilby is bullying committee members, and they don't like it. Notes taking during live video stream after the jump...

UPDATE: Tom Humphrey files this report on the House subcommittee vote. Voting against the bill were William Baird, R-Jacksboro; George Fraley, D-Winchester; Joe McCord, R-Maryville; Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains; and John Tidwell, D-New Johnsonville.

Newly appointed Commissioner Victoria DeFreese remarked in last week's Commission meeting that she had received "countless" e-mails, faxes, letters, and phone calls regarding the recent p-card audit.

Now, the Mayor's office has made a formal request to Commissioner DeFreese under the Tennessee Open Records Act requesting access to copies of all correspondence including letters, faxes, and emails she has received regarding the p-card audit, and also phone records and any logs or notes related to phone calls she has received about the audit.

Not sure why they would want to keep poking this hornet's nest with a stick. At any rate, I guess somebody will have to count them now. Wonder how many were from Paul Pinkston?

UPDATE: DeFreese responds, will hold a press conference at 3PM to discuss the request. According to the report, her position is that the correspondence is not public record. There's also something about "communication 'forged' by citizens." Probably not what she meant to say.

UPDATE: WBIR contacts an expert who says if the correspondence was received in transaction of public business then it is public record, adding "Ethically speaking, I don't know why (Commissioner DeFreese) would want to withhold it." Good question. Boxes and boxes of correspondence would certainly be embarrassing for the mayor. Why not just produce them?

UPDATE: From the KNS: "At any rate, DeFreese said she doesn't have any of the e-mails or other communications because she gets so many she doesn't keep them." Seriously? Game, set, match.

The Tennessee Senate Environment and Conservation Committee had a somewhat confrontational hearing Wednesday on the bill to ban mountaintop removal. Chair Tommy Kilby blocked a vote on the measure.

There was some good news, though. See the LEAF update after the jump. Also see this report at Facing South.

Elected officials late on nearly $10,000 in taxes

(Nearly half of that amount was owed by State Rep. Stacey Campfield. Some others had what sound like legitimate excuses.)

In case you missed it, here's the 60 Minutes report on Knoxville based Remote Area Medical and the recent free clinic they conducted in Knoxville.

See also this column in yesterday's Knoxville News Sentinel by Dr. Tom Kim who operates the Free Medical Clinic in Knoxville. And this article from last week that reports there are up to 80,000 uninsured in Knox County alone.

This is a national disgrace. Dr. Kim describes the scene at the RAM event as a "Third World emergency room." In Knoxville, Tennessee. In the United States of America.

Watch the 60 Minutes report. Read the articles. If you have an ounce of human compassion it will break your heart. If you care at all about social justice you will be outraged that we are allowing this to happen in America.

In the 60 Minutes report, Joanne Ford was hoping to get in to the clinic. When asked what she would do if she couldn't, she said "I don't know. I have a lot of friends and I have a lot of church support. I was very active in my church and I have a lot of friends in church. I just hate to ask. I've worked all my life. I hate to ask."

I hate to ask.

Well, I hate to ask, but if you think this is a disgrace please do a couple of things.

First, go over to Remote Area Medical's website and make a donation. Then write a check to Dr. Kim's Free Medical Clinic or the Interfaith Clinic or one of the other local organizations helping the needy and the working poor who are uninsured and can't afford basic health care.

Second, when politicians ask for your vote, ask if they are committed to fixing America's broken health care system so that every man, woman, and child in America has health insurance they can afford or that is provided for them if they can't.

Read up on HR676 and ask your Senators and Representative why this hasn't been brought up for a vote or at least debated. Ask them if they think it's a good idea, and if not why not. Ask them what their better idea is, and don't accept more empty rhetoric about "market based" solutions and tax credits for employer-provided insurance as the answer. Tell them to watch the 60 Minutes report and get back to you on how that's working out for the poor and the working class people of America.

The Knoxville News Sentinel had a bold headline on the front page of today's local section proclaiming "Electronic exchange of patient info close" with the sub heading "AT&T and Tenn. create system for accessing, sharing medical records." The opening paragraphs state:

AT&T Inc. is partnering with Tennessee to provide the country's first statewide system to electronically exchange patient medical information, the telecommunications company will announce today.

The system is designed to securely transmit detailed patient information between medical professionals.

It will allow doctors to access medical histories, prescribe medicines over the Internet and transfer images like X-rays, MRIs and CT scans.

The problem is that the system is not a medical records system and it does not manage patient histories or medical imaging as one might conclude from reading the article.

Instead, if you read closely it says that the system allows "exchange" and "access" and is designed to "securely transmit" information. That's all it does, as far as I can tell. But what do you expect from a cut and paste wire report rewrite of an AT&T press release?

It's like the cable guy coming in to your home or office and setting up a broadband modem and a VPN ("virtual private network") for you and then giving you an 800 number to call if you have a problem. That's what they're selling.

The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists is having a workshop for citizens and journalists on "Open Records – Open Meetings: How to get records & get into meetings," 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, in the Shiloh Room of the University Center. See the following press release for more details.