Meta tags:
description=Find out what s new on Capitol Hill!;

Headings (most frequently used words):

to, the, back, governor, race, budget, hearings, wsmv, reporter, cara, kumari, blog, top, real, signing, special, session, call, john, wilder, passes, corrections, education, stimulus, in, tennessee, stanley, morrison, and, everything, else, ve, neglected, write, about, for, two, weeks, vetoes, menu, labeling, ban, categories, archives, meta,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (223), and (101), that (58), for (38), have (35), state (32), with (29), governor (24), this (22), would (20), was (20), will (20), 2009 (19), you (19), are (18), been (18), his (17), #tennessee (17), recovery (15), has (14), gov (14), what (13), one (12), from (12), can (12), these (12), john (12), wilder (12), issues (12), uncategorized (11), had (11), about (11), education (11), people (11), data (11), 2nd (11), amendment (11), categorized (10), here (10), general (10), they (10), were (10), not (10), 2008 (9), those (9), time (9), our (9), reporting (9), budget (9), some (9), him (9), assembly (9), october (8), bill (8), leave (8), response (8), through (8), all (8), law (8), nashville (8), going (8), act (8), but (8), signed (8), guns (8), get (7), 2010 (7), your (7), intern (7), there (7), years (7), during (7), school (7), back (7), funds (7), reports (7), right (7), rights (7), now (6), september (6), january (6), know (6), out (6), sen (6), because (6), their (6), yarbro (6), work (6), today (6), release (6), agencies (6), who (6), more (6), think (6), when (6), carry (6), legislation (6), site (5), wsmv (5), cara (5), blog (5), november (5), ron (5), ramsey (5), asked (5), into (5), two (5), henry (5), worked (5), make (5), said (5), find (5), government (5), long (5), federal (5), jobs (5), stimulus (5), states (5), recipients (5), likely (5), most (5), majority (5), bars (5), like (4), wordpress (4), com (4), sign (4), reporter (4), kumari (4), create (4), may (4), june (4), august (4), did (4), things (4), need (4), than (4), votes (4), senate (4), public (4), district (4), believe (4), politics (4), end (4), problems (4), local (4), well (4), also (4), number (4), program (4), then (4), grants (4), first (4), see (4), billion (4), bredesen (4), money (4), start (4), department (4), talking (4), tdoc (4), sure (4), lot (4), statement (4), race (4), come (4), republicans (4), maintain (4), stance (4), citizens (4), required (3), log (3), july (3), session (3), menu (3), labeling (3), board (3), year (3), real (3), writing (3), should (3), better (3), ask (3), say (3), help (3), process (3), interview (3), stanley (3), other (3), having (3), spent (3), 2006 (3), how (3), where (3), served (3), community (3), campaign (3), attorney (3), life (3), new (3), big (3), seat (3), known (3), created (3), only (3), reported (3), published (3), want (3), different (3), under (3), requirements (3), federalreporting (3), submitted (3), after (3), period (3), total (3), million (3), important (3), made (3), teachers (3), cut (3), them (3), case (3), fund (3), bep (3), increase (3), says (3), hearings (3), protect (3), done (3), early (3), convicted (3), felons (3), look (3), offenders (3), could (3), great (3), while (3), together (3), both (3), good (3), call (3), signing (3), thing (3), top (3), support (3), gun (3), abiding (3), permit (3), basically (3), started (2), design (2), website (2), name (2), write (2), comments (2), bar (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), account (2), valid (2), april (2), veto (2), vetoed (2), second (2), health (2), earlier (2), remember (2), administration (2), statewide (2), possibility (2), put (2), shouldn (2), affair (2), does (2), lawmaker (2), use (2), interns (2), legislative (2), legislator (2), morrison (2), former (2), often (2), take (2), car (2), certainly (2), didn (2), fit (2), entire (2), updating (2), news (2), etc (2), reason (2), updated (2), working (2), information (2), air (2), responses (2), everything (2), weeks (2), primary (2), talk (2), political (2), blogs (2), county (2), live (2), high (2), students (2), volunteer (2), tenn (2), university (2), schools (2), reform (2), too (2), much (2), partisan (2), recent (2), leaders (2), able (2), solutions (2), tennesseans (2), douglas (2), jeff (2), announced (2), press (2), leader (2), since (2), bad (2), why (2), blogging (2), wide (2), over (2), told (2), 000 (2), plan (2), part (2), picture (2), awarded (2), non (2), recipient (2), own (2), elements (2), based (2), sub (2), its (2), web (2), available (2), via (2), contracts (2), between (2), unprecedented (2), system (2), received (2), 710 (2), toward (2), additional (2), just (2), forward (2), webb (2), programs (2), phil (2), floating (2), idea (2), inflationary (2), personnel (2), goes (2), commissioner (2), cutting (2), saying (2), very (2), coming (2), always (2), trying (2), books (2), percent (2), away (2), options (2), savings (2), prison (2), 300 (2), jails (2), example (2), drug (2), addition (2), higher (2), court (2), saw (2), lamar (2), alexander (2), passing (2), lost (2), congress (2), facing (2), strong (2), condolences (2), family (2), rep (2), tanner (2), don (2), difference (2), men (2), ever (2), home (2), couldn (2), andrea (2), along (2), place (2), speaker (2), respect (2), thought (2), senator (2), joe (2), haynes (2), naifeh (2), full (2), proclamation (2), sent (2), special (2), issue (2), parking (2), however (2), member (2), protected (2), weapons (2), making (2), holders (2), bear (2), arms (2), primarily (2), walk (2), property (2), owner (2), permits (2), candidates (2), capitol (2), hill (2), email, comment, loading, collapse, manage, subscriptions, view, reader, report, content, privacy, already, free, xfn, xhtml, meta, december, february, march, archives, 223, categories, previous, entries, sb1092, letter, prohibit, unelected, boards, enacting, provisions, metro, wanted, institute, restaurants, least, nationwide, locations, vetoes, ban, kinds, let, assure, heart, gut, inappropriate, anytime, anywhere, obviously, research, answer, phones, never, opportunity, mckensie, old, center, scandal, came, she, pick, dry, cleaning, washed, clean, apartment, outside, obvious, fact, sleeping, crossing, boundary, appropriate, relations, tasks, seem, educational, aspects, internship, designed, provide, went, rutherford, gop, picnic, saturday, watch, normally, routinely, paul, germantown, ensuing, alleged, extortion, plot, please, haven, every, interviews, else, neglected, pennington, 2124, 8568, krumm, 521, 200, course, day, fared, elections, courtesy, davidson, election, commission, wife, tyler, sylvan, park, young, son, attend, christ, church, cathedral, teach, sunday, tutor, antioch, middle, active, luke, house, red, cross, room, inn, previously, aide, gore, presidential, harold, ford, native, dyersburg, graduated, harvard, virginia, bass, berry, sims, serves, metropolitan, transit, authority, adviser, mayor, karl, dean, educators, involve, area, businesses, initiatives, background, policy, extensive, walks, uniquely, qualified, serve, elected, representatives, wasted, playing, won, sideshow, without, willing, confronting, challenger, running, progressive, intention, run, held, 1970, excuses, stopped, plenty, world, several, approached, past, few, missed, point, estimated, fiscal, review, committee, meeting, last, month, acknowledged, estimate, aggressive, represents, directly, contract, grant, loan, viewed, online, downloaded, xml, format, standard, structure, transfer, section, 1512, includes, per, depends, fields, applicable, varies, awards, vendors, any, chose, centralize, minimize, likelihood, duplications, compliance, works, conjunction, reviewed, validated, funding, awarding, visual, representations, prime, submit, within, days, each, calendar, quarter, loans, federally, ended, including, next, major, component, requirement, level, transparency, accountability, being, specific, set, measure, progress, transmitted, 310, project, ending, central, collection, 258, transportation, projects, alone, represent, totaling, 214, reflect, retained, team, literally, hundreds, hours, accomplishment, staff, hired, handle, deputy, morgan, occur, quarterly, successfully, met, flowed, american, reinvestment, arra, providing, 246, 787, retain, invest, infrastructure, speed, economic, allocated, according, saved, commisioner, tim, possible, step, crisis, hasn, positions, reduced, pay, maybe, continue, even, paid, worst, scenario, doesn, impact, districts, salaries, benefits, finance, dave, goetz, residential, services, blind, deaf, absent, awhile, again, harsh, cuts, basics, classrooms, asking, costs, proposing, safe, assessment, birth, include, disappears, extended, tutoring, professional, development, correction, left, either, close, pays, currently, class, felonies, george, little, used, dealer, nonviolent, sentences, thinks, recidivism, rate, mince, words, intervention, dating, mid, 1980s, prevents, crowding, prisons, california, times, closing, result, layoffs, possibly, destroy, economy, prisoners, custody, usually, serious, wasn, exactly, thrilled, wants, gets, needs, balance, moves, direction, corrections, institution, definition, gentleman, l980s, firsthand, effective, contributions, reorganization, country, dedicated, servant, honored, alongside, understanding, willingness, others, bipartisan, betty, ann, offer, deepest, loved, career, agreed, whose, styles, mine, despite, perhaps, got, grew, genuine, friendship, privilege, unique, tennessean, wish, longer, goal, toughest, couple, ago, fell, himself, blood, before, hospital, visited, intensive, care, unit, med, still, ventilator, tube, throat, friday, following, monday, flew, plane, saddened, hear, death, express, sympathy, hope, comfort, reflecting, productive, led, statements, style, bring, everyone, washington, down, history, doubt, someone, blountville, relationship, against, tried, beat, twice, became, friends, duration, developed, intended, goodlettsville, updates, quotes, honest, integrity, commitment, shining, means, word, statesmen, dictionary, man, proud, truly, friend, miss, emeritus, jimmy, passed, morning, suffering, stroke, week, story, newscasts, post, reaction, passes, worker, comp, attached, requested, photograph, fromlydia, lenker, secretary, actual, iphone, somewhere, took, garage, way, movies, brought, might, deal, pomp, circumstance, surrounding, admitted, deadline, actually, movie, theater, nra, fully, ensure, owners, situations, volatile, unpredictable, allow, introduction, loaded, liked, legislators, craft, addressed, taking, applebee, noon, eat, lunch, bringing, honky, tonk, trouble, address, common, sense, safety, unable, mike, mcwherter, biggest, proponent, defend, themselves, simple, firearms, crooks, throw, book, criminals, ado, nothing, 36th, adopt, challenge, anyone, documented, abused, carried, 1997, same, mass, hysteria, seeing, trust, ordinary, firearm, almost, zero, clearly, gives, individuals, supreme, affirmed, challenges, terms, continuing, focusing, focused, fight, understand, consume, alcohol, certain, mcdonalds, chili, individual, decide, happens, her, restaurant, determination, whether, inside, haslam, protector, united, 100, record, constitutional, sends, protects, gonna, statute, consitutional, stand, straight, tall, responding, constitution, thanked, across, training, schooling, handgun, seen, secure, zach, wamp, answers, winding, dow, turning, focus, upcoming, gubernatorial, primaries, races, keeping, informed, stories, spoke, controversial,

Text of the page (random words):
of the most honest men i have ever known his integrity and commitment not only to his district but to the entire state of tennessee is a shining example of what it means to be a great leader when you look up the word statesmen in the dictionary you re sure to find john wilder s name he was a good man i m proud to say he was truly my friend i had great respect for him and will miss him here is the full statement naifeh statement on the passing of john wilder updates i have more quotes from both senator joe haynes and lt gov ron ramsey i had a long relationship with governor wilder he and i served together in the senate for 22 years he was my speaker for 22 years i was both for him and against him at that time i tried to beat him twice in that time and couldn t do it he and i became friends over the duration of that and i developed a lot of respect for him he was well intended he thought everything he did he did for the good of the state of tennessee senator joe haynes d goodlettsville the style that he had trying to bring everyone together and not have partisan politics i think that s one reason we re different from what s going on in washington right now we do all get along in the state senate and he ll go down in history no doubt about that as someone who made tennessee a better place to live lt gov ron ramsey r blountville updated with governor bredesen rep john tanner and sen lamar alexander s statements andrea and i were both saddened to hear of john wilder s death and want to express our sympathy and condolences to his family i hope they take comfort in reflecting on what a long and productive life he led gov wilder was one of the toughest men i ve ever known a couple of years ago he fell and cut himself at his home and lost a lot of blood before he could get to the hospital i visited him in the intensive care unit at the med where he couldn t talk because he still had a ventilator tube in his throat that was on friday the following monday he flew his plane back to nashville while we often agreed on issues i don t know that there are two people in tennessee politics whose political styles are more different than john wilder s and mine despite that or perhaps because of it we worked together well we got some things done and we grew a genuine friendship it was a privilege to know this unique tennessean i wish it could have been for a longer time john always told me that his goal in life was to make a difference for his state i believe he made it governor phil bredesen with gov wilder s passing our state and country have lost a most dedicated public servant i was honored to work alongside john in the tennessee general assembly and during my time in congress he had a great understanding of the problems facing tennesseans and a strong willingness to work with others toward bipartisan solutions betty ann and i offer our deepest condolences to the wilder family and all those who loved and worked with him during his long career rep john tanner d tennessee john wilder was a tennessee institution the very definition of a gentleman legislator during the l980s i saw firsthand how effective he could be when i worked with him on one of his most important contributions the reorganization of the state board of education sen lamar alexander r tennessee categorized in uncategorized budget hearings corrections november 16 2009 leave a response the department of correction is going to have to cut 52 million it said it is now left with only two options to get that savings either close a prison or early release 3 300 convicted felons from local jails the state pays for felons that are currently in local jails we re talking about those who have been convicted of class c d or e felonies the example tdoc commissioner george little used is a convicted drug dealer tdoc would look at early release for these nonviolent offenders who are at the end of their sentences in addition he thinks the recidivism rate for these offenders would be higher so some of these people would end up back in the system he didn t mince words today but he says the state is out of options court intervention dating back to the mid 1980s prevents tdoc from crowding the prisons like california has done during these budget times closing a prison he says would result in layoffs and possibly destroy a county s economy in addition most of the prisoners in state custody are usually the more serious offenders the governor wasn t exactly thrilled at the possibility of early release he wants to make sure that the state gets the savings it needs to balance the budget if tdoc moves in that direction categorized in uncategorized budget hearings education november 16 2009 leave a response i know i ve been absent from blogging for awhile but there s no better time to start it up again then at the start of budget hearings the governor started out saying that there were going to be some very harsh cuts coming up in this budget k 12 education is the first department up the governor is always trying to protect the bep money that goes to fund the basics of education statewide think teachers books classrooms etc based on the department of education s budget they are asking for an increase of more than 82 million increase in the bep inflationary costs they are then proposing cutting personnel in the department of education administration safe school grants k 2 assessment 10 percent of the funds to books from birth that does not include the stimulus money that is going away when stimulus money disappears extended contracts for after school tutoring will be done as will school health programs and some professional development the governor also asked commisioner tim webb to see if it was possible to ask teachers to step up and help during this budget crisis he said he hasn t cut positions or reduced pay it may be time to ask teachers to maybe help and continue some of the programs even if they can t be paid for them gov phil bredesen is also floating the idea worst case scenario that he doesn t fund the bep inflationary increase webb says that would likely have an impact on personnel in most districts because the majority of that money goes to fund salaries and benefits finance commissioner dave goetz is also floating the idea of cutting residential services for blind and deaf students categorized in uncategorized stimulus in tennessee october 12 2009 leave a response according to a release the state has created or saved 7 710 jobs through the federal stimulus plan here s the release nashville tenn tennessee has successfully met its first federal reporting requirements for funds that have flowed to or through the state under the american recovery and reinvestment act arra the recovery act is providing states with more than 246 billion of a total 787 billion made available to create and retain jobs invest in infrastructure and speed economic recovery tennessee was allocated a total of 5 6 billion the state reported on 3 billion received and spent by the state through recovery act grants our recovery act team and state agencies worked literally hundreds of hours toward an unprecedented accomplishment with no additional staff hired to handle the reporting process deputy governor john morgan said it s important to remember the recovery act is a two year program and this is just the first reporting period additional reporting on the use of recovery act funds will occur quarterly going forward the state transmitted a total of 310 project reports for the period ending september 30 2009 via federalreporting gov the central government wide data collection system of those 258 were for transportation projects alone the reports represent grants totaling 214 9 million received by 15 state agencies the reports reflect 7 710 9 jobs created and retained through september 30 through these funds a major component of the recovery act is the requirement for an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so people can see how the funds are being spent specific reporting requirements have been set for government agencies and recipients of recovery funds to measure progress federal agencies prime recipients and sub recipients are required to submit data within 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter for grants loans and federally awarded contracts under the recovery act the first reporting period ended on september 30 and reports were submitted by recipients including states between october 1 and october 10 2009 the next reports will be submitted in january 2010 the section 1512 reporting process includes 99 different data elements the number of data elements reported per program depends on the fields applicable to the program and varies based on the number of sub awards and vendors if any under that program the state of tennessee chose to centralize its reporting to minimize the likelihood of duplications in the data or non compliance with federal requirements the federalreporting gov web site works in conjunction with the recovery gov web site the data submitted to federalreporting gov will be reviewed and validated by the funding awarding agencies from october 11 29 and then those reports and visual representations of the information will be available to the public via recovery gov recipient contract data will be published on recovery gov october 15 and recipient grant and loan data will be published on the site on october 30 the data can be viewed online or downloaded in xml format a standard structure for the transfer of data for those who want to create their own reports the reporting by the state of tennessee and other states represents only part of the recovery picture funds awarded directly to non state agencies will have been reported by those recipients and their data will also be published on recovery gov at one point the federal government had estimated that about 70 000 jobs would be created in tennessee through the stimulus plan during a fiscal review committee meeting last month state leaders acknowledged that estimate was aggressive categorized in uncategorized i m back september 29 2009 leave a response i know i ve been bad i have no excuses as to why i stopped blogging for so long there has certainly been plenty going on in the wide world of state government several people have approached me over the past few weeks and told me they missed my blogs so i m back today the big news in state government is that sen douglas henry d nashville has a primary challenger jeff yarbro a local attorney announced today he is running for the seat here s the press release nashville jeff yarbro a well known local attorney and progressive community leader announced his intention today to run for the 21 st district state senate seat the seat has been held since 1970 by sen douglas henry our elected representatives have wasted too much time playing partisan politics in recent years said yarbro we won t end the sideshow politics of recent years without new leaders willing and able to find real solutions to the problems confronting tennesseans i believe my background in law and policy and my extensive volunteer work with people from all walks of life in the nashville community make me uniquely qualified to serve the people of the 21 st district yarbro is an attorney at bass berry sims he serves on the board of nashville s metropolitan transit authority and is an education adviser to mayor karl dean he has worked with educators in nashville s public schools to reform and re design the district s high schools and to involve nashville area businesses in public education initiatives previously he served as a campaign aide for al gore s presidential campaign and for harold ford jr s campaign for u s senate a native of dyersburg tenn yarbro graduated from harvard university and the university of virginia law school he and his wife tyler live in sylvan park with their young son and attend christ church cathedral where they teach sunday school to high school students yarbro has served as a tutor at antioch middle school and has been an active volunteer with st luke s community house the red cross and room in the inn of course this has been the talk of the political blogs all day here is how henry fared in the 2006 elections courtesy of the davidson county election commission november 2006 general d henry d 36 200 votes b krumm r 18 521 votes august 2006 primary d henry 8568 votes g pennington 2124 votes categorized in uncategorized stanley morrison and everything else i ve neglected to write about for two weeks august 3 2009 2 responses normally i would have been updating this blog routinely with the news that sen paul stanley r germantown had been having an affair with his legislative intern the ensuing alleged extortion plot etc please know the reason i haven t updated the blog is because i have spent every second of my time working to get information and interviews on the air i had the opportunity to interview mckensie morrison the 22 year old former intern at the center of this scandal you can watch the entire interview at wsmv com one of the things that came out during the interview is that she was often asked to pick up sen stanley s dry cleaning take his car to get washed or clean his apartment outside of the obvious fact that sleeping with an intern is certainly crossing a boundary of appropriate lawmaker intern relations these other tasks didn t seem to fit into the educational aspects the internship was designed to provide so i went to the rutherford gop picnic on saturday and asked lt gov ron ramsey about it here s what he had to say that is an inappropriate use of interns and i ll say that anytime and anywhere obviously the interns are there to help us through the legislative process to do research answer phones i ve been a legislator for 17 years and i ve never asked an intern to do that so i asked does this need to be put in writing what a lawmaker can and can t ask an intern to do that s a real possibility those are the kinds of things that do need to be put in writing let me assure you that you shouldn t have an affair with your intern shouldn t be in writing that should be in your heart that should be in your gut you should know better than that categorized in uncategorized governor vetoes menu labeling ban july 1 2009 leave a response the governor has vetoed the second bill of the session it s the one that would prohibit unelected boards from enacting menu labeling provisions like the metro health board did earlier this year remember the administration had wanted to institute statewide menu labeling for restaurants with at least 15 nationwide locations here s the veto letter to lt governor ron ramsey sb1092 veto categorized in uncategorized previous entries categories uncategorized 223 archives june 2010 january 2010 november 2009 october 2009 september 2009 august 2009 july 2009 june 2009 may 2009 april 2009 march 2009 february 2009 january 2009 december 2008 november 2008 october 20...