Regal announcement set for Friday

Well, we called it: The state tomorrow will hold a press conference announcing the relocation of Regal Entertainment Group headquarters.

You can read about it RIGHT HERE.

I'm hearing that the announcement's holdup has been on the state's end, which has upset some folks on both the city and county side, since they're putting in more money. I'm told that the state wants to take the credit for this. Now, that could all be bunk.

All sides did just recently hammered out the plan, so who knows. I expect everyone will be thanking everyone for this move and no one is going to take sole credit.

Final question: Is Regal going to divvy out some free Star Wars tickets to Knox County-Knoxville residents for helping to fund the move?

Commish gets $1.5M Regal proposal

The Knox County Commission on Monday officially was handed the first piece of a multimillion-dollar financial proposal that would relocate Regal Entertainment Group’s corporate headquarters from the Halls community to the South Knoxville waterfront and keep the movie theater giant in East Tennessee.

Commissioners opted to forward the proposal without a recommendation to next Monday's voting meeting. They did not publicly discuss the matter.

Knox County Finance Director Chris Caldwell, at the request of Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, added the $1.5 million funding proposal to the board’s work session agenda on Monday.

The commission will publicly address the matter during next Monday’s monthly voting session.

Burchett issued a statement Monday about the potential move: “Whenever we have a chance to invest in growing new jobs or keeping existing ones here in Knox County, I want to be part of that conversation. When considering this type of investment, we always have to make sure it makes sense for the taxpayers. I look forward to being able to provide additional details about this exciting opportunity in the near future.”

After the meeting, Commission Chairman Dave Wright said: "It's economic development. This is about jobs, and Mayor Burchett and the commission are interested in jobs, and if this is playing out for jobs to leave Knox County, then we need to be working to keep those jobs in Knox County."

Rest of story RIGHT HERE.

SW Day: May the Fourth Be With You

Forgot that Star Wars Day is today, so to celebrate, here's a blast from the past - CLICK RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Heh.

SW Day: May the Fourth be with You

So, everyone who reads this blog should know by now that I occasionally drop a few Star Wars references. Sometimes a lot of them. Well, today – May 4 – is Star Wars Day, the unofficial holiday created by the fans to celebrate the franchise.

And in that spirit, I’m gonna have a little fun. Think of this as one of those “switched at birth” segments.

Don’t take this too seriously. I didn’t. Heh.

Let’s start it off. We all know that the City County Building is really the Death Star. So, here ya go:

 And who runs – sort of – at least one side of the City County Building? Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett does.

Of course, Chewie has a partner. So, I guess that means the Man with the Badge is really Han Solo.

Or is Craig Leuthold really Han Solo?

Wait, wait, wait! Maybe Craig is really JJ in disguise? Heh.

OK, maybe that one didn’t work. Let’s find a better comparison. What about the Emperor and Burchett’s chief of staff?

“Goooooood.” All that’s missing now is a white cat to stroke.

Actually, I liked this one so much, I did two of ‘em.

Course this saga needs a hero. And who does Burchett call to crunch numbers? Well, none other than the Casual One, Chris Caldwell. Give that man a lightsaber, folks!

‘Course you can’t have Star Wars without Princess Leia. And, yes, I’m trying to score points.

And since, we’ve got Leia, we’ve got to have Leia’s mom. Here’ss Jennifer Linginfelter as Padme (which, now that I think about it, means she’s Rogero’s mom. I probably should have thought this through a little better.)

Anyhoo, moving along.  Knox County Commissioner Mike Hammond might not be 900 years old, but I betcha he’s got a few Jedi mind tricks up his sleeve.

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Lando in this little shindig. Cause he’s got the ‘stache!

How about another one?

 And, if you got a ‘stache, then you have to include a beard. Obi-Wan Kenobi fits that bill.

Now in Star Wars, Han Solo had a penchant for calling C3-PO the “professor.” Not sure it’s apropos to Superintendent Jim McIntyre since he’s had about a week’s worth of classroom experience, but, hey, Superintendent C-3PO has a nice ring to it.

Anyhoo, the tall golden robot, er, android, can’t go anywhere without his counterpart, the good R2-D2. So, without further ado:

OK, OK, that’s not very fair. Michael Grider doesn’t really hang much with McIntyre. He’s more of a Burchett guy. ‘Cause, you know, he does work for him. And since Burchett is actually Chewbacca, that would mean that mini-Burchett would be more like Wicket, the scout warrior, Ewok.

Heh.

Finally, we get to the Sandman, lurking around raising cane. Heh.

I’m out. And May the Fourth be with you (I can’t believe I actually said that.)