Schools closing early, speech put off

Knox County Schools is sending students home early today because, well quite frankly, the weather and the roads suck.

In addition, officials have decided to cancel Superintendent Jim McIntyre's "state of the schools" speech planned for tonight. It will be rescheduled.

In the meantime, elementary kids will be sent home at 1:30 p.m. and middle and high schoolers will be headed home at 2:30.

County prepares for winter weather

Looks like Dwight and the boys over at the county's Engineering and Public Works Department put in some extra work, monitoring the local roads and taking some precautions due to this rainy - potentially snowy - mess.

Anyone who needs to report a road problem or hazardous road condition on a Knox County Road should call 865-215-5800.

In the meantime, click right smack here for the department's weather plan.

The billboard debate elsewhere

So, in theory the Knox County Commission this month will finally sign off on whatever it is they want to do about billboards. Ban them, keep them, regulate them, whatever.

Or, they can go ahead and postpone the discussions for another day. Been putting it off for more than four years, so what's another month? Heh.

Anyhoo, Joyce Feld, president of Scenic Knoxville, shot me over an email that says the Swedish government “has ordered the removal of digital billboards in that country.” Hmmm. Interesting. Course, we ain't Sweden.

Still, if you're into this kind of stuff, here's the report right smack here. (I would not be surprised if this gets cited by the billboard opponents during discussions this month.)

In her email, Feld also noted that a “well-regarded” 2006 study by Virginia Tech found that “anything that takes a driver's eyes off the road for more than two seconds greatly increases the risk of a crash.”

Well, yeah, no kidding. Hope a lot of money wasn't spent on that study. I mean, seriously. Anything that takes a driver's eyes off the road for ONE second greatly increases the risk of a crash.

Money well spent on the obvious.

Still, find that report right smack here as it, too, will probably be cited.

Overall, my guess is the commission is going to do some kind of trade off with the billboard industry in that local companies will  able to take down a billboard or five and replace it elsewhere (or even at the same location) with a digital version.

We'll see.

White House says 'no' to Death Star

Our Death Star is better than yours.

Oh well, it looks like the White House won't be building a Death Star. That's OK, I suppose, as we already have one here anyway. Heh.

Back in December, I blogged about a petition asking that taxpayers put up some $852 quadrillion to build a moon-sized, planet-killing space station. Here and here for the posts. Anyhoo, enough folks signed the thing to get an official response from the Obama administration.

It's actually quite witty. Click right smack here.

As noted by Paul Shawcross, chief of the science and space branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, building one of these suckers isn't really all that feasible.

In fact, he questions why anyone would want to spend "countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship."

Plus, he said, the administration "does not support blowing up planets." 

Heh. Good stuff.

Mayor Burchett hosts another luncheon

Buchett mingling with the crowd

Knox County Mayor Tim Buchett on Friday continued his "lunch with mayor" series, this time at Central Flats & Taps in the Happy Holler community. Here's a couple of photos (on left) from the event taken by county IT guru Jon Gustin.

Also, Georgiana Vines wrote a story about it. Find that right smack here.

She notes that the "purpose of the Dutch-treat lunch was to focus on locally-owned restaurants and attract people throughout the community who might not otherwise know about the establishments. It's similar to the 'cash mob' events at locally-owned businesses."

Some guy eating some good food

I've taken in a few of the cash mobs, and if you haven't checked one out, then you should. They're actually pretty cool, and while they're not going to turn the economy around, the businesses are sure thankful for whatever extra coin they can get.

It's too bad other county and city leaders don't host their own. If anything, it gives the public a chance to interact with them on a more personal level.

That said, there were a few local leaders who turned out for Friday's event, including a number of department heads, as well, as Knox County Commissioner Dave Wright and Ed Shouse, School Board Commissioner Indya Kincannon and Election Commission Chairman Chris Heagerty.

Resolution to target county debt

I've got a story set for Saturday that talks about a resolution co-sponsored by Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Knox County Commission Chairman Tony Norman.

You can find the resolution right smack here.

If approved, the county would have to to apply the proceeds from the sale of county surplus properties “to reducing the county taxpayers' debt,” which stood at $669 million when the current fiscal year began last July.

And yes, this does affect school property and - if passed - it will repeal a resolution the commission passed in April 2009 that lets the school system determine how to spend money the county gets from the sale of surplus school property. You can find that bad boy right smack here.

Not counting interest (which would put us all on the hook for about $1 billion), the county owes $669 million as of the end of the last fiscal year, which wrapped up June 30. By the end of the current fiscal year, the county will be on the hook for $645.8 million, according to finance numbers. (The county and school system will each chip in about $30 million but about half will go directly tote interest.)

Of that $645.8 million, the county will owe $388.7 million and the school system will owe $242.4 million. Still, it's all county taxpayer debt.

The commission will address the matter later this month.

Mackay to take job with Knoxville

Greg Mackay

Looks like former Knox County Elections Administrator Greg Mackay has landed a job with the city.

According to the latest spin piece coming out of Knoxville's side of the Death Star, Mayor Madeline Rogero today hired Mackay as director of public assembly facilities. He succeeds Bob Polk, who retired from the gig in November.

I got no idea what the job does or what it pays.

Mackay, a Democrat, served as elections administrator from 2003 to 2011. Since then, he got a job doing something I can't remember, but it's probably nowhere as cool as whatever it is he'll be doing for the mayor.

The hippie has the full press release right smack here.

Chance to have lunch with the mayor

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett on Friday will continue his “lunch with the mayor” program, this time at  Central Flats & Taps in the Happy Holler community.

“It's really just a continuation of our cash mobs,” Burchett said. “We're trying to pick locally owned businesses throughout the county.”

The mayor said the North Knoxville restaurant serves “pretty good food,” and that he hopes the event, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., draws a large crowd.

Central Flats & Taps is located at 1204 N. Central St.

The luncheons are an offshoot of the mayor's “cash mobs,” a concept that encourages people to show up at a small business at the same time and shop.

The county has held a number of them since late last year.

Friday's event is “Dutch treat.”

Electronic-waste event on Saturday

The county, city, the West Knoxville Optimist Club and the Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad are partnering up this Saturday for the “plug-in your community” electronic-waste recycling event.

Yeah, that's what I said, too. Huh? Wha-?

Well, apparently you can take all your old computers, printers and other electronic junk and drop it all off Saturday – rain or shine – between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Chilhowee Park in the Midway Parking lot on North Beaman Street.

The event is free and includes drive-thru service, so you don't have to hang out. Those who participate are eligible to win a wide-screen TV from Best Buy, which you'll eventually no doubt be lugging down to the next electronic-waste recycling event in a year or two.

Please note that you cannot drop off refrigerators, air condition units, smoke detectors, light bulbs, stoves and electronic equipment containing hazardous chemicals.

For more information, click right smack here.

Or you can just throw all the junk off your porch and into your neighbor's yard in the middle of the night. Not that I'd know anything about that.

Visit Knoxville group unveils guide

I've had this in my email inbox for awhile. Last week, Visit Knoxville released its 2013 City Guide & Visitor Handbook, a 72-page magazine that covers attractions, events, blah, blah, and all sorts of fancy going ons in the city.

The organization's president, Kim Bumpas, called it “an important resource for visitors when planning their trip to Knoxville.” She also noted that it will feature new editorial content from local writers and personalities that are designed to give a visitor and insider's perspective to Knoxville.

No mention of whether visitor's will be assaulted with the popular city and county catch phrase: “You're not from around here, are you?”

Heh.

The guide is actually pretty cool. You can see it online, right smack here, or download it (or have it mailed to you) by clicking here.

You can also get one at the Knoxville Visitor Center at 301 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville.

Political parties set to reorganize

Looks like it's that time again, time to reorganize the local Democratic and Republican parties. 

According to the rogue blogger, Brian Hornback, the red team picks officers, delegates, whatever for local precincts on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.  Then on Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. some folks can vote at the party's reorganization. Click right smack here for the details and to see who is running for party chairman.

The blue team's next convention is set for April, some time, according to the hippie's blog site. Find that entry right smack here. I didn't see a whole lot of information (just some bickering over Mark Padgett), so I headed over to the party's website. Looks like the Democrats will actually hold their convention for delegates selection on March 10. The party also will host a March 24 Congressional district convention. 

So, that said, I'm not sure if it's March of April. 

You can find that info right smack here.

We've got some local elections this year, but they're for non-partisan Knoxville City Council seats. There are, however, some big county races set for 2014.

Expect county to sell Hillcrest land

Hillcrest north campus (photo by J. Miles Cary)

First post of the year. About time, I suppose. Just really getting back after a good amount of time off for the holidays.

Anyhoo, had a story in this weekend's paper about a deal between the county and Hillcrest HealthCare Communities that could lead to the nursing home securing the property where it operates for about $5.3 million. It currently pays the county $1 a year to lease a combined 33 acres in the north, south and west parts of the county.

Hillcrest has tried this before and it didn't work out, I think mostly because Paul Pinkston was on the commission and he wanted to let others bid. Ornery, yet charismatic he was able to get enough of the then-19 member commission on board. In the end, officials just extended the least.

I don't expect that to happen this time. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett has the six votes he needs to sell the property. Plus, he's going to argue that regardless of whether the deal is put out to bid, only Hillcrest can continue to use it as a nursing home for the indigent. And he's pretty much right. (It all comes down to Hillcrest owning the “certificate of need” to operate a nursing home and that's based on local demographics and the need for beds.)

Sooooo . . . expect this to pass. The board is supposed to talk about it during its work session and voting meeting later this month, but it is possible that it gets deferred for until February out of courtesy to any member who wants to further study the matter.