An East Tennessee face-off
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
Bill Haslam is good-looking, personable, smart, and will have the resources behind him to become Tennessee’s next governor. Bill Haslam has skated by on his family name. These two views of Knoxville’s mayor are where he stands at this time, the unofficial kickoff of the 2010 governor’s race. Full story »
More Frank Talk by Frank Cagle
The Jury’s Out on Pre-K
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
Over the past four years, Tennessee has moved into the forefront of states offering pre-kindergarten programs to disadvantaged four-year-olds. At a state cost of $83 million, some 17,000 youngsters (whose eligibility is based on family income that qualifies them for free or reduced-price lunches) are enrolled this school year in 934 specialized Pre-K classrooms throughout the state. Full story »
More Insights by Joe Sullivan
Cheap Coal
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
The coal industry spent $35 million this year trying to convince Americans that coal is clean. “Coal can do that” is the new slogan, explicitly linked to Obama’s “yes we can” in recent ads. On the industry website, they piggyback on Obama’s victory under the headline “Landslide support for coal sends strong message.” A landslide of ash onto the Swan Pond community in Roane County left a lump in the industry’s stocking. Full story »
More Sideways Glance by Rikki Hall
- Refuel the Budget with an Increased Tax
- Big Bucks
- Tennessee’s Time to Shine
- Little Maverick on the Prairie
Old Man Potter’s Revenge
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
You know the scene: George and Mary Bailey are bound for their honeymoon when they witness a run on the town’s bank. And, as a similar panic threatens to swamp George’s Bailey Brothers’ Building and Loan, he and Mary offer up their own cash—the “kitty” they’ve saved up for their honeymoon—to tide their nervous depositors over. Full story »
More Off-Center City by Matt Edens
Time to make downtown corporate again?
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
I’ve never used the escalator from State Street to Gay Street that glides patrons of the Regal Riviera up to their destination. But glimpsing it the other day as I was walking the dogs along State, I was reminded of another, similar escalator from my childhood. About a block north of the cinema there used to be one that transported shoppers from a surface parking lot on State to the Promenade. Full story »
More Shot of Urban by Michael Haynes
- Knocking Back Shots of the Past
- Twinkling Lights and City Nights
- Aged Info in the Info Age
- Red Lights and Robots