Metro Pulse

The UT conference room renovations includes a $35,000 conference table, a kitchenette, six offices and a teleconference center. The project was approved and funded by the state in 2006, but was not completed until December—poorly timed to coincide with orders to UT to cut $75 million from its budget. Full story »

So long to our Gay Street neighbor, the Knoxville Voice, which is ceasing publication after about three years in a climate that seems unfavorable to print journalism, and to new businesses in general. Journalists ignore other media at their peril, and we often read the biweekly paper, which advertised its local ownership; the publisher was Dane Baker, a young entrepreneur. Full story »

Better hold off on those homecoming parties for former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe. President-elect Barack Obama’s team has asked Ashe to postpone leaving his post as Ambassador to Poland until February. Full story »

With his job on the line this coming year, you might think elections administrator Greg Mackay would keep his head down—instead of being a spokesman for a revolution in the manner of voting in Knox County. Full story »

There will be a one-hour breakfast meeting at Pilot Corp. headquarters next Wednesday (Jan. 7) where about 100 guests will hear a status report on Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam’s plans to run for governor in 2010. Full story »

The Siemens company, one of the contractors on Department of Energy projects in Oak Ridge, has paid a $1.6 billion fine, the largest every levied, for bribing public officials around the world in order to get contracts, according to The New York Times. Full story »

Local DISH Network subscribers lost WATE, the Knoxville ABC affiliate for 36 hours Friday and Saturday. Young Broadcasting had been in a dispute with the satellite television provider over fees and DISH took down Young stations across the country at 7 p.m. Friday. An agreement was reached over the weekend and the Knoxville station was back up on Sunday morning. Full story »

Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe is expected to be back living in Knoxville come spring. President-elect Barack Obama has notified all non-career foreign service ambassadors (translation: political ambassadors) that their services will no longer be required after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. Some presidents take their time filling plum ambassadorial posts, but the smoothly efficient Obama transition team is wasting no time. Ashe has been ambassador to Poland since being appointed to the post by his friend and Yale college classmate President George W. Bush. Full story »

Local legislators are asking state insurance regulators to investigate a health insurance company doing business in Knox County. Local druggists call the health insurance companies when they fill a prescription. They agree on a price. The prescription is filled and the company then pays the drug store. Full story »

Outgoing state Democratic Party Chair Gray Sasser is being lambasted for Democratic losses in Tennessee while President-elect Barack Obama was rolling up a huge victory nationwide. But the responsibility of the unprecedented Republican takeover of the state House of Representatives mostly lies with the members. Full story »

The University of Tennessee has already been told to cut its budget and more cuts are expected as the Legislature meets to pass next year’s state budget with an expected $800 million shortfall. The Board of Trustees has advised UT President John Petersen that it is not a good idea for him to be flying to Chattanooga and Nashville. Full story »

The passage of charter amendment #3 (reducing County Commission from 19 members to 11) means County Commission districts will be redrawn for 2010; new districts will be created, occupied by one commissioner instead of two, and two countywide positions will be created. Full story »

News that Vol football Coach Phil Fulmer will not return next year did not come as a surprise to campus insiders. Since the Georgia game, one of the big boosters has been texting Athletic Director Mike Hamilton every time a Vol opponent scores a touchdown—and you know that’s a lot of texts—saying, “I’m ready to write the check.” Full story »

Residents of North Knoxville view an empty St. Mary’s Hospital as a ticking time bomb, fearing some sort of public low-income housing that will hurt neighborhood property values. Mercy Health plans to relocate the hospital to the newly acquired Baptist Hospital site in South Knoxville. Full story »

Scott Moore’s ouster from Knox County Commission removes a frequent critic of County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and reduces the anti-Ragsdale faction by one vote. The recent election removed several critics among the appointed commissioners (Elaine Davis, Victoria DeFreese, William Daniels). So how will commission vote on a replacement for Moore? Full story »