Daily Dose for May 02, 2006

Daily Dose

Election Day -- Today is Election Day in a number of large towns across the state which have partisan primaries to determine their elected positions. Elections are set to happen in Sullivan, Knox, Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby Co. as well as several other smaller counties across the state.

Bredesen's CoverTN Passes Senate Committee -- Governor Bredesen's CoverTN Plan, which would create state subsidized health insurance cleared its first hurdle, passing a Senate committee unanimously 8-0, with Jim Bryson abstaining. A move by Republicans to try to push through a bill backed by Sen. Diane Black that would add as many as 57,000 uninsurable Tennesseans back to TennCare failed when Republican Sen. Mike Williams sided with the Democrats in opposing the bill. Republicans did tack on one amendment to the bill that would slightly alter the state's funding of diabetes prevention through an existing school school-based program. More from the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Memphis Commercial Appeal.

THP Demotes 4 -- Four district captains of the Tennessee Highway Patrol were demoted Monday as the housecleaning in the ongoing reform to the Tennessee Department of Safety wrought by last year's Troopergate controversy. Captains Glenn Cantwell of Fall Branch in the Tri-Cities area, Lucious Howard of Chattanooga, Charles Laxton of Knoxville and Joe Nunn of Memphis all were told Monday of their demotions.

Bryson: Bredesen Said Senate Made Mistake in Ousting Ford -- Gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson is profiled in a Kingsport Times News article. Bryson says Bredesen told the State Senate they made a mistake in ousting Sen. Ophelia Ford. "We have had ethics problems. ... It continues now with the governor saying that (the Senate) made a mistake in voiding the (special) election of (former state Sen.) Ophelia Ford in Memphis," Bryson said. Ford's election was voided after the State Senate found that her intial election was "incurably uncertain" in outcome after finding 13 votes illegally cast.

Dunn Removes Sexual Orientation Language -- House Minority Leader Bill Dunn removed language from a bill that would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation from places that sell liquor. Dunn said the discrimination prohibition had legal implications outside the bill and if the General Assembly passed the bill as it was written, it could send a legal signal that the General Assembly meant to expand the state's anti-discrimination laws to sexual orientation in other areas. Dunn's amendment was ultimately approved on a 55-32 vote with a dozen members not voting one way or the other, including four who were absent. All Republicans voted yes and all 32 no votes came from Democrats.

Bredesen Advocates Changes to the BEP -- The Bredesen administration is advancing a bill on Monday that would create a state review committee to make changes to the Basic Education Plan, which determines how state dollars will be distributed among school systems. The review committee will be especially charged with making recommended changes to the BEP that will make funding for urban school districts more fair. Currently, under the BEP counties with large seats, such as Hamilton and Knox Co. receive less state funding than smaller more rural counties. Tinkering with the formula is likely to set up a battle between representatives from urban counties and delegates to the General Assembly from more rural counties who oppose the changes.

Senate Candidates Agree on Pledge -- All of the U.S. Senate candidates campaigning to replace Sen. Bill Frist say they agree with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander that the national anthem should be sung in English. Alexander introduced a resolution that would require the pledge to be sung in English after learning of a Spanish version of the song entitled Nuestro Himno.

Wamp Calls for UN Withdrawal -- Calling the United Nations "one of the most corrupt organizations," Rep. Zach Wamp told the Pachyderm Club in Chattanooga on Monday the U.S. should consider exiting the U.N. Wamp also spoke to the club about illegal immigration and high gas prices.

Posted by Adam Groves | Email This |