We've updated the TennViews ActBlue campaign contributions page. Also, ActBlue has included county party organizations for Tennessee, including Knox County, and we've added those, too. Read more about it here. Support Democrats!

The KNS reports that three suspects in a burglary that led to yesterday's shooting of a KPD officer are in custody, including the suspected shooter who surrendered to law enforcement at a Waffle House this afternoon. That's some fast work by the KPD and area law enforcement.

UPDATE: Local hero speaks, quietly.

I can't tell what is actually bugging KOS, but it looks like Bubba will have privileges he won't.

Link...

The Tennessee Attorney General's office has issued an opinion saying that separate petitions are not required for multiple charter change proposals.

All of the proposed changes, however, would have to be on the ballot as one yes/no proposition, that is, either all proposed changes pass or none.

(By way of an alert reader.)

Not much talk about yesterday's primaries. I didn't even watch any of the wobbly talking bobble heads to know what I'm supposed to think about it.

The man who invented

The Iowa Caucuses

RIP

A Knoxville Police Officer has been shot at a residence on Rockbridge Lane in Northwest Knoxville.. The officer was taken to UT Hospital. A manhunt is underway for the shooter or shooters.

WVLT says the officer was shot multiple times in the chest and was not wearing a vest. They have a preliminary description of the suspects.

WBIR has ongoing updates.

UPDATE: WATE says the officer was conscious when taken to UT Hospital. The first ambulance overheated on I-640 and he had to be transferred to another ambulance.

UPDATE: WBIR identifies the KPD officer and has more details on the shooting and more information on two or possibly three suspects and two vehicles police are searching for.

UPDATE: News reports say KPD Officer Norman Rickman is in stable condition and officials are optimistic about his recovery. One news report confirms he was not wearing a vest. This is the second time he has been shot in the line of duty. He is also a Desert Storm veteran. Officer Rickman sounds like one tough hombre. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

UPDATE: WATE says three men detained for questioning. KNS says eight detained. WBIR says nine men detained.

UPDATE: WBIR says Officer Rickman is out of surgery and his condition is described as "critical" by KPD Chief Sterling Owen IV.

AP:

A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures.

Send your thoughts and prayers Sen. Kennedy's way.

Knoxville News Sentinel:

The state Senate today refused to go along with a House-approved proposal that would allow Mercy Health Systems to bypass normal regulatory approval for merging facilities of Baptist and St. Mary's hospitals in Knoxville.

This was sponsored by Rep. Joe Armstrong, who is on Mercy's board. Was it out of bounds ethically for him to even propose this? Should there be special rules for St. Mary's? Maybe they should be subject to tighter regulation and closer scrutiny, instead of less, now that they dominate the market.

"We're TOO proud of America to be in this video."

See also: "Party of values" video star former strip club owner.

WATE: Mayor gives Pinkston tongue lashing

"I've never been convicted of a crime between the two of us. Only one of us has been convicted of a crime and that's you," the mayor told Pinkston.

The gloves came off during yesterday's special County Commission meeting to review an audit of Knox County p-card expenses. The issue of travel allowances also came up.

Despite Mayor Ragsdale's vigorous defense under oath and Commissioner DeFreese's failed motion calling for Ragsdale's resignation, Commission took harsh action.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel

The Knox County Commission formally censured Mayor Mike Ragsdale on Monday and will force him and his top aides to pay back nearly $40,000 in questionable purchasing-card charges.

Commission also voted to refer the matter of Cynthia Finch's fabricated receipts to District Attorney General Randy Nichols for criminal investigation.

In other action, a proposal to put liquor by the drink up for a vote was withdrawn because Law Director John Owings said County Commission isn't authorized to put it on the ballot. (Does anybody know why that is?) He said citizens would have to petition for a referendum.

Lobster was apparently not served during the marathon meeting, but there was definitely some grilling.

Don't know if you saw any of the American Country Music awards Sunday. What an embarrassment. I can't get over the fact that they have it in Las Vegas. That just ain't right.

It opened with Idol sensation Carrie Underwood. That was supposed to be country music? Memo to Carrie: get with Dolly for some lesson on how to be trashy with class. And some singing lessons.

Called Google Health, the service lets users link information from a handful of pharmacies and care providers, including Quest Diagnostics labs. Google plans to add more.
...
Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, said services like Google Health are troublesome because they aren't covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
...
Mayer [the Google executive overseeing the service] said, however, that users medical records "are generally speaking as safe with Google as they would be with a HIPAA-regulated entity."

As I've said in the business many times, I'm ahead of the curve but not on the bleeding edge. Using Google Health will be one more technology step I will avoid for sometime. Do you feel Google Health is safe enough to use?

We ran into this bird a couple of weekends ago kayaking near Seven Islands. I can't figure out what it is for the life of me, but he was very territorial. I figured someone here would know.

This year, the United States government is scheduled to spend more than $622 billion dollars on the military budget, which includes an additional $171 billion dollars for the occupation of Iraq. In comparison, the US will only spend $56 billion dollars this year on education and only $3.4 billion on energy development. At the current rate of spending it will take 183 years of alternative energy development to match one year of spending on the war in Iraq, and eleven years of funding education for our children will still not match even one year of spending on this war. We have seriously misplaced our priorities, and it driving us further into debt, an estimated $9.357 trillion dollars this year.

A fire caused extensive damaged at the Maryville Daily Times offices this afternoon. Publisher Max Croster was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. Full report at BlountViews.

UPDATE: Knoxville News Sentinel

It remains unclear whether the company will be able to publish its Tuesday edition.

Note that the KNS reporter is also a reporter for Maryville Daily Times competitor Blount Today.

I spoke with an employee at the Maryville Daily Times who said "we have to put out a paper every day," and that they have contingency plans in place. You can watch the interview at BlountViews. We'll see if I have a Daily Times tomorrow. I'm betting I will.

UPDATE: Our paper arrived as expected this morning, actually a little earlier than usual. Police and fire officials say the fire is suspicious and they are conducting an arson investigation.

The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization is holding a series of workshops to get public input on the region's long range transportation plan.

Ellen Zavisca, Transportation Planner with the TPO says:

This plan is important because it's an opportunity to take the long view on where we want to go as a community, and how we want to get there.

Transportation in East Tennessee, with a few notable exceptions, is all about cars. But gas prices, infrastructure costs, air quality impacts and other factors have got people and governments starting to think about different ways of doing things.

We hope that this plan can be part that change in thinking. To do that, we need to hear from lots of people, so we are encouraging people to get involved.

The TPO also has an online survey regarding priorities for the long range plan. Following are the workshop schedules:

REGIONAL MOBILITY PLAN 2035 PUBLIC WORKSHOPS

Meetings begin at 6 p.m. unless noted otherwise, and should last about an hour.

Knox County

• Bonny Kate Public Library, Tuesday, May 27

• City County Bldg, Small Assembly Room, Thursday, May 29 (begins at 6:30)

• Halls Public Library, Monday, June 2

• Cedar Bluff Public Library, Thursday, June 5

• Burlington Public Library, Thursday, June 5

Loudon County

• Loudon County Visitor’s Bureau, Wednesday, May 28

Blount County

• Blount County Public Library, Wednesday, June 4

Anderson County

• Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, Tuesday, June 3

Sevier County

• Sevierville Civic Center, Thursday, May 29

Tells TN GOP to "lay off his wife." I happened to be watching Good Morning America (which is once in a, well, never) when this came on and was going to post the video clip but my video setup has gone wiggidy-plonk.

Anyway, here' a roundup:

• Good Morning America (with video)
• Michael Silence
• Sean Braisted
• Tiny Cat Pants
• Kleinheider at Post Politics (Youtube)
• Kleinheider at Post Politics (Hobbs responds)

Nissan-NEC to make lithium-ion batteries

Nissan's joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp. will invest 12 billion yen, or $115 million, to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries — a technology widely viewed as key for next-generation "green" cars.

According to the article, production is set to begin in 2009, with an initial capacity of 13,000 batteries per year and eventually 65,000 per year.

Lithium-ion batteries have higher energy density which allows for smaller, lighter, higher-capacity batteries.

Toyota was planning to introduce lithium-ion batteries in the next generation Prius, but safety concerns have delayed that for one or two more model years according to industry analysts.

GM is said to have a lithium-ion battery ready for their Volt plug-in electric car. Whoever gets there first will get a jump on the next generation of hybrids and plug-ins.

Barack Obama held a rally in Portland today, drawing 75,000. This image is from KVAL in Eugene.

United States Representative Ed Whitfield announced Saturday, May 17, at the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society that a congressional designation has been passed naming the Museum as The National Quilt Museum of the United States (Link...).

“We are very enthusiastic about receiving this designation,” said May Louise Zumwalt, Executive Director of the Museum. “Though it does not mean we will receive national funding, it does recognize that we are a quilt museum with national significance.”

Designation of the facility as The National Museum will bring additional attention and help increase the number of visitors. The Museum averages 40,000 visitors per year from across the country and at least 25 foreign countries. These tourists spend money in Paducah and the surrounding areas, and in this way the Museum helps bring economic benefits to the community.

Support your local galleries and museum's! They are economic engines for your community.

Sherrie

Los Angeles Times:

Parker scored 34 points, the most in a WNBA debut, and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Sparks beat the defending champion Phoenix Mercury, 99-94, on Saturday.

I've had hundreds of google hits today from people looking for Candace Parker's salary.

It's reported to be about $44K for her first season. She'll easily be worth ten times that, or even 100 times that for the WNBA. She has also signed multi-year deals with Adidas and Gatorade estimated to be worth $3-4 million.

COMMENTARY: Sparks rookie Candace Parker is exactly what the WNBA needs

A couple of editorials this week debate anonymity on the internet and the declining standards of public discourse. Excerpts and commentary after the jump...

New York Times:

By promptly disclosing medical errors and offering earnest apologies and fair compensation, they hope to restore integrity to dealings with patients, make it easier to learn from mistakes and dilute anger that often fuels lawsuits. [..]

Despite some projections that disclosure would prompt a flood of lawsuits, hospitals are reporting decreases in their caseloads and savings in legal costs. Malpractice premiums have declined in some instances, though market forces may be partly responsible. [..]

Recent studies have found that one of every 100 hospital patients suffers negligent treatment, and that as many as 98,000 die each year as a result. But studies also show that as few as 30 percent of medical errors are disclosed to patients.

Only a small fraction of injured patients — perhaps 2 percent — press legal claims.

According to the article, another benefit is turning medical mistakes into learning opportunities that improve the quality of health care.

Several states have laws that make apologies inadmissible in lawsuits. A few states have made admissions of wrongdoing inadmissible, and seven states require disclosure to patients when things go wrong.

The eastern wood-peewee is a flycatcher. Like most local flycatchers, it is drab, but it has a sweet, plaintive whistle in two phrases, "peeeeaweee, peeahhh." It sits on open perches watching for insects, which it will attack in mid air. Occasionally it will drop to the ground for prey.

More photos after the break

In March 2007, Jon Nix, the former Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors, who is also the former President and CEO, sold to the current President and CEO, Daniel Roling, for $10 the fully vested option to purchase 400,000 shares of National Coal Corp. common stock at $7.00 per share until December 31, 2008.

ABC News:

Kennedy, 76, was rushed from the Kennedy compound at Hyannisport, Massachusetts, to Cape Cod Hospital at 9 a.m. (1300 GMT), a hospital spokesman told Reuters.

He was then airlifted to a Boston hospital, the spokesman said.

CNN reported Kennedy was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with symptoms of a stroke, citing a prominent state Democrat it did not identify.

We just found out a quirk in the Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate law. Neither of our children qualify for the $300 per child rebate payment, even though they're under 17 years of age and have valid SSNs. This is because one of them was adopted as a special needs child last year. Apparently, the Adoption Credit replaces the regular Child Tax Credit, and the stimulus payment is based on not on the number of children, but on receipt of the Child Tax Credit only. Oh well, we didn't need the new big screen TV anyway.

Candace Parker will be interviewed on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning. If you're awake, you might give it a listen.

pgs

Tearing down a downtown interstate and replacing it with a boulevard and an elongated park...now that's just crazy.

Link...