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It is important for the Tennessee Valley Authority to step forward and be responsive to questions that Tennesseans have about Kingston. After all the problems we have seen with mismanagement of facilities and clean up, it is imperative to get this right for the safety of Tennesseans.

East Tennesseans deserve transparency and detailed information from TVA as this process moves forward.

I believe that open meetings are an important part of transparency. I encourage TVA to open each of their meetings to the public. As Senator, I would follow the lead of the Tennessee Legislature in calling for TVA to have open meetings.

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This is onerous on several levels. TVA's lack of forthcoming on its environmental issues is not the least of our concerns.

More than 50 tons of asbestos were discovered buried in a new coal ash dump.

Special waste permits reviewed by the news organization reveal as much as 56 tons of asbestos is being removed along with roughly 30,000 tons of contaminated soil.

“As we said previously, the material appears to be decades old, possibly even before or during plant construction,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told Knox News.

So it's decades old material in a "new" coal ash dump?

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Wooten Fallout Shelter (Memphis – Shelby County)

Hoyt Wooten, engineer and radio/television station owner, built his house on 27 acres in the Whitehaven community, south of Memphis, around 1938. At the height of the Cold War, Wooten designed and built a fallout shelter in his backyard. Completed 1961-1963, the 5,600 square foot fallout shelter was designed to hold 65 people for a month if a nuclear bomb was dropped near Memphis. Rooms in the shelter included a fully-equipped kitchen, male and female dormitories, recreation room, bathrooms, radio communication room, and a morgue. The interior of the shelter was designed by Memphis architect and interior designer William Nowland Van Powell, known for his designs for the Greyhound Lines bus company. The shelter is now part of a gated community and for many years was used as their community center.

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more toons

For the record I personally do not support Biden of Trump.

The Tennessee Aquarium Christmas Tree is in house powered by Miguel Wattson. Miguel happens to be an electric eel.

Flashy fish: electric eel powers Tennessee aquarium’s Christmas tree
Special system connected to Miguel’s tank enables his naturally-occurring shocks to power strands of lights on a nearby tree

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The Tennessee Valley Authority has been hit with a $145,000 fine for providing regulators “incomplete and inaccurate” information about a potential safety issue at its Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant for nearly five years, records show.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission levied the fine against TVA as punishment for repeated assertions over a five-year period that it had an adequate backup plan to keep safety equipment at the Watts Bar facility operational even if the plant temporarily lost power.

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Kick off the holiday season right!

Join us at the American Legion Hall in Harriman on November 30 at 7pm for the American classic 'It's a Wonderful Life - a live radio play'.

Tickets are just $10.00 and include the show, dessert, and beverage. Proceeds benefit the Harriman Public Library.
Any questions, just give them a call. See you there!

Jupiter and Venus will be in close conjunction in the western sky this evening. This should get you in the mood...

These are rather good this week.

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From Cooper's Statement:

Al Gore was ahead of his time and has been warning us about climate change for decades. His new presentation is a sobering reality. Our climate is changing faster than anyone expected, and we need bold solutions to help save our planet.

I have always said that the Green New Deal is an important call to action, but it’s not a legislative proposal and our job as legislators is to implement things and make them work. Well today the 100% Clean Economy Act sets forth parameters that help to confront the crisis head-on. The Green New Deal is quite ambitious in that it tries to solve many of society’s problems, including the health care system, housing policy, living wages. But, its bold environmental goals can’t be ignored just because the initiative might be a bit too expansive. So, supporting the combination of both of these measures – bold proposals and legislative text – makes a lot of sense to me.

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Federal regulators today slapped the Tennessee Valley Authority with a $145,000 fine for submitting inaccurate information about the reliability of power service to the last new nuclear reactor licensed in America.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said an inspection this summer at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant near Spring City, Tennessee concluded that TVA repeatedly submitted incomplete and inaccurate information to regulators about the adequacy of an off-site electric power system.

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America's highest paid federal employee. Is he worth it? Is anybody?

The Tennessee Valley Authority paid Jeff Lyash, its new CEO, a recruitment and relocation incentive of nearly $1.8 million to join the federal utility in April and awarded him other performance pay, incentives and pension benefits.

Those benefits increased Lyash's total compensation to a record $8.12 million in his first six months on the job, provided he stays for at least the next three years, according to regulatory filings released Friday by TVA.

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Women tip off at 5:30, men at 7:30.

I have always wondered why folks don't support Roane State B Ball more? It's really good ball to watch.

As for the inaugural “Pack the Gym!” event, Nesbit said it’s his brainchild. “I’m the only one dumb enough to try it, but if I didn’t think we had a strong men’s team this year, I wouldn’t be doing this,” he said.

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The TVA and Harriman Utility Board have scheduled a power outage that will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9, starting at 11:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. or sooner on Sunday morning, Nov. 10.

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Interesting article in Quartz on "clean" coal . . .

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In early October, the five largest paddling clubs in Tennessee, the Appalachian Paddling Enthusiasts, the Bluff City Canoe Club, the Chota Canoe Club, the Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, and the Tennessee Valley Canoe Club came together on the banks of the Nolichucky River, hosted by Matt Moses and USA Raft, for a historic meeting to better align on key policy issues that affect paddlers in the state of Tennessee. Under the leadership and guidance of ACA Tennessee State Director, Andrea White, and with the participation of ACA Public Policy Chief, Brett Mayer, and American Whitewater National Stewardship Director, Kevin Colburn, the five clubs discussed a variety of issues. This letter highlights key points of the discussion.

Overall, net benefits from these three durational effects of crime, recreation and energy use – that is, impacts that last for the duration of the time change – are murky.

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Tennessee's $732M in welfare reserves the biggest in nation

Gov. Bill Lee this week defended the decision to stockpile $732 million in federal anti-poverty funds reserved for families with children, saying the money would be put to use "when the needs are there."

Other states have used the funds to combat opioid addiction and to support children's healthcare. One out of every four Tennessee children is in poverty. Governor Lee doesn't see a need?

Knox News Sentinel

This is disgusting...

The number of uninsured children in Tennessee increased by 43% in just a two-year period, according to a report released today by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families that found that 25,000 children lost health coverage between 2016 and 2018

In addition to leading the nation in children losing coverage, Tennessee is also a national leader in medical debt and the number of rural hospital closures.

Via Juanita...

More Toons

The Knox County Sheriff's Office says it is working to get more people accused of low-level crimes released while awaiting trial. The Knox County Public Defender says there are still too many people sitting in jail just because they can't afford bail.

The caseload for the sheriff's Pretrial Services program has more than doubled this year, to about 1,140 cases earlier this month.

“We assess approximately a thousand people a month now at the magistrate level,” said Todd Cook, who directs the program for the Sheriff’s Office. “Last month, in September, 210 people were released to pretrial.”

But Public Defender Mark Stephens said, "I think we are grossly underutilizing pretrial (release), because we create a program for who should be released and when they should be released, and then they create 15 exceptions to that.”

At the link (for subscribers): a look at the program, its potential impact on jail overcrowding, and the experience of a similar but more robust program in Nashville.

I apologize for posting the main part of the article. It's important and so is the journalism by our alternative news publishers. Thank you, Compass! Check them out here:

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Wonder how much Trump gets paid to screw around with the stock market? He's not stupid enough to think his tariff vacillations won't have any effect. Somebody if whispering in his ear. Check this:

But these wins were peanuts compared to the money made by a trader, or group of traders, who bought 420,000 September e-minis in the last 30 minutes of trading on June 28. That was some 40% of the day’s trading volume in September e-minis—making it a trade that could not easily be ignored. By then, President Trump was already in Osaka, Japan—14 hours ahead of Chicago—and on his way to a roughly hour-long meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping as part of the G20 summit. On Saturday in Osaka, after the market had closed in Chicago, Trump emerged from his meeting with Xi and announced that the intermittent trade talks were “back on track.” The following week was a good one in the stock market, thanks to the Trump announcement. On Thursday, June 27, the S&P 500 index stood at about 2915; a week or so later, it was just below 3000, a gain of 84 points, or $4,200 per e-mini contract. Whoever bought the 420,000 e-minis on June 28 had made a handsome profit of nearly $1.8 billion.

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The House just passed a resolution condemning Trump's withdrawal from Syria. The vote was 354 to 60. Rep. Burchett voted against it. So did DesJarlais and Rose. 129 other Republicans voted for it.

Via KnowViews.com

...researchers found that a diet comprising of plenty of fruits and vegetables and fresh products as opposed to processed foods could help people with depression. Following a Mediterranean style diet for just three weeks was associated with a decline in the depression score in a group of young adults. These participants with moderate depression came down to normal range with no depression and lower levels of stress and anxiety.

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