Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008
Local congressman and chariman of the House Science and Technology Committee, Bart Gordon, opposed the importing of nuclear waste from Italy to Oak Ridge. The nuclear waste has a low level of radioactivity but has no place on American soil, according to Gordon.
"There is no indication in this legislative history, nor in the NRC's regulatory actions, that there was any intention that the United States would ever become a welcome repository of foreign-generated radioactive waste," Gordon said.
More information about the controversial importing of radioactive waste can be found in a Knoxville News Sentinel article.
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Rep. Stacey Campfield authored a state legislation that would ban any homosexual content to children in grades pre-kindgergarten to eight. Heterosexuality would be allowed to be taught under the bill, though not required.
"Homosexuality, bisexuality, that's something that should be left to be taught at home and not at our schools," Campfield said.
The Knoxville News Sentinel's Lindsay Melvin gives a full background on the proposed legislation, and on the opposition's argument against Rep. Campfield's proposal.
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain won the primaries in the Potomac states, took Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia in convincing fashion.
McCain won 16 delegates in the District of Columbia, 60 delegates in Virginia and 37 delegates in Maryland, bringing his overall delegate total to 801.
On the democratic side, Obama won 15 delegates in the District of Columbia, 83 in Virginia and 70 in Maryland for a total of 1078 delegates. His strong day established him as the frontrunner moving on in the primary elections.
Obama's final opponent in the race for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, has 969 total delegates. McCain's most formidable opponent in the race for the Republican nomination, Gov. Mike Huckabee, has 240 delegates.
More information about the Potomac Primaries can be found in Tennesseee Journalist articles entitled Feb. 12 primaries build momentum, Knox County commissioner weighs in and Potomac primaries: Landslide victories for McCain and Obama.
Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
State senators in Georgia are pushing a bill that would redefine the Georgia-Tennessee state line, in order to give Georgia more water from the Tennessee River. The bill would move the state line about one mile north of its current position, and place the Nickajack dam out of the Volunteer state.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen reaction to an Associated Press reporter was, "This is a joke, right?"
Further information about this story can be found featured in the Tennessee Journalist's Politics section.
Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, Pattie Solis Doyle, resigned after the Clinton campaign lost a number of primaries consecutively to Sen. Barack Obama. Doyle has stayed on as a senior advisor to Clinton but will not be as active in the daily happenings of the campaign.
"I have been proud to manage this campaign, and prouder still to call Hillary my friend for more than 16 years. I know that she will make a great president," she said.
A FOXNews.com article provides a full description of the story, and describes her reasons for leaving the campaign.
Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama won the primary in Louisiana as well as the Nebraska and Washington state cacuses. He won 72 delegates, while Clinton picked up 40 delegates.
The victory positioned Obama for his strong showing later in the week at the Potomac region primaries.
A full wrap-up of both state's primaries, and analysis of the results can be found in this MSNBC.com article.
Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008
Gov. Mitt Romney officially suspended his campaign to become the Republican presidental nominee. This was unexpected as he was second to front-runner Sen. John McCain. Though at the time of his announcement, he had only 286 delegates.
"If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country," Romney said.
The Tennessee Journalist gives a complete look at the Massachussets governor's reason for abandoning his White House Aspirations.
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008
After Super Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign confirmed that she invested $5 million of her own moneyin her campaign in January after her final Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, beat her in fundraising during the month of January.
"I loaned the campaign $5 million from my money. That's where I got the money. I did it because I believe very strongly in this campaign, and we had a great month fund-raising in January, broke all our records, but my opponent was able to raise more money and we intended to be competitive - and we were - and I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," Clinton said.
This New York Times article details her reason for making the investment, and where the money will likely be spent.
Comments
Jonathan commented, on February 14, 2008 at 9:10 p.m.:
Campfield's efforts to "ban anything that exposes students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to homosexuality," are absolutely absurd, irresponsible, and at worst, tactically dangerous. Pretending that gays and lesbians do not exist by erasing their histories or their place in society from school classrooms will not erase gays and lesbians from existence, including thousands of STUDENTS that attend Tennessee schools every day. Instead he will be eroding support systems, desperately needed education and positive examples of tolerance and acceptance.
He also puts Tennessee students in danger. Did you know that according to the Center for Disease Control/Massachusetts Department of Education Youth Risk Behavior Survey (1999), 33% of gay youth will attempt suicide? In fact, gay teen suicide attempts are four times that of heterosexual youth. Believing that this problem does not exist will not make it go away. Turning a blind eye will not exonerate him and others from the many deaths for which he and others' negligence will be partially responsible.
Additionally, he states, "I don't think our schools have reading, writing and arithmetic down enough to start teaching about transgenderism." I expect banning homosexuality could also mean banning the mention of well-known homosexuals. How does he intend to improve focuses in the aforementioned disciplines without mentioning, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Alexander the Great, or Leonardo Da Vinci? Not to mention Tchaikovsky, Socrates and Tennessee Williams and thousands of others who have made immeasurable contributions to music, art, literature, science, politics and government, but also who happened to be gay?
This position is tired. His rhetoric is ludicrous. And this type of asinine point-of-view will eventually be replaced with more progressive, educated and humane perspectives. For as long as bigotry, intolerance and injustice exist, people will persistently and tirelessly endure to see that it is eradicated from the human experience.
Susan Gawarecki commented, on March 6, 2008 at 1:12 p.m.:
The caption to the photo associated with the Wed., Feb. 13, story is plain wrong. In the linked story it is clear that EnergySolutions, not Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is proposing to import the Italian waste for processing. Also what is the purpose of showing an image of some unknown equipment purportedly once housed somewhere in Oak Ridge? It is supposed to add drama (due to big, scary-looking machinery) to an unrelated story?
I hope that the journalism students at UT take some time to learn more about the Department of Energy (DOE) facilities and activities in Oak Ridge, as well as the community itself. Oak Ridge National Lab is not the only entity out there. Aside from the Office of Science facilities, there is the National Nuclear Security Administration's Y-12 National Security Complex, the Environmental Management Office's cleanup efforts underway at East Tennessee Technology Park (former K-25 gaseous diffusion site), Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and several other DOE and contractor facilities. There are also numerous private companies--such as EnergySolutions--that hold licenses to manage nuclear materials or treat radioactive wastes. Even though the Oak Ridge area is noted for its expertise in the nuclear arena, it has a diverse range of businesses that employ one of the most highly educated populations in the southeast.