Independent Audit Will Review Staffing, Violence at Prisons
State Lawmaker Faces Major Fine From EPA
The GOP’s stunning new attack on America’s national forests
Some Presidential Hopefuls Need Unlimited Donations To Compete With Ultra-Rich, Says Sen. Alexander
On a swing through Nashville, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said Wednesday that political candidates should not be limited on how much money they can raise. And he credited wealthy donors for giving some Republican presidential hopefuls a fighting chance.He answered a campaign finance question one day after a group of former members of Congress said they were going to fight to change the rules about anonymous donors.
Alexander stuck to his mantra: Don’t limit fundraising, just make sure it’s transparent.
He didn’t say how to achieve that transparency but went on to praise the unlimited flow of cash into campaigns — saying it has made for a vibrant presidential field.
“I don’t think money’s the problem. I think disclosure is the problem,” he said. “And, in fact, the reason we have so much talent in the Republican primary this year is because a lot of these candidates are able to run because they have support from wealthy people who helped them get started.” LINK
State Lawmaker Faces Major Fine From EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a civil complaint Thursday morning against State Rep. Andy Holt, seeking a fine of up to $177,500.NewsChannel 5 Investigates obtained the Notice of Proposed Penalty Assessment from the EPA that claims pollution from the Dresden Republican's hog farm violated the Federal Clean Water Act. The letter goes on to say that Holt may request a meeting with the EPA to discuss a settlement.
Reached by phone Thursday morning, Holt told NewsChannel 5 that he "loves a good fight" and called the penalty "pretty stiff."
Holt, who is vice chair of the House Agriculture Committee, has been critical of the EPA and, in a NewsChannel 5 investigation earlier this year, said the EPA has become "very politicized much like the IRS."
The EPA letter cites cases reported by NewsChannel 5 Investigates including two instances in 2011 when Holt's farm discharged at total of more than 500,000 gallons of waste water contaminated with hog manure into a nearby creek.
The letter cites another incident in 2013 in which Holt's farm reported discharging more than 200,000 gallons of wastewater into a nearby creek.
In a footnote the EPA claims it has "evidence of more than three unauthorized discharge events" but they are outside the five-year statute of limitations. LINK
Independent Audit Will Review Staffing, Violence at Prisons
Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield says he has asked for an independent audit of Tennessee's prisons after complaints from current and former employees that violence is on the rise.In a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Thursday, some employees blamed an unpopular new work schedule for staffing shortages that they said have made the prisons more dangerous. They also said wardens were being pressured into classifying violent assaults as nonviolent incidents in order to make it look as though prisons are safer than they actually are.
Schofield agreed that classifications have changed, but he said the changes have made the violence statistics more accurate. LINK
Two Republican bills currently making their way through Congress should anger any American who cares about the nation’s forests. Introduced this summer, both bills are pro-industry and anti-environment — and seek to eliminate the public participation in federal decisions about forest management that could negatively impact local communities, ecological health and wildlife.
The GOP’s stunning new attack on America’s national forests
Empowering corporations, disenfranchising citizens
Introduced on June 4, HR 2647 is a pro-industry bill that seeks to streamline the process by which commercial logging projects are managed by the federal government. One of the ways it wants to accomplish this is by limiting public debate on timber projects, effectively excluding the American public from their legal right to generate and review agency actions regarding forest management. HR 2647 appears to favor the rubber-stamping of industrial logging projects in National Forests by establishing several worrisome environmental review requirement exclusions from such projects. These exclusions would effectively remove critical opportunities for American voters to participate in governmental decisions regarding how forests are managed by federal executive departments such as the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Interior Department. LINK
Megasite ‘too large’ for one business
Officials in West Tennessee have said the Memphis Regional Megasite is one of the premier manufacturing locations in the nation for over 10 years.The site remains at the top of the list, but new state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd is taking a different look at the 4,100-acre site.
Very simply, Boyd said the site in Haywood County is too large for just one major manufacturer and the state is looking into how it can split up the property so several companies can move in. Boyd said companies like Nissan and Toyota won’t need the amount of space they can get at the Megasite.
“The key thing is we recognize that we’ve over-spec’d the site,” Boyd said. “It’s just way too big for a single factory.”
Boyd said three of the state’s largest manufacturers could easily fit in less than half the Megasite. Those sites include the 715-acre Nissan complex in Smyrna, which Boyd has said is the largest auto manufacturer in North America; the 352-acre Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga; and the Hankook Tire plant under construction on 469 acres in Clarksville.
Boyd likened the search for one of the major companies to finding a whale.
“The site can hold five to eight big whales,” Boyd said. “There hasn’t been a creature in the sea that could fill up the whole thing.” LINK
Crockett Policy Institute
http://www.crockettpolicy.org/
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