#11. Knoxville

– Median gross rent as a percentage of household income: 27.8%
– Median rent: $920
– Number of renter-occupied homes: 107,131 (30.7% of all housing units)

Metros where renters are the most overextended in Tennessee

And so I do think it presents a threat if the Republicans are in the majority in January 2025,” Cheney said in an interview that aired on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

If no presidential candidate can reach 270 or more Electoral College votes, the election would go to the House of Representatives, where each state’s delegation is granted a single vote. Two presidents have been selected by the House: Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams.

Cheney says a Republican House majority in 2025 would present a ‘threat’ to the country

The jury ruled last week that the egg producers used various means to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase the price of products during the 2000s. The time frame of the conspiracy was an issue throughout the case; jurors ultimately determined damages occurred between 2004 and 2008.

The jury found that the egg suppliers exported eggs abroad to reduce the overall supply in the domestic market, as well as limited the number of chickens through means including cage space, early slaughter and flock reduction, court documents say.

Egg suppliers ordered to pay $17.7 million by federal jury for price gouging in 2000s

USPS will take public comments online before moving on to the next step in the process

‘This affects everyone’: East TN postal workers react to possible facility changes

U.S. Postal Service Mail Processing Facility Review Public Comment Form - Knoxville, TN

Medicaid Expansion begins in North Carolina.
"About 600,000 low-income residents of North Carolina can now obtain health insurance coverage; people already on Medicaid don’t have to change anything."

Republicans were in the majority of both the house and senate when Medicaid Expansion was voted on and approved by the North Carolina general assembly. Republicans are still in control of the North Carolina general assembly. Roy Cooper, North Carolina's governor, is a Democrat.

Republican Leaders of the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives voted to approve Medicaid Expansion in March, 2023. "The negotiated bill was amended to include revisions to the state’s certificate of need laws, which regulate how much hospitals can expand, how much they can spend on capital projects, where they can build and whether the private market can offer services in their regions to compete for health care dollars." It helped that there was "an approximately $1.5 billion no-strings-attached bonus offered by the Biden administration to get holdout states such as North Carolina to adopt the policy. "

The new law includes changes that may negatively affect hospitals. "One of the biggest sources of concern for hospitals has been the possibility that ambulatory surgical centers would open nearby and compete with hospitals in the lucrative fields of orthopedic surgery, eye surgery and colonoscopy centers." However, the general assembly could allocate "$2.3 billion in federal dollars each year to North Carolina hospitals to help offset costs." "Under the Affordable Care Act, which made Medicaid expansion possible, the federal government pays 90 percent of the cost just for the new expansion beneficiaries, leaving the state with a 10 percent share. Under the negotiated agreement that Berger and Moore discussed on Thursday, the state’s hospitals would have to contribute to paying North Carolina’s share, a cost estimated at nearly $550 million per year."

In order to finalize Medicaid Expansion, the state budget bill that included funding for Medicaid Expansion had to be passed by the general assembly. The budget bill passed but became law without Gov. Cooper's signature.

"The final two-year [budget] plan accelerates individual income tax rate cuts, broadens private-school scholarships to all K-12 children and contained other items that weaken the governor's office while strengthening GOP-dominated legislature and its power over state courts."

"Make no mistake, overall this is a bad budget that seriously shortchanges our schools, prioritizes power grabs, keeps shady backroom deals secret and blatantly violates the constitution, and many of its provisions will face legal action, said Cooper."

Cooper added, "However, we must recognize this irresponsible legislature's decade of refusal to expand Medicaid, which has caused life and death situations for so many North Carolinians and threatened the very existence of numerous rural hospitals, I will not allow people who are crying for help to wait any longer..."

The State of Tennessee legislature continues to refuse to approve Medicaid Expansion, which may have caused life and death situations for many Tennesseans and threatens the existence of rural hospitals. It's possible the state has lost $22 billion in federal funding. However, the State legislature is now trying to eliminate federal funding for education which would also lose billions of dollars to educate our youth. Thus, there is something wrong in Nashville that they think Tennessee can stand alone without Federal assistance.

Knoxville city leaders are looking for ways to improve parking throughout the downtown district. A key part in this process is the city asking for the publics opinion through a survey conducted by consulting firm Walker Consultants.

Knoxville asking for public opinion on parking downtown

Knoxville Downtown Parking Survey

The U.S. House of Representatives is getting ready to vote on whether to expel George Santos. Just now Rep. Burchett,TN, was being interviewed on CNN. He said he will not vote to expel Santos. He said, "we are all sinners."

Heh.

In media interviews this week he also discussed his possible vote.

From Business Insider,

"Politically, it'd be the greatest vote in the world for me back home," said Burchett, who represents a broad swath of eastern Tennessee, including Knoxville. "Everybody's saying 'kick him out!'"

"I mean, people don't like the fact he's gay," said Burchett."

From Knox News Sentinel,

Knoxville's Rep. Tim Burchett will vote to keep indicted Rep. George Santos in Congress, he told Knox News.
...
Burchett said his vote to keep Santos in Congress might upset some of his East Tennessee constituents, though. The reason? Santos' sexuality. The first-term Republican from New York is openly gay.

"I have very few conversations (with constituents) where his sexuality isn't brought up," the Knoxville Republican said about his deep-red district."

Wow! I find it really hard to believe the majority of his "constituents" care if an elected representative is gay. I'm thinking he only converses with his Maga constituents.

The CDC maintains a weekly Flu map by state.

As you can see, the South rates high in respiratory illness levels. Tennessee, North Carolina and Arkansas are lucky in that they rate moderate. Kentucky rates low. What do Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia have? Medicaid Expansion. Hmmm...

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway says the billionaire Haslam family tried to bribe at least 15 executives at the Pilot truck stop chain with millions of dollars to get them to inflate the company’s profits this year because that would force Berkshire to pay more for the Haslams’ remaining 20% stake in the company.

Ouch.

The public meeting will be at Pellissippii State Community College on Hardin Valley Road and will start at 3 p.m.

USPS to host public meeting Thursday on plan to move some mail processing services from Knoxville to Louisville

This new law, which took effect in May, requires election officials to place a sign at every polling place warning voters that to vote in a party’s primary, they must be a “bona fide member of or affiliated with” or “declare allegiance” to that party or else face criminal prosecution.

Former Knoxville mayor Victor Ashe joins lawsuit over new Tennessee political primary voting law

The existence of "Free an Fair elections" is taking a beating

In case you haven't heard, AARP is an official sponsor of the Rolling Stones 2024 Hackney Diamonds tour. A special AARP member's only presale launched today. It lasts from 10 am local time from Nov 29 through 10 pm local time Nov 30.

Out of curiosity, I checked at 10AM this morning to see how much tickets would be for the June 7th Atlanta date. It took almost ten minutes to get logged in, requiring a Ticketmaster password reset, two-step authentication text message, and another verification text message. How are old people supposed to do that?

Anyway, once I got in I was sent to a queue. There were more than 7400 people ahead of me. After a 15 minute wait, my number came up. Of course most of the good seats were already sold.

I picked two aisle seats that looked pretty good. While we were looking at them, one of them sold. I selected the next one over and checked the price: $2923.50 for two "platinum" seats. And that didn't even include the VIP package!

I declined.

(Click image for bigger...)

But some survey data suggests that many adults in the US don’t know that they can call, text or send a chat online to 988 to reach licensed counselors trained to de-escalate a crisis, provide emotional support or connect them with additional mental health resources...

Suicide deaths reached a record high in the US in 2022, despite hopeful decreases among children and young adults

Warren Buffett's trusted confidante Charlie Munger died on Tuesday at age 99, leaving a void at Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) that investors said would be impossible to fill despite the conglomerate's well-established succession plan.

Charlie Munger, who was Warren Buffett's right-hand man at Berkshire, dies at 99

Baby it's cold outside.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that all new automobiles come equipped with technology meant to make speeding difficult or impossible, a move that comes after an accident in Las Vegas killed nine people.

Should cars have built-in speed limits? Some think it’s time

These pictures are from Alabama. There are many fields like this in Georgia and Mississippi.

Raw cotton goes for about $0.80 a pound. These bales weight around 5,000 pounds. That's about $4,000 per bale. A single truck can carry 3-4 bales. That's $12,000 to $16,000 per truck.

I love driving through the country side looking at the different types of crops. We drove a little over 400 miles in three days with no interstate. It's a beautiful thing.

The electronics retailer with nearly 1,000 stores says it is preventing shoplifting through higher staffing levels in stores, full-service cashier lanes, security staff at entrances and other strategies, CEO Corie Barry said Tuesday.

“The more retailers go toward reducing their labor costs and putting more of the energy on shoppers, the higher the shoplifting,” Eck said.

Best Buy’s simple strategy for beating shoplifting: More workers in stores

Thanks to all who read KnoxViews. Thanks to all who contribute to KnoxViews. Thank for caring. Thanks for doing.

Thanks to President Biden. Thanks to the Democratic Party.

Thanks to those who work so hard every day to make our lives better and/or easier. Thanks to our healthcare workers. They don't get enough appreciation. Thanks to our first responders, EMTs, fire, police, sheriff’s office. Thanks to our military. Thanks to the unions. Thanks to volunteers and non-profits.

To all those that I give thanks and others who do good works, please don't give up.

Tennessee’s hands-free law makes it illegal for a driver to hold a cell phone or mobile device with any part of their body.

“For hands-free, it’s three points on your license and a moving violation,” Simpson said. “So just being on your cell phone, it’s not worth it for your insurance to go up to me.”

Tennessee distracted driving rate is 5x the national average, THP says