Josh Peterson

Join us at Thunder Radio and Rosalyn Partin of the Manchester H&R Block and congratulate our student of the week – Jaxen Waggoner

Jaxen is in 11th grade at Coffee County Central High School. She is the daughter of Anne Hosea and Justin Waggoner. Her favorite subject is English. She plans to be an English teacher. Her favorite hobbies are dancing and photography.

Rosalyn Partin, owner of the Manchester H&R Block, has been inspired to recognize great kids in our community all year long. H&R Block gives each Student of the Week a gift card, a commemorative plaque, as well as a special letter of recognition. Job well done, Jaxen

(Pictured, from left, Jaxen Waggoner, Rosalyn Partin, and Thunder Radio co-owner Holly Peterson).

After serving 23 years as a judge in Coffee County, Circuit Court Judge Craig Johnson on Tuesday announced that he plans to retire.

First elected in 1998, Johnson has served nearly three full terms as a judge. His retirement will be effective in May of this year.

“First, I want to express my appreciation to the people of Coffee County who have continually voted for me for three consecutive terms of office and 24 years of service to the State of Tennessee,” Johnson said in a letter. “It has been a great honor to have served the citizens of this District.

“Second, I want to thank my wife Marybeth and family for their support through the years. I also want to thank all of the consummate legal, clerk’s staff, and law enforcement professionals that I have worked with throughout my career. Since first being elected at age 34 back in 1998, I have come to realize what a special area of the State we live in.

“My current plan is to open my own law practice here in Coffee County, so that I can continue to serve, and to pursue other opportunities such as mediation and arbitration. Now that I have retired from two careers (military and judicial), I will also be spending more time with my family and friends.”

Story by Nadia Ramligan, TN Public News Service

\Some state lawmakers want stricter regulations to ensure Tennesseans have access to affordable prescription drugs.

Senate Bill 1617 would spotlight the role of pharmacy-benefit managers, the so-called “middlemen” who negotiate prices between drug makers, pharmacies and health insurers. The bill would prevent those managers from artificially inflating drug costs for health plans.

At Tennessee Oncology, Dr. Stephen Schleicher, president of the Tennessee Oncology Practice Society, said some cancer patients wait weeks to get medications, with higher out-of-pocket costs. He said PBMs wield a huge amount of power, and prescribers have little control in the process.

“And as this system has worsened and pharmacy benefit managers gain control, costs go up for patients,” he said. “These PBMs dictate where the patients can get their drugs, often causing big gaps in communication between the pharmacists and the oncology provider, when that communication is so important.”

The bill also would prevent PBMs from interfering with a patient’s right to choose their pharmacy and would require fair reimbursement for health-care providers in rural and low-income areas. It’s now in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.

The largest PBMs in the country are CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Prime Therapeutics. Pharmacist and bill sponsor, Sen. Shane Reeves, R-Bedford, said PBMs have morphed into conglomerates he claimed are siphoning money out of patients, providers and insurers’ pockets, while putting many independent pharmacies – which tend to offer lower drug prices – out of business.

“They were originally intended to lower drug costs for consumers,” he said. “However, I believe evidence now may suggest that PBMs have actually increased drug prices over time.”

Last December, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case that upheld the state of Arkansas’ right to require PBMs to reimburse pharmacies fairly. Reeves said more states are eyeing PBM regulations.

“I simply believe that Tennessee patients should have the right to choose who their pharmacist is — not just their pharmacy, but who their pharmacist is,” he said. “You can choose your doctor, you can choose your dentist. People ought to have the right to choose their pharmacist.”

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, has argued that they help lower drug costs and pass the savings on to patients. Others have said regulating PBMs would harm market competition.

A resolution allowing voters to change the way Tennessee’s Attorney General is selected was approved on Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Joint Resolution 1, sponsored by Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager (R-Kingston), calls for a transparent nomination process by the Tennessee Supreme Court in selecting the State Attorney General, followed by a confirmation vote of the nominee by a majority of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly.

“This is one of the most important appointed positions in the state,” said Senator Yager. “The State Attorney General has over 340 employees and a budget of over $50 million, not to mention the important decisions that are made which affect the lives of the people of Tennessee.”

The 1870 constitution required Supreme Court judges be elected by Tennessee voters. Yager said the current system of appointing justices means the selection of the State Attorney General is twice removed from the public. Tennessee is the only state in which the State Supreme Court appoints the attorney general. The votes taken by the court on nominees are not currently disclosed to the public.

“The reason for this legislation is two-fold,” Yager said. “It will provide for a more transparent process in the selection of nominees. The second is that confirmation by the General Assembly will make the process accountable to the people by giving elected officials a role in the process.”

“This proposal adheres to the intention of the authors of our 1870 State Constitution, while keeping intact the current nomination role for the judiciary,” he continued.

The resolution would require the votes of the Tennessee Supreme Court justices to be held in open court with recorded votes. Once the nomination is made, the legislature would have 60 days to go through the confirmation process. In the event that the candidate is rejected, then the court would have 60 days to make another nomination.

The resolution, which was approved by the 111th General Assembly in 2019, must receive a two-thirds majority of the 112th General Assembly under the Tennessee Constitution. Once on the ballot, constitutional amendments must receive a majority of votes cast in the gubernatorial election in 2022.