Latest Headlines
Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen says she will Not Resign
On Wednesday, the Government Operations and Joint House Education Committees questioned Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen if she will resign, citing the numerous issues with the statewide testing during her time in office. McQueen responded saying she does not plan to resign. She said the commission plans to continue to move forward and work with Questar on TNReady. This comes after there were issues on the vendor’s end on Monday and Tuesday. The vendor, Questar and their program didn’t allow most students to login to take the test and kept others from being able to save their tests. Questar...
New Bill Bans Spanking Disabled Children in Tennessee Schools without Parents Permission
The Tennessee Legislature has passed a bill that bans the spanking of disabled children at public schools. The bill passed in the Senate Tuesday by a vote of 28-0. It cleared the House earlier this month. If signed into law, the measure would bar school officials from using corporal punishment on kids with disabilities, unless their parents give written approval. A report released last month by the state comptroller’s office found that disabled children in Tennessee schools were getting spanked at a higher rate than other children in recent years. Earlier this month, the state Legislature passed a bill...
TennCare will Not Expand
Another effort to expand the Tennessee Medicaid program has failed after the state’s House refused to support an amendment on a bill on insurance coverage for certain cancer patients. The failed amendment was brought by House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, a Democrat from Ripley who is running for governor. The amendment would have allowed the governor to expand TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Fitzhugh said on the House floor that he would be willing to impose work requirements on people and have them make small copayments. House members voted 65-28 to reject the amendment. The Legislature has shot down...
TNReady NOT So Ready
The Tennessee Department of Education said that students taking the TNReady test experienced issues on Monday and again Tuesday. According to a tweet from the TN Department of Education, there may have been a “deliberate attack” on Questar’s data center. Questar is the company that administers the testing system. They added that the system is being reset, and they have shared additional information with directors of schools. Candice McQueen, education commissioner, said, “to our knowledge, no student data has been compromised.” Coffee County schools had a delay Tuesday morning, so testing schedules have been modified. There were no problems...
Atlanta Man Arrested in Manchester for Allegedly Passing Counterfeit Money
On Monday (April 16th, 2018) Manchester Police responded to a call at WalMart for someone allegedly passing counterfeit $100 bills. Officers arrived and made contact with Peter James Odol age 27 of Atlanta, GA who was a passenger in a vehicle in the parking lot. After speaking Odol officers noticed a $100 bill hanging from the man’s left pocket and with further investigation were able to determine that the bill was counterfeit. A search of the vehicle located another fake $100 bill inside the console of the vehicle making a total of $200 in counterfeit money. Officer Ben Sneed...
Coffee County Female Sports Programs Receive Grant
Athletes at Coffee County Central High School will benefit from the 2018 California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant program. They are among 79 public middle schools and high schools in 32 states awarded a total of $83,000 to aid sports programs affected by tight budgets. Coffee County High School received $1,000. The grant will provide new equipment for the Coffee County Central High girls volleyball, softball and track teams. The grant is named for California Casualty Chairman Emeritus Tom Brown, an avid sportsman who believes that teamwork, confidence and sportsmanship help develop high achievers in academics and in...
Bill to Force Disclosure of who Paid for Political Ads on Social Media Fails in Tennessee
A Tennessee bill that would require the disclosure of who paid for political ads on social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook are likely dead for the year. Other forms of advertising such as, radio, newspaper, TV, signs and others must state who paid for the ads. The state Senate passed the bill last month. However, the measure couldn’t get enough support during a House floor vote late...
Digital Spring Cleaning: Experts Urge Desktop Cleanups
This weekend, you may want to set aside your broom and dustpan and use your mouse instead to do some cleaning. With spring cleaning on the minds of many, tech experts say home computers also need cleaning – that is, the email inbox and hard drive. Taking care of this digital housekeeping will help protect you from scammers and hackers in addition to making your daily life easier, says Russell Schrader, the executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. “We’re saying go through and get rid of apps that you haven’t used,” Schrader says. “Clean out your inbox....
