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More than half a dozen states, including Tennessee, have passed new laws to reduce early voting, setting up a clash with civil rights groups and Democrats who claim the rules could disenfranchise minority voters in the 2012 election for the White House and Congress. Among states with new restrictions: Wisconsin and Florida, presidential swing states that also are key battlegrounds in the fight for control of the U.S. Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow advantage. Democrats benefit In Florida, nearly 3.3 million Democrats cast in-person ballots before Election Day in the 2008 contest that swept President Obama into power. By contrast, 810,666 Florida Republicans participated in the in-person early voting that year, according to the Florida Secretary of States office. Obama won the state by 3 percentage points. Five other states Ohio, Georgia, Maine, Tennessee and W est Virginia this year approved laws shortening early voting, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. With the exception of West Virginia, Republicans control the governors offices and legislatures in those states. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111212/NEWS02/312120041/Laws-limiting-early-voting-rile-Democratsrights-groups?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
MTSU booster bequeaths school $1M for football stadium club (Gannett)
Money will go to build football stadium club What Jeff Hendrix did so generously in life, he did even more so in death. Hendrix, an Middle Tennessee State University athletics booster, posthumously donated $1 million for the construction of a football stadium club at Floyd Stadium, as announced at halftime of the MTSU womens basketball game Sunday afternoon. Hendrix, 53, died in May after a 13-month battle with cancer, but his final gift stands as the largest unrestricted donation in MTSU athletics history. I didnt know it was the biggest ever, said Kay Hendrix, his widow. It may have been the biggest ever, but knowing his heart, Im surprised he didnt give even more. He wouldve probably left everything. He just got so much more pleasure from giving than receiving. The donation will create the Jeff Hendrix Stadium Club, a long-awaited project for the MTSU football program. The club level of Floyd Stadium will be glassed in and renovated as an annual revenue producer, so Hendrixs gift can keep on giving. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111212/NEW S04/312120037/MTSUbooster-bequeaths-school-1M-football-stadium-club?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
murder trials are valid. Baumgartner began drawing a state pension of $4,900 per month on March 11, according to a spokesman for the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, a day after pleading guilty to official misconduct stemming from his addiction to painkillers. The Legislature enacted a law after the 2005 "Tennessee Waltz" scandal that declares a public official forfeits his or her state pension if convicted of a felony involving that office. The legislators convicted of bribery charges in that scandal were able to draw their pensions because the new law was not in effect at the time the charges were filed. The idea of the law, McNally and Dunn said, was to make sure that public officials convicted in the future would not be able to collect a pension after misdeeds. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/12/baumgartners-pension-under-attack-by-legislators/
Local sales tax hike closer to spot on ballot (Johnson City Press)
At its Thursday meeting, Washington Countys Joint Education Committee approved a resolution that would place a public referendum on a quarter-cent sales tax increase on August election ballots. The resolution will face the full County Commissions approval at its Dec. 19 meeting; if passed there, the referendum could be placed on the ballot in August to be decided by voters. Both the Johnson City and W ashington County boards of education have adopted resolutions calling for a referendum to raise the sales tax in Washington County, saying unfunded mandates and increasing operational costs have made it harder to adequately fund education. The Johnson City Commission also will need to pass a resolution approving the referendum. Committee members decided on Augusts ballot for the proposed referendum even though the school boards request stated it would prefer the November ballot. With the budget challenges, the sooner we see what happens, the sooner well know the decisions well have to make. Second, the ballots would receive more attention in August 2012, said Commissioner Mark Larkey, who made the motion for August. For the kids, we need to do this when it has the chance to pass. http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=96600#ixzz1gJrYdYc6
California: California Budget Cuts Likely as Revenue Lags (Wall Street Journal)
Recipients of state money in California are bracing for as much as $2.5 billion in new budget cuts prompted by a revenue shortfall in the nation's most populous state. The cuts expected to be announced this week by Gov. Jerry Brown could include a seven-day reduction of the school year, projected to save $1.5 billion. Other possible cuts outlined by the state finance department include $248 million in home-to-school transportation for students and $200 million in lower funding for public universities. A provision in California's budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 required midyear cuts if less revenue materialized than hoped. That now seems likely as the weak housing market takes a toll on the construction and financial-services sectorsand the state's broader economy. "This year, Governor Brown and Democrats in the legislature passed a balanced, honest and on-time budget that shifted the state's credit rating from negative to stable," said Mr. Brown's spokesman, Gil Duran. "We don't like the trigger cuts, but this was the only way to sidestep gridlock and pass a credible budget by the deadline." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204336104577092463932359068.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1 (SUBSCRIPTION)
New Mexico: New Mexico legislators look to curb charter school costs (Stateline)
One of Albuquerques charter schools, Academia de Lengua Y Cultura, offers a dual-language middle-school curriculum, with teachers in some classes giving lessons in English and Spanish on alternating days. Across town, the Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School, which takes students from sixth grade through high school, emphasizes seminar discussions and offers advanced international diplomas. The Southwest Secondary Learning Center, meanwhile, reinforces math, science and engineering lessons by allowing students to maintain and fly real airplanes. They represent three of New Mexicos more than 80 charter schools. While some of those schools look and act like private institutions their leaders have freedom to run them as they see fit as long as students meet state standards they are part of the public school system, charge no tuition and receive nearly all of their funding from state monies. But unlike other states, where average per-student funding for charters is typically lower than it is for other public schools, a legislative report released last month found that charters in New Mexico receive an average of 26 percent more funding per student than traditional public schools. The report suggested that lawmakers change how schools are funded to address that. http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=618440 5
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OPINION Editorial: Tennessee should seize opportunity to build solar industry (J. Sun)
A report released Thursday by the Tennessee Solar Institute paints a positive picture and a potentially bright future for the solar industry in Tennessee. But Tennessee faces competition from other states such as North Carolina and Georgia. The study urges state officials to remain aggressive in developing the solar industry. Solar energy presents Tennessee with a major opportunity to develop this fledgling business and to become a national and world leader in the field. It is an opportunity not to be missed. Tennessee already ranks 22nd in the amount of photovoltaic installed and operational. Three world-leading companies have major facilities in Tennessee: Sharp electronics in Memphis, Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. is building a plant in Clarksvillle, and Wacker Chemie AG is building a plant near Cleveland. In addition, Tennessee already has established the Volunteer State Solar Initiative that includes the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The state has more than 200 organizations involved in solar power, including 174 for-profit entities. The industry already employs more than 6,400 Tennesseans. Sharp electronics recently announced it is expanding solar panel production and hiring new employees because of increased demand for its products. http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20111212/OPINION01/111211013/Tennessee-should-seize-opportunity-buildsolar-industry
Editorial: More cuts to higher ed funding mean higher costs for students (N-S)
The state of Tennessee is facing a potential 5 percent budget cut next year, and that will mean less in state funding for higher education. The budget cuts are being considered during the same time that a special legislative committee is pondering a reduction in the amount of lottery funds that help Tennesseans earn a 6
college degree. The budget cuts and the lottery reduction mean, of course, that students and their parents will be paying more in the future for a post-secondary education, whether in college or one of the state's 27 technology centers. Nothing new there. That has been an ongoing process, with tuition increases coming almost yearly. According to a story from The Chattanooga Times Free Press last month, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission said tuition and fees have risen from between 104.8 percent to 142 percent, depending on the institution, over the past 10 years. During roughly the same time period, the percentage of state appropriations for state-supported universities has decreased from about 58 percent of a university's budget to a projected 36 percent for next year, depending on cuts for the 2012-13 state budget. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/12/editorial-more-cuts-to-higher-ed-funding-mean/
Free-Press Editorial: W ho pays for federal school lunch rules? (Times Free-Press)
It's terribly easy for Washington to impose rules and regulations on the states but not provide the money to implement those rules. That is what has happened with public school lunch programs. In the coming academic year, schools were supposed to start serving more healthful meals, with more servings of vegetables, fruit and so forth. That sounds like a good idea. But in a recent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, governors from around the country pointed out that short-term money being provided by the federal government to pay for more nutritious school meals was extremely inadequate and would saddle cash-strapped states with a huge new expense. Now, however, members of Congress who are fighting such unfunded mandates are being accused of wanting to sabotage the health and nutrition of schoolchildren. That's ridiculous. We're all for reducing childhood obesity and encouraging exercise. But Washington should not impose regulations, even for noble purposes, and then simply leave someone else to pick up the tab. That -- not sabotaging children -- is the real issue. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/12/who-pays-for-school-lunch-rules/?opinionfreepress
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