THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011 Teacher Evaluation System to be Evaluated (Public News Service)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has commissioned an outside review of Tennessee's new teacher evaluation system, following a recommendation by the House Education Committee. The committee found that principals and teachers across the state are overwhelmed by the amount of time needed to prepare for a single observation. That is spawning complaints that the evaluation system takes away from more valuable tasks, like classroom prep time. State Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Dist. 82), a member of the education committee, says lawmakers may have put the cart before the horse. "It just hadn't been tested. There was much confusion about it. It was made mandatory far too quickly." http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/24060-1

Economic outlook brightens (Chattanooga Times Free-Press/Flessner)

After winning Tennessees top industrial recruitment prizes in 2008 and 2009 with billion dollar-plus investments from Volks-wagen and Wacker Chemical, Southeast Tennessee landed the states biggest job generator in 2011 with a pair of Amazon distribution centers. Combined with other expansions at Alstom Power, Whirlpool, Chattem and VW suppliers during the past three years, business additions already have pumped nearly $2 billion of investments and added more than 7,500 full-time and temporary jobs to the Chattanooga region. But coming during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, those additions were swamped by job losses at existing companies. Despite job gains during in the past two years, the severe employment drop in 2008 and 2009 has left metropolitan Chattanooga with nearly 15,000 fewer employed people than in 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists expect improved job prospects in 2012, but it may be at least a couple more years before Chattanooga gets back to its prerecession job levels. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/29/economic-outlook-brightens/?local

Biz Community Still Seeking Stable Ground (Memphis Business Journal)

Small business in 2011 was a mixed bag of serious market hurdles and fresh opportunities for innovation, depending on who you ask Tennessee Bill Haslams Gov. administration this year voiced its intentions to make small-business development a priority. In late August, Commissioner Bill Hagerty of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development whose mission is to develop strategies to make Tennessee a prime attractor for high-quality jobs announced that the department would accept applications for a competitive $250,000 grant to support nine regional business accelerators across the state. Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell this year also stated their commitments to rolling out strategies to nurture local and minority-owned small businesses. http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2011/dec/29/biz-community-still-seeking-stable-ground/

Tennessee NCLB Waiver Praised in Comparison to Other States (WPLN-Radio)

About half of the nations states have either applied or are planning to apply for waivers to the No Child Left Behind Law. A pair of studies agree that the alternate proposals for holding schools accountable tend to be overly complex. But one is pointing to Tennessees waiver application as an example of how a state can challenge itself while still keeping its goals clear and understandable. So far, eleven states have submitted waiver applications. A paper by the independent Center for Education Policy says the proposals are far more complex than current law, and would create a complicated array of systems. A second report from a more leftleaning group agrees. The Center for American Progress says most states have done a poor job of articulating how their intended systems of rewards and consequences would work. But, it says, Tennessee is an exception. http://wpln.org/?p=32489

Tennessee state parks celebrating 75th anniversary (Associated Press)

Tennessee state parks will commemorate their 75th anniversary with a series of hikes early in the new year. All 53 parks will have hikes, ranging from one mile and tailored for novice hikers, to longer ones geared toward more experienced hikers. Additionally, there will be a variety of special events throughout 2012. According to a news release from park officials, there is a state park within an hour's drive of most Tennesseans. http://www.tennessean.com/usatoday/article/38231499?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s

Lakeshores Closing May Yield Benefits (Metro Pulse/Sullivan)

The initial announcement of state plans to close Lakeshore Mental Health Institute sent shock waves throughout the community. The specter of its released patients lapsing into homelessness and ending up in jail seemed all too real based on the results of Lakeshore downsizings in the past. But local mental health advocates and service providers are convinced that the states plan will strengthen rather than weaken supports for the mentally ill and result in fewer of them falling between the cracks. Their belief is based on the commitment of Gov. Bill Haslam and the states Mental Health Commissioner Doug Varney that all of the $20 million in state savings derived from Lakeshores closing will be dedicated to more efficient, effective, and extensive treatments of East Tennessees mentally ill. Varney, who served for many years as president of Frontier Health in Johnson City before accepting Haslams appointment to the state post, commands the utmost respect of his fellow mental health center officials throughout the area. Hes one of us, has a real passion for the population that we serve, and knows the needs as well as anyone, says Andy Black, president of the Helen Ross McNabb Center in Knoxville. http://www.metropulse.com/news/2011/dec/28/lakeshores-closing-may-yield-benefits/

State reins in mortgage lender (Nashville Business Journal)

State regulators have cracked down on a mortgage company to the tune of more than $1.5 million The Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions has alleged in state administrative proceedings that First Choice Funding, a Birmingham, Ala. company that has done mortgage lending in the Nashville area, failed to properly document its activities. Though authorized to do business in Tennessee, the company failed to provide proper identification numbers on loan documents as required by law 141 separate times, according to state regulators. A representative of the company named in court documents, Zach Rogers, could not be reached for comment today. The department, which examines a range of financial institutions, stated in court documents that the fines were due to failed compliance and legal costs. The company, it said, did not respond to multiple opportunities to state its case. Such actions go through an administrative law judge in the Tennessee State Department. State records show the proceedings have closed, leaving the company on the hook for the fine. http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2011/12/28/tennessee-department-of-financial.html

Drug fight tops DAs' concerns (Times-Gazette)

Tennessee's district attorneys say that synthetic and prescription drug abuse will be the biggest challenges they face going into the new year. District Attorney General Charles Crawford and 30 others recently met for the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference to identify what they termed "serious areas of concern" which must be addressed at the state level in 2012. Topping the list are synthetic drugs such as K2 (synthetic marijuana) which reportedly have devastating mental and physical side effects. "They are spreading across our state and have the potential to eclipse methamphetamine as the most dangerous drug in Tennessee," according to a statement from Crawford's office. The drugs are often marketed in convenience stores as incense, bath salts or plant food, "and commonly feature cartoon characters on package labels," he explained. Next year, the DAs said they would seek to increase penalties for those who sell and produce the synthetic drugs. However, since the makers of the synthetics constantly make change to capitalize on existing legal "gray areas," they will also work to "make certain these substances remain illegal and out of reach of our http://www.tyouth." g.com/story/1798903.html

Lawmakers still haven't filled Ethics Commission seat that expired in '09 (TN/Gee)
Tennessee lawmakers have failed for two years to fill a seat on the panel responsible for regulating lobbying activities, financial disclosure requirements and ethical conduct within state and local government. The Tennessee Ethics Commission was created in 2006 to help restore the publics faith in government after the Tennessee Waltz bribery scandal of 2005 led to the convictions of nine state and local officials and a lobbyist. 2

Appointments to the body, however, havnt been treated with urgency in the years since, contributing to criticism that the commission is ineffective at fighting corruption in the executive and legislative branches. State law requires the six-member commission to be filled by the governor and the speakers of the state House and Senate. Each of the three are required to make two appointments, one Democrat and one Republican. The speakers must choose who to appoint from a list of suggestions submitted by the party caucuses in their respective chambers. In June, the Ethics Commission was able to meet for the first time in seven months after Gov. Bill Haslam and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell made delayed appointments to the four seats on the board they are responsible for filling that were vacated when previous members terms expired at the end of 2010. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111229/NEWS0201/312290036/TN-lawmakers-still-haven-t-filled-EthicsCommission-seat-expired-09?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Voter ID law could face court challenge (Chattanooga Times Free-Press/Sher)

A controversial Tennessee law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polling places could soon face a court challenge if not changed, an attorney warned Wednesday. A suit is being contemplated, and weve been attempting to get it resolved through other, political means, which appear to have been fruitless at this point, said attorney Gerard Stranch, of Nashville. W e have hopes that the Legislature will take up the issue in January and fix the law. Stranch, an attorney in private practice, also serves as general counsel for the Tennessee Democratic Party. He said he was not at liberty to go into further detail about the possible legal action. American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee Executive Director Hedy W einberg said she was aware of a possible lawsuit, but quickly added, I dont have anything else to say regarding any legal action. The measure, which goes into effect Jan. 1, was passed by the Republican-led General Assembly earlier this year and signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/29/voter-id-law-could-face-court-challenge/?local

Few Fined for Texting Behind the W heel (TN Report)

Tennessee lawmakers outlawed texting while driving more than two years ago. At the time, predictions were that 3,650 people a year would end up getting pinched thumbing their noses at the law while they thumbed away at their hand-held communication devices. This year, Tennessee Highway Patrol has issued only 174 citations. Although state officials say they dont know how many local police citations have been written up, lawmakers who drove the bill through the Legislature say that despite the lack of tickets issued, they still believe the new law has been a success, and not a solution in search of a problem. I think law enforcement is beginning to figure out how to enforce it now, and it is difficult, but I think youre going to see more enforcement as we move on, said Chairman Jim Tracy who carried the bill in the Senate and runs the chambers Transportation Committee. In 2009, lawmakers approved the texting and driving ban under the assumption it would also collected some $41,600 in fines through the up to $50 per ticket http://www.tnreport.com/2011/12/few-fined-for-textingfee. behind-the-wheel/

Tennessee political redistricting meetings set for Wednesday (Tennessean/Cass)

Political junkies, get out your maps. Members of two state legislative committees will kick off 2012 by discussing redistricting proposals, House Speaker Beth Harwells office announced. The House Ad Hoc Committee on Redistricting will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday in Legislative Plaza Room 30. The State and Local Government Subcommittee will meet immediately afterward. The subcommittees agenda includes five redistricting bills. A release from Harwells office said the panels will discuss concept maps to be considered by the House the first week of (the legislative) session. The General Assembly, currently dominated by Republicans, is in charge of redrawing state legislative and congressional district lines based on population shifts reflected in the 2010 Census. Previous legislatures let Tennessees congressional delegation draw its own district lines, but Republican state legislators decided this year to handle it themselves. Democrats also have introduced a congressional redistricting bill. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111229/NEWS02/312290024/TN-politicalredistricting-meetings-set-W ednesday?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s

Madison County leaders share their thoughts on new districts (Jackson Sun)
With elections coming up in the new year, some Madison County commissioners' districts have changed more than others because of new lines drawn based on census data. County redistricting committee officials have said they had to take into account a number of different factors to redraw the lines according to population changes, including how county commission, voting precinct and School Board lines overlapped, how to eliminate voter 3

confusion when shifting large populations and how to avoid drawing representatives out of their current districts. Redistricting Chairman Gary Deaton said their meetings were open to the public and that complaints usually come after the work has been done. "It's not a process where you can make everybody happy," Deaton said. Commissioners who opposed the county's redistricting plan say redrawing lines did not have to mean restructuring the county governing system and shifting large numbers of residents. http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20111229/NEWS01/112290314/REDISTRICTING-Madison-County-leadersshare-their-thoughts-new-districts

Checks and balances (Knoxville News-Sentinel/Lakin)

Doctors, law enforcement spar over prescription-drug database More people than ever could be using Tennessee's prescription-drug database under legislation expected to be proposed next year everyone from medical examiners to judges and probation officers. Prosecutors say it's the only way to cut off the problem of pain-pill abuse at its source. The News Sentinel highlighted that problem in a series this year. "What we've got to do is make it harder to get these pills on the streets," said John Gill, special counsel to the Knox County district attorney general. "The database is not nearly as effective as it can be." Doctors, privacy advocates and others say the proposals go too far. "We may well have some reservations," said Gary Zelizer, director of legislative affairs for the Tennessee Medical Association. "My personal opinion is that it's overkill." The database, created five years ago and funded by state fees for health care providers, tracks prescriptions statewide for narcotics such as oxycodone and hydrocodone the same drugs that police say now top crack cocaine and methamphetamine among abusers. State law requires doctors and others to log each prescription they write and pharmacists to log each prescription filled. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/29/checks-and-balances-doctors-law-enforcement-spar/

Mill Creek Monitored for Flooding (W PLN-Radio Nashville)

Everyday, the National Weather Service turns out a flood forecast for the Cumberland, Duck, and Harpeth Rivers. Now the agency will do the same for a southeast Nashville creek with a history of flooding. During the 2010 flood, Mill Creek topped 20 feet, deluging Interstate 24 and smaller roads in Nolensville and Antioch. Its just one incident of the creek overrunning its banks in recent years. For the first time, forecasters have established a baseline for when flooding might happen. James Larosa is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service. It just rises quicker than, say, the Cumberland River, so theres a little bit more of an immediate threat. Thats why we wanted to start these daily forecasts that will help not just emergency responders and Metro Government, but people who live along the creek can look at these forecasts and use that information to maybe make some decisions on their own. Larosa says flood stage on Mill Creek will be set at 14 feet. Thats the point when the creek starts to rise over its banks. http://wpln.org/?p=32448

New tea party has Nashville bent (Tennessean/Rau)

Led by anti-tax advocate, group to tackle Metro issues With the possibility of a property tax hike hanging over the upcoming Metro budget process, anti-tax advocate Ben Cunningham has helped organize a new Nashville Tea Party that will focus on local government issues. The new tea party group, which has formed a nonprofit organization, is in its infancy with about 200 Facebook friends and 60 Twitter followers. The group is weeks away from being up and running, but Cunningham has a pretty good idea of some things it might be talking about in the coming months. Although other tea party groups have had a presence in Nashville, especially at the state Capitol, Cunningham said the new group would set its sights on Metro government issues. Tea party groups have made a name for themselves with colorful, and sometimes controversial, demonstrations. Our focus will be Nashville and Metro Council and the school board, and we also will be interested in regional issues like ending auto emissions testing, Cunningham said. Cunningham has built a strong track record as an organizer. In 2006, he spearheaded the effort to amend the Metro charter to require voter approval on future property tax increases. Cunningham, who moved to Sumner County in recent years, also has been a leader of the tea party movement since it took hold in 2009. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111229/NEWS02/312290028/New-tea-partyhas-Nashville-bent?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Few being seen, heard in local Occupy effort (Daily News Journal)
During most hours of the day, the number of tents outnumber the protesters "occupying" the Civic Plaza near City Hall. "I don't think people are taking us seriously. They see us as hippies with no job, no place to go. That simply isn't true," said MTSU student Joe Schenkenfelder, who is at least one individual willing to speak his mind. "We are representing that 99 percent. We are representing people who aren't being heard," Schenkenfelder said. Occupy Murfreesboro members erected tents on the Civic Plaza nearly a month ago, 4

against the wishes of city officials. General assemblies by the group on the plaza draw a fair number of people, but oftentimes there are only a few individuals left over night or during the day and sometimes none at all. One tent dubbed "The People's Library" includes a bookshelf stacked with constitutional law, free speech and other literature. But several visits by The DNJ to the plaza prior to Christmas and again this week have confirmed little activity on site and few people available to answer questions. City Manager Rob Lyons had signs posted on the site Wednesday notifying the movement that any unattended tents would be removed at noon today. http://www.dnj.com/article/20111229/NEW S01/112290315/Few-being-seen-heard-local-Occupy-effort? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Tiny town's faithful fear post office closure (Tennessean/Smietana)

Many in Cottage Grove, Tenn., rely on mail to stay connected The New Testament warns Christians not to conform to the world. But some folks take it more seriously than others For Ervin Yoder, a Mennonite minister and concrete contractor, it means he has a cellphone for work but no TV or radio. He uses his computer like a word processor, has no email and gets on the Internet only with extreme care. What other people call snail mail, Yoder calls mail. And its the primary way he communicates with out-of-town relatives and fellow ministers. But following that biblical injunction is about to get harder for him. Because of its ongoing financial struggles, the U.S. Postal Service wants to shut down about 3,700 rural post offices to save money. Among them is the post office at 7100 Main St. in Cottage Grove, Tenn., population 88. Closing that post office will save $620,541 over the next 10 years, according to a study by the Postal Service. Residents fear that closing it will hurt local Mennonites and older people who havent embraced email and other forms of electronic communication. So often we just take the post office for granted, Yoder said. But when they come back and say we are going to close your post office it really makes you think. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111229/NEWS01/312290018/Tiny-town-s-faithful-fear-post-office-closure? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

FEMA funding may purchase properties (Columbia Daily Herald)

Columbia is set to receive more than $2.1 million in federal funding to help buy and demolish 15 properties that were damaged in last Mays historic floods. Under the criteria set forth in the grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city and state would each have to pay matching costs of 12.5 percent, or $351,505, to acquire and then raze the flood-damaged parcels. Some of the properties, which include both commercial and residential dwellings, are located on Riverside Drive. One of the structures is the Tennessee Valley Packing Company on Carter Street, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Moody said. Moody said the city has to wait to receive a contract from the state, which actually doles out the federal dollars to the city, before work will begin. To qualify, the structures must have been damaged during the May 2010 flood in addition to two prior floods. They are looking for properties that have a repetitive history of losses, and that their potential risk for future flooding is so great that it outweighs the cost of purchasing it and demolishing it, Moody said. http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/sections/news/local/fema-funding-may-purchase-properties.html

TVA razes Watts Bar coal plant (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

TVA has torn down its old Watts Bar coal plant near Spring City in Rhea County and is eliminating more than $1 million in annual maintenance costs. TVA said in a statement that it has sold metals from the plant to recyclers and is reusing some of the materials. TVA Senior Vice President Robert Fisher said the timing takes advantage of a strong market for scrap metals. The work started in July and was expected to be completed Friday. Watts Bar was the first coal-powered plant built by TVA and began operation in 1942. The plant was removed from service in the 1980s and was used as a training facility until 1992. When operating, the Watts Bar coal plant had four units that produced a total of 260 megawatts. TVA is keeping the property that adjoins the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant and Watts Bar Dam. Fisher said the old plant had become a drain on TVA's resources and a potential safety hazard. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/28/tva-razes-watts-bar-coal-plant/

Electrolux gets hiring pressure (Commercial Appeal/Risher)

As Electrolux prepared to award an $80 million-plus contract to build its Memphis appliance factory, some elected officials raised a flag about the company's intent to hire local construction workers. In a letter dated Tuesday, chairmen of the Shelby County Commission and Memphis City Council and chairwoman of the Shelby legislative delegation cited "mutual concern regarding the local and minority participation" in the publicly financed construction project. "Since nearly a year ago, we have been in full support of this project," said the letter signed 5

by Commissioner Sidney Chism, Councilman Myron Lowery and state Sen. Beverly Marrero. "However, we cannot support a project that does not provide a return on investment to the communities that funded over $100 million of taxpayer dollars." Electrolux is close to naming one of three companies as its choice for general contractor on the project at Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park in southwest Memphis. One of the companies, W .G. Yates & Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Miss., has already won a contract for about $5 million in site preparation. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/dec/29/electrolux-gets-hiring-pressure/ (SUBSCRIPTION)

Plant closure leaves many without jobs (Times Gazette)

Another Shelbyville industry has shut its doors, leaving more than two dozen without work during the holidays. Manuli Stretch USA Inc., Railroad Avenue, closed its Shelbyville plant earlier this month, but will reportedly expand its product offerings available from offshore affiliates. The Italian company, Manuli Stretch Group of Milan, had acquired Quintec Films Corporation in late 2007. Manuli is a major stretch film producer. According to Plastics News, the local facility, which was a two-line operation with 25 million pounds per year film capacity, was "judged too small to pursue the wide range of markets" that was staked out by its parent company. Production was halted in early December with about 25 production employees losing their jobs, however, the location will continue as a sales office. The Shelbyville factory focused on seven-layer specialty stretch films, Dan Maiorino, Manuli Stretch USA manager of operations, told Plastics News, but explained that the U.S. company will be now be able to offer a broader range of specialties and commodityhttp://www.t-g.com/story/1798522.html films.

Tenn. schools data-driven to succeed (Commercial Appeal/Roberts)

Program keeps tabs on students, teachers Tennessee is one of six states that shares how effective its schoolteachers are with the colleges and universities that prepared them. It also provides detailed reports to high schools -- public and private -- showing how their graduates performed in their first year of college and if they enrolled for their sophomore year, key details for a state trying to make big leaps in its number of collegeeducated residents. Five years ago, none of this data was available, an indication of what Data Quality Campaign executive director Aimee Guidera means when she says "Tennessee is leading the nation in so many of these conversations." The state ranked among the highest in DQC's annual survey of data-sharing systems. Only four states -- Arkansas, Delaware, Florida and Texas -- rank higher in terms of legislation or building longitudinal networks that show, for instance, how a specific high school's or college's graduates do in the labor force. When systems are built to link across K-12 and college systems, it's possible to link SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement scores and where the students' teachers were trained. "Then you see things, like wait a second, every one of these teachers received their training at the University of Memphis," Guidera said. "I wonder what's going on there?" http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/dec/29/tenn-schools-data-driven-to-succeed/ (SUBSCRIPTION)

State recognizes S.H. Middle School achievement (Columbia Daily Herald)

A Spring Hill school was recognized for outstanding achievement in the Tennessee Department of Educations annual report on performance standards for the 2010-2011 school year. Spring Hill Middle School was the only Maury County school designated among the states 169 reward schools. Those schools include the highestperforming 5 percent based on test scores, and those with the top 5 percent highest overall growth. In 2011, 12 under-performing Maury County schools were designated by TDOE as targeted for improvement or under school improvement, according standards set by No Child Left Behind. It was truly a team effort. I knew we had some work to do when we opened Spring Hill Middle since our students had come from schools that were on the target list, Spring Hill Middle School Principal Phillip Wright said in a press release. We altered our schedule so we could have intervention during the school day for students who were academically behind. Intervention is used as a study period for students on track with their schoolwork, while extra help is available to those who need it. http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/sections/news/local/state-recognizes-sh-middle-school-achievement.html

California: California prisons shedding inmates fast (Stateline)

California Governor Jerry Brown has had mixed results on a range of policy initiatives during his first year back in office, but one of his most successful efforts may be the rapid decline in the state's teeming prison population. On Tuesday (December 27), corrections officials detailed just how swift the inmate decline has been. California prisons have been shedding about 900 inmates a week and are nearly on pace to meet the aggressive target set by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, when it ordered the state to reduce its prisoner population to 6

110,000 inmates by the spring of 2013, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "As of today," the paper reported, "the states prisons held 134,804 inmates," with the reduction in numbers just 1,800 less than an initial goal set by the high court in advance of the 2013 deadline. Earlier this year, the California inmate population exceeded 150,000, as Stateline noted in an April feature about overcrowded facilities. That huge population, and the state's long-running effort to reduce it, led the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in May, citing unconstitutionally bad prison conditions. The state's response to the high court was to pass a prison "realignment" plan, which went into effect in October and requires low-level offenders to serve their time in county jails rather than state facilities. http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=621624

Connecticut: Connecticut drops insurers from Medicaid (Kaiser Health News)

In the past decade, most states have turned Medicaid over to private insurance plans, hoping they could control costs and improve care. Nearly half of the 60 million people in the government program for the poor are in managed-care plans run by insurance giants such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna. Connecticut, the "insurance capital of the world," is bucking the trend. Beginning Sunday, Connecticut will jettison its private health plans from Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program. Instead of paying the companies a set monthly fee to cover the health costs of more than 400,000 children and parents, the state will assume financial responsibility. State officials say the companies, including Hartford-based Aetna, did not fulfill their promise of lower costs and better care. "Connecticut has a 15-year history with managed-care organizations, and there has been a diminishing confidence in the value of what they are providing," says Mark Schaefer, the state's Medicaid director. Nationally, managed-care plans oversee care for 27 million people enrolled in Medicaid and control $150 billion of the $400 billion in Medicaid spending numbers likely to increase partly because of the influx of an additional 16 million people expected to be covered by the program beginning in 2014 under the national health care law. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-28/connecticut-health-care-medicare-insurance/52257962/1

Illinois: Criminal Code Tough to Crack (Wall Street Journal)

Illinois has chopped its bloated criminal code by about a third, updated old laws and added protections for defendants in one of the most ambitious criminal-law reorganizations by a state in recent years. But it took Illinois almost 10 years and two attempts to reach that point. Proponents had to slog through thousands of pages of legalese, worry about being labeled soft on crime and dodge a minefield of competing interests. Even now, arcane statutes remain, including a law banning fornication. It has been on the books since the 1800s and apparently hasn't been used in decades, but survived after opposition to its removal arose from religious and family advocates. This is the promise and challenge facing Congress as it begins its work revamping the troubled federal criminal code. Bills introduced recently in the House and Senate mirror state approaches to paring criminal-law systems. In a sign of momentum, a congressional hearing this month to consider a wide-ranging revision of the federal criminal code marked the first such gathering in 25 years. "We can take the state examples in creating a criminal code as a good start," said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas), a member of the House Judiciary committee. The Wall Street Journal has detailed the many ways in which the federal code has grown rapidly and unwieldy, spurring attorneys, law professors and former Justice Department officials to call for a makeover. Many federal criminal lawsscattered through the 51 titles and 27,000 pagesare vaguely worded or overlap with state criminal laws or other federal statutes. Critics on the right and left say Americans are now vulnerable to unwittingly breaking the law as they go about their regular lives. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203686204577116503258144414.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1 (SUBSCRIPTION)

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OPINION Editorial: Gov. Bill Haslam uses businesslike approach when leading state (NS)
Anybody notice a pattern here? Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey wants Tennessee to delay any action on creating a health care exchange in hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court will shoot down the "Obamacare" reforms, which he and other conservatives so loathe. Gov. Bill Haslam, on the other hand, thinks it would be better to go ahead and act so federal funds are not put at risk. "I'm not certain it's responsible for us as a state to push off the whole decision," he says. Other Republicans in the Legislature want to slash either the Hall tax on interest and dividends or the inheritance tax, or both. Haslam warns that the state may not be in good enough financial shape to cut the taxes. "In this difficult time we still have expenses that are larger than our revenues we have to make that budget balanced," he says. Republican Sen. Stacey Campfield wants the state to drug test everyone who applies for welfare, unemployment benefits or workers' compensation. Haslam has questions he wants answered before implementing such a program. He wants to "see what sort of federal leeway we have" and "who would implement it and how would we implement it." http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/dec/29/editorial-gov-bill-haslam-uses-businesslike-when/

Times Editorial: Planning health care reform (Chattanooga Times Free-Press)

As in other Republican-controlled states, Tennessee's top officials are in a needless fret over whether to initiate planning for a state insurance exchange, the entities that states must have in place beginning in January 2014 to help uninsured citizens buy competitively priced, reasonably comprehensive health insurance. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he fears being seen as supporting "Obamacare" if he moves legislation to establish an exchange. Gov. Bill Haslam says he opposes the requirement for states to establish an exchange to promote transparent insurance competition. But he also fears losing millions in federal grants to help create an exchange, and possibly state control of the exchange, if the state doesn't move forward and defaults to a federally established exchange. Given the huge number of adult Tennesseans who stand to benefit greatly from the insurance reform, the heartless irony of their partisan remarks, and their misplaced fear of health care reform, is reprehensible, to say the least. Nearly half of Tennessee's employers do not provide employer-based health insurance. At least one out of every three Tennesseans under the age of 65 (or about 1.7 million of the 5.3 million Tennesseans under age 65), and probably half of Tennessee adults between the ages of 26 and 65, do not have health insurance. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/29/1229b-t1-planning-health-care-reform/?opiniontimes

Editorial: Cut down red tape in teacher evaluations (Daily News Journal)
The Tennessee Legislature acted rashly when it adopted a new teacher evaluation system as part of an education reform effort and application for federal funds. As a result, the burden of multiple classroom 8

evaluations is weighing on administrators, teachers and school board members across the state in its first year. With complaints bombarding legislators and education officials, Gov. Bill Haslam made the right move recently by calling for a review of the teacher evaluation system before the state runs into a full-scale teacher revolt and tries to change it legislatively. SCORE, the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, is set to complete a review by June 1, and the state Department of Education is also conducting an internal review of evaluations. While a thorough review is necessary, though, the governor and Legislature shouldn't depend on those alone to determine the direction of the evaluation process. The people who are on the front lines must be heard before the ultimate decision can be made on this important task. State Sen. Jim Tracy is sponsoring a resolution asking the Department of Education to offer numerous chances for public "feedback" and "future revision." http://www.dnj.com/article/20111229/OPINION01/112290306/EDITORIAL-Cut-down-red-tape-teacherevaluations ###