Tennessee Lawmakers Encourage Super Committee, Make Contingency Plans

If the so-called congressional “super committee” fails to cut more than a trillion dollars from the deficit, Tennessee risks a downgrade of its bond rating. The panel remains gridlocked, but some members of the state’s congressional delegation are trying to pressure the group to reach a deal.

Nashville’s flood buyout program is back on track, now that federal funding has been restored.

A Canadian investor and reality TV star has become a minority owner of the Nashville Predators. The hockey franchise announced Wednesday that Brett Wilson has purchased a five percent stake in the team.

The University of the South is continuing to buck the trend of rising college tuition. A news release from Sewanee says current students will pay the same amount for tuition and fees next year.

Environmentalists and some in the timber industry are accusing Nashville-area congressmen of trying to “gut” the Lacey Act. The century-old environmental law is at the heart of an ongoing federal investigation into Gibson Guitar.

Wednesday small business owners from Tennessee are in Washington helping sell a proposal that would get online retailers collecting sales tax.

Tennessee Department of Education is ready to change three struggling schools into charters. Two will be in Memphis, the other in Nashville. The schools themselves have not been named, but the groups that will lead them have been chosen.

Last year the state legislature approved a new funding scheme for higher education meant to reward schools that move students efficiently toward a degree. Now state-run schools are asking for the reward money, even as they’re supposed to proposed cuts to their own budgets.

The state’s Department of Mental Health is using continued budget pressure as justification for restructuring the agency. The plan moves away from state-run psychiatric institutions, and the first to go is in Knoxville.

Today state lawmakers gave a stern warning to the board that polices judges in Tennessee. Members of both parties said if the Court of the Judiciary can’t keep judges in line, lawmakers will.