Day: July 23, 2017

By Christ Butler The folks who run the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau spend taxpayer money like high rollers, yet no policy exists to reign them in, Hamilton County Commissioner Tim Boyd said. The CVB is a nonprofit that gets most of its money, about $8.2 million this year alone, from the county’s 4 percent hotel and motel tax. Boyd said he has a two-inch thick binder full of the CVB’s credit card statements from the past several years. Those statements, Boyd said, reveal CVB members bought top-shelf booze and considered it a “business expense.” CVB employees traveled to a Utah ski resort at taxpayer expense. They also awarded six-figure checks to advertising firms without a formal bidding process, meaning the CVB likely spent more than it should have, Boyd said. Those are only a few of the things Boyd said he uncovered. Tennessee Watchdog can’t corroborate the contents of that binder because Boyd and CVB President Bob Doak said those documents aren’t public record — despite taxpayer money paying for most of what’s on it. But Boyd said that, legally, he can discuss what he knows with the public. He said he plans to share more details next week.…

by ConservativeHQ.com Staff   The worldwide effort to save disabled British baby Charlie Gard from Britain’s Great Ormand Street hospital death panel achieved a small victory yesterday as the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment granting Charlie and his family legal permanent residence in the United States. News of the passage of the amendment came from Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who tweeted: “We just passed amendment that grants permanent resident status to #CharlieGard and family so Charlie can get the medical treatment he needs.” However, British legal sources said Charlie is the subject of a High Court order and it made no difference what passport he held. And last Friday, the judge made it clear it would be illegal for Charlie to travel to America without his permission reports the U.K. Daily Mail. The parents’ British attorney, Grant Armstrong, said the parents were of the view that legally it was up to the hospital to change its mind and allow Charlie to be transferred. But the judge, Mr. Justice Francis, said the effect of the various rulings meant the court’s permission was required. “It would be entirely wrong for him to be transferred without my being involved,” said the judge,…