Real estate investor and attorney Lee Reeves, who is running in the August 1 Republican primary election for Tennessee State House District 65, sat down with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Wednesday to discuss his stance on different issues affecting the state.
House District 65 is currently represented by State Representative Sam Whitson (R-Franklin), who announced he would not be seeking reelection to the seat.
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Ron Shultis, the Director of Policy and Research for both the Beacon Center and Beacon Impact, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan is subject to major changes if approved by voters on the November ballot.
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A record high number of Tennesseans are expected to travel during this year’s Memorial Day weekend, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said the Nashville Mayor’s $3.1 billion transit referendum is a “ripoff” of the taxpayers who are not given a proper voice in the media to express opposition to the transportation plan.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said not only does Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s $3.1 billion transit referendum, which is expected to be presented to Davidson County voters on the November ballot, appear illegal under the 2017 IMPROVE Act, but its implementation would inevitably raise property taxes for residents.
O’Connell unveiled his transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, continues to scrutinize the legality of the Nashville mayor’s $3.1 billion transit referendum expected to be presented in front of Davidson County voters on the November ballot.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month. The plan would be funded through a half-cent increase in the city’s sales tax to construct miles of new sidewalks, bus stops, transit centers, parking facilities, and upgraded traffic signals.
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Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s transit plan, which will be on the November ballot, will inevitably lead to property tax increases.
Last month, O’Connell officially announced that his long-awaited transit plan will be on the November 5 ballot, however, he did not release any information regarding what the plan entails.
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Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss what may be included in Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s anticipated multimodal transportation plan.
O’Connell, who was elected mayor in last year’s runoff election, vowed during his campaign to address Nashville’s “infrastructure and transit concerns” and is expected to release a multimodal plan in the near future.
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All-star panelist Ben Cunningham joined Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy where he discussed what may be included in Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s anticipated transit plan.
O’Connell, who was elected mayor in last year’s runoff election, vowed during his campaign to address Nashville’s “infrastructure and transit concerns.”
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All-star panelist Ben Cunningham joined Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s anticipated transit plan and how it may clash with the overall preference among Nashvillians when it comes to transportation.
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More and more Ohio teenagers wait until their 18th birthday to get their driver’s license, and the state plans to spend $4.5 million in taxpayer funds to try and change that.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced 34 grants through the Creating Opportunities for Driver Education program to increase driver training capacity at nearly 100 locations around the state.
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Red Bike, Cincinnati’s non-profit station-based bike share system, is pausing operations next month until early spring to roll out a new pricing model amid unsustainable system revenue.
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According to a study by Forbes Home, those who work in Nashville face the toughest work commute in all of America.
The study analyzed 25 major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles, and using eight separate metrics, determined that Nashville’s workers spend the most time trying to get to work.
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The Biden administration cut a $7 billion check on Friday to launch its vision for a hydrogen-fueled future.
The money augments $40 billion in private investment to build seven hydrogen hubs across the nation that will decarbonize transportation and industrial manufacturing, slashing 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
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Governor Brian Kemp and the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) Board of Directors announced on Tuesday the approval of $17.3 million in Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB) loans and grants to fund seven transportation infrastructure projects across the state.
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Rideshare company Uber has launched a new program for teenagers in the metro Atlanta area.
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Steamboat Transportation Group, LLC officials recently announced that the company will invest $2 million to expand and relocate its headquarters operations from Nashville to Brentwood.
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Arizona Free Enterprise Club released a new report criticizing the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) proposed plan for the Prop. 400 half-cent tax.
The Prop. 400 half-cent tax, which started in 1985 to pay for public transit and then light rail in Maricopa County, faces strong opposition every time it comes up for renewal.
The report said the MAG’s proposal fails to consider the permanent transformation of society due to COVID-19, which significantly reduced the number of workers using public transit as people shifted to working from home and remained there.
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The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) announced last week the release of its 21st annual report on the public infrastructure needs across the state during the five-year period of July 2021 to June 2026.
The latest report, “Building Tennessee’s Tomorrow: Anticipating the State’s Infrastructure Needs,” indicates there is $1.2 billion or 2 percent increase over the year before. And while the costs have increased for the seven straight reporting period, they decreased when adjusted for inflation and population.
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State tax revenues for the month of January exceeded budgeted estimates by $212.9 million, according to the monthly revenue announcement released Wednesday by Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson.
The state’s surplus in year-to-date tax collections is $1.17 billion through six months.
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The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced Monday that travelers will not be delayed by construction on Tennessee roads during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently announced a $26 billion proposal to address transportation needs across the state. Lee’s infrastructure proposal, “Build With Us,” comes as the state’s growth is outpacing roadway capacity investments.
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Buying a used car in the Midwest got a little more affordable in May over the previous month.
The good news is that year-over-year price increases in used vehicles in May dropped seven percentage points from the year-over-year April price increases, from April’s 23.9% to May’s 16.9%. The bad news is a used car and truck in May 2022 still cost 16.9% more than a comparable used vehicle cost in May 2021.
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Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works has inspected more than 95 percent of all streets and filled in 90 percent of all potholes, according to a report delivered to the Chattanooga City Council.
Along with filling potholes, Public Works has created work orders for issues that require more than a patch, such as utility trench settlement, base failure, lack of base, and slope failure, according to the report.
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New research by 1-800 Injured shows that Tennessee roads rank as some of the most dangerous in the country. For the study, states were ranked based on an index of fatality rates per 100,000 people, per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, and per 100,000 licensed drivers to determine a “Road Danger Rating”.
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The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) awarded a construction contract to Bell & Associates Construction, LLC to complete infrastructure improvements on the I-55 and Crump interchange, including I-55 bridge repairs, the department announced Friday in a press release.
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Unemployment in Tennessee reached a two-year low in December, according to new data that the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) released late last week. The state ended 2021 with an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, which was 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the rate it recorded in November. Over the past year, Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 1.8 percentage points from 5.6 percent to 3.8 percent.
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A record number of American workers quit their jobs in November 2021 as the gap between available jobs and potential workers continues to increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
Over 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November 2021, a jump from October’s 4.1 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Tuesday.
Quits in accommodation and food services saw the greatest increase, 159,000, while other low-wage sectors like health care, social assistance, transportation, warehousing and utilities also saw spikes as workers looked for jobs with higher pay.
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A California environmental regulator approved a measure banning new purchases of small off-road engines including leaf blowers and lawn mowers beginning in 2024.
The measure will also affect portable generators and recreational vehicle engines which will need to meet “more stringent standards” in 2024 and zero-emission standards in 2028, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announcedThursday. The vote was part of the state’s aggressive climate program and goal to achieve a “zero-emission future” as outlined by an executive order Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September 2020.
“Today’s action by the Board addresses these small but highly polluting engines. It is a significant step towards improving air quality in the state, and will definitely help us meet stringent federal air quality standards,” CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in a statement. “It will also essentially eliminate exposure to harmful fumes for equipment operators and anyone nearby.”
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Lyft reported 1,807 sexual assaults in 2019 in its first-ever safety report, released Thursday. The release mentioned that in 2019 the company received 156 reports of rape and 114 reports of attempted rape.
The rideshare company’s release listed categories of sexual assault ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration.” Reports of all five categories of sexual assault included in the release increased from 2018 to 2019.
From 2017 to 2019, rape was reported in about one in 5 million Lyft rides, according to the release. There were 4,158 total reports of sexual assault in Lyft rides during those years.
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It is probably an understatement to say that when one group designates another as a terrorist organization, diplomatic relations between the two become strained.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.”
Truths. Equal. Creator. Rights. Concerned parents want schools to teach truths, not ideologies; operate under equality, not equity; and respect faith in our Creator and our parental rights. These are the fundamental principles from our Declaration that are at stake in American education today.
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Much fanfare surrounding infrastructure legislation in Congress focuses on road and bridge improvements, but the bill’s implications for relatively costly rail transit in northeastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere have gotten far less attention.
The current proposal to spend $66 billion on Amtrak would be the largest federal expenditure on passenger rail since the creation of the transit agency.
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President Joe Biden mistakenly called Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) “Jennifer” on Wednesday, an apparent reference to a previous Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, who is now Biden’s energy secretary.
Of course, the two Great Lake State Democrats aren’t that easy to get confused; Granholm finished her tenure as governor eight years before Whitmer took office.
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As U.S. Senate leaders expect to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday morning, both of Tennessee’s senators, Marsha Blackburn (R) and Bill Hagerty (R) are vehemently opposing the legislation, alarmed by its potential to worsen the national debt.
Senate Democrats have expressed their intention to use a process called reconciliation to avoid any possible filibuster, thus allowing themselves expand the measure to encompass $3.5 trillion in federal spending.
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As the U.S. Senate prepared to approve a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Friday, Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-3) advised against expanding the legislation to include non-infrastructure spending at an added cost of over $2 trillion at least.
The bill passed by a vote of 66 to 28, with 16 Republicans joining all Democrats in favor.
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Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry has received a $100,000 raise, making him one of the highest-paid unelected state officials in Georgia.
The State Transportation Board unanimously approved McMurry’s 29% raise Thursday without debate, increasing his salary from $350,000 to $450,000.
McMurry started his career with the department in 1990. He was the planning director before being appointed commissioner by the board in 2015.
McMurry’s salary in fiscal year 2015 was more than $165,000. McMurry’s salary climbed from $185,000 in fiscal year 2016 to $250,000 in fiscal year 2017 and $336,000 in fiscal year 2018. He used an average of $6,900 in travel expenses over the past six year
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The Florida House passed SB 100 yesterday, a repeal bill of the Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-CORES) program. The program was a priority of former Senate President Bill Galvano to build new toll roads as part of an infrastructure plan connecting Florida’s metro areas.
The bill will cancel the Heartland Parkway, connecting Polk and Collier counties.
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A Minnesota lawmaker has asked the federal government to withhold federal transportation funds from the state if leaders continue to allow protesters to block highways.
“In the last few months, we have seen two of our primary interstates blocked by protesters, 35 and 94, with the acquiescence of state and local officials. While some arrests have been made, the penalty for this offense is low; it encourages others to protest in the same way,” Rep. Cal Bahr (R-East Bethel) said in a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.
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A House bill package seeks to put about $800 million annually into local roads without a 45-cent gas tax hike or increasing future debt.
The six-bill package, if enacted, would eliminate the six percent sales tax on fuel over three years and replace it with another excise tax that would fund the 92 percent of local roads that aren’t touched by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s $3.5 billion bonding plan.
Much of that bonding money would go to repair roads in Metro Detroit.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine is scheduled to give his first State of the State Address Tuesday, but don’t expect any major revelations from it. In an interview last week, the first term governor stated, “I don’t think you’ll find any great surprises,” adding: We’re going to talk about the things that we’ve been talking about — early childhood development. We’re going to talk about the lead paint problem. We’re going to talk about public health issues. We’re going to talk about early childhood education, the drug problem. While these points have shaped his tenure as Governor thus far, there are two areas he did not note but are likely be addressed. The 18 cent gas tax outlined in his proposed Department of Transportation budget has been controversial at best. Should it pass, there will not be an incremental introduction of the tax. Instead, the entire 18 cent hike will go into effect immediately. Although there is a bipartisan consensus that something has to be done about the severe underfunding of road and bridge repair, the amount and effects have been called into question. The Ohio Speaker of the House, Republican Larry Householder recently stated: So the situation that we’re in…
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Friday, Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks formally introduced the proposed 2020-21 Biennial Budget. House Bill 62 (HB 62), the budget’s formal designation, includes an 18-cent gas tax increase. While lower than some reports have suggested, the proposed tax will give Ohio one of the highest gas tax rates in the country. In addition, it contains a provision that could raise gas taxes even higher in the coming years. The 18 cent tax would go into effect immediately upon passage. When measured against other states, this is an exceptionally aggressive approach. When Nebraska voted to raise its takes, it did so in increments of 1.6 cents per year. A more incremental approach could ensure Ohioans don’t face “sticker shock” at the pump. The bill would also tie the gas tax rate to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). At the start of every fiscal year, the tax will be reexamined and if the CPI has increased, the tax will increase with it. While it would ensure that road repair is adequately funded, there is a significant drawback. As written, the law does not stipulate that the gas tax would decrease, should the CPI decrease. if the Ohio economy faces a sudden hardship or enters a recession, Ohioans would…
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At an annual forum sponsored by the Associated Press, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday he intends to formally recommend raising the current gas tax. The recommendation will come as he introduces his first two-year transportation budget Friday. Despite appointing an Advisory Committee on Transportation Infrastructure Issues specifically to explore alternative solutions to simply raising the gas tax, the governor made it clear he felt there was no real alternative. He did make a point to say the hike is “just to keep us where we are today and with the ability to do some safety projects that absolutely need to be done.” It can be inferred from this statement that his intention is to raise the gas tax enough to not let the state’s road and bridge repair funding deficit get worse than it currently is. This suggests that the tax hike would be more modest relative to addressing the full scope of road and bridge repair needed in Ohio. Currently, there is a $1 billion gap in funding. The current state tax on gas in Ohio is 28 cents per gallon. However, when combined with federal and local taxes, the total amount climbs to just about 46.5 cents per gallon.…
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It’s safe to say that when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appointed his “Governor’s Advisory Committee on Transportation” to develop solutions for paying for road and bridge repairs, citizens were hoping they’d come up was some creative answers. Instead, the committee reached a consensus last week that the primary means by which road repairs would need to be funded would be through raising gas taxes. During a meeting with the Canton Repository Editorial Board, Governor DeWine made it clear that he would be taking their advice. He noted that not only was raising the gas taxes essential to fixing the problem but that he couldn’t put a number on how high the hike would be. When asked how much the raise could be per gallon, he stated: Well I’m not going to talk about it yet. I’m not going to put a number on it…Just to maintain status quo, we’ve got to come up with $1.5 billion a year. So how we do that? I’ve been in discussions with the members of the leadership of the legislature of how to do that. Just doing the numbers, significant amount of that has to come from the gas tax. Many advocates note that there will never…
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TDOT’s leader said Nashville’s transit plan failed at the ballot box because it “had no bearing on regional traffic” and would not help anyone, the Nashville Business Journal reports. John Schroer made the comments at a town hall meeting last week at Williamson Inc., the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce. He is commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. “It wasn’t going to help anybody, it was going down through the main corridors in Nashville,” the Journal said, quoting the Brentwood Home Page website. “Those were all state roads, and they had to get our approval … in order to do what they were going to do, but no one ever asked us about it.” Schroer referred to the $9 billion Nashville transit plan that failed in a May 1 referendum by a massive ratio of 64 percent against vs. 34 percent in favor. The Brentwood Home Page story quoted Schroer as saying Tennessee’s interstates are being used at only 20 percent of their capacity. “If you look at downtown Nashville, that’s not our issue. We do have traffic, we know we have traffic, but it can be better managed,” Schroer said. Technology and use of flexible work schedules can…
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State Rep. “Fast Eddie” Smith (R-Knoxville) just “filled in” his caption bill, HB2361 last week in the House Transportation Subcommittee and the “amendment that makes the bill” as they say in the legislature, looks like it’s gonna help La Raza Randy make more millions. Think of the caption bill like a shell game. It identifies the shells, but doesn’t necessarily tell you what’s really going to be underneath them. And somehow, the intended filling isn’t disclosed until very late in the legislative session, hidden from controversy until it’s simply rushed through the system. So the bill that Smith filed at the start of the legislative session was supposed to be about reporting the number of automobiles owned or leased by the state government that could use alternative fuel. By the end of the Subcommittee hearing last week, the bill was about a public-private partnership to bring light rail to the greater Knoxville area and voting power to create a Central Business Improvement District that could be based on high land value ownership. Coincidentally (or not), two years ago, while serving as Commissioner of Economic & Community Development, multimillionaire Randy Boyd bought about 7 acres of property in what Knoxvillians call the “Old…
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The foundation of the case by Governor Haslam and other proponents of the IMPROVE Act gas tax increase was that it is a “user fee,” paid by those who use the roads. In contrast, for the purpose of funding public transit system projects, the IMPROVE Act authorizes 16 local governments, through public referendum, to levy a surcharge on six existing taxes that aren’t remotely linked to a mass transportation user fee, otherwise known as passenger fares. The IMPROVE Act, passed by the legislature as HB 534, specifies a local government, for purposes of the surcharge, as any county in this state including a county with a metropolitan or consolidated form of government with a population in excess of 112,000, which is currently Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Montgomery, Rutherford, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson and Wilson, and any city in this state with a population in excess of 165,000, which is currently Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville. The six taxes eligible for surcharge are the local option sales tax, business tax, motor vehicle tax, local rental car tax, tourist accommodation/hotel occupancy tax, and residential development tax. Looking at other transit systems around the country, it’s obvious that these additional revenues will…
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Governor Haslam reduced the Highway Fund budget by 13 percent, while he grew the State budget by 20 percent during his first six years in office. Only after he made these reductions in the Highway Fund budget did he propose the gas tax and diesel tax increases included in the IMPROVE Act when he introduced it in January 2017. From Governor Haslam’s first budget year of 2011-12 to the most recent 2016-17, Highway Fund allocations went from $867 million to $757 million, a reduction of 13 percent. HIGHWAY FUND ALLOCATIONS Link 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Estimated DOWN Budget $ $866,886,300 $823,104,600 $683,800,400 $792,219,800 $740,645,600 $756,856,000 -13% Sheet 54 of 656 54 of 545 54 of 542 54 of 550 54 of 558 54 of 558 Page A-22 A-22 A-22 A-22 A-22 A-22 During that same period, the state portion of the budget, excluding the unpredictable and heavily mandated federal funding, grew from $13.7 billion in 2011-12 to $16.5 billion in 2016-17, representing a 20 percent increase. STATE BUDGET IN BILLIONS OF DOLLARS Link 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Estimated INCREASE Billion $ $13.7 $14 $14.6 $14.8 $15.3…
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