News Briefly
Phil considers a personal loan to the state treasury
Very little good news is greeting Governor-elect Phil Bredesen as the Democrat prepares to take office. The bad news is mostly fiscal. Tax receipts are miserable. Estimates are running as high as half a billion dollars for new, court-ordered spending on public education. And TennCare may have to keep 200,000 people on its health insurance plan that it thinks don’t qualify to be enrolled. On top of that, the selection of business lobbyist Dave Goetz as the governor’s new commissioner of finance and administration isn’t blowing anyone away.
In our day, coaches only carried whistles
Tennessee State University basketball coach Nolan Richardson III has been suspended by the university’s athletic director after he retrieved a gun from his car amid a dispute with an assistant coach. The two were arguing, apparently, about the time that practice was supposed to have started on Christmas day. Goodness only knows why the team was practicing that day, but when only four players showed up, observers say Richardson blew his cool, got in an argument with the assistant coach, got the handgun from his car, then came back looking for the assistant coach.
Titans prepare for rendezvous with destiny
The Titans meet the Pittsburgh Steelers here at home Sunday. Having started the season miserably, the team is now firing on all cylinders, but the Steelers proved their mettle in an astonishing come-from-behind victory last weekend. The winner of the Titans-Steelers contest will then play for the AFC championship game the next weekend. This has been, truly, an insane season.
Country sales good
Recent statistics from the world of country music sales show the medium doing well. Of the top 10 leading CD sales last year, four were country. And while rap, rock and other forms of music slid in terms of overall sales, country sales were actually in the positive category. That sound you just heard was Music Row smiling.
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