TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalFormer district judge charged with human trafficking
An arrest of a former district judge in Northern Kentucky on a human trafficking charge has shocked the community.
Police arrested former Campbell County District Judge Tim Nolan on charges of human trafficking and unlawful transaction with a minor, according to court documents and a release from Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear.
Nolan, 70, who has been outspoken in conservative politics and the tea party movement in recent years, was elected to the Campbell County School Board in November. He was also the chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign in Campbell County.
Court documents don't give much detail about the incident or incidents that led to the charges. Authorities allege in the criminal complaint Nolan in August 2016 induced a minor into illegal sexual activity and gave alcohol to the minor. It doesn't say how old the victim was.
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/04/21/former-district-judge-indicted-human-trafficking/100756290/
House where Gov. Matt Bevin living sold at fair price, says seller
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The man who recently sold the house where Gov. Matt Bevin’s family is now living says the property sold at a fair market price.
The recent $1.6 million sales price is far below values listed for the property by the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator – including a brand new value posted Friday. But Neil Ramsey, who sold the house, said the PVA values are too high for several reasons, including that a deed recording a prior sale of the property included wrong information that caused the PVA to list too high a value.
“It was sold at fair market value,” Ramsey said in an interview following a Thursday meeting of the board of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. Ramsey, appointed to the board by Bevin, has been a donor to Bevin's campaign for governor, the Republican Party of Kentucky and the Bevin inauguration committee.
The Courier-Journal reported recently that Bevin’s family apparently is living in the Anchorage house, which deed records show a Ramsey company called The Anchorage LLC sold to a company called Anchorage Place LLC on March 9 for $1.6 million.
Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-governor/2017/04/21/house-where-gov-matt-bevin-living-sold-fair-price-says-seller/100697038/
Court OKs $16.8M Settlement in First Tennessee Bank Class-Action Suit
Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Mary Wagner has approved an agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit against First Tennessee Bank related to overdraft fees that calls for the bank to put $16.8 million into a settlement fund.
The case was approaching the six-year mark when attorneys for both sides appeared in Circuit Court Thursday, April 20, for the final hearing to approve the settlement. Jeff Ostrow, a Florida-based attorney for the plaintiffs, said it had been “an incredibly hard-fought case,” with “an unbelievable opponent who fought us at every turn.”
That fight was over the way First Tennessee posted debit card transactions from the highest dollar amount to the lowest. The plaintiffs in the case argued that led to “an increased number of overdraft fees assessed to customers.”
First Tennessee maintains it did nothing wrong and followed applicable laws and regulations, although it has changed its practice of posting from high to low.
Read more: https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2017/apr/20/court-oks-168m-settlement-in-first-tennessee-class-action-suit/
Former Memphis Area Transit Authority Chief Pleads Guilty on Prostitution Charge
Ron Garrison, the former CEO at Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), pled guilty on an Alford plea Friday to charges of prostitution.
Garrison was one of 42 people charged in a three-day sting on human trafficking in Memphis in January. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) ran the sting in which those caught responded to online ads posted by undercover agents posing as prostitutes.
Garrison, 60, was placed on six months diversion for the charge, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.
That means he can have his record cleared of the prostitution offense if he avoids any new arrests and other terms of the diversion agreement.
Read more: http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2017/04/21/former-mata-chief-pleads-guilty-on-prostitution-charge
After Protests And Arrests, Tennessee Activists Still Press Governor For Medicaid Expansion
Healthcare activists say they will continue protesting at the Capitol until the state expands Medicaid. A group called Moral Movement Tennessee talked to reporters Monday, about a week after 11 people were arrested during a sit-in at Gov. Bill Haslam’s office.
The group implored him to call a special session to expand state healthcare coverage, saying more than 280,000 in Tennessee would receive healthcare if Medicaid was expanded. Haslam's office told the Tennessean he was out of town when the sit-in occurred and declined to comment.
Ellen McPherson, 75, was one of the 11 arrested last week. The former nurse says she believes the refusal to expand Medicaid is a moral issue.
"It hurts my heart that they won't call a special session to expand Medicaid," she says. "It would mean so much to these people. It doesn't seem fair that the legislatures are covered with insurance but they won't cover all these people."
Read more: http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/after-protests-and-arrests-tennessee-activists-still-press-governor-medicaid-expansion#stream/0
If Elected Governor, Karl Dean Says He'd Focus On Economic Development Away From Nashville
The former mayor of Nashville says if he's elected governor, he would turn his economic development efforts far outside the city limits. Karl Dean spent an hour taking questions from Nashville journalists on Wednesday and began to flesh out his statewide campaign message.
There are two candidates to be Tennessee's governor traveling the state at this point, and Dean has been end-to-end talking to voters over the last few weeks. The Nashville Democrat says folks in West Tennessee and parts of Memphis feel a bit left out as the state's capital city boasts low unemployment and a booming real estate market.
"We need to really focus on the areas that have not had the same success that Nashville has had," Dean says. "People are happy for Nashville. They're proud of Nashville, but at the same time, they want something to happen in their communities too."
The state-owned industrial site in West Tennessee, for example, still hasn't landed a tenant. Dean says he would make that a priority.
Read more: http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/if-elected-governor-karl-dean-says-hed-focus-economic-development-away-nashville
Bill that would disclose more on tax credits passes Tennessee legislature
Bringing more transparency to the state's business subsidies, lawmakers this week passed a bill that would require an annual report on tax credits.
If Gov. Bill Haslam allows the measure to become law, the Department of Revenue would disclose to lawmakers how many companies received franchise and excise tax credits during the previous fiscal year, how much in subsidies they received, and how many people companies hired (if their tax credits depended on hiring). Reports would show the total amounts, not by individual companies.
A representative for Haslam indicated Thursday he didn't oppose the bill.
Business tax credits cost the state more than $140 million annually, in the hope of broad economic impacts. The forgone revenue, though, could be spent on education, roads, health care or other government functions that also impact the economy.
Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/bill-would-disclose-more-tax-credits-passes-tennessee-legislature/100692610/
House, Senate approve Haslam's gas tax proposal
The Tennessee General Assembly handed Gov. Bill Haslam a major victory Wednesday, approving his plan to raise the tax on gas and diesel to help fund a $10 billion backlog in needed transportation projects.
The House and Senate approval of his signature piece of legislation for the year moves the state one step closer to increasing the tax on gasoline for the first time in nearly 30 years.
After more than four and a half hours of discussion and debate, the House approved the measure with a 60-37 vote, thanks to support from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers.
Less than 30 minutes after the House's action, the Senate began taking up the measure, passing it after an hour of discussion with a 25-6 vote.
Haslam's proposal, known as the IMPROVE Act, seeks to raise the tax on gasoline and diesel fuel by 6 cents and 10 cents, respectively, over a three-year period while also featuring myriad tax cuts.
Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/19/house-approves-haslams-gas-tax-proposal-senate-set-vote/100435456/
House OKs bill requiring disclosure of legislative travel
A bill that requires lawmakers to disclose expenses and the source of funding for travel paid by politicos was given approval in the House on Thursday.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, and Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, was introduced after the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee uncovered numerous legislative trips funded by politically connected people.
The trips, which included travel to Alabama, Europe and North Carolina, were not required to be disclosed.
The measure would require lawmakers to disclose the source and amount of contributions from private sources used to cover costs "necessarily related to the adequate performance of that member's legislative duties" and for travel "including any expenses incidental to such travel, paid on behalf of the member by a person with an interest in a public policy of this state if the travel was for the purpose of informing or advising the member with respect to the public policy."
Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/house-oks-bill-requiring-disclosure-legislative-travel/99816826/
Tennessee AG says bill could create conflict with existing law, same-sex marriage ruling
The state attorney general says that courts would likely side with state law that provides for more gender-neutral interpretations over a proposed law that would could also go against the 2014 Supreme Court decision that gave equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Nashville Democrat Rep. Bill Beck requested the opinion from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, which was issued April 13. The House passed HB1111 last month that would assign gender-based definitions to terms like "mother," "father," "husband," and "wife" which many, saw as an attempt to usurp the famed Supreme Court decision that gave equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The opinion says the proposed bill could create conflict with an existing statute that would likely result in courts siding with the current state law that would be a more inclusive interpretation of the law.
"Thus, in construing certain statutes with gender-limiting words, a court would likely apply the very specific gender-inclusive requirements of (state law) rather than the very general 'ordinary meaning' requirements of the proposed legislation," Slatery wrote.
Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/tennessee-ag-says-bill-could-create-conflict-state-law-same-sex-marriage-ruling/100691450/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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