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Bredesen in Newport
An estimated 100 people turned out on Friday for a meet and greet with Phil Bredesen, Democrat candidate for the US Senate. Bredesen was introduced by Newport native Bill Shults who suggested Bredesen's opponents keep dragging up other politicians and try to align him, with them. Shults also suggested that the Republican candidate for the seat, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is beholden to the opioid drug companies. "Ms. Blackburn was the sponsor of a bill that made it harder and harder the Drug Enforcement Administration to sit down on when they saw huge amounts of drugs going into certain places. That makes sense to me, when you see drugs in there you do something about it. But that bill hamstrung the DEA from stopping the opiod crisis that in this county is destroying families in this county. She said she'd fix it but she's still in Congress collecting money from drug companies. She has collected $800,000 from the drug companies over the last 16 years. She did that and can't run away from it." Bredesen, a former Tennessee governor, told the group he prefers dialogue to confrontation, and he pointed to the growing partisan attitudes in Washington. "My whole approach to the world has been to not look at an issue through a super-partisan lens. Take a problem, put it on the table, and then figure out where the answers can come from. Anytime you look through a political lens you end up not serving people well. And you miss alot of what you need to do, to solve a problem." The former governor said he has experience in how to make compromises and moving things around to get things done. The candidate has called for a revamp of the healthcare system to provide health insurance to those who cannot afford it. So does he also support medical marijuana? He said a number of states have already legalized marijuana and he suggests looking at how the issue is playing out in those states. "This is a state level decision and won't happen on the federal level," he said. Bredesen said he believes marijuana should be re-classified so that additional research could be conducted, just as you would currently with any drug that you wanted to put on the market" He said the current classification precludes medical research. Social security is running out of money and some Republican lawmakers have proposed to cut back on social security payments. Currently the wealthy do not pay social security on earnings above $128,000. If they were required to pay on all their earnings social security would not be facing default. "One of the ways to make social security more solvent is to increase that cap level. But when we solve the problem we need to really solve it so the fund runs solvent for all time. Lots and lots of people depend on social security for either all or much of their income. I feel an enormous moral responsibility to make sure it is solvent."
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Return to Today's News Stories - Front PageThursday, April 29, 2021
US 411 Project News
Mill Creek Wildfire Update
More Bad News For Smokies' Fans
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Mill Creek Wildfire doubles in size
Goodbye Smokies?
Keep Cocke County Beautiful
Cocke Co. High School Remote Learning today!
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
The fireflies are coming!
Burnout Operations on MillCreek wildfire today
Gas prices drop
Tennessee keeps all US House seats
Monday, April 26, 2021
Boat accident victim ID'd
Traffic stop yields drug arrest
Cocke County Wildfires
Friday, April 23, 2021
Leaving WNPC
Mathis announces candidacy
Newport drug roundup
Cruise Against Cancer
Jobless numbers
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