Chattanooga Today, March 28, 2013

Governor Bill Haslam is blaming the Obama administration for his decision not to expand Tennessee's Medicaid program. Haslam says he won't proceed unless federal officials let him implement what he calls real health care reform. The governor says he sought approval of his "Tennessee Plan" but was unable to get clear answers from federal officials. His plan calls for letting the state take $1 billion dollars in federal funds annually to help subsidize private insurance instead of putting 180 thousand people on TennCare. So now that he's said no to expanding Medicaid, what's next? Haslam says he's interested in continuing to work with federal officials to get them to agree to his Tennessee Plan. ______2 Next up, you may have seen canvassers trying to collect signatures to force a countywide vote on allowing distilleries in Hamilton County. A well-funded group called 'let hamilton distill' emerged last week, but there's just one problem. No one seems to have heard of the secretive group, and its spokesman is a political operative from Nashville. The canvasing efforts have Joe Ledbetter of the Chattanooga Whiskey Company worried that all the work he's done to raise support among lawmakers for a local distillery will backfire. Let Hamilton Distill didn't talk with the Chattanooga Whiskey Company and didn't validate its petition with the Hamilton County Election Commission. That could invalidate the thousands of signatures already gained. But if the petitions get more than 14,000 signatures validated, the County Commission would be obligated by law to set an election on the proposed referendum. And despite a bill in the senate right now deciding the future of whiskey in Chattanooga, voters could still say no, which would end hopes of making whiskey here. ______3 In crime news, Murray County sheriff's Captain Michael Henderson has pleaded guilty for helping to set up the arrest of a woman who complained about sexual advances made by a local judge. Henderson could face 20 years in federal prison, even though the frame job didn't originate with him. Angela Garmley filed an ethics complaint against Judge Bryant Cochran last July, saying he asked her into his chambers to be his mistress and sent her an inappropriate text message. Her complaint sparked a state investigation, and led to Cochran's resignation, but not before Garmley was pulled over in a traffic stop where police found a can of meth hidden in the wheel of her car. When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found out the drug had been planted, charges against Garmley were dismissed. ____4 Over in Walker County, work is nearing completion of a new school unlike any other in the area. Saddle Ridge Elementary-Middle School will be the first LEED-certified building in the county. The new school cost $15 million dollars and was built to relieve overcrowding at other county schools. Inside, a large two-story rotunda with double staircases offers an impressive welcome. And hallways are about three times wider than the halls in most schools -- which will allow teachers to use the extra space for small groups and activities. There's a special room set aside for a possible robotics lab. And a health occupations lab will allow middle school students to connect with college nursing programs. And there are plans for eventually placing a new high school on the same land. 500 students are expected to fill the seats at Saddle Ridge when it opens in August. ____5 And finally, hundreds of people attended a job fair at the Walker County Civic Center in Rock Spring Wednesday. The area has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of Georgia. Take a look: ___ And weather today will be partly sunny, with a high near 60 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 34.