Government

On the second day of hearings on the January 26th Eggners Ferry Bridge accident, Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board questioned workers involved in the elision involving a Foss Maritime cargo ship and the bridge connecting Aurora to Land Between the Lakes.  U.S. Coast Guard Court Recorder Nick Parham says as they investigate the causes of the crash, officials could discover that decisions made by multiple people led to the crash:

An Illinois state commission studying education spending says school districts can save hundreds of millions of dollars without being forced to consolidate.  The Classrooms First Commission claims districts could save up to $1 billion simply by studying each other's budgets to find new ideas for cutting costs.  The panel plans to review the tentative proposals today before a period of public comment.  Governor Pat Quinn has called for merging the state's smaller districts. But the commission says its consensus is that forced consolidation would cost the state huge amounts of money.    

Opponents of a bill seeking to attract horse slaughter facilities to Tennessee hope the measure finally meets its demise in the General Assembly.  The Senate version of the bill was taken off notice last week, though the sponsor says he will revive the measure if the House approves the companion bill.  The lower chamber was scheduled to take up its version of Representative Andy Holt’s bill Monday evening.

A proposal that would make cutting some Tennessee students' lottery scholarships in half contingent on lottery revenues has passed the Senate.  The companion bill is awaiting a vote in the House Education Committee.  An original proposal sought to reduce by 50 percent the award for students who do not meet both standardized testing and high school grade requirements.

Kentucky lawmakers along with Governor Steve Beshear are getting an earful from their constituents about yet another special legislative session.  It’s unclear how long lawmakers will be in Frankfort to try and iron out an agreement about funding road projects.  And Senator Jack Westwood says taxpayers are making their voices heard.

“Cause all of us are hearing from the folks back home, who are very upset and angry…that they’re sending us back…we once again couldn’t get it done in the 60 days allotted, so here we are back doing the business at 60 thousand dollars a day.”