Pam Strickland writes a weekly column for the News Sentinel. She also writes a blog entitled Strickly Impolitical for knoxnews.com.
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Pam Strickland: Legislature fails Tennessee students
Published 4/19/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 16 comments
This week marks the 50th anniversary of “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” a tour de force of persuasive writing that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, pouring out his anger onto the margins of a newspaper advertisement after being arrested ...
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Pam Strickland: Legislature brings shame on Tennessee
Published 4/12/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 94 comments
The leadership of the Tennessee General Assembly appears committed to end this year’s session by next Thursday as planned.
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Pam Strickland: Legislature keeps Tennessee in the news
Published 4/5/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 11 comments
I never thought the day would come when I would say, “Thank God for Bob Corker.” But there I was Tuesday evening, catching up on the day’s news and reading about the judiciously placed phone call he’d made to Tennessee ...
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Pam Strickland: Defunding Sex Week hurts UT's image
Published 3/29/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 44 comments
Since the organizers of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Sex Week managed to secure replacement funding in 24 hours after university leaders pulled most of their money at the last minute, it would seem that Tennessee has survived yet ...
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Pam Strickland: Governor manages to oppose both sides
Published 3/22/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 5 comments
Indecision. We’ve all been there at one time or another. Which pair of shoes to buy. How much to take out on our withholding during the year to make our taxes easier come April 15. Whether or not to pick ...
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Pam Strickland: Education proposals would cost local districts
Published 3/15/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 35 comments
Gov. Bill Haslam and legislators alike made a big deal before the General Assembly convened in January that education would be a main focus. But the two most talked-about education bills of the session wouldn’t put a dime into public ...
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Pam Strickland: Knox County schools need dramatic changes
Published 3/8/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 27 comments
Buried in all the education jargon about Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s decision to reconstitute the faculty at Vine Middle Performing Arts and Sciences Magnet School was a phrase that really bugged me. It was the need to have ...
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Pam Strickland: Shooting shouldn't define neighborhood
Published 3/1/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 11 comments
Two years ago this week, I moved out of a little cottage on Alexander Street in Happy Hollow a few blocks away to the larger neighborhood of Old North Knoxville.
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Pam Strickland: Keep politics out of school issues
Published 2/22/2013 at 2:52 a.m. 74 comments
The Knox County Commission has two items concerning school governance on its agenda for the 2 p.m. Monday meeting that should never have gotten past lively discussion over drinks or coffee, but unfortunately both have been put into bills and ...
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Pam Strickland: Online school grade changes scandalous
Published 2/15/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 24 comments
"Horrified" was the word state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, used to describe an email that the Tennessee Virtual Academy vice principal sent in December directing middle school teachers to delete September and October student grades.
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Pam Strickland: Delay, safety issues plague Henley Bridge project
Published 2/8/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 23 comments
I am perplexed why it was two years into the Henley Bridge project before anyone could determine that three of the seven piers were damaged to the point of needing replacement. I'm not alone.
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Pam Strickland: Haslam's vision is a little out of focus
Published 2/1/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 16 comments
Gov. Bill Haslam's State of the State speech on Monday evening was perhaps most outstanding for the fact that nothing in the speech stood out as a takeaway. It wasn't a bad speech. Some might even say it was, for ...
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Pam Strickland: State Democrats have poor choices for chairman
Published 1/25/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 18 comments
There is no one single thing that can be said to demonstrate how poorly the Tennessee Democratic Party has performed in recent years. So many points are disappointing, sad or just plain embarrassing.
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Pam Strickland: Answers needed on school voucher plan
Published 1/18/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 44 comments
Gov. Bill Haslam announced Monday that he will be pushing for vouchers for low-income students in "lower-performing schools."
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Pam Strickland: Tennessee senators were wrong on TVA appointment
Published 1/11/2013 at 3:00 a.m. 33 comments
Tennessee Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker apparently are so worried about political cronyism that they can't read the well-qualified resume of Dr. Marilyn Brown, former chair of the TVA board, with clear eyes and sound minds.
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