PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) - Authorities say a brush fire on the outskirts of Pigeon Forge has forced the evacuation of at least 20 cabins and homes.
Lt. Kevin Nunn with the Pigeon Forge Fire Department said the fire started around 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
He said most of the evacuations involved cabins and that the fire had not reached any of the structures.
Nunn said the fire was at one point being driven by winds of up to 30 mph, but later said the winds had decreased and that firefighters were “getting a handle” on the blaze.
“They’ve got … better control than they had,” he said. “They are feeling a lot more positive about it.”
Nunn said the fire was not a threat to Dollywood theme park, which is to the east of the blaze.
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) - When the turret of the USS Monitor was hoisted from the ocean floor in 2002, the real heavy lifting was just beginning: conserving and restoring more than 200 tons of Civil War ironclad artifacts.
The task went to The Mariners’ Museum. Now, diminishing federal dollars have darkened a lab containing the revolving turret and other large pieces, closing to the public a window on the nation’s maritime history and delaying possibly by decades their public display.
The museum has seen a steady decline in annual funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration amid budget cuts and shifting federal priorities. The private museum was designated by Congress as the official repository for the artifacts, but museum officials say they can’t do it alone.
The museum’s president and CEO, Elliot Gruber, said the 5,000-square-foot lab containing the turret, two Dahlgren guns and the Monitor’s steam engine will remain dark until the federal government restores funding levels. The museum, he said, can’t pour more money into the project while sustaining its own vast collections of maps, books, paintings and other exhibits - 35,000 pieces all told.
Gruber framed the dilemma.
“How do we continue with the conservation effort in an era when funding is harder and harder to obtain, and how does NOAA honor its obligation to the American people to continue the conservation work and put these on display?” he asked in an interview.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Minimum-wage increase proposals are getting the maximum push from Democrats in statehouses in more than half of U.S. states, highlighting the politically potent income inequality issue this year.
Lawmakers in at least 30 states are sponsoring or are expected to introduce wage hike measures, according to a national review by The Associated Press. They hope to notch state-level victories as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats remain stymied in attempts to raise the federal minimum wage above $7.25 an hour. The president is expected to mention the minimum wage in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
Even in Republican-dominated capitals where the bills are longshots, the measures still give Democrats a chance to hammer home the popular theme of fair wages in what is an election year in most places.
“It’s a no-brainer for any Democrat,” said Neil Sroka, a strategist for progressive groups who is communications director at the Howard Dean-founded Democracy for America. “Congress is failing. They can take real action right in the states and have a demonstrable impact right here at home. For politics and policy, it’s a winning strategy.”
Minimum wage is a perennial issue that has taken on a higher profile amid the slowly recovering economy and growing public debate about income inequality. A Quinnipiac University poll this month found 71 percent of Americans in favor of raising the minimum wage - including more than half of Republicans polled.
Michael Sargeant, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, calls it an “organic issue that’s bubbling up from the grassroots.” But it’s also being pressed by politicians and labor unions. Democrats challenging Republican governors have taken up the issue, and there are ballot initiatives in several states.
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A counseling group has been formed for rape victims whose rape kits were among a backlog left untested by the Memphis Police Department over about a 30-year period.
The Memphis Daily News (https://bit.ly/1aVgC2o) reports the Shelby County Rape Crisis Center will provide counseling on a weekly basis.
Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said in November that the agency has around 12,000 untested rape kits.
“We’ve done support groups in the past. But this one is specifically targeting the people whose cases may be among the ones in the backlog,” said Anna Whalley, administrator of the center. “We realize that this would certainly cause some people some anxiety knowing that their case may or may not have been touched. We want to provide support to them, and the group seems like a good way to do it.”
Some of the kits date from the 1980s, which has angered advocates for rape victims.
At least two bills on the issue of rape have been filed this legislative session.
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