No WhiteWash!

NASHVILLE – Governor Phil Bredesen today announced that Tennessee will join forces with Microsoft in an innovative public-private partnership to provide free technology training to people across the state. Through Elevate America, Microsoft will work with the Tennessee Department of Labor to distribute 25,875 vouchers for free, online technology training and certification.

“Maintaining a competitive workforce relies on providing advanced computer skills training to Tennesseans,” said Bredesen. “I appreciate Microsoft’s generosity and believe having access to these training and certification resources will help expand the growing base of high-skilled labor that has helped make Tennessee so successful in economic development efforts.”

Bredesen made the announcement at the Tennessee Department of Labor Career Center in Nashville along with representatives from Microsoft, the Tennessee Department of Labor, Tennessee Board of Regents, Tennessee Career Centers, Tennessee Technology Centers and the Tennessee Department of Human Resources.

“Elevate America is helping to make a life-changing difference for individuals and families across the nation,” said Jack Westerlund, Microsoft sales director for state and local government. “Microsoft is pleased to partner with the Tennessee Department of Labor to assist people across the state in gaining technology skills training they need to move forward in today’s economy.”

“Workers can take these free online courses from home, Tennessee Career Centers or Tennessee Technology Centers,” said Labor Commissioner James Neeley. “Offering immediate access to computer skills training will greatly improve recipients’ employment prospects.”

Tennessee will receive 11,500 vouchers for Microsoft Business Certification training, 11,500 vouchers for Microsoft Business Certification exams, and 2,875 vouchers for advanced Microsoft IT Professional online learning.

Vouchers can be used for the following training and certifications:

• Computer Basics for Beginners – Access basic computer concepts and skills. Perfect for those new to computers. No voucher is required for the beginner courses.
• Intermediate Level, Business Worker Online Learning – Select from: Microsoft Windows Vista, Office 2003 or Office 2007 online training. Voucher must be activated by July 26, 2010. E-Learning is accessible for 12 months from activation date.
• Intermediate Level Certification Exams – Certification exams must be taken at a Certiport Testing Location. Select from Office 2003 or Office 2007 exams. Voucher must be activated by July 26, 2010. Certification exams must be completed by July 26, 2010.
• Advanced Level IT Professional Online Learning – Select a training from Microsoft’s online learning library for IT Professionals and Developers. The cost of certification exams at this level is not covered by this program. Voucher must be activated by July 26, 2010.

Tennessee’s participation in Microsoft’s Elevate America program makes it the 16th state to take part in the initiative, which is expected to provide up to one million vouchers nationwide. The program is a part of Microsoft’s overall efforts to provide technology training for up to two million people during the next three years.

Microsoft Elevate America vouchers can be obtained online at http://elevateamerica.tn.gov. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities at the Tennessee Career Center nearest you. For a list of Tennessee Career Center locations, visit http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/cc/cccounty.htm.

This blog was started in February 2007 with the title of “Kingsport, TN Government”.  The name was later changed to “No WhiteWash!”, a name less focused on one local government.  We are still focused on Kingsport, TN Government and have expanded into issues that affect Sullivan County, North East Tennessee area, and the State as they are in a lot of case interrelated.

The direction of this blog for the future will be for the average citizen and not the elites who choose to run things for their own self-interest.  There will be no favoritism toward a political party in this blog.  WARNING:  If you are a elected official or running for office and make statements that you can’t back up or not exactly telling the full story, then this blog will expose them.  If you are running for office or an elected official who wants to use this blog for political advantage, then I would suggest you go elsewhere to peddle your story.  This blog is for the people!!

This little blog now has readership that is around 1,000 visits per day and that number could be much higher because other blogs re-publish this blog posts to their blogs.  There have been over 1,700 posts written in this blog since inception and the posts are not forgotten as they slide down the page as newer post take their place on the first page.  The search traffic coming to this blog is very large because this blog posts are indexed on all of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc).  All of the posts go into a RSS news feed where readers can read the posts without having to visit the blog.  The folks using the RSS feed amounts to many hundred per day.

Over the last few years I have seen more local people become more vocal about expressing their views concerning how the local governments operate.  They express their views in the comments areas in the local newspapers, blogs, social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc)  There have been many local blogs that have been started in the North East Tennessee area in the last few years and I think we will see more of it.

Blogs do get a lot of readership.  The Tea Party protests got their start from blogs and with very little help from local media.

The Show blog is another local blog that has come online and also has it own local talk radio show on Monday and Thursday from 6-8pm on WMCH AM1260.  Local issues are discussed in this radio talk show and in many cases the posts from this blog are discussed and the radio talk show does allow callers to phone in and express their views. 

I have learned much about the City of Kingsport government on how they operate.  The research that I have done has me very concerned about how the “elites” control the city and do things that are in their self-interests.  I do have a concern about their lack to fully understand the problems the area has such as low median wages, declining population, high unemployment, lack of good paying jobs, and young adults leaving the area to find work, etc.

I also have a concern how the mayor selects political appointees to serve on different committees so he can be assured that he get what he wants.  The reporting in the Kingsport Times-News is almost always, in my view, protecting the city officials.  One has to understand that if they reported anything negative about the city, then it would reflect on the upper management at the Kingsport Times-News.  This is because there are many of the top management at the Times-News that are Mayor Dennis Phillips’ political appointees.

We could go on about how certain people decide who should run for political office and then campaign for them and put up the money for them to get elected.

We could talk about the Ridgefield County Club elites or look at the details of the spending of city money by the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, but these could be posts for another day.

There have been many that have sent this blog information concerning the operation of our local governments and I want to say thank you.  Please continue reporting as you have in the past.

If you have anything to report concerning the below areas, feel free to use the email icon below to report it. The source of the information will be kept confidential.

• City of Kingsport, TN
• City of Bristol, TN
• Sullivan County, TN
• North East, TN
• Tennessee Government

Issues such as wasteful spending, local elections, annexation, ethics, crime, conflicts of interest, backroom deals, open government, abuse of taxpayer money, etc., are examples to report, but not limited to those listed.