Scott Barker

• Scott Barker: Seeing opinionated 'blockheads' to be community columnists Published 09/30/2012 at 3 a.m.

  "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, but for money," Samuel Johnson famously said.

• Scott Barker: New community guest columnists make debut Published 10/30/2011 at 4 a.m.

  In Marcel Proust's novel "Remembrance of Things Past," the narrator dips a madeleine into a cup of tea and takes a bite, releasing the flood of memories that would make up the remainder of the seven-volume masterpiece.

• Scott Barker: Apology for missed deadline Published 08/20/2011 at 6 p.m.

  The term "deadline" didn't originate with newspapers — originally, it was a Civil War-era word for a line in a prison camp that a prisoner could not cross without being shot.

• Scott Barker: How the congressman stole Christmas Published 12/19/2010 at midnight

  "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is one of America's favorite holiday stories. It's a tale of transformation, the story of a bitter old curmudgeon who's finally had enough of Christmas and decides to destroy it, only to discover his inner ...

• Scott Barker: Socks optional for political talk Published 12/12/2010 at midnight

  Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe settled into an armchair in a back corner of the Starbucks on Cumberland Avenue on Tuesday, just a couple of hours after the season's first decent snowfall ended.

• Scott Barker: It might be too late for Midway business park alternative Published 11/28/2010 at midnight

  Mike Edwards, the president and CEO of the Knoxville Chamber, was characteristically blunt last week when he labeled an idea to designate land purchased for the Midway Business Park as protected farmland as the "lamest" alternate proposal thus far.

• Scott Barker: Seems like everyone's running for mayor Published 11/21/2010 at midnight

  There's still time.You - yes, you with the hair still mussed from the pillow and drinking your second cup of coffee - can be Knoxville's next mayor.

• Scott Barker: Project swap: A business park for a school Published 11/14/2010 at midnight

  Knox County commissioners just don't seem to know what to do with East Knox County.

• Barker: A new voice, an apology and a clarification Published 09/01/2010 at midnight

  Ah, politics.It's one of the great subjects for newspapers, along with crime, punishment and sports. Oh, and cartoons.

• Barker: New feature serves up satire Published 05/30/2010 at midnight

  Next to this column you'll find the print debut of a feature by local humorist Scott McNutt. Snark Bites isn't your ordinary political commentary. It's satire based on local news and policy makers, a biting yet playful look at the ...

• News Sentinel seeks community guest columnists Published 06/05/2011 at midnight

  If you think you can write a newspaper column, we have an opportunity for you.

• Scott Barker: Ash spill must lead to cultural change at TVA Published 12/05/2010 at midnight

  The very last trainload of outbound coal ash sludge left the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant last month, headed for a landfill in Alabama.

• Tempest over e-mails isn't as tawdry as appears Published 08/01/2010 at midnight

  E-mails leaked from a left-leaning listserve called JournoList sent a lot of people in our business into a tizzy about bias.

• Remembering Rodney: A killer’s parole hearing stirs memories and steels resolve Published 05/02/2010 at midnight

  A few weeks ago, a woman named Barbara Mack called me from her Alabama home. I didn't recognize her name and she didn't say why she called, but I called her back because, well, that's what newspaper reporters do. You ...

• Managing budget will be key: Mayoral candidates say they don't plan to raise taxes Published 04/24/2010 at midnight

  It might not be the sexiest issue out there, but managing the $654.6 million Knox County budget is possibly the most important task that will be undertaken by the next county mayor.

• Mental illness plagued Parkwest hospital shooter: Police say man believed doctor had put tracking chip in his body Published 04/20/2010 at 11:14 p.m.

  Abdo Ibssa believed a doctor had implanted a tracking chip in his body and was beset with legal and financial woes when police say he killed a woman, wounded two others and then killed himself Monday at Parkwest Medical Center.

• Commission open to Knox County workers Published 04/20/2010 at 11:05 p.m.

  Knox County employees will be able to serve on Knox County Commission in the future after a Knox County chancellor invalidated a charter provision barring such service.

• Police: Parkwest victims 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' Updated 04/20/2010 at 5:06 p.m.

  KNOXVILLE - The man police said shot and killed a woman, wounded two others and then killed himself believed a doctor had implanted a tracking chip in his body during an appendectomy, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said ...

• Mayoral candidate Maize says county worker tried to sway vote Published 04/16/2010 at midnight

  Knox County mayoral hopeful Ezra Maize lodged a complaint Thursday that a county employee who is a former Knox County commissioner attempted to sway a voter inside an East Knoxville early voting location.

• Early voting begins in Knox County Published 04/14/2010 at 11:45 p.m.

  Downtown residents L.D. and Jo Lowe were out for a midday stroll Wednesday when they ducked into the Old Knox County Courthouse.

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