No fire protection for some Knox County residents

Some Knox County residents dropped from insurance due to fire protection .After living in a north Knox County neighborhood for five years, Mike Vukmir and his wife, found out theyre being dropped from their homeowners insurance policy.

I was a little angry because you think that youre covered, you think that everything is fine, said Vukmir.

A letter from their insurance provider cited their fire protection as inadequatedespite paying for Rural Metro Fire service since theyve lived in the home.

It came as a pretty big surprise because we live in a fairly big subdivision and theres some other subdivisions close by to us as well, he said.

Source : http://www.wbir.com/news/article/180999/2/Some-residents-dropped-from-insurance-due-to-lack-of-fire-protection

Jerome Williams started a game in the major leagues, even longer since he\'d won one

Williams pitched seven stellar innings to get his first big league victory in almost six years in the Los Angeles Angels 7-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

I feel like crying, Williams said while his 2-year-old son, Ty, sat perched in a folding chair next to him with the game ball in his hands. Its been a long road. Im just speechless. There was so much emotion out there. Being away from the game for a long time, I dedicated this to my mother and my family.

Williams, a first-round draft pick by the Giants in 1999, hadnt started a game in the majors since May 15, 2007, with Washington. He began this season with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League before signing a free agent contract with the Angels on June 16. He spent last season playing in Taiwan after leaving the As Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

Gaza militants agree to cease fire with Israel

Militant groups in Gaza have agreed to a cease-fire aimed at ending a three-day round of violence with Israel, a senior Hamas official said Sunday, after a cross-border Palestinian attack on Israel threatened relations between the two countries and set off a round of Palestinian rocket barrages and Israeli airstrikes.

The official said Egypt helped broker the cease-fire, which was to go into effect Sunday evening. Egypt, which has been in contact with Israel, told the groups that Israel would halt its airstrikes only if the Palestinian groups stopped shooting first, he said.

Hamas security personnel would enforce the agreement, the official said.

Palestine: US Turns on Israel to Save “Proximity Talks”

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bombarded the Israeli government in an interview with CNN. She said Israel’s announcement of new construction of homes in a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem was “insulting” to the United States. She continued:
She had words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well, “He is the prime minister. Like the president or secretary of state … ultimately, you are responsible.”

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley added: “The secretary said she could not understand how this happened, particularly in light of the United States’ strong commitment to Israel’s security.”

Then the Quartet (United Nations, U.S., Russia and European Union) condemned Israel in a statement:

Brown Bashes Obama's 'Bitter' Health Care Push

Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a "bitter, destructive and endless" drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.
"An entire year has gone to waste," Brown said in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address."Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now, the president still hasn't gotten the message.

"Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway."

Brown himself can claim responsibility for the Democrats' failure to pass health overhaul legislation to date.

Obama spar over health plan's pet projects

President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ. 

The Senate-approved health measure lawmakers hope to send to Obama soon would steer $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts.

Connecticut would get $100 million to build a hospital. About 800,000 Florida seniors could keep certain Medicare benefits. Asbestos-disease victims in tiny Libby, Mont., and some coal miners with black lung disease or their widows would get help, and there are prizes for Louisiana, the Dakotas and more states.

No Child Left Behind law in hopes

The Obama administration unveiled its plan Saturday to radically change his predecessor's No Child Left Behind law in hopes of replacing an accountability system that in the last decade has tagged more than a third of schools as failing and created a hodgepodge of sometimes weak academic standards among states.

The changes would dismantle the 2002 law championed by President George W. Bush, moving away from punishing schools that don't meet benchmarks and instead focusing on rewarding schools for progress, particularly with poor and minority students. The blueprint calls for states to adopt standards that ensure students are ready for college or a career rather than grade-level proficiency — the focus of the current law.

"Unless we take action — unless we step up — there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential," Obama said during a video address on Saturday. "I don't accept that future for them. And I don't accept that future for the United States of America."

The blueprint also would allow states to use subjects other than reading and mathematics as part of their measurements for meeting federal goals, pleasing many education groups that have said No Child Left Behind encouraged teachers not to focus on history, art, science, social studies and other important subjects.