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WZTV FOX 17 - Top Stories
Tennessee 5th district Congressman Jim Cooper has had an memorable week of voting.
Tuesday he was one of the few Democrats to vote against the fiscal cliff then Thursday he made another vote against party lines.
The Democratic Congressman chose a republican in the all important vote for speaker of the house who's not in congress, former General Colin Powell.
"My colleagues know I'm a blue dog Democrat. I try to do the right thing for the country," said Cooper.
Cooper says he chose Powell because he believes the House needs a leader who can work with both parties.
"Congress has rarely in all of American History been more broken," said Cooper. "That sort of broad appeal is really important to strengthen the institution because we need a functioning Congress and right now we do not have one."
Cooper says the recent decision not to vote on aid for Hurricane Sandy as an example of how the House is broken.
As for that fiscal cliff deal, Cooper says he voted against it because he couldn't support a bill that made the deficit worse.
"There were a lot of things in there that should not have been in that bill for example tax give-a-ways for NASCAR, motor sports, Hollywood film producers, Puerto Rican rum producers. Why is trash like that in the bill," said Cooper.
Vanderbilt Political Science professor Bruce Oppenheimer says the votes may get attention but they could also end up costing him key committee assignments.
"He's a very bright capable guy who in many ways should be more influential in Congress than he is," said Oppenheimer.
Tuesday he was one of the few Democrats to vote against the fiscal cliff then Thursday he made another vote against party lines.
The Democratic Congressman chose a republican in the all important vote for speaker of the house who's not in congress, former General Colin Powell.
"My colleagues know I'm a blue dog Democrat. I try to do the right thing for the country," said Cooper.
Cooper says he chose Powell because he believes the House needs a leader who can work with both parties.
"Congress has rarely in all of American History been more broken," said Cooper. "That sort of broad appeal is really important to strengthen the institution because we need a functioning Congress and right now we do not have one."
Cooper says the recent decision not to vote on aid for Hurricane Sandy as an example of how the House is broken.
As for that fiscal cliff deal, Cooper says he voted against it because he couldn't support a bill that made the deficit worse.
"There were a lot of things in there that should not have been in that bill for example tax give-a-ways for NASCAR, motor sports, Hollywood film producers, Puerto Rican rum producers. Why is trash like that in the bill," said Cooper.
Vanderbilt Political Science professor Bruce Oppenheimer says the votes may get attention but they could also end up costing him key committee assignments.
"He's a very bright capable guy who in many ways should be more influential in Congress than he is," said Oppenheimer.
Thursday, January 3 2013, 10:38 PM CST
Tennessee News
New technology saves TWRA money in trapping hogs
June 18, 2013 07:40 GMT
By RANDALL DICKERSON Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- How many wildlife agents does it take to catch a wild hog? One, under a new remote system in use by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Richard Kirk of TWRA said the new method alerts an on-call agent, who can watch feral hogs in real time and spring the trap by pushing a virtual button on a computer or smartphone from miles away.
Agents set up a corral that is 35 feet in diameter. When hogs wander into the view of a camera that is focused on the gate, an agent gets a text message.
Verizon spokesman Michael Swearingen said the video is in high definition and the system was built by IC Realtime, which is based in Pompano Beach, Fla.
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