Oak Ridge Today

Randy Boyd named state commissioner of economic, community development

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Photo courtesy UT Torchbearer

Photo courtesy UT Torchbearer

East Tennessee businessman Randy Body has been named commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Governor Bill Haslam announced Thursday.

Boyd, 55, is chairman of Radio Systems Corporation, which he started in 1991. Radio Systems is headquartered in Knoxville and has more than 650 associates worldwide with offices in seven countries, a press release said.

Radio Systems is the company that donated $100,000 donation to the PetSafe Dog Park at Big Turtle Park in Oak Ridge.

The press release said Boyd is a successful entrepreneur who served as a full-time, unpaid special adviser to the governor for higher education in 2013, focusing on the “Drive to 55” initiative to bring the percentage of Tennesseans with college degrees or certificates from 32 percent up to 55 percent by the year 2025. Boyd’s work resulted in the Tennessee Promise, a program that provides two years of community college or a college of applied technology free of tuition and fees to graduating Tennessee high school seniors. [Read more…]

Gov. Haslam vetoes ‘ag gag’ bill

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Governor Bill Haslam

Bill Haslam

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has vetoed a controversial bill that would have required anyone who visually recorded livestock abuse to turn over the images or videos to law enforcement officers within 48 hours.

Haslam said the Tennessee attorney general has questioned the constitutionality of the bill, and it appears to repeal parts of Tennessee’s Shield Law without saying so. In addition, Haslam said, there are concerns from some district attorneys that the legislation would actually make it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases, an unintended consequence.

In a Monday press release, he said he wants the Tennessee General Assembly to reconsider the legislation, which critics had labeled the bill the “ag gag” bill. There had been an intense campaign urging the governor to veto the measure, with most people expressing opposition, The Tennessean reported. Celebrities such as Carrie Underwood and Emmylou Harris had weighed in as well. [Read more…]