Author: Toby Sells

As promised, Senators filed legislation to prohibit cell phone conversations on commercial airline flights just before a federal commission approved the first step in lifting the 22-year ban in a Thursday meeting.

Federal Communications Commission commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday to begin the process that could allow passengers to text and make cell phone voice calls when their flights are above 10,000 feet. But as we reported in a story last week, the process will be a long one with at least months of mandatory public comment.

But a group of Senators couldn’t wait. They filed the Commercial Flight Courtesy Act, which would prohibit cell phone voice calls on flights. One of those Senators was Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander who worried that voice calls on flights could lead to “fist fights.”

“Keeping phone conversations private on commercial flights may not be enshrined in the Constitution, but it is certainly enshrined in common sense,” Alexander said in a Thursday statement. “This legislation is about avoiding something nobody wants: nearly 2 million passengers a day, hurtling through space, trapped in 17-inch-wide seats, yapping their innermost thoughts.”

The legislation has bi-partisan support. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein is an original co-sponsor of the bill who said flying on a commercial flight is “not conducive to numerous passengers talking on cell phones.”

The legislation would, however, allow passengers to send text messages.

But U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said his agency may step in to block in-flight in before the FCC and before the legislation is considered.

“We believe USDOT’s role, as part of our Aviation Consumer Protection Authority, is to determine if allowing these calls is fair to consumers,” Foxx said. “USDOT will now begin a process that will look at the possibility of banning these in-flight calls.”

The federal complaint filed Thursday against U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander‘s former chief of staff Ryan Loskarn outlines years of the ousted aide’s child pornography consumption and his brazen attempt to hide it from investigators Wednesday.

The complaint was filed by U.S. Postal Inspector Brian Bone in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In it, Bone said Loskarn’s capture came after the USPS and the Toronto Police Service began an investigation into a movie production company in 2010 that featured films of young nude boys.

That investigation led them to one customer, Jesse Ryan Loskarn, with a Washington address. Invoices showed that Loskarn had made several purchases from the company between November 2010 and March 2011.

In 2013, law enforcement officials matched files identified on Loskarn’s home IP address to those on a peer-to-peer network offering child porn. One file matched to Loskarn’s computer showed young girls being raped, the complaint said.

Law enforcement officials “utilized the ram to force entry” on Loskarn’s home Monday after they knocked to execute their search warrant but got no response. While officers rammed the front door, an officer stationed on the perimeter of the scene watched Loskarn lean out a window and place an object on his roof. Once inside, officers went to the location and discovered he had placed a portable hard drive there, the complaint said.

“There was snow on the ledge and roof where the drive was found due to the snow storm the day before,” the complaint said. “This device was free of snow.”

Computer forensic examiners from the U. S Department of Justice reviewed the hard drive and found child porn videos.

Loskarn was arrested Wednesday. Alexander responded to the initial search of Loskarn’s home that morning by placing him on unpaid administrative leave. Later that day, the Tennessee Republican had “removed (Loskarn) from the payroll” and named David Cleary, another top aide, to the chief of staff post.

“The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn’s guilt or innocence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office,” Alexander said in a statement.

Loskarn will be held until his detention hearing on Monday.

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) suspended the chief of staff of his Washington office Wednesday as law enforcement official searched the staffer’s home on allegations of child pornography.

Alexander said he learned about the search and the allegations against his chief of staff, Ryan Loskarn, Wednesday morning, according to a statement on Alexander’s official Senate website.

“I am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what I have learned,” Alexander said. “Based on this information, I immediately placed Mr. Loskarn on administrative leave without pay. The office is fully cooperating with the investigation.”

A National Journal profile of Loskarn in 2011 said he is a native of Sykesville, Md. and a graduate of Tulane University. He started working on Capitol Hill in 2000 and worked for a time as communications director for Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn. He told the Journal at the time that his hobbies included home improvement projects, reading and “trying to force myself to go to the gym.”

No matter what you’re jokingly calling it online (Icemageddon) or you’re simply calling it Winter Storm Cleon like the Weather Channel, preparations are underway in Shelby County to handle the expected effects of winter weather headed toward Memphis.

Local emergency officials met Thursday afternoon to ensure all responding agencies are prepared for the ice and freezing rain expected early Friday morning.

“Emergency services coordinators have reviewed their responsibilities and are prepared,” Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell said in a statement. “Director Bob Nations and his staff at the Shelby County Office of Preparedness are in constant contact with the National Weather Service and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.”

Temperatures are predicted to drop below freezing by Friday morning, making driving Friday “almost impossible,” the statement said.

“The ice could snap power lines and tree limbs making roads impassable,” Nations said. “We could also have power outages. However, our emergency services coordinators are ready to respond to our Emergency Operations Center.”

Shelby County Public Works director Tom Needham said trucks are spread throughout the county to spread roads with a mixture of salt and cinders.

Memphis Light Gas & Water has advised residents to call (901) 544-6500 to report power outages. Call MLGW’s emergency line at (901) 528-4465 to report a downed power line. Follow power updates at MLGW’s website, www.mlgw.com, follow them on Twitter at @mlgw or like them on Facebook.

Follow ice storm conversations and news on Twitter with the hashtags #memice or #memstorm. Also, check
the Shelby County Office of Preparedness page on Facebook or at www.staysafeshelby.us.

No deal to buy AutoZone Park was done by the Memphis City Council Tuesday night even after a long debate on the issue but the council will take up the issue again on Monday.

The council moved the purchase decision to the end of Tuesday’s full council meeting and recessed the meeting until Monday. Council members said they needed more time to make a decision on the deal.

Representatives of the St. Louis Cardinals and the city administration laid out a tight timeline for council members to get the deal approved. They said they needed the council approval Tuesday night to make necessary arrangement to close the deal by December 31.

Many council members complained they only received the large packet of purchase information Saturday night and that they did not have enough time to review the information and make a decision by Tuesday evening.

Cardinals and city officials openly referred to the deal as an “11th-hour” arrangement. Approval of the deal by the council would have set off a series of events to rush bonds on the stadium to the investment market. Many of those firms would begin to close their books on the year as the Christmas holiday approached.

Council member Janis Fullilove was frustrated by the timeline and unloaded a tirade when she was told the deal must be done Tuesday night.

“You waited until the 11th hour and now the pressure is placed on us,” Fullilove said. “Now, you say we have to approve this or it will flitter away and they’ll sell off the stadium piece by piece with the scoreboard going first.”

A plan that included the city’s purchase of the park became public last month. However, the $20 million price tag for the park was not known publicly until council members received their information packets over the weekend. City leaders said price would be paid without dipping directly into the Memphis city coffers.

The park would instead be paid for with a mix of tax credits, tax rebates, and lease payments from the Memphis Redbirds baseball team. The ballpark purchase is part of a larger deal that also includes the purchase of the Redbirds by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.

John Mozeliak, the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, told city council members Tuesday, the deal is “a unique opportunity for everyone involved.”

“It allows for input from all the stakeholders involved,” Mozeliak said. “No one has complete control and that’s a unique deal, frankly.”

Mozeliak said he wanted to “re-brand” baseball in Memphis and wants to “make sure Memphis has an asset moving forward and not a liability in that ballpark.”

On the city side, the deal has been shepherded by Robert Lipscomb, the director of the city’s Housing and Community Development division. Lipscomb said the purchase has been a “complicated deal” with some “11th-hour negotiations” but said it was a good deal for Memphis. Taking control of the park ensures the city won’t lose a major asset or let it deteriorate. Also, the deal won’t use any local taxpayer dollars, he said.

“If the Redbirds leave and the stadium does not have a tenant, it’s not an asset,” Lipscomb said. “Right now we have an asset and a redevelopment (plan) with none of it paid with city taxpayer dollars.”

The deal would come with about $20 million new investments in the ballpark. The city would pay for $5 million and the Cardinals paying for $15 million of them.

The improvements include new general admission seating on grassy hills (much like the existing Bluff section) on the left and right field corners of the park. A new concession stand and bar are planned for the new seating section in the left field corner. The photos also show a new LED board against the left field wall and updates to club-level bars and seating.

The park is now valued at $31 million, according to documents given to council members Tuesday. The $20 million price tag will be paid for mainly with an existing tax rebate program that directs all taxes collected at the park from tickets, concessions, and other items (about $25 million) back into the park. The Redbirds will also pay an annual lease of about $5 million annually.

The city will not operate nor manage the park. Those jobs will be left up to the Cardinals, according to the outline of the contract disclosed Tuesday.

If the city cannot reach a purchase deal on the park, Mozeliak said the Redbirds would fulfill their contract and play in Memphis next year. But after that, the team would likely be auctioned off and the stadium would likely go into forcelosure.