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Since January of 2007, Knox County government has been in the spotlight... and questions over the clarity and importance of the county's home-rule charter have much to do with that. Some argue that the charter should more clearly define responsibility and accountability in government bodies like the County Commission and the Mayor's office. Laurens Tullock is an attorney and a volunteer with the Knox Charter Petition drive. The goal of the drive is to gain 40 thousand signatures in order to get 7 potential charter amendments on November's ballot. Tullock says those changes would bring Knox County in line with the best practices of counties around the country... 
Biofuels are a hot topic. Making ethanol out of food crops or sowing fields with switchgrass has been the main focus. But now an East Tennessee company called Agro-Gas Industries, L.L.C. has a different idea. It's ready to produce ethanol from currently useless crop waste like corn stalks and soybean leaves. And Agro-Gas owner, Tom Monahan, tells WUOT's Ann Lloyd his company can make ethanol out of the most useless, noxious and fastest growing plant in the South--- Kudzu...
The University of Tennessee opened the English Language Institute in 1978. It was founded for students learning English as a foreign language and it offers programs that focus on linguistics and American culture. Students come from all over the world to participate in these programs. This summer, the Institute is hosting several groups, including one from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Geraldine Alvarez is a student at the Universidad Catolica in Caracas, Venezuela and Jim Hamrick is the Director of the Institute...
Maestro Lucas Richman is a familiar name in Knoxville. He's been Music Director with the Knoxville Symphony for six seasons and just renewed his contract for another three. But Maestro Richman also conducts music for film. He's conducted the music for films such as The Village, As Good As It Gets, Seven, and for the film Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. Maestro Richman also teaches an annual workshop in Los Angeles called "Conducting for the Film Composer". Chrissy Keuper sat down with the Maestro for this interview...
It's summertime again, the traditional time for millions of people from around the country and around the world to visit the US National Parks. The National Park System in the US is the first of its kind in the world. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act. The move created the National Park Service, which would regulate the federal lands set up as parks, monuments and reservations. Our guest for Dialogue is Don Barger. He's the Southeast Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a non-profit organization that serves as an advocate for the National Park Service and for the lands that the Service protects. Chrissy Keuper hosts...