On the subject of illegals... it looked to me like TN has a pretty sizeable population of "shadow workers." A few folks I talked to said illegals are moving in and taking jobs, jobs that Americans had been doing, and are driving the wages on those jobs down. If we don't get a handle on it soon, we're just asking for trouble.
I really miss Knoxville. I moved up to Spokane, WA about 4 years ago for a different job.
Traffic on I-40 has been getting worse for years and it will continue until they build the I-75 bypass to connect the west side of Knoxville to the North side and divert all of that traffic from going through the west side of town.
TN has been swamped with illegals for years and it has gotten worse recently. There is alot of agriculture in the surrounding counties. It is much worse here in the center of Washington State though.
I agree with your sentiments on illegals. Both parties in D.C. seem disconnected with the realities of immigration among other issues.