A traffic accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Manchester on Hwy 55. The two vehicle crash occurred at the intersection of MacArthur Drive and Oak Street. Manchester Police Captain Victor Jones says that the driver of a Chevrolet pickup truck involved in the wreck apparently ran a traffic light and collided with the other vehicle. One female was injured and was taken to the Medical Center of Manchester for treatment by Coffee County EMS. Manchester Fire and Rescue and the Tennessee Highway Patrol also responded to the scene.

The most expensive oil of 2015 triggered increases at the gas pump, and prices could continue to climb this week. The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline is $2.45 per gallon, up 6 cents since last week. The price rose 9 cents in Tennessee to $2.26 per gallon.
A primary factor driving prices this week was more expensive oil prices keyed by a combination of increased geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, a sharply lower U.S. dollar, and the release of OPEC’s monthly market report. News of Al Qaeda militants taking control of a major oil terminal in Yemen stoked some fears that violence could spread in the region.
The price per gallon in Coffee County shows Manchester’s low price is $2.16 and in Tullahoma the low price per gallon is $2.18.

A bill requiring an on-line registry of people who abuse dogs or cats passed the TN House of Representatives this week. HB0147, sponsored by Nashville Representative Darren Jernigan, would create a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation registry of people who are convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals, animal fighting or a criminal offense against animals.
Under the bill, the TBI would post that list on a website dedicated to those convicted of serious crimes against companion animals. For the first conviction, the person’s picture would be posted and remain on the website for two years. If convicted of a second offense the length of time would expand to 5 years. The bill has already passed the Senate and now moves on to Governor Haslam’s desk.

A Middle District of Tennessee judge has ruled in favor of 200 former employees of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in a class action suit that alleged the medical center violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The WARN Act requires employers give employees a 60-day notice in advance of mass layoffs. According to attorney Jerry Martin, the 200 Vanderbilt employees received no notice when they were fired in July 2013. “A lot of these individuals are hourly-paid employees who made $12, $13, $14 an hour,” says Martin. “The WARN Act is intended to give those individuals two months to make plans to look for other employment.” Martin says in most cases the affected employees were low-wage workers with little or no ability to absorb an unexpected job loss. The court-approved settlement will require Vanderbilt to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the workers, plus attorneys’ fees. Vanderbilt has reserved its right to appeal the decision. According to Martin, Tennessee has little protection for workers in state employment law, forcing citizens to rely on federal regulations, as they did in this case. “There’s a lot of states that have comprehensive and progressive state law that provides protection and benefits to workers beyond the federal statutes that apply,” he says. “Here in Tennessee we have none of that.” Tennessee is an “employment at will” state, which means employers can legally hire, fire, suspend or discipline individual employees at any time for any reason – or for no reason at all. The WARN Act supersedes that practice for employers with 100 or more employees, and requires them to provide 60 days advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs.

Dr. Frank Glass, former president of Motlow State Community College, will address the more than 700 students who plan to participate in commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 9, according to Dr. MaryLou Apple, president of Motlow College. The ceremonies will be held inside Nisbett Center on the Moore County campus.
A resident of Tullahoma, Motlow’s third president, and its first president emeritus, Dr. Glass is a career educator who served the College for 26 years.
Motlow’s commencement will include two ceremonies, with the first at 10 a.m. for nursing students and students who attended classes primarily on the Moore County campus. A second ceremony for those who took classes at the Fayetteville, McMinnville and Smyrna centers will begin at 2 p.m.  Glass will speak at both.