State officials are reminding Tennessee residents to be careful when using alternate heat sources as colder weather becomes more common across the state.
Fire Marshal Julie Mix McPeak says the changing weather means more people will start heating their homes with fireplaces, wood stoves and space heaters, which typically means a “higher number of accidental fire injuries and deaths.”
For instance, in the case of space heaters, McPeak says they should never be placed within three feet of anything combustible, including furniture, bedding or aerosol cans.
She says homeowners should also check their smoke alarms at least monthly.

Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA), the company that conducts testing operations at AEDC, has earned an award fee of $5,974,000 for the second half of the last fiscal year. The Air Force recently announced that ATA was awarded an overall rating of 94 for the most recent six-month evaluation period. ATA has earned a total award fee of $11.7 million for fiscal year 2012, including $5.7million for the first six-month period in addition to the nearly $6 million in profit the company earned for the second half of the year. Operations at AEDC have been outsourced since the base opened in 1951.

End of the year statistics shows that handgun carry permits have greatly increased in 2012. LegallyArmed.com reports there are 3,372 handgun carry permit holders in Coffee County.
In Tennessee alone, gun permit holders have increased by over 35,000 in the past year. There are 376,050 active handgun permit holders in the Volunteer state. In 2011, there were 341,000 active permit holders.
Other area counties: Franklin 2,454, Grundy 879, Moore 572, Cannon 1,095 and Warren 2,447.

Students are helping create a community garden at Sewanee: University of the South.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports it is the latest reclamation of the land that has been cultivated on and off for over 100 years.
Students were recently helping farm manager Gina Raicovich put down ground cover on a plot of land that used to be a parking lot. The chore came at the end of the first fall harvest at Sewanee’s farm, which currently serves as a teaching lab but hopes to provide more opportunities for research as it expands.
The university farmed the land until the 1960s when it was turned into athletic fields. Although a section of land was set aside for a garden, it wasn’t until this spring that officials began developing one.

A Shelbyville man has been reported missing by his family.
Charles ‘Motoe’ Farrar, 42, was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday by his family and about 6 a.m. Sunday by his girlfriend, a family member said today.
Farrar stands 5-feet-10 and weighs 185 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes and tattoos on both arms. His family said he was wearing a navy blue or black hat with white pinstripes, black or blue flannel coat, t-shirt and blue jeans and New Balance shoes.
Call the Shelbyville Police Department, 931-684-5811, with information.
Thanks Shelbyville Times-Gazette

In this season of giving, a group in Murfreesboro is working to give back to a police officer’s family, after he died unexpectedly this past Saturday from complications from Crohn’s Disease. The group Angels For Protectors put on an auction fundraiser held Saturday night, with the proceeds going to help pay medical bills and the funeral costs of Murfreesboro police officer Adam Pewitt. The fundraiser also benefited Murfreesboro Detective Bill Heringlake, to help pay medical expenses recently after he suffered peripheral aneurysms. Pewitt was a resident of Manchester.

Recently Coffee County deputies executed a search warrant in Tullahoma at 208 N. Roosevelt Street in reference to marijuana. Upon search of the residence police found approximately four and half pounds of marijuana along with packaging materials, scales, and two hand guns. Also Coffee County deputies seized $1,231 in cash. Two people were arrested with more arrests to follow. Quincton Hickerson was arrested for manufacture sell and delivery, possession of drug paraphernalia, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Derricks Harris was arrested for simple possession.

As family of Chloie Leverette and Gage Daniel make their way through the holidays without their loved ones, investigators with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said they have few leads in the search for the missing children.
Agents have been checking out every lead that comes in, according to Kristin Helm, TBI spokesperson.
Autopsy reports for Mollie and Leon McClaran, just released this month, failed to determine how they died, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The autopsies also did not shed any more light on the fire that destroyed their Bedford County home.
The TBI said the fire damaged their remains so badly, the medical examiner could not determine a cause of death.
Authorities never found the bodies of the McClarans’ grandchildren, Leverette and Daniel.
The Amber Alert for the children remains active, according to the TBI. The fire occurred in September.