Gov. Bill Haslam

Gov. Bill Haslam says he is making the case for Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. to build a new assembly plant in Tennessee.
But the Republican governor says Tennessee is far from alone in its efforts to land the $1.6 billion facility that could create up to 4,000 jobs.
Mazda and Toyota announced last week that the joint facility will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, producing the Toyota Corolla sedan and a new Mazda crossover.
Tennessee is home to General Motors, Nissan and Volkswagen plants.

Dr. Kim-Sue Tudor, Director Medical Laboratory Technology Program… Photo provided

Dr. Kim-Sue Tudor has been selected to lead the newly approved medical laboratory technology (MLT) program at Motlow State Community College, according to Pat Hendrix, dean of allied health. The goal of the Smyrna campus-based program is to obtain state approval and to be positioned to attain national accreditation by the summer of 2018, when MLT classes are scheduled to begin.
Tudor comes to Motlow State with the blended background needed to establish as well as to grow a first-class, competitive, and successful MLT program. She has worked on staff at John Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland among other leading hospitals in Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia.
She most recently served as program director of the MLT program at Volunteer State Community College.

Colton Young

On August 3, 2017 Coffee County Sheriff’s Department Investigator James Sherrill received a call from Sheriff Patrick Ray with DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department who advised that he may have a suspect in a trailer theft that occurred on the Woodbury Hwy on April 6, 2017. Colton Young was being held in the White County Jail for multiple trailer thefts.
Sherrill and Investigator Kerry Farrar went to speak to Young and he allegedly admitted to multiple trailer thefts and the theft of some wheels from Ragsdale and Bushy Branch Road in Coffee County. Young said he took the trailer to his father’s residence in Oakdale Tn. Colton advised that his father allegedly bought most of the trailers that he stole. Colton advised his father would grind the VIN numbers off and repaint the trailer.
Young and the two investigators went to Morgan County and made contact with the man’s father, Ricky Young. Sherrill advised Ricky Young that they had information that he had stolen trailers on his property and that Morgan County had a warrant for him for theft over $1,000 on another unrelated case. The man gave consent to search a field for trailers saying the only trailer he had there was the flat bed, which Colton Young said was stolen out of Rockwood, which had been recently painted and U-Haul trailer.
Sherrill hooked up to the U-Haul trailer and took it to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department. They called around and at the time did not find where the other flatbed trailer could have come from. Colton said that he stole trailers from multiple counties and took them to his father. Colton said that is how his father makes his living, by selling the trailers that Colton steals.
Colton Young will face charges in Coffee County once he’s released from jail in White County.

Students and parents and all motorists have until January to adjust to a new state law that makes talking on a cell phone – with the device in hand – illegal in an active school zone.
Not only texting or reading texts, but also talking on a phone in your hand.
The Tennessean reports State Sen. Jim Tracy, who sponsored the legislation with state Rep. John Holtsclaw, said constituents and law enforcement have said “they don’t think that anybody ought to be using a handheld cell phone during an active school zone.”
The law states that it’s an offense, Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $50, for a person to knowingly operate a motor vehicle in any marked school zone in this state, when a warning flasher or flashers are in operation, while talking or texting on a hand-held mobile telephone while the vehicle is in motion.
However, the offense is not committed if the telephone is equipped with a hands-free device, for drivers 18 years of age and older.
A driver under age 18 is breaking the law by talking either using a hands-free or handheld device while driving through an active school zone.
Tracy said lawmakers contemplated pushing legislation that outlawed driving while talking on a handheld phone completely during the past legislative session. However, the state senator said like-minded legislators are waiting for feedback.