Josh Peterson

After five straight weeks of increases, the Tennessee gas price average continues to climb. The Tennessee Gas Price average is now $2.68 which is 40 cents more than one month ago and 63 cents more than one year ago.
The National Average is $2.86, which is about 18 cents higher than the state average. The average price in Coffee County is $2.64, which is 4 cents below the state average and 22 cents below the national average.

“Over the last five weeks, Tennessee gas prices have risen a total of 45 cents, on average,” said Megan Cooper, spokesperson, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “With increased demand and tighter gasoline supplies, we are looking at more expensive pump prices with little relief in the weeks ahead.”

Quick Facts

· 81% of Tennessee gas stations have prices below $2.75
· The lowest 10% of pump prices are $2.48 for regular unleaded
· The highest 10% of pump prices are $2.92 for regular unleaded

National Gas Prices

Following last month’s winter storm in Texas, the national gas price average has jumped nearly 40 cents to $2.86. Prices will continue to increase this week, especially following the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly reports showing a second week of major decline in gasoline stocks and a substantial increase in U.S. demand.

For the week ending March 5, the EIA reports gas stocks decreased by nearly 12 million bbl to 231.6 million bbl, as demand increased from 8.15 million b/d to 8.73 million b/d last week. That demand measurement is the highest since the end of November 2020, which coincidentally was the same month we saw stocks as low as they are today.

Amid tightening supply and increasing demand, the good news is that the price of crude, which accounts for more than half of the price at the pump, showed signs of stability on the week fluctuating between $64–$66/bbl. If crude sustains at this level, especially as refinery utilization increases, the jumps at the pump are likely not to be so substantial by April.

On the week, the national average is nine cents more expensive with 20 states seeing double-digit jumps.

National Oil Market Dynamics

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, WTI decreased by 41 cents to settle at $65.61. Although the price of crude decreased on Friday, due to a stronger dollar, crude prices rose earlier in the week to $66/bbl with market optimism about crude demand recovery. Crude prices increased despite EIA’s latest weekly report revealing that crude inventories increased by 13.8 million bbl to 498.4 million bbl. For this week, crude prices are likely to continue moving higher if optimism grows.

By Nadia Ramligan, TN Public News Service

Tennessee kids have lost months of learning to the pandemic, and their advocates are now trying to make up for lost time.

A new report from the nonprofit group Save the Children finds more than half of all families say their children are spending less time on learning activities compared to a typical school day before COVID-19.

Experts say dropout rates will likely increase, and could result in one million more people not earning high-school diplomas.

Chapple Osborne-Arnold, Tennessee deputy director for Save the Children, said she initially thought online learning would help rural kids, but quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

“Then we were faced with the reality that that wasn’t going to happen, they didn’t even have access to internet or devices, or any of those tools,” Osborne-Arnold explained. “And so, we were able to put together a lot of really high-quality learning kits. We delivered these, hand-delivered ’em, to all of the families and children in the area.”

She added very young children had even fewer options, as high-quality child care, pre-K and Head Start programs were already in short supply statewide.

The report said last year, child-care providers face crippling revenue shortages from low enrollment and new safety requirements. By April 2020, 60% of child-care providers across the nation had closed their doors.

Osborne-Arnold emphasized Save the Children is also trying to combat the learning loss by focusing on summer programs.

“We’re really trying to double up our efforts this year and do our Kindergarten readiness programs this summer,” Osborne-Arnold noted. “We’ve almost tripled the amount of programs that we did from last summer to this summer. We’re going to try to hold those in person and really get those kids in there that have struggled the most.”

The report also highlights child COVID-19 cases, ranking Tennessee in the top three states, along with North Dakota and South Dakota, for the number of children who have contracted the virus.

Osborne-Arnold pointed out child infections have created obstacles, for both schools and families.

“We’ve seen the COVID cases hit in waves, and kids being quarantined, which makes it so difficult on parents and the school system,” Osborne-Arnold concluded.

Tennessee Republican leaders last week advanced legislation aimed at further protecting first responders through the Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday. House Bill 511 was amended to add new language under the current definition of terrorism that creates new protections for law enforcement, paramedics, firefighters, correctional officers, department of corrections employees, and other emergency medical rescue workers.

The bill raises the offense of murdering an on-duty first responder for their profession to an act of terrorism. If convicted, the perpetrator would receive life without parole or the death penalty. Once signed into law, House Bill 511 would be among the nation’s strongest legislation protecting first responders. House Bill 511 now heads to the Calendar and Rules Committee.

The First Responder Safety Act, House Bill 585, aims to protect first responders by enhancing penalties against those who harass, threaten, or intimidate first responders. Currently, those who take negative action against a first responder can be charged with either harassment or with terrorism. The bill would enhance the harassment charge since negative action against a first responder impacts the ability to recruit and retain first responders. House Bill 585 will be considered in the Criminal Justice Committee on March 17.

Coffee County and Warren County Sheriff’s Departments have issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a man they say is responsible for multiple car burglaries and thefts in Coffee, Warren and surrounding counties.

Jeffery Michael Hodges, (white male, 5’9”, 165 lbs, bald, blue eyes, DOB 3-11-74) is wanted for questioning by police.

Police say Hodges is considered to be “armed and dangerous” and at times “under the influence of narcotics.”

Hodges allegedly stole multiple firearms from vehicles along with several other items.

If anyone has seen or has information about Hodges’ whereabouts, you are encouraged to contact your local authorities. In Coffee County you can call 931-728-9555.

Tennessee started 2021 with a decrease in unemployment across the state. According to newly released data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD), Tennessee recorded a jobless rate of 5.1% in January 2021.

The new seasonally adjusted rate represents a 0.5 of a percentage point drop from the December 2020 rate of 5.6%. The latest figure is just 1.4 percentage points higher than the statewide rate for January 2020, just months before the start of COVID-19’s impact on Tennessee’s economy.

Total nonfarm employment decreased by 2,100 jobs between December 2020 and January 2021. The largest decreases occurred in the leisure/hospitality sector, followed by the government and professional/business services sectors.

Over the year, nonfarm employment is down 122,800 positions across the state. The hardest-hit jobs sectors were leisure/hospitality, education/health services, and government.

Nationally, seasonally adjusted unemployment also decreased in January. The new rate of 6.3% is 0.4 of a percentage point lower than December’s revised rate of 6.7%. In a year-to-year comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate is 2.8 percentage points higher than it was in January 2020.

TDLWD has produced a comprehensive analysis of the January 2021 statewide unemployment data which is available here (https://www.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=166478db53c066a7d114ea462&id=f824a02f06&e=29851e7b63) .

Currently, the state’s workforce development website, Jobs4TN.gov, has more than 226,000 job listings for every skill level, in every part of Tennessee.

Job seekers can also visit the Tennessee Virtual American Job Center (VAJC). The website, located at www.TNVirtualAJC.com, allows Tennesseans to research different programs, from different state agencies, that can help them remove barriers to employment so they can more easily reenter Tennessee’s workforce. The VAJC allows job seekers to do this on their schedule, anytime, anywhere.