Josh Peterson

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Wednesday that he is recommending that schools remain closed through the end of the school year.

“Our department of education will work with local leaders. We want to make sure to be flexible with districts across the state. They have critical year-end activities to complete and prepare for next year,” said Lee. “This pandemic has created many challenges for families, teachers and students. Classroom time has been lost. Students have lost a significant amount of learning time. We will continue to provide resources to keep our students engaged over the next several weeks. “

Tennessee education commissioner Penny Schwinn announced Wednesday the formation of a COVID-19 child well-being task force to create support for students during this lengthy layoff.

“We have important work ahead,” said Schwinn. “We just want to ensure our children continue learning. We will open schools next year and students will enter new grades. Being out of school this long has implications for the well-being of our students. It will take all of us to ensure safety and well being during this closure.”

Schwinn said the task force is currently being formed. 

While closing was staggered across the state, schools in Coffee County have been closed since the middle of March due to this pandemic. Coffee County Schools announced just yesterday that it plans to continue with high school graduation on May 22 – but also announced backup dates for graduation in case that event needs to be postponed. Thunder Radio will keep you up to date. 

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has gone up by one number here in Coffee County, with Tennessee Department of Health reporting there are now 12 cases here.

The number of confirmed cases statewide is now at 5,823, with 124 deaths, 633 hospitalizations and 1,969 people classified as recovered. Statewide, there have been 78,831 tests administered. There have been 332 negative tests performed in Coffee County.

As a reminder, Governor Bill Lee on Monday extended his executive stay-at-home order through the end of the month.

Coffee County Schools is still planning to conduct its graduation ceremony on May 22, as previously scheduled. However, guidance from local, state, and national leaders may make that impossible. To prepare for different possibilities, Coffee County Schools has chosen three potential backup dates for graduation should a postponement occur. Announcing these dates at this time allows students and their families to leave these dates open on their calendars as life returns to normal.

Should guidance from health and/or government officials dictate a postponement of graduation, three possible dates will be utilized. These dates are June 26, July 24, and August 14. If social restrictions cause the postponement of graduation, the ceremony will be held on the first available date listed, provided that arrangements can be completed by that date.

At this time, it should be emphasized that Coffee County Central High School graduation ceremonies have not been postponed. These dates are being announced to allow families to make alternative plans should a postponement occur.

The state of Tennessee has started paying approved unemployment claimants their first installment of the $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefit, in addition to their Tennessee Unemployment Compensation (TUC) benefit.

On Tuesday, April 14, the state distributed benefit payments of close to $94 million to financial institutions for approximately 110,000 unemployed Tennesseans. Most claimants will receive their directly-deposited payment on Wednesday, April 15.

The number of payments is projected to increase throughout the week and will likely exceed 150,000.

During the entire previous week, the state sent 114,000 claimants more than $33 million in unemployment benefits. That week did not include the FPUC payment.

The federal CARES Act provides FPUC to all approved claimants currently receiving unemployment benefits.
The federal government considers both TUC and FPUC benefits taxable income. Claimants can choose to have those taxes automatically deducted or to pay them at a later date.

The benefit payment for the week starting April 13 contains one installment of FPUC, but the state will provide claimants retroactive pay to March 29 in upcoming payments.
Funding for FPUC comes from the federal government and does not impact the Tennessee Unemployment Trust Fund.

With the extension of Governor Bill Lee’s stay-at-home order, Thunder Radio wants to remind you that you can visit our website for the Manchester Code COVID page (click here), or visit the tab through the Manchester GO smartphone app, to get information on local businesses. As a small, local, family-owned business ourselves at Thunder Radio, we have the small-business community on our minds. We are using this page to inform the public of altered operating hours, different procedures and other anomalies at area businesses to allow you to continue to patronize local business during this time. If you see a change that needs to be made to the page, email wmsr@thunder1320.com

Coffee County Schools is still planning to conduct its graduation ceremony on May 22, as previously scheduled. However, guidance from local, state, and national leaders may make that impossible. To prepare for different possibilities, Coffee County Schools has chosen three potential backup dates for graduation should a postponement occur. Announcing these dates at this time allows students and their families to leave these dates open on their calendars as life returns to normal.

Should guidance from health and/or government officials dictate a postponement of graduation, three possible dates will be utilized. These dates are June 26, July 24, and August 14. If social restrictions cause the postponement of graduation, the ceremony will be held on the first available date listed, provided that arrangements can be completed by that date.

At this time, it should be emphasized that Coffee County Central High School graduation ceremonies have not been postponed. These dates are being announced to allow families to make alternative plans should a postponement occur.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Monday that his executive “stay at home” order has been extended through April 30.

His original executive order would have expired Tuesday. The extension calls for all non-essential businesses to be closed to the public, requires restaurant to offer curbside or carry-out services only and calls for Tennesseans to limit movement to essential functions, although that list of essential functions is large.

Earlier this month, Coffee County District Attorney General Craig Northcott clarified for residents that you do not need a special letter to travel within the county, and he added that police will not stop you to ask for one.

Tennessee Department of Health is now reporting 5,610 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tennessee, this as of 2 p.m. Monday. These confirmed cases are out of 76,195 tests performed. There have been 109 deaths, 579 hospitalizations and 1,671 people classified as recovered. In Coffee County there have been 11 confirmed cases and 331 negative tests performed.

Greg Perry, who was elected to the seat of Coffee County General Sessions Judge during a special primary election held in early March, was officially sworn in to his new judge position Monday morning. Perry was sworn in by longtime Coffee County judge Jere Ledsinger.

Even though most court proceedings have been halted, some court matters are continuing forward despite COVID-19 Pandemic.

“We are still here to serve the people of the county in emergency matters,” explained Perry. “I would like to thank the constituents of Coffee County for giving me this opportunity. I hope to earn their vote again in two and a half years.”

Perry was elected in a Republican primary against Jason Huskey, Stacy Lynch and Jess Stockwell. The race was to fill the seat left empty by the passing of judge Tim Brock, who died in November of last year.

As of Monday, April 13, Coffee County’s response rate is at 54.8%, which is good enough for fourth in the entire state of Tennessee among the state’s 95 counties.

“I am very pleased to see the citizens of Coffee County have been taking the time to complete this very important 2020 Census,” said Coffee County Mayor Gary Cordell. “I know with the current situation we are in this would be easy to look past, but our residents obviously understand just how important this Census is and are responding quickly.”

According to the United States Census Bureau, about 675 billion dollars in federal money will be allocated based on Census data collected. One separate study found that Coffee County will miss out on $11,000 for every person that is not accounted for in the Census.

“Our future in this community truly does depend on Census response,” added Manchester Mayor Lonnie Norman.

Federal funding for schools, grants, hospitals and transportation are tied to Census data, not to mention business decisions about expansion and relocation are directly tied to Census data.

You can compete your Census online by clicking here. To respond by phone, you can call 1-800-354-7271. You can also respond through a paper questionnaire that arrives in the mail. If you do not respond, a Census worker will visit your home in hopes of collecting the needed information.

Many Tennesseans are already starting to find stimulus checks deposited into their bank accounts.
Thousands of people woke up Monday to find a bump to their bank account thanks to the stimulus payments in the CARES stimulus find.

The first payments are set to go to those who filed tax returns in 2018 or 2019 and have direct deposit available. Paper checks aren’t expected to hit the mail until May. Beginning later this month, you will be able to check the status of your check at the IRS website.