Category: News

It’s time for our 4th annual GIRLS NIGHT OUT in downtown Manchester!! We’ve prepared our biggest event yet with lots of fun activities, plenty of shopping and great food!

Join local businesses on and around the historic square in Manchester from 5PM until 8PM Thursday July 13th

Participants include-
High Cotton
Pretty Discoveries
Smoots
West Main Brick Oven
The Mercantile
The Place to Be
The Health Nutt
Sprout Children’s Shop
Black Iris Arts
Paula’s Escape Salon
SunCrest Home Health
Family Music Center
And more being added!

Sears Holdings announced Friday that 43 more stores will be closed in the U.S. this year.
Thirty-five of the impacted locations are Kmart and 8 are Sears outlets. The Kmart store in Tullahoma is NOT on the list of closings. The Sears store in Murfreesboro will also remain open.
CEO Eddie Lampert noted that Sears Holdings is trying to reduce loses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of some stores that are simply too big for current needs.
How much of an impact is the downsizing of Sears and Kmart stores having? Last year there were 2,073 retail outlets in the Sears Holdings family, now there are 1,140. (Portions of this story from WGNS-Radio)

Local law enforcement is reminding people to not to leave children inside vehicles. With the temperatures headed into the 90s, leaving children in a vehicle can lead to death. As the temperature inside a vehicle can escalate by 15 degrees in just 10 minutes and with the hot temperatures and high humidity death can come very quickly. Even if you leave the windows rolled down some, the temperatures inside a vehicle can become deadly. Please take children in the store or leave them at home as it would be better than death.
One 11 month-old died in a hot car over the weekend in Chattanooga, the parents have been charged.
When temperatures outside exceed 86 degrees F, the internal temperatures of the vehicle can quickly reached 134 to 154 degrees F. Heat stroke may occur when a body temperature passes 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This can overwhelm the brain’s temperature control, causing symptoms such as dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, seizure, and/or death. On average, 38 children die in hot cars each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles. Even the best of parents or caregivers can unknowingly leave a sleeping baby in a car; and the end result can be injury or even death.
Anyone seeing children left in a vehicle without the air conditioner running are ask to call 911.

An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has led to the firing of a McMinnville Water Department Employee.
The Comptroller’s Office recently completed an investigation detailing the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Between June 2013 and September 2015, a former employee responsible for ordering degreasing chemicals made purchases totaling $46,882 from a company owned by someone with whom he had a close personal relationship.
This created the appearance of a conflict of interest. The volume and cost of chemicals purchased by the department increased significantly during the time the former employee was buying from the vendor with whom he had a personal relationship. The investigation began after department officials alerted the Comptroller’s Office to their concerns.
Findings of the investigation indicated not only the appearance of a conflict of interest, but also failure to monitor the cost of chemical usage and failure to evaluate vendors effectively prior to adding them to the approved vendor list.

Forecasts indicate that Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s temperatures will be two of the hottest afternoons of the month so far. A projected afternoon high of around 93-96 degrees on both days combined with higher electricity demand due to home cooling, could produce a monthly peak for Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (DREMC).
The electric co-op plans to activate Beat the Peak™ and implement other power conservation measures to lower the impact of spiking Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) wholesale rates during the hour of greatest demand. DREMC pays TVA millions of dollars each month in demand charges, but during a peak the price of wholesale power is the most expensive; the cost of electricity purchased by DREMC can increase to almost $10 per kilowatt-hour during peak.
The Beat the Peak™ alert windows on Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12 are from 4:00 – 6:00 PM.
“This is when our temperature and electric load forecasts show the possibility of highest demand,” says DREMC Member Services Manager Carol Garrette. “The more our members respond to peak alert warnings, the greater our ability to avoid the impact of wholesale power price penalties associated with extreme temperatures. We all save by working together.”
DREMC asks that members turn up their air conditioner thermostats by three degrees during the peak period. If the setting is normally 75 degrees, adjusting the thermostat to 78 will help lessen demand.
In addition, members should:
• Defer use of hot water. Give the electric water heater a break by not showering, running the dishwasher or using the washing machine.
• Delay running the clothes dryer.
• Close shades and curtains to block sunlight.
• If you have a swimming pool, turn off the water circulation pump.
• Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms.
• Keep the oven turned off.
• When the peak period has passed, normal electricity use can resume.
DREMC thanks their members for helping reduce demand on electricity.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is currently working another stolen utility trailer case. Sometime between July 6th and July 7th, 2017 someone stole a black 8×14 dump trailer off a farm near the 1700 block of Fletcher Road in the Winchester Springs area.
A tarp over the trailer is held down by a single bungee strap due to the crank for the tarp being broken.
If you have any information about this theft or the whereabouts of the stolen trailer please contact Investigator George Dyer at Franklin County Sheriff’s Office at 931-962-0123.

Story time, even for the youngest of children, can add up to more than just great snuggle time.
An international study headed by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that greater brain activation in 4-year-olds when they are “highly engaged” during reading time. Dr. John Hutton, a pediatrician and clinical researcher at the hospital’s Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, said that means asking them questions and getting them more involved in reading, which he said works like a “turbo charge” for the brain.
“Kids that are read to more from a younger age and whose parents get excited about reading, and really interact with them in a loving and nurturing way, are more likely to teach their kids that reading is a fun thing and something they really want to pay attention to and that they really want to do,” Hutton said.
The study suggested that parents develop a reading routine that allows them to spend quality time with their child and a book on a daily basis. That also means turning off cell phones, which Hutton said are the most common preventable barrier to a quality story time.
To better engage children and build their interest in reading, Hutton recommended that parents read the words on the page and then ask simple questions.
“If you are reading about a dog, say, ‘Oh, we have a dog. Do you think our dog would like to do this?’ and, you know, ‘What’s grandma’s dog’s name?’ And the more that happens, the more kids feel involved in the process, the more they’re going to practice their language skills and they’re going to want to do it more,” he said. “So, the more interactive, the better.”
Hutton noted that there is no perfect reading experience. What’s important, he said, is creating a routine at home, making it fun, and beginning as early as possible.
“A lot of parents will say, ‘Well, what can my baby do, you know? They don’t understand yet, they’re not talking yet.’ And it’s really just getting the child on the lap, opening the book, letting them hold the book,” he said. “And then for the little babies, it’s going to be mostly about that feeling of connecting with the parents, with the book.”
Hutton said long-term studies are needed with very young children to better understand the parent-child connection to healthy brain development and literacy skills.
The research is online at journals.plos.org.

Nearly 70 thousand high school seniors in Tennessee have been given the opportunity to retake the ACT. The ACT Senior Retake Day will happen during the school day in students’ schools. The goal is to give all students equal access to take advantage of the opportunity. Students do not need to sign up to retake the test, it will automatically be provided. School districts have been empowered to choose the testing date that is best for their students and causes the least disruption for those not taking the exam. Districts may offer the retake on Oct. 3, Oct. 17, or on both days. The state said of those who participated in the 2016 retake, nearly 40 percent increased their overall score. The department’s research has shown that students have a high likelihood of increasing their score when they take the college entrance exam a second time. In the first year of the state offering a free ACT Retake Day, an additional 1,300 students earned a composite score of 21 or above on the ACT, providing them access to $21 million in additional HOPE scholarship funds.