Category: News

Northgate Mall in Tullahoma and Three Star Mall in McMinnville will not be losing one of its main tenants. The J.C. Penney stores are NOT on the list of stores that will be closed by the company.
J.C. Penney recently announced it will close 138 stores nationwide to improve profitability. The company said approximately 5,000 positions nationwide will be impacted due to the closures.
Three J.C. Penney stores in Tennessee will be closed. They are in Greeneville, Knoxville and Union City.

A Grundy County insurance agent has been charged with fraud.
The TBI says 46-year-old Troy E. Shrum, of Tracy City, is accused of taking money from several customers as payment for their insurance policies.
The TBI says the payments were never sent to the insurance provider, causing the cancellation of customers’ policies.
Last week, the Grundy County Grand Jury indicted Shrum on two counts of Theft of Property and two counts of Insurance Fraud.
Shrum turned himself in and was booked into the Grundy County Jail on Friday.
He was released after posting a $7,500 bond.

Folks in the scientific community in Tennessee and elsewhere are scratching their heads over comments made by the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Scott Pruitt, sworn in as EPA administrator just weeks ago, told reporters last week that carbon dioxide is not a major source of global warming, and he questioned human activity as a culprit.
As a professor of Earth Systems Science and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, Dr. Noah Diffenbaugh says these claims run counter to vast scientific evidence showing that climate change is real, and that humans are the primary cause.
“We also know that we are already being impacted here in the United States,” said Diffenbaugh. “The 1 degree Celsius of global warming has already happened. We know with very, very high confidence that global warming is already causing climate changes that are impacting Americans, here and now.”
Besides rising temperatures, Diffenbaugh says these climate effects include such extreme weather events as the recent wildfires that ravaged Tennessee.
Pruitt’s remarks are being countered for the most part, by scientists, environmentalists and the former head of the EPA. Pruitt did note that continued analysis on climate change is needed.
Diffenbaugh believes that, in order to build resilience to protect Americans from climate stresses, there also must be acknowledgement “from the top” that the climate is changing.
“The good news is that we have a lot of opportunities to create win-wins – to create infrastructure and resource-management systems, how we manage our water and agriculture and other resources – in ways that protect ourselves from climate change now and make us more prepared for the future,” he said.
Pruitt’s comments are in line with President Trump’s take on the issue. Trump has described climate change as a hoax and promised on the campaign trail to roll back policies he sees as over-regulation, even as they curb pollution that spurs climate change.

The sun is going to disappear. And no, it is not the end of the world.
On August 21, what is being dubbed the “Great American Eclipse” will put us in the dark in parts across the country.
It’s been 99 years since a total solar eclipse crossed the United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. It happened on June 8, 1918.
To get a great view of the eclipse go to Nashville where it is expected to last one minute and 57 seconds and will start at 1:27 p.m.

A Manchester woman was arrested March 14 on drug charges.
Teresa Lynn Jacobs, 37, of Murfreesboro Highway, Manchester was charged with manufacturing/delivering/selling/possession of a controlled substance, unlawful drug paraphernalia uses and activities, contraband in a penal institution and driving while in possession of methamphetamines.
According to the arrest warrant, Manchester Police Officer Daryn Gadeken stopped the woman on Highway 53 for a traffic violation. She was allegedly found to be in possession of two glass pipes with residue in them and four butane torches commonly used to heat a meth pipe. She also was allegedly found to be in possession of 1.48 ounces of meth.
The officer transported her to jail where correction officers allegedly observed Jacobs pull a plastic bag containing white crystal like substance from her person and put it in her mouth.
Her bond was set at $211,000 and she is to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court March 21.

Three Tullahoma men were arrested March 14 after they had been reported to be prowling around a residence on East Lincoln Street.
Arrested were Gabriel Thomas Carkhuff, 19, of Hamilton Lane, Jacob Alexander Stebbing, 19, Lemont Lane and Derek Allen Mayes, 19, of Riley Creek Road. They were all three charged with unlawful possession of a weapon.
According to a report by Tullahoma Police Officer Michael Wilder, police received a call of possible prowler. When the officer arrived he saw three men running from East Lauderdale Street toward East Lincoln Street.
He stopped them and spoke with them. After checking them he allegedly found a loaded .22 caliber sticking out of the pocket of Stebbings jeans. The officer ordered the men to get on the ground. Carkhuff had a loaded .45 caliber pistol inside his jacket. Mayes allegedly admitted that he threw a loaded .38 caliber pistol down at a residence on East Lincoln.
The men told the officer that they were going to use the pistols to “intimidate someone to pay” some money back to them, according to the police report.
The three men were transported to the Coffee County Jail and booked in under a bond of $25,000. They are to appear in Coffee County General Sessions Court on May 4.

CSX Transportation notified the Town of Bell Buckle that scheduled closure of the railroad tracks at State Route 82, right in front of the town square, has been postponed due to this week’s cold weather. A new date has not yet been announced.
The closure had been scheduled to last 24 hours.
Repair work on the crossing had already been postponed several times this week. (Shelbyville Times-Gazette)