Category: News

The high school graduation rate in Tennessee has increased to 88.5 percent.
The state’s high school graduation rate reportedly increased by nearly 1 percent this year compared to last year.
According to data released by the state on Tuesday, nearly 60 percent of districts saw their graduation rates increase or stay the same.
Overall, the statewide graduation rate has increased 3 percentage points since the state began calculating graduation rates more rigorously in 2011.
Education commissioner Candice McQueen says that now that graduation rates are increasing, the state must ensure that students are leaving high school with the skills they’ll need to be successful in college and the workforce.

The deadline for public comments on an overhaul of teaching standards for social studies has been extended amid an uproar over a proposal to cut out several Tennessee historical events.
The Social Studies Standards Recommendation Committee voted Wednesday to move the deadline from Oct. 28 to Dec. 15.
Gov. Bill Haslam, fellow Republican state lawmakers and the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators had raised concerns that too many Tennessee events and historical figures would be culled from standards in the interest of streamlining teaching requirements.
Among the items facing cuts in the draft standards are Tennessee milestones in the civil rights movements for women and minorities, major Civil War battles fought in the state, labor strife at East Tennessee coal mines and the Cherokee origins of the state’s name.

The Tennessee Highway Safety Office (THSO) and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security have announced the 384 agencies awarded $17.1 million in federal grant funding to support Tennessee highway safety efforts and education. 424 grants will be distributed from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through THSO for the 2016-2017 Federal Fiscal Year.
“Our daily goal is simple – every driver goes home safe and sound every day,” said Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner David W. Purkey. “The Tennessee Highway Safety Office collaborates with sheriffs, police chiefs, state troopers, and traffic safety partners to provide the safe environment necessary for this goal to happen.”
Every year, traffic safety advocates, non-profit organizations, emergency response personnel, law enforcement, District Attorneys’ offices, and other state agencies across Tennessee seek funding through grant applications offered by THSO. Applicants who meet the required data-driven criteria and highway safety standards are awarded grant funds to support THSO’s mission to reduce traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities. Grant funding provides essential highway safety training and equipment for law enforcement agencies, sophisticated crash data collection analysis technology, specialized DUI prosecutors, resources for emergency response personnel, and educational tools to help improve driver behavior.
Manchester Police was awarded 16,882.50 for alcohol enforcement.
Tennessee District Attorney General, 14th Judicial District, given $167,636.28 for DUI prosecution and Tullahoma Police was awarded 14,819.60 for traffic services.

Tullahoma Police are investigating the theft of money from a local business.
Apaz A Mohamad of the Cricket Store located on North Jackson Street reported on Oct. 10 to Officer Josh Leverette that two employees were supposed to make a $600 deposit at the end of their shift but Mohamad noticed that the deposit had not been made. According to the police report, Mohamad stated that neither employee admitted to taking the deposit.
He allegedly told the pair that if either one had taken the money he would not terminate them and would be willing to allow them to make restitution but neither one admitted.
Detective Tyler Hatfield is investigating the theft.

The City of Tullahoma has been notified by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) that it has received both the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its FY2015-2016 budget and the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) for the Fiscal Year ending July 2015.
These awards represent a significant achievement by the City, reflecting the commitment of the Board of Mayor and Alderman and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting, accounting and financial reporting. Only fifteen municipalities in the State of Tennessee received both awards.
The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting. This is the 17th year the City has received this honor. To receive the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, the City satisfied nationally recognized guidelines for budget presentation, which include an assessment of how well the budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device.
The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting. This is the 22nd year the City has been judged to have demonstrated a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” in the preparation of its annual financial report.

We have an update on the murder of 86-year old Louis Jean Espy in Murfreesboro. The man who allegedly killed the 86-year old woman has been charged with not only her murder, but also with two counts of rape and one count of abuse of a corpse.
60-year old William Russell Brace is being held at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center. He is scheduled to appear in court for a trial on May 1, 2017, according to Rutherford County District Attorney Jennings Jones.
The TBI began investigating the death of Lois Jean Espy on February 23, 2015, the same date deputies from the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department found the body of Espy on Mullins Mill Road.
During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information which led to her neighbor, William Russell Brace, as the individual responsible for Espy’s death in her Murfreesboro apartment, as well as the subsequent placement of her body in Bedford County.

The Coffee County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help. Authorities are searching for Katrina Lanette Wolfe age 35. Her last known address was Betsy Willis Rd. in Hillsboro.
Wolfe is 5’6” 160lbs with brown hair and brown eyes.
The female is wanted on warrants out of Coffee and Warren counties.
Coffee County investigators tracked Wolfe to Winchester, TN on Monday, but were unable to find the wanted woman. They say she might still be in Franklin County.
If you have seen Katrina Lanette Wolfe or know her whereabouts please call the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department at 931-570-4409 or 570-4410. She could be going by various last names such as Waggoner or Winton. As always the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department thanks the public for its help and support.

A Winchester woman was arrested on charges of theft that contained embezzlement from a Tullahoma business.
Kody Michelle Haney, 19, of Powell Street, Winchester was arrested Oct. 6 for taking $1,843 from the Piggly Wiggly Store on East Lincoln Street.
Christina Joung Yu reported to Tullahoma Police Officer Chase Sons that the woman took the money from the store between Sept. 4 and Oct. 4.
Yu told the officer that video surveillance footage shows Haney taking the money from her cash register and placing it in her pocket on Oct. 3 and 4. She is accused of taking $225 on Oct. 3 and $770 on Oct. 4. Also a check shows that money was taken between Sept. 4 and Oct. 2, a total of $848 was taken.
Yu told the officer that Haney had said that she would repay the money but she did not do so.
Haney was booked into the Coffee County Jail under a bond of $1,500.