Category: News

A study released last week shows the cost of goods and services in the Volunteer State goes farther than some other states in the U.S.
The study from the Tax Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based ‘think tank’ shows the value of $100 state-by-state. In Tennessee, that $100 is really $110.25, which is 16th in the nation.
The organization says the study is based on 2013′s tax numbers, and said the results were based on three other factors: value of land, transportation, and tax and business laws. In Tennessee, with the Mississippi River and Interstate 40 in the boundaries, the cost of goods will be less.
Where is $100 worth the least? The District of Columbia at $84.60. That same money goes the furthest in Mississippi at $115.74.

In November Coffee County voters will be voting yes or no on a wheel tax. Now Manchester and Tullahoma are among municipalities across the state that obtained enough signatures to have wine-in-grocery-stores referendums placed on the Nov. 4 ballot.
If the “yes” votes win, shoppers will still have to wait nearly two years for wine to actually appear on grocery shelves, since the bill requires grocery stores to wait until July 1, 2016.
The law allowing voters a choice on wine sells has given liquor stores the option of selling items they have never sold before. Liquor stores can now sell a wide variety of new items including corkscrews, mixers, snacks, beer and cigarettes.

Since 1993, Tennessee law enforcement agencies have received more than 41,000 military surplus items worth at least $121 million, much of that going to the state’s smaller cities and counties.
According to a Tennessean report based on data from the state Department of General Services, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office leads the pack at $9.7 million in equipment. It is followed by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, $8.1 million, Livingston Police, $4.5 million, Parsons Police, $4.2 million and the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department at $3.8 million in equipment.
Over the past nine years, Tennessee has moved from 47th in the nation to the top 10 in acquiring military surplus.

A Bedford County resident is charged with doctor shopping for drugs, using TennCare healthcare insurance benefits as payment.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced the arrest of Brian Keith Tucker, 39, of Shelbyville.
Tucker, is charged in Bedford County with three counts of doctor shopping. The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the arrest.
“The fraudulent misuse of TennCare benefits is a serious issue but Tennessee is out front in cracking down on these types of crimes,” Acting Inspector General Lawrence S. Saylor, Jr., said. “Health care providers and their employees have become very good at spotting these cases and they’re as committed as we are to winning the war against TennCare fraud.”
TennCare fraud is a Class E felony carrying a sentence of up to two years in prison per charge.  District Attorney General Robert Carter will be prosecuting the Bedford County case.
The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to over $3.5 million paid in restitution and recoupment to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of over $173 million for TennCare, according to latest figures.  To date, 2,171 people have been charged with TennCare fraud.
Through the OIG Cash for Tips Program established by the Legislature, Tennesseans can get cash rewards for TennCare fraud tips that lead to convictions.  Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or log on to www.tn.gov/tnoig/ and follow the prompts that read “Report TennCare Fraud.”

The Warren County High School student who took a gun to school last week prompting a lockdown has pled guilty in Juvenile Court to the charge of delinquency to the act of possessing a firearm on school property. The teenager has been committed to the Department of Children’s Services. There he is expected to receive rehabilitation and educational services. Some students said they saw the 17 year-old with the gun that turned out to be a loaded .22 caliber handgun inside a locker at the McMinnville school.

Residents across the state are preparing to celebrate a historic anniversary – the 50th year of the Wilderness Act. The act was signed into law on Sept. 3, 1964, establishing the National Wilderness Preservation System “as a mechanism to have kind of a unified way of giving protections to wild places that we want to give our highest protection to,” said Tennessee playwright and wilderness enthusiast Jim Pfitzer, “places where we don’t want to have any road building or developments or mineral extractions, that kind of thing.” Initially, some 9 million acres of wildlands were set aside for the use and benefit of the American people. During the past half-century, Congress has added another 100 million acres. In Tennessee, thousands of acres of the most beautiful natural areas have been protected. Still, Pfitzer said, it’s important that while looking back at the success, people also look ahead to the future. “There are assaults on wilderness from several fronts right now, people who would like to see the law changed,” he said, “So I think it’s real important that people don’t just rest on what we’ve already done. We say we protect things in perpetuity, but laws can be changed.” A celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act will be held Sept. 3 at the East Tennessee History Center in downtown Knoxville. More information is online at wildsouth.org and at jimpfitzer.com.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder recognize the service and sacrifice of Private First Class Cecil E. Harris of Shelbyville. Harris was serving with the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division on January 2, 1945 when his platoon was holding a defensive position in France near the German border during World War II. The platoon came under attack and had to make a hasty withdrawal. When the platoon was able to regroup, fellow soldiers realized PFC Harris was missing. He was 19 years old.
The United States Army Graves Registration Command (AGRC) investigated Harris’ loss with no success. In September 2013, an official from the American Battle Monuments Commission notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that a French national had located the possible grave of an American serviceman in France. The grave was on a hilltop, under a large rock with a crude engraving of a cross and the letter “H”.
The JPAC recovery team excavated the burial site and found PFC Harris’ identification tag, also known as ‘dog’ tags, military items used by American service members during the time period of 1940’s and human remains that were later confirmed through DNA samples and dental records to be Harris.
“Cecil Harris is a Tennessee and American hero and it is fitting that he finally be laid to rest with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery,” Haslam said.
Harris is survived by his former wife Helen Cooke of Chattanooga, son William Edwin Harris of Mountain City and sister Janice Carlton of Shelbyville.
The body of PFC Harris will arrive at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville on Wednesday, August 27 at 11:06 a.m.
The funeral service for Harris will be held at Red Bank Baptist Church at 4000 Dayton Boulevard on Friday, August 29 at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) in Chattanooga.
Haslam has declared a day of mourning and ordered flags at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 in honor of PFC Cecil Harris’ ultimate sacrifice. Harris will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. on October 22, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. (EDT).