Category: News

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is conducting a high-visibility enforcement campaign during this year’s Fourth of July holiday period, running through midnight on Sunday.
State troopers will utilize a variety of traffic safety tools, such as driver’s license, sobriety and seat belt checkpoints, saturation patrols, and No-Refusal enforcement, in an effort to reduce serious injury and fatal crashes on Tennessee roads.
In 2013, 19 people were killed in 15 fatal crashes in Tennessee during the July 4th holiday period. That’s down from 21 during the 2012 holiday. Of the 19 fatalities, five were alcohol-related and 13 were not wearing safety restraints.
State troopers arrested 132 individuals statewide on suspicion of impaired driving during last year’s July 4th holiday period.

Now a follow-up to a story that we reported to you earlier this week.
Shawn Luce the man accused of shooting at Tullahoma Police on June 19 continues to assist in the solving burglaries in Coffee County. Luce had already assisted in the solving of 60 burglaries. Now comes word that this week he has assisted in solving 6 more burglaries. According to Sheriff Steve Graves, Luce provided information to sheriff’s investigators of six burglaries that he committed in the county.
According to the sheriff, investigators are continuing to follow up on leads and information that Luce is providing.
Luce is accused of firing shots from a pistol as well as shots from an assault rifle that had allegedly been stolen. He eluded police until the next day when he was arrested on Normandy Road by deputies of the sheriff’s department and investigators with the Tullahoma Police Department. Since his arrest, the Florida man has provided information to the burglaries that he allegedly committed in Manchester, Tullahoma and out in the county.

PHOTO: After more than 40 years in the classroom, new Tennessee Education Association President Barbara Gray begins her role today with some recent victories for the state’s teachers, but more challenges are ahead. Photo credit: Liz / Flickr

Today is the first official day on the job for the new head of the Tennessee Education Association (TEA), who lists among her goals an increase in teacher pay. The salary of a starting teacher in the Volunteer State is well below the national average, and TEA President Barbara Gray says Gov. Bill Haslam needs to keep his word on changing that. “The governor had promised a pay raise and said that Tennessee was going to be the fastest-improving state in teacher salary,” says Gray. “And we need that, to help recruit and retain the best teachers that we can get.” Gray says other top priorities include the continued fight against vouchers and privatization. She also wants to see an increase in per-pupil funding in Tennessee. “The funding that we have is even lower than some of the states around us, like Mississippi. They invest more in their students than we do,” she says. “So, with the money that we have, teachers are performing miracles – and to sustain that success and to improve on it, we have to be funded properly.” Despite the challenges ahead, there have been victories for the state’s teachers in recent months. That includes the decision that the renewal of teachers’ licenses cannot be based on value-added scores, which Gray calls “unreliable and inaccurate.” “Thirty percent of our teachers have TVASS (Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System) data, and the other 70 percent don’t have TVAAS data. So the data they have is coming from the 30 percent who have it, from students that they may not teach.” Gray has been in the education profession for more than 40 years, serving Shelby County Schools since 1972. For the past four years, she served as TEA vice president. The Tennessee Education Association is the state’s largest professional organization representing more than 46,000 teachers, school administrators, support professionals and higher education faculty.

One person was injured in a grinding two tractor-trailer crash Monday morning on Highway 64 in Franklin County.
According to a report by Trooper Donnie Clark, around 8:30 a.m. Monday Daniel Sullivan, 30, of Boaz, Ala. fell asleep and his 2000 Freightline truck struck the rear of a grain trailer being pulled by a truck operated by Paul Armer, 71, of Hillsboro.
The Sullivan vehicle struck the rear of the grain truck causing it to spill wheat over two lanes of the eastbound side of the highway. Sullivan’s truck then veered into the median of the highway and crashed. Armer was able to get the grain truck to the shoulder before it overturned. The impact of the crash broke the grain truck in half according to the trooper’s report.
Sullivan was transported by LifeFlight helicopter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for treatment of his injuries.

Gasoline prices are beginning to decline as we approach the Independence Day holiday weekend. AAA forecasts the most automobile travelers in seven years. However, motorists are likely to find the most expensive gasoline prices for Independence Day since 2008.
“Market concerns about a supply disruption in Iraq are calming,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA – The Auto Club Group. “The price of oil slipped last week, so motorists should begin to see some relief at the pump. However, the discount may only be a nickel, keeping the average price on Independence Day at its highest level since 2008.”
The highest price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was set on Independence Day 2008. The average price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.93 in Tennessee. The second highest gasoline prices were in 2011, when the average price was $3.36 in Tennessee. The average price for a gallon of gasoline on July 4, 2013 was $3.25 in Tennessee. Right now the national average is $3.68 and in Tennessee the average is $3.46. The low price in Manchester is $3.33 and in Tullahoma the low price per gallon is $3.35.

A law limiting the purchase of cold and allergy medicines used to make illegal methamphetamine is among those taking effect on July 1.
The anti-meth law requires a prescription to obtain more than 28.8 grams of pseudoephedrine per year, which is the equivalent of about five months’ worth of the maximum dosage of medicines like Sudafed.
According to the governor’s office, 268 children were removed from their homes last year because of meth-related incidents and nearly 1,700 meth labs were seized.
Also taking effect on Tuesday is a measure that requires more disclosure from the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, as well as a statute that allows the state to use the electric chair to execute death row inmates.